The First Trial

Everyone's expressions changed as he announced that they needed to participate in a trial where they could actively die.

He had mentioned it at the start and that many that were awakened would fail, but never in their wildest dreams would they have associated this 'failure' to permanent death.

"Pre-selection trial," Toji repeated, "Every single one of the schools of the 'Lambs Training' region need to participate to weed out the good and bad talents, oh, and if you hadn't figured it out yet, YOU are the lambs, those that fail are not needed."

Even Akira lost his confident smile, failing an awakening is one thing as he could still go back to his family in his mansion, but death was not possible to reverse…

"Those that wish to remove themselves from participating in the trial, lift your arms, and you will be considered as 'failed' even though you awakened."

Even if you awakened and got a class, there was no chance you could grow without participating in 'dimension raids' or fighting monsters, plus the nation would surely put a block on your activities just to spite you for failing.

Meaning… that no one lifted their arms.

"Good kids," Toji let out a devilish smile, "Then we shall head out outside!"

Not a single person among them had expected this awakening ceremony to get so bad, and the fact they would have to constantly risk their lives had NOT been in the script.

Was the 'Crimson Earth' nation always like this?

Probably, yes, they were.

Anyone that was in these schools but too weak to be used was a failure that they had wasted precious time on, so it was normal they would consider them to be the lowest of the low except if you were rich, and thus brought another type of support to the nation.

These students had been secluded from most for these two years and provided dorms to be in, meaning that no one, even their families, was waiting for them if they failed.

Beyond this awful region were technological and beautiful cities filled with millions upon millions of awakened people, but for now... they needed to survive.

They had been given one simple instruction at the start of their first year in this school, and it was the same for all the others, which regrouped students just like them.

[Be strong enough to pass the 'ascension' challenge and thus be allowed to officially access Nekros, the first city (and possibly the 'Crimson Awakened' academy after all the challenges!)]

A simple task that they all believed in, yet already more than half were thrown out, with another trial coming.

"Let's go," Toji clapped his hands, and he and his men began to leave the gymnasium from the normal entrance, closely followed by the remainder of the people as a dozen more men in uniforms awaited them outside.

They walked on the green grass of the 'academy ground', surrounded by a giant gate that stopped them from leaving, although they had been informed they could do that at anytime by dropping out.

But right as they left the gymnasium… they found themselves in front of a giant device, around ten meters in size.

It almost looked like a… teleporter?

In the middle of the ring was a blue portal that shimmered with an otherworldly light, drawing the students' gaze and filling them with a mix of fear and curiosity.

Toji gestured for them to gather around as he began to explain the next phase of their trial.

"This is a 'dimension', but you can also call them 'rifts', 'dungeons' or whatever you feel like it, all that matters is that inside are monsters, and more importantly, a boss," he explained, although everyone knew, "The trial is that all of you will have to complete this rift while staying alive, that is all."

This… was all?

I mean, every single one of them expected to enter one of those at some point to train.

"This is a beginner-level dimension, and only people between level 1 and 10 are allowed to enter, meaning that it is perfect, it has been specially set inside this device for the lots of you to access it after all."

People around Leon whispered, they weren't familiar with their powers, but surely even they could manage that, right?

"Oh, yeah, and one last thing…" Toji's expression darkened, "Through all these ceremonies and trials, professionals have identified that the survival rate of this trial, meaning those that actually succeed in the end… is of 10% on average."

Leon felt a chill run down his spine as Toji's words settled over the group.

Only a 10% survival rate? It was a harsh reality check that made the gravity of their situation sink in even deeper.

"W-why, why do we need to go through this instead of training?" a boy with glasses raised his hand.

It was a good question: they could train beforehand, or at least just get familiar with their talent before attempting to fight monsters.

And yet…

"No, the strongest of awakeners are those that manage to survive through the toughest of situations, and it has been proven that life or death is a pretty damn good trigger to awaken your powers," Toji's face was covered with aura as his expression almost became enraged, "Anyway, I pray that a maximum amount of survivors comes out, good luck, for even I won't be able to interfere."

'These people are insane…' Leon's eyes widened, all of them looked mad, and allowing students who had never fought before and only learned about this world's system in a class was crazy.

And yet…

[Haha~ it does feel like it is a good solution, isn't it?] a voice in his head told him that for some reason.

'What the…' he couldn't understand anything, but before he could even think about it…

"Go inside," the spiky-haired leader pointed at the blue portal, and it didn't seem like a suggestion anymore, but an order.

"I'm coming out on top anyway," Akira was yet again the first to move, and he jumped inside the portal with no hesitation whatsoever, still carrying the [Sun Sword] he had summoned.

"Come on, just jump before we force you inside," Toji repeated, and people began to go inside one after the other.

The blue portal shimmered as more and more students entered, disappearing into the unknown dimension one by one.

[Come on, go inside!] the voice in Leon's head rang again.

'Fine…'

Leon took a deep breath, steeling himself for what lay ahead.

Despite his fear and doubts, he knew he had no choice but to enter the portal.

As he stepped through the shimmering blue light, a rush of cold air enveloped him, and he found himself feeling dizzy, as if he was traveling through space and time to another dimension (which he was, duh).

And once he landed on the otherside…

~CRWISH~

He saw… the school?

An exact copy of the school he was seeing mere seconds ago in the real world, except the sky was now dark, and the building looked to be abandoned.

[Pre-selection trial of school number 973]

[Find the boss inside of your school while awakening your powers and defeating the monsters!]

'What the…'

[How fun!]