Free Web NovelChapter 25: Chapter 25. Called
"First rule of wilderness survival. Never lose awareness of your environment."
Every student was very quiet at the moment.
They stared at the female instructor with renewed respect.
A legendary rank 2 warrior. They felt like she could crush them with just a single breath.
Glints of resolve flashed through several eyes.
They would become as strong as her one day.
Her gaze scanned the students.
It landed on Desmonda Creed, Vultor Han, and Asmodeus Vincent.
These three were the strongest first-year students, huh, combining class 1A to Class 1T. Each first-year class contained 750 students, and there were 20 classes, from 1A to class 1T. With time, however, some students would be expelled, some would die on academy missions and for other reasons. So the numbers would reduce as time went on.
The classes would still maintain their structure from A to T even as the students advanced to the next year, irrespective of the depreciation of numbers of each class.
"Asmodeus Vincent, ranked 20,000 on the Heavenly Ascension ranking list.
Desmonda Creed, ranked 20,100 on the Heavenly Ascension ranking list.
Vultor Han, ranked 23,000 on the Heavenly Ascension ranking list," the instructor remembered. She had gone through the list of extremely remarkable students, including these three.
These three had just spent roughly a week on campus, and they had already completed missions that had earned them a high amount of contribution points to get this far on the rankings. Not forgetting the fact that they had spent some of their contribution points on using campus resources.
For first years, this was a great achievement.
Her gaze scanned the rest of the students.
Then, landed at the back of the class, where a brown-haired fellow with black eyes was seated.
There had been rumors about this student circulating among the staff. That he had completed a medium-difficulty mission even average second-year students would have to team up to complete.
Ranked 34,700 on the Heavenly Ascension ranking list. Aiden Vhorn. Many students thought the fact that he even defeated a late second-year student overwhelmingly a day prior was a rumor. But, it wasn’t.
This new student’s growth was very fast. He was a monster.
"He’s definitely the strongest first-year student. But he’s keeping a low profile. For a young man of his caliber, he’s very mature and intelligent," the instructor thought.
He was the only person at the back there.
No one had even noticed his arrival.
Until the instructor spoke.
"Mr. Vhorn, are you comfortable sitting at the back there? I’m not someone who can talk at the top of my voice," the instructor said. "I would suggest you try to come forward."
Aiden nodded and stood up.
Several eyes were trained on him at the moment.
So this was Aiden Vhorn, huh.
He looked just like he did on television.
Tall, lean, athletic, brown hair, dark eyes.
Casual dressing. But, something about him was different. His eyes were too calm.
It was as if he didn’t care about anything or anyone.
What the hell was with this fellow?
Asmodeus thought, "This guy is dangerous."
Desmonda smiled faintly. "Interesting. He’s anything but ordinary."
As for Vultor Han, he smirked. "Nothing extraordinary. He’s just ranked 34,700 on the Heavenly Ascension ranking list. What’s so special about him?"
Many people chuckled at his words.
That’s right. Most of them were ranked higher than Aiden Vhorn, now that they thought about it.
Aiden, naturally, didn’t care about what others thought of him.
He seriously did not understand why people liked to compare themselves to others instead of focusing on their personal development.
He did not react to what Vultor said, and the reactions of the other students.
The instructor expected something like this.
Some hot-blooded youngsters would think they can lord their backgrounds over others.
There was no need to explain anything to Vultor Han, the heir to the Han Chamber of Commerce of Insula Business City.
If his time in the university did not teach him that in the world of warriors, background could be an advantage, but power was everything, then the wilderness would teach him.
She raised her hand, gesturing for the students to quiet down.
She stood at the center of the podium.
"Since Mr. Vhorn has found a good place to sit, let’s begin the class. My name is Pamela Ashira. I will be your wilderness survival instructor for all first years, and I’m also the homeroom teacher for class 1A."
The students tried to stand up and greet her respectfully. But she gestured, "I don’t need meaningless mannerisms. Just take this course seriously, else you will die in a danger zone, a pocket world, or a battlefield of any kind without even knowing how you died."
The students nodded. This woman seemed laid back. But she was really no-nonsense.
She tapped on an elevated platform on a podium.
A large hologram appeared before her.
"Tap on your seats," she instructed.
The students did the same.
A hologram appeared before them.
The hologram revealed a picture of a very scorched terrain with charred corpses.
The terrain was that of barren land.
"Observe closely," Instructor Pamela said.
The students observed the barren land of the scorched terrain closely.
Occasionally, a large whirlwind would sweep through the barren land and disappear immediately.
Then, some moments later, the large whirlwind would appear again and ravage the barren land. After that, the large tempest of wind would disappear again.
The students observed this pattern for three minutes.
"Alright, look up," Instructor Pamela Akira said.
Everyone looked at her.
"Assuming you were placed in this kind of environment, what would be the first thing that will get you killed?"
Everyone was in thought.
Someone raised up their hand. "Lack of environmental awareness?"
Instructor Akira nodded. The students this year were very sharp.
"Good. If you agree with her, show by hand, and explain why," she said. "If you don’t agree with her too, hand down. When I call you, you also explain why you don’t agree with her."
Several hands were lifted up.
"Yes, class monitor."
"I agree with my fellow student because lack of awareness of the environment would have made one careless. If one does not retreat and study the environment for a while before navigating the barren terrain, the whirlwind will sweep you up and kill you," Asmodeus explained.
"Good. But I need more. You are close, but that’s no quite it," the instructor said.
She looked at Aiden Vhorn. The fellow was calm and quiet. His hand was down.
"Do you disagree?" she asked.
"Seriously, what does this instructor want from me?" Aiden sighed inwardly.
All eyes were on him.
"I don’t disagree," Aiden said.
"Explain why?" Pamela said.
