Chapter 280 The return of ... Inside one of the homeroom classes at the front of the class, was a single person sitting at his desk. A holographic display was in front of him with the list of all the students’ names in the class. Both of his hands were up by the side of his head. Any second now he felt like he would pull his hair apart. "Why the hell do the school care about this crappy event so much!" Del complained. Right now, he was trying to decide who to select for the three events that every class had to participate in. There were more events than these, but those positions were usually taken by the second-year students, and Del thought the same would happen this year, but it didn’t seem to be the case. At first, he had sorted the list by power levels. Noticing that there weren’t many and the highest power level in their class was Vorden at level five. While right at the bottom was Quinn with the ability level of one. "Why did I have to be given a class with such weak students?" he thought. He knew there was a low chance of his class performing well and rather than that being a reflection of himself, he felt like fate had just given him a bad hand. Next, he decided to sort the list by where the students current ranking was via points. This was based on the two assessments that had been done so far. The list drastically changed after that. Shifting Quinn, who was right at the bottom, to near the top of the list with the rest of his teammates. A part of him wanted to select Quinn for the fighting event to see how far he would go, and hopefully would learn his place, but he knew the management team would think he was crazy for selecting a level one student to fight. A thought then came to his head, an idea that the upper management couldn’t disagree with. Not only did Del have to pick three participants, but he also needed to decide three substitute places for the event. As long as he had some type of reasoning, then it would be fine. Just then, the classroom door opened, as the students started to filter in. It had just passed midday and the morning off the students were able to enjoy had come to an end as they were told to head to their homeroom classes. When everyone sat in thier setas thier was a heavy atmosphere. When looking around, they noticed that many seats were left empty, empty form those who had died. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞 Del quickly closed the hologram. The teachers were allowed to know the rank of everyone in the class, but the students were not. Although many of them already had an idea as they could see how well others had performed. Once everyone was seated in their seats, Del stood up from his desk and started the class. "All right, everyone, there are no lessons for today, but the reason why you have all been called in, is due to the upcoming event. Not all of you will be taking part in it. But, there will be duties given to each student to prepare support for your school and military base." Del then started to read groups of names in the class, telling them each what their duty would be for the event. Some were in charge of creating decorations and banners to support their base while in the crowds. Others were in charge of helping with supplies and bringing food to the event, and there were even more roles given to the others. No one was really interested in this, as everyone was wondering just who in their class would be selected for the three upcoming events. "And finally, it was a tough decision, but now I will announce who will be participating in the upcoming three events." Excitement was filled in the room. A Lot of the students had an idea of who would get selected for the fighting tournament, but for the other two events, they had no idea. "First off, for the fighting tournament, I have decided to select the highest ability level and also one of the top-ranked students. Vorden Blade." As his name was called, Vorden stood up, so everyone was able to see who had been called and selected. There were no complaints from the other students as they felt like this was the expected result. Other than Erin, there really wasn’t anyone as skilful as Vorden. They had all seen him that day in the hall fight his way out of a tough situation, only using Layla’s ability. "Next up, for the Ranged event I have decided to select Layla Munrow." After hearing her name, she didn’t immediately stand up. She thought there must have been some type of mistake. Yes, her main weapon was a bow, but there were others in the classes that were more skilled than her. Unlike when Vorden was picked, some whispers were going around the room, as they weren’t quite sure why Del had decided this. "I can see there is some confusion. The reason Layla has been selected is because of her ability. It matches well with her weapon. As you may know, the event differs slightly every year. I believe her versatile skills with using the bow will come in handy. Not only that, but she is currently one of the top students out of the first years in terms of points. This could only be possible for those that had at least some skill." Del explained. Although there were quite a few students who still disagreed with Del. They did feel like his reasoning made sense. Still, several of the students who contained ranged abilities were looking in her direction. They couldn’t help but feel for some reason a certain group of students were getting special treatment. After getting the most points for the portal outing, and now even taking two of the places in class. "Finally for the crafting tournament. I believe there is only one student in our class that is currently in the crafting club, correct? Benny Li shall be the one who will take part in the crafting tournament." The crafting tournament was for those who mainly planned to become a blacksmith or a type of tailor in the future. Their abilities usually complemented them in the forging process of creating great weapons and clothes. It was rare to have an ability that would match this, so they were quite hard to come by and highly sought out by not only different factions but the military as well. Quinn was lucky that he had found Logan to create the suit for him. Otherwise, he would have had to go off and search for a forger like Benny. Eventually, though, he knew he would have to search for one of these people in the future. If he wanted to carry on getting stronger. For him, he could rely on the shop for now, but the top equipment in the world needed to be created by top-class forgers. Quinn was a little upset that he was unable to participate in the event. He remembered Nate who he had met in the VR game had mentioned it multiple times. Quinn was also interested in facing him and other strong opponents. They had the plan with Vorden if anyone was ever to find out Quinn used shadow abilities. So there was a chance he could have participated in the tournament. Still, there was also the chance that there might be other vampires there who would see his ability. Day by day, Quinn could feel himself getting stronger, and it was only a matter of time before he would be able to protect himself from the threats around him. The problem was his friends, he needed to get even stronger so he could protect them as well. "Now that all of the participants have been announced for the event, it’s time for me to announce the substitutes. In case any of the participants get seriously injured before the event, or back out and go missing. These students shall take their place." Del explained. "For the Ranged event, Silly Dundee, For the fighting event we shall have, Quinn Talen and lastly for the crafting event, Sissy Rondo." The conversation between the students really started to heat up now, as one of the names mentioned was someone who was well known in the class for being a level one. Recently he had been getting a lot of attention as well. "Excuse me sir, but why Quinn? Isn’t he the weakest in our class?" A student asked. Del surprisingly came out with a response Quinn didn’t expect. "Do you really think so? If we were to go by ability level then perhaps you could say he is the weakest, but there have been reports that he has learnt the martial arts taught by Leo quite well, and you all saw what happened when that advanced beast attacked us. "Quinn was the only one brave enough to go in and try rescuing those students. Besides, it’s only a substitute. Rarely has a substitute ever been called in to take part or fight in the tournament." Even though Del seemed to be praising Quinn and giving him compliments. Quinn didn’t like it one bit. He had seen Del’s strange character actions during the class’s crises, and it didn’t make sense for him to say these types of things. "If there are no more questions, then you are free to spend time as you wish for the rest of the day", Del said as he went up and left the classroom. All of the classes currently were doing the same thing as Del’s class. Selecting students for the upcoming events and giving them each a role. While everyone was busy, inside the portal room, one of the green’s portal energy started to flicker and warp. Two guards were stationed outside by the door, while two guards were also stationed inside to keep a watch. They noticed the strange reaction of the portal. When something like this was happening, it meant someone was coming through from the other side. Both of them took a step back and got into a fighting position, while one of them pressed his hand up against his ear. "Report, something is coming through one of the green portals. Still unidentified, will inform you immediately of what it is." Stepping out from the green portal was a human figure. It was a teenage boy wrapped up in a hooded cloak. He looked dirty and beat, and his skin had been darkened from the sun. The boy started to look around the room. "Finally, I’m back. I can’t believe it!’ "Hey, you, who are you, state your name!" One of the guards shouted. The boy held up both of his hands, to try to prove that he was innocent. "Wait, wait... I’m a student here, check your records." The boy then took down his hood, revealing his face. "See, my name’s Pio Blank."