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The hexagon at the pole of Cronus slowly rotated, majestic and vast, while violent, high-speed storms churned beneath it, silent yet overwhelmingly oppressive. It was as if a higher-dimensional being, beyond our comprehension, was executing a plan far beyond our understanding.

Another striking feature was the massive rings of the planet. From this angle and distance, every gap between the rings was clearly visible, tracing the perfect trajectory of natural laws at work. It was an incredibly beautiful sight, difficult to imagine that it was composed of a collection of ice crystals and small fragments. Awe—that was probably my most genuine response to the rational marvels of the universe.

I shook my head, recalling my mission.

At this hour, most people were resting, and I only encountered a group of engine crew members who had just finished their shift and were leaving their posts. They greeted me warmly. After a brief response, I turned my attention back to the personal terminal in my hand.

The Archduke of Siberia somehow found my account and sent several five-minute-long morning greeting videos, asking me to pass them on to the Admiral. I must say, it was quite thoughtful of him, though I won't comment on the Archduke's aesthetic taste.

Upon arriving at the Admiral's quarters, I checked the panel information beside the door to confirm that the wolf didn't mind being disturbed—the signal was the usual blue light, indicating everything was normal, and the sound of some string instrument's music was coming from behind the door. But as I raised my hand to open the door, I suddenly remembered that I seemed to have... something urgent to take care of.

What? I had nothing else to handle! All my tasks revolved around this dumb wolf unless I had forgotten to complete some humiliating punishment to meet my fixed hours—but as if I would care about that.

So, I decided to ignore the strange unease and opened the door. Even more interesting, as I delved deeper into the room, the urge to turn around and deal with something grew stronger, along with the increasingly clear music. It was bizarre—I couldn't think of any reasonable explanation, so I decided to thoroughly ignore this illogical, unfounded thought. If I had indeed forgotten something important, I would just play dumb later—just like I usually did.

Upon entering the Admiral's quarters, I saw him standing with his back to me, gesturing in the air. He was still wearing that red uniform, with the coat tails gently fluttering. Was it my imagination? Artificial gravity should be working...

Then, I noticed another sound. Previously drowned out by the music, but now that I was closer, I could hear it clearly—the sound of objects slicing through the air—several high-speed flying objects tracing elliptical trajectories around the Admiral. They were moving too fast to discern their shapes or numbers.

I didn't want to get too close. Getting hit by something moving at that speed would certainly hurt. But perhaps the music was too loud—the Admiral didn't respond to my call. I sighed inwardly, recalling the Canine Empire's naval insurance policy, and then took a step forward.

Some kind of... resistance blocked me, preventing me from moving forward.

What?

I raised my hand, slowly pushing it forward as if it were sinking into an invisible gel—dense and sticky. The more I advanced, the stronger the resistance became, making it almost impossible to continue moving forward, but there was no problem retreating.

Damn, what kind of strange situation was this? A bit annoyed, I called out to the Admiral again, but he still didn't respond, continuing to wave his hands in the air. Oh, I got it—he was pretending to conduct the entire symphony.

But that's not the point! Compared to this nearly supernatural situation, the Admiral's taste in music was completely irrelevant. If only those damn high-speed objects would stop—maybe without the noise, the Admiral would hear my voice.

No sooner had I thought that, the sharp sound of the wind slicing through the air ceased, allowing me to see each geometric solid seemingly frozen in mid-air. Flashing with a metallic sheen, thumb-sized spheres, cylinders, or cones slowly rotated in place as if weightless—was there a problem with the gravity system?

"Private Luther?" The Admiral finally seemed to notice my presence, turning around and speaking in a tone of surprise, clearly unable to understand why I was in his quarters.

I was about to open my mouth to sarcastically remark on his brilliant conducting skills, or maybe question his surprise when he called me into his room to handle miscellaneous tasks all the time.

But then, the previously orbiting objects all flew straight toward me with a speed that was sure to pierce through my body, splattering bones and innards ten meters away.

What's going on? Damn it, stop!

