Three months passed by in the blink of an eye and it was already the day we would be receiving the briefing for our first mission world.
After the first month, we were freed from all of our basic combat training and basic theory practice.
The multiverse was a big place and the amount of information that had been crammed into us ranged from the dangers of the tiniest magical plant spores to world-ending apocalypses.
How to identify the power levels of our enemies, the ways people in power acted, the formation of nations, the political system and the 5 major factions belonging to the 5 limbs of the world tree, the ranks of the demon god's underlings.
The list went on.
Perhaps the most important thing we learnt was the sheer difference of power between the major realms of cultivation.
There was no such thing as killing between realms as each realm meant a change in the very nature of one's abilities.
It wasn't simply a matter of quality or quantity.
It was something way more fundamental.
The biggest difference was that between transcendents and everyone else below that level.
No matter how strong one was, or how long their lifespans were everyone below the transcendent level were but mortals on the cosmic scale.
Transcendents on the other hand were something much more than immortals.
They were Gods.
Their very existence was etched into the fabric of the multiverse.
The only way to kill them was to destroy the multiverse they ascended from.
After we were freed from the first month's torture, the morning sessions were no longer basic theory but lessons of our chosen lifestyle class.
Surprisingly enough, the instructor for the Boss (underground organization) class was our class instructor Greg.
As if he didn't already give off godfather mafia boss vibes, he even had the skills to back it up.
Having already been a successful CEO, learning the ins and outs of running an underground organization wasn't that hard for me.
It was the easiest and most relaxing part of the day for me.
What followed that was soul-crushing, limit-breaking physical training.
That was the only part of our schedule that hadn't changed at all.
There was no escape from the alien-looking protein shake sludge they made us down after the training.
In the afternoon, instead of basic combat drills, we got to train with the skills of our chosen combat class.
The assassination classes were the most transformative for me, as they helped increase my combat strength by leaps and bounds.
Our instructor was a senior-year student that went by the nickname Wraith. She was in her third year and was giving lessons to earn extra Hero Points. Her lessons were direct and to the point.
While she may have been extremely stunning and beautiful, it was a real pity that she was probably not going to make it to the next year.
The fact that she was earning points via giving lessons meant that she didn't have enough points to spend.
Those at the top spent their time outside of mission worlds and contests in spending points to improve their cultivation level and using the academy's resources instead of earning them.
There were going to be no fantasies of indulging in an academy romance with a beautiful female instructor.
Not that I was interested in that in the first place.
Other than me, there were three other masks from my class that came for the assassin lessons.
There was the ice-cold Raven. I could count the number of words I had heard her say on one hand.
There was Devil's Advocate. Apart from using needles to assassinate, he had also managed to form a tag team with two other masks – Slenderman and Eagle. The latter is a sniper who managed to get lucky in her test using a pistol.
Devil's Advocate seemed to be the brain of the team. From what I learnt about him; he was incredibly sinister. He had managed to clear his test by provoking the members of his team into fighting each other and then using his needles to paralyze them.
He then proceeded to torture them for hours before killing them.
Finally, there was Ghost, another female hero candidate that wielded a single Katana. Instead of choosing a swordsman class, she had come to become an assassin for some reason.
She got along quite well with the instructor.
Maybe it was their similar naming sense?
In the evenings we had lessons for the hidden class we had chosen.
The importance of the hidden class was something the others couldn't even compare to.
It was the building block of our future modus operandi.
If one likened the mission world to a game.
Then this was our chosen attack strategy and playstyle.
Choosing the Conspiracy weaver class had turned out to be a successful gamble.
Other than completely changing my understanding of conspiracies, it helped me wield a weapon that gave me the confidence to not only clear the upcoming mission world but to swerve through any obstacle that might come my way all the way up to graduation.
If the lifestyle class helped me touch up and expand my business skills, and the assassin class helped me make up for my disadvantage in direct combat. This class boosted my advantages and showed me the direction of a possible future path that I will take in this academy to grow stronger and survive.
I will hold back from describing the exact process and the intricate details of my lessons for the time being. Having a look at my new status was enough to see the development I had undergone over the past 3 months.
[Name: Nagi
Hero Points: 100
Class ranking: 1 (tied with 12 people)
Leaf rank: 96
Year ranking (branch): N/A
Classes: Assassin - Novice Grade, Boss (underground organization) – Adept Grade, Conspiracy Weaver – Novice Grade.
