Mr. Kieran stayed silent for this one. He expected this reaction, so he just let them process it.
Breach Zones were the different places within the country where there was a dimensional breach by beings of another world trying to invade into theirs.
The beings were classically referred to as Monsters.
The races of this world have always been born with magic in them, but the true reason the first academies began to teach people how to harness this mana was to prepare them for these breaches or the possibility of a war between worlds.
Anna, the class president, then stood up and spoke on behalf of the class. "But Mr. Kieran, we weren't informed about this on time. Most of us aren't even with our weapons or dressed for the occasion."
She tugged at her large dress to make her point.
"I know, I know." Kieran said. "But Management wanted it this way. Impromptu. According to them, it's to remind you all to always stay prepared, for anything could happen at any time…"
"That's some bullshit!" one voice from an angry wolf in the class yelled out, and it looked like other voices murmured in agreement.
Mr. Kieran sighed and shook his head, seeing as the class had returned back to commotion. He decided to let them be for a few more minutes so that they could get it all out.
Ethan right now was going through the most difficult time of his life. He had his face bent downwards, cursing out in low tones. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
His greatest worry was his inexperience. In fact, in this class, he was the only one without a form of combat experience. This was aside from his lack of necessary spells.
In the last three years at the academy, his class had gone on different expeditions into a breach zone. And he had avoided every single one of them, calling in sick all the time or simply not just being in attendance that day.
The original Ethan was too scared for any of that.
"Such an idiot," Ethan cursed him out again for the umpteenth time, then sighed.
Mr. Kieran decided to step in now. "Okay, so we'll do this. I will make it optional. If you don't feel the need to join in, sure. But this breach zone exploration will make for 30% of the final grades and will determine the type of recommendation we give to the guilds of the country, for those who may be interested in joining guilds after your time here. So yeah, it's all your choice."
The unruly murmurs then died at this point. Mr. Kieran may say he gave them a choice, but did he really?
Save for a few persons here who wanted to go into the family's business, almost everyone else wanted to be in a top guild, and a good recommendation from an academy like Belsorth would definitely go a really long way.
Ethan then decided he'd man up and do this too. Although it was not because of anything Mr. Kieran said.
He was too rich to be worried about grades and could easily buy out a guild he wished to be part of.
His name was STARK! And that was a cheat code to life in this country.
He only decided to join because he couldn't keep complaining about a lack of combat experience, especially when a first step to gaining the said experience had presented itself.
Moreover, he already calculated the worst-case scenarios in his head. Should the breach zone become a shit show, he had a healing spell and a summon that could teleport.
Mr. Kieran saw that no one objected any further and then said, "Let's not keep the first years waiting any longer. The breach zone discussion will continue when we gather back here an hour later."
Then he turned and left the class that went up in chatters.
—-
The final years eventually head out to the courtyard in C-Wing to do as Mr. Kieran asked. Introductions.
It got rowdy at first because management didn't think to make the identification process any easier, but slowly and eventually everyone began to identify themselves.
"I'm sorry, could you please point me towards Isabella?" Ethan asked another first year in a whisper.
The first year then pointed towards the corner where Isabella was standing, causing Ethan to tilt his head in that direction.
"Damn," Ethan whispered, almost without realizing he did. "Percival was not joking when he called the young lady beautiful."
She had long dark hair, perfectly shaped lips, and beautiful eyes that the plain glasses she wore over them only made him realize just how much more beautiful they'd look without it.
But she held an umbrella over her head, which made Ethan wonder, was she a vampire?
They were the only other persons holding an umbrella over their heads right now, given that the morning sun was out already.
Isabella felt the sensation of eyes on her and turned towards it, only to meet Ethan, who raised his hand quickly and called out, "Isabella?" as if he had just made the attempt to identify her for the first time.
She nodded in response. She too had been trying to identify the "Ethan A. Stark" she had been assigned to.
Ethan got closer and started with an apology. "Sorry if you had to wait that long. Our homeroom teacher kept us in class. I'm Ethan."
"Oh, it's fine, it's fine," Isabella said in a calm, soothing voice, while immediately pulling and shutting off the umbrella so that it wouldn't be a sort of discomfort.
She extended her hand towards him immediately. "I figured we'd be waiting. I'm Isabella."
Ethan took her hand in a light shake and nodded after, before they both pulled their arms back.
He then added as he noticed she'd put the umbrella down, "Would you not need the umbrella, for, you know…"
Isabella figured he just assumed her to be a vampire and quickly responded, "Oh, not really. I only just thought we'd be waiting for much longer." Then she smiled slightly and added, "The sun's still rough on us humans too."
Ethan smiled back. She was sociable. Plus, why did a part of him feel the relief of knowing the princess wasn't a vampire?
"Okay, uhm…" Ethan began, searching for the words. "So you're a caster, I take it?"
This was a dumb question. He knew she was, especially as Kieran already told them they'd be matched by people of the same class. He was only just trying to start somewhere.
Isabella nodded. "Yes, I am."
"Okay, so uhh…" Ethan continued, then stopped and sighed before adding, "Pardon me. I've not done anything in the lines of mentoring before."
Isabella smiled a bit, actually understanding being put in this sort of situation. Then she decided to take some reins on the conversation as well. After all, the next few days were going to require a bit of rapport between them both.
"I'm also guardian class," she added, which made Ethan widen his eyes at the revelation.