Desert

"LSA Inner Competition begins!" As soon as those words being said, the crowd exploded in excitement and started clapping in chorus.

"Haha, Elder Wayne's speech just now was great." Luke sent a message to Aisyl

In an instant, a reply came from Aisyl, "Yeah, never thought that an old man like him could deliver such a motivational vigour speech like that."

While Luke busy texting Aisyl, Elder Wayne continued his speech after taking a deep breath, "You'd be given 20 minutes to prepare yourself." He paused, then glancing menacingly at the crowd direction, "I expect the best from all of you."

Normal people would think of it as a form of cheering, but the students could feel a threat within that sentence as if saying, "You must perform well or else you'll be a dead duck."

The students gulped hard and nodded their heads simultaneously.

Elder Wayne turned his head to the two people beside him and said, "Let's go to our seats."

Mister Braun and Madam Nicilia nodded their head and began following Elder Wayne to their respective seats.

Luke typed a message to Aisyl, "I'm going to prepare now."

Immediately, a reply came from Aisyl's side, "Okay, let's set a goal for you so you'd work harder. If you manage to reach the top 64, I'll reveal my face to you."

Luke quickly widened his eyes in surprise and typed back furiously, "Really? You better not planning to trick me!"

Luke didn't know whether it's because of his bad luck or the weather on LSA really bad. Every time he met Aisyl, the balcony suddenly turned dark because the cloud happened to cover the moonlight. Hence, Luke always failed in his attempt to take a glimpse at Aisyl's face.

That's why when Aisyl said she'd reveal her face later if he could reach the top 64, Luke became spirited.

"[Emoticon laughing while covering mouth] Of course, what person do you think am I? A liar?" Replied Aisyl.

"No way! My honest comrade Aisyl wouldn't probably be thinking to trick his only friend, right?" Luke replied smilingly as he propped himself out from his seat to head toward the waiting room.

"Tch, looking at your dirty smile, I could hardly trust the one you texting was not your girlfriend." Kuvar scoffed from the side.

Luke said with a helpless look, " Believe whatever you want then. She's only my friend now."

"See! You said, "now," That means you planned to take her as a girlfriend in the future!"

"What? I did say that? You're really thinking too far. It's only a slip of the tongue." Luke raised his hands in surrender.

As they were bickering, they gradually made their way into the waiting room. As soon as they arrived, they were given instructions to change their uniform into a somewhat sports outfit. Luke was offered two options for the shirt. One was a white shirt with a red stripe hanging around its collar and at the shirt's end. Two was a completely red shirt. The pants were red in color, and if Luke choose option two, he will look like a lean tomato or power ranger red. Without hesitation, he chooses the first option.

'Who the hell would wear the second option? The color was so stupid.' Luke thought inwardly during he changed his clothes.

After changing the clothes, Luke felt he could move around more easily. It had a texture that let the wearer move more flexible and free.

"You're done?" A voice came from behind him. Luke turned around, and his face immediately went ugly.

"Y-You! You really intended to wear that?" Luke asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, why not?" Kuvar replied casually, then proceed toward the nearest mirror, "Is it not good enough?"

'It's not good enough. In fact, it a lot way worse than that.' Luke silently thought but didn't dare say it aloud in case it hurts Kuvar feeling. The current Kuvar appearance was beyond hilarious.

Luke patted Kuvar's shoulders and said, "No. It's great."

"Why do I feel your words are unconvincing," Kuvar narrowed his eyes suspiciously as doubt began to rose within his heart.

"What are you thinking? My words are always like this. Come on! We gotta hurried!" Luke swiftly changed the topic and lightly pushed Kuvar to the exit door, followed by Timothy and Brian.

Shortly after, Luke and the group reached the arena. Luke repeatedly rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up. He could hardly believe that this was the same arena 20 minutes ago. With a tone of shock, Luke nudged Brian, who was on his left side by his elbow, "Are my eyes deceiving?"

With an amused tone, Brian replied, "No, the scene in front of you was real."

Before Luke's eyes was a huge forest with vines entangling around here and there, if not for the audiences present in the stadium seats, Luke would definitely suspect he was brought to another place without him knowing.

One of the officers approached Luke's group and said, "The rules stated you're not allowed to bring any stuff from outside other than badge onto the arena. Please, hand over your belonging to me, such as a phone or something similar to that. If our team happened to know you've brought stuff from outside, you'd be disqualified immediately and get punishment later. You understand?"

Luke and the rest students nodded their heads and immediately took out their stuff. Luke opened his phone and texted Aisyl, "Wish me luck!"

"Don't say to anyone that you were associated with me if you lose without being able reached top 64." Came the reply from Aisyl instantly.

"Well, too late since my friends already suspected me had a relationship with someone."

"WHAT??"

Luke chuckled at her response but chose not to reply upon seeing an impatient expression on the officer's face. He quickly handed the phone and laughed awkwardly as he being stared at weirdly by the officer.

After all the process was done, the students were ordered to wait until the next instruction.

Luckily, they didn't have to wait for a long time. Next, they were ordered to stand on a circular white thing and before Luke comprehend what's happening. His sight grew blurry and after a blink, he noticed the surroundings by now have changed. There's no trace of his friends and other people who were standing along with him.

Luke then sensed a heat gradually building around his body and couldn't help but took a step back in shock. Wasn't the place he looked previously was a forest? How on earth could it turn into a desert then? Instead of lush green trees, a scene of bright orange sand land greeted Luke's view.

Luke narrowed his eyes as he tried to see clearly what's ahead. Sadly, even after his eyes almost closed, there's no sight of a building or whatsoever that sighted by him. It's almost like he being trapped in a real desert.

Luke slowly took a deep breath to calm himself down and try to think with a clear mind. Clearly, that method work. After a few times adjusting, Luke's mind gradually returned to normal. Scanning his surrounding, Luke muttered under his breath, "I hope I didn't land on the same place as other high-ranked."