On the morning of October 31st, the year one students gathered in the sa open field where they had their orientation.
Three military buses, each comfortably hosting approximately fifty students, lifted into the skies, piercing the clouds before bursting through space with booms that reverberated through the false world.
Several towers stood alongside each other in the center of the Core district. From one of these towers, a white fog was released, enveloping a specific area of the tower.
Soon after, three military buses erged from this fog and ascended into the sky.
Usually, this would be considered an illegal act.
Traversing the sky was reserved for vehicles carrying important figures, but since the military academy was directly connected to the six heroes established by the Human Lord, there were very few restrictions it faced.
’Still, these buses can’t fly higher than the city walls,’ Anon thought while staring out of the window. ’Though I can’t see the walls from here, there should be a nurical limit on how high they’re able to fly. I’m sure that even in the old world, there was technology that could sense altitude.’
Seth sat next to him, with Bolan next to Seth, and Felix next to Bolan.
Each row of seats had five seats on either side of the aisle, and the group of geniuses from the Blackridge district had decided to stick together when entering the Blood-Drip Jungle.
This decision had been made early that morning while boarding the bus. As for any friends they may have made in the academy, they were not permitted to travel with them.
Naturally, this was due to Anon.
Now, he had many enemies, making the assessnt in the Blood-Drip Jungle far from simple.
In the current world, it was not far-fetched to think students desired Anon’s death due to his act of taxing them. In fact, more than just "not far-fetched," it was inevitable that Anon would cross paths with students seeking to end his life.
More than simply being psychopathic or bloodthirsty, this was just how the world had beco after the apocalypse. What was normal on the blue planet back then and what was normal on the red planet now had beco extre opposites.
Despite this, Anon cared very little.
’I’ve yet to grasp mastery over the staff,’ Anon sighed. ’Maybe it is the blood of these geniuses that will help attain mastery.’
As for the academy’s stance on students killing other students...
Unlike in the camp of ten thousand, the rules were quite vague. Maybe killing wasn’t a problem, and perhaps there was only a nurical limit on how many one could kill.
One thing was for sure: in this world, if the academy truly did not desire to see bloodshed, it would have established a clear rule to instill in the students from day one.
...
Whoosh!
The Blood-Drip Jungle...
As Anon stepped out of the hovering bus, a wave of intense heat washed over him, mingling with the scent of rich, damp earth and the faint tallic tang of iron.
The sounds resonating throughout created a cacophony of rustling leaves, distant growls, and the occasional echoes of dark, dreadful howls.
Above, the canopy was a patchwork of deep reds and dark greens, filtering the sunlight into a dim, eerie glow.
Following him were dozens of other students—fifty, to be precise—as they all simultaneously took a deep breath, absorbing the reality of the world before them.
The flora was alive!
Vines twisted around ancient, towering trees with gnarled, mottled trunks, thick and wide as if marked by ti.
Large, blood-red flowers blood in clusters, their petals glistening with moisture, while thick, dark ferns unfurled like the wings of flying creatures.
The ground was a carpet of decaying leaves and vibrant fungi, with occasional glimpses of strange insects flitting between shadows.
"The images that Instructor Harlen showed us don’t do this place justice..." Andrew murmured between breaths.
Even more vibrant murmurs broke out among the group of fifty students as the hovering bus slowly lifted into the sky.
There was just one.
With three buses in total, each unloaded a group of fifty students in different areas of the Blood-Drip Jungle.
"Hah..." Anon grunted.
Covering his mouth, he took a deep breath in an effort to calm his emotions. But his twinkling eyes revealed that his feelings were raging out of control.
His body trembled.
’So, this is outside the city.’ Such a thought imprinted itself in Anon’s mind, taking up most of his attention.
The jungle’s humidity coated his skin, making each breath feel heavy yet intoxicating. He sensed the pulse of the jungle, a heartbeat that quickened with each step he took.
