The Author's POV

"Are you guys headed down as well?"

Exiting her room, Emma caught sight of two girls quietly walking down the corridor.

Because the lighting was good, the features of the two girls became more apparent. Both of them had flawless white skin that was devoid of any imperfections. Their hair, which were black and brown respectively, gently cascaded on their back, stopping right before their waist.

On the left, Amanda wore tight black pants along with a white turtle neck sweater that covered part of her neck. Melissa on the other hand wore a simple brown cardigan, a plain white shirt, and some jeans.

As they walked, Amanda's cold demeanor contrasted perfectly with Melissa's arrogant and overbearing one creating this picture-like scene. It was like seeing a pair of phoenixes.

Jogging to catch up to them, Emma brushed her hair to the side and stopped right when she was about an arm's length away from them.

Pouting slightly, Emma sourly looked at Amanda and Melissa before saying

"Hey come on, why didn't you guys stop and waited for me?"

Looking at Emma from the corner of her eyes, Melissa responded

"Would it have made a difference?"

Turning her head towards Melissa, Emma looked at her sharply before saying

"What...no, but it's still common courtesy to wait for your friend"

"...sure, whatever makes you feel better"

"Ugh, seriously what am I gonna do with you."

Shaking her head at Melissa's lackluster response, Emma looked at Amanda who remained quiet the whole time.

"..."

Avoiding Emma's eyes, Amanda looked around the corridor. It was apparent that she didn't want to talk.

Rolling her eyes, Emma facepalmed.

"What am I gonna do with you guys..."

Though they had known each other for about two months, the distance between them didn't shrink at all during the time they had spent together.

No matter how much she tried to socialize and interact with them, they would always keep her at arm's length away.

This was especially so for Amanda, who was always curt and polite, treating everyone as if they were a stranger.

In the end, Emma was left totally helpless when interacting with these two.

Letting out a sigh, Emma thought for a bit before saying

"...say, don't you guys find Jin a bit weird these days?"

As soon as the word 'Jin' escaped from Emma's mouth, Melissa's face darkened

"Don't even mention the name of that guy..."

Halfway through her sentence, Melissa held her stomach and continued

"...crap, I'm already starting to lose my appetite thinking about him"

"No, seriously. He feels a bit off these days..."

Though Emma knew that Melissa was constantly tormented by Jin on a daily basis, she also knew that if there was someone who would notice his strange behavior it was her.

That was simply because he would always try to talk to her whenever he had free time.

It had gotten to the point that Melissa purposely decided to return back to the dorm at a later hour than usual.

This was so that she could avoid him...

Before Melissa could answer, Amanda who had been quiet the whole time responded

"He has become a lot quieter than he was before"

Turning her head to Amanda, Emma nodded and said

"You also think so as well.."

Hearing the conversation between Emma and Amanda, Melissa thought for a bit before saying.

"Maybe you're right, I did notice him pestering me less than before...but whatever happened to him, I am all in for it"

Despite Jin being obvious with his advances, Melissa had more than once shut him down completely.

She simply did not care about having any romantic interactions, as the only thing on her mind was her research.

She was very close to breaking through into a particular theorem that had plagued her for a couple of years. It had almost become an obsession for her...

Therefore...for Melissa, who was in this critical juncture of proving her theorem, Jin's constant pestering had caused her nothing but headaches.

If someone were to ask her who was the most annoying person in the academy, for her, Jin was undoubtedly number 1.

"He's pestering you less? Hmm...someth-"

Halfway through her sentence, Emma was stopped by Melissa who couldn't help but say

"Let's not talk about him anymore. It's spoiling my appetite"

Without waiting for Emma to respond, Melissa picked up her pace and headed towards the first floor where the banquet was held.

Turning her head to the side and seeing Amanda also being uninterested in the topic, Emma lightly sighed and said

"...okay"

...

After calming down a bit, I decided to head downstairs where the banquet was held.

In the end, hunger got the best of me.

As I was heading downstairs, I soon noticed the figure of a student walking ahead of me. Squinting my eyes to get a better look at who it was, I was surprised by my discovery.

Rank 5 'Han yu fei'

Also known as Frank Han, and the leader of class A-23.

From the back, I could see his short black hair that was permed in a way that looked like he had a mop on his head. His body was on the relatively skinnier side, and he wore round glasses.

Though he didn't look particularly strong, his presence alone screamed 'danger' to me. It felt as if I was staring at a crouching tiger waiting to lunge at me at any moment.

...I guess he wasn't ranked fifth for no reason. Apart from knowing that he was ranked fifth, I actually didn't know that much else about him.

I didn't develop his character much, but from what I remember, he was an easy-going guy with no ulterior motives.

Most surprisingly was the fact that he didn't care about other people's ranking, as most of the people he hung out with were lower ranked than him. Some even by a margin that was as large as mine.

