As soon as Del uttered the name of the known terrorist group, the whole class went deathly silent, a tense atmosphere filling the room.
"As I'm sure you all know, Pure is a group of violent extremists who oppose the world's order and want to bring us back to how things were before Abilities appeared!" Del snarled, venom in his voice.
In her seat, Layla's hands clenched slightly.
Del then turned back to Tsukuru in the back of the class.
"Hikiko Tsukuru!" He called, causing Tsukuru to look up at him.
"You have connections to the military. Please, explain the three different Portal types for the class." He replied lazily.
Instantly, Tsukuru stood up, causing Vorden, Quinn, and Peter to turn to him.
"Portals are classified in three different colors, the color of which designates the level of difficulty and dangerousness the planet connected to the Portal possesses." Tsukuru explained. "The lowest color is Green. Green Portal Planets are ones that were easy to explore, and maintain a base within. Green Portal Planets typically contain only Basic-Tier Beasts, as well as the rare Intermediate-Tier Beast. Most people who live off-world in a base live in one of these Green Portal Planets."
Tsukuru then looked around the class.
"Orange Portal Planets are planets that have been partially explored, but for one reason or another, full exploration is impossible." He continued. "Most Orange Portal Planets contain Beasts of too high of a Tier to be fully explored. Beasts on Orange Portal Planets range from the Advanced-Tier and above."
Tsukuru then narrowed his eyes.
"And finally, the most dangerous of all, are Red Portal Planets." He replied. "A planet with a Red Portal Planet is a planet where the living conditions are so dangerous and the level of Beasts is so high, that they are dangerous to even explore, let alone build a base. As such, the only people who go to Red Portal Planets are high-Level Travelers and Military personnel. Additionally…"
Tsukuru glanced from student to student.
"Due to how little most of these planets have been explored, it is completely unknownif the Dalki have a foothold on these planets, as well."
At the mere utterance of the name of the dreaded Dalki, the students all felt a cold dread run down their spines.
After Tsukuru was done, and had sat down, Del cleared his throat.
"And that is all you need to know about Portals." He replied. "At least, right now."
A moment later, a student raised his hand.
Seeing it, Del inwardly sighed, and Tsukuru rolled his eyes.
It was that same boy from the assembly hall.
The one who had asked the stupid question, and had got beaten into unconsciousness by the second-years.
"Yes?" Del asked in resignation.
"Is the discovery of these 'Portals' what led to the creation of Beast Gear?" He asked.
"Yes, this also led to us discovering Beasts on these planets, and they are what we use to create our Beast Weapons, but you will be told more information when you arrive." Del replied. "Although, I will tell you now that you can also thank Richard Eno for this discovery, as it was him who had figured out that the Beast Crystals found inside the Beasts could be harvested and melted down with metals to form Beast Gear."
Del then turned to the rest of the class.
"Now, for the important part." He replied. "The Portal expedition will take place in the next few days, but before that, you will all have to group up in groups of five."
Del's eyes narrowed, as a look of frustration appeared on his face.
"Although, due to our classes' irregular number, one of your groups will have to be a group of six." He muttered bitterly.
"Despite us traveling to the planet as a class, you will each then be separating into your own individual groups." He continued. "Even Green Portal Planets are dangerous to beginners, and both the trackers and the communication functions on your wristwatches will cease working once you leave this base. Out there, we will have no way to save you."
The same student raised his hand again.
"Yes?" Del asked, a tone of annoyance in his voice.
"Do you know where we will be going?" He asked.
"That information will be revealed to you the day you leave." Del said sharply. "Many of you here have families that if they knew where you were going ahead of time would send guards to protect you on the planet. And that wouldn't be fair to the rest of you, especially since we will be assessing you all on this."
The student raised his hand again.
Like usual when it got to this point, Del shot the boy a look, forcing him to slowly put his hand back down.
"Now if there aren't any more questions…" He replied, still staring daggers at the boy. "As I'm sure you have all noticed from the update to your schedules, your combat classes for today have been canceled. Today, you are to form teams and report back to us by the end of the day."
