The gate was ready, and everyone felt nervous to enter it. After all, it might be their first experience. Even if the gate was zero rank, it was still dangerous for the students who had just awakened their abilities not long ago. However, they were not too scared because two teachers would be accompanying them.
"Alright, everyone. I am finished with the gate's analysis. Like Titan said, the highest leveled monsters in this gate are level 19. I and Ms. Green won't get involved inside no matter how dangerous the situation is, so you guys do your best. Everything you get inside the gate will be yours," Fang Whitehound said.
Dylan Foster, the eldest of the triplets, raised his hand and asked, "What if we are about to be killed?"
Fang flicked his fingers, and every student emanated blue auras, but those auras only lasted for a moment before disappearing.
"I have cast a certain spell on each of you. When you are about to be killed, the spell will be activated. A magic crystal will envelop your entire body and protect you. However, you can't move when this spell is activated. That means you will be disqualified if you trigger this spell, and everything you gain will not be treated as yours. The true purpose of this special event is survival, so good luck to everyone."
Mr. Whitehound told people to enter the gate one by one. He explained that each person would be teleported to a random area. Jake was the first one to step up as he was ranked first in class A.
Before Jake entered the gate, Mr. Whitehound said, "You can't use magical artifacts inside the gate. This is also part of the test. Instead, you can choose weapons from that rack."
Jake didn't mind it. He took a dagger from his waist and gave it to Mr. Whitehound. It was the [Spirit Slaying Dagger] he had used to kill the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox.
Mr. Whitehound widened his eyes when he inspected the artifact. "This is a high-level artifact. Why are you even bringing this to a low level gate?"
Jake shrugged. "Force of habit?" he said nonchalantly. He wasn't lying about it. He had visited high level gates with his parents, and he always brought magic artifacts every time he visited a gate. It just so happened that the artifact was the only one he brought from his family's treasury.
"Okay. I will keep this with me until the event is done. You can choose your weapons," Fang said, pointing at the weapon racks behind him.
"Can I choose more than one?" Jake asked.
"Sure."
Jake walked toward the racks and didn't hesitate to pick two short axes and a halberd. He was good at using many weapons, but he was on another level at ax and spear techniques.
After choosing his weapons, Jake immediately entered the gate. Swirling mana swallowed him and made him disappear.
In another place, Jake reappeared. He immediately observed the place before starting his exploration. He was standing on a one-time path. There were rocky walls on the sides, and above him was also a ceiling made of rocks. A tunnel like this would be dark usually, but glowing stones were embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the place.
Jake started to ponder where this place was. He had a guess. First, he recalled the explanation of gates he had learned. Gates were connected to another place in this world, another place in another dimension, or a pocket dimension. Connecting a gate to a pocket dimension was expensive, but he guessed this was a pocket dimension. After all, he didn't want people to track his hideout through the gate if he was the villain who had put the gate seed inside the academy.
"Pocket dimension gates aren't permanent. If it reaches the limit, it will disappear. I guess the limit of this gate is when all the monsters disappear or die. So, if the gate outbreak happened, this gate would disappear, and the Academy couldn't track the planter. It was a splendid plan," Jake muttered. He felt grateful to Titan once again for discovering their evil plan. If not, many people would have died.
As Jake fell into thought, the portal behind him disappeared. He noticed it and turned back. However, the portal was nowhere to be seen, but he still could feel the mana fluctuation in the air.
"This mana fluctuation will attract monsters," Jake muttered. He decided to leave the place. Not because he was scared of the monsters, he just wanted to search for the other people.
Jake wrapped the halberd behind his back and walked while carrying two short axes. This place was too narrow for a long weapon, so it seemed he would use axes a lot.
With an ax in each of his hands, Jake began his exploration. He activated his [Akashic Eyes] to see the surroundings. If enemies ambushed him, he would know first. However, it seemed he was too cautious. So far, he encountered no ambush or trap yet.
Then again, this was a gate that was designed to disappear after an outbreak, so the pocket dimension's design wouldn't be too complicated.
With that in mind, Jake unactivated his [Akashic Eyes]. He had to hone his sense instead of depending on his eyes. If he was lucky, he would gain an ability related to enhanced sense.
The first thing he did was to clear his mind. He controlled his breathing and activated [Meditation]. This skill allowed him to clear his mind under extreme conditions, and he could choose to absorb mana from the surroundings and refill the mana in his body or not.
Jake didn't absorb mana. In exchange, his presence faded, and his sense sharpened. He could hear his own heartbeat and footsteps. However, those sounds began to fade as well. In that state, his presence was dim. People wouldn't be able to sense him without seeing him.
Not long after he walked in this condition, Jake heard marching footsteps incoming. Each of the steps produced different rhythms, and he could tell five people were approaching from the left turn.
Those people hadn't sensed him yet based on their unchanging rhythms, so it was a chance to ambush them. Jake activated [Attraction Force] on his limbs and climbed the wall. He clung on the top corner of the wall while waiting for those people to pass by.
After a while, five green humanoids passed by. Their bodies were only as tall as nine year old humans, but they had defined muscles. Their yellow eyes were bulging, as if on the verge of exploding. Not only were their faces horrifying, their entire body was filthy. They had bumps all over their bodies. These ugly creatures were called goblins.
Goblins were sapient creatures like humans, but their intelligence was lacking compared to humans, and they were weaker too. However, they had a few superior qualities compared to humans, and those were their sexual urges, their power to reproduce, and their seed fertility. There were no female goblins, so they could mate with every mammal in the universe. The result of their mating would be 100% goblins. They were one of the sapient mammals that could beat humans in terms of quantity.
Even though goblins were weak as individuals, no one dared to underestimate them as groups. A group of goblins could defeat a human easily because they were experts at coordination.
Jake was aware of all warnings toward goblins, but he plunged from the wall calmly. As he landed safely, he immediately threw his axes and grabbed his spear.
Two goblins fell after axes stabbed their heads. As the other three goblins turned around in alertness, Jake swung his halberd swiftly. He limped his joints and wrists, resulting in a fast, unpredictable combo. The halberd moved like a whip and cut their bodies.
[Congratulations! You have learned Butler Style — Four Seasons: Violent Autumn!]
[Congratulations! Your Butler Style has reached grade B!]
As the system windows appeared, the goblins' body parts dropped to the ground. Jake completely annihilated them in an instant, but it was not the end. From their bodies, glowing wisps of smoke gathered and formed five Legacies. The Legacies flew and entered Jake's body.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Name: Jake Butler
Species: Human
Level: 4
Talent: Center Shift (E), Akashic Eyes (S), Overcome (F)
Strength: 27 (C) || Endurance: 35 (A)
Agility: 31 (B) || Perception: 31 (A)
Intelligent: 42 (S) || Wisdom: 42 (S)]
"Heh, not bad." Jake grinned. He looked at the mutilated corpses on the ground. He thought he could gain valuable treasures, but they only had normal weapons and armors as expected of low level creatures. "Oh, well. The Legacies are enough. I guess I will find the others now."
The biggest gain in this gate was Legacies from the deceased monsters, so Jake wouldn't specifically hunt them, except if he met them on the way. Instead of focusing on himself, he wanted to train his classmates more. After all, this place was suitable for gaining experience.