Round One

GIVE POWER STONES FOR MASS RELEASE!! 3 POWER STONES BY END OF WEEK = 3 Chapter Mass Release

4 POWER STONES BY END OF WEEK = 4 Chapter Mass Release

5 POWER STONES BY END OF WEEK = 5 Chapter Mass Release

***

*RING*

The first period of the day had begun. However, today was the rankings exam. All of Brandyn's year group went to a large, open-spaced hall. As Brandyn approached the door, an invigilator lifted out a certain watch to wrap around his wrist.

The wristwatch beeped as it was clicked in and it even stated Brandyn's full name before switching to its standby screen, which was just the time.

Every student seemed to have these wristwatches, all displaying the same time. The hall could barely contain the group of students, who were all talking to one another about what this could possibly be about.

"Attention." A teacher ordered, from a platform at the front of the hall.

The hall had white walls and was very tall, and even had an open plan kitchen area near the back of it. At the front, the teacher had a microphone and was equipped with a special black suit, that was very sci-fi in its look and had an intricate design. However, he had no helmet and merely a suit for the body, which gave him quite a cool look.

"Alright, students. The rankings exam will begin quite shortly. Here, I will have to explain the first round and the general gist of the exam before you begin. Firstly, the first round will be a survival-like game, where you students will team up into squads of 3 and be forced to survive in a forest-like biome for as long as you can. The game ends when only one team remains."

"At the beginning of the game, every student will have 1 'coin', which will be displayed on your wristwatch like this." He explained, lifting his arm as the wristwatches around the hall all simultaneously pinged.

The screen had switched from the dark standby screen to a blue background and one coin, with the number '1' in white above it.

"This number will increase by one every minute that you stay alive in the game and you will be notified like this." He stated, making the number on everyone's watch increase by one.

"Of course, this will not be the only way to get points. Another way to get points will be by doing one of three things. Either, knocking someone out, making someone fall asleep or making someone submit by giving their coins to you to eliminate themselves. As this happens, all points are given to that player but these coins do not affect the coin total of the other teammates. However, as long as you are in the game, your total will increase minute by minute. Okay, that's all. Follow the invigilators outside and they'll take you to the fields outside. We will be in the G-11 for about 2 hours 30 minutes until we reach our destination."

The man said, switching everyone's wristwatch back to standby before making an exit through the red curtains behind him.

The invigilators wore sleek, clean black suits and they made no noise or spoke, simply walking to their destination. The students all blindly followed, unsure of what exactly was happening. Eventually, they made it out of the school fields and behind the collection of buildings and even a tower, they arrived at the runways situated behind all of this infrastructure. There were 2 3 kilometre long runways and there was a large, black aircraft on one of the runways.

It was round, circular and much wider than it was tall but it still stood at around 20 metres tall.

It had a nice, rugged design and it had a large, open walking platform for everyone to get onto to actually enter the aircraft. The students then entered this massive ship, which looked like a mansion on the inside. There was a large common area in the centre of the ship and there was a kitchen, emitting alluring scents that coated the entire entrance room.

Around the place, there were also other rooms like a game room, and the dormitory rooms, which were smaller common rooms for the specific sexes.

"Students. Follow me upstairs to the seatbelt quarters." He said, making some of the students a little confused.

They all wondered what a 'seatbelt' quarter could be but Brandyn correctly deduced that it was an area with seats that had seatbelts, to allow the students to be safe during takeoff and landing.

"Everyone! Find a seat and tighten your seatbelt as much you can before it is uncomfortable. Make sure to stay strapped in until the signs above say so." The same man explained, opening a special metal door.

This door then opened to a ring-like chamber, that surrounded the edge of the aircraft. Across the metal walls, there was a clutter of different seats, with several floors that could be accessed by the provided ladder. This allowed the large number of students to all fit in the chamber at once.

Each seat that wasn't at the ground floor had a gated platform in front to allow the students to actually walk along to the above seats instead of having to perform some odd athletic moves just to get into a seat. Also, some regular-borns simply wouldn't have been able to do this and it made it more accessible to them too.

"Strap down! We're moving in 15 minutes!" He announced, walking out the room to enter the cabin at the head of the aircraft, where the other officials and teachers were located.

In the due time, the students had all strapped down in fear of maybe getting hurt by not getting strapped in. Ahead of them, on the adjacent metal wall, there was a symbol signifying for them to stay in their seats.

BRRRR!!

Two blue streaks started getting blasted out from the back of the aircraft as it slowly started to move along the runway. Then, 4 extra exhausts activated to further increase its acceleration, making the aircraft reach 200 miles per hour in seconds. Soon, the aircraft had exceeded 500mph and it lifted off the runway, aiming up towards the clouds above.

The students were all thrilled and excited by the liftoff, looking to the two large windows beside them to get a bit of the view. The windows were massive, being around 5 metres wide and a colossal 20 metres tall and they gave an amazing view of the surrounding clouds and sky.

Ding!

The symbol signifying the lift-off had faded and the students simultaneously ripped off their seatbelts to make the most of what was provided in the aircraft. Some students simply leaped down from even the highest floor of seats, landing with ease. Elias flipped as he fell and landed like a superhero, while another flew down using his ability.

"2 hours 30 minutes. Oh well. Might as well make the most out of this ship while I can." Brandyn thought to himself, waiting for everyone else to leave before he lifted from his seat to leave the seatbelt quarters.