[Please stay in line, everyone will be checked.]
Everyone knew they couldn't do anything now, as Toji himself could probably take on a hundred of them with his little pinky.
"Fuck my life…"
"Why…"
Leon could hear the despair in the other's voices, yet his expression remained neutral, after all he had gotten his [Pass Card] first, so he didn't need to worry, and his companions did as well.
[Do not feel bad for them, it is but their own fault for not attempting to be stronger!] EGO smirked.
'Didn't feel bad for them, though,' Leon shrugged.
[I know.]
As instructed, people went in line: those who didn't have a [Pass Card] were sent to the right side, and they would be taken many more soldiers through another door (that had just appeared too), basically, it was failure.
But as for those that had a card…
~BEEP~
It took a very long time, but soon enough it was Leon's turn.
"Do you have a pass card?" Toji asked, moving his eyes toward Leon, and instantly recognizing him as he was one of the surviving students of the school he took care of, "Oh, that's you, I really hope you beat one of those dummies, kid."
Looks like he hadn't been informed, otherwise he would have known that Leon was the first to complete the quest.
"Of course," Leon nodded as he clicked on the [Reward] panel of the quest, and a blue card with his name written on it appeared.
~BEEP~
[Access Granted!]
"Nice, I knew none of you all would disappoint me," Toji gave him a thumbs up, "The others already passed by the way."
"Great," Leon thanked him as he was allowed to go outside, passing through the giant red door that had invited them inside this facility in the first place.
[We did it!]
"I did it!" Leon corrected.
[We did it!] EGO repeated.
"…"
After walking for a while, he found himself outside, the sun hitting him hard as he hadn't seen it for more than a week.
On the grass field before him were hundreds of other people, all cheering for completing that quest and trusting their instincts, otherwise they would have ended up like all the others.
"Leon!" Dan ran up to Leon, Foxxy, the golden fox, beside him, "Dude, I can't even thank you enough for telling us!"
"I was planning on completing that quest, but thanks for telling me early as being late would have probably costed me my participating in the trial," Noah tapped Leon's back in a thankful manner.
"Appreciate it," Alice bowed, she seemed to be reserved compared to the others, but even she was thankful.
[Yes! Praise us, mortals!] EGO could be seen laughing, sitting on Leon's head.
"No problem, now we can finally start our lives as awakeners for real," Leon stretched.
"Well, not really, we still have to pass the 'Ascension' challenge, which is the hardest of all," Dan shrugged, the golden fox beside him sitting down, while it would usually keep running in circles, meaning that Dan had truly acquired better control over his beast.
"Well, fair enough."
And so just like that, another 3 hours passed.
Checking 18000 people took a long time after all, so no wonder.
But in the end…
"All 1327 students who completed the quest are here, while all the others who didn't are going to be transferred back to the capital because of their failures," Toji announced as he came out of the red door, behind him dozens of men in military uniforms, "You will ALL be transported to the 'Ascension Challenge' section of the 'Lambs Training' region in train, so please climb inside one of the many buses available, and we will transport you to the station!"
[Seriously? We're still in the 'Lambs Training' region?]
"Yeah, and we'll probably stay there until we completely finish all those trials, or at least until the people that will be chosen as potential candidates to access the first city," Leon shrugged.
"Who are you talking to?" Noah and Alice asked, seemingly wondering why he was always talking alone.
"EGO," but Leon just pointed at the small ball of fire beside him, which had a huge smile on its face, "You guys can't hear him, though, my bad."
Dan was the only one who knew that, which is why he didn't question it.
[They are lucky they can't hear me, otherwise they would tremble in fear!]
"Sure."
"Please climb inside whatever you like, they all lead to the same location anyway," Toji shouted, and people began to spread across the 20 buses available for usage, each with the ability to carry around 100 people.
Leon didn't waste time as he slid into a seat at the back of the nearest bus, feeling the vibrations of chatter around him, and his companions found their spots too, Dan sitting beside him, while Alice and Noah sat right in front of them both.
No one was saying it, but they were all pretty damn nervous about the idea of finally having to compete in the 'Ascension' challenge, which they had only heard of as this impossibly difficult task until now.
Ten minutes passed like that, and once the 'elites' confirmed all students were inside a bus, all the vehicle began to move, all driving toward the same location, following a road that was specifically constructed by the nation for students like them.
The bus rumbled along the uneven road, jolting Leon and his friends in their seats.
Outside, the scenery blurred: trees whipped past, their branches clawing at the sky, and they even spotted some magic beasts, aka monsters, in the distance, running in hordes.
"Man, I can't believe we're finally doing this," Dan said, leaning forward, his eyes sparkled with a mixture of anticipation and dread, "What do you think it's going to be like?"
Noah shrugged, crossing his arms. "Probably something insane. I mean, look at all the hype. They wouldn't make it sound so scary for nothing."
Leon glanced at the others, but didn't say anything.
[I'm soooo excited to devour all of them!]
"If we don't die."
[Don't we be negative,] EGO placed himself in front of Leon's eyes, and his aura became ten times as menacing, the smile on his face abnormally wide, [We WILL devour them all, thanks to our strength.]
Leon didn't know why EGO became like this sometimes, but it was always when the topic of 'eating' or 'devouring' came up.
That thing was a 'devourer' after all, so no wonder.
And so just like that, a few more hours passed, in which Leon could just hear his companions or the other people in the bus speak, while he observed the scenery of the outside world.
Maybe he would die inside the 'Ascension' challenge's dimension, so why not enjoy it while he still could.
[Pfft~ us, die?] EGO laughed, [Funny joke.]