"A..."
"An..."
"Anon!"
Seth’s voice brought him back to reality as he turned around, only to realize he had unknowingly strayed almost twenty ters away from the group.
In fact, the group of fifty had broken into several smaller clusters, separated by so distance. Still, Anon had distanced himself from almost everyone by quite a bit.
As Anon regrouped with the six others from Blackridge district, Seth said in a mocking tone, "Do you think that because you’ve got a divine weapon, you’re now invincible?"
It wasn’t that the students of the military academy were weaponless. They were all given a weapon they desired; it was just made from Kolar-dust, a material of the new world.
Though sturdier than the most robust materials of the old world, it was only comparable to a divine weapon in terms of toughness.
Because there was a high amount of Kolar-dust, using it to make weapons was simple for the academy, but this also ant these weapons were quite ordinary.
Anon wore a pair of black gauntlets made from Kolar-dust, while Seth had two halves of a detachable staff strapped to his back, similarly made from the sa material.
Ignoring Seth, Anon glanced at the other groups and smiled coldly. "These fools can’t even hide it."
The majority of the military academy’s students ca from prominent families. Naturally, they had suffered from Anon at least once.
Gazes of disgust, hatred, and anger pierced him, attempting to seep into his bones. They weren’t subtle at all.
It made Catharina shake her head and sigh. "Anon, we should separate from them as quickly as possible." She suggested this while shooting a cold glance at the groups.
"Catharina, you’re worrying too much," Felix interjected. A thick amount of killing intent leaked from his eyes as he said in a dark tone, "The military academy is pretty loose with its rules."
"I’ve been itching to move my body..."
Though nearly as tall as Andrew, who had a burly fra and puffier hair, Felix’s scruffy hair and wild appearance, coupled with his killing intent, made him unnaturally intimidating.
"Indeed, I agree!" Andrew chid in, but he couldn’t say any more before being interrupted.
"Fighting so many stellar fighters isn’t very smart," lissa frowned.
She was even more outspoken than a month ago during orientation as she criticized Felix. "You’re always thinking so aggressively... You need to think before you act, especially in here."
"No, lissa," Felix shook his head. But before he could counter lissa’s viewpoint, soone else did it for him.
"I do want to see how many of these great family prodigies are truly prodigious."
Bolan grinned, his abyss-like eyes smiling as he lightly chuckled. "Out of the fifty, most are from H manors. I want to see if they’re daring enough to confront us."
"I second that!" Andrew laughed heartily.
lissa couldn’t help but sigh as she heard this.
’I’m the only sane person from Blackridge.’ She thought this matter-of-factly.
Bolan was strange, Felix was bloodthirsty, Andrew was a battle maniac, and Catharina was crazy about Anon, so she’d listen to anything he said. As for Seth and Anon...
"You two?" lissa had no choice. She alone could not be the voice of reason, so her only option was to ask the two strongest mbers of the group.
To this, Seth smiled strangely.
"I think our beloved Anon, for whom we’re all willing to fight, should be the one to decide." His words though, did not sit well in the chest of another.
’He makes it seem as if Anon’s our leader.’ Bolan thought, a frown slowly forming on his face. However, his odd expression vanished almost instantaneously, even before it had ti to fully take shape.
Still, out of the corner of his eye, Seth noticed this peculiarity.
His eyes seed to be smiling.
Unaware of, and uncaring toward, this subtle tension, Anon looked around, his attention drawn to a particular group of individuals who were subtly separating themselves from the gathering.
Leading this group was a young man with a striking presence.
He stood slightly above average height for soone his age, with sun-kissed skin carrying a few faint scars, thick and dark tousled hair falling just above his shoulders.
’Orkhon Vranas,’ Anon mused inwardly. ’One of the nine greater families, Vranas...’ Anon’s eyes flashed with intentions unknown.
Turning to lissa, he voiced, "Regarding these so-called prodigies..."
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