Free Web NovelChapter 28: The Gate [2]
The S-ranks went first, the way the system always handled the high end. Each S-rank student got their own gate, lit up in red on the map. C-rank tier.
The instructor beside each of them was tagged in white. Cecilia’s destination was a C-rank gate in the southeastern district, with her A-rank escort was for emergency response only.
The A-rank classes came next. They went into C-rank gates as well, but in pairs, the rosters tighter, the support brackets slimmer.
This continued until E-Rank classes came.
Mira tapped through the assignments for our row of teams. Names lit up beside gate locations. The first three teams in our class drew E-rank gates I recognised from Kira’s sheets, mid-tier difficulty, the kind a team of five could clear inside two days if they coordinated.
Then our team came up.
The gate that lit up beside my name was at the far edge of the regional map, in a forested zone I’d only skimmed once in the library because I’d assumed nobody from our class would be sent there.
Kira sucked in a breath beside me.
"That’s, that’s Ashwood Hollow."
"Mm." freeweɓnøvel.com
"That’s the hardest one on the list. I flagged it as a top-three risk in my notes."
"I remember."
"Ash. The boss spawns in three different variants, and one of them is on the upper edge of E-rank, almost low D. The terrain is broken, the beast density is the highest in the region, and there’s a sub-cavern system underneath the main chamber that nobody has fully mapped because the last team that tried it didn’t all come back."
Tom had gone still beside her.
Edgar Hale, our new wind-element, was looking at the projection with the expression of a man trying very hard not to be sick in public.
Lena had walked over to join the team during the gate assignment. She heard Kira’s summary. Her hand came up to her mouth a second time.
"We got the worst one," Tom whispered.
"Yeah," Kira said quietly.
I rolled my shoulders.
The gate I’d cleared on my own had been a mid-tier E-rank with a single-variant boss. This one had a gate boss rotation, layered terrain, and a sub-cavern that hadn’t been fully mapped.
I kept my face flat.
"It’s a gate. We’ll clear it. Stay close to me and do what I say inside."
Three of the four turned to look at me with the kind of expression that suggested they were re-evaluating whether they should be more afraid of the gate or of the F-rank standing next to them. Kira was the only one who didn’t look surprised. She’d watched me twice this week.
She gave me one small nod.
"You will lead, then."
I nodded my head.
***
The transport rolled out of the academy gates within the hour.
Six seats in the back, the windows tinted dark enough that the city outside passed in grey blocks. Mira sat up front beside the driver with a tablet open on her lap. The rest of us were squeezed into the rear bench.
Tom had the window. Kira was beside me, her thigh against mine in the cramped space. Lena sat across from us with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes closed. Edgar was beside her, headphones in, his head tipped against the seat back.
Nobody spoke for the first thirty minutes.
The city thinned into suburbs, then into open road, then into pine forest that climbed the foothills west of the academy. The road narrowed. Pavement gave way to packed gravel. The transport’s suspension started catching every rut.
Forty minutes in, the trees opened.
The gate sat at the centre of a wide clearing, ringed by a permanent association barrier of pale blue light. Four guards stood at the perimeter in awakener gear, two on either side of the access path, their weapons sheathed but visible at their hips. A small command tent had been set up at the far edge, a signal antenna jutting from its roof.
The transport pulled up at the edge of the clearing.
Mira got out first.
The lead guard at the perimeter saw her coming and dipped his chin. Mira gave him the same nod back. Whatever paperwork the association needed had already been processed before we left the academy. The guard waved her through.
We climbed out behind her.
The gate itself was the size of a barn door. The inside was the deep purple-black I’d seen once before, the colour pulled tight inside the jagged tear in the air.
Mira stopped at the edge of the access path and turned to face us.
"Line up."
We lined up. Lena on the left. Edgar beside her. Tom. Kira. Me at the right end.
Mira’s eyes moved down the row. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"You five drew the worst gate of every E-Rank team this year. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Ashwood Hollow is a gate that very few teams could conquer. You’ve got two F-ranks, two E-ranks, and whatever it is Rowan is currently passing himself off as."
Her eyes landed on me for a beat, then moved on.
"That doesn’t make this impossible. It makes this your chance to shine. The teams that drew the easy gates get a clean expedition and lower mark on their file unless they perform exceptionally well. The teams that drew the hard ones get noticed. Instructors read these reports. Recruiters read these reports. You walk out of Ashwood Hollow in time, and you walk into the spotlight with eyes on you. That’s worth something."
She reached into the field bag at her hip and pulled out five small ration packs and five thin crystal shards in pale blue.
"Rations for three days. Communication crystals are to be used amongst you, helping you communicate in case of any mishaps."
She handed them down the line one set at a time. The wrapped rations were heavier than they looked.
She stepped back.
"You live or die in there. You decide your own fate. Whatever you prepared for this week, that’s what you take in. Whatever you didn’t prepare, you don’t get to ask for now."
Her eyes moved across us one more time. They stopped on Tom for a beat longer than the rest, then on Kira, then settled back on me.
"Don’t die."
She stepped aside.
The five of us stood at the edge of the gate.
