Departure

After exiting the vault, they were escorted by Silas to their dorm rooms and stopped outside of their room.

"I'm proud of you two. I am proud to be able to see two shining stars rise up." Silas smiled, showing the sincerity of his words.

Layla nodded to Silas and swiped her ID card through the card scanner on the door and entered—Mia followed after saying, "Thanks." with her usual bright smile.

The door closed, leaving Silas alone to gaze at where the two young ladies had entered, where he left shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

###

Inside the room, Layla was met with two other girls—one with whom they were familiar and one who had long black hair tied up into a ponytail with bright amber eyes, wearing a cropped T-shirt with short shorts. She was Leia. As for the other girl, they recognized her from the recruit selection.

She was a petite girl who had a light shade of short pink hair with pure violet eyes—she was currently donning a light purple sweater dress with a matching head band.

"H-hi, I'm Eve... Evie Garcia. You can just call me Eve." The girl said, a blush forming on her cheeks.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Mia"—pointing to Layla—"and she is Layla."

Eve kept her head down as her shyness kept her from lifting it. She had been raised shy as she hadn't had much opportunity to play with friends during her childhood. Thus, making her shy around those she wasn't familiar with.

"We've got two days before classes begin. What do you want to do till then?" Mia said, lounging on the sofa. "Any ideas?"

"I've got nothing in mind. We can't really tour the city as we're forced to stay within the walls of the Slayer Association." Layla sat down next to Mia, a shadow bottle in her hand. The bottle had the appearance of an average water bottle.

"Yeah, I can't think of anything either," said Leia.

"Actually... never mind." Eve seemed to want to say something, but she changed her mind and chose to keep silent.

"If you have anything to say, then we're all ears. You live here with us, so you should at least be able to share your opinion." Layla smiled at Eve.

"However, I…ehm—"

"No buts. Just say what's on your mind." Mia smiled.

"Are you really okay with hearing my opinion?" She fidgeted with her dress—her voice just above a whisper.

"Yeah."

"Okay... I heard from my father that there's a small city where you can buy items with your accumulated credits." Eve paused and sighed deeply. "This small city is run by the Slayer Association and is used by the recruits from six different schools. One for each month."

Taking another few breaths, she continued, "If you'd like, we can go look around the city."

"That's a great idea." Mia jumped from the sofa with her usual bright smile.

"Yeah."

"Let's go then." Layla said. "We should probably put on better clothes first."

Nodding, they all went to change their clothes. After changing, they left the dorm room.

***

Outside the dorm room, they followed Eve, who led them into a room where there were portals. Attached to the sides of the portals were panels, which allowed you to select your desired location.

Stepping into one of the portals, the scenery began to warp soon, warping entirely into a small city. They were standing outside the city on a circular platform.

"Let's go shopping." Mia held onto Layla's and Leia's hands and stepped forward before she stopped. "You coming?"

"Are you sure?" Eve nervously clutched her light purple dress.

"Of course, I'm sure. We're friends, aren't we?" Looking back, Mia smiled. "Now come on and join."

Walking forward, Eve hesitantly extended her hand out and Layla grabbed it. "Now let's go; we have some shopping to do."

They swiftly entered the city, walking through the streets as they looked around at the shops. Many had etheric tools used for daily needs, while others had various different products. Upon finding the clothing shops, they entered the closest women's clothing shop.

"Welcome!" The woman smiled as she saw the four young ladies enter her shop. "Can I help you?"

"We want to purchase several sets of clothing. main types of dresses and casual clothing. Could you lead us to those sections?" Mia said.

"Sure." She turned around and went to another section of the shop. They followed soon after, soon reaching the casual clothing section.

Several clothing racks adorned the walls. After looking through them, they picked out the ones they liked, and soon had several sets of clothing.

They then went to try them, each showing them off to the other.

"What do you think?" Layla said, coming out of the changing room with an ocean blue sweater dress and black leggings.

"It looks great on you."

"Yeah, it does."

"I-I think you look amazing." Eve quietly added.

"Thanks." Layla smiled, closing the changing room door behind her.

***

Two days flew by, and now it was time for Layla and Mia to depart. The last two days were spent shopping, playing games, and several other activities.

"You're ready?" Mia asked, tightening one of the straps on her combat suit.

"Yeah."

"Then let's go." They left the dorm room and headed for the portal room, where they were to meet Silas before their departure.

The portal room wasn't far from their dorm, and it only took five minutes to arrive there. As they entered, they were met with Silas. "Before you depart, I'll have to inform you of a few things."

Grabbing two digital wrist watches from a storage ring, he handed them over. "These wristwatches will be your permit that allows you to go on missions. They have three main functions: the first function acts as a portable gate. This'll allow you to form a portal to return back."

"The second function is telepathy, enabling easier communication between you two during your missions. And lastly, the third function, which won't help you much in battle, but it might come in handy when you're in danger; it's a beacon that'll not only alert us of your current location and that you're in danger, but act as a portal beacon that'll enable us to directly teleport to your location."

By now they had already put the wristwatches on and were ready to depart.

"That is all I have. I look forward to seeing your return." Silas smiled. "Oh, I forgot, there's a file on your wristwatch. It details your mission."

Nodding, Layla and Mia stepped into the portal after selecting their destination.