"19....1998..."

"1999..."

"20...2000!"

"Huff-huff... finally, the first four tasks are completed," I murmured, huffing heavily after completing the last set of push-ups.

After resting for a few minutes, I took a shower and, as soon as I came out of the bathroom, I called Uncle Reyaan.

"Hello, Uncle! How are you?" I said as Uncle Reyaan picked up the call.

"I'm good, Raj. By the way, I'm currently busy. If it's not something important, I will talk to you later," Uncle Reyaan's voice, a bit hurried, came from the other side.

"I want to join the orientation of the academy that you mentioned," I informed him, moving directly to the point. "I checked on the internet, but the last date to fill out the admission form was last week, so I can't join it."

"Haha! I'm glad that you decided to join the orientation," Uncle Reyaan said, his voice delighted. "Luckily, the gate they decided to enter for the orientation today is in your state. I will send you the location. Reach the place within an hour; I will take care of everything."

"Thank you so much, Uncle Reyaan!"

Beep!

"Even if it's an E-Rank gate, I should still prepare myself," I thought inwardly, pulling out the magenta tux exclusive from my inventory.

After a few minutes, I received the location of the gate from Uncle Reyaan. The marked place was thirty kilometres away from the mansion.

"Here we go again!" I said, tying Shinku no Sabi to my waist as I exited my room.

---

After half an hour, the G-Wagon stopped on the roadside of a farmland where several guards and people seemed to be awakeners were gathered around an E-Ranked gate.

As I stepped out of the car, the group, which included both women and men, turned their attention to me.

"Hey, look! A rich handsome guy is coming!"

"Kyaa! His hair, his body, his car, his dressing sense—everything is top tier. Is he also a fresher?"

"I have seen him somewhere before. His face looks kinda familiar..."

The ladies of the group giggled among themselves, their voices clearly audible thanks to my heightened senses.

"He is that trash, Raj Singh," a man wearing shiny heavy armour and wielding a greatsword revealed.

"Yeah! You are right! He is the younger brother of Blood Demon," a lady exclaimed, finally remembering where she had seen me before. "But why is he here? Don't tell me he is also joining the orientation."

When I reached closer to them, I introduced myself to the woman wearing proper gear who seemed like an instructor. "Hello, miss. My name is Raj Singh, an E-Rank Awakener. Please take care of me inside the gate."

"Oh, hello, Mr. Raj," the lady said, her voice surprisingly carrying a respectful tone. "I received information that you are joining the National Awakener's Academy and will be coming for the orientation today. Just tell me if you face any problem inside the gate."

I could already feel the jealous gazes of the man in shiny armour and his bunch of lackeys, piercing holes through the back of my head.

"Hah! No matter how much special treatment a trash receives because of his connections, he will still remain trash!" the dude in shiny armour scoffed while his lackeys let out mocking laughter.

"Am I in a high school from a Disney movie?" I sighed inwardly. "I just arrived, and poor me is already getting bullied."

Other than the group of five who were childishly mocking me, there were also five others who stared at me as if they were looking at a celebrity.

"Hello, Mr. Raj! My name is Nisha," a beautiful girl among the group introduced herself. "I'm a big fan of Blood Demon. The fight he had with Sword King was so epic that I watched it on loop multiple times. I'm glad that we are entering the gate with the brother of Blood Demon."

The other girls beside her nodded in agreement before introducing themselves as well. There was also a boy in the group who was silently standing behind them, his head covered with a hoodie. From his face, the boy barely seemed over sixteen.

"Attention, everyone!!" the lady instructor said, gathering everyone's attention. "My name is Payal. I will be your instructor and homeroom teacher at the Academy. Your classes will start next month, and all eleven of you will become classmates, so be nice to each other."

Her gaze was fixed on the armoured man and his group, indirectly warning them.

After a brief pause, she continued, "Our scouters have confirmed the type of monsters you will see in the gate. The gate contains low-ranked goblins and an armoured Goblin Shaman as the boss monster. The reason for this expedition is solely to make you familiar with the gates that you will clear after graduating from the academy. You are not allowed to engage in any type of combat with the monsters inside. Instructor Ashish will kill the monsters while you remain close by my side."

Another man wearing lightweight orange metallic armour stepped forward, standing beside Payal. He must be Instructor Ashish, the one who would be killing the monsters inside the gate.

"Inside the gate, my words will carry absolute authority. If any one of you refuses my orders, you will be instantly banned from the academy and forget about your dream of becoming an Awakener again."

"Excuse me, Instructor Payal. My name is Dhruva," the armoured man proudly introduced himself. "I'm a DDD-Rank Awakener and was personally trained by the Vice Guildmaster of the Silver Sword Guild. Permit me to slay a few monsters, as it will be helpful for me to gain some experience."

"Yes, Instructor Payal. Dhruva is experienced with swords. You should give him a chance," one of his lackeys added.

"He is already at DDD-Rank, so monsters of an E-Rank gate cannot pose any threat to him," another said.

"Silver Sword Guild? Now I understand his rude behaviour towards me," I sighed inwardly. "And these lackeys of his—they must be licking his boots because they also want to join the Silver Sword Guild."

After patiently hearing Dhruva and his group's demands, Payal spoke up, her voice serious. "Before the National Awakener's Academy was created, awakeners who got killed in gates were mostly at higher ranks than the dungeon rank because they overestimated their untrained strength. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't agree to let you slay the monsters, but since you were trained by the Vice Guildmaster of the Silver Sword Guild, I will allow you to kill one or two monsters—only in my presence."

She ordered us to form a single line like school children and stood at the end of the line while Ashish stood at the front.

Following Ashish, we began entering the gate one by one.

Surprisingly, when I entered, I didn't get any notification about the gate details that I usually received upon entering a gate.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.