Soon, the first speaker, a teacher familiar to Su Xing and the others, took the stage, Winx.
Winx was wearing a formal suit today, and his gold-rimmed glasses made him appear even more refined.
“Hello, students. I am Winx, the first-year head director. It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I know you must be full of curiosity about Spirit Realm Academy and full of hope for your future as Phantom Masters. However, I must sternly tell you at the beginning of the school year that being a Phantom Master is by no means a profession full of light and happiness.”
Unexpectedly, he started with such a serious topic.
The first-years, who had been restless, instantly fell silent.
“I know many of you have come with dreams of being heroes, and many others are hoping for fame and fortune. But look behind you; these few senior students who are still alive and in school are all the senior students who remain. So where did the rest go? I think you should have some guesses in your hearts…”
He paused, falling silent, and then spoke again after a moment, “I can tell you responsibly that the graduation rate for fifth-year students each year is less than 50%.”
“Is it because the remaining students aren’t strong enough to graduate? No, it’s because they don’t even get the chance to graduate!”
He gave everyone a moment to react, then seriously asked, “Even so, are you still willing to become a Phantom Master?”
Kaka immediately shouted loudly, “Yes!”
Su Xing rolled her eyes.
He was trying to make everyone think, and Kaka’s thoughtless, direct answer just ruined the atmosphere he had so carefully built up, didn’t it?
She immediately went to cover the idiot’s mouth.
However, it was no use; what needed to be shouted had already been shouted, and everyone in the auditorium looked their way.
Winx was momentarily awkward, not expecting such a disruption.
But he quickly recovered, smiling, and asked, “Kaka, why are you so willing?”
“Because I like it,” Kaka answered matter-of-factly, having struggled free from Su Xing’s hand.
Winx raised an eyebrow, “Even if it means sacrificing your life for it?”
Kaka nodded, “My parents say that sacrificing one’s life for what one loves is worthwhile.”
“But your parents will be heartbroken by your death. Are you still willing, even so?”
Kaka pondered this question for a moment, then answered slowly, word by word, as if organizing his thoughts as he spoke, “If I die to eliminate some danger, then my parents will surely have an extra measure of safety. They would definitely be willing to sacrifice their lives for my safety, and so, conversely, I am the same.”
No one in the audience made a sound during this Q&A.
They all wanted to know how Kaka would answer.
After he finished, no one spoke.
It wasn’t until Winx started applauding that everyone reacted.
For a moment, the auditorium erupted in thunderous applause.
Su Xing also clapped admiringly, smiling at the flustered Kaka.
Frankly, was Kaka’s answer profound?
Not at all; it could only be described as simple and unadorned.
But precisely Kaka’s answer was the true reason why the vast majority fought for Mercury.
On this planet, there were people they had to protect, so even if it meant sacrificing their lives, they had to hold the Mercury defense line.
Kaka simply stated this truth in the most unpretentious way, yet successfully moved everyone beyond mere platitudes to truly ponder the matter.
Winx said happily, “Your words make me very happy, teacher. Although there’s still a big gap in your mindset and strength, you undoubtedly already have the foundation to be a good Phantom Master.”
Winx spoke a few more words, then handed the stage over to other grade directors.
Finally, it was the Vice Principal’s turn. Yes, the Vice Principal.
The Principal never appeared throughout the entire ceremony.
Kaka whispered in Su Xing’s ear, “They say Principal Tang Ren has gone missing again recently. My mom says he disappears for a while every time the opening ceremony comes around, just to avoid giving a speech. My mom never saw the Principal attend an opening ceremony in her five years at school.”
Okay, big shots are just eccentric.
The Vice Principal was also a long-established big shot, with a Fire Dragon Phantom that could do anything from heaven to earth.
His personality was also as fiery as his Phantom.
He finished his speech in just a few words.
Then he swiftly announced that everyone could return to their classes.
Teacher Adra led Su Xing and the others to a classroom on the first floor of the main teaching building.
Standing at the podium, she said, “Hello, students, today is the first day of school. We will mainly be doing two things: first, distributing your timetables, and second, electing class representatives.”
***
After speaking, she first handed out the class schedules.
Su Xing quickly scanned it.
The courses mainly consisted of a school-wide unified morning run around the lake, then liberal arts classes like Phantom Studies, Phantom Master History, and Herb Identification.
Following that were martial arts classes, Basic Combat Training, Phantom Synergy, and Specialized Training.
Specialized Training was where courses were tailored to a Phantom’s attribute.
For example, since her Phantom was wind-attributed, she would naturally go to the wind attribute training class.
“Next is the time for class committee elections. We will only be electing a class president, a liberal arts representative, and a martial arts representative. You now have ten minutes to prepare, and after ten minutes, you can volunteer.”
Su Xing and her three companions were already sitting together.
As soon as the teacher finished speaking, Su Xing immediately turned to Quinn behind her, “Quinn, how were your grades before?”
Quinn’s expression stiffened.
Realizing what Su Xing meant, he quickly refused, “I… I refuse to go up and run for any position!”
Su Xing immediately smiled, “So your grades are indeed excellent, right? I’m not forcing you to be class president, but being a liberal arts representative should be no problem, right?”
