"Now you may all leave. Say your goodbyes to your families and friends. Tomorrow morning… report at the academy gates."
The vice headmaster's final words hung in the air.
"That's it. Good luck."
And with that, her form shimmered then vanished, leaving only silence and the echo of finality behind.
The students below didn't wait. Like a dam breaking, murmurs and voices burst into the air. Excitement, confusion, fear, disbelief all bleeding together into a chaos of overlapping emotions.
Some began to move immediately, reuniting with families at the edge of the field, while others simply stood frozen, still trying to make sense of what they had just heard.
"Seven hundred thousand...?" "That's not even possible, even if you went twenty years into the future…" "She must've cheated. Or she's some divine race there's no other way."
They whispered in disbelief, not even bothering to lower their voices. Because how could anyone process that number?
