Chapter 20: Entrance Exam

Van had a sense of foreboding after hearing the man's instructions. He had a feeling he already knew who his groupmates were gonna be…

As the groups started being formed, trainees from all the different batches walked around the place, all formed groups lining up on the other side of the Training Area. 

Nothing super noteworthy happened with the groupings, aside from when the geniuses of Van's batch were called. Redbane and Annie were placed in the same group, while Tian and a genius from a different batch had a staredown while their group was being formed. Lich's groupmates were visibly unnerved by him, her, whatever Lich was. 

The groupings continued until Van saw his name on the screen. Funnily enough, he recognized the names of all but one of his groupmates.

GROUP 12:

GRANT GOLD

TRAVIS ALLEY

EMIL LIBAY

JAKE CARNOS

MARIA PARKER

JESSICA SMITH

TRISH WILLIAMS

BELLE LOPEZ

VAN BROWN

SID KARAKTYR

As Van and the rest approached the center, he noticed the last member of their group, Sid Karaktyr, approach them from another batch. He looked quite frail, and had thick glasses on.

"Life sure works in mysterious ways, doesn't it Van?" Travis sneered, whispering into Van's ear. 

"This mystery looks easy to solve." Van replied. 

The man who seemed to be the lead instructor for the entrance test came over and handed all 10 of them a piece of paper. It read:

ASSIGNED WORLD: FENDOR (GREEN) (FANTASY)

TARGET: DEMON KING DANUS

"Oh no, a Demon King? I-I don't know about this one…" 

Sid said softly as he shuddered. Emil came close to him before patting his back. 

"No need to worry, Si- What was your name again?"

"S-Sid."

"- Six! You see this guy here," Emil pointed at Grant. "He has a T rank potential! And all of us, except moody over here-" He then pointed at Van. "are all S-ranks in our potential! We'll take careof ya, Sick!" 

Van dug his nails into his palms. Emil had played the nice act with him before, getting Van to do all sorts of things under the guise of "friendship", before he decided to stop acting and pushed him into oncoming traffic. Luckily the cars were able to swerve and curse at Van instead of running him over. 

Their group went to the other side of the Training Area, and they waited there. As more and more groups began to form, Van felt something was off. Why hadn't they harassed or attacked him yet? They showed that they weren't afraid of an audience during the registration, so why are they holding off? 

Van's eyes scanned his groupmates, trying to see anything suspicious, the only evidence that something weird was going on being the fact that Jessica wasn't on her phone. 

Jake frowned when he noticed Van's gaze on him.

"Dude, not everything's about you, jeez…"

Travis only patted Van's shoulder.

"I hate to say it, Van, but once we all get into the academy, we'll be moving on to focus on bigger things in life. This might be the last time all 9 of us get to spend time together on this, let's just cherish the moment." 

Van had never heard a more disgusting idea in his life. 

******

They were now in an armory, picking their weapons. This would be the last chance to prepare before the test begins. The groups would go one by one, and the academy had set up a building full of bleachers for the other groups to watch from while they await their turn, with massive screens attached to the ceiling so they can watch each group's fights.

Van had chosen a dagger. Over the past month, aside from pipes and sticks, he had gotten accustomed to using small knives. Van then looked around to see what the others picked. He noticed that Sid had also chosen a dagger.

Grant chose a greatsword, Travis chose a pair of gauntlets, Emil chose a sword and shield, Jake chose a bow and arrow, Maria chose a blue orb, Jessica chose a pair of shortswords, Trish chose a crossbow, and Belle chose a spiked mace.

Jake approached Van and Sid.

"Alright, when it's our turn, just stay back."

Van was surprised they didn't ask him to be the frontliner, but he wasn't complaining. 

After they were all ready, they left the armory and entered the building, taking a seat near the bottom of the bleachers. Currently it was Group 5, and they had to fight a gigantic wolf in a Cultivation world. 

Van saw the various skills in action. One boy was flying, another girl was glowing, it was amazing to see. He felt a little jealous seeing all the cool powers at display. He looked at his group, wondering what skills his bullies got. 

Not planning on asking them, Van turned to Sid. 

"Hey, what skill did you get?" He asked him.

Sid, who seemed a little surprised, looked down as he revealed his status.

"It kinda sucks…"

<> Skills <> 

Quick Stab [F] [Active]:

For 5 seconds, the user can perform stabbing or thrusting motions 5% faster than they normally can. No other form of movement is affected by the skill.

<> End <>

'Man, even my Pain Resistance is better than this.' Van thought.

"H-How about you?" Sid asked him, quickly closing his status.

"Actually, I got into a little trouble last month, so they didn't give me one…" Van told him the truth. 

Of course, Van wasn't going to reveal to anyone that he had awakened a skill on his own. Van was willing to bet the academy would have taken it away from him somehow if they knew.

"O-Oh… I'm sorry…" 

"It's fine." 

After that, Van and his group sat in silence, patiently watching all of the other groups perform. To Van's surprise, all of the groups passed. He expected failure to be more common especially as the trainees would be fighting powerful beings.

'I guess those coming from similar worlds have an advantage…' 

After waiting a little more, it was finally his group's turn. The lead instructor called out their group.

"Group 12! Destination: Green grade Fantasy World, Fendor!"