"Kai..."

"Kai..."

"Kai!"

 "What's up?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

 "The welcome ceremony has been moved up, it's in the morning now," someone said.

Now scratching the back of his head, he asked, "Morning? I thought we had the day off today?"

 Another deeper voice chimed in, "Dream on, when do we ever get a day off?"

 'Not even once,'

Kaiden sighed inwardly.

'Hasn't it been a month already? Feels like much longer. Same routine every day – wake up, fight, train, eat, train, and study, then eat again. Occasionally there's some variation, but that's it.'

 "How's your shinogi, your sword?"

Zack's deep voice asked continuing.

 "It's really practical, can adjust length during fights,"

 "Yeah, but your manzui is also handy, has a poison affinity, right?"

Kaiden inquired.

 "Yo."

 Elly, waking Kaiden up, giggled,

"You guys are getting along again, huh?"

Silence fell again.

The room was illuminated by cobalt-blue light as Kaiden peered out as usual, hand raised to shield his eyes.

'Anything new? The sun's bluish today, usually it's either reddish or yellowish.'

'What time is it?'.

 [7:35 AM]

 With wide-open and hurriedly moving mouth, he asked,

"Is the ceremony at 8 AM?"

 "Yeah," Zack answered.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kaiden headed to the bathroom, glancing once again at the bluish sun.

The mirror was broken, courtesy of Zack, and Kaiden examined himself in the remaining shards.

'The uniform is getting too tight. Maybe I should go for XL instead of just L?'

 Without much enthusiasm, he grabbed his toothbrush and ran his hand through his fluffy hair.

Reaching down with his arms, he opened the toilet seat made of white material.

"Ah," he sighed.

'Time flies.'

Still circling his toothbrush with no sound emanating from it, he gradually finished up.

Slowly opening the door and reaching for the light switch, he exclaimed loudly with eyebrows furrowed and voice raised,

"Hey!"

 "Ah, sorry," came the response after a brief silence.

'Zack breaks everything in the bathroom and then forgets about it. How low is his IQ?'

Relieved, Kaiden stood up and put everything back in its place.

"I'm done," he said, opening the door.

"Can we go?"

 "Shall we?"

Ren asked the group, receiving affirmations from everyone, including Mary.

 Opening the door quickly and without hesitation or confusion, they walked to what used to be their own hall, the welcome ceremony.

A loud male voice followed as they entered the arena-like hall.

 "Mary Angel!"

 "Present!"

 "Ren Lee!"

 "Present!"

 "Zack Minton!"

 "Present!"

 "Elly Minton!"

 "Present!"

 "Mark Newman!"

 "Present!"

 "Kaiden Lain!"

 "Present!"

 The loud male voice of a sturdy, motionless man then declared,

"All members of Team 6 present."

 Kaiden glanced at 20 other somewhat familiar faces as he scratched his forehead, then looked at the other approximately 300 people.

'Quite a few. Has anyone died during the tests?'

 Zack lightly slapped him on the back, asking,

"What's up? Why the vacant stare?"

 Responding, Kaiden said,

"Just wondering how so many others are still alive."

 Zack, also staring into space but quickly stopping by shaking his head, replied,

"No idea, man. Let's just get this over with quickly and prepare for our expedition."

With fire in his eyes, he looked determinedly at Kaiden and added enthusiastically,

"But we'll fight once more, yeah?"

 Scratching his cheek with his hand, Kaiden said,

"As you wish,"

a grin forming on Zack's otherwise serious face.

"A man of his word!"

 Mary, already looking into the hall, which lead Kaiden to turn.

"When is it beginning??"

With her fingers braiding her hair behind her ears, she said after a while,

"They're coming now."

 Once again, partially innocent-looking and partially blood-streaked children could be seen, followed by the man Kaiden hadn't seen since.

"You brave souls..."

Zack interjected during the man's speech,

"How tedious..."

Grinning at Kaiden but whispering, he said,

"Hey, Kai..."

 With slightly rolling eyes, Kaiden asked,

"What's up?"

Suppressing his laughter and tightening his cheeks and mouth, Zack didn't speak for some time.

Eventually, he said,

"Nothing..."

Kaiden gave him a dumbfounded look, and Zack burst into prolonged laughter with an echo in the deep silence of the hall.

 "Zack,"

Elly whispered loudly to him.

"Cut it out, or do you want to lose even more Preater?"

Zack, now muffling his laughter with his mouth, said,

"And if I do? What's going to happen?"

Sighing with a hand on her forehead, she said,

"You're beyond help."

 Kaiden, lightly smiling but still reserved, thought,

'Why is it so quiet?'

But as he looked back towards the hall, he saw the others leaving, and the mysterious man was already disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

 Mary looked at him

"We all have to wait."

'We've been living together for a month now, but I still feel uneasy when she gets ahead of me.'

Staring into space, Kaiden looked at his hologram.

 [5.4 Preater]

[Level 2]

[XP 10/100]

[29 Karma Points]

 With his hands on the back of his neck and a loud sigh, Kaiden thought,

'I've managed to kill one so far, but the consequences weren't very useful.'

But with a determined gaze, he thought,

'But it'll be better on the expedition! More XP, fewer Karma points, and especially more Preater!'

"..."

"Listen up, everyone! Class 11 from the November cohort, please step forward and listen to me attentively! As you've already learned, there's an expedition for you, but you won't go with any Sargeant or Professor, nor will you go alone. You'll go in your teams.

Your destination will be notified to you soon. Get ready now, as soon as you receive the notification, you'll leave. Your task is to survive and reach your destination. If not, tough luck. Provisions will be provided to you."

With these decisive words, the group of just under 20 set off, while the rest remained, some grinning and some looking concerned.

'So, today already,'

thought Kaiden, looking forward with a focused gaze.

They hurriedly traversed the long and numerous corridors of the modern-looking castle.

Kaiden grinned as he looked into the future.

'Cryptids, finally cryptids!'

 [Team 6, proceed to the western front]

[Use the portal located in the capital city of Klemens]

 'Klemens?'

Kaiden swallowed briefly with eyes wider than before as he continued to take hurried steps.

'That's two days of continuous jogging at a fast pace!'

 "What's our plan?"

Kaiden asked Mary directly without hesitation.

She stared rigidly ahead, with slightly moving pupils but not looking into the distant future.

"Our first stop will be a somewhat remote rest area, where we'll spend a night."

Her eyes glanced somewhat normally at Kaiden as she continued,

"So, first get there and then to Klemens, and from there, use the portal towards the western frontline."

While she stared again into the distance and needed a moment, moving her pupils, she said,

"But from the portal, we'll need to stop at another rest area."

 Zack slapped Kaiden on the shoulder.

"If that's all, then we'll be fine."

 Picking up everything they needed and only packing provisions in the form of bread, water, and some spread, enough for a few days, Kaiden looked at them with raised eyebrows, thinking,

'So they won't let us starve? Interesting.'