Apparently, I arrived at the academy quite late. We were already six months into the academic session before I joined, so it was only natural I didn't know about a lot of important practices here.
One of them was the CST Class.
This stood for Crisis Simulation Training class. According to Ralph, it was the most anticipated class because this was where students' capabilities were put to the test.
A completely different building the size of a skyscraper was used for this class, and this building had over two hundred rooms dedicated to these simulator systems.
Shiiii!
The door to our room slid open, revealing two pods lying on the ground, fastened with countless metal wires littered everywhere. At the far end was a massive screen that covered the entire wall.
Ralph walked in excitedly and I followed him sluggishly. Unlike him, I wasn't really excited about this test.
"Students Lucius Blackwater and Ralph Ashford detected." A mechanical voice called out from the four corners of the room, even though there were no visible speakers.
Bam!
Suddenly, the lights went off and the screen turned on, one half black and the other half white. On the black side was the word Hunter, and on the white side was the word Hero boldly written.
The screen kept highlighting between the two with a ticking sound that I found deeply annoying.
"What is this?" My attention shifted to Ralph, who was unusually jumpy.
It took him a moment to collect himself before he met my gaze and answered.
"Hunter and Hero. Those are the two specialization classes guardians must eventually choose from. The system randomly picks one and creates our test to fit whichever class is selected." Ralph explained.
Ding!
The bell sound stole my attention and my eyes narrowed at the selected option: Hero.
"Yes!" Ralph's cry of joy made it even more infuriating.
As a man who planned to burn down this country, I was more interested in becoming a Hunter. That way I could leave the country and return with an army.
"Class decided. Get into the pods to begin." The mechanical voice made me squint in discomfort.
I hated the voice.
"Let's go, let's go!" Ralph hurried over to one of the pods and literally jumped in.
Under my guidance, he had lost some weight, but I had never seen him move this nimbly before.
[This bastard has been holding back on us all this while.] Lyxor said plainly, and I nodded.
'I'll double his training sessions after this.'
Without saying a word, I walked over to my pod, which reminded me of a bathtub, just smaller. Reluctantly, I entered, laying down flat, only for the pod's body to light up with countless rectangular colors while beeping sounds rang loudly in the background.
Out of nowhere, a glass lid slid up, covering the pod while a white gas poured in.
"Here… here goes… here goes nothing." I mumbled as my vision began to blur and my thoughts scrambled.
The world turned dark…
Huff!
Exhaling loudly, my eyes lazily fluttered open and the first thing I saw was a pile of papers and files littered everywhere on the desk I was resting on.
"What?" I muttered weakly while raising myself.
My eyes darted around, quickly confirming I was in a sizable study room. On the chair directly opposite me sat a fat but older version of Ralph, snoring away without a care in the world.
'What's going on here?' I muttered, anticipating an answer.
Silence…
My head felt empty, similar to how I felt while meditating. Lyxor didn't exist in this virtual reality world.
My eyes dilated at the realization and for a moment I felt vulnerable. However, that feeling faded as fast as it came.
"He's just gone, but nothing has changed." I muttered while instinctively grabbing my chest.
My cold gaze shifted to Ralph, who was still snoring away happily. Strangely, he was dressed in an 80's butler attire.
The urge to yell in his face and even punch him surfaced, but it died down after a second or two, so I decided to do the next best thing: understand what was going on and what had to be done.
My gaze dropped to the messy documents and files on the desk. I started with the documents and my brows narrowed as I began to make sense of what they were.
"Third woman missing this month." I mumbled with a frown. "Still no trace or idea of the kidnappers, or whether they are alive or dead."
I leaned back on the comfy couch with a thoughtful expression before picking up a file and flipping it open.
Inside was the picture of the three ladies who had been kidnapped. Two looked fairly young, but the third one looked old enough to be someone's wife.
Once again, I noticed the dressing styles and couldn't help but wonder if the setting for this test was in the 80's.
Yawn!
My frown deepened at the sound of Ralph yawning loudly.
"You sure took your time," I said with a hint of annoyance in my voice, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Sleeping is always fun. It doesn't matter whether it's in real life or a virtual reality game." Ralph rubbed his eye with one hand while the other hand ransacked the table, pulling one or two documents over to his side.
I didn't argue or curse. I just waited.
Ralph was the one with experience in these tests, so his input was extremely important.
"Nice fit, by the way. This is my second time handling a mission in an 80's setting. It's always fun." Ralph said, though his eyes were glued to the document at hand.
I had never seen him this focused.
Only a minute later did he look up to meet my gaze.
"I believe we are important people in this world, and our task is to find those behind these strange disappearances." Ralph explained, and I nodded slowly.
This was the same conclusion I came to.
But the problem was: where do we begin?
What do we do now?