Chapter 136: The Heroine, Jia Na
In the following period, the atmosphere throughout White Coral Academy began to become tense.
For those first-year apprentices who had already advanced to One-level apprentice, failing the final exam meant repeating the year.
And for those whose mental strength was still stuck at ten points, not even qualifying as a One-level apprentice, failing to advance before the final exam meant dropping out of school.
Among the second-year apprentices, a little less than half had successfully advanced to the ranks of Second-level Wizard Apprentice.
For this group, it was natural to fully prepare for the Three-School Joint Examination three months later. After all, whether they would receive attention and resource allocation from the academy in the future depended on this one effort.
The situation for the third-year apprentices was even more special. Jia Na learned from Richard-Eva that the reason this year's Three-School Joint Examination adjusted the participants from the original Three-level apprentice to Second-level apprentice was because these Three-level Wizard Apprentice were preparing for a White Tower Trial far more rigorous than the Three-School Joint Examination.
This trial was also jointly organized and hosted by the three Wizard Academies: White Coral, Black Bone Forest, and Mist Tower. The participants were mainly all Three-level Wizard Apprentice from the three major academies in the Turin Wizard Gathering Place who met the conditions for the Dordogne-White Tower Trial.
For this group, the three academies, based on past experience, simulated a White Tower Trial themselves. It was like the 'mock exams' before the college entrance examination in Jia Na's previous life, giving everyone a preliminary assessment.
Its purpose was also to allow the Three-level Wizard Apprentice in Turin to experience the high-pressure atmosphere and process of the White Tower Trial in advance, improving their passing rate.
It can be said that the three major academies have exhausted their resources for the White Tower Trial, and are even approaching it with the spirit of 'failure is not an option,' determined to secure a promotion slot this year—
Besides this, Jia Na also hadn't seen Vivian for several days.
Jia Na learned from a message sent by Vivian that she was currently undergoing a secret special training.
It was said that if this special training was successful, it could increase Vivian's chances of entering the White Tower Trial with Jia Na.
So, for a long time, Vivian would have to spend her time in the secret realm of the Rose Family, unable to cling to Jia Na all day like before.
“Creak—creak—”
Jia Na, walking alone in the Mist Forest, soon arrived at the City of Turin. After walking for a while longer, Jia Na arrived at the Nightingale Opera Troupe entrance at exactly eight fifty, ten minutes early.
“Jia Na, I'm here—”
Seeing Liji-Xiaosi, whom she hadn't seen for some time, standing at the entrance, a smile couldn't help but appear on Jia Na's face.
“Morning, Liji, why aren't you going in?”
“Of course, because I'm waiting for you.”
Today was the day David-Berg officially gathered all the actors for the song of the ocean and prepared to begin the first round of script reading.
As the recently popular newcomer in Turin, and the absolute heroine of the song of the ocean, Jia Na's importance in the Nightingale Opera Troupe was already incomparable to the past.
In fact, to some extent, Jia Na's status already showed a faint tendency to surpass Anna-Moonshadow.
It was precisely for this reason that the originally kind gazes around Jia Na, as her status gradually climbed, had already begun to turn into 'admiration'.
Just like Liji-Xiaosi, because Jia Na had helped her secure a relatively significant role in the song of the ocean in front of Director David-Berg. From that day on, Liji-Xiaosi's attitude towards Jia Na had changed from enthusiastic to 'fanatical'.
She was even more concerned about Jia Na's diet and daily life than Jia Na's assistant manager, Zhu Li-Ann, presenting an exaggerated appearance of completely following Jia Na's lead.
At this moment, looking at Liji-Xiaosi waiting for her under the scorching sun, Jia Na felt that a small favor between friends didn't really require such gratitude.
However, Jia Na, who knew Liji-Xiaosi's straightforward and stubborn personality well, wouldn't rashly point it out.
Once the initial burst of 'overwhelming gratitude' passed, she would likely return to normal.
“Let's hurry! If we're any later, Director David will start scolding. Of course, he definitely wouldn't bear to scold you—but when it comes to scolding me, he's always been merciless—”
Seeing Liji-Xiaosi's familiar busy and flustered appearance, Jia Na found it amusing.
As the two walked downstairs together into the rehearsal hall, the noisy sound that had filled the hall suddenly quieted down the moment Jia Na pushed the door open and entered.
“Morning, everyone.”
Seeing everyone's eyes converge on her, Jia Na, who was long accustomed to it, fully utilized the characteristics of her Muscle Control talent, displayed her brightest smile, and was the first to greet everyone in the rehearsal hall.
“Morning! Jia Na!”
“Good morning, Miss Jia Na!”
“Jia Na, morning—”
Perhaps this smile was too impactful, the actors who already had a great liking for Jia Na also scrambled to greet her.
Like waves, one after another, continuously rising.
And Liji-Xiaosi, standing next to Jia Na, was like an invisible person at this moment. No matter who it was, they would automatically ignore her when greeting Jia Na.
It wasn't because Liji-Xiaosi had poor interpersonal skills or too low a presence; it was just that whenever Jia Na appeared, sometimes even Anna-Moonshadow might not be able to steal a single bit of the spotlight.
It was as if there was magic; even extraordinary individuals couldn't escape this natural magnetic field of attention.
Fortunately, Liji-Xiaosi, who was naturally optimistic, didn't mind this at all.
“Amazing! In just a few months, your popularity in the troupe is already higher than mine, an old-timer.”
Before seeing the person, the voice was heard.
Hearing the familiar teasing voice behind her, Jia Na knew it was David-Berg without even guessing.
“Morning, great director.”
“It's not early! I've been here since seven o'clock. If you had come any later, you'd be eating lunch.”
Hearing the teasing implication in David-Berg's words, Jia Na merely habitually gathered her long hair behind her back, pretending not to hear.
“Clap, clap, clap—”
Seeing that Jia Na didn't respond, David-Berg also shrugged and began clapping his hands to signal everyone to gather.
“Since most people are already here, let's start today's first script reading—same as usual, the main actors will introduce themselves first, and then we'll officially begin the script reading—”
Upon hearing this, everyone in the rehearsal hall also pulled up chairs and sat together in a circle.
Jia Na, who had also taken a seat next to David-Berg and Liji-Xiaosi, couldn't help but look around.
She suddenly found that among the actors present, besides a few familiar faces, at least more than half were new faces she had only met once before.
“Jia Na, why don't you start with the self-introduction—”