ENTERING THE BARRACKS; MEETING THE OTHER EARTHLINGS

Students could only wail inside before Luke spoke again.

"As you can see, the bridge is wobbling so you will have to go to the barracks through air. For those who haven't checked their inventory yet, the system has granted you all common newbie gift packs."

Upon hearing his words, Alab called for his status window and as Luke said, there was a list of items in his inventory.

[Inventory:

Silver Coin (×100)

Griffin Summoning Token (E)

Agile Horse Summoning Token (E)

Red Shark Summoning Token (E)]

The items were all E-grade. Alab could feel his hands itching to try out his SSS-grade skill [Conversion] but managed to hold himself back after all, these items could be worth something in Academia. He had to find another item to experiment on.

Besides the 4 items, there were 46 more empty slots in his inventory. He could hold 50 items at most.

Luke then proceeded with his last deliberation. He mentioned the contents of the upcoming entrance examination in a week's time. It will be comprised of handwritten exams evaluating their acquired understanding of this world for a week of dwelling. The second part would be a D-grade dungeon expedition which would gauge their strategic and combative capabilities.

He further deliberated the practice dungeons close to the barracks.

The participants could only glance at Luke with envy as he vanished into the majestic arch bridge of the Academia. His figure bathed in its mystical ambiance.

Luke had fulfilled his task and would now go back to Academia. The participants on the other hand hesitantly turned their bodies to the right, the terrible gust seemed to mock them.

"Please, let us in!"

"Please, I don't want to stay in that filthy barracks!"

Participants were obscured by unwillingness as they barged into the edge of the arch bridge only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.

They smacked their heads hard enough to cause fluctuations in the barrier, struggling for pity from the officials of the Academia. But, only the quacking of crows erupting from the desolated barracks responded.

In no time, a young boy emerged from the rearmost part of the crowd, his little figure squeezed in the hesitant species as he traced the verdant soil to the edge of the wobbling bridge.

A black token imprinted with a figure of a monster with a head of an eagle and half the body of a lion, materialized in his hand. It emitted a dim light as the young boy muttered.

"Griffin summoning"

In his words, a youthful griffin of 2 meters in height materialized before him, levitating in the air as it flapped its wings.

Its talon was deprived of fierceness as it was trimmed for an unknown reason. Its beak was charred, incapable of omitting even the mildest chirp.

The legendary monster of the tales lost its might as it obediently lowered its head towards the young boy who shortly hopped onto the back of the griffin.

With a single command, the griffin glided in the air, heading towards the barren land. On its back, the young boy glanced at the griffin's information.

[Griffin (E)

Description: A summoning imprisoned in the token. Griffins are legendary monsters in the past who lost their mighty titles as the "God of Summoning" imprisoned them in the token. They were demoted and can now only be used for aerial transport thus the "God of Summoning" has decided to sell the tokens to the system.

Name: Unnamed

Owner: Alab]

The young boy, Alab, could only glance at the information before his blank eyes wondered at nowhere. A fluid fell from the sky as the young griffin glanced behind, its eyes fixed on another young griffin being hit by its owner - a humungous troll.

Enraged it might be, the griffin who could only do aerial transport couldn't do anything against these participants...

--

Meanwhile, after Alab took the first step towards the barracks, several competitive, conceited, and fast-to-adapt participants summoned their griffins as they followed suit.

Draconians flapped their wings in the sky, competing with the summoned griffins ahead. Other species with wings similarly disregard their [Griffin Summoning Token] as they crossed to the next mountain where the barracks were at.

Alab landed on the barren ground as he unsummoned the griffin. He then walked towards the first barrack with small hazy signage above its wooden door.

{ Planet Jeyser }

Having seen the signage, Alab deduced that they were assigned a barrack depending on their origin planet. He then slid to the next barrack in search of planet Earth.

Before he knew it, all the participants had arrived at the area. Pride overcast their hesitations as a draconian mocked their miserable state a while ago. They immediately unclasped their hands and retracted themselves from pleading. They couldn't let other species mock theirs.

Only when the daylight reached its extreme at noon did Alab eventually find his respective barrack. Atop the identical barrack as others', a signage was gleaming azure and emerald hues.

{ Planet Earth }

Alab stepped in without hesitation, his face mustered his typical blank expression. Inside the barrack, three persons sat in wooden chairs arranged beside the wooden table.

He took his time analyzing the structures and oddities in this area that he became the 4th person to arrive in their barrack.

The dreary 5 square meters room with nothing but a table and seats turned vibrant with the flashy introduction of the three.

