After giving those heavy final words, Jeremy stepped back so that Kit could recount his experience.
"Thankfully, my year was more easygoing, with 113 of us passing. The types of missions we all received were also much more diverse. Our mission was regarding Starfruit Village, a village near the outskirts of our Southern region. This time last year, this village was experiencing a terrible famine, therefore resources and supplies needed to be brought to them as soon as possible. However, mysteriously all of the caravans sent towards the village never arrived. Our task was to safely escort the next group of caravans while determining the reason for the previous caravans' disappearance. I won't bore you with the nitty-gritty details, but similar to what Jeremy said, beasts aren't the only ones you may have to kill."
Again, the room fell into a long period of surprised silence. Most of the high schoolers were not mentally prepared to fight and kill other humans.
"Thank you Kit! And thanks to the rest of our guest lecturers, your experiences have surely helped our students greatly." The principal broke the silence while applauding. Kain and the others also joined in the applause. After all, although their experiences were intimidating, the fact that they were taking the time out of their busy college life to give high schoolers advice and answer their questions was something to be immensely grateful for.
"Do you students have any questions remaining? Now's your last chance." the principal said while glancing at Kain and the others.
Kain immediately put his hand up, "do any of you have knowledge about the Dark Moon College entrance exam?"
The 3 guest lecturers looked at one another, before Bridget stepped forward, likely realizing that the other two were clueless about the Dark Moon College exam.
"I have no personal experience with Dark Moon's exam. However, my roommate is from the eastern region and did take their exam, although she did not pass"
This filled Kain with anxiety. A student that passed the 2nd ranked Supernova's exam, was unable to pass Dark Moon's?
"As I'm sure you know, the eastern region has the largest expanse of forests and the most diverse range of spiritual creatures in its borders."
Kain nodded, 'perfect for someone like me who has no idea what their affinity is.'
Bridget continued, "Due to the high amount of spiritual creatures in their vicinity, every few years a beast tide will occur. When the numbers of the spiritual creatures become too high for the environment to sustain, they attack human cities in search of food. My roommate said that for the entrance exam, their task was to endure the attacks from a beast tide while avoiding death, injuries too severe to continue fighting, or draining all of their energy. Apparently, less than 80 students out of thousands of applicants managed to achieve this."
Kain, immediately felt anxious. He's not even sure what his first contract will be, he has no idea if it'll be one suitable to survive a beast tide.
"She also mentioned another potential exam option. One that was given to her older sister 5 years ago. Dark Moon Academy possesses 4 relics, the second highest amount of all the top colleges, all of which do not allow contact with the outside world once you enter. Many of them also have age and/or strength restrictions that prevent instructors from following you for protection. Therefore, once you enter a relic, you are truly alone. In order to filter out prospective students for who could and could not survive their relics, the first level of one of their relics served as the site of their exam. All those that could pass were admitted. However, this admissions method was apparently discontinued because the death toll was too high. Less than 40 students passed that year, while nearly 600 students died. 600 students with ratings above B, who were the pride of their respective families, schools, and towns, died."
After receiving this information, Kain was now very worried about his chances of being admitted as a beast-tamer to Dark Moon College.
Likely inspired by Kain's line of questioning, the others also asked for information regarding the entrance exams of the remaining two colleges. However, none of them could provide any information.
"Frozen Sun College is at the northern tip of the Empire, it's rare for students outside of the northern region to apply there," Jeremy said in regards to the lowest ranking of the top 5 colleges. "While the First Celestial Academy is in the capital, they rarely admit anyone outside of the central region, and most of their recruits are genius top legacies from old prestigious families, many of whom have amazing inherited affinities and even gifts that were further nurtured and refined by the old monsters in their families."
Arlo, who before this information session seemed extremely confident, began to reveal some anxiety. "What would you say is the average strength of students admitted into the top 5 colleges?"
"Well," said Bridget, "Students that manage to get admitted one year with a bit of luck, may not get admitted another year. It's helpful to have some information on these exams though, that way you could prepare for and target the one you feel suits you best and increase your chances.
"However, the top applicants like those I described for my year likely would be admitted no matter where and when they applied. Some years have more of such talented applicants than others.
"Although, I did hear that your year had an absolute genius among geniuses. Supposedly, they managed to awaken independently of the help from the affinity ceremony. The first one to do so in decades. Even among S-rated applicants, they must be at the absolute top. Although, they seem to be from one of the old families in the Capital, so it's unlikely that any of you will run into them unless you apply for the First Celestial Academy.
'At least that's one monster I don't have to worry about' Kain and the others sighed in relief.
"Well if there are no more questions, let's give our guests another round of applause."
After the 3 graduates left, the principal turned to the high schoolers remaining. "I've already spoken with your homeroom teachers, all students with an affinity can take the remaining month of school off until graduation so that they can prepare for the entrance exams at their chosen colleges. Since I'm assuming that you all are entering the beast-taming major and not an academic major, this last month of academic review will be useless to you all.
'Excellent, that gives me time to act on some of the theories I had regarding my affinity"