(Note: Skill in classes goes like this – Novice < Adept < Professional < Master < Peak)
Superpower system: None
Supernatural energy: None
Energy Storage: N/A
Realm: Uninitiated
Physical Condition: Max Mortal Grade (NEW!)
(Note: Your body has achieved the maximum potential it can reach without the use of supernatural energy. Your body is now extremely sensitive to the reception of any form of supernatural energy)
Cultivation techniques: None
Basic Skills (NEW!): Combat Sense Lv5, Basic One-vs-one Combat Lv5, Basic One-vs-Many Combat Lv6, Basic Multiverse Language Lv3, Basic Plant, Beast and Demon Identification Lv4, Basic Resource Identification Lv6, Cultivation and Supernatural Energy Basics Lv5.
Class Specific Skills (NEW!):
Assassin: Stealth (Novice), Human anatomy (Novice), Poison Brew (Adept), Knife - Direct thrust (Novice), Knife – Backstab (Adept), Knife – Throwing (Novice)
Boss (Underground Organization): Leadership (Professional), Information Gathering (Adept), Loyalty Guarantee (Adept), Secrecy (Adept), Forming Connections (Professional), Maintaining Forces (Adept), Dealing with the Law (Adept), Avoiding the law (Adept), Interrogation (Novice)
Conspiracy Weaver: Conspiracy (Professional), Manipulation (Adept), Deception (Adept), Face Reading (Adept)
Note: You can hide the sections and skills that you do not wish to see.]
The benefits of the physical training and drinking that unholy liquid could be seen.
I also properly digested the skills taught by the Specialized class instructors.
[Congratulations user Nagi! Your first mission world has been assigned. Do you wish to see the details?]
Finally!
This is what he had been waiting for.
It was literally what he had been training for.
Everybody understood that the results of the mission would decide the dynamic that would determine the course of their actions for the rest of the year.
This is why everybody was lying relatively low and there weren't any major conflicts that took place or hostilities that had erupted.
"Yes, I would like to see the details!"
------------------------------------------------
Mission Name: The Evil Within
Mission World: Earth Variant 256
World level: 1
Supernatural Energy: Ether
Supernatural System: Soul Chains
Power System: Beast-taming world
Time period: 21st century; Modern earth; Digital Age
World Description:
100 years ago with the revival of supernatural energy, 'ether', locally known as Soul Energy spread across the entire world. This led to the creation of Soul Beasts, Soul Plants and natural resources rich in Soul Energy.
As the beasts rose in power before World War 2 could occur, the firepower research and development were still behind the times. With the repeated occurrences of beast tides devastating the human population, the profession known as beast tamers eventually rose to the forefront as they awakened their souls and formed contracts with soul beasts using a cultivations system that created soul chains.
Now a hundred years later, the world has entered the digital age. Beast-tamers are the most respected profession in society and every student dreams of awakening their soul forming a contract with a strong soul beast and entering a prestigious Beast-taming University.
Mission Description:
A minion of the Demon lord at the level of Demon Deacon (Energy Realm) has appeared in the world and is recruiting an army of Demon Devotees (Core Realm) to prepare for a sinister ritual to increase the rate of infection of the world.
Mission Objectives:
1) Destroy/Contain the Evil Organization of the Demon Deacon: 1000 Points
2) Kill the Demon Deacon: 500 Points
3) Stop the Evil Ritual: 500 Points
4) Kill a Hero Candidate: 100 Points
5) Kill a Demon Devotee: 50 Points
Mission Reminders:
A) You will be departing in 3 days, you can use this time to buy resources, techniques and information from the Hero Point Store.
B) There will be a total of 9 hero candidates assigned to this mission. You will not be informed about their identities. Should you encounter each other within the mission world, whether you choose to form an alliance or kill each other is up to you.
C) There will be no more classes for the next 3 days, you can choose how to spend this time to prepare on your own. You can approach your instructors and seniors for advice at this time as well. Some sell strategy guides or give personal coaching in exchange of Hero Points.
D) The number of Hero Points you earn will decide your rankings. You will gain bonus points for completing hidden missions.
Hint: The greater your strength, influence and sense of presence in the mission world, the higher chance you have of completing the hidden missions.
------------------------------------------------