NOVEL NEXT Chapter 100: Uzino
Soon, one girl on the left side asked. "Instructor, are there any rules for forming a team?"
Everyone in the class quieted down, waiting for the answer.
Instructor Luna shook her head. "You can form your team with whomever you want. The only restriction is that every member needs to be from the same class."
Zayn mumbled. [It really changed.]
Xane raised his eyebrow. <Oh, how was it in the novel?>
Zayn said to him. [There was no class-bound restriction in the novel? Though if it were just this much, it would not change the result that much.]
Instructor Luna added, "As for the size of the team, there needs to be a minimum of 3 students and a maximum of 7 students that can be part of one team."
At this moment, a guy sitting in the last row suddenly asked, "Is the positioning of the top 10 teams fixed for the entire academy time?"
She shook her head. "Well, it's not fixed. You can try to seize the top position in your second year or even later. It's just that no such thing has ever happened throughout the history of the academy."
A silence formed in the class. It hit them that this was their only chance. If they failed, then they would be at the mercy of the top teams.
Those in the upper batch also realized it might not be just quantity, but there should be some qualitative advantage as well.
They knew many legendary figures in history who were low boomers, and even they failed.
The value of the top ten teams increased in their eyes. It was just that the harsh reality.
While those on Liam's team had poker faces, everyone else had ugly expressions. Many in the back even looked at Liam with troubled faces.
After a month in the academy, they were already clear about their strengths.
They already knew that becoming part of the top teams was a distant dream.
Some of them had even given up that dream and already begun planning their next best course of action.
Instructor Luna shook her head. "Remember, the competition is not about strength. In the competition, many will lose trying to be at the top, and then some may not get the top position but still win."
The smart ones nodded at her in understanding. Even if they did not become part of the top team, but managed to get one of them as their backer, it would be better than nothing.
One confused dwarf asked, "Instructor, what do you mean by that?"
Instructor Luna just ignored him and tapped the platform twice.
The next moment, two papers flew out of the stack, one green and the other red.
She mumbled a bit and snapped her fingers. The next moment, all the papers started flying around her, and then flew to the students.
Soon, all the students had 2 papers on their desks, one red and the other green.
Xane saw there were still a couple of papers left on the platform. It was clear that Krist was not the only one not attending the class.
Instructor Luna said to them, "From this moment onward, forget about everything, remove everything from your mind, and just focus on increasing your strength and finding students who help you with that."
"The two papers in front of you are your key to entering the competition. There are instructions written on the back of both papers on how to use them. You have one month to fill them up."
"On the last day of the second month, both these keys will burn on their own, registering your response to the academy. As long as you do not mess up the rules on the paper, you can do whatever else you want. Am I clear?"
Everyone shouted in unison, "Yes, Instructor!"
"Now, the theme of this year's competition is HUNT. That's all I have to say. See you in the next class." With that, she vanished from the class.
There was silence for a few seconds, and then chaos started.
Students began talking among themselves. Xane glanced around, observing who was part of which team.
Even though Liam's action of including different species on his team managed to unify the three species a bit, Xane clearly saw that elves and dwarves still had reservations.
Most of the teams had one species as the majority.
What was more interesting was that he even saw a couple of students from the upper batch actually stand up and walk to the back leftmost corner.
He saw them talking to the black-haired guy who had asked about the fixed position for the top seed.
Zayn mumbled. [Oh, looks like Uzino already had the fallout.]
Xane tilted his head. <Uzino?>
Zayn pointed. [That guy sitting in the left corner. He is the main villain of Class 2. Remember, Marcin talked about the guy who fell from Liam's team? That's the guy.]
Xane raised his eyebrow as he stared at the pale-skinned, black-haired guy packed with lean muscle.
If Liam had this bright aura around him, then a gloomy aura surrounded this Uzino guy.
The good thing was that Xane was still sitting a few rows before the guy. So, he could see clearly that even though Uzino had an outwardly lax posture, those eyes said otherwise.
Not wanting to attract unwanted attention, Xane turned back and rubbed his arms.
He tried his best not to smile and asked, <How come you didn't introduce me to such an interesting person before?>
Zayn paused for a bit and asked, [What did you find?]
What did he find? There were a lot of answers to that question, but if he had to describe it in one word, it would be. <Killer. That guy must have slaughtered at least hundreds, if not thousands.>
He couldn't help but ask, <Which family does he belong to? What's his story?>
Zayn found this response surprising. He hadn't even seen Xane this interested in Liam's history.
But then he thought about Uzino's background and sighed. [That guy is the eldest son of the lead researcher couple at the Ashen Lab.]
<Ashen Lab?>
[Think of them as the crazy scientist organization of this cursed world. Those guys would do anything to produce the ultimate hex master, and Uzino was one of their failed research projects.]
<Failed research?>