Quinn shook his head vigorously, “No no no no!”
Su Xing persuaded him, “Think about it, do you really want to attend history class and such? With that time spent on history, we might as well practice our skills. If you become the class representative, we can ditch class without being discovered.”
These words didn’t move Quinn, but they clearly moved Kaka.
Even Evangel was tempted and joined in persuading Quinn.
“You should do it. Your grades are good, and your Phantom is powerful. If you compete, you’ll definitely win everyone over.”
“Whoever doesn’t agree, I’ll beat them up.”
Quinn tried to persuade them in reverse, “Even if I let you ditch class, what then? The class president won’t just stand by. There are so few people in the class; you have no room to ditch class at all.”
Kaka immediately said, “My mom says that because Spirit Realm Academy has so few people, two classes always attend together each year. With forty to fifty people, we still have room to ditch class.”
Su Xing also said confidently, “Don’t worry, as long as you become the liberal arts representative, I’ll handle the class president.”
“But… but I st-st-stutter!”
Quinn finally voiced his deepest concern.
This was indeed a problem.
Stuttering itself wasn’t an issue, but it did affect one’s presence.
However, there are always more solutions than problems.
Su Xing thought for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Did you know, when you say medical professional terms, you don’t stutter!”
Soon, the elections began, starting with the liberal arts representative.
Three people raised their hands: two girls and one boy.
The boy was, of course, Quinn.
The two girls went first.
One had a capable personality, the other was gentler.
Both spoke clearly and presented their past experience as class committee members.
Adra nodded in satisfaction, looking expectantly at Quinn, signaling it was his turn.
Quinn uncertainly stood up and looked down twice, receiving encouraging glances from Su Xing and the other two.
Only then did he take a deep breath and walk to the podium.
“I, am, Quinn. Liberal arts, representative, needs, to know, a lot, knowledge.”
Quinn spoke word by word, trying his best not to stumble.
After saying this, he breathed a sigh of relief and spoke at a normal pace, “Regarding Phantoms, I know about the Demon Warbler Bird, the Fire Cloud Beast… and the River Dragon. These are all compulsory for first-years.”
“Regarding herbs, I know about the Humming Mushroom, the Lantern Berry… and the Ghost-faced Hibiscus. These are also compulsory for first-years.”
“The same goes for historical figures.”
After rattling off all of this in one breath, he pushed up his glasses and, following Su Xing’s teaching, spoke word by word again, “If, I, become, the representative, I, will, definitely, be able to, guide, everyone, to better, complete, missions.”
Everyone had been dizzy from his long list-like introduction, but upon hearing the last sentence, everyone’s eyes lit up.
Sure enough, when the voting results came out, the vast majority of the class chose Quinn.
After all, top students are easy to find, but a top student willing to let everyone copy their homework is not.
The teacher was also very satisfied with this result.
She could see that Quinn had definitely prepared diligently and had a rich store of knowledge.
She felt very confident with such a student as a class representative.
Soon, the other two positions were also filled.
The martial arts representative was a boy ranked eighth on the offensive list, and the class president was a girl ranked sixth in control.
Su Xing saw that the class president was a very good student, and she quickly had an idea, “You all study hard for a month. At most, after a month, the class president will definitely be no problem.”
The following short period was a busy adaptation phase.
Su Xing studied diligently.
Combat skills and history classes were taken by classes A and B together, and the remaining by B and C together.
Victor was in Class A.
The two sides already disliked each other, so when they sparred, it was hard for them not to clash.
In combat skills class, Evangel was consistently far ahead.
If others were mostly beginners, he was like a max-level expert who accidentally wandered into a beginner’s village.
After all, he was a professional assassin, truly incomparable to ordinary children; they weren’t even in the same league.
Su Xing’s combat skills were also good.
She hadn’t formally learned combat techniques, but her strength lay in her ruthless moves and agile physique, mostly from past experience.
This resulted in both of them dominating others.
Every time it was Victor’s turn to spar with them, Victor would always leave the classroom with a distorted, furious expression.
This brings us to Su Xing and Evangel’s fighting techniques.
They knew precisely where to strike to cause extreme pain without leaving external marks.
Since Victor deliberately provoked them, he had to face the consequences.
Anyway, it wasn’t against the rules.
Su Xing also excelled in the Phantom synergy training class.
Feng Jun’s intelligence was significantly higher than ordinary Phantoms, and it understood her words, naturally completing her commands smoothly.
However, what Su Xing felt she gained the most from was the specialized training class, where they had to maintain balance in a hurricane.
This was indeed difficult, but it also gave Su Xing a deeper understanding of the wind element.
Unfortunately, she still couldn’t make Feng Jun release its ability, so these insights couldn’t be fully implemented.
A month passed quickly.
Su Xing went to Winx for the second time to collect her living expenses and, while there, received the key to the storage room.
She would have to thoroughly clean the place for the next week.
Even for that valuable Big Ear Conch, she couldn’t disappoint Winx.
However, what Su Xing absolutely couldn’t have imagined at that moment was that cleaning the storage room would be the beginning of a massive conspiracy.