One by one Principal Balan called out the names of every student in the hall.
"Witney Jacobs, Hassan Lauton, Brandon Gibson, Cora Andrews, Brian Lara and Protea Sumire. You are in the same team, please select someone to come up on stage."
The 6 students got up from their seats and met each other in the middle. They quickly came to a unanimous decision that Witney would go up on stage. She didn't force them to make that decision…definitely not.
She briskly walked onto the stage and stuck her hand Into the box. Swirling her hand inside the box for a few seconds she then took out a small white ball with the number 11 marked in black. Witney gave the ball to Principal Balan who crushed it and read the note inside.
"Number 11. A gang of murders, thieves and rapists have taken over most of the Ostril Nation. Your mission is to eradicate this gang and bring peace to the Ostril Nation."
Witney's eyes shone in anticipation. Fighting and killing vile cultivators was what she hoped for. This was the perfect opportunity to release some stress caused by none other than Vasari.
These past 2 and a bit months that he was gone for, felt so miserable to her. She only now realised that she took her time with him for granted. Luckily the preparations for this exam and her cultivation kept her distracted most of the time, leaving her little time to mull over not having Vasari close by.
Witney left the stage and walked back to her teammates whom she would have to get to know from now on. She knew Hassan already due to him living in the same house as Vasari but they never really spoke to each other and she knew Brandon Gibson and Cora Andrews since they were all in the same class.
Principal Balan waved his hand and the group of 6 suddenly appeared next to the entrance of a spatial portal. Without further ado, they walked through the entrance and disappeared from everybody's sight.
Talia, Gia, Jiang Xia, Asher, Timo, Jude, Jett and Alex's name was soon called too. Unfortunately, none of them managed to end up in the same team.
Less than an hour later the only remaining people in the hall were Principal Balan and his 10 teachers.
"How many do you think will fail this exam?" Principal Balan asked nobody in particular. His question got the teachers thinking and the first to answer was Laurence Lincoln, the teacher of class 2.
"This group of students is one of the most talented that we've had in recent times. I predict that by the time of graduation over 70% will pass."
"That's high numbers considering that in the last 1 000 years the pass percentage is barely above 50%" Nurlan Maratov, the teacher of class 8, remarked before taking out a cigarette and lit it with a small flame that he created by snapping his fingers. With the cigarette now lit, he took a long drag, finishing nearly the entire cigarette in one inhale before exhaling a large cloud of smoke.
"Do you have to do that inside?" Laurence Lincoln reprimanded him like a teacher would his students.
"I'm worried about my students. I've taken a liking to some of them hahaha." He may have the appearance of a rough, burly man but those who knew him knew that he was a big softie on the inside. However, he had a short temper which was why he always had a cigarette or cigar in his mouth.
"Why don't we make a wager?" Miss Covington suggested which piqued the interests of these teachers. When you live as long as them, gambling becomes a fun hobby since most of the time they had too much wealth to know what to do with it. Also, it was a chance to increase their wealth and who wouldn't want that?
"I'm in! What do you have in mind?" Laurence Lincoln didn't think twice before agreeing to the wager.
"We wager who has the most students graduating at the end. I am willing to bet a Peak Heaven grade sword and 10 000 magma essence stones."
The teachers and even Principal Balan were surprised at the amount Miss Covington was willing to wager. 10 000 essence stones of any element, never mind an advanced element like magma, was a mouth-watering sum but coupled with a Peak Heaven grade sword valued at 10 000 mid-grade mana stones, made it an amount that would set back cultivators financially at least a thousand years. The value of a mid-grade mana stone was 1:50 compared to essence stones. Meaning 1 mid-grade mana stone was worth 50 essence stones.
"Okay sounds good. I don't mind putting up a peak heaven-grade weapon and 10 000 essence stones."
"Same here."
"Me too."
"Sign me up."
In the end, all 9 other teachers joined in on the wager. In a year and a half one of these teachers is going to be 90 000 essence stones and 9 heaven-grade weapons richer.
