Eight organizations might seem like a wide array of choices, but in reality, there was very little room for selection.
Huang Xiu had only briefly listened, and from what she gathered, only the Student Union, the Jiquan Association, and the Endeavor Society were truly worth considering.
However, the final decision on which to join would require more careful thought.
Yun Ning had offered the same advice.
It would be best to first research each organization on the forum, making an informed decision only after gaining a thorough understanding.
“After all, the Hundred Societies Battle is still two months away,” Yun Ning said softly. “You’ll have plenty of time to consider your options until military training concludes.”
“Oh, military training ends…”
Huang Xiu nodded, but then her expression suddenly froze, and her tone escalated by two levels.
“Military training? Are you talking about military training? We actually have military training? No, Senior Male Student! We’re Awakened individuals!”
What even was military training?
Having experienced it in high school, she knew it all too well.
It meant scorching hot drill grounds and military stances that tormented one’s legs until they went numb.
It meant goose-stepping until one’s legs felt ready to snap, squats that left thighs trembling, and those “last” turns that never truly were.
Huang Xiu vividly recalled her last military training, a grueling seven days that had left her several shades darker.
She wouldn’t even need makeup to play a dark-skinned character!
A smile flickered in Yun Ning’s eyes as he watched the eager Huang Xiu. He explained, “We are not just Awakened individuals; we are also university students. Military training is naturally a part of it.”
“Don’t worry, this isn’t your typical university military training,” he assured her. “It will be quite interesting. You’ll even miss it someday.”
Despite Yun Ning’s claims of an “interesting” military training, Huang Xiu remained deeply skeptical, her face etched with doubt.
After all, no matter how interesting it claimed to be, military training was synonymous with suffering.
Her high school experiences had firmly cemented this stereotype.
Thus, even after dinner and all the way back to her dorm, Huang Xiu continued to grumble about the impending military training.
In stark contrast to her reaction, Ying Zhiyu actually seemed quite excited about military training.
“When I was in high school and hadn’t awakened yet, my health was quite poor, so I could only watch military training from the sidelines,” she explained, smiling, as she addressed Huang Xiu’s confusion. “Besides, Senior Male Student Yun said it would be interesting, so it definitely will be!”
“You’re truly naive,” Huang Xiu sighed, observing her.
In her experience, senior students always delighted in seeing their juniors endure the same hardships they had.
What was that saying again?
‘Because I’ve been drenched by rain and battered by wind, I’ll tear away everyone else’s umbrellas!’
The only silver lining for Huang Xiu was that military training wouldn’t start immediately; it was still a month away, offering a slight buffer.
Back in her room, after finishing her evening routine, it was already close to eight o’clock.
Huang Xiu sat on a chair, drying her damp hair.
Thanks to her mother’s persistent nagging, she had temporarily broken her bad habit of not drying her hair after showering.
Huang Xiaoxian, who seemed to have regressed into a cave-dwelling creature, lay sprawled on the bed, their gaze fixed intently on their phone.
From time to time, they would utter mysterious exclamations like, “Amazing! It can actually do that!” and “This is the power of our Cactus tribe!”
‘What on earth is that thing watching?’
Huang Xiu’s scalp tingled from the noise. She turned her head and discovered that Huang Xiaoxian was actually watching *Digimon*!
Specifically, it was the episode where Palmon evolved into Togemon and defeated Drimogemon with her Needle Spray.
“What the heck, why are you watching this?!”
As if sensing Huang Xiu’s gaze, the mutated cactus Huang Xiaoxian suddenly turned, their face alight with expectation. “Master, did I also evolve from a Palmon?” they asked.
With that, they bounced off the bed, swinging their small fists left and right. “Look, I look exactly like it!”
Huang Xiu’s gaze flickered between Huang Xiaoxian and the phone screen. The Digimon Togemon was tall and formidable.
Yet, despite having facial features, the mutated cactus was short and round, resembling a reincarnated bouncy ball.
‘Well, not exactly the same. In fact, they couldn’t be more different. The disparity between them was greater than that between a knock-off soda and a genuine Sprite.’
“They’re practically identical!” Huang Xiu retorted.
Huang Xiaoxian, however, seemed to believe her. They excitedly performed a set of bizarre, unrecognizable military-style punches, only to then pick up their phone and resume watching.
After drying her hair, Huang Xiu swiftly climbed into bed, intending to spend a few hours on her phone before sleeping. The moment she unlocked it, however, she found the freshman group chat buzzing with activity.
A quick glance at the chat history revealed the reason: their freshman class schedule had finally been released.
It had to be said, Tiandu University always operated on the edge.
Classes were set to begin tomorrow, yet the schedule was only distributed to students at eight o’clock the evening before.
She wondered if this unreliable streak was influenced by someone specific, or if it was simply a long-standing tradition of Tiandu University.
‘Perhaps Professor Yuan set a good example,’ she mused.
He had promised to be her teacher, yet the man hadn’t shown his face since the home visit.
For over twenty days, not a single message.
Huang Xiu mentally critiqued her ‘cheap’ teacher, then opened the spreadsheet file in the freshman group.
****[Tiandu University Exploration Department Freshman Course Schedule]****
With over three hundred freshmen in the Exploration Department, it was naturally impossible to have them all attend classes together.
This was impractical and would compromise teaching quality.
Consequently, the university divided the freshmen into ten classes.
Each class comprised approximately thirty to thirty-three students.
Huang Xiu used the search function to find her name and discovered she was in Class One.
A quick scan of Class One’s roster revealed a few familiar faces among her classmates for the next four years.
Specifically, Ying Zhiyu, Liu Lu, and Bu Chenghua.
‘Heh heh, Liu Lu. What’s the saying? ‘The monk may run, but the temple remains!’
A slight curve appeared at the corner of Huang Xiu’s lips.
Her slender, pale fingers tapped the screen, swiftly navigating to her class schedule.
Differently colored blocks, each representing a unique course, filled every slot on the entire schedule.
At a glance, the schedule was a vibrant kaleidoscope, resembling a chaotic stack of Tetris blocks.
“What the heck, is the schedule really this packed?!” she exclaimed, her face etched with despair.
The dreaded ‘early eight’ classes, a nightmare for many university students, were merely her daily routine, attending without fail from Monday to Friday.
Moreover, only Friday afternoon offered a half-day respite from classes.
For the other four days, every hour from eight in the morning until six in the evening was completely booked.
“So, how is this any different from high school?”
Huang Xiu collapsed onto her bed, feeling as though she was perpetually trapped beneath the shadow of her high school years.
After calming herself, she held her phone above her head, using it to shield her eyes from the bright ceiling light, and resumed examining the course schedule.
Although the schedule was dense, unlike high school, only two courses were assigned each day.
Typically, one session was held in the morning and another in the afternoon.
This was likely due to them being first-semester freshmen, having just entered the world of Awakened individuals.
The university primarily arranged foundational courses.
These included ‘Introduction to Ability Development Thinking,’ ‘Hammer Forging Method Basics,’ ‘Fundamental Void Art Explanation,’ ‘Combat Class,’ and ‘General Knowledge of the Void Realm.’
There were only these five subjects in total.
None of the driving, infiltration, or voice-related classes that Yun Ning had mentioned earlier were present.
This allowed Huang Xiu to breathe a temporary sigh of relief.