Two weeks have passed since the meeting of the 15 founders. A lot of revelations and shocking information that they tried to take in calmly. Three days after this meeting, an assembly was held in the city center, with transmission both through the system and on electronic devices throughout the province. What happened was explained, urging everyone to protect themselves and create strong warriors who will help in the impending war.

For the first time, the White Sword Academy would open its doors to everyone in the province. It was a life or death situation, something unprecedented that they didn't know when it would happen. The best thing was to protect future generations in a place that would serve as the last defensive zone in case of losing. There hopes for the future would be born. It was asked that every race and every human willing to overcome themselves, and those who believed they had the strength, come to the academy, not only for them, but in pursuit of defending their loved ones, their races and their compatriots. It wasn't a competition, it was a war for survival.

After that broadcast, the next day, each representative of each race brought more than 200 young people, who, inspired by the words of the founders, decided to do better to protect their race. Even the vice leaders of each race volunteered as teachers, founding secondary academies connected to the main one, since there was no space in the academy for so many people. Over time, more and more young people came, but no one was outstanding, everyone was average among their races, except the children of each race leader, who had been trained since childhood. They were very strong and superior to their peers, which made them leaders of their young peers, since they did not compete, they fought for a common good: to defeat the monsters that would come along with the darkness to harm their own.

This thought, although naive, was what kept the students afloat... but this is about to change. Someone has arrived. This person did not come with a representative, he did not come from a large family, in fact, this young man no longer had a family and was one of those who lived in the most dangerous neighborhoods of the outer zone. These places were known to be difficult to protect, not to say impossible, as people didn't trust anyone or it was full of former criminals or psychotic people allied with the monsters, serving as if they were their masters. The few who are protected are those who are so afraid that they did not learn to defend themselves, but to hide from the monsters. But it was said that among them there was a young man who appeared one day among their group. He was also afraid of monsters, but that changed when he met an unknown person, who saw how his father saved them from monsters and taught him to defend himself, so he became the protector of the so-called "Bagabounds", being known as the Reaper of the crimson moon: Dean Reavenfield, the crimson death.

Despite being surrounded by mystery and praise, he was just an ordinary young man who, with great effort, had achieved thousands of achievements: killing monsters, saving people, eliminating criminals... He had earned the respect of the outside area, but he had no idea that he could enter the academy, as he was busy fighting monsters. It was not until a week later, when he returned to his small neighborhood in the outer zone, that he found out, because its inhabitants received him with a great gift.

Patriarch: - You're back, Dean! How was the hunt?

Dean was impressed. He never expected someone to wait for him, as he usually arrived and was greeted as he passed, leaving gifts at his house. This was the first time I was received kindly. So many experiences at such an early age only allowed him to give a kind smile, which contrasted with the noticeable tiredness on his face: always with dark circles and some minor injuries, worn old clothes, almost torn, but he never complained about it. These clothes were memories of his mistakes and they were a memory of the day he was saved and changed by his adoptive father, whom he never saw again after that day.

Dean: -Hahaha, old man, what's going on here? Why are they all getting together? Is there a party going on?

The people in the neighborhood just smiled and brought him a fairly large gift along with others that were moderately large, so Dean, confused, opened the first gift, which was the largest. There was a letter in it, which she had written that should be read later, so she just laughed about it and saw that inside the box there were new clothes next to a briefcase where she could keep her old clothes.

Dean: - Thank you... I needed new clothes, guys...

After that, he looked at the other boxes, seeing the longest one. When he opened it, he had a metal arm, which was an armor that would protect his torso and arms, which, after putting it on, he was amazed with how comfortable it was, so he got a little excited, opening the last gift, which was money and a letter that told him that he should go to the city, not understanding why he should leave.

Dean: - Are they kicking me out? Do you want me to leave?

Patriarch: -No, Dean, we want you to live your life and achieve your dream: to meet your father.

Dean: - Dude... I don't even know where that person is. How do you expect that......?

Patriarch— -That fool just told me that if one day you were ready, you should go to the city to find him. That's why we're giving you this and don't worry about us, we'll be fine.

Dean just looked at him without saying a word. He no longer knew what to do or what to say, but the patriarch simply hugged him and patted him on the back. His classmates did the same and the others simply encouraged and encouraged him to keep on his way.

Patriarch: - If you fail, you just have to come back... You will always have a home to come back to.

Hearing those words, Dean didn't hesitate anymore. He simply took his clothes and his gifts, entering his small hut made of sheet metal and unfinished walls to change, leaving it with a smile and a single thought in his mind: not to disappoint all the people who helped him stay alive, always overcome himself to someday return as someone who can protect them no matter what. He wants to be the hero who saves this world, no matter what he has to do for it, because he has many things to achieve and one of them is to overcome his father to return as the protector of his home, but also of the world.