With a near-pleading thought and the entire sequence of events flashing before my eyes, dozens of metal objects stopped in front of me, completely still. The closest one was about five centimeters from my eyeball—just a little closer, and my brains would have been splattered.

"You..." The Admiral only managed to utter one word before his subsequent syllables turned into a growl, his expression one of utter disbelief.

I noticed the gel-like resistance had vanished, making me feel much more at ease. Besides that, I seemed to be able to sense the presence of every small metal object... They... were right there, within reach. No, not with my hand—more like... my consciousness. They were within the boundary of my consciousness, and I could perceive them with my mind, not my eyes.

Before I could grasp what this meant, the entire process—from my near-brutal demise to this very moment—had only taken about a second. Now, I just wanted these seemingly harmless but actually lethal objects to get away from me.

Not with my hand, but with my mind, I gently pushed them away. I could feel the metal pieces floating within my consciousness, tiny fragments moving away from me as I willed them to.

Then they collided with a wall.

Unlike the flexible gel from earlier, this was a solid, immovable wall. All the metal objects stopped on the same plane, and my consciousness even felt a slight pain from crashing into that wall.

Consciousness... pain? One new thing after another.

Suddenly, an overwhelming force struck, with the intention of crushing me, causing me to take several steps back. Instinctively, I summoned my willpower to resist, pushing back.

I heard the Admiral grunt and noticed all the metal objects between us were crushed into flat shapes.

I still couldn't comprehend what was happening, but like being sucker-punched, I instinctively wanted to protect myself, without pausing to think about the current situation.

I pushed even harder toward the Admiral, because no matter how this bizarre scenario played out, I had no intention of ending up like those flattened metal pieces. The wolf stumbled, the shock evident on his face. But he quickly regained his balance, glaring at me, his blue eyes instantly turning crimson.

This sudden change distracted me, loosening my control over my consciousness. Then, as if hit by a transport ship, I was sent flying, crashing into the wall of the quarters, and then fell face-first to the floor, losing consciousness.

“I had the amplifier on, and he almost wrested control from me!” Even in my half-conscious state, that dumb wolf’s voice was unmistakable. “And that mutt even bypassed the ‘avoidance circle’ I set up!” I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but the other party only responded with a burst of laughter.

“You curly-haired bastard! You used the conscription mechanism to bypass rules and sent him directly to me. There’s no way this could have been done without cooperation from the top of the German House. I’m sure this violated the rules!” The Admiral’s tone was unusually angry—I had thought I was the only one who could make him sound like that. “And what are you trying to do?”

“Don’t make baseless accusations. I definitely didn’t break the rules.” This voice sounded familiar. “After all, I wrote the revised version.” The Admiral responded with a string of very unrefined curses. Wow, someone’s really in a bad mood today.

“I thought the next cohort wouldn’t be deployed until next year. Did the schedule change?” The Admiral sighed as he asked, seemingly giving up on arguing.

“No, everything is proceeding as usual,” the voice replied. “That’s also why I sent him to you—he’s not a member of the council.”

There was a long silence after that. I heard the Admiral tapping his nails on the desk.

“You must be joking,” he paused, perhaps waiting for confirmation. “I’ve been training my psychic abilities ever since I can remember. That mutt may lack technique, but he’s nearly as strong as I am.” The gray wolf spoke with some agitation, clearly dissatisfied with the answer. “And I’m the most powerful Alpha- level psychic in history—you know what that means, don’t you?”

“It means we need to speed things up,” the voice replied with a chuckle. “This has taken too long, and the council is starting to get worried.”

“Wasn’t the next phase expected to occur only after the Canine Empire collapses?” The Admiral began pacing back and forth, the sound of his magnetic boots creating a steady rhythm on the floor.

Collapse of the Canine Empire? What, is the Admiral planning a rebellion? Although I have no emotional attachment to the Empire and can’t see anything wrong with its collapse, it still feels… odd. However, I might be overinterpreting things—passively waiting for the Empire’s disintegration is different from actively initiating a revolt.

“Besides the fact that predictions are just predictions for a reason, I think we should be more humble. There’s still a lot we don’t understand about the evolution of natural life and the laws of the universe.” The Admiral snorted at this response.

