Chapter 78: Welcome to the Boarderlands.
The transport trucks were huge.
Sixteen-wheeled armored beasts that rumbled through the city streets like rolling fortresses. Each one could carry fifty students, and the convoy stretched back far enough to block traffic for blocks. Thick steel plating covered every surface. Weapon turrets bristled from the roof. The wheels alone were taller than most people.
Holden sat near the back of Transport Seven, wedged between Renna and a window. Lyra sat across from him. Emric was beside her, nose buried in a survival manual he’d checked out from the academy library.
Renna pressed her face against the glass like a kid on a field trip. "Look at the buildings getting smaller! Oh, and there’s the outer wall! I’ve never been outside the city before, have you guys? I mean, obviously some of you have probably been outside."
"You haven’t stayed in one place since we boarded," Lyra observed.
"That’s because I’m excited!"
They left the city behind. Clean streets and tall buildings gave way to scattered outposts, then farmland, then nothing but wild grass and dirt roads. The change happened gradually, then all at once.
Forests appeared on the horizon.
Ancient trees with trunks wider than cars, their canopies so thick they blocked out patches of sky. Vines hung from branches like curtains. The green was so vivid it almost looked fake.
Emric looked up from his manual. "According to this data, the borderlands ecosystem has remained largely untouched for approximately four hundred years. The creature density is estimated at twelve times higher than any populated region. Based on the numbers, we will probably run into something dangerous within thirty minutes of leaving camp."
"Thirty minutes?" Renna’s eyes sparkled. "That’s so soon!"
"That was not meant to be encouraging."
The transports rumbled on for another hour. The road narrowed. The trees grew taller.
Then the base camp appeared.
It looked like a giant fortress built right into the forest. It had three layers of glowing barriers to keep monsters out. Heavy cannons sat on watchtowers at each corner, their barrels long enough to punch through a mountain. Armored patrols walked the perimeter in pairs. The whole place hummed with enough defensive power to level a small army.
"Cozy," Holden muttered.
The transports came to a stop inside the outer barrier. Students poured out, stretching their legs and gawking at the fortress walls. Instructors barked orders, directing everyone toward the central staging area.
Holden found Maeve near the science tents.
She was already marching toward the largest tent, her bag slung over one shoulder and the Ashen Bestiary clutched under her arm. Her Junior Beast Analyst badge was pinned visibly on her chest.
"Hey, short stuff."
She turned and smiled up at him. "I’m not short. I’m age-appropriately sized."
"Whatever you say." He walked with her toward the tent entrance. Two guards checked their badges and waved them through.
Inside, the science tent was very busy and crowded. Workbenches lined the walls, covered in specimen trays, analysis equipment, and stacks of reference materials. Academy researchers in white coats moved between stations, cataloging samples and entering data into crystal tablets.
Maeve’s eyes scanned the room with obvious approval. She spotted an empty desk near the back, perfectly positioned under a bright light crystal, and immediately claimed it.
"This is perfect," she said, setting down her bag.
She started unpacking with ruthless efficiency. Books arranged by category. Specimen tools lined up in size order. Her personal microscope positioned at exactly the right angle.
Holden watched, amused. "You’ve been here for thirty seconds and you’re already reorganizing the place."
"Someone has to. Their filing system is a disaster."
He leaned against the desk and crossed his arms. "You’ll be safe here?"
"Holden." She stopped unpacking and looked at him seriously. "There are Rank 4 instructors in this tent at all times. The energy barriers can withstand an attack from a Rank 3 beast swarm. I am surrounded by researchers who will protect their equipment if nothing else." She pushed her glasses up. "I am safer here than I am anywhere else in the world."
"Okay."
"Okay. Now go be a hero and bring me back some good monster cores." She pointed at him. "And don’t break the bones when you kill things. I need them intact for structural analysis."
"Yes, Professor Maeve."
"Stop calling me that."
"Whatever you say, Professor."
She threw a pen at him. He dodged it and walked out of the tent, grinning.
The instructor briefing happened in the courtyard.
Three hundred freshmen stood in rows, facing a raised platform where a woman with a shaved head laid out the rules. Her voice was loud enough to carry without amplification.
"Welcome to the borderlands. You’ll be here for one month. The rules are simple. Leave the camp. Hunt beasts. Map unknown territory. Bring back cores and samples. Every kill earns survival points. The team with the most points at the end of the month gets premium second-year housing and first pick of elite resources."
Renna bounced on her toes. "Premium housing! Do you know how nice the premium dorms are? They have bathtubs instead of showers!"
"The point allocation system is tiered by beast rank," Emric added quietly. "Rank 1 beasts provide minimal points. To place competitively, we’ll need to target Rank 2 specimens at minimum."
"Then that’s what we’ll target," Holden said.
Lyra nodded. "Agreed."
The briefing ended twenty minutes later. Students scattered to prepare their gear, form strategies, or panic quietly in corners.
Team Soup walked together toward the main gate.
Emric checked the straps on his shield, making sure they were perfect. "The kinetic absorption is holding exactly as it should. I feel more confident about taking the lead in a fight now."
Renna strung her bow and did a quick draw test. The storm-arrows hummed faintly in her quiver. "I’ve got twenty piercing arrows, fifteen flash-arrows, and ten standard broadheads just in case. We are so ready for this."
Lyra twirled her spear once, frost energy trailing from the tip. "My core feels stable. The extended range Maeve suggested is already feeling more natural."
Holden checked his system one more time.
25,290 KP. Still a long way from 100,000. But a month in the borderlands, surrounded by hundreds of beasts? That was a lot of potential kills. A lot of potential points.
The heavy steel gates loomed ahead of them. Twenty feet tall, reinforced with glowing runes, currently sealed shut. Beyond them, the forest waited. Full of things that wanted to eat them.
Renna’s excitement faded slightly as she stared at the tree line. "It’s really dark in there."
"Good thing you have flash-arrows," Holden said.
She laughed, some of the bounce returning. "Right! Yeah! Flash-arrows! I’ve got this!"
Lyra caught Holden’s eye. She smiled at him. He smiled back. Just for a moment. Just for her.
Then the gates began to grind open.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The heavy steel split apart, revealing the untamed wilderness beyond. Sounds filtered through the gap. Bird calls. Rustling leaves. Distant growls.
Emric took a deep breath. "Statistically, this is where the mortality rate begins."
"Thanks for that," Renna muttered.
Holden stepped forward.
Team Soup followed.
They walked through the gates and into the wild.