Dean: - Okay, man, it's time to start the trip, so...... thank you for everything... my big family!

The cold light from the searchlight was falling on him, highlighting the silvery sheen of his tousled hair, as if the wind had stirred it up moments before. His dark eyes twinkled with a spark of pent-up emotion, and his smile, barely curved into an expression of pure confidence, radiated an unbeatable assurance.

The weight of his jacket rested on his shoulders as the fabric rippled slightly with his movement. The jagged, gear-like edges of the coat seemed designed for a mechanical warrior, but in it they only added a touch of daredevil style. Under the open garment, her white T-shirt fit her body naturally, as if every piece of her outfit was made to measure for her.

Her hand, sheathed in a black metallic glove with a segmented design, rested on her chest, not as a gesture of doubt, but as an affirmation of everything that she was. Every step he took was firm, light, as if he was about to embark on a journey that he had been longing for for a long time. The world that awaited him beyond shone with promises, and he, with his chest erect and his head held high, was ready to embrace them with pride

All this was known thanks to the report that Alexis was writing at that time, who had the ability to generate clones. These allowed him to see what was happening in real time in several places at once, without the need to go himself and investigate for sure. Therefore, all this information was written by hand in detailed reports for Rosario and Brenda, who asked to be aware of the whole situation at the academy. But this situation with Dean was something that made him smile and his head hurt at the same time.

Alexis: - There is God... A very troublesome boy is coming here...

But what made his head hurt the most was not the boy himself, what bothered him was actually his origin. That story that the locals of the neighborhood and the boy himself constantly tell about a mysterious man who protected the outer zone was something that puzzled him quite a lot, since there is no such person among the 15 founders and he is not the savior of the city either, because Leon went to train after the city was founded and create alliances between races. So the most important thing, besides building new warriors, was to find out who this person was, because if he was powerful enough to face the monsters of the outer zone — which was a highly risky zone because it was unknown — that meant that he was at the level of the 15 founders or maybe he was higher, being on par with the savior. So they had to find out his whereabouts as soon as possible, because they still did not know whether he was an ally or a possible enemy in the future. So he took a screen of the system to use his clones in the province, asking that they help him find the person in question and that, if they manage to find information about this, they inform him as soon as possible, since this information was of high value for the main city and the future of the continent.

Dean: -God, how will I get to the main entrance if there's not even a fixed path there?

Dean encountered a problem on his journey, as the map he was given when he left made him realize that he was literally 2000 km away from the outer entrance and, to get there, he would have to speed past several dangerous neighborhoods as shortcuts and then pass through the outer bridge, which always had battles with monsters due to the high concentration of mental energy in the city, which was the reason for beasts without brains or intelligence to devour humans or other beasts to evolve.

So, without further ado, he just took his things and took a long jump at full speed, slowly going down until he reached the ground, where he shrunk his knees and started running quickly to get there in the shortest possible time, because, according to what the inhabitants of his neighborhood told him, the registrations have a limited space and the time was 1 month and there was only one week left for that deadline to be met, so he had to get to the outside entrance, get your identity card and then manage to get inside without getting lost in the city to get to the academy and enroll before the established time. All this was thought while running at high speed, spending a whole day running, encountering various beasts, which he preferred to dodge, since they were no danger to anyone yet.

On the second day running, he had to stop to help many people from the dangerous neighborhoods, since no one was there to defend those places constantly and the few city guards were somewhat clumsy and newbies for this job, so whenever he could he stopped to fight, letting his face be seen, eliminating monsters without stopping, gaining fame among the city guards and some civilians, but no one knew his name yet, since he was fast, he was lethal and bloody, but kind and calm. They didn't care about it, if he wanted to say his name, he would have done it, so they don't need to know.

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This was the case until the third day, when he arrived at the entrance of the outer zone, but he was surprised that the beasts were attacking the outer entrance, being that they were fighting many hellhounds and a gigantic cerberus of stage one, which only had one head, leading the hellhounds, which were deformed and mangled dogs, full of claws, tentacles or some dangerously sharp limb with which to attack.

Dean: - Damn, what should I do now? I shouldn't interfere, they don't know me and they might mistake me for a humanoid monster or a strong bandit...

