The next morning, the students were on high alert, brimming with energy and excitement for the trip, which was considered an invaluable opportunity from both educational and motivational perspectives.
Everyone was eager to showcase their talents, especially in front of the elite students and those from royal families.
However, less than half of the total number of students would participate in the trip.
Classification C students would not participate due to their poor performance, and classification F students had already been expelled from the academy. Out of the total number of students, only 40% would embark on this trip.
Given the reduction in the number of students, the number of complete teams consisting of 12 students each was 500.
Each day, 17 teams would enter the portal over the course of a month, meaning 200 students would enter the portal each day.
At present, all the students were heading to a hall outside the academy called Bryant Hall. This hall was named in honor of an old warrior in Lucaria who died defending his home, which has now become a large gathering place for the students.
In this hall, the students would receive information about the trip and how they would be distributed, with a draw determining which team each participating student would join.
Jin stood in the corner of the hall, not speaking to anyone as usual. He hadn't made any friends other than Henry, whom he had met on his first day at the academy.
The same couldn't be said for Henry, as Jin watched him chatting with some of his other friends.
"Everyone seems excited. I really envy them," Jin thought to himself, sighing as he looked around.
"What a miserable person I am. Maybe I should take some sociology classes."
Henry spotted Jin from afar and waved at him as he approached. "Heyyy, Jin! Jin, hello!"
Jin waved back. "Oh, hello, Henry. You're full of energy and seem excited."
Henry replied, "And you look like a corpse as usual. Also, why do you have dark circles around your eyes?"
Jin scratched his head. "Oh, don't worry, I just didn't sleep well."
Henry looked at him, placing a hand on his face. "You never sleep, do you?"
"Heh heh, yeah, you could say that," Jin replied.
Henry sighed. "I know you're excited, but you should have gotten some rest. This trip may be safe, but it could also be dangerous. As you know, it's a portal to Chaos Creatures after all."
Jin smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that."
Henry felt uneasy about that smile—it seemed fake, cold, and frightening all at once.
"Well, Hmmm, I'll go now. I hope we end up on the same team, Jin," Henry waved as he returned to his friends.
"I hope so too," Jin replied and returned to his corner of the hall.
A few minutes later, five teachers entered the hall and stepped up to the podium.
Teacher Xiao stood in the center of the hall and raised the magical device, saying, "Hello, students. Give me your attention, please."
"As you know, your journey begins today. The portal is about a day's travel from here, so by tomorrow, the first batch of teams will have already arrived."
"A draw will be held today to determine your teams, and then another draw will be held to determine the first 17 teams that will go today."
"We will conduct the second draw each day over the month until everyone has gone on the trip. So, good luck to the students who will be chosen today."
"Regarding the chaperones, today's teams will be accompanied by Teacher Catherine, Sarah, Kentri, John, myself, and finally, a saint named Martin."
"All the accompanying teachers are of leader ranks, so you need not worry about your safety. Additionally, for extra security, you will each have a wrist device that will alert you in case of any danger."
"This device will light up in the event of any dangerous situation, prompting Saint Martin to intervene personally for your protection."
"Now, it's time for the draw. Good luck to you all."
Everyone cheered with excitement.
The students then formed lines to draw random numbers from a huge jar on the stage where Teacher Xiao and the other teachers stood.
The jar contained papers with team numbers from 1 to 500, each number having 12 copies, which is the number of students in each team.
Jin stepped up to the stage to take a paper. "Hmm Team No. 450, I don't feel good about this one."
Then he sighed as returned to his place. "Well, I hope this number is not among the last in the draw. I don't want to wait too long as I did before "
The students continued drawing their numbers until the jar was empty. Some students chatted amongst themselves to see who joined which team, but Jin and many others didn't care about this matter.
Teacher Xiao returned to the stage. "Now that you've drawn your numbers randomly, we will call the first teams to depart today."
Teacher Xiao clapped, and an academy worker brought another jar containing team numbers.
"Alright, let's see the first teams to depart today. So, all students from the selected teams, please head to the main gate of Lucaria. There will be prepared carriages waiting for you there."
"Let's begin!" Teacher Xiao then used amazing magic.
Xiao placed his hand over the jar, and the papers flew inside it randomly before 17 papers floated out into the air!
Teacher Xiao grabbed one of the floating papers and said, "Alright, I will now call out the teams!"
The students were eagerly awaiting the announcement of the first teams to depart today.
Teacher Xiao started calling, "Team 254, Team 161, Team 268, Team 13..."
He continued calling the team numbers until he called, "Team 450, Team 88, and Team 73."
Jin looked at his paper and smiled. "Hehe, I'm in one of the first teams. It seems my luck is turning around."
The selected students were already moving toward the Lucaria's main gate, while Jin was following them from behind.
As he moved, he saw a crowd of students gathered around someone didn't recognize , but it appeared that this person was one of the celebrities from the chosen teams.
"huh, looks like one of the damn royal family is here too," Jin thought as he looked around.
"It seems Henry isn't going today. What a shame, the road to that portal will be really boring," Jin sighed and stood in front of a carriage with the driver holding a sign with his team number.
"How did this driver know the team numbers? Was that draw rigged or what?" Jin wondered as he looked at the paper.
The driver laughed and replied, "No, no, we are informed immediately of the team numbers through telepathy, and all we do is write the team numbers on the signs."
Jin nodded . "Ah, I understand."
"Yoo the boy from the Yoshta you here too," someone called Jin from behind.
"Ah, hello... what was your name again?" Jin looked back.
"Hahaha, that's really strange. I thought everyone knew who I am."
"Anyway, I'm Alucard from the Shanzo. It's nice to have you in the team." Alucard extended his hand with a friendly smile to shake Jin's hand.
Jin shook his hand and thought to himself, "Ah, he's that popular guy. Well, I don't hate him; at least he seems nice."
A very beautiful girl with white hair passed between them. "You're here too, Jin."
Jin looked at her and coughed. "Ahem, ahem, ah, hello. This is really strange. You're also in my team?"
Alucard laughed, "Isn't it a wonderful coincidence that Yumi Artavelia herself is in our team? What a great thing."
Yumi smiled and extended her hand to shake Alucard's. "It's been a long time, Alucard."
Alucard shook her hand firmly. "Yes, it's been a long time since we were together."
Jin looked at them with envy. "They look like lovers. How lucky they are."
The driver called out to everyone, "Come on, come on, get in the carriage, please."
Jin, Alucard, Yumi, and the remaining nine members of the team got in the carriage.
Everyone was excited to have Alucard and Yumi among them and tried to engage in conversations with them.
ِWhat a damn Alucard, he was extremely social! He responded to everyone and talked to them while Yumi was less talkative.
Jin, who was sitting next to both of them, looked at them while being ignored by everyone.
"Why the hell are these two are sitting next to me? Get away from me, god damn it!" Jin cursed inwardly and mumbled to himself.
Jin tried to sleep several times but everyone's voices were loud beside him.
Every time Jin tried to sleep, he would wake up to the voices of the other members of the team. They were talking with such intense enthusiasm—how could they not be so excited with two of the most powerful students in the entire academy with them!
Jin was extremely annoyed, not only because he was being openly ignored, but also because he was feeling drowsy and couldn't sleep in the damned carriage due to the noise of their conversations.
"I hope the ugly chaos creatures feast on your bodies, you bastards," Jin kept grumbling to himself in frustration as he tried to sleep...