Chapter 471: Spell Model Anchors
Most of those attending the assembly had already seen the Dean at least once, and knew much about him. It was only the newest cadets who were getting a chance to see him for the first time.
At this point, it need not be explained. The cadets naturally understood that this dean of theirs was the Sage who kept his Dominion active nonstop. To suddenly learn of a new Sage was overwhelming, but the scene before them also quickly brought them to reality.
None of them knew the details of the golden armour, or the metallic tubes sticking into the back of his armour, or the endless stream of aether entering his body. However, everyone could venture a few guesses of their own. The easiest one to assume was that this Sage was injured quite seriously, and was dependent on the armour for survival.
Whether he could live, or even survive without it was entirely unknown. Still, a Sage was a Sage.
"Now that you all know me, it’s time to move on with the actual assembly itself. After all, I am not the main focus of this assembly. No, it’s you, the cadets, who are the main focus. To the newest cadets, who have only just begun your journeys, who have only taken your first steps into a life in the army, I have a few words of wisdom to offer.
"Life is hard, but do you know what is so much harder? It’s the feeling of helplessness, the feeling of being unable to make change, to improve circumstances. Some of you may have already felt it, and some of you are fortunate enough to have avoided it till now. But whenever you find yourself out of breath, out of energy, out of will power, remember this! This world does not spare anyone any pain. The only real choice you have is whether you will taste the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret!"
His words seemed to have a physical weight as they pressed down on the chests of all the cadets, not just the new ones. The third year cadets and above especially understood the truth of those words - including all the cadets who had been to Lumina.
Missions always sounded the simplest when they were received. It was when they were actually being carried out that the true difficulties of the missions revealed themselves. Hardly ever did the missions go according to plan, and making sure that they could control the outcome was a desperate struggle at the best of times.
Even those cadets with little to no experience at all understood the basics of the situation. Their basic education did its best to impress upon them the importance of a strong military, and the struggles involved.