He was of Chinese descent, and his martial arts were on another level. He was probably the only person in the academy that did not use any weapons when fighting.

He only fought with his body.

He was what was known as a 'full body martial artist', someone who fought with every part of his body.

He comes from the Han clan, one of the three main ancient Chinese clans that resided in Ashton city. The three ancient Chinese clans were Wang, Shan, and Han clan respectively.

The martial manual he practices was actually a five-star martial manual, and it was passed to him by the patriarch of the clan.

Despite his strength, in my novel he didn't get that much character development. He only showed up on rare occasions, and those times were when he was either in the academy or when Kevin needed his help.

Looking back at it now, such a strong character should've definitely had more time in the story.

...well, no use in regretting what was already done.

Following Frank, I quickly headed towards where the banquet was being held.

Soon I could hear the sound of a lot of people laughing and chatting. The closer I got, the louder the sounds became.

Turning left, I soon found myself inside an enormous hall.

Looking up, three enormous chandeliers brightly lit the hall. Massive pillars made out of marble supported the structure of the room, and next to them, tables filled with food could be seen all over the place.

Waiters dressed in black outfits wandered around the place as they served different drinks.

Despite it not being eight o'clock, the hall was already filled to the brim with students.

Looking around, I soon spotted the area where my class was.

Making my way there, I took a drink from the waiter and slowly savored it.

"...ah dammit, I forgot that alcohol doesn't affect me anymore"

After tasting the drink and realizing that it had no effect on me, I slightly cursed and downed the whole thing in one go.

What was the point of alcohol if you couldn't get drunk from it?

Shaking my head, I soon arrived at the area where my group was designated to.

Looking left and right, I quickly spotted Donald and my other group members and headed to where they were.

"Eyoo"

Lightly waving, I stood next to them.

Looking at me who had just come, Donald gave me a side glance and then proceeded to ignore me.

Rolling my eyes at him, stared at the front

"It seems like everyone has arrived"

Five minutes after my arrival, Donna showed up.

Immediately, all of the boy's attention was drawn towards her. Wearing a one-piece black dress with fine silver patterns, Donna looked stunning. Her dress, which was moderately tight, further emphasized her well-developed outline. Moreover, her violet necklace that perfectly matched the color of her eyes, made Donna look ever more mesmerizing.

Next to me, I could hear the hurried breathing of some of the male students as they looked at her with heart in their eyes.

Closing my eyes, I calmed my heart down.

Usually, I would've been like any of the other male students here, but today...today, I had too much on my mind. I just couldn't bring myself to admire her beauty.

Not bothered by everyone's stares, Donna's violet eyes paused on everyone. Looking around and seeing that everyone was here she continued

"There are two reasons as to why I've gathered all of you here. One is to obviously eat some food and satiate our hunger and regain some of the energy that we have burnt during our visit"

Looking to her right, Donna pointed in the direction of where the food was

"Sadly, since we are the last class, we can only wait for the others to eat first...but before that"

Pausing slightly, Donna's mood became a bit more serious as she deeply looked at a few individuals.

"The second reason...it's because we will soon give you all an individual assignment"

Instantly murmurs could be heard from everyone as they wondered what task they would be given.

Judging from how she said the word 'individual' it seems like this task could only be completed without anyone else's aid

"I will soon give you the task which you have been assigned. Each of you has been given three days time to complete the task...and failing to complete the task means automatic credit deduction from your end of year report"

As she was speaking, Donna could see some of the students shaking in nervousness. Shaking her head lightly she added

"Don't worry, the difficulty of your tasks has been assigned according to your abilities. After a lot of consideration, we managed to assign you guys tasks that are well within the reported data of your strength...Therefore, you guys should be relatively safe"

-Clap!

Clapping her hand to get the attention of some of the students that had stopped listening and were trying to find out what their task was, Donna smiled and said

"Alright, I think I've said enough. I will soon send you your tasks on your phone. Please enjoy the food and make sure you don't fail the missions."

-Ding!

Right on cue, a message appeared on my phone. Just as I was about to open it and see what my task was, Donna spoke once again

"Ah..I forgot to add. We won't aid you in your task, so if you guys die, you die. We won't be helping you"

Instantly, the room became tense. Some students started shaking in nervousness as they carefully looked at their phones to see what their task was.

"Well, sorry to have dampened the mood for you all, but I felt that I needed to warn you beforehand so that you don't get complacent thinking that we will save your asses even if you were to fail the mission"

Finished with what she wanted to say, Donna quickly left and joined the other instructors who had similarly shared the news with the other students.

Turning on my phone, I looked at the notification that had popped up on my screen

[Student rank 1750, Ren Dover - Mission target, Karl zar. Head of a minor drug organization that had infiltrated Hollberg for the past decade. Target location at xxxxxx road. Target behavioral pattern....]

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the ceiling of the hall.

....I guess I'll have to prepare myself.