Chapter 360: Mission Assigned

As Moby opened his eyes, he was met with a blurry mess that quickly grew clearer yet equally unknown, obscure as before as reality completely set in and halted its aggressive spin. 

He was currently stood in a room, metallic white engraved with lined patterns was the first thing he witnessed. It was of a circular design and very simple in nature, yet the quality and feel of the room was nothing short of exquisite. The room felt empty yet cramped at the same time. There was much space to move around, yet, the wall was not fully blank, housing numerous machinery of unknown origin that Moby had yet to see in all his life, glowing lights filled his vision from every corner like Christmas lights, but there was one light that eclipsed all of them despite coming out of the corner of his eyes.

When he forced his still hurting head to meet the source, his previously half-asleep state was no more. In front of him was blackness moving with tiny dots of light flickering by. That endless void in front of him was something he had never seen so close, but something he instantly recognized. 

He was in the deep expanses of space flying at breakneck speed. If it were not for the school logo emblazoned on the wall, he would have thought he was abducted.

When he finally fully turned around, he found his team just as he remembered them, although most of them were still unconscious with their hands heavily grasping their heads. It seemed like the teleportation had done a bigger toll on them than he initially thought, but, when he thought of it more it should have been expected. 

The only man seemingly unaffected was Artorias himself, in fact, he was walking around exploring the room before Moby had even woken, only he was entirely focused on the other side of the room. 

"Hmmmm? I know you are there… Instructors…" Artorias was the first man to speak, and he did so with authority as he pointed at a seemingly random, empty corner of the room.

"Impressive… I didn't expect you'd find us…" A fully masked man smiling under his disguise emerged out of thin air, he and 2 others of similar height dressed in near-identical outfits. 

They all wore loose black and red robes with a clear energy signature, the insignia of the school tightly woven over their hearts, one of a sword, staff, and hammer, representing all three divisions present. The middle man was the only one dressed slightly differently with gold linings over his hidden, protective clothing which most likely meant he was their leader. There were slight holes that poked out the eyes of their mask, it did not show much yet what was clear by their expressions was that they were both serious and amused at the same time in the future. 

If Moby had to guess, their attire was a safety measure in the case they were to give a bad grade, it would minimize if not remove the risk of hitmen going after them for revenge sometime in the near future. After all, they were responsible to grade the most spoiled, powerful students in the entire world.

"Think not much of it, my dear instructors, I saw you not. I simply sensed your presence," Artorias promptly responded. 

"Indeed, truly impressive, most would not even be awake right now, let alone able to somehow notice us," The other instructor nodded from his side, pulling out a pen tablet from his storage ring as he began writing. 

"You're name is Artorias Kalameet correct? If so, are you the leader?" The other masked man spoke, his voice both raspy and distorted just like his peers. 

"Indeed," Artorias nodded.

"How is your team doing?"

"Ah, it should not be too long, Kane had long been awake looking at us from the back," Artorias smiled and waved in his direction, slightly startling him before he walked to his side. 

"Hmm, Kane?" They all instinctively raised their eyebrows and took glances at one another.

"You've heard of me?" Moby could not help but ask. 

"We've heard both the rumours and the facts. Nevertheless, it shall not affect our judgement of you in any way, so fear not," The leader of the instructors confidently spoke, yet, Moby could sense something else brewing from underneath. However, before he had the chance to speak once more, the sound of grunting and moaning that had been slowly trickling into his ears exemplified as the rest of the team finally came to. 

"Where… Where are we…" Kai mumbled, gently rubbing his sights.

"Space… Is that space?" Elizabeth took a knee looking at the glass window gazing out towards the outside with her half-dead eyes.

"I can't be the only one that feels sick right..." Regrit tightly held his stomach as Hikari could not help but chuckle at his expense. 

"Excellent! All of you are now awake! Apologies for the teleportation inconvenience, it is always like this when teleporting onto a moving object such as this ship, but I'm certain you will get accustomed to it soon enough."

It was only now that they noticed what had truly happened.

As if they were all slapped in the face, they stopped talking and marched stiffly towards Moby and Artorias, of course not before bowing deeply to show their respect, droplets of sweat running down many of their faces. 

"Well mannered…" The middle instructor nodded before he continued what he had to say. "Seeing that you are all awake, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am known as Omega, the men to my sides you can simply call "examiner". You need not know our real names, our face, nor our voice. In fact, most of the time you would not even see us… We will only aid you when absolutely necessary and we will keep you safe at all costs, we are all well-renowned soldiers in our own right. Our only job is to oversee you. And that we will do carefully, we will grade you fairly, no family influence will save you here. Is that all understood?"

"YES SIR!"

"Good! Now that that's been taken care of I'll begin by explaining your mission. Currently, we are on a ship headed towards Planet Koban. It will take us around 3 days to get there, even with our best warping tech it is too far. It is a planet that is close to the border between us and the shalkers. It is a home to an abilityless race of humanoid aliens known as the "Kobans". We have gone onto that planet not too long ago, so we know it's relatively safe. Its inhabitants the last time were rather aggressive, but very, very weak so we were able to survive off our power alone. But, don't be afraid, they won't hurt you nor I. 

"Seeing this planet is fairly unknown and exists on the border, your team's objective will be to both survey the area and report any changes from previous reports, and install a teleportation center to allow easy access to the planet instead of flying 3 days to it every time. This planet will serve as an excellent base or hideout for the upcoming war that will inevitably go down. There is no room for failure, this might be a test but think of it as your first true mission, it's that important. And, as such, we three will make it our duty to ensure success even at the cost of your grades, because once again, there is absolutely no room for failure! UNDERSTOOD!?"