Yorkshelin City/ Yuan Xing City (元星),

The Regalis University, a place where only the strongest and the quick-witted person will survive, a place where it pushes yourself and perseverance to the fullest potential, not only testing your reaction in many possible situations and conditions in life, but also seeing how you make decisions in the line of life and death. Only the chosen one will be able to pass the test. The number of students passing this place is small, and the one who got the badge of the Golden Phoenix could be counted by hand, and all of them have become someone unreachable in the high society.

People who know about this place wish to attend and many want to enroll, but no one knows how to and what the criteria for getting in are. For some reason, the invitation goes to a random person they choose and whether you are willing or not, somehow they will come knocking on your doors and manage to enroll you in with your parent's permission, as if they have been incited with some magic.

Kayla— had been feeling that something was wrong when her parents suddenly agreed with the ridiculous offer the man sitting in front of her had given, she just got home from doing some shopping and found a man sitting inside her house, discussing her admission to a university she had never even heard about.

She is even more confused when her parents are so excited about it, since it doesn’t mean that you will be able to get in after the three-month inspection, and her parents are not the type of person who likes to be involved with uncertainty, so this is very weird to her and she doesn’t understand what is the excitement in all of this.

“Aren’t you going to ask about my opinion? At least?”, she looks at both of her parents and they seem to show a very strange expression, as if they are confused and shocked.

“What is there to be hesitant about? I heard that only the fancy and reputable family could get in”, her father whispered in her ears, and her mother sitting by the side nodded in agreement.

This makes her become more frightened, because her mother has never liked the idea of her going far away for university, and now she is smiling like an idiot. Kayla silently peeked at the person who was sitting there with that creepy smile on his face, and frowns,

“You have to know that if I failed, the semester would have already begun, and I would have no choice but to wait for another year to enroll in another university”, she whispers back and her father laughs out loud, and pats her back quite harshly,

“Don’t be so down to earth, I know you could do it!”, her father has been the enthusiastic kind of person, he is always the one with the funny ideas but never able to handle them properly, so her mother is the one who have to clean up for him, but probably because of her father personality that the house is always warm.

“Then, I will be waiting for your arrival Miss Kayla, the car will be picking you up on next month, Friday the 5th, hope you will be ready by then”, he politely bowed and walked out of the house, Kayla also got up and peeked outside from the windows, seeing him getting in a car that could be said to be a limited edition car in their block is something that catches the attention of the eyes in one look.

‘The newest model of GX Company’

Seeing the car drive away, she turned to look at both of her parents that are still looking at the pamphlets, and sat down to now really have a nice talk,

“I don’t understand, why are the both of you suddenly so excited about this place, do you know any rumors I didn’t know about?”

“Didn’t you hear what he say, it is the most prestigious school in this country”, her father squeaked with his face beaming.

“And you believe him? Just like that?”, she asked bewildered, and it seemed like something finally knocked the head off both of them, her dad mumbled,

“You are right.. Why do we believe him just like that?”, he turned around to look at his wife who seemed to be in deep thought, her face turning a bit pale. He looks at the paper and thinks,

“Could it be because the picture is so sophisticated?”, he pulled out his cell phone and searched for it, it indeed appeared in the search engine,

“The Regalis University has a history for more than seventy years, with over ten thousand graduates, a school located at the top of the mountain in Velhoben City, making it one of the most spacious universities in the world", the introduction of this university is short, very short, Kayla couldn't help but think that something is wrong with it. Usually, every University will find a way to boost their benefits for others to see, but this one literally has nothing, but it seems that her parents didn't see it as something needed to be talked about.

"Doesn’t sound too bad, just a little far away from home, but I am sure you will like it, you have always loved nature and peace since you were a child, with that spacious space, you won’t even be able to explore it until you graduate”, he laughs excitedly but shut his mouth when Kayla and his wife were glaring at him.

The information about the university is not specific, but there seems to be nothing wrong with it, at least there are no reports about people missing or weird news about this place, it is so clean that it feels very disturbing,

‘Not even a specific information about the majors and curriculum in it, could this even be considered a prestigious school?’

Kayla, “Dad.. I don’t think this is a good idea, we should think about it more thoroughly”, but when she said those words, the both of them seemed stunned and their complexion went pale.

“What? What did I don’t know about?”, her father let out an awkward laugh,

“Honey, we have imprinted our thumb to the agreement”, she was shocked when she saw red ink on his thumb,

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“What is it about?”

“Your approval to attend of course! If you failed you will get a compensation of free scholarship to whatever university you choose”, he smiled happily, while Kayla was struck there dumb. She wanted to say something but she couldn't, because she knew that she needed her parent's support to pay for the admission and tuition fee, so she didn’t really have a word in it,

‘As long as you are happy’, she sighed, but then she realized something,

“You.. did read the content right?”, Kayla let out a sigh of relief when they both nodded,

Dad, “Don’t worry, it is not a thick-content agreement, just one, the content is pretty simple actually, you just attend there for three months and if you fail you get sent back here and get the compensation for it”

“So then, what should I prepare?”, the both of them look at each other, and she suddenly has a bad feeling,

“Didn’t you ask him about it? Anything?”, the both of them slowly shake their head, and she sighs inwardly,

‘They should be nominated as the first rank in the category of parents who are easily fooled and first in short-sighted parents for having no longer plan in their children's life!’

