I Married A Degraded Alpha
Chapter 86: [Bonus - ]The Seventh-Grade Sergeant

Chapter 86: [Bonus Chapter]The Seventh-Grade Sergeant

The battle had come to an end, and the warriors set about cleaning the battlefield. Citizens of Planet 165 poured out from their shelters, joining in the massive cleanup.

They worked energetically, keeping their distance from the area where the red and green mechas stood. Even those cleaning a hundred meters away deliberately softened their movements, their whispers barely audible.

Yuri had been asleep for over ten hours. She woke up to the blinding daylight, people bustling about, the scene surreal in the aftermath of battle. If not for the ruins in the distance, she might have doubted whether she’d somehow ended up somewhere else.

"Awake?" Tuss’s head popped in from outside, his handsome face glittering in the daylight.

Yuri was spellbound.

Half an hour later, Yuri sat on a roadside stone, holding a large bowl. She stared at the two big ribs inside and asked curiously, "Where did these come from?"

"Someone insisted on giving it to you." Tuss said, his heart twinging with a sour sensation.

Many people had taken an interest in Yuri, which he wasn’t fond of.

"Did you thank them?" Yuri arched an eyebrow.

Tuss grunted, his voice muffled, "Yes, I did."

Yuri picked up a rib, handed one to him, then took one for herself, "Getting ribs at a time like this, someone must be very grateful."

"They said you saved them, and I had to accept it." When Tuss had refused, they’d simply left it there and run off as if being chased by a flood of monsters.

"I saved so many people yesterday, I can’t remember who," Yuri said, reminiscing.

Hearing this, Tuss’s brow eased. Changing the topic, he said, "I exchanged the insectoids you killed yesterday for achievement points."

"Huh?" Yuri exclaimed, "Why not for astracredit?"

"The insectoids you killed were mostly of the first or second grade. The acquisition price wasn’t high, so exchanging them for astracredit wasn’t worthwhile. I’d rather donate them all to the Alliance and get achievement points." However, getting achievement points required that the insectoids were killed personally.

"What about yours?" Yuri asked.

"I sold them," Tuss explained. "And the two fifth-grade insectoids we killed at the end were also converted into achievement points. You got one hundred twenty, and I got eighty. The military deemed you as the main force."

Yuri knew that achievement points were a crucial factor in a soldier’s promotion. Hearing that Tuss sold all the insectoids she killed, she frowned, "You can’t do this next time. There are many ways to earn money. We don’t have to rely on this alone."

Tuss responded with a grunt, discussing his plans, "I intend to invest this seven million in a mecha manufacturing company’s stocks."

In the past, he didn’t pay attention to such things, as long as he had enough money. But now, he had a family to provide for.

"Sounds good." Yuri had no particular thoughts on this.

After finishing her meal, Yuri opened her opticomputer. On the page displaying her profile, she noticed two new columns – achievement points and achievements.

"Achievement points – 50,089?" Yuri gasped, "Why are there so many?"

"Do you not know how many great deeds you’ve accomplished and how many people you’ve saved these days?" Tuss asked in return.

Realizing, Yuri looked at the Achievements column and said, "One special merit, one first-class merit. Is this for the two times I saved people?"

Tuss grunted, "Check the first column."

Yuri focused her gaze on the first column, which had changed from "Citizen of the Alliance" to "Seventh Grade Sergeant."

"So, you’re an officer now." Tuss joked.

Yuri’s eyes lit up, asking, "Does a seventh grade soldier get a salary? Any allowances?"

"As you’re not serving in the military, you won’t benefit from most of the perks a seventh grade soldier enjoys. The only tangible benefit is that you can receive a thousand astracredits every month." Tuss said.

Upon hearing about receiving astracredits, regardless of the amount, Yuri was delighted, "What about you?"

"My achievement points are only in the thousands, not even enough to become a ninth grade." Tuss said.

"What does it take to become a ninth-grade soldier?" Yuri asked.

"Graduating from a military academy directly makes one a ninth-grade. If you haven’t attended one, you need to start from a regular soldier and work your way up. You’re a seventh-grade now probably because Officer Lyao pulled some strings for you." Tuss explained.

"So, should I thank him?"

"Yes, you should. But you can do that when we return to Planet Alpha."

Tuss didn’t mention Yuri’s promotion to others, and Yuri wasn’t one to flaunt her achievements either. Thus, except for them, others, like Ender, didn’t know.

Yuri’s videos once again became a hit across the network, and now she was being surrounded by Daleks and others.

"Yuri, dear Yuri, please tell me, what’s the deal with that whip?" Daleks begged earnestly. When he’d heard about it from Rei, he couldn’t picture the scene and didn’t find the idea of swinging a whip to be particularly cool or impressive – until he saw it with his own eyes...

He was utterly convinced.

With a poker face, Yuri handed him the black metallic whip, "See for yourself."

Catching it, Daleks looked it over several times and asked, "This is it?"

"Yes. The blood stains are still there." Yuri said, completely serious.

Daleks passed the whip around, asking others, "Do you guys believe this?"

The others shook their heads, "No."

Yuri sighed inwardly, thinking, Good, they shouldn’t believe. But she knew they wouldn’t drop it until they got some kind of explanation. Seeing no other way, she said, "Give it back."

Everyone obediently handed the whip back to her.

Holding the whip, Yuri motioned for them to step back, "Watch closely."

Daleks and the rest widened their eyes, some even pulled out recording devices.

Next, Yuri deliberately slowed her movements. Under their watchful eyes, she used the whip to split a piece of hard marble into two.

As the stone cracked open, everyone present fell silent.

"What does that tell you?" Yuri asked, tossing the whip back to Daleks.

Confused, Daleks asked blankly, "What does it tell?"

"It shows that it’s not about the whip, but about the person." With that, Yuri walked off with a graceful stride.

It took a moment for Daleks to snap out of it, then he turned to the others, "Was Yuri subtly implying that I’m not good enough?"

"It wasn’t subtle, it was pretty clear."

"And she wasn’t pointing at you alone, she meant all of us."

"It’s frustrating that we can’t argue back. Good thing I recorded the video. I’m going to upload it to the interstellarnet, let those who doubt and want a whip see it. Let them feel Yuri’s disdain too."

"That’s a good idea. Why should we be the only ones getting scorned by Yuri? Clearly, none of us can do what she does."

"..."

Two hours later, there was a new trending topic on the interstellarnet titled "Yuri’s Scorn."

Anyone who saw it felt the disdain in Yuri’s eyes.