Zen felt a familiar dizzying sensation and weightless feeling as he walked through the portal .
After a few seconds he opened his eyes and found himself in a large room filled with people around his age who for some reason where all looking at him as he stepped out of the portal generator identical to the one he had gone in at Nora's place.
Zen noticed the gazes of the participants in the room but ignored them as he walked around looking for an isolated space, before going through the portal Zen had put his hood back up in a way it would cover his face, he had done this for a few reasons, Nora's joke being one of them and the main one being he didn't want to be recognized. Although Zen couldn't be sure who, he knew that there would be more than one of their operatives here, if they managed to see him especially after what happened he'd be taken back to Q, and although he didn't feel strongly about avoiding them he still wanted to stay outside for a while before they inevitably caught up to him. And as for the thing about Nora's joke. Zen himself knew he was at least better looking than most and let's just say where he came from drawing attention to yourself even unknowningly or unintentionally could end up very badly.
Zen finally found an empty space at the corner of the room, it seemed like all the people here were waiting for the assessment to start so Zen didn't see any reason to do anything else. He checked his watch and doing some calculations determined that he had to wait about one to two hours before the system would return .
"Seems it really won't be back before i start,oh well". Zen was still thinking when he heard a voice from behind him.
"Hello"
Zen looked back and saw a stranger that looked to be around his age. He had blonde hair, sharp blue eyes and a gentle smile on his face, he currently had his hand stretched out for a hand shake
"Nice to meet you, my name's Maximilian, but you can just call me Max"
Zen looked at him for a few seconds without taking his hand and didn't really say anything. It was the third time someone from the outside had approached him and he was waiting to see if there would be any strange feeling but other than the person's appearance Zen couldn't notice much. Speaking of his appearance, although he didn't care Zen couldn't help but think that this person's appearance seemed naturally friendly and inviting, plus he was quite handsome, being on par with Zen.
Seeing Zen didn't plan on accepting his gesture, Max brought his hand down but kept his usual bright smile on
"So would you mind telling me your name?" He asked but was answered with the same silence "
"You don't like talking much, do you"
"What do you want?" Asked Zen, feeling that this guy was a bit too eager.
"To make a new friend of course. However I do have one question "
Zen didn't say anything as he wasn't surprised and waited for Maximilian to speak
" Don't take this the wrong way but could you tell me what your ability is?".
Zen was a bit confused by the question but he wasn't really interested in talking more than he had to so instead of asking, he just answered
"I don't have one". Hearing that, Max's expression froze and turned confused for a second
" You don't have to lie about it, truth be told I'm just trying to satisfy my curiosity. Oh well then, if you won't tell me that at least answer this, your ability, it has something to do with your right eye, right? , the one you're keeping covered.
Zen's eyes widened and he turned to face Maximilian a bit shocked not only by the fact that he knew something was off about his right eye but by the fact that he could clearly see his face.
" What makes you say that?". Asked Zen
Feeling that he may have come off a bit strong, Maximilian was about to apologize but a loud voice suddenly echoed across the room
"Alright then kids, enough chit chat, it's time to get to work "
Zen and Max looked to where the voice came from and saw a fierce looking man dressed in a military uniform. His build was sturdy and his eyes had an insane amount of ferocity considering the fact that he was speaking to a bunch of kids.
All the participants suddenly quieted down as the man spoke, much to his dissatisfaction although he didn't let it show and continued.
"Greetings rookies, I'm general Callen lupin and I'll be your examiner today, now that we've gotten that out of the way, get out! It's time you kids prove your worth" . As soon as Callen said this two large doors opened at one of the sides of the room letting sunlight into the large room.
Without saying another word General Callen began walking out of the room followed by the participants.
Maximilian suddenly whispered to Zen
"A lupin huh? Isn't that a bit much for a few kids, and he's in the military too, i guess it's to be inspected since it's a military academy, at least we already know his ability "
Zen glanced at Maximilian for a second and left no comment, however he did agree with him. The lupin family was famous and powerful for many reasons , their ability being one of those reasons. For someone from a family like that to come here and for a few kids at that, Zen couldn't help feeling something wasn't quite right with the situation.
