Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 89: Prison Break (1)

It was unclear if the top-ranked team in the underground arena had caught wind of the trio’s strategy, but they had been fervently accumulating points over the past few days, significantly widening the gap.

Ayoi and Alex, unwilling to be outshone, joined forces with Yuka, sweeping through the map with unstoppable force, moving from one match to the next without missing a beat.

The third-ranked team, caught up in their pace, also ramped up their efforts, leading to a steep climb in the points for the top three teams.

The other competitors, consistently bested by these three teams, quietly bowed out of the contest, choosing not to get into troubled waters.

Many, including Roukujou and his fans, were eager to see "Lady" and her team "Yeah, Whatever" face off against the top-ranked team, "Swordsmen", to decide the ultimate winner. However, over the next few days, the two teams never encountered each other.

The day before departing for the training planet, Yuka received a package from Black One. The dorm’s security system prevented robots from delivering packages, so it was brought by a student.

While Toru used to handle these deliveries, this time it was an unfamiliar young man. He handed over the parcel to Yuka, stealing a couple of extra glances at her before leaving reluctantly after she had signed for it.

Yuka carried the parcel upstairs, opened it, and took out a small block of Pneyon.

The butler eagerly polished itself to a shine, anticipating the Pneyon application for maintenance.

With no Oniyon available, they had to settle for Pneyon now.

"The Pneyon feels strange to apply, Master," the butler commented quietly. "It’s like not removing the wrapper when applying a face mask."

Yuka remained silent. This block of Pneyon was the last one available on the black market. Ever since Hideki had taken over the black market operations, the links with space pirates had been cut, halting the illegal Oniyon and Pneyon trade.

The Alliance Army continued to investigate the origins of these materials, uncovering many involved parties.

However, these were not Yuka’s concerns. She gently pushed the butler’s round head and said, "We’re done here, let’s go."

The butler rolled over to a mirror, admiring its new look, before contentedly returning to Yuka’s pocket.

These days, Ayoi had been diligently studying, memorizing essential points for her theoretical classes and often staying late at the library. One morning, she nearly overslept and Yuka had to pull her out of bed and get her to the training field.

After everyone had gathered, Kenji directed them to board the transport vehicle, taking their mechas to the Capital Octoxis transit station. Then they would embark on a spaceship to the training planet.

Yuka and her team picked three seats together and settled in for the journey.

Ayoi and Alex leaned back in their chairs, catching up on sleep, while Yuka picked up her opticomputer, idly browsing through posts and playing games to pass the time.

She casually checked the location of the training planet and was surprised to find it was quite close to the planet where the Alliance prison was located.

However, the Alliance prison was heavily guarded by the Alliance Army and since its establishment, only a handful of people had ever escaped, so Yuka didn’t pay it much mind.

Over an hour later, the spaceship smoothly landed on the training planet.

As the hatch opened, everyone followed Kenji off the ship. Kenji approached the person in charge of the training planet, who saluted him and said, "Sir, the training ground is ready."

Kenji nodded, motioning for the curious group to follow as they continued forward.

The training planet, though not large, was equipped with various realistic maps simulating combat scenarios.

In the center of the planet, there was a white building, said to be like the white classrooms in their school, providing virtual training maps but with more advanced equipment and a wider selection of maps.

Someone eagerly asked Kenji in a loud voice, "Mr. Kuba, in which map will we be training?"

"Each and every one," Kenji replied.

Everyone knew they were to stay there from Thursday to Sunday, but they hadn’t expected to train on every map within these four days. Realizing the tough days ahead, they sighed in resignation.

Kenji selected a location from the map provided by the person in charge, then turned to the group and said, "Let’s start with the forest map."

Yuka, looking relaxed, walked amidst the disheartened crowd, following Kenji to the forest map.

She glanced at the familiar terrain and the memorable swamp, then exchanged looks with Ayoi and Alex, all falling silent.

This map was strikingly similar to the Mountain Marshes map from the underground arena.

Kenji instructed them to enter their mechas and said, "Everyone, run a lap around the inner circle of this map, being careful to avoid obstacles, especially the swamps. Getting stuck will be troublesome. Start running now, and I want to see you back here in an hour."

The group rushed forward, with Yuka leisurely trailing at the end.

Kenji knew she was feigning weakness again.

To not slow down the entire training, he told Yuka she didn’t have to run anymore and could join the next training session with everyone.

Most people heard Kenji’s words and thought he had completely given up on Yuka, feeling a renewed sense of pity for her, believing her to be "weak" and "delicate."

Yuka returned to the starting point in high spirits. Then, she sat down in her mecha on the spot and turned to Kenji, asking, "What’s next?"

"Dodge and fight in the forest," Kenji answered.

The dodging and fighting left everyone covered in stinky swamp mud.

They didn’t even get the time to rest before Kenji hurried them to the beach map.

There, they performed push-ups in their mechas by the sea, allowing the waves to wash away the mud from their bodies.

Following that, they continued their training on the beach.

While everybody was exhausted, Yuka seemed to enjoy it.

During a break, Yuka walked under a coconut tree and picked up a freshly fallen coconut.

She pried it open with the mecha’s mechanical arm, and stepped out of the cockpit to take a sip of the coconut water. Then she gave Ayoi and Alex a thumbs up, praising, "Delicious!"