Chapter 91: Abnormal Changes

The system warned gravely, and Arlo quietly took his gaze away from them, not wanting to be caught staring.

"Arise! And welcome the Vice Chancellors of the Academy!" one of the staff members called out, his voice ringing through the entire hall.

Immediately, they all rose to their feet, paying their respects.

"Never mind. You can all take your seats," one of the Vice Chancellors, a lady with long, flowing silver hair and piercing silver eyes, said to them. They all took their seats, followed by the staff members.

Looking away from the woman, Arlo turned to the other two males.

One was a man with neatly polished black hair and a well-ironed suit. His eyes were pitch-black, like those of a transformed Vorath, and he held a dark staff with the image of a skull at its foot.

In every way, he seemed like a gentleman, with a small smile that seemed to have been made for his face, yet he gave Arlo horrifying chills.

The other man was like a titan in human form, a shocking three meters in height, with bulging muscles that seemed ready to tear out of his tight red suit.

Matching the color of his suit, his hair was crimson and cut short, while his eyes were also blood-red.

He had an unreadable expression, seemingly looking at them with the same emotionless poker face.

And the most mysterious of all was the woman who gave off no vibe whatsoever.

Arlo couldn’t determine whether she was strong or not, nor could he sense even the slightest trace of her aura.

[I’ll be glad if I were you. At least you can still sense their aura and unknowingly sweat buckets.]

[The majority of the other students can’t sense anything at all and are still maintaining their stupid, prideful faces.]

[Fools who have no idea what true power is!]

The system said to him as Arlo looked around and noticed some of the students still maintaining their poker faces, while the grins on the faces of those in Class A never left them at all.

[Let that teach you a lesson, Arlo. The majority of those who look down on others are actually the powerless.]

[Look at those students who think they’re strong, believing in their own potential and therefore showing no evident respect toward the Vice Chancellors.]

[They think the only reason those people are where they are is because they have had more time than they have. Born faster than them.]

[But in truth, they could be reduced to nothing in an instant.]

"But the Vice Chancellors, who are absolutely strong, don’t seem to mind the disrespect that much."

"They can still keep their neutral expressions and even smile back..." Arlo mused to himself.

[Good. You get the point. Never ever let your potential get to your head. Always remember that there will always be people who are still far above you.]

[Some of them are even humble enough to turn to those weaker than them with a smile.]

[But not all smiles are a sign of humility.]

[For some, you’ll think they recognize your strength and that it was what elicited their smile, but in actuality, they’re simply looking down on you.]

It added, and Arlo hummed quietly.

"We welcome you all to this year’s first Outer-School Session Event, and your own first Outer-Session Event ever in Cthulhu Academy," one of the three Vice Chancellors, the silver-haired woman, began immediately, causing everyone in the room to quiet down.

"Before we get into the precipice of why we’re here today, there are a few things I would like to bring to your attention."

"The first is the fact that the Outer-Session Event is more of a fun activity..." she called out, causing Arlo to raise an eyebrow.

Actually, that was what Vael had told him the first time he asked about it.

"The real truth is that... it isn’t."

"The Outer-Session Event’s aim is to bring you to the outside world and make sure the skills you have normally been taught here play a significant role and are properly used by you all to achieve greater things on the outside."

"It’s a test of, and a teaching in, your ability to use the knowledge you have gained in the academy directly in the outside world.

"That wouldn’t be anything close to fun, and the academy has decided to take things up a notch for the students this year, meaning the event will be the most dangerous ever recorded in the history of Newcomers’ Outer-Session Events.

"So before we begin the test at all, I would like you to realize that you’re about to undergo a test to embark on something very dangerous," she explained at length, resulting in quite a few murmurs from the students.

"It’s quite different this year. The Outer-Session Event has always been more of a fun, adventure-based event."

"That’s why everyone jubilates once the time for one comes. It’s strange they’re willing to make it the most difficult ever recorded in history."

Vael murmured to him as Arlo nodded.

[Perhaps it’s closer than they think.] the system suddenly said.

’What’s closer than they think?’ Arlo couldn’t help but ask.

[The war between the humans and the Voraths. Perhaps it’s the reason for the anomaly of this year.]

The system reasoned, and Arlo furrowed his eyebrows.

The tension between the humans and the Voraths had no doubt thickened considerably recently.

There were pieces of information he could put together from having access to Professor Cygnus’s device, and from it, he had learned of some bold Vorath plans and strange war formations.

For a week now, all he and Professor Cygnus had been doing was experimenting with new and explosive mana chemicals.

Their workload had more than doubled as well.

He didn’t know why or what the explosive chemicals they had finally created were being used for, but he could still guess that it most likely had something to do with the upcoming war.

"Still, it would be meaningless if all there is is danger, wouldn’t it?"

"Therefore, this time, the academy will be going all out to reward the highest performers of the mission."

"That means more and better rewards than have ever been recorded throughout the history of the academy’s Outer-Session missions."

"Rewards such as Ancient Mana Tomes of at least Epic Grade, Evolution Serums, Ancient Ark Rituals, to mention a few."

"And it won’t all be given to only the top three, just like in past years, but to the top 20 performers instead."

"So, while the test will be very dangerous, I can definitely say that anyone who goes on the mission, survives it, and performs excellently will be completely unrecognizable compared to those who were never able to partake in the mission in the first place."

"So, definitely give it your all in the test..." she said to them before taking her seat once more, followed by the clapping of the various students.

"The rewards are simply too good. Too good to be true. I can’t imagine the institute spending so much on the rewards for the Newcomers’ Outer-Session Events..."

Vael whispered under his breath as they both clapped, while Arlo’s eyebrows could only furrow slightly.

He had heard the various rewards that were being offered, and he couldn’t help but admit that they were really tempting.

What really caught his attention was that instead of only the best three students being rewarded, a total of 20 would be rewarded instead. It was a very wild and wide difference.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Juna..." a female staff teacher said, waving her off as the Vice Chancellor proceeded to the top of the pulpit.

"Most of you might wonder why you’re all packed together as one, instead of being represented class by class, and I’ll say some of you guessed right."

"The test this time won’t be focusing on a pupil’s ability with respect to a singular class, but one’s ability with respect to the entire Newcomer class of Cthulhu Academy."

’The range has been widened even further.’

"Right now, you are all a total of five classes possessing 30 students each, with the exception of two classes which possess an extra single student.

"That brings the total number of students to an exact 152! Out of these 152, half will be eliminated based on the principle that only half a class will be eligible for the mission. So there will be only 76 of you leaving for this mission."

’Well, at least it’s still based on half of an entire class leaving for the group.’

"As you have been told by your respective teachers, 50% of the test will be based on the abilities shown in the class itself.

"Therefore, a list has already been created, with the scores represented as percentages out of 50, for everyone present in the place.

"Those who have performed excellently in the tests already have a good advantage compared to those who haven’t performed as well in class.

"Your name can be seen on the holographic display," he explained as a new light bloomed in the hall.

Unlike the humans’ blue holographic displays, the Voraths’ ones were dark-colored, and the names were written in crimson.

"Wow, that is really interesting..." Arlo mused, looking through the names written on it and quickly finding his own name, just below that of a certain someone.

But still, the location of his name left much to be desired.

"Is this a bluff? I’m number 92 on the ranking!?" Vael asked in shock, looking at his name.

He was no doubt one of the best pupils in the entire class, yet he didn’t even enter the list of the top 76 people who had a higher chance of getting into the experiment.

"And you’re just below me. That makes you the sixth best in class. Just what the hell are you scoring in those tests!?"

Vael asked, looking at Arlo, who shrugged helplessly.