"That's how it is."
"Go back and prepare."
The dean of students, dressed in a black uniform, crossed his arms and looked at the thin young man in front of him, a hint of sympathy flashing in his eyes.
"I've been included in the conscription quota?"
Rin Haruto looked stunned.
He had just transmigrated and hadn't had time to adapt.
Then he received this shocking news.
Actually, for ordinary students like Rin Haruto, conscription wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
The government had always been generous with military spending.
Even conscripts received decent treatment.
But that was during peacetime.
Now, news of alien invasions had spread from the border star systems.
Many speculated that the purpose of this conscription was to serve as frontline reserves.
In the 2.6 millionth year of the Star Ocean Calendar, the Universal Human Alliance embarked on a fervent interstellar expansion, occupying one star system and galaxy after another, inevitably coming into contact with other alien civilizations.
Resources were limited, and in order to compete for various cosmic resources, human civilization actively initiated a series of conflicts and wars.
Those alien civilizations that had been driven away were all secretly watching human civilization, launching counterattacks at every opportunity.
"This is troublesome."
Rin Haruto's mood sank.
He knew very well that although human civilization, overall, held an absolute advantage in wars against most alien civilizations, the local battlefields were not always smooth sailing.
Alien civilizations from the depths of space were fierce and violent, with individuals powerful to an unbelievable degree.
Tearing warships apart with bare hands was absolutely not an exaggeration.
When fighting these aliens, even fully armed human soldiers had an average mortality rate of 20 to 30 percent.
Furthermore, due to the secrecy of the war, all soldiers involved in the war to exterminate aliens were forbidden from communicating with the outside world.
Local space wars typically lasted a long time, with centuries being quite normal.
This meant that if Rin Haruto was selected for this conscription, even if he survived the fight against the aliens, he would likely spend the rest of his life on cold, outer space warships, never again touching the land and oceans of a life-supporting planet.
Rin Haruto took a deep breath, "Director, can we discuss this? My parents will be relying on me, and I have a younger sister..."
The dean of students tapped the table and said solemnly, "Don't worry, if you actively respond to the government's conscription policy, your family will be properly taken care of."
"Your father's current position will be promoted by one level, and your mother will receive a respectable job in the district."
"Your sister's tuition fees will be waived from now on, and after she turns eighteen, she will have one opportunity to study at a higher education institution."
"...So, they've already thought through my afterlife?"
Rin Haruto pursed his lips, feeling an indescribable complexity in his heart.
Honestly, these conditions were quite good.
His father was currently at a career bottleneck that most people couldn't overcome for decades.
His mother was currently unemployed; if she could get a respectable job, it would greatly improve their family's living conditions.
As for his sister's opportunity to study at a higher education institution, that was something money couldn't buy.
If his sister could go to a higher education institution for further study, it would be no exaggeration to say her future was boundless.
However, why must all of this be built upon my sacrifice???
Rin Haruto had only transmigrated into this body a few days ago, and although he had fully absorbed all memories, facing this scene of 'sacrifice me for the happiness of my family,' an indescribable repulsion still surged within him.
"I still prefer life on a planet."
Rin Haruto was silent for a while, then couldn't help but speak.
Once he became a soldier, everything would be subject to military management.
By then, it would be too late to refuse.
Although refusing now probably wouldn't make a difference either.
"Student Rin Haruto, serving the government is our duty as citizens."
"Besides, this conscription is a mandatory policy. Since it's fallen on you, it won't matter how much you don't want to go."
"And anyway, young man, what's wrong with going out and seeing the world? Being able to witness alien races that only appear in textbooks is something ordinary citizens can't do in a lifetime."
"If you can achieve meritorious service, you might even be transferred back to the military region for a position in the future."
"This is a rare opportunity that doesn't come often."
The dean patiently comforted Rin Haruto for a few moments.
"But..."
Rin Haruto opened his mouth, wanting to say a few more words.
However, the dean waved his hand, "Alright, you can go now. Spend more time with your family these next few days."
Under the dean's gaze, Rin Haruto got up and left.
Outside the door, more than ten students, about the same age as Rin Haruto, were waiting in line.
After Rin Haruto came out, one student walked in.
"Classmate, the director called us over, what's going on?"
A dark-skinned student quickly grabbed Rin Haruto's arm and asked in a low voice.
"You'll know once you go in."
Rin Haruto sighed, ignored him, and walked straight away.
