The five that stood on the higher platform waited. They offered the thirty a free will to leave.
The crowd was shaken with uncertainty, doubt, and contemplation hung in the air. Some shook with unsteadiness, while some were composed. In the end, no one left…their wishes and desires must have been that important.
Adjusting his glasses with his index finger, professor Zhang exhaled in relief. "Know it today that being here is as a matter of your choice. As I was saying, today your ability to resist, and your endurance peak will be tested. From now, you will be split into two teams of fifteen"
As he said this, some maids entered. Some carried a tray of red sashes and some carried blue sashes.
They mixed into the crowd and were pinning either the red or blue sash on the participants shoulders.
Soon, everyone had a sash pinned on them. Conveniently, DoHyun Gabbie, Jason and Eiden fell on the same team, team red.
In the order of arrangement, the teams were split up and the trainers introduced themselves.
Standing before the red team were two men, heavily built and godly handsome.
"I am Commander Ren Xing, ranking number 1 among the Jiang Long (General dragons)"
After he introduced his designation, gasps of awe were thrown at him. The man by his side had a rather friendly look, "I'm Captain Li Xiao, ranking third among Jiang Long. You can call me Cap Li" he said.
Scanning through the crowd, commander Ren's gaze fell on three familiar faces. His gaze narrowed, they were the rebellious youths who had somehow made their way out of Jingwu and landed themselves in trouble.
He noticed they were missing a fourth member.
"It's been centuries now since the outburst and mutation of the beasts, many soldiers have died and so many are yet to die. If you feel all this is just for play then you are mistaken, you were given a chance today to give up and leave but you didn't. If you've made the Upper ten then there's no going back"
He paused dramatically, allowing this piece of info to sink into them.
He continued, "once you get out there, you'll see things you never thought existed, you'll watch as your comrade gets eaten and devoured by the beasts and if you're unlucky, you'll fall prey to the beast called Bukavac"
"Bukavac?" Someone said, "what kind of a name is bukavac?" It sounded ridiculous and made up.
Smiling, captain Li answered "well, a bukavac is a humongous frog-like beast who likes to eat verrry slowly, you see, for it, your flesh and bones are way too hard and chewy so it dumps acid on you bit by bit till you're digestible. Scary isn't it?" He grinned
They stared at him with dreadful looks. If it's scary, why was he smiling?
"I just hope I wasn't given weaklings to deal with," said commander Ren.
He was just about leading them to the course of the day when someone raised their hand. Attention was drawn to this courageous fellow, it was the guy who accused Eiden of stealing.
Commander Ren recognized him straight away, "you're one of the sons of Mr Qin" he said
He nodded in affirmation, "my name is Qin Yiwen. I was wondering, how come, rumors says you've battled tons of beasts yet you have no scars to show, many have lost their sight, sanity and limbs but you seem fine commander Ren" his voice was skeptical
Ren's dark gaze was fixated on him, "the General dragons are not just any rank, we train hard just to make sure we don't end up like our fallen comrades" he looked at the rest of them, "same goes for everyone, if you don't train hard enough, your first mission will be our last"
As he led them away, he looked pissed. Everyone frowned and blamed Yiwen for having opened his big mouth.
Minutes later,
They were kept in a large confinement room. The fifteen wandered about, unsure of the reason they were there. Commander Ren simply gave information and nothing else.
"Eiden, any idea what we're supposed to do now?" Gabbie asked
The words that the commander had spoken lingered in his mind.
The commander had said "The beasts are similar to normal animals, possessing habitats, mating and predating. Yes, some feed on lower grade beasts but they all go crazy when it comes to humans.
Some live in caves, their bodies exert a poisonous gas that causes paralysis after some time and that will be the main event of today's first course".
"If I should guess…" Eiden said, "professor Zhang mentioned testing our durability today and now commander Ren mentions deadly gas, they're probably going to make us hold our breath for a long time"
What a simple way to put it.
The sudden stench in the air caused many to recoil and peg their nose.
Sniffing, DoHyun gagged "this smells terrible"
"Don't take it in," Jason warned.
They held their breaths, and so did everyone else.
The gas or whatever it was, increased, filling the air with its foul stench. It was so bad that at some point it was becoming visible.
It felt like he was going to pop, the veins in his forehead were evidence of his lack of oxygen. He could feel his body forcibly trying to take in air.
Eiden lifted his hand to his nose, covering his mouth and nose simultaneously but it only made his body yearn more for what it was lacking. The same was everyone else, some had already started choking because of the gas.
Unable to take it anymore, Eiden inhaled sharply and fell to his knees. Like a thousand spines were swallowed in through his throat, he choked and coughed hard
Hot tears fell from his eyes as he gasped helplessly for air. His system then appeared before him with a buzzing sound. He looked up at it,
[Warning! Noxious substance detected]
[Successfully eliminated!]
[Warning! Noxious substance detected]
[Successfully eliminated!]
[Warning! Noxious substance detected]
[Successfully eliminated!]
With every breath he took, the system would beep, giving the same message.
Seeing this, Gabbie who hadn't gotten to her limit yet slowly removed her hand from her mouth and nose. She inhaled and her system appeared as well with the same message on it.
Jason did so as well. Soon they were breathing comfortably. Eiden wiped his eyes and stood up. He looked around, many were already on the ground and the ones who had convenient powers were making use of it.
His two roommates were there, Chen used a force field to shield himself while Yiwen leaned against the wall with his arms folded across the chest.
"Does he think he's like the main character of the story?" Gabbie asked.
Yiwen was leaning with his eyes closed.
Some others were surrounding themselves with their Aura...Aura! Eiden's mind immediately snapped, DoHyun!