He let that sit for a moment before continuing. "The Regional Academy Entrance Examination is not a tournament. It is not a test of who has the best equipment, the most impressive class rank, or the loudest name. It is a measure of something far more difficult to manufacture." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Survivability. Adaptability. The capacity to grow under pressure that does not care about your background or your potential or what instructors have said about you in evaluation reports."
The hall was so quiet that the distant sound of wind against the high windows was audible. Principal Zhou's voice carried without effort. "Every junior hunter in this city dreams of this exam. Most of them will never stand in the hall you will stand in tomorrow. Not because they lacked talent, but because talent alone does not get you to Celestial City." He looked across the rows of students. "Preparation does. Commitment does. The refusal to treat your own ceiling as fixed."