Before meeting the director, Rin Haruto hadn't expected to be included in the mandatory conscription quota.
Last week, Rin Haruto had learned about the mandatory conscription news from a broadcast by a reputable media outlet on his planet.
However, Rin Haruto hadn't paid too much attention to it at the time.
The scope of mandatory conscription included the entire Azure Star, as well as dozens of surrounding life-supporting planets.
Azure Star had a permanent population of 50 billion, while the conscription quota allocated to Azure Star was only several hundred thousand.
From a probabilistic standpoint, the likelihood of a citizen being selected for mandatory conscription was roughly one in one hundred thousand.
Such a minuscule possibility, Rin Haruto hadn't taken it to heart at all.
But reality was full of surprises.
The original owner had bought various lottery tickets for over ten years and never won once, yet he was selected for the mandatory conscription quota, which had only a one in a hundred thousand chance.
Returning home, Rin Haruto found both his parents there, and even his young sister was, unusually, sitting in her seat.
She was drooling at the cake in front of her but dared not reach out.
"Haruto..."
His mother, Lu Akiko, stood up, looking at Rin Haruto as if she wanted to say something but held back.
His father, Rin Shosaku, sat there frowning, lost in thought.
Clearly, the news of Rin Haruto being included in the mandatory conscription quota had already reached home.
In fact, his parents had known about it even earlier than Rin Haruto.
"There's still room to maneuver regarding the conscription."
"Tomorrow, I'll go find your maternal uncle and ask him to intervene."
His father, Rin Shosaku, said.
The maternal uncle he spoke of was a distant relative.
He currently held a position at a certain research institute and had quite a few connections.
"No need."
Rin Haruto shook his head.
The mandatory conscription policy was issued by the government.
Not to mention a mere employee of some unknown research institute.
Even the governor of Azure Star would have to pay a huge price to change it.
Of course, if Rin Haruto really had connections with the governor, his name wouldn't have appeared on the conscription list at all.
Before the conscription list was released, using money and connections, there was hope of not being on the list.
But once the list was finalized, it would be difficult to get off it.
"I'm a bit tired."
"I'll go back to my room first."
Rin Haruto ate a little and then got up to return to his room.
"How to get out of the mandatory conscription quota..."
Rin Haruto lay on the soft bed, still holding onto a sliver of hope.
"Connect to the Goddess of Wisdom."
After a moment of thought, Rin Haruto sat up.
The Goddess of Wisdom was one of the three great goddesses of the Universal Human Alliance.
She was the core intelligent processing system of the entire civilization, overseeing the overall operation of the civilization, responsible for all matters concerning all citizens of human civilization, strictly monitoring any abnormal behavior, and ensuring all operations were executed according to the civilization's constitution.
Over the two million years of the Star Ocean Calendar, the human civilization's ability to sweep through numerous alien races owed much to the three goddesses.
Without the absolutely selfless processing methods of the three goddesses, the universal human civilization would probably have perished from internal strife long ago. How could it have developed into such a vast, glorious, and brilliant civilization?
Humans have emotions, can have cognitive biases about things, and can be influenced by emotions to make wrong decisions, but the three goddesses do not.
The stance of the three goddesses is always for the entire human civilization, without any selfishness, and they can always be just.
The Goddess of Wisdom that Rin Haruto connected to was naturally not the main consciousness of the true Goddess of Wisdom.
Instead, it was a tiny sub-consciousness she had branched off, a benefit every citizen possessed.
"Universal First-Class Citizen Rin Haruto, please state your question."
An electronic synthesized voice, carried by the omnipresent network, sounded in Rin Haruto's ear.
"I want to know the conditions for exemption from mandatory conscription?"
Rin Haruto organized his words and asked.
"Mandatory conscription originates from Article 156 of the Constitution, used to maintain the stability of human civilization and for foreign conquests. All human citizens have an obligation to cooperate with conscription."
"The following three situations allow for exemption from mandatory conscription."
"One: Evolvers, humans walking on the path of evolution, are the hope of human civilization and possess the privilege to refuse mandatory conscription policy."
Evolvers… Rin Haruto's expression was complex.
In the long Star Ocean Calendar, evolvers were no secret.
There were many ways to become an evolver, mainly divided into unique evolvers and common evolvers.
Unique evolvers are easy to understand: evolvers who cannot be popularized or replicated.
For example, certain evolutionary families who inherited their abilities through bloodlines fall into this category.
