The Starfield Farming Sovereign (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 51

Chapter 51 The Upset

Finished

“They taste… good,” he told Humus, who was watching him with desperate hope. But inside, his mind was a

storm.

These potatoes were no ordinary food.

The next day was the Second Military Command’s quarterly combat simulation exam.

Orion had all but given up. But the memory of his father’s transfer orders, his brother’s smirk, and that strange effect from the potatoes–something in him refused to roll over. A stubborn flame reignited.

He took a deep breath and walked into the simulation center.

Emery was the star of the show. His mecha performance earn approving nods from every officer watching.

When Orion’s turn came, almost nobody was paying attention.

He entered the simulation pod and connected to the neural link.

Usually, the connection brought a familiar jolt of pain and lag–the standard tax of a damaged mental

core.

But today? The link was seamless. Signal loss was minimal. His feel for the mecha was sharper than it had been in years.

Round one. His opponent was a B+-level colleague known for his steady, reliable style.

Normally, Orion’s odds against him weren’t great.

Today, his mecha control was visibly tighter. Tactical movements, crisp and precise. He found the opening fast and took it in a single strike.

“Officer Orion–victory!”

The system announcement sent a small ripple through the viewing gallery.

Round two. His opponent was a second lieutenant with A- mental power from a front–line combat unit.

The fight began. His opponent leveraged superior mental power for an aggressive opening.

The crushing mental pressure would normally have sent Orion’s core into convulsions. He wouldn’t have lasted.

But today, his mind was rock–steady. His reaction speed was startling.

Under his control, the mecha executed one razor–tight evasion after another, countering at every gap. He was squeezing every last drop from his current mental power level.

“That evasion pattern…”

“How is his mental output that stable?!”

9:38 am

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Chapter 51 The Upset

The murmurs grew louder.

0:21

Finished

In the end, under the disbelieving stares of the entire room, Orion weathered the assault and put his opponent down with a perfectly angled ion cannon blast through the engine core.

“Officer Orion–victory!!”

The room erupted.

B–level mental power, beating an A—level officer? Across tiers?

It defied everything they knew.

“Impossible! He must have cheated!” Emery shot to his feet, face thunderous.

The exam was halted for an emergency review.

Medical and technical officers ran a full panel on Orion.

The results came back fast: no prohibited substances detected.

But one data point sent shockwaves through the room-“Mental core stability: significantly improved. Latent damage index reduced by approximately 0.9%.”

“The damage index… dropped?”

The examiners stared at each other.

Orion’s heart slammed against his ribs.

He knew it.

The potatoes Humus had brought him–they really did repair mental power damage.

He looked at Emery’s dark expression. He looked at the officers around him, their indifference curdling into shock and suspicion and open curiosity. A feeling he’d almost forgotten stirred in his blood.

A handful of young officers who’d barely acknowledged his existence surrounded him, suddenly warm.

“Man, you’ve been holding out on us!”

“Join us tonight? Swap some notes?”

Orion looked at their freshly rearranged faces. Something in him went cold.

He responded to none of them. His gaze swept over them once–distant, final, a wall no one was getting through.

He adjusted his collar, and in the weight of all those complicated stares, he squared his shoulders that the world had tried to break. And walked out.

Outside the corridor windows, the spaceport’s navigation lights blinked against the dark.

9:38 am P p p p.

Chapter 51 The Upset

Finished

The aftershocks of the exam hadn’t settled when Orion returned to his quarters. Familiar footsteps stopped outside his door.

Humus entered, carrying a military–issue meal box that was still steaming.

The old man’s face was flushed with barely contained emotion. His eyes glistened.

He set the box on the desk with the solemnity of a ceremony, voice trembling. “Mr. Orion, I heard… about today’s exam… That’s wonderful. Truly wonderful.”

Orion looked at the old man’s shaking hands and felt warmth flood through him.

Through all the years of his fall, only Humus had stayed.

“I boiled the rest of the potatoes. Eat while they’re hot.” Humus opened the box. Inside, several perfectly steamed potatoes gave off an even richer, sweeter aroma.

“You pushed hard today. You need to refuel.”

Orion didn’t reach for them right away. He pushed the box toward Humus, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Humus. You eat, too. Back then…” He paused, voice dropping. “Back then, you took the hit for me. That’s why your mental power got wrecked so bad and you had to retire early. Your headaches never really went away, did they?”

Humus’s old injury was a wound Orion carried in his own heart.

During that ambush years ago, Humus had thrown himself in front of the mental shockwave. Without him, Orion would have died.

But it had cost Humus nearly everything–his mental core had shattered, his rank stripped, and he was forced out of the military he loved. And the crippling headaches that would follow him for the rest of his

life.

922

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The Farming Saint in the Starry Wasteland