Perhaps because of her parent's aloof nature that she became someone who worries about anything, she never liked the idea of diving in without a plan, so sometimes they have a very different idea about a vacation, they argue a lot but somehow everything is fine, at least until now,

‘Great! Another month in the library again then’, she sighed heavily, she had just gotten away from high school and planning to attend a university with a much easier admission so that she could enjoy the vacation time without any worry, but it turned out that god has another plan for her because there is suddenly a man who pops out in her house and ruin all of her plans.

But after lying in her bathroom and thinking for awhile, she decided that she doesn’t want to go to the library anymore because she is honestly sick of it, she will just go to the internet and revise some questions when she has got the mood which is only about an hour a day, while she spent the rest of it laying down and watching movies she left behind.

***

“I have never heard of that university before, must be far away from our town”, her best friend, Amy who came over to have a movie night with two other friends, Tom and Ethan.

“So you are leaving? It seems that the four of us will be separated then— Amy is going to Australia, Tom is in London, me in New York and you.. In a city we have never heard of before”, Ethan said and Kayla could only nod in defeat.

Tom, “Such a mysterious school, doesn’t have any news of it on the internet”, he has been scrolling through his phone to see what kind of university it is, but found nothing, “Even the alumni is not listed”

Amy suddenly let out a shriek, “Could it be a scam? What if they bring you to a weird place?!!”

“I don’t think they have the guts to do so, at least we have a law now”, Kayla suddenly feels a chill run down her whole body, “I will ask my parents to take a photo of it when they come, just in case”, so if she did indeed have something wrong, they know who to find.

They spent the rest of the day watching movies, and the next day they went out to the mall to have fun. In just a blink of an eye, Friday the 5th had come, she just packed some necessary things and a load full of clothes pack in one luggage and a duffle bag, she also placed some important things such as laptops, medicine, and any important things in her backpacks.

Her parents had started to cry and wailing since three days ago as if they wouldn't be able to see her again. To be honest, she is feeling nervous too, this is the first time she is going far alone to a place she has never known before, she doesn’t know who she will meet and what things she is going to face. Her worry grew deeper and deeper when she realized she didn’t know anything about the place she was going, making her become more uneasy,

‘Why do I agree so easily about it? Have I lost my mind?!’

She kept on biting into her nail and cursed in her heart,

‘There must be something wrong with that person, there is no way that mom and dad will make such a rushed decision like this, there must be something more that I didn’t know about—

Could it be like the movie? They are selling me away right now??— No No No No, if that is what happened then they wouldn’t have cried about it’, then she realized something very terrifying,

‘They are just putting on an act?? It couldn’t be.. right? They are not that kind of person. Or are they? Haishh!! Why do I agree about it in the first place, no matter how I think about it, I didn’t have any advantages of it in the first place!'

Mom, “Honey, let's go down and start to prepare, you are about to leave anytime now”

“Alright”, she pulled herself up from her chair, looked at the mirror, and tidied herself up. Kayla has Irish blue hair color that reaches the arm with tidy wispy bangs, light clear eyes of purple color, and round lips. Today she was just wearing a simple attire, a blue French blouse paired with blue jeans. She went down and found her parents sitting in the living room, their faces seemed tense, she sat down on one of the sofas and started examining their faces,

“Here, my card, there are around a hundred thousand dollars limit in it. And here also my other card”, he then pulled out another card, a platinum debit card, “There are also around a hundred thousand dollars cash in it, just in case”, he smiled tensely,

“Dad.. you know that I am just going to school right?”, he nodded, “For only three months”, he nodded again, “I don’t need that money”, she stated truthfully.

“You are going far away on your own for the first time!! This is just in case, I also heard that the people there are all esteemed people, I don’t want you to be bullied by them, you could spend however much you want with this card”, their family couldn’t be said to be that wealthy, but her father owns a couple of real estates and investment that is quite successful. Don’t see them as quite silly, but their luck is actually quite good, the investments they made have mostly hit the jackpot, and the houses they own all have become a vacation hot spot, they could earn thousands or hundred-thousand of dollars in a month depending on the demand. But this was the first time her father had ever given her such a huge allowance, so she couldn’t quite understand and accept it with a heavy heart, she suddenly had a feeling that this place was not as simple as she thought it was, or perhaps her parents might already know something she didn’t know about.

The doorbell rings and the three of them stare at the door, suddenly there is a sense of fear in Kayla's heart, to think that she is about to leave the house for three months to a place she has never been before, no plan no friends and not even her parents around, she is feeling a little lost. His dad opens the door and the man standing outside is someone wearing a formal attire with a broach of a silver Phoenix, looking quite expensive with the blue diamond in it, but the problem is this person is different from the person who came before, this person looks much more polite and has a very calm and somehow positive and wise aura, just one look and they could know this person is someone who is friendly yet unapproachable.

That man politely greeted them, “Good morning Madam, Sir, my name is Hugo, I am here to fetch Miss Kayla”

Kayla who was standing behind them took her suitcase and put the backpack on her back, she took a deep breath and let it out heavily, she calmed herself down and looked at her parents, they looked like they were about to cry at any moment, they give a long and deep hug before finally saying their goodbye, but her mom suddenly come and hug her tightly, she suddenly whispers something that made her heart goes cold,

“You must remember one thing. Never takes anything as a joke, you must focus and take any information you see as much as you can, it is alright if you fail, just don’t get hurt”, she looks at her mom with a lot of questions written on her face, but before she could asked anything she has been pushed outside after a small peak on the cheek.

“Lady, let me carry your bag for you”, Hugo reached out to take her things and Kayla nodded in thankful, she looked back at her mom, but she just waved her goodbye, so Kayla could only walk away with a heavy step. The new journey finally begins.

TO BE CONTINUED…