Ian managed to keep his composure as he headed to the assembly hall. All his body ached from his workout and even meditation did little to help. On the bright side though, he now has 55 points of exp which meant he only needs 45 more for level 3. This was still extremely slow since he had only 7 days left, but there was nothing he could do about it for now.
There were murmurs as he made his way to the assembly hall, making sure to make it less obvious how weak he was. He could get floored by a single shove in this state. It wasn't like he wouldn't most times but he believed he was stronger now so it wasn't likely. Unless in his present state, of course.
"Why are we being called to the assembly hall?" he heard a second-year student ask. "Is it because of the dungeon raid?"
"Did something bad happen?"
"We haven't been to the hall for a while now. Something bad had to have happened."
The murmurs and speculations kept going on and on, and they had good reason to be worried.
The school never held morning assemblies except they have important announcements since they decided it was a huge waste of time. This made the assembly hall an irregular occurrence for these students.
The first years like Ian knew nothing of this though, and the speculations were beginning to scare a few of them. Ian however was preoccupied with other things so he barely paid any attention to the possible reasons they were called. They were at one of the safest places on the planet so he knew he had nothing to worry about concerning that.
The students soon filed into the assembly hall it was as noisy as ever and there was chatter from all the students gathered there as they speculated some more. It was now up to the thirds years to calm things down since the teachers and generals have not arrived yet, and they did take command.
"Silence!" a sturdy-looking guy with muscles built like a bodybuilder. He was so muscular that it seems like his uniform was doing all it could to stay together on his body. He was about 6'2 tall with brown hair cut in an unusual bowl cut. is bangs slightly covered his eyes as they peered at the crowd.
The crowd fell silent as they watched the presence on stage.
"We are soldiers, not children!" he continued. "Everyone must shut their traps and be orderly until the teachers come! Be a responsible soldier and respect authority!"
The silence persisted as the second and first years were too scared to talk, and the third years stood at strategic points to keep order.
"Good job, Will," the Commander said as he walked out of the door behind the platform along with the other teachers. He patted Will on the back as he stood side by side with him. "You keep proving that you deserve that name tag."
Name tags for the students were a privilege that was only given to the top brass of the school. The ones that have proven their worth to the school or promising potential. These students have a better chance of getting into a Pioneer family upon graduation or obtaining a decent position if they decide to stay in the military. That means a jump in rank immediately after graduation and many students relished it.
It was a privilege usually reserved for third-year students who have proven themselves, or promising potentials from other years.
Will stood rigidly and only gave a small bow in acknowledgement of the praise.
"Wow," Ian thought. "He's devoted."
Unknown to him, a pink-haired girl was watching him from a distance as he stood alone. She gave a small smile before looking back up at the raised platform.
"Welcome, everyone," the commander said calmly but his voice somehow reached the ends of the hall. "My reasons for coming here today are brief."
He paused for a bit and scanned the crowd of students below him before letting out another sigh.
"First of all, I want to apologise to all of my first and second-year students, especially the first years," he started. "As you know, a dungeon has been discovered on the outskirts of dome city and we need to get rid of it to prevent a dungeon break which would be extremely fatal for us if it happens, especially to the residents of dome city. I understand that some of your families live there.
Our soldiers should be the ones doing dirty jobs like this and when they are not available, the mantle falls on the third years who have received adequate training. But unfortunately, we can't spare any of our forces because of a looming threat and the third years students are at a critical point of their training at the moment. We fear that this raid might affect their training in negative ways. That's why we had to ask you second and first years to help us with this.
Now that brings me to the important part of this assembly. Starting today, all theoretical classes are cancelled and teachers are urged to only give students information about beasts they would find in there. All dungeon procedures and processes are to be educated to the students, and the only classes permitted are combat classes.
All first and second-year students are to be given intermediate gear with active skills to protect themselves in the dungeon and they are to be taught procedures on the activation of a beast gear and its active skills. I'm leaving them in your hands, teachers. Prepare them as much as possible for their first and premature dungeon raid."
"Yes, sir!" the teachers saluted. Ian noticed that his teacher wasn't among the teachers gathered here, which had him wondering who exactly his teacher was.
"Finally, this is a direct order from your Commander to all first and second-year students, regardless of tier or class," the Commander said looking at the students with a serious expression. "If you meet any humans who can shapeshift into beasts or any human at all who isn't from the academy."
A slight pause had everyone in the hall anticipating his next words.
"Run!"