He didn't need to make it clear that he wanted to know why he was summoned there so early in the morning, even going so far as to disturb his meditation time, but the other students in the room did that job for him.
They were much more rowdy and egotistical, some of them even demanding to be reasoned with immediately, not wanting to wait for the rest of the students to arrive. They were promptly ignored, though. The best method of dealing with people like that was to simply ignore them. They were attention seekers, and a reaction was exactly what they wanted to get with all their attention seeking efforts. Denying them of that would eventually make them angry and give up.
Lucian found that a large number of people from his previous life were like this, so he used this method quite often. He wasn't too surprised to find that the same method was just as effective in this world too.
'Humans are the same no matter the world.'
Very soon, the assembly hall was filled with students, and some guards closed the doors behind them, closing them all in and not giving any of them the chance to slack off and try to sneak back to their dorm.
Many students were still causing a ruckus, while others already had their curiosity piqued at this point and were staring at the stage intently, just like Lucian was. Whatever their reason for coming here, it had to be interesting since they were dragged out of bed so early in the morning for it.
"I see that you are all here now, good." Professor Kaldor began speaking, causing the entire assembly hall to quiet down; even the rowdy students had stopped speaking at this point. Professor Kaldor was one of the more intimidating teachers that nobody wanted to offend, thanks to how mysterious he was.
"I'm sure most of you are wondering why you were brought here so early in the morning, so let me not drag this on and just allow my friend here to introduce himself." Professor Kaldor gestured to the man to his side, who stood still and remained silent up until then.
With Professor Kaldor's approval, he walked to the centre and began his speech.
"None of you will know me, as I am a teacher from the main academy. You may simply refer to me as Teacher Rowland for the sake of formalities. I've been brought here by Professor Kaldor for one simple reason. To test you all." The new man, known simply as Teacher Rowland, had a booming voice that spread all across the assembly hall, and then some.
His voice matched his burly demeanor, but Lucian was more interested in what he had to say.
'Came here to test us, you say…'
"Here to test us? How exactly?"
"Why did he have to bring us all here so early in the morning to tell us this! Couldn't he have just called us here at lunchtime or something like that!"
"A test… On what, I wonder?"
The other students quickly began to whisper and chatter among themselves, with their minds quickly drifting from the introduction Rowland had just given. Half of them had already forgotten his name and were entirely focused on the fact that they were going to be tested. Most of them wore worried looks on their faces, as something like this always meant that there would be both winners and losers.
The sounds of the student's worries and discussion reached the ears of both men on stage, and pretty soon Teacher Rowland's gaze turned cold, and he shouted, "QUIET! All of you will keep your mouths shut and listen only!"
He was a Grand Knight, with a very muscular body and a deep voice. The moment his shout rang out, it reverberated throughout the assembly hall a few times, even causing a few students to fall back in shock.
Silence quickly enveloped the assembly hall, though.
'What an effective silencing method.' Lucian silently chuckled to himself as he watched this circus performance.
"This test will be focused on finding those who are worthy of receiving the Preparatory Academy's tutelage. If you cannot even match up to the standards of the Preparatory Academy, then you have no place in the Official Academy! Those who fail will be expelled. No second chances will be given." Rowland spoke while he darted his uncaring gaze around the hall.
"Your bodies will be tested to see what level you are at! To those who do not meet the requirements, you can only work harder to make it in next time!" After he finished warning them, Rowland gave out some more information and began calling names one by one.
He spoke until a total of 20 names were called, and they were all asked to go up on stage and stand in a line, remaining silent the whole time. Some of them had nervous looks on their faces, while others looked absolutely calm, and some even had prideful expressions.
They all differed from each other, but what they all shared in common was the fact that they were part of the first batch to be tested.
"You, go ahead and send your strongest attack my way." Teacher Rowland didn't care what order the students were in and just spoke to the first in line. The first student chosen was a young girl, probably around 14 years of age, and she had a nervous look on her face.
She looked at Rowland's face in confusion after hearing his command. She looked around, gazing at Professor Kaldor and the other students on stage, before turning her gaze back to Rowland.
"You want me to A-attack you, sir?" She asked cautiously, wondering if she had heard wrong. Her mind was probably running through all kinds of scenarios, thinking, 'What kind of test is this?', 'Did he really ask me that?' and a bunch of other jumbled thoughts.
"You have 5 seconds before I class you as an automatic fail." However, Teacher Rowland couldn't care less how nervous the young girl was, as he held an apathetic expression and waited, beginning to gesture towards the second student in line to come over.
"W-wait!" With the threat of failure handing over her shoulders, the young girl regained some courage and ushered all the strength in her body to send a punch right at Rowland's abdomen. With the height difference between the two of them, this was as high as she could reach…
Thud!
Her punch hit him square in the stomach, but his face didn't change whatsoever. In fact, it was the young girl's face that twisted in pain after hitting him. To her, it felt like she had just punched a boulder…
"1.08 Strength. 1.11 Agility. That's a fail; there's no need for me to even check your vitality." Rowland said, not even sparing the girl a glance.
'How is he able to determine that?' Lucian thought.
He knew they were accurate too, as he'd just scanned the girl and obtained the same results...