"I am Anastasia Ivanov, 35 years old, your typical Russian blonde girl. I hope we get along well"

Anastasia brushed her blonde hair with her rough hand, her soft rosy lips confident as she spoke. She then tapped on the brown table creating a warfare of hues against her smooth skin as white as snow. She was wearing tight black leggings paired with a red cardigan.

She stood up revealing her tall figure. With an inviting gesture, her grayish eyes lured the muscular man beside her, inquiring for an introduction.

*cough*

The man coughed, avoiding Anastasia's gaze, he spoke.

"I am Han So Yeon, a 34-year-old Korean soldier."

Han So Yeon stood up. He was a 6 feet tall guy with bulky biceps peeking through his camouflage jacket and trouser, screaming his years of training in the military. His tanned skin and small fiery yet innocent eyes like cats' glanced at everyone. Then, he bowed his head as he added.

"I hope we all survive, together.", he uttered in a solid tone.

*clap clap*

"Pretty kind, arent you? Kekeke. By the way, I am Girth. Kekeke"

Wild clapping from the frail man of all bones resounded. Mockery was evident in his giggles as he looked at Han So Yeon who just squinted his eyes, confused at the man's mocking action.

*spit*

Saliva dripped from Han Seo Yeon's forehead as veins bulged out of his head. Glaring at the source of the spit, his cat-like eyes turned enraged.

"Furious, arent you? Pretty boy?!", Girth taunted as he scraped his head.

Girth had been jeering at Han Seo Yeon ever since they arrived in this world. Incidentally, they spawned right beside each other. He didn't know why this man loathed him to the bone.

Seeing the tension spurring to ignite between the two, Anastasia mediated with a query.

"Which country are you from, Girth?", she inquired.

Girth halted in his giggling, tapping his feet on the pavement floor as he contemplated.

An idea sparked in his head, then, he replied.

"Rusha! I am from Rusha!", he stuttered.

Anastasia tilted her head as it was evident that he just imitated her. His rather tanned skin was definitely not that of a cold country. Besides, Girth failed to mimic her Russian accent.

"It's Russia, not Rusha. It is fine if you don't want to tell where you are from. We all have our secrets to keep after all. Just please, you don't have to lie, nobody has to, okay? We are all from the same planet so it is just right that we trust each other.", Anastasia assured Girth as the latter fell in distress at his suspicious answer.

Girth fidgeted in his tattered clothing. Filth clung to his clothes and lengthy entangled hair loosed to his neck. His parched lips and wide black eyes gaze at Anastasia with awe.

He was saved from answering such a question.

Anastasia didn't know what secret Girth was trying to keep. However, she had her fair share of secrets that she didn't want others to know, thus, she had to draw a borderline this early.

"Thank you, Anastasia, for understanding kekeke", Girth uttered as he went close to Anastasia, his hands stretched wide as he intended for a hug. But, it was clear that he had a hidden and sickening motive.

Han Seo Yeon flinched at Girth's sudden action. He was about to stop him but Anastasia's quick reaction relieved him.

She stamped her left foot on the floor as she bolstered her strength to her right foot. Lifting it in the air, she turned around at a sharp speed as her right foot swirled. Then, it thrust towards the approaching Girth whose drool dripping from his mouth. His eyes fixated on Anastasia's chest.

With the immense momentum, her slender foot ceased right at an inch before Girth's face, halting the latter from further movement. Girth, giggled as he spoke.

"Kekeke, why the needless worry? I am just a weak man kekeke. Look at the ranking! I am ranked among the bottoms!", Girth defended himself as he wiped the drool from his mouth with his filthy cloth. The filth tainted his protracted tongue as he gulped looking at Anastasia's feet before his head. With a deep breath, he sniffed.

*kick*

Anastasia kicked Girth with little force but he was too fragile as he said. Girth stumbled to the ground, weeping as he rubbed his leveled nose.

Han Seo Yeon beamed with gladness upon witnessing the scene. He then scrolled through the ranking in his status window.

[Rank 979: Girth Libra]

As Girth stated, he was ranked 979 and could be considered harmless. Han Seo Yeon couldn't help but search for Anastasia's name.

[Rank 25: Anastasia Ivanov]

"Wow!"

Han Seo Yeon couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. He thought that his rank of 203 was already noteworthy. He couldn't believe that the 25th ranker was on Planet Earth. Greater chance of winning boiled in him.

At this thought, he glanced at Alab who was standing at the doorway, watching everything transpired without a change of expression.

From aura alone, Han Seo Yeon was getting strong hope from Alab. He rashly speculated that Alab was within the top 20, no less.

In the aim to validate his thought, Han Seo Yeon asked Alab.

"You, what is your name and rank?"

Shifting his dull eyes towards Han Seo Yeon, Alab responded.

"Alab. I am ranked 982", he frankly replied.