Chapter 101 Black Apples
Mars—the red planet—remained red, even after terraformation was deemed a success. For reasons both magical and scientific, most trees and vegetation across the surface bore crimson leaves with only hints of green.
Fifteen zones were territorially divided across the planet in concentric circles, each separated by magical walls reinforced with scientific tech.
Zones One through Five formed the Outer Region, considered the safest area. Only One-Star Corrupted Beasts typically inhabited this region.
From Zone Six to Zone Twelve was the Middle Region, a progressively dangerous expanse where Corrupted Beasts ranged from One-Star to Three-Star. Hidden reports even spoke of Four-Star beasts lurking in the dense foliage of Zone Twelve.
The final three—Zones Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen—were collectively known as the Inner Depths. Heavily infested, they contained everything from One-Star to even Five-Star beasts and beyond. It was said that a legendary Seven-Star beast undergoing mutation once emerged in the Fifteenth Zone.
According to myth, Aaron Chaosbringer, the founding father of the Academy and elder twin brother of the current Director, Aaron Evileye, once ventured alone into the Fifteenth Zone to eliminate that mutated threat.
No human civilizations existed within these fifteen zones. The only established settlement was Marco City, an industrial mega-city located in the western equatorial region. Plans were underway to build fifty-five more cities in that area—areas free of corrupted beasts.
Ten absolutely forbidden core regions existed elsewhere on Mars. These were sacred zones where the Divine Tree’s Ten Seeds were planted—areas strictly protected by Earth’s elite assassin organizations. One such faction was the Temple of Assassins, one of the top five.
In short, most of Mars remained restricted to ordinary people.
Today marked the beginning of the First Phase of the Fresher Ranking Tournament. After weeks of preparation, the Academy had finally activated its deployment protocols. Through six teleportation gates, 29,599 freshmen were dispersed across the Outer Region of Mars.
Moments later, a swarm of bee-sized surveillance drones took flight, each assigned to a single student. Soon, every student’s face appeared across massive Virtual Projection Screens floating in the sky above the Fresher Meet Village.
Among them was Zane.