"Welcome back! The Rock, Amelia, Ashton, and Ashley!" Anbu exclaimed, still maintaining his bearing.
He eyed every single person who came out of the royal carriage and assessed them. Besides him was Louis Laurence, standing with a stern expression, similarly judging the students' improvement after a year of studying in the Academy.
He recalled that despite these five people who received the Legendary Class Title, they were still nothing but naive kids who didn't know how the Dreka World works. But compared to now, not only he sensed a solid core and a gas core residing on their body, their character development was worth praising.
Albeit, slightly, or maybe it has even worsened…
The Rock stared at Anbu with arrogant eyes and ignored him. Amelia was still timid but not as excessive as before, and she kept nodding her head with a slight smile. Ashton appeared he could now control his explosive temper, and it seemed he had been humbled many times in the Academy aside from her sister.
After all, the Academy was a gathering of promising students, not only for a single race but for high elves and dwarves as well.
Nonetheless, one look at Ashton's face was enough to read he still has his explosive temper.
Meanwhile, his twin sister, Ashley, has eyes that were even colder than before, and her aura conveys she wasn't someone worth offending. One could even perceive that a joke might be treated as a serious offense, which was enough for them to receive her blunt response.
The five of them, if compared before, except their current clothes that appeared more elegant and noble, were slightly different than now. They seemed to know more about how brutal the world was, which was different from Earth since mind games weren't the only thing that existed, but fighting in life-and-death situations appeared to be a normal occurrence in every part of the world.
Therefore, Louis stated their change was commendable because they still managed to retain their actual self, though some worsened while some only changed slightly, they didn't despair when they came to learn the truth.
When Anbu only received a response from Amelia and Ashley to which they only nodded, a silent awkward atmosphere descended. Once the royal carriage left after dropping their passenger, the smile on Anbu's face vanished.
The students were aware of what it represented since returning to the Empire from the Academy wasn't for vacation, but the mission was given by the Emperor.
Supposedly, all students, or Otherworlders, should return to the Academy and take various tasks to temper their combat as stated by the Pontiff. The latter had just received the message from the Goddess to hasten their growth to take part in various dangerous missions rather than idling in the Academy, which would take more time.
Although the Goddess decided it should be better to send the students' to the battlefield at once instead of studying the Academy, she actually neglected that it was more important to learn first the basic understanding of the Dreka World before blindly throwing the students to their death.
Therefore, she allowed them to study at the Academy for a year.
However, only the Legendary Class students' returned since some were still responding they hadn't formed their core yet, or their knowledge was not enough, mainly the beast and demon encyclopedia.
They stated that fighting an opponent without a basic understanding of the latter was no different than an uneducated person trying to ace the exam.
They even stated the art of war, causing the Emperor and Anbu to be mind-blown, and it ended in allowing the students to stay in the Academy.
Louis was still not aware of it, for once he did, it wouldn't be surprising that the students' would manage to acquire his approval.
"I'm pretty sure you are already aware of the mission issued by the Emperor. This information came from the Adventurer's Guild, and its completion would acquire their I.D. as a member, and then be recognized by the whole citizenry of the Empire. The ranking system has been designated by them, and it is now a perfect time to know your ranking," said Anbu.
"Although the quantity and quality of cores you have are already adequate to determine your rankings, completing a mission is still important because it will be placed in your background and represent your rankings. After all, if you are a C-ranking Adventurer, but you don't have a background, you will be recognized as a suspicious person, right? Of course, that's not the main reason why Adventurer Guild and rankings exist.
You should be aware by now how important ranking is and how it varies with the mission."
The students' solemnly nodded as they were aware of how the Adventurer Guild and their system work. Ranking would signify class and status, and it was sufficient to motivate the adventurers to climb up in the rankings.
Furthermore, those beasts who had an intelligence comparable to humans would come to understand who they should avoid and who shouldn't be messed with. That's exactly why Adventurer Guild was viewed as a company every person desired to work under.
Risking their life was worth the limitless reward.
"So, even though we don't have a ranking yet, we will complete a mission equivalent to our current prowess, right?" Amelia said gloomily.
Louis glanced at Amelia and perceived she finally realized something about their mission, which caused her to appear timid and fearful. He didn't mind and replied:
"Exactly, your growth is within our expectations. As expected of the Legendary Class, I'm one myself, so I'm aware of how stronger all of you have become. In a month, you already surpassed me to form two cores within that span of time.
But It was only limited to that; it didn't mean that all of you surpassed me in terms of combat as I dedicated most of my time to honing my fighting style. In the end, It's still equal."
Louis paused for a while, giving them time to digest his words, and continued:
"This time, this first mission will help you understand how to work together with your members. Whilst your members are someone you slightly know well, you are still unaware of their actual strength and their tactics when it comes to fighting." Louis's face became stricter, and said, "Be careful; who knows, they might decide to sacrifice your life for the sake of completing the mission.
This always happens amongst the Adventurer's group, and betrayal always happens that leads to their death."
The students looked at one another, and their expressions grew solemn. Suddenly, The trust they built in each other diminished, and they now appeared wary.