"Hurry up and get to your seats! The principal's gonna be here soon." Ethan rushed to his seat as Ada hissed at him. Damn bitch. She was targeting him. He plopped down on a chair as he slunk down into it. He felt like hiding himself. He simply wanted a few moments of peace.
As soon as he had headed back to Dust House, a couple of kids had started chasing him, trying to make him late. They were probably form Class 9 or 10, or else he wouldn't be able to outrun them. If he'd been late, Ada might have deducted even more of his points.
Tap...tap...tap. An unnaturally loud sound echoed through the entire room. Everybody's voices grew quieter as they turned towards the stage in front of them. Tap...tap...tap. A small, thin woman walked across the stage as her heels clattered across the floor.
She walked towards a microphone. "Hello, students. My name is Elizabeth Black." Her eyes swept through the crowd. "As the principal, I'd like to welcome you all to Keystone Gatekeeping School. You will be spending 3 years here, and I hope your three years will be fruitful."
Her hands gripped the mic as she pulled it out of a stand. "Keystone is not an ordinary school," she began. "It's a place where humanity's finest gather to train themselves and become fine gatekeepers." She paused slightly.
"Do you know how many gatekeepers there are?" She stared at the audience. "1 million. There's one million awakeners. Seems like a large number, right?" A couple of people nodded. "Well, do you know why we only have 1 million gatekeepers? Not more? After all, out population is one billion, right?" She looked at the audience expectantly.
"Becoming a gatekeeper is easy. But staying one is tough. Each year, almost a hundred thousand gatekeepers are born. And about he same amount die. Twenty thousand of those are gatekeepers who haven't even served for a year." She allowed her words to sink in. The room was shrouded in silence. Twenty thousand. That was a shocking number.
"Being a gatekeeper isn't an easy job. It's tough, risky and spontaneous. Your life can change at the flip of a coin, and there's nothing you can do about it." Her eyes pierced into the crowd. "All it takes is one moment of negligence to cause your or somebody else's death. So when you're facing a monster who's stronger, faster and smarter than you, what will you do? Say that you've graduated from KGS?" She scoffed.
"In the real world, your status as a graduate of KGS doesn't matter. It means nothing. Absolutely nothing." Her words bore down on everybody, making them feel an intense pressure. "If you are a student of KGS, then you should show it through your actions. Through your drive, your hard work and your persistence. You can only survive here by improving yourself continuously. Because if you do not...." Her eyes pierced through the crowd "....you shouldn't worry about losing your place in this school. You should worry about your life."
Everybody stared at Elizabeth. Her words had affected everyone some way or the other. Some were terrified, some were angry, and some were excited. "If you want to stay at KGS, you must always remain loyal to three things. Repeat after me. 'Ability! Perseverance! Endurance!'"
"ABILITY! PERSEVERANCE ENDURANCE!" The entire room echoed as the students shouted as loudly as they could. Elizabeth smiled. "Good. Seems like we have a promising crowd here." She placed her mic back on the stand. "Alright. Now that you guys are pumped up, let's start for real. As you may know, all students are divided into ten classes, ranging from 1 to 10. Your position in your class can change anytime, so you better stay on your toes. Too many students have fallen because they fell behind." Ethan blinked. It seemed like Elizabeth was going to give the new students some advice. He listened intently.
"Your classes will be decided based on your points that you can earn through missions. As you may know, missions are posted in the main office, so you should do as many as you can. But remember to be smart. Though rare, deaths can occur in these gates. You should be careful and understand your limits before you try to break through them." Ethan smiled. He would do that, alright. He'd rise through classes faster than anybody here ever had.
"Train as much as you can. Use the three sections of the training room wisely and efficiently. Avoid the simulation room as much as possible. But don't rush to a gate if you're learning a new technique. Get used to it first."
"And as soon as you break through to F rank, you should tell your teacher immediately. F rank is a shaky stage that you can't get through on your own. You should seek as much help from your teachers as possible. After all, we are here to help you."
She paused slightly. "We praise hard work as much as we do talent in KGS. Yet, those who possess both are rare." Everybody looked up in attention. "The facilities of KGS are vast, yet improving yourself without them is extremely tough. All of you have worked hard to get here, and I'm sure anybody who manages to reach this school will continue to do so. That is how we have chosen you, after all." She was praising them. Odd. Maybe this was a set up for something big?