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The dwarf planet known as Omicron Persei, named by the native population, is part of a vast solar system consisting of twenty-eight other planets. It orbits an orange sun in a nearly perfect circular pattern and is accompanied by four moons. Survival of the fittest is a familiar concept on this planet, where weaker organisms often fall victim to stronger ones.
However, one species takes this to an extreme: humans. For thousands of years, humans have caused destruction on Omicron Persei, engaging in battles for power and wealth. Despite this, there is still a fundamental principle upheld by the planet's inhabitants.
Raping and slaughtering the lives of innocent women and their children was something that crossed the bottom line of the people of the Ostril Nation. They did not care when a large group of cultivators overthrew their previous corrupt government in fact they cheered them on, but during their celebrations, these unknown cultivators started kidnapping women and killing their families.
It was a dark day for these citizens, but it did not end there. Every day women and young ladies would be kidnapped and raped by this gang of cultivators that called themselves 'The damned and the beautiful'.
The citizens asked for help from neighbouring nations but were completely ignored. This gang had the fighting strength of a fully armed army. No nation would risk its countrymen for another, especially when the losses outweighed the gains.
Fortunately, this was a planet owned by the Cloud Haven Sect and thus everything had to be reported to them. So when those from The damned and the Beautiful 'forgot' to send the monthly quota of resources to the representative of the Cloud Haven Sect stationed on Omicron Persei, they were instantly black listed and the higher-ups decided to use this gang as training for the Cloud Haven School students.
Thus the reason Witney and her team were currently 10 kilometres away from the border of the Ostril Nation.
They were all currently dressed in casual attire in an attempt to blend in with the locals. Witney even went so far as to wear a veil to hide her exquisite face.
"According to the information we got from those at the last rural town, we should be approaching the border city of the Ostril Nation," Hassan informed his 5 teammates in case they had forgotten.
"There should be some of those scum from that gang in this city right?" Eager to bash some skulls, Witney asked in anticipation.
"Most likely a few, since this is an important trading point for merchants. I'm guessing the city lord and most of the higher-ups of the city are affiliated with the gang."
"Hehe, good, good, good…"
The 5 members all glanced at each other and as if reading each other's minds, they slightly distanced themselves from Witney, afraid of the crazed aura she subconsciously released.
"C'mon let's pick up the pace. We're nearly there."
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"HALT! Who goes there!?"
Standing in front of the entrance to the border city of Ostril Nation, 2 guards stopped a small group of 6 youths.
"State your reason for visiting Southern Botley!?" The second guard asked with just as much impoliteness as the first.
"We are just youths from a nearby village hoping to experience life in the city." Hassan, the delegated speaker, announced to the intimidating guards.
"Hmph it requires FIVE gold coins per person to enter. No gold, no entry."
Seeing the hesitant looks on the youth's expressions, a smile crept up onto the faces of the guards.
"Although…since I'm feeling generous today, I'll allow you to enter, but the three ladies stay behind for some fun with the boys."
The guards licked their lips at the sight of Cora Andrews's slim figure and pretty facial features. She was a pretty girl with a few admirers back in the Cloud Haven Sect even though most of the attention was on the 4 Rookie Beauties. Protea Sumire was not as pretty as Cora, but her body was more busty and developed than hers.
Cora and Protea defiantly stared back at these guards which only turned them on even more.
"Hehe, big brother have you seen the third one's body? A body perfect for receiving big dick hehe. Oh man, I'm getting hard just thinking about ploughing her pussy." The shorter one of the two guards ogled Witney's body, especially her slender legs. He started shamelessly stroking his dick through his pants and a wet stain formed from his precum.
Witney frowned behind the veil, and her nose scrunched up in disgust.
"You're right little brother. But now I'm curious what that veil is hiding." The older guard lewdly smiled and walked up to Witney. He reached out to grab the veil, but his movements came to a halt when his fingers were just inches from touching Witney's veil. The guard's eyes widened in fear as he slowly tilted his head down. Looking down at his chest, there he saw a small fist piercing his skin, crushing his ribs and holding his beating heart.
"I hope you burn in hell, you piece of shit scum!"
Witney ruthlessly crushed the guard's heart, killing him instantly.
"Big…big…BIG BROTHER!!!"