It was that that made him hesitate and want to wait for everything to happen, but then, if he did this would it mean anything? Would the fact that I had traveled so much have been of any use? Perhaps his savior... would his father have hesitated to help him if he were in the same situation? All these questions weighed down Dean, who was still young and immature, he was only 17 years old at that time, but in his mind the phrase he always remembered from his father comforted him. This one always told him:

"Never give up in the face of adversity. If you are afraid, it's normal, we all fear something and doubt, that makes us human, but there is something you should understand: you are not the only one who is afraid. The difference between you and others is that they face their fears and fight, you are running away right now... Tell me, do you want to keep running away? Or would you rather stand up and fight? Or rather... get up... and he survives..."

This nostalgic and constant memory was one of the reasons to keep going, but it was also the most important reason to help others, to save himself, so he started walking towards the bridge while the warriors defending the outer gate could not hold on any longer, there were few of them left and the reinforcements did not arrive, being delayed due to not having a direct means of transport, starting to lose hope, attacking the cerberus with a huge force, which began to accumulate in his mouth, generating a spark of red aura, which was a berserker-type skill.

If he absorbed his own strength within himself, he would enter into a state of uncontrollable rage and attack with the fivefold strength he had, so many had already lost hope. Only at that very moment something flew into the sky at high speed with a jump and then plummeted, using the acceleration force and his own force plus his armor to give a forceful blow on the skull of the cerberus, smashing it against the floor of the bridge, making the entire outer area tremble with the impact and killing 90% of the hellhounds that came next to the cerberus. Not knowing what was happening due to the smoke that had risen in the place, they began to hear how the hellhounds were beaten to pieces and killed one by one until later nothing was heard anymore and once the smoke dispersed, there was no one in the place, only thousands of beast corpses and the gigantic corpse of the cerberus next to a note that said:

"I'm so sorry, I'm in a hurry"

Without a signature or anything, he was just saying that, noticing that the door to the outer area was opening from the inside, Jamal and the rescue team came out, noticing what happened after the great earthquake, so he started looking at the corpses of his companions to take them to bury, in turn investigating the corpses of the monsters, which seemed to have been hit by a high-capacity metal arm, just like the great cerberus.

This made him very upset for being late, but he is glad that no one has died and anyway he will know who was the cause once he enters the city and applies for his card, which just happened, because when he entered the city and applied for the card, he forgot the small detail that he was soaked in blood and although he explained that he came from outside, he was suspicious, since he came from outside and on top was stained in blood just after the earthquake a few moments ago, so they kept him captive for a while while they applied for the card and called Alexis, the director of the academy, because Dean was young, they believed that he was a student of that place, to which Alexis, noticing that they informed about Dean, pretended that he was a student of the school and that he did not have a card yet, which facilitated that they made a card for him in minutes and let him leave, to which just a few minutes of leaving Jamal arrived to look for him, because he received the same info from other warriors who saw a bloodied boy looking for where to get a card, losing it for a few minutes and asking the information about the young man.

A few hours after these events, Dean got a little lost, requesting directions for several times, but no one paid much attention to him because they are very busy

with trying to improve, level up and get better objects, so he set out to walk, being someone striking, since he was very inquisitive, not to say that no one knew him, capturing the attention of a woman, who was notoriously young, but denoted some maturity due to the way she presented herself.

Young Man: - Hey, boy, it looks like you're lost. Where are you heading at the moment? Maybe I can take you.

Dean examined her from head to toe. She was wearing very baggy clothes and looked like a badass out of an alley in the outdoor area, but beautiful and nice, although she was getting a little annoyed by how he was watching her and not responding to her, which was noticeable on her face, so Dean quickly proceeded to answer.

Dean: - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable without saying anything. I'm a little suspicious and new, forgive me. I'm on my way to the academy, can you give me a ride?

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and somewhat indignantly turned around and with a sign indicated to follow him, taking him through the streets of the city, passing by the Elms courtyard, the rural shops of the capital and the most difficult area to enter due to the costs: the guild of healers, which happened to be opposite the second most expensive, the guild of mechanics and blacksmiths, which seemed curious to her, but she preferred not to ask complicated things, just to get to her destination.

Once they arrived at the academy, Dean couldn't help but be amazed by its majesty. It was very big and it was really in an area away from the main city, almost so big that it seemed like a city apart. He could even see areas that were still being built and even students coming in like him to register, which is why, once they got to the line to register, the girl who accompanied him simply smiled to say goodbye.

Young Man: - Well, boy, we've come this far, you have to do the rest yourself. I hope you will pass, because although many can enter, it does not mean that it will be easy. See you.

She started to leave after giving Dean a pat on the back, but he didn't want them to say goodbye just like that, so he turned around thanking her for bringing him, to which he ends up asking her something.

Dean: - Hey, at least tell me your name, you haven't told me yet.

