The Retired Hero is an Extra

However, his sudden appearance startled many, as his mere presence felt quite heavy, making some students feel as if they were holding weights on their shoulders.

The stronger ones were relatively fine, only because the old man was suppressing his powers.

Regardless, all the students were excited to see the old man as he was none other than the strongest human in the world.

He was the most famous SSS-Rank hunter due to his position as the Principal of the Solarnelle Academy.

It went without saying that his presence had soothed the populace countless times during periods of unrest.

Thus, he was more of a public figure than any other SSS-Rank Hunter and also came to be the most admired among them.

His sudden appearance left the students in shock, stunned for a few seconds before they came to the present.

—Clap! Clap! Clap!

A huge round of applause started by the excited and eager students, its sound reverberating throughout the auditorium.

The principal\'s white coat was a magnificent sight to behold, embellished with intricate golden decorations on his shoulders.

It enhanced his aura of wisdom and authority.

Naturally, the prestigious symbol of the Solarnelle Academy was emblazoned on it, albeit on the back of his coat.

\'Hypocrite,\' Jash thought in his mind, looking at the old man as the air around him chilled for just a fraction of a second.

His gray lively eyes turned into the eyes of a dead man, going unnoticed by even him as his blood ran cold.

"Hm?" Sitting next to him, Ziva was the only one that felt the atmosphere around her change, frowning at it.

\'Does he hate the Principal for that laborious Entrance Test?\' she guessed in her heart, having noticed a similar change when the Principal first showed up.

However, it was not like she had the time and liberty to mull over the topic, deciding to confront Jash about it later.

No matter her questionable feelings of inferiority and unsurity, she still considered Jash to be her friend, wanting nothing more than the best for him.

On the other side, the Principal didn\'t notice anything odd, looking at the varying reactions of the students.

He maintained a soft smile as he began, "As most of you already know, I am Fendril Vale, principal of the Solarnelle Academy."

The students turned silent, wanting to hear every word spoken by the oldest SSS-Rank hunter as it could prove to be vital.

"The Solarnelle Academy was founded with the dream to make a place where all talents could learn equally."

"You might find our curriculum harsh, but it is necessary to train hard to become one of the best or you can simply choose not to."

His words were met with a deafening silence before he released a wry chuckle.

\'Only an idiot would squander their chance here,\' thought most of the new entrants.

However, Jash was one of the few who actually liked that there were no forceful classes or anything of the sort.

\'Surely, I don\'t want to live like a prisoner for the next four years,\' he mused as his eyes were droopy, bored from the speech.

"The world might seem peaceful, but you never know when another unwanted calamity might be upon us,"

"And I doubt that anyone here would want to be unprepared for it?" he asked, falling silent and giving the students a good look.

"This Academy is the right place for nurturing your spirits as well as your strength, if you have a similar dream as us, the professors."

His words were true and served to ignite a fire in the hearts of the youth who had given up due to their not-so-impressive results.

As if his goal had finished, he disappeared as abruptly as he had arrived, but not before leaving a sentence.

"That will be all from me. Professor Zander will explain the rest."

His parting words left the students yearning for more as it was not everyday they could hear or see the strongest man in the world.

With the Principal\'s departure, the atmosphere shifted soon, as the Vice-Principal took the stage.

"I am Vice-Principal Zander, and I teach Ice Element," Zander introduced himself for formality, as everyone knew him.

But even the Principal had followed the protocol so who was he to disregard it?

\'Get on with it already, I am tired,\' Jash urged inwardly, having spent his social battery on the way to the auditorium itself.

Thankfully, Zander too could see the dissipating fire in the students\' eyes, saying just the right thing to reignite it.

"The Academy does not hinder you from fighting each other for ranks or any other disagreement, but you all must follow the rules."

His words were followed by a hologram appearing behind him, showing simple numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

They weren\'t divided into alpha, beta, omega, gamma or some cringey titles like Leviathan, Dragon, Legends.

It was a simple classic numbering system which Zander explained, "As you see here, we have only five classes each year, and each class consists of 200 students."

"Right now, you will be distributed according to your evaluation by the faculty council, but it will also be random."

Zander didn\'t explain but it was actually easy to understand, the students were divided into different power levels.

And each class must have a similar average, so the Faculty Council would only put the students in these similar tiers of power.

Then, a computer software would calculate the best options and one of the 10 would be applied as the Principal approves.

\'Truly, a retarded system,\' Jash thought hatefully, disliking the last part. \'Just why not let someone choose it at random?\'

Though it was just his thought as most of the students didn\'t even know about it, nor did they care.

"Of course, there will be no individual rankings until the Assessment Test, which will happen in a few months," Zander added.

His words were the fire the students needed to burn in determination and get a better rank to salvage their situation.

"After the Assessment Test, you will follow the same Assessment System like your seniors here, and know one thing: your ranks are everything here." welcome-to-MVLeMpYr

His mention about ranks being everything here were said with a tone of finality as if it were the same as their entire lives.

With that he left the stage, much like the Principal, leaving behind the students to the other professors.

However, one doubt was something that plagued every student, "Why did our first test proctor mention only a thousand will get into the Academy?"

The professor hearing the question smiled as any and all conversations came to a close.

"Naive," he said, "Do you even recall what they had said?"

"Out of the 17,680 candidates across the three races, only a thousand would truly enter the Solarnelle Academy."

Some students were sharp enough to remember it, making the professor\'s smile widen.

"That\'s exactly it," he explained, "Only a thousand will truly enter the Solarnelle Academy, didn\'t you see just 5 Classes with 200 each?"

Finally, it dawned on the majority what it meant as they suddenly felt nervous, not wanting to be someone who got left out.

\'What a nasty trick,\' Jash sighed, looking at the nervous students as it was never revealed who would be in the 5 classes and who wouldn\'t.

"Don\'t let it stress you right now as you will have the chance to rank among the top thousand and become a student of the 5 Classes."