“How many of us are left in this cohort?” I finally managed to pry open my heavy eyelids and saw the gray wolf standing with his back to me, slowly swaying his fluffy white tail as if feeling a bit down.

“Outside of the Canine Empire, I’m not sure. The other end of communications has been quiet for a long time,” the voice came from somewhere, but there was no image. “As for within the Empire, besides that one everyone knows about, it’s just us and Hunter left.” Where have I heard this voice before?

“I swear, if that idiot Husky sends me another good morning video, I’ll open a wormhole and disintegrate him down to the atomic level with a neutron spear!” The Admiral rubbed his forehead in frustration, eliciting laughter from the other party. “Have the others… passed the torch?” The gray wolf lowered his gaze and asked in a somewhat detached tone.

“No,” the response came quickly. “At least, it hasn’t been updated in the council records. It’s possible someone has inherited the codes but doesn’t understand their meaning or intends to act in the shadows.” The other party muttered something. “You know, some people prefer to make a dramatic entrance.”

“So you’re… implying I should prepare to pass the torch?” The Admiral’s ears drooped, and his tail stopped moving.

“It wouldn’t be called an implication if I said it outright,” the voice teased. “And if my most dangerous opponent were absent during the final vote tally, I’d be very upset.”

“Do you think he’s qualified?” After a long silence, the gray wolf straightened up. “Putting aside the fact that he might become the most powerful psychic in the entire sol,” Is he talking about me? That title sounds a bit cheesy.

“Absolutely,” the voice sounded even more pleased. “Who else in this era would read books? He even played a Les Misérables gag on me.” At this point, a scent memory of urine somehow slipped into my consciousness, but I couldn’t connect the smell with that voice.

The Admiral’s reaction to this answer was an even longer silence, filled only with the sound of his nails tapping on a hard surface. “I’ll consider it,” he finally said.

“You’ll at least train him, right? I don’t want your last bad experience to affect your decision.” I was getting close to remembering where I’d heard that voice before.

“Of course I will,” the Admiral scratched his ear. “It’s my responsibility.” I detected a hint of regret in his tone.

“Oh, don’t give me that,” the voice mocked, and the Admiral only responded with a grunt. “Oh, by the way, there’s another good reason I sent this mutt to you.”

“Hmm?” The gray wolf tilted his head and perked up his right ear.

“Let’s call it… a surprise.” The voice said with a laugh. “Don’t thank me too much when the time comes.”

The Admiral muttered something under his breath, which made the other party laugh uproariously. Then that voice recited something in a language I didn’t recognize, and the Admiral replied in the same language before waving his hand, seemingly to cut off the communication.

“How much did you hear?” The white wolf walked over to me and asked. Even though I had shut my eyes tightly to pretend I was asleep, it was clear I hadn’t fooled him.

“Uh… I’m not sure, sir,” I said as I sat up, realizing I was lying in the Admiral’s bed. “Something about disintegrating someone down to atoms?” I think I’ll hold off on mentioning the new good morning video.

“Anyway, I think I owe you some explanation,” the wolf pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. “But first, we need to start your training.” He looked at me with his piercing blue eyes. “You don’t realize how dangerous what you did was, both for yourself and others.”

I could only nod in response to that serious gaze. “Uh, so how should we begin?” Unable to bear direct eye contact with the white wolf, I awkwardly turned my head, focusing on the blanket covering me. “Sir?” I quickly added, not wanting to add more deck-cleaning duties due to disrespecting a superior.

“Perhaps,” he said slowly, baring his white canine teeth. “We could start by getting to know each other.” That made me feel a bit pressured, but I forced myself not to care. “When it’s just us, don’t call me sir anymore. I’m the Wolf, Richter, and you are?” He extended his right hand toward me.

“Luther… the mutt,” I replied, shaking the hand he offered.

“Luther,” he repeated slowly, and a red flash crossed his blue eyes. “Welcome to the other side of the world.”

It turns out the other side of the world has more stars.

