Quinn walked past Peter without saying another word. He headed down the hall towards the door of the school dormitory.
Tsukuru reached down to pick up the Metal Slime Spawn, which was now on the floor, having launched itself from his shoulder like a makeshift projectile. As he picked it up, he heard the boys talking.
"Hey…who was that?" One of them asked.
"Not sure," another replied. "I don't recognize him."
"Wait, look," a third added. "He came out of Vorden's and Hikiko's room. He must be the Level 1who's always with them. What's his name again?"
"Yeah, I can't remember either," another replied. "Wasn't he the weirdo who stood up to the Second-Yearsat the assembly hall?"
Tsukuru shook his head in annoyance. It seemed that even in this age, all people knew how to do was gossip.
He placed the Metal Slime Spawn back on his shoulder. Then, he and Vorden followed Quinn down the hall.
Back on the floor, Peter watched as his three "roommates" got smaller and smaller, until they eventually vanished out of sight.
***
In the canteen, Tsukuru, Quinn, and Vorden sat down at their regular table, while Peter sat with Earl's group in the Level 5 section. A dejected look on his face.
As Tsukuru sat, he had his Metal Slime Spawn sitting on the table next to him. Rather than eating the breakfast pizza he'd been eating the last few days, today he was eating a large bowl of rice. However, it had a somewhat strange topping on it. It was a series of yellow pieces of…something, and thin, green strips. This was chicken-flavored 'furikake', a type of "rice seasoning" that was popular in Japan before its destruction.
As he ate the rice with a spoon, his gaze subconsciously glanced down at his wristwatch. In the lower-left corner, the number "22,940" was displayed in a digital font. On top of his usual "10 credits" for the day, the military had also transferred him the "10,000 credits" for his Glathrium deposit, and the "500 Credits" for the ten Minor Healing Potions he had left in the doctor's office for Hayley.
As Tsukuru ate, he looked up and saw Quinn and Vorden staring at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," Vorden replied, before glancing to the side. "It's just not what you normally eat."
Tsukuru rolled his eyes and went back to eating.
After breakfast, the students all headed out to their homeroom classes. Since this was the third week of the year, everyone had pretty much fallen into a routine as far as the seating arrangements were concerned. This meant that the group of four roommates sat in a row in the back. Tsukuru sat on the far left, followed immediately by Quinn, Vorden, and Peter.
Every once in a while, a student would sneak a look back at them. Additionally, they could hear the other students whispering amongst themselves.
"Holy shit, they really did make it back," a student whispered.
"I heard that they got pushed into a Portal by a Second-Year student," whispered another.
"Well, then maybe they shouldn't havestarted shit withthem in the first place," another replied. "They're lucky to be alive."
Tsukuru gritted his teeth in annoyance.
It seemed that all of the students were talking about the three boys who had gone missing for the last few days. And it wasn't just in Del's class, either. It seemed that the rumors had bled into the other classes, as well.
Moments later, Del finally walked through the door, a smile on his face.
"Good morning, everyone," he said in a cheery tone. "Now that everything is back to normal again, I am proud to announce that the date of your first Portal Outing has been confirmed and has been moved to next week. So please prepare yourselves the best that you can."
Del's gaze swept across the entire class.
"Please, take advantage of this extended time period to train with your teammates," he replied. "The same teams that you registered last week have been logged in the school's system, and thus, they will be used for the outing."
Hearing this, Tsukuru's eyes narrowed imperceptively. This meant that Peter would be on the same team as them.
***
Elsewhere on Earth, the city "Dreamland" stood in an unknown location. The place was densely packed with buildings and skyscrapers everywhere, and there didn't seem to be a single space of open land to be seen. A large wall surrounded the perimeter of the city, reaching up roughly a hundred meters into the sky. On top of the walls, there were several turrets, as well as multiple mechs standing guard day and night. Patrolling for any sort of danger.
Because of these things, Dreamland was considered one of the safest places to live in, sharing the same "Tier-1" ranking as the Beast Planet "Animus" Tsukuru had spent six years on.
However, this safety came at a cost.
Security was a significant issue, as was the amount of habitable land on Earth. After the war, many of the old cities had been obliterated and destroyed. Too much damage had been done for them to ever be rebuilt. Parts of land had been blown into too small pieces for Humans to inhabit, or had completely sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
This is what had caused Humans to create Shelters on other planets. These "Shelters" tended to be a lot cheaper than living on Earth, and Travelers from different factions and corporations would live there, protecting the place.
But Earth would always be home to many, and it was too hard for them to leave. They hated the fact that if they lived on another planet, they would have to live in fear of Beasts attacking them at any moment. Because of this, the few places left on Earth were only for the very top of society. Some such places were the seven Military Bases…and Dreamland.
There were only two ways to live in the city of Dreamland. You either had to be extremely rich or you had to be part of the Truedream Family. Swearing absolute loyalty to their leader, Jack Truedream, and being willing to do whatever he asked.
In the center of the city, there was a skyscraper far larger than any of the others. The whole buildingwas made out of Glathrium, the hardest and most expensive metal in the known universe.
Inside, on the very top floor, a bald man in a nicely-fitted suit leaned back in a luxurious armchair at his Glathrium desk. This man was Jack Truedream. The leader of one of the "Big Four" Families.
A moment later, an attractive, young female wearing a receptionist outfit entered the room.
"Uh, Sir," she replied. "We have received a report that one of our family members has died."
Jack stretched out his arms, resting them behind his neck.
"What Rank?" he asked without looking at the woman.
The woman began flipping through the report.
"Uh…Rank D, sir," she replied.
Once students left the military bases after their mandatory two years of training, they would be able to become Travelers. Once they did, they would be able to work for a faction, a family, or become a freelancer. The government issued these "Travelers" with a Rank that denoted the difficulty of the tasks they could complete.
At some point, a person's Ability Level ceased to matter too much in the outside world. The boosts and Skills provided by High-Tier Beast Gearwere much more useful. What truly mattered was how you used your Ability in conjunction with the Beast Gear.
When starting, a Traveler always started at the rank of "F". The more tasks you completed, the more points you would be awarded. And usually, it would take someone a couple of years to be promoted from one Rank to another. The Ranks went from "F", "E", "D", "C", "B", "A", and "S".
Because of the way the system worked, it was always hard to gauge the capabilities of an "F"-Ranked Traveler. But the strong would usually move up quickly through the Ranks. Therefore, Travelers seemed to care less about Ability Levels and more often than not looked at Ranks, instead.
Jack let out a sigh.
"Our Rank 'D's often die in missions," he replied. "Why the need to tell me?"
The woman gulped.
"Well, sir," she replied. "This one was sent to us from one of the Military Bases. And it was one of our hopefuls. A man named 'Ian'."