There are also individuals who have undergone irreplicable special processes, undergoing mutations and gaining extraordinary power.
These also belong to unique evolvers.
As for common evolvers… these are humans who have embarked on a stable path of evolution.
For instance, gene warriors who have taken expensive gene serums and stepped onto the path of evolution.
And mental masters, who, through brutal training and torment, combined with specific cultivation methods, become killing machines, and so on.
Any stable path of evolution is extremely precious; it is valuable knowledge explored by countless predecessors with their lives.
"I should be an ordinary person."
Rin Haruto sighed.
Being an ordinary person meant having no connection with unique evolvers.
If Rin Haruto wanted to become an evolver, he could only consider stable evolutionary paths.
However, the latter was not something that could be achieved overnight. Some minority evolutionary paths like gene warriors could be fast-tracked.
But that was based on expensive gene serums and other treasures. In the Universal Human Alliance, gene serums were strictly controlled products.
Ordinary people had no means or qualifications to purchase them.
Even if gene serums were placed before Rin Haruto, he couldn't afford them.
While Rin Haruto was deep in thought, the cold, indifferent electronic synthesized voice sounded again.
"Two: Universal Fourth-Class Citizens. Every ten years, they possess one exemption privilege, which can negate mandatory conscription."
"Fourth-class citizens..."
Rin Haruto's lips twitched slightly.
In the first year of the Star Ocean Calendar, human civilization established a citizen ranking system.
Citizens were divided into twelve levels, and the higher the level, the greater the privileges.
The method for increasing citizen level was through contributions to human civilization.
This was supervised by the three goddesses, ensuring absolute fairness.
Therefore, raising one's citizen level was extraordinarily difficult.
Almost ninety-nine percent of citizens remained First-Class Citizens from birth to death.
Of course, accompanying this were numerous benefits for high-level citizens.
Starting from Fourth-Class Citizens, they possessed one exemption privilege every ten years.
This could pardon citizens with sentences less severe than serious criminals.
Mandatory conscription was also included in this category.
However, with the Rin family's current connections, where would they find a Fourth-Class Citizen?
One must know that currently, on the entire Azure Star, with its fifty billion permanent residents, there was only one citizen who had reached the Fourth-Class level.
That was the Governor of Azure Star.
A powerful figure who controlled the lives and deaths of tens of billions of citizens.
"What about the third situation?"
Rin Haruto couldn't help but ask.
"Three: Make contributions to human civilization. If you rise to a Second-Class Citizen, you can be exempted from mandatory conscription."
The electronic synthesized voice came again.
But it plunged Rin Haruto back into silence.
A Second-Class Citizen, even if not an evolver, held a status no lower than most evolvers.
The privileges possessed by evolvers were naturally also available to Second-Class Citizens.
However, this was even harder than becoming an evolver.
At least Rin Haruto knew how to become an evolver, even if he couldn't do it himself.
But rising to a Second-Class Citizen, requiring contributions that could be recognized by the Goddess of Wisdom, was completely without any clue.
"Specifically, what actions count as contributions?"
Rin Haruto asked tentatively.
"Providing new evolutionary paths will earn massive contributions."
The electronic synthesized voice sounded.
Vaguely, Rin Haruto realized that the Goddess of Wisdom placed great importance on new evolutionary paths.
Otherwise, she wouldn't offer massive contributions as a reward.
"Let's think of other ways."
Rin Haruto rubbed his temples. The three situations provided by the Goddess of Wisdom, none of them were something Rin Haruto could achieve at present.
Especially the last one, providing a new evolutionary path?
If Rin Haruto had that, he would have already been promoted to a Second-Class Citizen, why would he still be waiting to be forcibly conscripted?
Unconsciously, it was already midnight.
Rin Haruto gradually fell into a deep sleep.
Suddenly.
Just then, a strange suction force pulled Rin Haruto's consciousness towards his mind.
And deep within his mind, a magnificent, towering gate of light appeared.
Inside the gate, a light blue curtain filled the space.
Like water ripples, constantly undulating.
"What is this?"
Rin Haruto was startled.
Then he woke up from his sleep.
"It's not a dream."
After waking up, Rin Haruto could still perceive the gate of light deep within his mind.
At the same time, lines of ethereal text flashed across the bottom of Rin Haruto's vision.
[Name: Rin Haruto]
[Identity: Master of the Myriad Worlds Gate]
[Realm: None]
[Talent: None]
[Divine Ability: None]