“Quick question,” I was lifted off the ground and tossed toward the ceiling. “What’s the simplest way to distinguish which House an Imperial fleet belongs to?”

“Uh…” It’s hard to think when your head feels like it’s being crushed. “The type of flagship is different.” The responsibilities of the nine Archdukes vary, and this is reflected in the flagship of each House.

“Wrong answer.” The thrust disappeared, and I plummeted toward the floor. In my panic, I barely managed to gather enough focus to soften the impact. “By the time you see the flagship’s function, you’re already dead.” I let out a pleading cry as I struggled to get up. “Ten propulsion ships, each with a gemstone embedded in the bow difference from each House.” Another surge of force slammed me into the wall, and I cried out in pain. “Your reaction just now wasn’t bad. Pushing ‘yourself’ isn’t easy to control; there’s a vast chasm between the laws of consciousness and the laws of physics.” Richter is strict, but at least he’s fair.

“How did you… master it?” I propped myself up against the wall, struggling against the pressure while mustering the will to resist.

“As I said before,” he raised his hand and waved it twice as if carelessly. “I’ve been practicing since I can remember.” He suddenly shifted his stance, and the pressure holding me down vanished, sending me flying toward the opposite wall, where I slammed face-first before collapsing to the ground. “You’re very strong—given time, you’ll undoubtedly become an invincible psychic.” I lay on my back, panting, as I heard him walk over to me. “But technique needs practice, and that’s what you lack the most.” He kindly allowed me ten seconds to rest.

“Why do I need the armorer or Arthur to help me change the drone’s armor mode?” I was thrown up again, and the weightlessness at the peak made me feel a bit dizzy.

“To lighten the burden?” I guessed, steadying myself and achieving a floating state. It felt rather strange.

“Exactly. While I could handle it myself, it would consume a lot of mental energy.” Once again, I was pressed towards the floor, but this time, I was prepared and successfully resisted the pressure, managing to stay upright as I landed back on the ground. “Especially with a little troublemaker like you distracting me.” My right knee, left shoulder, and left cheek were suddenly struck by a barrage of blows, catching me off guard and leaving me in a twisted, ridiculous stance. “Haven’t I told you before? When confronting another psychic, always maintain your consciousness domain to prevent them from directly attacking you with their consciousness?” While trying to regain my balance, I erected my consciousness domain, or “self-circle.” “But you can’t neglect your physical domain’s ‘defensive circle’ either, or else even simple, brute-force punches and kicks can take down a powerful psychic.” My chin was kicked from the side by white wolf’s raised leg, sending me flying and spinning several times in mid-air.

I landed face down, groaning uncontrollably, watching my nosebleed drip onto the floor. To make matters worse, I’d have to clean the floor after training was over.

“I think you’re being too harsh, sir.” A pair of boots stopped right in front of my nose. I hadn’t even noticed when Captain Arthur had entered; it was hard to focus on anything else when you were being beaten to a pulp. “Luther clearly… needs a lot more preparation.” I lifted my head to see him quickly swiping through his personal terminal with his finger, likely reviewing my dismal performance records from the training sessions.

“My mentor broke my hands to teach me how to finely control my powers. I had to wear casts for six months without relying on regenerative medical pods to heal.” I was lifted up, suspended in front of Richter. Struggling, I managed to raise my head and meet his crimson eyes. “So when it comes to being too harsh…” He suddenly stopped, his expression frozen, and the room fell silent except for the sound of my nosebleed dripping onto the floor.

“Heal yourself. You’ve been taught how to stop bleeding.” The red light in white wolf’s eyes faded, returning to their usual blue, and I was lowered back to the ground. “You’re stronger than me in terms of raw power.” I searched inward, locating the bleeding point and began applying pressure. “But practical application or combat is vastly different from a mere contest of strength.” He turned his head to look at Captain Arthur, tilting his head slightly and raising his right ear.

“I happen to have some training suggestions that could assist Private Luther.” The German shepherd turned to look at me, his large brown eyes appearing moist and gleaming. “Perhaps we should start… with the beginner's level.” After the captain finished speaking, Richter also turned to look at me, seemingly considering the proposal.