Chapter 75: New faces

Although Jackson still didn’t completely understand what was happening, his instincts told him that standing around like a statue was probably not going to end well.

Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Without wasting any more time, Jackson started moving.

He quickly caught up with Jonathan, who had already pushed toward the front of the departing crowd.

"Hey, can you tell me why everyone is in such a rush?"

Jackson glanced around as he spoke.

He had spent quite a bit of time digging through the academy forums before arriving, but he had never come across anything mentioning a situation like this.

Perhaps it was because of the casual tone in Jackson’s voice, or perhaps Jonathan simply had a good impression of him after the admission test.

Whatever the reason, Jonathan actually took the time to explain.

"In Golden Radiance Academy, competition begins the moment you’re admitted."

Jonathan gestured toward the students rushing ahead.

"All of these people are trying to secure the best lodging possible."

"Lodging at Golden Radiance Academy is divided into multiple tiers. The students who arrive first get to claim the best accommodations."

Jackson’s footsteps slowed slightly.

A puzzled expression appeared on his face.

He had expected an academy as prestigious as Golden Radiance Academy to provide relatively equal treatment to its students.

Yet apparently, even something as basic as where a student slept had become part of the competition.

They can’t even provide equal living arrangements?

It seemed a little excessive.

Jonathan seemed to understand exactly what Jackson was thinking.

He shook his head and continued explaining.

"Don’t misunderstand. The academy does this intentionally."

"Golden Radiance Academy considers this another opportunity to evaluate the students’ actual abilities."

He pointed toward the people racing ahead.

"Think about it. Everyone here knows that the best accommodations are limited. The moment the competition begins, students naturally start fighting for them."

"The academy observes their performance during this process and uses it to judge their abilities in real combat situations."

"Based on how they perform, they’re ranked."

Jackson’s eyes flickered.

That explained everything.

He didn’t need Jonathan to explain how important rankings were at Golden Radiance Academy.

Everything here seemed to revolve around ranking.

Resources.

Lodging.

Opportunities.

Recognition.

Even the amount of attention a student received from the academy would probably depend on where they stood.

The moment Jackson understood this, the confusion in his eyes disappeared.

A clear picture formed in his mind.

So that’s how it is.

There was no longer any reason to hesitate.

Jackson’s expression became serious.

The next moment, he suddenly accelerated.

Whoosh!

His body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

With his peak-level Second Sequence physique, his speed was astonishing.

The surrounding scenery blurred as he rapidly overtook the students ahead of him.

For an instant, Jackson felt that very few people present should be capable of matching his speed.

But that thought lasted only a few seconds.

Jackson glanced to the side.

Several figures were still moving alongside him.

His eyebrows rose slightly.

They’re keeping up?

He looked more carefully at the students around him.

It didn’t take long for him to understand why.

Most of the Awakened who had managed to keep pace possessed talents related to movement, agility, or speed.

Some had strange fluctuations surrounding their legs.

Others moved with an unnatural lightness, their bodies seemingly ignoring part of their own weight.

There were always people who specialized in a particular attribute.

Jackson’s eyes narrowed slightly.

So there are quite a few talented people here.

He didn’t slow down.

The competition had only just begun, and already the students were revealing their strengths.

As the crowd raced forward, the scenery ahead gradually changed.

The enormous academy buildings gave way to a quieter section of the campus.

Then Jackson’s eyes suddenly widened slightly.

Ahead of him stood a row of magnificent villas.

They were far more luxurious than he had expected.

Each villa was several stories tall, surrounded by carefully maintained gardens and spacious courtyards. Their architecture was elegant without being overly extravagant, and the sheer amount of space surrounding each building made them look more like private residences than student dormitories.

Jackson swept his gaze across the area.

At a rough glance, there appeared to be more than ten such villas.

Each one was large enough to accommodate four students comfortably.

The realization immediately made the students around him accelerate even further.

Apparently, everyone had the same thought.

The race had only just begun, and the battle for the best villa was already underway.

Without thinking too much about it, Jackson moved toward the villa closest to him.

By the time he reached it, several students were already rushing toward the other villas. The competition erupted almost instantly.

Within just a few minutes, every villa had been occupied.

But claiming a villa was one thing.

Holding on to that position was an entirely different matter.

The moment the initial scramble ended, challenges began arriving one after another.

Some students challenged Jackson directly, hoping to force him out and claim the villa for themselves. Most of them possessed impressive talents, and a few were even stronger than the average peak First Sequence Awakened.

Unfortunately for them, none were strong enough.

Jackson defeated every challenger who came for him.

Sometimes it took only a single move.

Other times, his opponent managed to last several exchanges before being overwhelmed by his superior physical strength and combat experience.

The challenges continued in large waves, with students arriving one after another as though they had agreed to take turns exhausting him.

