In the middle of the night, Ning Tang was reading an adult-oriented, sweet interstellar military academy novel featuring a woman disguised as a man. The heroine was delicate and soft, while the male lead and male supporting characters all forced her into relationships. Ning Tang was utterly engrossed. She hammered away at her keyboard and left an impassioned comment:
[It's just a mere (beep) dick. Our heroine can take it!!! Go for it!!!! All in!]
Then, the very next second, she transmigrated into the book.
The good news: She wasn't a sacrificial extra.
The bad news: She was the heroine.
The System's excited voice rang in her ear.
[Ahhh! I've finally found the right protagonist! You're right! It's just a mere (beep) dick! You can definitely handle it. This world can finally be saved!]
Ning Tang: "...What?" Damn it! She wanted to go home!
System: [As long as you follow the original plot, disguise yourself as a man and enter the military academy, earn the main characters' support, and stabilize the story, I'll send you home.]
"Support?"
At those three words, Ning Tang raised an eyebrow. There was another way to earn support besides being the original heroine, wasn't there?
To avoid becoming the heroine of an 18+ novel, she had no choice but to become the boss.
*
After becoming the boss, the first thing Ning Tang did was increase everyone's training load.
The original story had given them too little training and their missions were too easy. No wonder these guys had their minds in the gutter! Nobody was allowed to lie flat!
Got too much energy? Then do 100 laps of cross-country running with a weighted pack. Do 100 sets of target practice.
This one-two punch would make even an escaped husky collapse into a dead dog after getting back to the dorm, pure of heart and free of desire, seeing lust as emptiness.
As a result, Ning Tang accidentally got the whole school grinding away.
Years later, every member of Dormitory 401 had become a top military commander.
A reporter asked one of them: "You've seen countless battles throughout your life. Blood and fire forged your glory. The people of the Empire are curious: Have you ever faced a moment of despair? Was it when the Zerg surrounded you among the stars, or when you ventured deep into enemy territory, isolated and without support? Which was more despairing?"
The commander shook his head. "Neither."
Reporter: "Why not?"
The commander: "Because our boss was right behind us. We knew that as long as she was there, we'd never be trapped with no way out."
Reporter: "Then when have you ever felt despair, Commander?"
The commander: "When our angry boss 'invited' us to the school's arena to 'discuss life and ideals' with her fists..."
*
The 22nd century of the Astral Era was known as the golden age of rising geniuses.
The brightest blazing sun among them was Her Majesty the Empress, a graduate of the Empire's First Military Academy.
The stars circled her, and the silver moon watched over her.
Geniuses bowed before her, while foreign races trembled and submitted at her feet.
In their hearts, she was... their eternal beacon!
[Reader's Guide]
1. This is a story I'm writing for myself. The heroine is popular with men and women alike! She disguises herself as a man early on.
2. Open ending. There is no official couple in the main story, which focuses on the plot. No one is worthy of the heroine! But since there are many one-sided crushes from both men and women, I can't tag it as no-couple under the rules.
3. It's probably got a flavor distilled from the early nation-building parts of the neighboring novels "Winning Over the Entire Interstellar World" and "After the Game Became Reality, Every One of My Followers Turned Dark."
Theme: Strive tirelessly and create a new world