Absolute Beast Dominion

The mission for the top 200 students was nearly the same: investigating demonic activity.

The only difference was the level of difficulty.

Apparently, this first mission was not very dangerous.

Except for the top 50, the rest would be sent to places where the danger level would be no more than Peak 3-star. That too, in groups of 10.

This meant that students ranked 51st to 200th would be divided into 15 groups. And the groups would be assigned serially. That is:

51 to 60 = 1st group.

61 to 70 = 2nd group, and so on.

And since the 1st group would obviously be stronger than the 15th group, the danger level for the 1st group would be at most Peak 3-star, while the danger level for the 15th group would be as low as High 2-star.

As for how the academy figured out the exact danger level, the professor didn't answer that, only saying one thing.

"This first mission's reported danger level has already been verified.. In other words, if you aren't a real coward, weakling, or wet in the pants, you will survive."

This confirmed Leo's suspicions.

The 1st compulsory mission was to be carried out in a controlled environment.

The professor even said that, since the activities would be held outside the Academy, the risk of death was real because the life bracelets were ineffective. Another important piece of information was that there would be no shadow protecting them, which meant the students would be left entirely on their own.

If the academy had already confirmed the danger themselves, then there was no need to secretly station Shadows nearby, Leo concluded.

Since Professors and Assistant Professors were already busy people, the academy couldn't mobilise them every now and then. So, only the first part—assessing the danger level—was done so that there would be no need for the shadows.

And since the danger level was known, the academy would only assign people who could overcome that hurdle. And if someone failed even then and died, it simply meant they were not fit for the world.

Natural selection, that is.

Apparently, these 15 groups would also be sent to places where there had been suspicions of small-scale demonic activities. Be it a village in some territory that was locally affected, or simply a suspicious individual or group that had made the City Lord file a notice or commission for help.

Since the Empire, even though it occupied only 10% of the total landmass discovered so far, was still massive, there were constant floods of calls for help from every corner.

The Empire played it smart and distributed the burden across all sorts of Kingdoms, Academies, and guilds. This solved problems, kept people employed, and even provided training for the young.

Since the calls related to Demons were usually dangerous, they were only given to high-level organisations, Academies, Beast Hall, and Established Mercenary Groups, where those organisations had the authority to decide what sort of people would deal with them.

Other problems, like bandits, weak beasts, other races, and similar threats, could be dealt with by anyone who had the strength. And yes, they would gain recognition for it until their reputation became high enough to warrant missions related to Demons.

So here in the academy, only the top 200 students were given missions related to Demons; the rest were assigned other, smaller problems.

When the professor explained all this, he also gave a warning.

"Be aware, before you are sent away for the mission, an extremely high-level magic will be placed on you to make it seem that your strength is lower than what it actually is—it's done so that you can easily mix with suspicious individuals and look around—but."

He slowly swept his gaze across the silent classroom.

"This magic also senses the cause of your death, so don't think that you can sabotage your comrades and remain free. Trust me, the fate that awaits you will be worse than the images shown to you now. You will be branded as a heretic and hunted down till the end of the world."

The professor immediately shifted his tone.

"That said, we never stop you from pretending to be one. Just be sure that, when examined by the authorities, you have the necessary things to lift suspicion off yourself. The best way to dispel suspicion outside the academy is to show your academy badge. But even then, you aren't free yet; you will be marked, and when you return to the academy, our specialised examiners will test you. Only then will you be cleared."

The professor shrugged.

"I know it's a tedious process for just being caught pretending, but it's necessary due to recent events. That's why I suggest coming up with creative ideas to mingle with the environment."

The professor continued with various ideas one could use. Becoming beggars, vagabonds, hunters, wandering adventurers, crippled soldiers, refugees seeking to enter a city after their home in the wild had been destroyed, and so on.

Hearing that, many students had questions and even wanted to speak, but the mute spell was still in effect. The professor, however, was experienced enough to know what they wanted to ask.

"Yes, you heard it right. You will not be sent anywhere while carrying the proud bearing of students from Aurelius Beast Academy. It will be discreet, and you will be dropped off a few kilometres away from the city walls. The reason is simple: Demons are very cunning. They would immediately wrap things up and pretend to be normal civilians if any rumour about people from higher authorities suddenly spread through the city."

The professor raised his hand.

"A very important announcement: the date for the Inter-Academy Competition has been pushed back. While it was supposed to start on 10th April, it will now be held from 1st May. Normally, the competition lasts 20 days, making it end on 30th April. But this term, some special individuals will also participate in the competition, increasing its difficulty and duration to 30 days. So, it will start on 1st May and end on 30th May."

"There's also another reason that cannot be disclosed, but yes, the date has been pushed. So, the originally planned 15-day mission from 15th March to 30th March has been extended, and you are now given a full month to complete it—from 15th March to 15th April."

He specifically looked towards the place where the top 10 students were sitting.

"Of course, if you finish the mission beforehand, you can use the remaining time to rest, train, and enjoy yourselves."

"This is it for the students ranked from 51 to 200. You will receive the rest of the information on your smartphones. Now vacate the classroom for the others' briefing."

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