The latter, hearing him, kept walking, but stopped for a moment, turning to smile kindly and coquettishly at him, as if it were a kind little tease to answer him.

Young Man: - Well, if you pass by I'll tell you my name, of course, if we meet again, hehehe.

After saying that, she left inside the academy along with other people who seemed to be her classmates or friends, since they had the same clothes as her, to which they asked her something after seeing her with that boy they did not know.

Friend: -Do you think he will manage to pass with that person among the new ones?

Young Man: -Relax, no boy who has such a threatening aura can miss such simple tests, I assure you that.

Partner: —......

The latter just turned around and stared at Dean, who was on his back feeling watched. His instincts kicked in, turning around to stare at the place where he was being watched, like a beast looking at its prey, having the murderous aura that monsters from outside commonly emanate, so this guy just looked at the girl's friend and nodded his head somewhat intimidated by the event, something that only confused Dean, since he only looked that way, but since they were so far away he couldn't quite see who it was or where that look was coming from, so he just entered the registration area, where he gave his, which made them look at the boy out of the corner of their eye thinking that maybe he was a rookie, feeling sorry for him, since most humans who have wanted to enter fail the tests when so many races with better statistics or more level or even better contracts with gods come, so he let it pass without hope that he would make it, explaining what he had to do before he entered like everyone else.

Registrant: -Now I will explain to you what you must do to enter the academy and pay attention, because this is complicated to achieve for most humans like us.

Dean looked at him and became serious at the thought that maybe he would have to use his skills in this place to get a position at the academy, looking at the instructor as if he were a soldier waiting to receive orders.

To enter the academy you must pass through four different tests, which have a degree of difficulty that you can choose depending on how prepared you feel and even if you choose the difficult rank, you do not feel special, you would not be the first or the only one to pass the four difficult tests, you would just be one more of the exceptional ones in the academy.

A few minutes later, after the explanation given by the instructor, he entered the tests with a somewhat intimidating countenance, since he heard all the stories of those who have passed through here being human, knowing that only 1 out of 100 humans pass this test and although they are not humiliated, since they do not come here for status, but for their survival skill, which is respected, that does not mean that humans feel good knowing that so few can at least pass the tests in normal to enter the academy, in addition, the instructor himself told him to his face not to even try the difficult tests because they could be very difficult for him being human, although he didn't really tell him that, it's just what he told him indirectly throughout the explanation, it was an indirect but sincere "Give up", so this was no longer just a test for trying to fulfill a desire or purpose, this is because of the pride he has, since something he has never liked is to be belittled by someone who doesn't even try to improve himself.

Before the tests, everyone must go to their selected rooms in the academy and cannot leave these until the assigned time for the test, this will be delivered to them under the door along with the group to which they will be assigned. It starts in the A and ends in the G group.

Here are rankings by strength and skill level. This is divided into three fundamental groups: the weakest, which would be the "Upsilon" grade. These are recruits who have passed the easy level, which is a level considered for neighborhood-level recruits, who could hardly defeat a low-level zone boss as a team. Then we have the "Omicron" grade. These are exceptional not only in combat, but they have a great sense of team coordination and individually they are somewhat impressive, being able to pass the normal level test with relative ease and being candidates for city-level missions, having the ability to defeat high-level bosses together, but not alone and in the end we have those considered the most exceptional, the "Tau". These can not even be defined as such, they are almost perfect in everything and passed the difficult difficulty tests easily in minutes, they can defeat provincial-level bosses with relative difficulty alone, but together they could perhaps wipe out entire armies of monsters, but being too young and immature they are not thrown into real battles because they do not want to take risks of being eliminated in combat.

Thanks to these unwritten rules, so to speak, the academy establishes a hierarchical level, which works, since here those with the highest survival skills are respected and those with the lowest survival skills are protected and improved, but that does not mean that there are no groups that take advantage of it because of immaturity or even because they really do not care and see this finished world as their paradise to do whatever they want. He learned all this thanks to the teachings of that instructor in those short minutes, but he could also have deduced it just by being at the academy, but it's better to know it before, because if he had to learn it directly, perhaps he wouldn't have had the necessary reasons to strive to stand out in this place.

Dean: - It's already time for the test, I must hurry, I don't want someone else to get ahead of me.

While Dante was leaving his room and heading to the test area, he was constantly watched by Alexis, the director, who, as he thought, will give him a hard time, since he was not the only one to notice his presence nor the only one who was watching him, since the greatest powers of the academy had looked at him since his aura flooded the academy as if it were a beast. Some were looking forward to bring him down from his cloud because they felt challenged, others were laughing, as they believed that they found a rival or perhaps a friend on their way for survival and well, others simply had other plans for our poor young Dean