The students nodded at the question. It was a good one. They were also curious.
"I thought the only thing we needed to do was to get a good path. Why again do we need to win some competition?" someone said, his voice tinged with displeasure.
Reith looked at the boy. The both of them had two different thoughts.
"Knowing more about it would help us prepare for it. It would also be great if we can find out when it is to be held," Reith emphasized, hoping the Regional Insignia would not see fault in his question.
Jean held his chin.
"I understand where you are coming from. The Final Selection is a competition between selected students of the academy to participate in a game-like simulation where their wisdom, integrity, leadership skills, fighting prowess, cultivation mastery, and every other thing would be recorded to see if they can truly stand for our region," Jean answered.
"A simulation?" Reith raised his brow. It was the first time he had heard of something like it.
"Yes," Jeran was the one who spoke this time. "It changes every six months after each Final Selection. The last one happened a month ago," he continued.
One of the students perked his ears.
"Does that mean we have five months left to prepare? Can we be given any information about this selection to ease our preparation? Five months is a short time, Sir," the student pleaded, and even Reith could not help agreeing with him.
Leon shook his head.
"That would not be fair to the other participants..."
"Other participants?"
"Stop interrupting," Jeran frowned, and Reith smiled. That man had finally shown his true colors.
Leon chuckled.
"Let them be, Jeran. It's quite expected."
Hearing his brother's comment, Jeran nodded and bowed his head, and Leon continued what he was saying.
"Yes, you are not the only participants. We have various others coming from different cities all around the region.
The simulation ground is selected a day before the competition, and even I am not in charge of selecting it. There's nothing I can tell you even if I want to," Leon chuckled.
"I do not want to. After your five months of training, you will be made to start in the large hall. Hundreds of thousands of people will watch you.
If you win, you move on to the true academy and fight to become warriors for your region!"
Leon ended his words with strong energy, causing the students to feel riled up.
"Yes, Master Leon!" they all yelled.
With a low bow, Leon turned back, walking to the back of the podium and waving the students goodbye.
After escorting his brother, Jeran came back and stood in front of the students.
"You will all be assigned to the class of basic training and path strengthening. Then you can choose the journey of the path in your last month, so after winning the Final Selection, you will be able to fight with a much clearer vision of your future," Jeran explained as he looked at the students.
Three people had shown to be promising through their cultivation path, but victory in battle was not determined by path alone.
"Yes, Sir Jeran!" the students said, and when he bid them goodbye, they all left the hall, except for two of them.
"Master Jeran," Reith walked to Jeran in a skipping style. He looked very excited, but Jeran could not help but feel goosebumps around him.
"Yes?" Jeran raised his brow, his voice laced with caution.
Reith bent his head and slowly raised his gaze to land on Jeran's arms.
"I'm glad you are back to normal, Sir," he said, noting that Jeran's stump was now a full arm.
He had wanted to say something earlier, but it would have been disrespectful in front of so many others, so he kept quiet even from the beginning of the journey.
He was also so excited about the card gift that he forgot it entirely.
Jeran exhaled with relief.
"Yes. Thank you once again. The royal healer paid me a visit in Canridge City. She wanted to get some rare items and simply took the opportunity to help me out there," Jeran said with a small smile.
He did not want to mention how crazed the royal healer sounded when she heard that the stump was fixed and partly healed by a teenager.
Jeran had totally refused to give her a name, knowing she would not let the poor boy have a breath of air.
Reith grinned.
"Thank you also, Master Jeran, especially for yesterday. I am immensely grateful, as it means so much to me."
"Humph!" Jeran turned away. "I already said it's fine. Do not disappoint me in the Final Selection, Reith. Take care."
His retreating words echoed in Reith's ears, and the boy could only nod.
"Let's get to our class," Isho said, taking hold of Reith's hand and pulling him away.
Reith chuckled lightly.
"Slow down, you will make me fall," he said, but deep in his heart, a fire had risen.
He would get stronger and win the Final Selection.
The door swung open with a loud thud as the two of them stepped out of the hall.
"Do you know where the classes are?" Reith asked, and Isho nodded.
"It's in the brochure we were given. Did you not get yours?"
Reith rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward smile. He had collapsed into the bed the moment he arrived yesterday.
Not minding the lack of response, Isho led them forward.
They moved down the courtyard, taking in the view as they walked on the stony pavement.
"It's bigger than I expected," Isho muttered.
Reith was amazed also.
"And it's just a branch for the training, I wonder how the real academy would look like." He whispered to himself.
They passed by a statue of what looked like Leon, and then a small fountain was right in front of it.
"I think our class is around the first turn." Isho said, his eyes focused entirely on the map in his hands.
"Do you think we would meet other people from different cities? I would like to know a lot about the other cities too." Reith smiled as they made the turn.
They arrived in front of a sturdy door with a sign labelled '1S', and Isho's hand hovered near the door handle.
"We will just have to find out."