The dical station at the edge of the examination plaza was efficient in the way that facilities serving large-scale hunter assessnts had to be. Two healers, a recovery bed, and approximately twenty minutes. The torn muscle in Lin Yi’s left arm was addressed cleanly. Not fully restored, the healer was honest about that, deep muscle damage needed proper rest alongside treatnt, not just a single session of recovery magic. But the arm was stabilized, the pain reduced from distracting to ignorable, and the grip strength was back enough that it would hold a weapon.
Wang Hao watched the whole process from the doorway with his arms folded and the expression of soone supervising sothing important. When it was done he nodded once as though he had personally ensured a good outco and said, "Good. Now the principal wants everyone gathered."
....
The Jianghe Academy students were assembled in one of the large eting halls the examination committee had allocated to each city’s delegation. It wasn’t a grand space, just wide enough to hold the full group comfortably, with enough light and enough quiet that Principal Zhou’s voice carried without effort.
He stood at the front and looked across the faces of his students for a long mont before speaking. Most of them were tired in the specific way that cos after giving sothing genuinely everything. So were still visibly processing where they had landed in the final rankings. Others looked like they had already moved past the exam itself and were thinking about what ca next.
"You represented Jianghe City," Principal Zhou said. "All of you. Not just those who climbed the highest or scored the most. Every student who stepped into that tower yesterday and today carried the na of this academy. That is not a small thing." He paused. "Most of you did not expect to be standing in Celestial City a month ago. So of you doubted whether you belonged here at all."
"You belong here."
The room was quiet in the attentive way rather than the uncomfortable way.
"The results of this examination speak for themselves," he continued. "Three of our students placed in the top four across the entire regional assessnt. That has not happened in the history of this academy." He let that settle for a mont. "Su Qinghan. Wang Hao. Three hundred and ninety points each, placing them second and third overall." Both of them received a wave of applause from their classmates that was genuine and unorganized, the kind that cos from people who are actually pleased rather than performing it.
Then Principal Zhou looked directly at Lin Yi.
"And then there is one more." His voice didn’t change in tone, but it carried sothing different now. The weight of a fact that was still being absorbed. "This student entered this examination as the tournant champion of Jianghe Hunter Academy. He entered as the record holder of our fastest qualification match. He entered as soone who had already done things that did not have a category for them.
He left this examination with four hundred and fifty points. First place, not only in Jianghe City, but across all eight frontier cities combined." He looked at Lin Yi steadily. "The previous record for this examination was four hundred and thirty points, set six years ago by a Level 45 S-Rank student attending what was at that ti the strongest city academy in the region." Another pause. "He broke it. Alone. On a torn arm. On the second day."
The room was very still for a mont.
Then Principal Zhou said, "I would ask everyone to stand."
They stood.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap....
The applause that followed was sothing else. It was the kind that cos when a room full of people who were present for sothing decide simultaneously that it deserves to be loud. Several students were shouting. Soone near the back was repeating Lin Yi’s na in a chant that two others picked up imdiately. Wang Hao was clapping at a pace that suggested he had been waiting for this specific mont and was going to give it everything he had. Su Qinghan was standing and applauding with the asured precision of soone who did not do things performatively but ant every motion.
Lin Yi stood there and received it without expression. Not because he was unmoved. Because he didn’t know what to do with a room full of people standing for him, and stillness was the honest response.
Principal Zhou waited for the noise to settle. Then he smiled, which was not an expression he deployed often. "Well done," he said simply. And sohow that landed heavier than everything before it.
.
.
.
After the gathering dispersed, Principal Zhou asked Lin Yi to remain behind.
The room emptied until it was just the two of them. The principal sat down, which was unusual, and gestured for Lin Yi to do the sa. Lin Yi sat.
"Your recomndation letter to Heavenly Phoenix Hunter Academy was submitted before the examination began," Principal Zhou said. "With your score as the regional examination’s top candidate, that letter is no longer a formality. It is a certainty." He looked at Lin Yi evenly. "There is nothing in heaven nor on earth that can prevent you from entering Heavenly Phoenix Academy at this point. I want you to understand that clearly."
"I understand," Lin Yi said.
"Good." The principal folded his hands on the table. "I also want you to understand sothing else. The other Regional Academies in Celestial City have submitted requests to et with you. All four of them." He watched Lin Yi’s reaction carefully. "They beca aware of your performance during the examination. The monitoring hall is not a closed room, and results of this magnitude travel quickly."
"They are not making polite inquiries. They are making serious offers."
Lin Yi said nothing.
"I am not telling you to accept any of them," Principal Zhou said. "I am telling you to hear them. You have earned the right to choose, and choosing well requires information." He stood up. "There is a room in this building that has been made available. The representatives are already there."
He looked at Lin Yi, before saying, "Go and listen. You don’t owe them a decision. But you do owe yourself the full picture."
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