"Yet, there are some who stand out amongst you. Those who have endured far more than what you have put yourself through. You are great, yet they have proven themselves to be greater." Yup, there it was. Elizabeth had praised them just to put them down even more. "These students have undergone adversity to shine through and prove themselves as the top students of KGS."
Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. Suddenly, Ethan clutched his chest. His heart had started to act up again. He cursed. That damned Mercator had given him a defective item. Why was it still acting up after two months? He slowed down his breathing as he tried to calm it down.
Ba-dump.....ba-dump.....ba-dump.....ba-dump. It continued to beat. "I'd like to call some very special students here today." Ba-dump....ba-dump....ba-dump....ba-dump. "Damian Stella, rank 6." The Stella bastard. Rage descended into Ethan's mind, making him lose his concentration. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. "Misty Gloss, rank 5" Ethan felt an overwhelming sense of pressure as the sound grew louder. He stared at the floor, trying to stop the claustrophobic feeling.
Ba-Dump..Ba-Dump..Ba-Dump..Ba-Dump. "William Gibson, rank 4" Elizabeth's voice was slowly drowned out as the sound of his heart beating got louder. Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! "Arthur Richter, rank 3" Ethan stopped paying attention to the names he heard. He couldn't focus on his surroundings any more.
"Grace Black, rank 2" Ethan desperately looked up, hoping somebody had noticed him. He looked at the stage. He could barely make out 5 figures as he extended his hand forwards. "And our super rookie. The student who ranked first in the entrance test, rising above the five heirs themselves. Please put your hands together for Noah Evans." BA-DUMP! BA-DUMP! BA-DUMP! BA-DUMP!
Tap...tap...tap. For some reason, Ethan could hear the sounds of footsteps as a tall boy walked onto the stage. His long black hair extended towards his ears.. His perfect face was strikingly handsome yet cold, as if he was somebody who was born a predator. His dark black eyes seemed to swallow all light.
Ethan's surroundings melted away as he saw the boy who'd become the most powerful being in the world. His blue eyes bored right into Noah as he focused every fibre of his being onto him. Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! He could here the muffled sounds of his heartbeat as he stared at Noah. Suddenly, the world went cold. Ethan's very bones seemed to freeze over as a strange presence loomed over Noah.
A large obscure presence stood behind him, a part of him, yet something completely different from him. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. It seemed to examine Ethan's very existence as it stared at him. Whoosh! Suddenly, the pressure lifted. Ethan could hear his muffled heartbeat slowly returning to normal as the apparition continued to stare at him emotionlessly.
The world returned to normal as time sped up once more. "Huff...huff...huff." Ethan breathed heavily as his heart slowly got back to normal. He looked u at the stage. Noah was visibly alarmed, looking around as if he was trying to find something. Ethan ducked his head.
He couldn't explain what had just happened. He'd transmigrated before he'd completed reading 'The Ghost System', so he didn't know anything about the universe outside of Earth. Which was where that presence came from. Maybe. He was sure that that it wasn't from this world. It couldn't be. The kind of cold heart murderousness that it had released wasn't something a mere human could hold.
Noah scanned the crowd, still searching for the source of disturbance. "Noah? Please move towards the other students." Elizabeth glanced at him, wondering why he had stopped. He wordlessly moved towards the other heirs, not meeting their eyes.
Huff.....huff.....huff. Ethan's breathing slowed down as he returned to normal. He slinked down into his chair. Elizabeth's voice droned on as he closed his eyes. Noah wasn't as simple as he had thought. And his previous impression of him was anything but simple.
Ethan groaned inwardly. He'd drawn attention to himself. Noah would now be looking for him. But he wouldn't reveal himself. He had much more to lose than Noah. So he'd stay quiet for now. He'd gather his strength. And he'd reveal himself once things were safe enough. He opened his eyes. His goal was clear. Train like hell while avoiding the protagonist.
Ethan smiled. "That sure was one hell of an orientation," he mused. Keystone Gatekeeping School had just begun.