The day of the field trip had arrived, Aria was packing her backpack with some necessities such as an extra change of clothes, snacks, her daggers, etc. She knew she may not need them, but recently she felt like she has been woefully unprepared. Especially with her recent spider encounter.
It was quite early in the morning as the sun was barely peaking over the edge of the city. The 2nd year students were to meet in the front courtyard within the next half hour and Aria didn't want to be late. This field trip/excursion was like a midterm for them at the academy. Aria had a competitive streak, so she wanted to get the best score she could.
You know I'm kinda happy, I get to spend some quality time with Maya! Oh and I guess Eric will be there too, though something about him unsettles me.
Aria finished her preparations and headed out the dorm room, making her way towards the courtyard. As she exited the dorm building, she saw Maya sitting close by on a bench. "Good morning Maya!"
Aria lightly jogged up to her and greeted her, "shall we walk together to the meeting place?" Maya nodded her head shyly and the two of them walked together.
"I hope you don't mind but someone else ended up joining our group, a student from my homeroom class. His name is Eric and I don't think he will cause any issues," Aria stated feeling guilty that she didn't check with Maya first.
Maya had a complex expression on her face for just a moment that Aria couldn't quite interpret. "It's alright, we probably would have had at least one more person assigned to us for safety reasons." Maya said matter-of-factly.
"Oh I see, yeah two people is a small group. Especially when one is technically an F-rank." Aria realized, the two might have had someone worse than Eric in their group.
The two girls soon arrived at the front courtyard where all the 2nd year homeroom teachers were already waiting. They still were 10 minutes early, but many students were already there waiting.
The Miraden Academy of Awakened was a large school with about 1000 students spread over 3 years. Each year had around 350 students. As more 2nd years arrived, the more Aria was drowned out in the crowd.
"How are you doing Maya? I know its getting quite loudly and crowded here." Aria worried since Maya seemed sensitive and preferred quiet places, which this was not.
"I'm alright but I definitely would rather be back in the library instead," Maya responded with a troubled look on her face. Aria on the other hand thought she was adorable.
Soon the deadline had arrived and it was time for the students to be loaded onto the buses. Outside the front gates were six large coach buses, all lined up with their doors open. Aria and Maya were able to find two seats beside each other on the second last bus in the row.
Once all the students had boarded the buses, the journey began way. The portal location they were heading to was just outside the main city, which was an hours drive away. Both Aria and Maya had put in earbuds to drown out the noise (and gossip) all around them. Listening to their respective choices of genre.
Looking at what was playing on Maya's playlist, Aria was a little surprised. Aria expected some nice relaxing and calm music but somehow it looked like a metal band based on the album cover. Never judge a book by it's cover huh.
Eventually getting lost in her piano concerto, the time flew by for Aria. The next thing she knew, they had arrived. Getting off the buses she could see a large metallic building surrounded by security measures. On the outside it looked like an industrial warehouse, but all this was to keep the dangers inside and lurkers out. Passing through some security sensors and entryways, Aria and Maya made it to the main area inside the building. In front of them stood a massive portal that stood 15 feet tall and just as wide. Depending on the type of portal, the size could vary by a large degree. A reoccurring portal was typically a large portal.
Eventually everyone was sorted into individual groups based on their group forms that they filled out. Aria and Maya were already together, but from their faint shadow a figure appeared. Eric yawned as he stood behind the two girls, who happened to be looking for him.
"So when do we go in?" Eric asked nonchalantly.
Both Aria and Maya turned around quickly reacting to the person who spoke behind them.
"When did you get here?! We were looking for you and couldn't find you anywhere," Aria asked him with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"I just hitched a ride with someone," he smirked while saying.
"Well whatever, your here now. They haven't said anything yet about how this whole test will proceed. Your prepared though? Got your weapons?" Aria asked.
"Yup I'm all set," Eric said while he looked around the room. He took notice of the security and what was going on around the portal. It looked like equipment and cameras were being set up. "Looks like they plan to film us as we go through the dungeon," he noted.
"Yes, they likely will send small cameras to observe us as we enter the portal. I am guessing that a certain amount of groups will enter at a single time. We will likely be given a time limit as well. I doubt they want anyone to clear the portal." Maya muttered softly as she analyzed their current situation.
Aria on the other hand only had one thing on her mind. I wonder how much Exp I will get out of this today. She was almost jittery at the thought. Leveling up was addictive, and getting stronger was like a drug.
Hearing a loud speaker activate, everyone looked towards the direction of an imposing man standing on a platform.