Pop! "Congratulations, Ethan!" Ethan sat in front of a cake as a wave of confetti flew over his face. "Congratulations to you, Congratulations to you! Congratulations dear Ethan, Congratulations to you!" Estelle sang out loud as she danced around Ethan. "Hey! Why're you changing the birthday song?" Ethan laughed at her.
"Because I want to! I don't know any other songs that I can sing today anyways." She smirked at him. "But why do you have to sing?" "Cause there's cake! First rule of eating cake- Start with a song. You should know this! Didn't you finish middle school?"
Ethan grimaced as he recalled the hell he'd faced for the past three years. "Now, now, Estelle! Why don't you let Ethan cut the cake?" Ethan's father tried to defuse the situation quickly. Ethan smiled. Today was a day of celebration. He'd forget all of the terrible stuff that had happened to him. He'd enjoy this day with his family.
Ethan sliced the cake! "Woohoo!" Ethan's father clapped his hands as he blew the candles. "Congratulations, Ethan!"
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Shhhh! The train screeched to a halt as it finally reached the station. Tap...tap...tap...tap. Ethan got off as he was hit with a blast of warm air. He didn't feel like stepping outside after staying in the air conditioned train for so long. He scanned his surroundings, trying to find where he had to go.
'Class 10' A bored looking woman waved a large board with two words plastered on them. Ethan headed towards her. "Are you in class 10?" The woman asked him. He nodded his head in response. "Alright, stand behind me. These are your fellow classmates."
Keystone had a system of ranked classes. The best students were ranked in higher classes, and the higher the class number, the worse your position in the school. Of course, Noah was in class 1. And Ethan was in class 10.
He sighed. He wasn't off to a good start. Whatever. He'd have to make his way up slowly, so that he wouldn't be kicked out. But not too high. Maybe class 5 was a decent class to aim for. Ethan chuckled to himself. He was probably the only student who aimed to stay in a lower class. But these things would come later. He'd first have to reach the level of the other students in his class if he wanted to survive. Crossing them came later.
"Alright students, follow me." The woman started walking towards the exit of the station. Everybody started following her. Keystone had pretty good security. They were especially prone to terrorist attacks, being a place where the most powerful people in the world were born. And with the beginning of the 'golden generation', their security had tightened even more. Even the bored looking lady leading them was probably a high ranked gatekeeper or something.
The biggest threat a KGS wasn't some random terrorist organisation. No, it was the protagonist of 'The Ghost System', Noah Evans. That dude was a freaking calamity magnet, getting involved with almost every major power there existed. Ethan could recall a murderous terrorist organisation, a crazy woman driven mad by a faction war in KGS, and even a gate crashing on the campus. Noah was somebody he had to absolutely avoid. He didn't stab his own heart only for somebody else to get him killed. Especially somebody who had a system.
Yes, Noah had a system! Not him! Why was life so unfair? He should have gotten a system. He should've been able to level up and became insanely overpowered and become the strongest in the world with a snap of his fingers. And...and....and he'd be able to acquire a harem. All was possible with an overpowered system, yet he couldn't get one. He'd been teased by the goddamn pawn shop owner of a trader.
Hu...hu...hu. "Calm down, Ethan." Ethan took a deep breath. There was no need to get upset over this. Systems weren't something that fell from the sky. He wouldn't be getting one. There was no point of getting upset over something like that. And...and....a harem was always possible.
"Ahem!" The woman cleared her throat, catching wind of Ethan's lewd smile. "Get ready. We'll be entering the campus now." Tap...tap...tap. The group emerged from a tunnel. Bam! Everybody slowed down to a halt. They stiffened as hey saw a magnificent sight in front of them.
A large white dragon was sprawled in front of them. Its mouth was incredibly wide, almost 20 metres across and 15 metres high. Its empty eye sockets seemed to stare upon everybody as it lay guarding the entrance to the school. A shiver ran down Ethan's spine.
This was the legendary dragon slayed by the five great heroes. The same structure that Ethan had seen from his house a week ago. He could hear some oohs and aahs from behind him. He didn't blame them. Seeing something like this was amazing. Amazing, yet humbling.
Ethan felt a strange sense of fear as he stared at the skeleton. Would he be able to kill such a huge creature? He didn't think so. The idea of fighting against such a large and majestic creature terrified him. He had to admit- the five great heroes were amazing! They had faced this creature against impossible odds, and they had prevailed. He couldn't imagine the fear they must have felt back then.
The woman started speaking "This place is called Stone. Yes, Stone with a capital S. It was named after the gatekeeper who gave his life protecting the advancing forces. His sacrifice bought time for the five heroes to rally their forces, allowing them to defeat this dragon. And our school, Keystone Gatekeeping School, was named after this very man."
Tap...tap...tap. The woman walked towards the skeleton's mouth, placing her hand on one of its giant teeth "Keystone is a place where heroes are born. The saviours of tomorrow are are students today. Everything you are taught is with the perspective of turning you into fine gatekeepers that can fight against monsters."
"You guys are in the lowest class of KGS. The literal bottom. You lie beneath everyone, destined to be crushed by others. Does that mean that you are incapable? Huh?" She glared at the group, her earlier demeanour having vanished completely. "No, ma'am!" "I couldn't hear you! Are you incapable?" "NO, MA'AM!" "Are you worthy of walking through these gates?" "YES, MA'AM!" "Are you students of Keystone?" "YES, MA'AM!" "Then repeat after me! 'Ability, Perseverance, Endurance'."
"ABILITY! PERSEVERANCE! ENDURANCE!" "Again!" "ABILITY! PERSEVERANCE! ENDURANCE!" "Good job!" She glared at them. "Engrave these words into your hearts. Because once you walk through these gates, only these three things will save you. Nothing is constant in Keystone, except these three words. So never forget them. Let's go!"
She started walking forward. Taptaptaptap. The group walked through the dragon's body as they moved forward. Tap...tap...tap. "Welcome to KGS" They emerged from the skeleton. A large pathway extended in front of Ethan as it stretched all the way to a small building. The road was surrounded by a wooded forest on both sides, covered with large green trees.
The woman led them ahead as they walked forward. "The building you see ahead is the main office. Your ranks and merit points will be posted there. Your rank decides which class you will be placed in, so try to raise it as much as you can."
"What are merit points?" A red haired boy asked. "Merit points decide your rank in this school. You can increase your merit points by doing missions prepared by our school. Of course, tougher missions carry more merit points than easier ones."
"Missions? What kind of missions do we have to do?" A blue haired girl piped up. "Oh, small ones, mostly. Raiding G ranked gates and the like. Nothing too difficult." She grinned evilly. Ethan gulped. He didn't want to know what kind of missions he'd have to go through.
"Oh, and one final thing. Anybody who has zero merit points at the end of the month is expelled." There was a collective gasp. Expelled? They had just joined the school, and there was already talk of expulsion. "Oh yeah. I remember this from the novel." Noah had been threatened with expulsion by a purist teacher who hated commoners. Of course, the teacher didn't end up in a nice place.
"But enough talk about scary things. Head to your right. There's a set of accommodation buildings over there. That's where you'll be staying. Head to the building labelled 'Dust'. That's where you'll be staying. Come back here in 2 hours. Latecomers will have merit points slashed off them."
The entire group dispersed. Ethan pulled his bag as he headed towards 'Dust' building. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. His heart pounded uneasily. Probably because of nervousness. The idea of meeting the protagonist excited yet terrified him. "Just wait for me, Noah Evans. I'll catch up to you." He smiled. He was looking forward to KGS.