As the participants stepped out into the sunlight Zen saw a strange sight ahead. The entire room they were once in was actually a warehouse surrounded by thousands and thousands of miles of golden sand .At this point Zen understood why Nora had given him the water bottle but he and every other person here knew that this wasn't right. Zen crouched down and picked up some sand feeling it between his fingers. Maximilian who similar to Zen wasn't very affected by it directed a question towards Zen
"Hey I know I'm new to this planet but isn't all the sand on mars supposed to red?
".... I'm not from here either but this truly is strange"
Max looked at Zen, surprised he had actually replied him.
He was about to say something but was suddenly interrupted by general callen's booming voice.
"Alright settle down brats, you want to know what your test is, right?" Said Callen before pointing to a large pyramid structure in the desert which Zen quickly recognized. However other than Zen and a certain someone named Max everyone here had no idea what it was.
Seeing the confusion on their faces Callen grinned
"That's a dungeon, your assessment will involve you entering and exiting the dungeon".
The group of students suddenly went into an uproar at what they heard.
"Well then, this is interesting, it seems the academy decided to kick things up a notch, I heard they were crazy but i never thought they'd put people who had probably never even seen a beast through this kind of deathtrap and call it a trial,what do you think about this?" said Maximilian calmly as he directed a question to Zen. He didn't seem really bothered by the fact that he would soon be put up against a dungeon, infact he looked a bit eager.
Hearing the question, Zen didn't say anything but in his mind couldn't help affirm what Freya had said about the academy
"Freya was right, this academy really is crazy" Thought Zen as he looked at the pyramid. Although these were his thoughts he wasn't too worried, the truth was most of the complaining student were over reacting, Dungeons were something that had appeared after the appearance of aether although beasts could be found in the wild or even rarely in populated areas in any planet in the solar system or out, dungeons were a surefire way to challenge them. There were different kinds of dungeons each with different dangers.
First were the elemental dungeons which,as the name said were based off the elements of the world. These dungeons were infested with creatures known as elementals which were creatures of pure elemental energy and unlike beasts these elementals could only be found in dungeons.
Next were beast dungeons. These were the most mainstream kind of dungeons in the world, as the name suggested these dungeons were filled with beasts which could also be found in the outside world however unlike wild beasts the dungeon beasts would disappear once they had been killed and their cores removed.
The last two dungeons were arguably the most dangerous. The psychic dungeon and the fantasy dungeon.
Unlike others which spawned their creatures the psychic dungeon instead took over the minds of those who got within it's domain whether human or beast and forced them to fight for it. A dungeon domain was something all dungeons had, it was the range of influence the dungeon had over the world outside it. For example this pyramid dungeon domain was the desert they were in. This was especially obvious due to the link between the dungeon's appearance and the desert, something which not many would know. Dungeons could actually take multiple forms, whether it be a towering castle or a small hut, as long as it was a building structure the dungeon could take that form.
The final class of dungeon was the fantasy dungeon and despite it's name it was one of the most feared and dangerous. Similar to the others this dungeon was given its name due to the creatures inhabiting it which used to be items of folklore and fantasy for humans, creatures like elves,orcs or even mermaids and fairies, nothing was too ridiculous for this system. The greatest fictions and fantasies which the human heart could ever dream were brought to life in these dungeons, although the reason they were feared was much more sinister than it may seem.
The last two dungeons were so dangerous that although people were free to attempt to challenge them ,they were under strict watch by the government and no one could even get close to one without their knowledge and approval.
Although dungeons were so dangerous that most would simply want to avoid them, that wasn't possible for two reasons. A reward and a threat.
Once a dungeon was cleared and the boss defeated the challenger(s)would receive bountiful rewards which varied based on both the challengers luck and the kind of dungeon. Once this happened the dungeon would close down and go through a cooldown period after which it would open open again and the cycle would repeat itself providing an endless source of rewards and revenue.
