In the courtyard, in the wider space of the fortress, the fledglings were all together as they looked in one direction.
“It is with great joy that we welcome the freshmen and freshmen of UGRG. The arrival of each of you is the certainty of the renewal of our institutional mission and of our commitment to the formation of the human civilization, committed to the construction of a fair and democratic society.”
“This year we celebrate 1100 years, marked by many challenges and many achievements, all possible thanks to the efforts of students, professors, and technicians, men, and women who are dedicated to making this University better and better. The UGRG – an institution respected nationally and internationally for the quality of the teaching, research, and extension activities it develops – currently houses more than 1 million people.”
“The moment you were accepted, and the moment you arrived at UGRG, you became a direct part of this history, and we are sure that all the knowledge built in classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and in the many spaces of collective coexistence will the difference in their lives.”
“Thank you for choosing UGRG! We hope you are very happy here.”
“Why did he just now start a welcoming speech?” Barbara was clearly confused.
‘On second thought, there hasn’t been anything like this before…’ Barbara thought to herself.
“I don’t know, but…” Julia was going to say that maybe it’s common for it to be like that, but not all the freshmen were present, which confused her even more: “On second thought, it’s really weird.”
“Shhh!” Maisa signaled for them to be silent since teacher Sérgio was looking in their direction.
Immediately they were silent.
Meanwhile, the deputy director ended his speech: “That said, everyone is prepared; the practical exam is also something that brings honor and pride not only to you freshmen but to the entire university. In recent years, our university, unfortunately, came in second, always losing to the Golden Phoenix University, but it is my deep wish that this year will be different!”
When the vice principal fell silent, Ariel said, “I think he said all that, to make us feel part of the university, so we strive to win and bring honor to the university…”
It didn’t seem like a wrong assumption, but Ariel was still unsure if it was because of that or not.
Maisa said: “By the way, when did the deputy director arrive?”
“No idea, didn’t he come along?” Barbara was more detached about it.
“Be silent.” Amon said, “Old Hazael is here too and is about to speak.”
“Oh…”𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒆𝒕
Only then did the girls notice old Hazael take the stage. He was more elegant than usual, even his aura gave off a wiser vibe.
Adjusting his blue tie, old Hazael cleared his throat and said, “Very well. The information of the practical test in conjunction with the three major universities was announced. The rules are simple: It will be done in groups of up to five people. Each group will receive a medallion with a space of five cubic meters.”
He added: “Obviously, not only that, teams can fight each other, in particular, rival universities will hunt you down for your medallions with the items they have amassed, thus increasing their loot.”
Hearing this, some freshmen got scared, after all, just thinking about it, it was possible to imagine how brutal this would be since not everyone had the confidence to beat the other teams or even come out unscathed. At worst, they could even be killed.
I understand that, old Hazael said, “Of course, even if they die in the test, they don’t really die; although they have the experience of death, they will be sent outside the barrier where the test will begin, that is, they need not fear death.”
Although he says this, it would be difficult for them to ignore the fact that they would possibly have to experience what it would be like to die. It was human to not like to feel too much pain, it wouldn’t be now that they would be prone to feel pain just for a few gains, but old Hazael’s next words aroused the greed of many of them.
“Of course, all winnings will be yours. Among the teams, thirty will remain, that is, if you manage to stay among the thirty teams until the end, you will be able to receive all the items you got in the test. An important warning, the items that will come across in this test will be of excellent quality. Even when they create the first genetic factor it will be useful, some even useful to be able to create the first genetic factor, that’s why this change is so important.”
It’s that old saying: If you don’t take big risks, you’ll never get big rewards.
Of course, they could end up taking a lot of risks and getting nothing in return… At least it may seem like that, but even the experience of death is something valuable, not everyone has the opportunity to experience it.
Young people have always been hot-blooded, especially when there were chances for rewarding achievements. The moment they heard this, even though they were afraid to experience death, they were red-eyed with desire.
“Amon, we are a team, yes?” Julia and Maisa almost at the same time claimed him.
“Yes.” Amon nodded neutrally.
Like Amon and the girls, the other fledglings began to form teams. Not everyone in the water department was able to learn healing spells, even light healing was important, capable of changing the direction of a battle. Therefore, these people were targeted by freshmen with strong fighting abilities.
“Can I join your team, I know to attack and defense strengthening spells.” A boy came up to Maisa and Julia while smiling gently. “By the way, my name is Fabricio Bueno.”
“No, our team is already complete.” Maisa flatly refused.
Fabricio didn’t seem to want to give up and said, “But it looks like this boy won’t be of much help to you. How about this, take him off your team and put me in his place? I promise you won’t regret it!”