His journey to the school was extremely quiet and swift. Laden made sure he moved as fast as he could so he wouldn’t miss the 7 am deadline.

Walking as extremely fast as he was, Laden got to the school in almost half the time he usually did.

"Get in line," a man dressed in very unique gear shouted at Laden the moment he arrived at the academy gate.

It was in that moment that Laden felt the true atmosphere and observed his classmates in the distance.

They were all arranged in extreme straight rows and columns, their faces displaying the absolute peak of seriousness.

"I guess everyone knows it isn’t a joke," Laden muttered while he moved to join the line.

In the quiet environment, his footsteps on the concrete ground rang out clearly, attracting the attention of everyone else.

"Oh look, he came," one student whispered to the other.

Though he didn’t know what they meant by that, Laden still ignored and went to line up like the others on another line.

"It seems rumors have been spreading about you, Laden," Prime said as his first statement of the day.

"I bet they think you have gotten a free pass after your meeting with that woman," he said.

"I finally agree now, Prime, humans can be very dumb," he muttered in a low voice.

While he was still trying to get himself together, he heard the sound of the heavy metal gates closing loudly.

"Anyone who hasn’t arrived by now can be said to have defaulted," the man shouted.

Immediately after the gates were closed, a man walked from a seat that was a bit to Laden’s left and towards the forefront of the crowd.

"Time for the pep talk," Laden said in a low voice.

"Many of you are probably still unsure if you actually want to do this; you must have checked and seen horrible things," the man shouted.

"But I, Jones, tell you all that it’s not entirely true. Yes, people die outside the terminals; I can even say they die more than they return, but that’s only because of one reason."

"Carelessness: Summoners tend to be overconfident outside the Terminals, which almost always results in casualties. So, if you do want to end up like that, you need to be careful."

While self-declared Jones spoke, Laden listened while his mind was also thinking about something else at the same time.

"Why does his voice sound so familiar?" Laden wondered.

Despite hearing the name Jones a lot in the past few days, Laden had only heard his name and stuff about him; he couldn’t figure out why he sounded so familiar.

"I would implore you all to make sure you are extremely careful when you get outside the terminals, or you might actually end up like them."

"Now that you all have gotten an idea of the dos and don’ts of the wilderness, you can proceed to get equipment from those men standing to your right."

The crowds of students followed the man’s direction and turned to look to their right, where men dressed in military uniforms stood in front of multiple boxes.

"Straight files!" the man shouted.

The students rushed to form lines in front of each of the stands, waiting to collect the equipment.

"When you arrive, you will be given protective equipment and a weapon of your choice."

When Laden heard they could choose a weapon of his choice, he immediately began thinking of the right weapon.

The abilities Prime provided him focused more on the physical, brutish end, so he couldn’t take a too-complex weapon, and he was also not skilled in using a sword, spear, or axes either.

"I guess I will go for a blunt weapon then," he muttered.

"Use a staff," Prime suddenly suggested.

Since it went with his previous line of thought, Laden didn’t doubt his choice and decided he would choose a staff.

"These weapons are crafted from special materials that are extremely durable and capable of taking almost anything you can produce, so fear not."

"These protective armors are also very strong and should offer you a great deal of defense. I wish you success in your test and stay safe; don’t die."

One at a time, each student went forward to collect their equipment, and soon it was Laden’s turn.

"I would like a staff, please," Laden said gently.

The officer didn’t bother saying anything more; instead, he just bent and picked up Laden’s choices and handed them over, his eyes showing regret as if he were looking at a dead man.

"Who is this bastard to look down on us?" Prime said annoyingly.

"There’s no need to do anything now; we just need to prove him wrong."

With that thought in mind, Laden moved towards the side and slowly got into the protective equipment they were given. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"What’s this supposed to protect?" Prime said disgustedly.

"Alright, time to head out. Get in the Rovers," Jones shouted.

While they rushed towards the Rovers, the student displayed a varying spectrum of expression, from nervousness to fear and even excitement with people like Maxwell.

"May the great one be with you all," Jones said in a loud voice.

Laden, who had been previously heading towards a rover with steady steps, suddenly stopped, his eyes widened.

"Great one? Don’t tell me," Laden said in shock.

"The voice was extremely familiar."

"He called me a great one that time. Is he the one?"

"It can’t possibly be," he said again.

His mind was opened to the extreme, thoughts running through his mind like a wired machine. He remembered the voice in the spirit world and the events immediately after he arrived.

"He got a windfall not long ago," Laden remembered someone saying.

"His meeting with me was the windfall," he muttered.

Beads of sweat formed on his head and back as the world seemed to come to a standstill for Laden, a thought running through his mind.

The image of the sun he saw that night appeared in his mind. The heat he felt from such a distance away; the magnitude of the sun; and the wide area of destruction just from the shockwave caused.

"I burst my eardrums and was sent flying just from the shockwave."

"I played God to such a person,"

Slowly turning his head to look at Jones, who was standing not too far behind him, Laden was immediately taken aback when he noticed Jones’ face.

"He is looking straight at me," he thought.

And then, Jones nodded.