[First Semester: 4 months]
[As said before, this year will be divided into 3 trials, with the sole goal of reducing the amount of people participating as each semester concludes.]
"..."
[I don't believe any information is needed to be said as it is pretty obvious, but this will be dangerous]
[Quitting halfway through the trial is immediate expulsion]
[And the first trial is...]
[Rift Rush!]
"Rift rush, what?"
"Shut up, just listen..."
"I'm kind of nervous..."
Talk immediately rose up as the name of the first trial appeared; yet Stark's expression remained as neutral as ever before, not impressed by any of this.
Nothing could be deadlier than a [Domination] trial, and that sole fact made it so that this seemed like a child's game to him.
"Hey, what do you think it's about," Lana turned around and tried to speak to Stark.
"I think you should watch out, stepping out is expulsion after all," but he just smiled back, avoiding the question as it made his blood boil.
To be honest, anyone that had participated in one of the [Domination] trials, saw one, or even knew just a little bit of information about it would know just how bad they were.
[As stated before, there are exactly 5000 of you in this room.]
[We will divide these 5000 people into 50 different groups, meaning 100 students per group.]
On the screen, a small human figure was copied and divided into 50 small squares, and each time the screen showed something, they switched accordingly as to make the entire presentation more dynamic for people and make them understand faster, they had thought of everything it seems as actually everyone could easily understand.
[100 people - 50 groups, and so the reason it is called 'Rift Rush' is because...]
'Because...?' Stark tilted his head, why were they so keen on keeping the suspense going for no reason.
[Because each of these 50 groups will be given a rift to conquer.]
[And the 20 groups that fall last in conquering their rifts will be expelled.]
The room literally exploded as these words appeared.
This meant that 2000 people would be expelled in the first round no matter what, maybe even more as deaths were counted as failures, and there was no saying everyone would survive in their own teams, as fighting in groups of people of 50 meant, I don't know, AT LEAST 10 people per group had a chance of dying.
"SIR!" A guy in military clothes raised his hand, he was in the first row, meaning he was one of those that arrived first, plus he acted exactly like someone in the military.
"Yes?" the holographic screen stopped, and the chairman responded, he was the one that would take over if someone had a question or something they needed better explanations for.
"How will the rifts be given! And how will we decide about our teammates!"
"Haha~" the chairman laughed, "Calm down, I like your enthusiasm, but everything will be explained later!"
[I want to introduce you all to your 'year president'!]
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Year president? What kind of bullshit is this?"
[The year president is the strongest person in the entire year!]
[So I would advise not angering them if you don't wanna have problems!]
"Please come on the stage, year president!" Theodore laughed, and all the teachers and instructors clapped their hands to invite the president.
Everyone waited, and in the distance Stark saw that a figure, which had been in one of the squares of the very first row, got out of their spot to head toward the stage.
The figure, with her long beautiful white hair, approached the stage and climbed up, stopping right next to Theodore, an emotionless look on her face as she didn't look one bit nervous.
And so the reveal happened.
[Year President: Sora Gardenis!]
A picture of Sora appeared on the holographic screen, and her beautiful face could be seen by everyone.
[The chairman and teachers have analyzed all the students, and Sora is by far the strongest among all 5000 of you!]
"..." Stark's face was stuck in a state of shock, his mouth wide open as he couldn't believe this.
What were the chances?
"AND WHO SAYS THAT?"
"FIGHT ME AND YOU'LL SEE!"
People were already complaining, but Stark knew perfectly that this was the entire truth: not a single one of them could ever hope to match Sora.
He hadn't seen her fight much, since, y'know, the Warden was too strong, but her aura and skills were already an indicator for Stark.
Maybe even he would struggle, who knows, even though he frankly believed he could beat her if she doesn't overwhelm him with her plants.
"But it's Sora..."
"Makes sense..."
Yet somehow, another group emerged: those that believed Sora was the strongest.
In comparison to what Stark believed, Sora and her family, "Gardenis", were actually extremely well known in the entire world, owning dozens of businesses, and all family members being extremely powerful classifiers.
Sora was not exception, and she had been called a prodigy by thousands of powerful classifiers since her youngest age, plus everybody knew about her and her flower powers, and that you shouldn't mess with them.
Her 'emotionless' condition was also known, but Stark was kind of oblivious to that since he saw her cry during the trial, meaning it couldn't be this bad.
"Alright, you," the chairman pointed at a boy with a muscular body and blazing red hair in the second row as he was one of those that complained, "Come fight Sora, if you beat her you become year president!"
[Anybody who beats the year president instantly becomes "it", obviously.]