The first class of the first sester at Heavenly Phoenix Academy began at eight in the morning, and by seven fifty-five, all eight students of 1st Level A were seated.
The room itself was not designed for comfort. Eight desks arranged in a slight arc facing a single instructor’s platform, the walls bare except for a mounted skill display screen and a combat data readout panel connected to the assessnt pods in each student’s room. No unnecessary decoration. No attempt to make it welcoming. The room communicated its purpose imdiately. Learning happened here because people chose to engage with it, not because the environnt encouraged them to relax.
Lin Yi took a seat near the middle of the arc. Wang Hao sat to his right, slightly further from the center than he would have preferred but close enough. The other six students were already present when they arrived, which ant they had all co early, which was its own kind of information.
Lin Yi looked at them the way he looked at most things. Steadily, without making it obvious.
Closest to the door was a girl with cropped silver hair and the posture of soone trained in precision disciplines. She had her assessnt datapad open and was reviewing sothing on it with focused efficiency. Her examination result had placed her sixth overall, two hundred and ninety points, from Heavenly Fate City.
Beside her sat a young man who Lin Yi placed imdiately from the examination hall. He had been the one sitting in near-perfect stillness during the entire four-hour written assessnt without appearing to struggle with any of it. Azure Lake City. Combat formation specialist background, based on the way his hands were positioned on the desk, both flat, fingers spread, the default neutral position of soone trained in formation-based techniques from early childhood.
The student from Blackstone City was the tallest in the room by a visible margin, broad-shouldered in the way that suggested his class ca with a physical enhancent component. He was not reviewing anything. He was sitting with his arms folded, looking at the room with the relaxed confidence of soone who had been the strongest person in every room they had entered for their entire life and had no current reason to revise that assumption.
Next to him, a pair of students from Tie Ling City who had apparently known each other before the academy, because they were speaking in low voices with the ease of familiarity. Both had placed in the top fifteen overall. Their examination scores were similar enough that their intake had clearly been evaluated together.
And at the far end of the arc, Han Yue.
He was not reviewing anything either. He was sitting with a calm that was different from the Blackstone City student’s relaxed confidence. This calm was deliberate. Constructed. The calm of soone managing sothing internal rather than the natural stillness of soone who had nothing to manage. He had not looked at Lin Yi since they sat down, which was its own kind of looking.
Wang Hao leaned slightly. "Nervous energy in this room could power a mid-size city," he murmured.
"Present company excluded."
"I know."
Wang Hao looked around at the six other students one more ti. "Every single one of them is incredible," he said, at the quiet level he reserved for statents he ant seriously. "I did the research. All six of them placed in the top fifteen of the regional examination. Two of them are from academies that have produced top-tier hunters for the past decade straight." He paused. "And then there’s us."
"We’re here," Lin Yi said.
"We are indeed here," Wang Hao agreed. "Firmly and undeniably here."
The door opened and Instructor Fang walked in. He set his folder on the platform, looked across the arc of eight desks with the sa direct attention he had brought to the orientation introduction, and said, "Before we cover anything else, introductions. Na, ho city, and class rank. Keep it brief." He looked at the student closest to the door. "Start here, go left."
The silver-haired girl from Heavenly Fate City sat up slightly. "i Lihua. Heavenly Fate City. S-Rank Shadowblade."
The Azure Lake City student, without changing his posture. "Wen Jiahao. Azure Lake City. S-Rank Formation Sentinel."
The Blackstone City student unfolded his arms. "Luo Peng. Blackstone City. S-Rank Iron Crusher." He said it the way people state facts that require no emphasis because the facts do the work themselves.
The first of the Tie Ling City pair. "Zhang Ruoxi. Tie Ling City. S-Rank Storm Dancer."
The second. "Chen Yanming. Tie Ling City. S-Rank Void Cutter."
Han Yue did not adjust his posture at all. "Han Yue. Red Lotus City. S-Rank Godslaying Archer."
The na landed in the room the way nas with reputation attached to them tend to land. Several of the other students had clearly recognized it already. The silver-haired girl’s expression didn’t change but her attention sharpened slightly.
Then it was Wang Hao’s turn.
He sat up, squared his shoulders, and said with complete and unperturbed dignity, "Wang Hao. Jianghe City. C-Rank Scout."
The room shifted.
It was not loud at first. It was the particular kind of shift that happens when a room full of people all adjust their understanding of a situation simultaneously and haven’t yet decided how to express it. Then Luo Peng from Blackstone City said, with genuine curiosity rather than cruelty, "C-Rank?"
"C-Rank Scout," Wang Hao confird, in the sa tone.
"How does a C-Rank Scout enter Heavenly Phoenix Academy?" i Lihua said. She was not mocking. She was asking a real question. "The intake threshold is based on examination performance, not class rank. But three hundred and ninety points from a C-Rank." She looked at him with open interest. "That’s unusual."
"I’m an unusual person," Wang Hao said pleasantly.
Then it was Lin Yi’s turn.
"Lin Yi. Jianghe City. E-Rank Laborer."
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A/N: Thanks for reading, your support ans a lot to , and thanks again
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