The next day…
The mood in the academy was grim. The academy, which was usually buzzing with action and the chatter of people, was ominously quiet today.
As for me, I was feeling like absolute garbage.
After my dance with Audrey last night, I ended up drinking a bit too much out of nervousness for today, and that was why I was currently feeling like shit.
It was currently midday, but I still couldn't get myself out of bed. Part of me was simply exhausted and nauseous, while the greater part of me was shivering at the thought of seeing monsters for the first time and terrified at the prospect of death itself.
Would I be able to survive? Would I be lucky during my stay there, or would things just turn out to be disastrous?
"Gaaaaahhhh!" I scratched my hair in nervousness and frustration as I rolled around on the bed.
There was no point thinking about all this. I had done my best to get myself ready to survive.
Also…
[Available Karma points: 2,345]
My gaze lingered on the screen for a moment.
'Right now, I have only four lives.'
Honestly, I wished it would have been more. But this all I was able to gather.
I sighed, and with a bit of effort, got myself off the bed and headed to the showers to get myself ready.
According to the instructors, all the cadets were to gather at the various Magic Centers of the academy, after which we would be magically transported to the venue where the blue bridge, known as the Veil, was going to appear.
In the meantime, I settled in the shower for a long time enjoying the hot water. After all, it would be a long time before I could enjoy this luxury again.
After I was done, I headed to the cafeteria for lunch.
Along the way, I looked to Aika, who was perched on my shoulder in her raven form, and asked politely, "Are you nervous?"
It was quiet for a moment, then she replied: "Yes. Everyone gets nervous before something like this as it is just adrenaline trying to get you ready. The main thing, though, is to not let it take away your focus."
That... wasn't the answer I was expecting.
Aika had always presented herself as someone who didn't fear anyone or anything, so I didn't expect her to admit that she was in fact nervous.
Though I began to think about what she said, and the more I did, the more calm and focused I tried to be.
***
A few hours later…
All the cadets had begun gathering at the academy's various Magic Centers. These enormous hubs were designed for complex magical operations, and one of their crucial functions was facilitating large-scale magical transportation, necessary for moving the cadets to the Veil's location.
I got to one of the centers designated for transporting the first years.
The building was massive, and upon stepping into the large hall, I was greeted by a sea of first-year cadets standing around a large magic circle in the center. They all had their Bonds in their creature forms, perched either on them or beside them.
I noticed that all the cadets were wearing what looked like small bags.
Those bags were called haversacks and they served as dimensional storage bags for the cadets to put all their stuff. Though the dimensional size was not that large and could only fit about three standard-sized boxes worth of stuff, it was still a crucial utility equipment.
I was the only cadet without an haversack as I did not need one thanks to my inventory. To be honest, I was grateful for my attribute, as carrying bags around seemed like an absolute chore.
After a few minutes of stepping in, an instructor I couldn't recognize began giving the final briefing, as they would not be following us to the location of the veil.
"I hope everyone has carried their whisper-scripts and globes, as those two tools would be really necessary when you cross the Veil."
I nodded to that. 'Yep.'
After all, I remembered collecting those earlier while doing my asset acquisition.
Whisper-Scripts were magical crystals used for communication between cadets. As for the Whisper-Globes, aside from the information gathering and detection they provided, they could be used to pinpoint the location of the blue and red bridges in the World Beyond the Veil.
Although I had my attribute, which could show me the map to anywhere, I still took these two items with me for the sake of it.
"When you cross over, try to locate your fellow cadets as soon as possible. The more your numbers, the better your chances of survival.
"Now, during your stay there, you may run into first year cadets from the other bastions of the empire. I wouldn't say avoid them, but be careful around them and don't trust them too much.
"Finally, and most importantly, try your best to stay alive, and kill everything that is not a Dominant."
His voice then grew louder. "May the gods be with you all."
The cadets around us responded in a loud roar, "May the gods go with us!"
Aika chuckled on my shoulder. "Damn bastards think the gods give a damn."
I chuckled with her. "Fat chance of that."
I then looked to the magic circle in the center that was growing brighter with each passing second.
Then one of the cadets stepped onto it, and the moment he did, his body shimmered, dissolved, and vanished. Not long after, another cadet followed, and another, until all the cadets began disappearing from the hall.
'Here goes nothing,' I thought as I stepped onto the glowing surface, and in the next instant, the world twisted into a flash of blue and white, and I found myself elsewhere.
The landscape was a flat, desolate, plain filled with cadets standing shoulder to shoulder all around me. Above us, nestled in the dark sky was a terrifying red moon that cast the slightest, eerie crimson light across the plain land. In the distance, was a massive, pulsating, blue portal that shimmered with unstable energy, visibly warping the light and space around it.
And all the cadets around seemed to be marching towards the blue portal. Most of them were not familiar to me as they seemed to be from other bastions.
I looked around to see if I could recognize any cadet from my bastion. Surprisingly, the cadet right in front of me was an annoyingly handsome guy with golden-blonde hair and a beautiful cat perched on his shoulder.