The boys were all gathered in the training hall waiting for Shi Anjing and Huo Lan could barely control his excitement as he hopped from one foot to the other.
The others: '...'
The kid's personality was too bright, it was blinding. What was he always so happy about?
If this was his former world, Wen Yu wouldn't mind it but this was a world that constantly either feared or exalted the strong.
Huo Lan surely had good potential, so he must have encountered or be taught about the crueler sides of the world even if he was a child, especially as a commoner.
They were more prone to people rejecting their existence. The commoners saw them as part of the strong so they despised them out of envy. The elites considered them tainted as they had commoner blood, so they rejected them.
That was why a lot of the talented commoners opt for the army as their first choice of careers. The army mostly cared about talents.
So why was he always so happy? Had the kid really not encountered any hardship in his little life? Was he not educated about the ways of the world by his elders?
Shi Anjing soon walked in face down. A wave of strictly dressed seniors came in after and they all walked over to their instructees.
Lingxiu Academy actually had many renowned Spirit masters but as they were all pre-enrolled cadets, they had no qualifications to be instructed by these masters and had to learn under these seniors.
Xie Wei Da soon walked in following behind Han Zihao and when they spotted the senior he was assigned to, Xie Wei Da sniggered whilst Han Yu frowned and walked over.
The Han kid stood before the attendant boy and sneered. "This is the senior you were assigned to? Someone who is known to be an idiot?"
The attendant boy lowered his head and said nothing.
Han Zihao humphed. "The Han family had done you a favour by allowing you to accompany me here and this is how you repay them? One of the Han family persons being instructed by an idiot, you've really made us lose face."
The surrounding kids all laughed out and even a few seniors were smiling secretly.
The hulk senior came over and threw his large hand over Shi Anjing's shoulders, causing the boy to hunch even further.
"Little brother you can't call your senior Shi here an idiot like that. What would I do if the teachers were to find out?"
He went on to ruffle Shi Anjing's hair. "Next time, make sure not many ears are around before cussing him out to your heart's content."
The kids' laughters increased and even the seniors could barely hold theirs anymore.
Han Zihao smiled and nodded, like a pecking hen, at the hulk. The senior smiled back and they both walked away.
Wen Yu just stared at each one of the seniors and looked to the trembling Shi Anjing. How could they treat him like that? The more time he spent in this universe, the more terrified he was.
These seniors weren't all that special themselves. They only knew how to act almighty before the pre-enrolled kids. If they really were that talented, they would've been chosen to participate in the FCC and not be here instructing a bunch of kids!
Shi Anjing glanced at them once and walked off to one of the private practice rooms, not caring if they were following. The boys just exchanged looks and silently walked after him.
"Trash leading an even trashier bunch of trash." A kid shouted and laughter filled the air after them.
The boys clenched their fists at their sides and even the ever happy Huo Lan had slightly reddened eyes.
They all arrived at the private practice hall and Shi Anjing just clicked on his bracelet and sent some files over to them without speaking.
Qi San couldn't take it anymore. "How could you let them treat you like that?!"
Shi Anjing just lowered his head and said nothing.
Saying anything more was unnecessary so the boys all looked at their bracelets.
The file the senior sent over basically contained information on the quarterly assessments.
The first one was a written exam that tested their knowledge on subjects such as Mecha, Geography, Cross Federation studies, Science and Math.
The second one focused on their aptitudes. It tested for things like thinking capability, adaptability, mental fortitude and endurance.
The third and most important examination was one where they were all grouped into teams and each team had to compete with the other teams for the top ten.
The exact details of what the last exam entailed wasn't clear but spirit energy was definitely involved and only the members of the top ten teams were enrolled.
The boys finished reading the files and looked up at Shi Anjing.
Shi Anjing stared dumbly at them for some minutes before he seemed to realize himself and walked up to the centre of the practice hall to pull on the elevated lever.
Immediately, the environment rapidly changed and the boys were in a peaceful meadow full of flowers and flourishing trees.
The skies were a cacophony of different colours but the source was not the sun. Instead a transparent stone in the shape of a hexagon, a large hex crystal, stood high in the sky.
The entire virtual space was dense with spirit force and this was because practice rooms such as the one they were in were usually built upon living cores.
Living cores were basically a swirling mass of light matter which was formed as a result of thick concentration of the spirit force of the universe at key locations.
It gave off spirit force in massive waves and it was up to Spirit masters to use hex stones as mediums to transfer the force and convert them to spirit energy according to their talent.
Shi Anjing looked at his bracelet once again and then flicked his arm in front of him. A blue, palm sized, hex stone appeared before each of them. They knew what to do.
Wen Yu sighed as he sat cross legged in the lotus position with the rest of the boys.
He was familiar with this process. Assimilation. They all closed their eyes as each boy focused on absorbing spirit force through the hex stones and converting it into spirit energy in their spirit sea.
Barely one minute in and Wen Yu was beginning to sweat. His spirit sea felt really hollow and his veins were hurting terribly.
More spirit force was drowned in his spirit sea but there was no difference. He soon gasped when the cold started to set in. It hurt terribly. It felt like he was suffering from a severe case of frostbite.
He grit his teeth and continued to endure. He was shivering and his limbs felt like rocks but he remained stubborn. The basic requirement for full enrollment was the Green phase so he needed to advance at all cost. Even if he might never get there in his lifetime, he still had to give it a shot. How would he know without trying?
There was no other way anyways so he had to put in all he had. He persisted through the cold and soon lost all feelings in his limbs but he didn't stop, he couldn't stop. Not if he wanted to keep his life in the long run.
He held on for five more minutes before losing consciousness.
The next time Wen Yu woke up, he was in an open healing pod and his roommates were all staring at him with weird looks.
"Ah Yu..." Wen Lin cried out the moment he sat up and rushed over. Her eyes were red and there were two white streaks on her cheeks. She'd been crying.
"What happened?" He cleared his sore throat and asked as he took a sip of the glass of water she offered to him.
Qi San snorted. "We should be asking you that. One minute, we were all assimilating and the next, you were turning into a real life ice block!"
Huo Lan stepped forward. "You really scared us Wen Yu."
Qi San humphed. "BAH! He scared only you. If he were to turn into an ice cube this instant I won't even blink!"
Wen Yu frowned. This was the first time he'd tried to assimilate through the pain and this was the result.
Was there really no hope for him?