Class Zero
The next day, after the match with Tang Wulin, Gloxinia and his class was called down to the field because Director Long Hengxu had an announcement to make.
Of course, Gloxinia knew what this announcement was, it was the creation of Class Zero.
As they arrived at the field, he noticed that Xie Xie wasn't present among the students of class one. After all, broken legs were really too troublesome. On the other hand, Tang Wulin had a broken arm and had that arm bandaged up.
In front of the gathered students wasn't just Director Long Hengxu, but also President Yu Zhen.
Long Hengxu looked towards Yu Zhen before he began speaking. "Today's first grade assembly is to announce two things. First, due to the special circumstances of this year's first grade, the victorious class will no longer be continuing with the Class Promotion Tournament, but the classes of the first grade will still be rearranged according to the results. Namely, what was originally class five is now class one. And all of the other classes have been rearranged accordingly."
We can't continue participating in the Class Promotion Tournament anymore? An uproar appeared among the students of class one. If they couldn't' continue with the tournament, then that meant they were no longer receiving the reward for being able to challenge the upper grades!
Long Hengxu continued, "In light of class one's outstanding achievements in this tournament, the entire class will be rewarded with one meal a day from the first window for one term."
After hearing these words, the previous discontent murmuring turned into cheering. What was the first window? It served the most nourishing food! Without even speaking of the taste, it had the most benefits to their cultivation but was extremely expensive. Most families couldn't afford to feed their children a meal from the first window. One term's worth of meals from the first window was worth an extraordinary sum of money!
Right now, as the teacher in charge of class two, Ye Yingluo's face grew brighter at those words. Clearly, she was very happy with these developments.
After all, wasn't it her student who had single-handedly stopped class five's rise from the bottom? She couldn't help but feel a little bit arrogant!
Long Hengxu shouted, "Quiet down!"
It was only then that the cheering gradually subsided.
Long Hengxu resumed. "Due to the excellence of this year's first grade, the board of directors has decided to conduct a study. We are establishing an experimental class in the first grade that will be comprised of the best students in the grade. It will temporarily be called class zero, and Wu Zhangkong will be the teacher in charge. The students for class zero have already been selected. From class one, we have Gloxinia. From class two, we have Xie Xie, Tang Wulin, and Gu Yue. In the future, any other student who shows exceptional ability will also be put into class zero."
Class zero?
What the hell is this?
All of the students assembled were in a daze. In all of Eastsea Academy's history, there had never been a class zero! Moreover, what did having Wu Zhangkong as the teacher in charge mean?
Tang Wulin's trio was startled, while Wang Jinxi, Zhang Yangzi and Wei Xiaofeng had similar reactions on the other side. In an almost synchronized motion, the three of them looked towards Tang Wulin and Gu Yue.
Wei Xiaofeng's expression was brimming with loathing and enmity, while Wang Jinxi's gaze envious and jealous.
Wu Zhangkong was expressionless as usual, but in reality he had already been notified by the board of directors last night after they decided on approving the plan.
As for Gloxinia, he was neutral as he had expected this already. Although, he did notice that canon had changed because of his presence. In the original, Wang Jinxi, Wei Xiaofeng, and Zhang Yangzi had all originally been invited to Class Zero. But, this time they weren't because they didn't have a chance to show off their prowess in the class promotion tournament!
Although he did feel bad, Gloxinia consoled himself by thinking that they were just going to leave it later anyways.
Long Hengxu said, "Aside from these two announcements, there are still punishments to be announced. In the match yesterday between class one and class two, competitors prioritized their comrades first and the competition second, which led to two students being seriously injured. This has raised a serious concern with the four participants. As such, they will be deprived of the tournament rewards as a punishment and warning to others."
Deprived of their reward? It would seem that for this grade's Class Promotion Tournament, even if they'd won, there would be no rewards for Class One.
Long Hengxu had said these words harshly, but in reality this wasn't even a punishment at all!
"President, do you have any words to say?" Long Hengxu asked, looking at Yu Zhen to his side.
Yu Zhen nodded and began speaking with a clear voice. "Students, I am sure you are all very curious as to why we established class zero. This is because the students we have picked out have already far surpassed the level of their peers. If they were to continue advancing with the other students, their talent would be buried. In summary, if you wish to shine in the future, then you must put in even more effort! I hope that I will see more students joining class zero later on, going on to become the greatest geniuses of Eastsea Academy!"
"Alright then, the assembly is over. You may all leave now. Teachers, lead your classes back. Long Hengxu will act as class two's substitute teacher until a new teacher can be found. Wu Zhangkong and the students of class zero will remain here."
Filled with shock, admiration, envy, and regret, the students of the five classes returned to their classrooms, leaving only the president as well as those of the newly established class zero.
"Children, come over here." Yu Zhen beckoned everyone over.
All three of them hurriedly went over.
As Yu Zhen observed the three children in front of him, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He coldly said, "You guys are quite able, huh! Do you think that just because you're a bit more outstanding than your peers that you're great? Look at you all, what have you accomplished? Among the four of you, one has a broken arm, and there's still one with broken legs resting in the classroom!"
The three of them were scolded into a daze. They had never expected Yu Zhen to reprimand them like this. As soon as they arrived, they were showered with a tongue-lashing.
Yu Zhen continued on with a stern expression. "I have already said what the purpose of class zero is: it's to not hold you back. But even with how small you all are, you harbor so much pride and conceit within your hearts. I will have you all behave with integrity in front of me, otherwise, don't blame the academy for being impolite. I'm warning you now; if a situation like yesterday's happens again, you will all be punished. Don't think that just because you are geniuses that you don't have to follow the rules. You are all just viewing the sky from the bottom of a well. There are plenty of people even more outstanding than you three throughout the federation!"
"From the very beginning, this world has never lacked geniuses, nor has it lacked geniuses that die young. If a genius wants to become great, then they will have to invest far more effort than an ordinary person. Only then will you live up to your potential. Do you all understand?"
"Understood." In the face of the president's overbearing aura, none of the three children could raise their head.
"Sign this contract." With a flip of his hand, a pile of papers appeared, and he quickly distributed them to the three children.
The three of them subconsciously took the pen. Gloxinia looked it over, his attention drawn to the large word at the top: contract.
Following the title, the content below it could be summarized as saying: Person XXX voluntarily enters a contract with Eastsea Academy. Before XXX graduates from the intermediate division and the advanced division, they will not change schools.
This was the general gist of the contract.
What is the meaning of this? The three of them thought in a daze, well technically the two of them as Gloxinia was merely pretending so he wouldn't be called out for whatever reason.
"Now that the academy has established class zero, we will invest even more resources into you. Because of this, the academy wants a guarantee that you will stay here for your studies. It isn't because of some other weird reason. Alright then. Just sign it now."
Tang Wulin meekly asked, "President, shouldn't we discuss with our families before signing this?"
Yu Zhen blinked a few times. "Of course you can! You can go back and discuss it, but you won't be able to join class zero anymore. I am a very busy person, and I don't have the time to wait for you."
While they were talking, Gloxinia was about to sign his name when a sudden system notification appeared in front of him.
[Sudden Mission has been created from the situation.
Mission: Class Zero? Not Needed!
Objective: Refuse to join Class Zero and leave Eastsea Academy! This small place cannot contain you!
Reward: Gloxinia's Clothes. (Wardrobe of all of Gloxinia's Clothing throughout the Anime and the Games.]
--------------------------------
Words: 1656
Author's Note: Before anyone says anything bout Wulin having no family at this point in the story, I am pretty sure he still doesn't know about his parents being gone. And if he does then uh pretend he doesn't.
Thank you all for all the collections and power stones!