Burning Abyss Gate

Over sixty students walked in a line following three people, those three people were the examiners. Every one of the students were deathly silent, nervous expressions plastered over their faces. The trademark uniform of the school they aimed to join, Golden Rose Domain, was worn by everyone. Except the examiners of course who wore their own armors and weapons.

The uniform was that of basic black slacks or skirts, along side a white tee with a golden rose drawn along nearly the entirety of the back. The hot and daunting summer rays blinded the eyes of anyone who looked up, preventing anyone from wearing their blazer.

Five towering walls, that were at least seven meters tall, stood erect in the distance, they protected the outside from what was inside. They encased five different gates, portals to another area entirely. Filled with deadly monsters that could kill an unsuspecting human easily. Assuming the human wasn't super powered with re-arcaned abilities.

The three examiners abruptly stopped half a dozen meters from the guarded gates. One of the examiners, who was a surprisingly young female that couldn't be past her mid twenties, stepped forward exuding a powerful demeanor. She wore a golden set of armor which couldn't hide the flat, board chest, the helmet was opened up with long, black hair coming from the open visor and the back of the helmet. An authoritative voice boomed out, almost echoing in the weak children's head, "Attention everyone! You will be diving into one of the five gates here! As you may already have learned, they have different drops and creatures! The Burning Abyss! The Rotten Titans! The Ashen Cavern! The Misty Blades Of Misfortune! And lastly, The Three Layers Of Darkness Mountain! All equal in difficulty!"

Most of their heads spun from the power she didn't bother to conceal, oozing out of her words, the ones who should have been eligible to skip this phase of testing withstood this without the slightest mental scratch. The woman spoke again this time holding back much of her strength, "You may now divide yourselves into teams. No greater than 8. No less than 4."

Silence came immediately after, then realization, and finally there was an uproar of loud voices entangling into gibberish which couldn't be understood. Friends quickly came together and formed groups, while very few sat back and waited. Only one team reached eight, with three teams that had seven. That left a little more than half of the students that formed mostly groups of five and six.

Five people of the dozens of students simply stood there awaiting to form a group with the other left overs, one of which had majestic and short white hair. All five of them noticed each other, waiting for one to move. The one with the white hair, Vin Aphelion, happened to be the one to take the step to one of them. 'Do I really have to be the one to do this? You guys just gonna awkwardly stare at each other?' The thought echoed through his head, already tired of having to be the one to do this.

His first 'target' was a slender and tall young man, not saying much to get him to follow him as they both knew what was going on, "Come on, let's go." To which he repeated twice more till he got to the last person, after exchanging greetings and names subtly they sized each other up as the people around them would be who they're entrusting their life to.

There was Draco, the slender and tall man. His body type showed his practice in archery and agility. Though his body was quite toned, as archery requires both strength and agility. Next up was Emma, a brutish and... large in every direction lady. If she wasn't aiming to be a tank immune to all damage she'd be lying. Following her, was Annabelle, a short and holy looking girl who looked like she was barely a teenager, though since she was here she was at least fourteen. Lastly we have Alexander the Berserker, the muscles on his body could crush steel, what else is there to say.

Now we have one person whose 'class' hasn't been chosen. That's what he was considering at the moment, what would best suit him. His thoughts was interrupted by another examiner, this one wore all black, light weight clothing. It even covered his face, excluding his eyes. "I shall now summon the gear you will use. Any fights which break out will be personally ended by me. I have the right to send you to the infirmary." His voice was so monotone and raspy even the Devil would fear hearing it. It wasn't even a yell but closer to a loud and audible whisper.

He ran over to twelve different spots in an instant and snapped his fingers at each spot, none of the students there saw the snaps, but they heard it seconds after he returned to his previous location. At every spot where the snaps resounded crates with corresponding gear labeled on the outside landed. There were items for, healers, warriors, berserkers, tanks, archers, mages, reapers, assassins, brawlers, summoners, lancers, and enchanters. Almost every team had one healer or enchanter, though there was one team filled with only reapers... Upon noticing this Vin immediately got their attention, "Hey! Your team is edgy as fuck!" Within seconds of saying this he walked to the mage crates and opened one up.

Now adorned in a silk blue robe with a golden color trimmed around it and a wooden stick with a translucent orange crystal on the top. He felt his arcane energy increase half a dozen-fold, which wasn't much since it was already low. Turning around he saw Annabelle walking towards him in a white robe with a gold trim similar to his. Though her staff was much better, it was stronger and made of metal with a golden orb floating over it.

Opting to not speak she waved her hand in a manner that meant to follow her, they went to the rest of the group who was already in their gear. Somehow Alexander's armor made him edgier, enough to cut the air itself, he already had dark circles under his eyes that could send the world into an eternal night.

"Well seems you all went with your obvious choices, but lets talk about which gate to go to. I vote for the Burning Abyss it has nice skill drops." Quickly voicing his opinion first to gain extra points in simply being the first to say something.

"Um... okay."

"Seriously? Rotten Titan Gate is better."

"Sure."

"I don't really care."

Once they all finished putting in their opinion, Vin spoke again, "Great! Its unanimous!"

Visibly filled with the purest wrath that her opinion was ignored Emma still said nothing as it's too bad they didn't agree and she couldn't force them to.

About three minutes later when all the teams finished with their gear the last examiner in fiery armor that covered their entire body, including the entirety of their head, finally said something, "You will now enter the gates, the first to complete it will receive a special reward. Each team will receive a button to instantly exit the gate in case of true danger. You must be in absolute peril or the button will not work. To enter the gate together you must all enter within 15 seconds." The examiner in black snapped his fingers again and each team received one button. The female in gold armor spoke again, "Remember your goal. To join the Golden Rose Domain. Make yourself and your... um... nevermind that. Make yourselves proud!"

The groups began to enter the gates in a surprisingly calm manner for only one group being able to enter a gate at a time. Vin's group happened to be the very last group for the Burning Abyss Gate... and the very last group in total. Emma took the chance to immediately brag that if they entered the Rotten Titans Gate that they would have already been in.

That didn't matter to them as they would be entering soon anyways, as the second the gate showed they could enter the gate without joining the previous team they ran into the Burning Abyss gate. Taking a step into a dangerous world where Arc-Beast of all different shapes and sizes existed.

Brought to their sights was a dimly lit cavern with few sources of bright fire illuminating the cavern as their only light, holes that lead to a seemly bottomless pit of despair was littered across cavern, luckily most of the holes were of insignificant size.

They looked around immersed in the new and grand experience they would have never had the chance to do not for the Golden Rose Domain. A change was also felt deep within their bodies some more noticeable than others, as they wanted to understand this change it was quickly cut short by a howl.

It echoed through the cavern, as if it was multiple coming from even further but in different directions. A single thought was shared between the five...

That this is not a place where you can laze about.