Feng Jiu’er was convinced she had been tricked.

Yes — she must absolutely have been tricked.

How else could she have been hauled for no apparent reason into a room that happened, entirely by coincidence, to contain a table full of food so magnificent that only an utter fool could resist it?

She was not an actual fool, so of course she ate.

But the key issue was — now she had to pay for it? Who did not know she was broke? A thousand taels of silver? She could not even cover a hundred!

What was that? If she were a member of the Longwu Academy, she would not have to pay a single coin?

Given that, there was absolutely no way she could refuse to sign the enrollment register. Refuse to sign and owe three thousand taels of silver — even selling herself would not cover that, would it?

And so she pressed her name into that enrollment register.

Which meant that because she had been tricked, she had not only eaten a magnificent meal for free, but had also ended up in the Longwu Academy she had always dreamed of joining… Was that the right way to read the situation?

Why did it feel… surprisingly satisfying to be tricked this way?

After a brief midday rest, Feng Jiu’er made her way to the rear mountain training grounds.

The Regular Military Academy was different from the other academies. The others drew mostly from the children of noble families.

But the students of the Regular Military Academy had all earned their place through their own skill and physical capability. One could say that young people from common-born families were especially well represented here — by no means were they all of privileged backgrounds.

It was the one exception in the Imperial Academy — and yet, the Regular Military Academy was held in exceptional esteem throughout the institution.

Its graduates would become the pillars of the nation — some would ride out with the Longwu Army to fight in campaigns, some would follow the Longcheng Army to hold the border, and some would join the Imperial Guards to protect the capital.

Even one or two years of training in the Regular Military Academy was enough to ensure that a person would become an invaluable leader in the military.

So when they spoke of “new recruits” here, they were nothing like true raw recruits in the actual armies. Their rank far surpassed that of ordinary new enlistees.

After the morning’s selection, the Longwu Army had provisionally chosen over three hundred new students for this cohort.

The afternoon session would likely yield another two hundred or so, after which, only twenty or thirty slots would remain — set aside for students placed on a waiting list, offering a second chance to those who had drawn unlucky in the first round and faced formidable opponents too early.

In total, six hundred students were to be selected — though among those six hundred, it was said that only five hundred would remain by the end. In other words, there would be further assessments after enrollment. Making it in today did not mean one would belong to the Longwu Army permanently.

The unit Feng Jiu’er had been placed in was called the Fourth Longwu Unit — the “Fourth Dragon Division,” in more modern terms, or simply “Class Four.”

The Fourth Longwu Unit had originally had ninety-eight members. Last month, forty-eight of them had been reassigned to join the armies under the Ninth Prince’s direct command.

Now the Fourth Longwu Unit had fifty members. With the thirty-five provisionally assigned to them today, the unit currently numbered eighty-five.

Once all recruitment was complete and the appropriate students had been cut, each unit would ultimately hold around one hundred members.

When Feng Jiu’er arrived at the rear mountain, she looked up and immediately spotted the banner ahead with the words “Fourth Longwu Unit” standing out bold and eye-catching.

Fifty or sixty members were already standing in neat formation, waiting. Feng Jiu’er walked briskly over and took her place among the other young women.

She had not expected that her height of one point six five meters would put her at nearly the very bottom here.

Was it not said that people in ancient times were generally shorter? Then why did almost every one of these dozen-odd young women around her stand taller than she did? Some were taller by a full head — at least one point seven five meters?

Heavens above — these were practically professional model proportions.

Fourth Longwu Unit Captain Huo Yan strode to the front of the formation, and in an instant, every face in the ranks turned serious.

“New students, step forward!”