The second reason, the threat was that if a dungeon went a certain time without being cleared a phenomenon called a beast tide would happen and all the dungeon creatures would be released from the dungeon. The only exception to this rule were the psychic dungeon creatures who were capable of leaving the dungeon as they weren't spawned in there.
The reason Zen felt like they were overreacting was because dungeons were divided into levels with the same ranking system as that of abilities and beasts. The academy wouldn't for no reason put a bunch of inexperienced kids through anything over an inferior ranked dungeon, and judging by the range of this dungeon's domain it was definitely not an inferior ranked dungeon or anything lower than that, meaning there was either something wrong with the dungeon or the test itself. And in actuality even if the dungeon was a normal ranked dungeon or something below that, the truth was that some of the people here could face one, they already had the abilities and knew how to use them,the only thing they lacked was experience with beasts and dungeons which was the whole point of joining the academy.
Zen was still in thought when he heard a voice behind him call out his name
"Zen? Is that you?"
Zen turned around and as he had guessed he saw celia and strangely there was someone next to her who he didn't recognize.
Celia walked up to Zen and Maximilian accompanied by who Zen could only think of as her friend or companion who for some reason was looking at Zen with so much intensity and anger that Zen thought he was about to attack him .
"Zen, so that's your name huh? pretty cool,by the way who's this, your ex or something? . Whispered Max into Zen's ear and as usual Zen ignored him.
Celia eventually reached Zen and spoke with a bit of a stutter in her words
"Nice seeing you again Zen"
"....."
"Ummm, good luck,i hope we can both get in, although it seems our old deal is null now doesn't it".
"...."
Maximilian looked at celia and felt like she was being too careful with her words for them to be friends and looking at Zen he... well he wasn't actually able to read anything on the guys face, it seemed like he had actually never changed his expression since he met him but from what he could see these two clearly had history, just not the good kind.
The guy next to celia seemed to have had enough as it looked like he could no longer contain himself
" Cece who are these idiots that have nothing better to do than trouble you?". And without waiting for her to respond he turned to face Zen and Maximilian
"If you two shitheads know what's good for you then get out of my sight and stop bothering us, useless low low leveled trash like you two probably won't even survive this test.
Zen glanced at the guy for a second and swiftly deemed him as irrelevant before looking away and ignoring him altogether. Maximilian who was about to try and work things out with this hotheaded moron in front of him saw Zen ignoring him and felt like he shouldn't even try as Zen had already ruined his efforts, although he agreed with Zen's actions and thought that wasting time on a fool like this was stupid he still wanted to see if there was an easier way. Max's expression turned sour as he realized he'd been getting interrupted more and more in this place than he was happy with.
As Maximilian expected Celia's moronic friend got angry for no just cause.
"Oh so this level zero piece of crap thinks he has the right to ignore me. You've got pretty big balls to be that cocky" He said as he took a look at Zen's watch which currently had no stars on it. The government issued watches had a sort of screensaver function. Whenever they weren't in use it would display the level of it's wearer using stars which directly corresponded with the person's level. For example a person with a first rank ability or a flawed rank ability would have one star and a person with a perfect grade ability would have nine. As Zen didn't have an ability he didn't even quality to be level one and his watch displayed zero stars.
Zen realized that he hadn't seen Max's level and looked at his watch completely ignoring the irrelevant hothead in front of him who looked like he could attack him at any moment.
Zen looked at Maximilian's wrist and saw a total of three stars. Zen looked at Celia's partner's watch and realized why he was so cocky. He had a total of six stars on his watch.
Noticing Zen's gaze on his wrist he was about to say something when the general suddenly yelled out
" Alright kids, you've had enough time for chitchat so i think It's about time we get this party started " while inwardly thinking
"Seems like they'll be able to put up a half decent show, let's hope it won't be too boring " unaware that he would soon regret thinking like that .