When Erin and Fex left the gym that night, Quinn stuck around to test the system’s idea. He was thankful that the gym had a storage room with mud inside as he was going to practice some of the skills that were previously unavailable to him.

Once Quinn was ready to practice the skill, he re-watched the same tutorial video from the night prior.

"Congratulations on reaching level 10. Now, in this video no new skills will be learnt, but instead we will be creating our own. By now you should have also unlocked the skill ’blood spray’ and learnt the skill ’hammer strike.’ Although blood spray can be used on multiple targets to do the most damage, it’s best if you are actually touching your opponent. What’s even better is if you combine the two skills together."

The blonde man went into a fighting stance, and repeated all the steps for the hammer strike. However, right at the end as the force was coming out, he activated the blood spray attack, causing a singular compact thick line to come out. This had caused a loud crashing sound to appear off screen.

"Whoops." The blonde man said, "Looks like I will have to make some repairs to the dojo. This move I call ’blood hammer.’ Now be careful because this attack will not only use up your stamina, but will drain you of your blood as well. Also, the blood hammer takes slightly longer to prepare, so it may not be optimal in all situations. The point is, if you activate blood spray with a punch in your fist, it will be several times stronger."

Quinn could recreate the hammer strike with earth gauntlets, but unless he had considerable gear, he couldn’t recreate the flash step, and he definitely couldn’t use vampiric blood skills. However, if he used the mud in a particular way... he could almost get it to work like blood aura. Almost.

That night, Quinn stayed up in the gym reading his level 3 book, and from trying to recreate those same moves. Whenever he shot out mud from his hands, it made such a loud audible sound that caused anyone listening to fear what was going on inside.

—

The day for the green portal outing had finally arrived, and it was something that Erin had been looking forward to for what felt like months. All of the first years were told to head to the training hall, which was on the east side of the building.

Upon entering, Erin, Quinn, Peter, and Fex realized what exactly this place was. The numerous steel gray devices, the vast open space. It was the same place that Quinn was almost pushed into, and where Erin had saved his life.

Thankfully, all of the portals had been pushed to the side of the room for today, except for one in the center which was the green portal planet for the first expedition. Despite this, Quinn and Erin were a little more alert than the others, just in case anyone decided to pull an unfunny prank.

Del’s class consisted of 50 people, each in teams of 5, and there were a few staff members handing each team a bag of supplies. These were the supplies that they would have to share between their team, and contained necessities such as food pills, water purifying pills, first aid kits and more.

Peter walked up to the staff member, about to grab the bag, when Layla stood in his way to carry it instead.

"Please, let me help," Peter quietly spoke, "I don’t want to be useless and drag the team down."

"No way!" Layla quickly replied, before realizing that she sounded rude, "Look— I can carry it. I have some beast arrows that improve my strength."

Internally, Erin thought it was a good idea. There was no way that she would trust Peter with some of their most important items. Layla, meanwhile, was thinking that if Peter was commanded to try to push Quinn, then he might get told to destroy their items.

Peter looked dejected upon seeing that they didn’t want his help, and sulked behind Quinn.

"Alright, boys and girls, I have some important information for you before you head into the portal so listen up!" Del announced as he walked in front of the portal. "When you enter the portal, the communication device on your wrist will no longer work. It is important when entering the portal you keep physical touch with the person next to you. Otherwise, you will be teleported to another location."

"Also, you will be randomly teleported somewhere inside the shelter. Do not be alarmed! The whole shelter is safe because it is guarded by the military, and other travelers. The expedition is to last a week, and the goal is to bring back as many beast crystals with you as possible. The team with the most beast crystals at the end of the week will get the highest score. The highest tier beast you will see in a green portal planet is an intermediate beast. But this is rare, if you come across one, please avoid confrontation, and head to a different location," Del continued to explain.

"Inside the shelter, there is a military base with a storage room where they will keep track of the crystals you have obtained. I suggest you do this at a regular interval, so you do not lose all of your crystals. Our class is the first to enter, and every hour another first year class will be sent. I hope this class stays competitive as your teacher."

There were more things that Del was explaining about the portal outings, and suggested that the students were not to travel far from the original shelter they were based at. Even though the planet had several shelters, not all of them were owned by the military, and they could easily get lost as there was no one to guide them between each base.

As soon as they entered the planet, the test would begin, and each team had to decide what their plan was for hunting. The intended goal was for the students to learn how to be self-reliant and independent, as well as how to become travelers in the future.

Then, there was one last thing Del had to say.

"Please keep track of the time, and to stay well rested. Most of you came from earth, but this planet’s day cycle is 72 hours of sunlight before another 72 hours of darkness. You will need to keep track of the time yourself. That is everything I need to say, happy hunting everyone."

Erin’s eyes widened, and her stare turned intense. This was horrible news. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Don’t worry, Erin," Layla whispered, "I got another umbrella in case you need it."

That was when Fex walked closer to Erin, holding up his hand, "Hey, if you need to borrow my ring, then let me know."

Fex was trying to be nice to Erin, even if he really didn’t want to share his ring, it technically wasn’t something that he had rightfully earned. He wanted to make it up to Erin as the only other vampire at the school.

Erin didn’t say anything back. As much as she didn’t want anyone’s help, she might actually need to borrow Fex’s ring if they were to get a good grade for this test.

Soon, the number of their group was called, and they were ready to enter the portal. They all stood in a row, their hands holding onto the shoulder of the person in front. What was created was a conga line, all ready to enter a new world.

"Now remember, don’t let go while entering the portal," Del reminded, "In seven days, you are to head to the military base and return through the portal back here."

Erin’s group walked through the portal, and felt an old feeling tingly over their body, the hairs on their body prickling up, and their minds grew lightheaded. Once the final person finished entering the portal, the strange feeling was gone, and they could see what awaited them.

They found themselves in a bright little town, one with several people walking through the street, chatting about their day. Buildings like shops, market stalls, houses, and restaurants with smokey meats and vegetables wafted around them.

It was just as big as the military base the students had just come from, only that there weren’t any tall structures around. There was only one building with 3 stories, and it was the military owned one.

The ground was compact, and solid. With the sun constantly shining for 72 hours, it had dried out the soil, coloring it a dry orange color. Not a single blade of grass seemed brave enough to poke out of the cracked turf.

This was the shelter they were going to be at for the next week, and with the change of scenery, Erin had actually collapsed a little with the bright sunlight now shining on her.

[You are in contact with direct sunlight]

[Your stats will now decrease by 70 percent]