Before things could escalate further, a loud bang erupted from the front of the class.
"Everyone, to your seats," the voice boomed through the class, reaching everyone's ears.
Eldrin heaved at the teacher's timing.
The Lancasters left his table without any words, returning to their seat calmly.
The teacher was a huge man with spiky red hair and black eyes.
He waited a few moments, about 3 minutes.
Seeing the commotion had completely died down, he spoke.
"You are all about to take the assessment. It will determine whether you are qualified to become a true player or a mediocre person who lives off other players."
As he spoke, murmurs began to spread among the students. The word player had sparked their attention.
But before the murmurs could even grow louder, the teacher banged the table once more, calling their attention back to him.
"Although you are excited to awaken your marks, you need to pass the assessment before you can call yourselves Mythic Ops with pride," he said, his voice thundering through the classroom.
Eldrin nodded slowly, but his attention was obviously far from there. He gazed out of the window in quiet contemplation.
"Those of you who have awakened your mark will be entering the game today to carve your own path."
As he said those words, the noise grew wilder, and even he could only smile.
He knew the feeling; he had experienced the same thing, albeit a long time ago.
"I wish you all good luck, activate your marks," he roared.
No one hesitated. As if they were already doing it before he even spoke.
They all activated their marks. Different lights flared into the ceiling, displaying the silhouette of several weapons.
But almost immediately, it died down, fading into the atmosphere.
The man smiled before sitting on his chair. "May the grace of Oracis be with you."
The haze cleared, revealing the vast, expansive space.
Ruined buildings spread as far as his eyes could see. Smoke rose from some places, but it was not enough to blind or threaten them.
Eldrin knew where this was; it was the assessment ground, the first place a player reached before they were called a mythic op.
But there was something else on his mind. He checked his mark, but he did not see anything.
Normally, the mark was meant to show him the first weapon he was granted by Oracis. And the only weapon blueprint he could use.
Just then, he felt a sudden jolt to his mind. The file that he had put into his mark just before he activated it burst out with aurora colors.
He tried to cover the light, scared that it might invite opponents, but it did not work.
The glow lasted 30 seconds before it died down.
[Select a beginner weapon]
The screen flashed in his sight, flickering as if struggling to maintain its current form.
Eldrin was struck. He did not know what to do.
The file his father had given to him as a parting gift was now showing something for the first time.
The only thing on the papers used to be sketches. Ones that he did not understand, no matter how hard he tried to decipher them.
Instinctively, he chose a sword.
Something he had practiced alongside multiple weapons.
[Choice received.]
[As a descendant of the Voiden bloodline, the void has no hold over you. You can move, breathe, and stay in the void for an infinite duration.]
Those were the last messages before the screen fractured, breaking into infinite fragments.
In its place was a sword, a normal sword, like other players with sword marks.
He grabbed it by the hilt.
But the weight of what had just happened still gnawed at him.
Everything happened in a flash. He witnessed it, but he did not know what to call it.
Not to talk of the talk about Voiden descendant. Since he had been studying in the academy, he had never heard talk about descendants.
A sigh escaped his lips. "If I find him, there are lots of questions he needs to answer," he muttered.
He turned to a different location from there.
The light was going to draw attention from enemies.
He ran towards a nearby building while recalling the contents of the assessment.
Its objective was simple but also difficult. Be the last one surviving against 99 other enemies.
Although they were all non-players unlike the main game, it was still difficult.
Considering a person could get ambushed.
As he reached the building, his first goal was to reach the top of the building, a place where he could gain a better view of the situation.
Sure enough, no sooner had he reached the top than he saw an NPC holding dual daggers.
The NPC checked the place well in search of the light source.
Eldrin weighed his options. 'I don't know how much attention was drawn by the light. I should probably wait a few minutes,' he mused.
He was not in a hurry.
A sound tore through the air.
In Eldrin's own eyes, the NPC he had just seen a little over a minute ago fell to the floor, lifeless.
No resistance, just straight death.
'A sniper,' he thought, looking around with increased alacrity.
At the start of the game, one of the most difficult people to face were snipers.
Something screamed within him. Instinctively, his head tilted to the left.
He saw her, perched atop a building. Her sniper was already locked on, nozzle directed at his head.
He did not think twice; he jumped into the building.
A moment later, the bullet pierced through the ground he was standing just standing on.
Eldrin grumbled as he stood up, dusting the dirt off his clothes.
He looked at the ruins and debris that lay in the place.
The room was broken, with holes of different sizes spreading across everywhere.
Most were small, but big enough for a bullet to pass through.
Walking towards one of the holes, he peeked towards the place he had seen the sniper before.
Nothing, there was no one there.
"Huh?"