Jackson remained calm throughout.

Compared to the battles he had experienced outside the academy, these challenges were barely worth mentioning.

Half an hour later, the competition finally came to an end.

The students had settled into their positions according to their strength.

Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps there was some other reason behind it, but Jonathan ended up in the same villa as Jackson.

He had secured his position by defeating a petite-looking girl and forcing her to give up the villa.

Other than Jonathan, the two remaining villa mates were a boy with shoulder-length black hair named Jackle and a beautiful girl with an angelic face named Abella Northwind.

The moment Jackson heard her surname, a faint light flickered through both his and Jonathan’s eyes.

Northwind.

Anyone carrying that surname was unlikely to be an ordinary individual.

As far as Jackson knew, the Northwind family was one of humanity’s largest weapon manufacturers.

The weapons produced by the family were used throughout the battlefield, and many of humanity’s most powerful Awakened relied on equipment forged by their craftsmen.

The family’s influence extended across numerous sectors.

Yet there was one thing Jackson couldn’t understand.

Why would someone like Abella come all the way to Sector Sixty-Seven to attend Golden Radiance Academy?

With her family’s resources and influence, she could probably gain access to almost any academy or training facility on the planet.

Countless possibilities flashed through Jackson’s mind, but he didn’t voice any of them.

There was no reason to pry into someone else’s affairs.

When it was his turn, Jackson simply introduced himself.

The introductions were brief.

After everything they had gone through during the villa competition, none of the four had much energy left for pointless conversation.

Jonathan was the most energetic of them, but even he eventually stopped trying to make conversation.

Jackson was the first to leave.

Rather than immediately resting, he decided to familiarize himself with the villa.

He toured the entire building, inspecting every room and facility.

There were four private bedrooms, one for each student, along with a gravity room, a meeting room, and a library.

The villa was far more luxurious than Jackson had expected.

Almost everything an Awakened needed for cultivation and training was available inside.

The gravity room could be used to strengthen the body.

The library contained an enormous amount of information.

Even the meeting room was equipped with advanced virtual-network technology.

Golden Radiance Academy clearly hadn’t thrown its students into a villa and simply told them to fend for themselves.

It had provided them with almost everything necessary to continue their journey as Awakened.

After finishing his tour, Jackson returned to his room and changed his clothes.

By evening, he made his way back to the meeting room.

When he arrived, the other three villa residents were already there.

Jonathan noticed him immediately and smiled.

"You’re right on time. The initial ranking should be out at any moment."

Jackson nodded before taking a seat.

Jackle and Abella were sitting directly opposite each other.

When Jackson entered, Jackle briefly glanced in his direction before looking away.

Abella, however, didn’t even spare him a glance.

From beginning to end, her attention remained elsewhere.

Jackson didn’t particularly care.

He barely knew either of them, after all.

Jonathan was different.

Despite having only met him today, Jackson had developed a fairly good impression of him.

The young man was straightforward, confident, and didn’t seem to harbor the same hostility as many of the other students.

Jackson nodded toward him before taking his seat.

As they waited, Jackson’s thoughts returned to the structure of Golden Radiance Academy.

Unlike ordinary schools, the academy didn’t have a fixed class schedule.

There were no teachers standing in front of classrooms every morning, lecturing students about cultivation or combat techniques.

The Awakened were expected to rely on themselves for the majority of their cultivation.

If they encountered a problem they couldn’t solve, they could seek guidance from a teacher.

Jackson found the system quite reasonable.

There were two major reasons behind it.

First, every teacher in Golden Radiance Academy was a Gold-Rank hunter at the Fourth Sequence Realm.

Each of them possessed tremendous strength and had their own cultivation and missions to deal with.

It was impossible for them to spend all their time teaching students.

Second, there simply wasn’t much need for them to do so.

The academy’s virtual network contained an enormous amount of knowledge.

Students could access cultivation methods, combat techniques, historical records, monster information, battle footage, and countless other resources with just a few commands.

On top of that, the academy possessed an advanced artificial intelligence capable of answering most ordinary questions.

The teachers existed primarily for problems that could not be solved through conventional means.

In other words, Golden Radiance Academy didn’t intend to spoon-feed its students.

It provided them with resources and guidance.

What they did with those resources was their own responsibility.

Jackson found himself appreciating that approach.

The academy was clearly cultivating Awakened, not obedient students.

Just as he was thinking about this, a clear chime suddenly echoed through the meeting room.

Everyone’s attention immediately shifted toward their academy badges.

A notification appeared.

[Ding! The initial ranking of the first-year students has been released.]

The room suddenly became quiet.

Even Jonathan’s smile disappeared as his expression became serious.

The initial ranking of Golden Radiance Academy had finally arrived.