Del then walked out of the room to attend to other business, allowing the students to form their own groups.
Vorden then turned his head to Quinn.
"Hey, Quinn." He started. "Do you want to be on the…"
But standing by Quinn's side was Layla, who had sprinted from the front of the class back to them.
"Hey, Quinn, do you want to form a team with me?" She asked, a smile on her face.
Seeing this, Vorden's eye began to twitch.
Even if he didn't like it, Vorden knew this was going to happen.
"Er…sure?" Quinn asked, sweatdropping.
Truthfully, Quinn wanted to ask Layla the same thing, anyway.
They didn't know how long their first assessment would be, and if he got hurt or injured, he was going to need someone to offer him blood.
"Hey Quinn, mind if I join as well?" He asked as he tried to hide his annoyance about Quinn being poached.
"We should all stick together." Tsukuru replied, his hand under his chin, a bored expression on his face.
Hearing this, Peter gulped nervously.
"Y-Yeah." He replied.
It was then that Tsukuru looked up, and saw Erin approaching them.
When she reached them, Tsukuru noticed that her wristwatch now displayed the number "6", revealing that she was now a Level 6 Ability User.
Erin's gaze shifted from Tsukuru, to Vorden.
"I want to make a team with you two." She replied bluntly.
Erin's declaration had made the room turn so quiet, that you could hear a pin drop.
As Erin had the highest Ability Level in the whole class, everyone wanted to be on her team.
But whenever someone approached her to ask her, she gave them a cold response.
Tsukuru and Vorden exchanged glances.
"We've already decided to form a team with these three." Tsukuru replied, motioning to Quinn, Layla, and Peter.
Erin turned to the students Tsukuru was motioning to, her gaze stopping at Quinn.
'He's that boy who managed to take out a huge handful of second-years…' Erin thought, her eyes narrowed.
Her gaze then shifted down at his wristwatch.
Seeing the number "1" being displayed, she scoffed, and looked away.
Her gaze then shifted to Layla and Peter.
"Who are they?" She asked.
"What?!" Layla screamed, both incredulous and offended. "I'm your roommate!!"
To be honest, Erin rarely remembered faces. She only cared about the strong. And after seeing how weakthese two were in the placement test, she hadn't even bothered to remember their names.
She then turned back to Tsukuru and Vorden.
"Why would you stay with these weaklings?" She asked. "If you joined me and a few other high Levels, you could get a much higher grade."
The first assessment, and their future assessments, in the Portal outings would determine their final grade. For those who had a cosy life and came from a powerful family, it didn't matter too much.
But for everyone else, it determined their future.
The grade they got when they left the base would determine whether or not they could join a powerful private company, or if they would just become the bottom of the barrel, being treated even worse than they were now.
Hearing Erin's words, Tsukuru's fists clenched in anger.
"It appears that on top of not being able to remember faces, you also have short-term memory loss, too." Tsukuru muttered, causing Erin to raise an eyebrow.
"Don't you remember how Quinn snapped a Basic-Tier Beast Weapon and was able to hold his own against Leo?" Tsukuru asked, narrowing his eyes. "Or have you become so brainwashed by this 'Ability Level' nonsense that your brain is literally incapable of accepting the fact that Ability Levels aren't everything?!"
Erin narrowed her eyes at Tsukuru.
Vorden flashed a disarming smile.
"Look, I don't care about the grades, I just want to have fun while I'm in school." He replied.
Tsukuru then let out a sigh.
"Erin." He replied, causing her to glance back at him. "It's perfectly fine if you want to join us. There has to be a group of six among us anyway."
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"But if you want us to join you…" He replied, motioning to himself and Vorden. "You'll have to accept them, as well." He replied, motioning to Qunn, Peter, and Layla.
Erin gritted her teeth.
"Fine, I can accept those two." She said pointing to Quinn and Layla. "But I can't accept him." She said, pointing to Peter.