Presently, the first year students were abiding their time inside the canteen. Every one of them was seated in their groups within their classes. Meanwhile, their respective homeroom teachers were standing at the end of the long table. On this expedition, each teacher would be travelling with their group of fifty students.
Two of the generals, Milo[Fay] and Simon[Leo], would be taking charge of the expedition. Only, they would be moving slightly ahead of the whole group.
Soon, the classes were called, one by one, into the portal room. Finally, Corlian[Del]'s class was called, so all of the students belonging in that group began to prepare their things ahead of going through the portal. Standing at the front was Corlian[Del], the portal glowing with orange light served to illuminate his figure.
Although, this time, Corlian[Del] looked different compared to his usual self. Usually, when teaching a class, he would be wearing the standard uniform that the teachers wore. This time the uniform could hardly be seen beneath the beast gear clothing that he donned.
The thing was, the armour he was wearing didn't look like beast gear at all and looked more like a mage outfit. From head to toe, it looked like he was dressed in robes, but if inspected closer, certain accessories could be seen around his wrists and legs. Furthermore, instead of a weapon, a shield was mounted on his back.
Before giving his speech to the students, he decided to survey the whole group. He could feel the sweat dripping from his forehead, thinking, 'I can't believe that the school is really doing this. Why do we homeroom teachers have to go along with them? These kids don't even know what could possibly be on the other end. If they did, they would be just as nervous as me.'
All these fearful thoughts were running through Corlian[Del]'s head. In the past, he had done an orange portal expedition. Because of that, he was aware that the results of the expedition could turn around for the worse, it was like flipping a coin.
In some places, it would be a walk in the park while other times it would feel like they had been sent to hell. For fear of being sent inside the portal once more, he elected to become a teacher, but it seemed as if fate was toying with him.
"Can every group present please raise their orange scanning devices!" Corlian[Del] said, his voice loudly resounded within the hall.
As Corlian[Del] asked, the representative of each group showed themselves.
For Archer[Quinn]'s group, it was Tony[Peter]. Once again, he was in charge of carrying the group's supplies and this included the scanner.
The only difference this time was that Tony[Peter] actually had volunteered to help his master. It also made sense, since Tony[Peter] was fairly sturdy and had a lot of strength. Thier were advantages such as his unlimited stamina, so he wouldn't get exhausted that easy by carrying heavy objects.
"I will now explain and show you how the scanner works. I will only explain once, so listen up." Corlian[Del] said as he raised the scanner for everyone to see. "The scanner is fairly simple to use. You will only need to point it at an object. You can see that, on the screen, you can select the area or item that you want to scan. Then, once you confirm, the scanner will do the rest for you. Simple, right? So remember, don't mess it up." Corlian[Del] said in a slightly annoyed voice.
A single student raised their hand, but Corlian[Del] decided to completely ignore him as he continued on with his explanation.
"The scanner can be used to scan almost anything - buildings, beasts, plants, water and so on and so forth. It will try its best to break down the information it has received and display it on the screen for you. Although, this is not the goal of the expedition."
Corlian[Del] halted his speech, heaving a sigh before resuming. His irritation was starting to get the best of him.
"What you students need to do is look for things on the planet which have never been scanned before, and this includes beasts. In your teams, each newly scanned object will earn you points. If another team, or the item has been scanned before, you will receive no points.
"Now for the most important and very crucial part. There is quite a range on these scanners - Before engaging in combat, it will scan every beast that is within your vision. The most useful thing about these scanners are that, even if they have never seen a beast before, it will be able to tell you what level the beast is at."
After the explanation with the scanners was over, Corlian[Del] went on to tell them how the expedition would work between the classes. Each class, together with their homeroom teacher, would be sent off in a certain area. When they reached their assigned space, the class would stay there for a while, allowing every one of the students to scan the area thoroughly. If they were to run into a beast with a tier higher than intermediate, they were advised to fall back and tell the teacher immediately.
The homeroom teacher would then inform the generals, who would come to their aid as soon as physically possible. In total, there were ten classes. Hence, Milo[Fay] and Simon[Leo] would stay in the centre of these classes, so they could respond to each of their calls of distress as quickly as they could.
As soon as Corlian[Del]'s lecture was finished, the groups began making their final preparations. While Archer[Quinn] was looking around, he noticed that Tobias[Logan] was already tinkering around with the scanner, no doubt making adjustments in the scanner's system.
It wouldn't surprise Archer[Quinn] if Tobias[Logan] was able to change the readings to allow his team to get the top score.
All of a sudden, he felt a soft touch on his shoulder, interrupting his observations.
"Hey, do you need one of these if we're going outside?" Arian[Fex] said as he waved a strange object in front of Archer[Quinn]. It looked like a flask made out of a silver metal. The only difference was that, on the facade of the flask, a skull that had two sharp fangs on the upper jaw was displayed - It was definitely a strange design for Archer[Quinn].
Looking at it closely, Archer[Quinn] realized that the design was utterly similar to the one that the book had - The one that had given him his powers.
"What's that?" Archer[Quinn] asked without really thinking about what he had just said. He was unsure whether this was common knowledge among the vampires or not.
"This is a special flask that allows us to hold blood inside. If you used a normal flask, the blood would spoil in a matter of a few days. However, this one is specially used within the circle of vampires to keep blood fresh. Well, that is as long as it remained inside the flask. By the way, every vampire is given one." Arian[Fex] explained. "If you're going to another planet with beasts as its main population, then it's best to bring one of these with you. We'll be gone for a week and I don't want to be turning into a blood sucker."
After hearing those words, a specific memory came flooding back in Archer[Quinn]'s mind. It was related to the time when he did turn into a blood sucker. Arian[Fex] seemed to not rely on blood as much as Archer[Quinn]. Perhaps, it was because he was closer to the next evolution. But, for Archer[Quinn], if he didn't receive blood within two days, he would turn into a blood sucker.
Thankfully though, Archer[Quinn] now had the blood bank. That, in a way, acted the same way as the flask. Still, even last time, Archer[Quinn] had used up his blood bank in a fight and eventually, he was starving for blood.
In this occasion, there were others to rely on. Though it was unlikely that their group would be split again, there was always the chance.
But if vampires were required to carry around such a flask, was the blood bank also a unique skill amongst the system, one that other vampires didn't have. It had saved him so many times in the past. If Archer[Quinn] could he would have definitely tried levelling up as fast as he could but after many battles, it still hadn't done.
"So do you have a spare one of these?" Archer[Quinn] asked as he eyed the flask.
"Of course, that's why I came over. If you didn't have the basic ring, I didn't think you would have the flask either." Arian[Fex] then pulled out a similarly styled flask from the inside of his shirt and handed it straight over to Archer[Quinn].
After spending some time with Arian[Fex], Archer[Quinn] really couldn't say that he was a bad guy and he seemed to be growing on him.
'Maybe during this trip, I can finally ask about his shadow powers?' Arian[Fex] thought, yet for some reason, while contemplating the matter, he felt guilt in his conscience and didn't really know why it was the case.
Finally, Corlian[Del] had begun to call each group into the portal. As usual, each member had to hold onto each other's shoulder as they passed through the portal.
Archer[Quinn]'s group was called up and Zamier[Vorden] took the role of being in front.
"I'll go behind the pretty boy." Riha[Cia] insisted as she grabbed onto Zamier[Vorden]'s shoulders.
Behind her was Rebecca[Layla], and then Archer[Quinn], Arian[Fex] and Tony[Peter] at the back.
The group took a step forward as they prepared for what's to come in their orange portal expedition.
To be continued....
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