The Event

"I guess she was right," Mike mumbled as he took his seat in the auditorium.

By his sides, Kris and Theresa also sat, the former looking as indifferent as usual, while the latter was curious but calm.

Around them, students were also filtering into the auditorium and sitting down.

Compared to a week ago, everyone looked a bit more mature. Which said a lot, considering how stubborn children from elite families tended to be.

Another thing that was different was the sitting arrangements.

As though it was agreed beforehand, the seats within the auditorium had been divided by the students according to which faction they belonged to.

Mike hadn't paid much heed to what was happening on the politics side of things, but apparently, those from the Apex Families had done quite a bit to 'recruit' their peers who belonged to less prominent families, increasing their influence within the school.

One could argue that such things were unnecessary and distracting as this was an educational institution. Sadly, it couldn't be helped, as that was just the nature of Eventide Academy.

With all that said, the trio decided to just sit in the front left corner. The same place Kris had sat during their orientation.

Unsurprisingly, they drew a few stares and more than a few unsavory comments, but they were used to them at this point.

Eventually, the students all came in, and it needs to be noted that it was only students under the Combat Pathway, as whatever this was about was strictly related to them.

Not long after the last person came in, a familiar figure walked onto the stage.

Looking at him again, Mike frowned.

'Now that I'm more proficient at reading my opponents... I can sort of guess how dangerous he is.' He thought.

And boy, was Vice-Principal Joseph threatening.

The man almost seemed to have this air around him, letting anyone know that having bad intentions towards him wasn't a good idea, and it was enough to cause goosebumps to rise on his skin. Thankfully, though, Mike didn't almost lose his head just looking at him.

"Good morning, everyone. You all already know who I am, so I will skip the pleasantries." Joseph said with a light smile, his green slitted pupils sweeping across the crowd before he continued.

"Seeing as you are all here today, that means you all received the notification yesterday without fail. Good. What I'm about to say is pretty important, so accidentally missing it would be extremely sad." His tone was blunt and mildly mocking.

Indeed, everyone here had received a notification the night before on their watches. It was pretty loud, and even if one put their watch on 'Do Not Disturb', the notification still blared. Hence, no one had any excuse to miss it.

"Now then, I'm sure quite a few of you have been wondering, 'You said there was a ranking system for each Pathway, but that only seems to apply to the other Pathways.', right?" As he said this, he pointed upwards, and a hologram of the ranking section on their watches appeared, but it was blank.

There were quite a few murmurs of agreement as many people had indeed wondered why it was like that despite the importance Joseph had placed on the rankings.

Meanwhile, Mike blinked.

'I completely forgot that there was a ranking.' Mike nearly facepalmed.

The rankings were important, very important. Moreover, they had a feature that Mike was particularly interested in, and that was the benefits of being in the top 10.

From better accommodation to a higher weekly allowance and access to better training facilities for free. The high positions on the rankings had appealing incentives that made students want to work harder.

Mike wanted these, but somewhere along the way, he'd completely forgotten they were even a thing.

That said, he couldn't exactly be blamed for forgetting as he had been busy improving himself and getting stronger.

As such, it just slipped his mind at some point.

But hearing that the rankings hadn't even been active was both a relief and a curiosity.

The Combat Pathway was one of the most important Pathways, so surely they wouldn't allow such a thing to happen without a reason, right?

And indeed, there was a reason.

"You see, after a long series of meetings, the higher-ups of the academy wanted to try something a little bit different this year." Joseph snapped his fingers, and the hologram above him shifted to form a sphere.

It rapidly became detailed, with colors appearing all over its surface.

In a few moments, a hologram of a planet with more land than water was revealed.

"This is planet Naraka," Joseph smiled when he saw everyone's interest pique immediately. "It is the fourth planet in the Lemnian Star System, located within its star's habitable zone with a gravity and oxygen level quite similar to that of Earth. In short, it can sustain life. However..." He made a show of pulling something closer, and the hologram zoomed into the surface of the planet, and when the students saw it, they were taken aback.

Beasts.

A lot of them.

"It's the planet with arguably the highest concentration of beasts within this star-cluster. That said, that doesn't stop us from sending elite squads to cut down the monster population and take whatever we want from the planet.

However, at some point, it was decided that the planet would be left as it is and instead be used as a training ground for upcoming talents to test themselves and improve," He grinned. "And that is where we will be sending you guys for the next month."

There was silence for a moment, then the room exploded.

"A month? But we've only been here forever a week?!?!"

"I've heard of Naraka. I heard that even the Heirs go there to train sometimes!"

"Did something happen? Why make this choice all of a sudden? Are they expecting something that they need to train us harder?"

Many worried and excited murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd, making Mike tilt his head.

He'd never heard of Naraka, but judging by the way everyone talked about it, its existence wasn't hidden knowledge, probably.

Mike was about to ask Theresa what Naraka was about when a wave of energy passed over him. Not just him, but every student.

It was gentle but firm, enough to shut everyone up and make them face forward again to see Joseph who was still smiling.

"Now that you lot have gotten that out of your systems, let me continue." His voice was pleasant, but everyone knew that talking now would be suicidal.

"I understand your worries. Naraka is graded to be extremely dangerous among worlds under human control, but don't worry, the location we are sending you to is a place where the average level of beasts is something even the weakest of you can handle." Hearing this, there were several sighs of relief. For a second, they'd thought–

"That said, the assistance you will receive during this excursion will be minimal, meaning you can very much still die, so I suggest you take it seriously." His next words were a bucket of cold water on everyone, making them freeze.

Seeing this, Joseph nodded in satisfaction before continuing.

"Now you might be wondering, how exactly does this translate into your rankings? Well, to put it simply, killing beasts." He snapped his fingers again, and three holograms appeared.

One beast that looked like an oversized rat with the number '10' above its head, then next to it was a bigger beast that looked like a large horse with the number '50' above its head, and the last and largest beast, a large winged creature with two heads with the number '500' above its head.

"Killing beasts will net you points, and the number of points you have by the end of the event will determine two things. Your ranking, and the number of credits that will be added to your balance by the end of the event." At this, there were varying reactions.

Some looked at the creatures being displayed warily, others seemed contemplative, and a few, like Mike, immediately lit up at the prospect of credits.

'Earning credits by killing stuff? Sign me up!' He thought happily, not at all seeming perturbed by the idea of being sent down to a hostile planet filled with horrific creatures that could potentially kill him.

Granted, he figured out that he could grow stronger from eating stuff he killed, so even if the credits part wasn't there, he'd still participate eagerly.

"Love the excitement." Joseph cackled loudly. Unlike the last time they met, he seemed to enjoy scaring them, and from what Mike could sense, he wasn't acting.

"Anyway, you might have a lot of questions, like how your points will be tallied, whether you will be observed during the exercise, whether you will be sent alone or in teams, and so on." He said, and many students nodded as they indeed had a lot of questions regarding the event.

"Well, that's great, because I'm not the one answering those questions!" Joseph said with such glee that it was blinding.

"Instead, you will be informed on the way." This made everyone pause, and one student asked tentatively.

"And... when do we set out, sir?" Hearing this, Joseph grinned.

"Well, right now of course!"

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