Chapter 52: 8 Stars!
The moment Brant's words sank in, the crowd erupted into chatter.
"Trial selection? Wait, aren't we supposed to go straight to the academy?" one whispered.
"You fool! Don't say that out loud! Do you want to be crowned king of country bumpkins?" another hissed.
"We could die in the trial?" a girl asked, her voice trembling.
"Tsk. I'm already dying in this filth," a young man in rags muttered, eyes burning with determination. "Might as well die trying."
Clap!
Hasker slammed his hands together, the sharp sound silencing the murmurs.
"Alright, enough guessing before you even know if you're qualified for the trials," he barked, his voice echoing across the plaza. "You should all have received a number. Form groups of two hundred—numbers 1 to 200 in the first line, 201 to 400 hundred in the second, and so on. You have ten minutes."
The crowd began to shuffle, though not without chaos.
"Oi! You can read numbers, right? What does mine say?"
