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Freeze! Ethan could feel his limbs freeze up as he stared into Noah's eyes. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. There it was again! His heart started acting up as soon as he met Noah. "Huff.....Huff.....Huff!" He took a deep breath as he tried to calm the flow of mana in his body. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. Slowly, his heartbeat started to ease up.

TAP! TAP! TAP! Noah walked into the room as he coldly stared ahead, not even sparing a glance at Ethan. Thud! "Ow!" Noah shouldered him out of the way as he walked forward. "Ouch!" Ethan rubbed his shoulder in pain. He gazed at Noah's back as he watched him walk away.

Screech! Noah pulled a chair and sat down. He closed his eyes without looking at anybody, as if nobody here was worth his time. "I...I'll be leaving now." Douglas scurried away as he tried to get as far from him as possible. Tap...tap...tap. Ethan walked into the room, heading to a seat as he sat down. He studied Noah for a moment. Noah had short, black hair and a handsome face with sharp features, that gave him a cold, distant look that several girls would fall far. Maybe even some boys.

Noah reminded Ethan of the 'cold-hearted' stereotype in otome games. He had delicate, pretty features just like those tsundere boys. But his eyes- that was what set him apart from those 'I don't need any love' wusses. Noah's cold, black eyes were something that seemed to draw the world into them. They exuded so much death that he gave of an air of dangerousness.

Of course, now that his eyes were closed, he looked much more gentler. But remembering his dark black irises, sweeping across him for just a moment sent a shiver down his spine. "Hahh..." Ethan sighed as he sunk into his chair. Whatever. As long as he didn't get on Noah's bad side during the expedition, he'd be safe.

Tap...tap...tap. Creak! The door was pushed open as a man walked in. He clapped his hands to draw everybody's attention. "Listen up, rookies! Today, you guys are going to dive into an F ranked gate as a part of your training. I'll be telling you some basic information about the gate you'll be venturing into so that you won't die immediately. So listen closely." A screen lit up behind him.

"The gate you'll be venturing into is called is the 'Infested Swamp'." A map of the gate materialised on the screen behind the teacher. "This gate has an area of almost 5 kilometres squared. It's pretty small, as gates come by." Beep! The map zoomed in on a location as he clicked on the screen.

"This place is the entrance to the gate. It's where all of you will be heading in a few moments. You guys have been given various sectors to deal with." The entrance split off into five paths, with each path traced by differently coloured lines. "The Infested Swamp is full of a variety of creatures, including beast type, reptilian and goblin type monsters. Each area is controlled by a different group of monsters. But you may have to deal with more than one type of monster simultaneously, irrespective of your sector."

He tapped the screen lightly. "All monster species in this gate are highly territorial. They keep to their own sector and prevent other types of monsters from invading their territory. They also allow monsters of the same category to reside in their sector. But invasion may occur. So battling against multiple categories of monsters isn't completely impossible." Beep! The map zoomed out to reveal an aerial view of the gate once more.

"Moving on." He pulled out a small device form his pocket. "Check your desks," he commanded. Ethan ducked down as he took a look inside his desk. "That's a device that checks the levels of atmospheric mana. It's called a stonograph."

"Your task will be to kill at least twenty five percent of all monsters in your region. So you have to keep on killing monsters until this device turns green." The gadget looked like a pen. Its top blinked periodically as it spewed red light, giving it an ominous aura. "Make sure you don't break it. If you break your stonograph, you will be considered to have failed this expedition."

Tap...tap...tap. "Alright! I've been talking for too long. Get into your assigned groups and come here. Each of will be given a data implant along with your stonograph. Insert it into your watches to update information about your missions. Make sure you go through it properly to understand your sector. Going inside without a plan would be suicide. Most monsters in this gate are way out of your league." Beep! The screen turned off. "Alright. Get into your groups. We're leaving in 15 minutes."

The class burst into commotion as everybody tried to find their groups. Ethan stood up. He looked around, searching for his group as well. The only person he could recognise was Noah. Evidently, the others could as well. He could see a couple of people gathering around him. "All people in Group Noah, come over here." A purple haired girl waved her hands, calling out loudly.

Ethan cringed his face slightly. Group Evans? Well, it definitely did the job. "I'm Ethan Miller." He walked up to the girl, introducing himself. She ignored him. "Not that it matters," he muttered. Clap! A red haired boy clapped his hands together, drawing the group's attention. "Alright! I think that's everybody. My name's Samuel Jade, and I'm from Class 2. I'll be the leader of this raid, if you guys don't mind."

Ethan scoffed silently. Of course they didn't 'mind'. The only guy who could possibly oppose Samuel was Noah. And he didn't care about stuff like leadership anyways. "I don't mind. You guys can go and plan somewhere else." He waved his hand, as if he was dismissing them. They started moving to another corner. Nobody could openly defy him. "Don't worry about him. He's just a filthy commoner. He's drunk on the little power he has. We don't need him to complete our mission." A boy spoke up, reassuring Samuel, as if he were above Noah.

Samuel didn't reply. "Forget about that. Check out your data implants! I want to see what kind of monsters we're going to fight." The purple haired girl waved her hands dismissively. Ethan looked at his watch. Hmm. So their sector was full of monsters of the reptilian category. Killing them wouldn't be easy. Reptilian monsters were quite formidable. They were considered to be the strongest category of monsters amongst lower ranks.

The Spinolanus Ethan had hunted during his mission was much harder to kill than the Rat Lord he had killed in the SMEPT, even though it was a higher G ranked monster. And Spinolania weren't even the toughest reptilian class monsters. "Ok, so we have four Physical type and five Mage type awakeners over here." Samuel started to form a plan. "Three Physical type awakeners should lead the vanguard, while one can trail behind the Mage type awakeners. The three of us will protect the Mages."

He turned towards the purple haired girl. "Kara, right? What do you think? Will you be able to defend the Mages?" Kara shook her head. "It's not possible. Realistically speaking, there's no way we could prevent all monsters from attacking the Mage types." Samuel bit his lip in frustration. He didn't have much power over Kara. Even though she was in Pebble House, she was pretty high up in the Goblin faction. He was forced to take her opinion.

Another girl cut in. "This raid is more of a hunt than an escort. Try to think of it in a different way. You Physical types can't protect us when a horde of monsters is attacking. We have to ensure your safety as much as you have to ours." "But I still think Samuel's formation is pretty good." A boy called Thomas spoke up. "Of course, your point stands valid. But don't you think having us tanky dudes up front would help? Right, Charlie?" He looked at the girl who'd just spoken.

"We'll shield you Mage type weaklings. You guys should focus on environment alteration. Use your little cantrips to mess up the monsters so we can pick them clean." He grinned. "Now, now, Thomas, don't bash the Mage types too much. After all, they are an essential part of our attack force." Samuel smiled slightly.

Kara was unfazed by his provocation. She folded her arms together. "Sounds good. The Mage types will be super helpful in slowing down and separating the monsters. It'll make it much easier for us Physical types to take them down. Ethan yawned as he watched the scene unfold. Apparently Samuel's faction hated Mage type awakeners, while Kara's didn't particularly hate them. He didn't think he'd get to see these factions butting their heads in person.

Kara frowned. She looked away, ignoring Ethan. Evidently, she didn't feel the need to ask for his opinion as a group member. Ethan sighed. What was the point of paying attention when they wouldn't even bother listening to him. He leaned back against a wall as he watched them continue to bicker.

Clap! Clap! "Alright class! Times up. Get into your groups and follow me right now." It was time to leave.