Many of the students didn’t seem to be very sociable, and there was still a clear divide between the students. Only a few greeted each other, and students like Blaine were far too arrogant to even give them proper glances.

Vanessa felt the same way about them and was determined to crush them where she could.

The students were gathered inside the stadium, and were inside a large classroom of sorts, which had a massive projection that showed the students information that they needed to know.

“Now, during this explanation, we will vet all your autonomous bots and support bots to make sure that they are valid for this event. if they are too advanced, we will prevent you from utilising them. If they have any forbidden weaponry, such weaponry will be promptly deactivated or removed.” A teacher from the Amburg institute explained.

He was in a black camo outfit, just like Arlo usually was, but was shorter and slimmer than him. However, he had a few golden symbols and medals across his chest, and looked much older than Arlo was.

Arlo looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, while this man looked around 15 to 20 years older.

“This event is going to run off a basic currency that we will refer to as coins. Every team of 3 will be entered into this arena and as time passes, you will each receive one coin ever 3 minutes. This means that, if your team consists of all 3 members, you will receive 3 full coins every three minutes.”

“You will then be allowed to give coins to other teams, and if you are knocked out by another fighter then your coins are sent to them. At the start, everybody begins with a single coin and if your coins reduce to zero, you are eliminated.” The teacher elaborated.

“Now, this is not all. The coins you receive will be a currency after all. With those coins of yours, you students will have the option to purchase special replenishments through supplies. We will supply items for certain permitted projectile weapons, as well as mana cores for those that have bots running low on energy.”

“Don’t worry, we will provide special bots that will provide the adjustments to your bots and exosuits when needed.”

With this information in mind, the students felt even more excited to perform. Most of them were expecting a standard battle royale where teams would be rewarded for either lasting in the event or eliminating other teams.

However, they had been given a totally new concept to work with.

“You will be able to purchase these items through a special device that we will give each team. Each member will also receive an addition to their exosuit that will display how many coins they have and how much longer it’ll be until they receive another coin. Along with that, these small devices will beep and warn other contestants if you are eliminated, to not attack you. Before that, you all need to see which teams you’re going to be a part of. This panel will show you.”

Many panels appeared around the large room, showing the students which teams they were to be a part of.

The students grouped up into their respective teams, and Cael could see that he was paired with two people from the Amburg Institute.

They arrived by his side, and seemed rather warm with their welcome.

“Hi there, I’m Emily De Sancho! Nice to meet you.” A bright girl said to Cael, reaching out her hand.

He went to shake it, and smiled back, but felt put off by her warm smile. She was decently attractive and stood at about 5’6. She had long, silky brown hair and had it tied back in a ponytail, with warm, brown eyes.

“My name is Adriano Di Fonti.” The other guy said, in a more monotonous, firm tone.

He had silver hair, and olive toned skin with a decent amount of muscle mass. He stood at about 5’10 but weighed about 180lbs.

He firmly shook his hand, and the three started to basically discuss their abilities. If they were to work together, they had to know their strengths and weaknesses so that they could function better as a team.

“I have great skill and endurance. I would be helpful being the main fighter, as I can keep bots and fighters busy when necessary. I can drain bots of their energy supplies to render them useless.” He explained.

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Cael was liking the sound of that. It would be great to not have to worry about so many autonomous bots and things when fighting. That could allow his very own bot to shine when in battle.

“I’m fast and I’m using a superheated sword. I can fight people at range with my wrist-mounted crossbow too if I need to.” Emily explained.

“Uh, I have good technicality. I’m good at fighting those stronger and faster than me, so I think I could do well against strong support bots and larger foes.”

“That’s good. You are the biggest person here anyway so if we encounter any sort of goliath, just know that you’re going to be the man for the job.” Emily remarked.

The other fighters laughed, but an awkward silence befell them. The teenagers didn’t know each other at all, and clearly weren't going to be very sociable.

“So, what type of support bots do you all have?” Emily asked.

Now, this was a question that Cael wanted to elaborate on.

“I have an autonomous bot. It’s mediumweight and has four arms. It also uses a sword like you do and has some shoulder-mounted energy blasters. I don’t think its weapons should be prohibited and it has a great power source. I also have a med kit for any damages to our exosuits and bodies.” Cael explained.

“That sounds nice. I just got a sensory drone and also a munitions bot just in case we need any mana cores and things.” Emily added.

“I only brought one support bot. It’s just an attack drone that has a built in arrow shooter and energy blaster.”

With their decent bots, Cael was sure that they could excel. He was expecting these two to not have autonomous bots, and there weren’t many people in the room at all that had access to such a thing.

The students from his institute just attributed it to Cael being a Breckenridge. They just assumed that they were pumping money into this event so that he could perform as best he can.

Cael saw no need to reveal the real reason why he managed to bring an autonomous bot along with, and it wasn’t like he had any conversations with anybody to do so anyway.

After this conversation of theirs, it was soon time for them to perform.

[New Quest!]

[Quest: Coin Rush]

[Enter the top fifteen out of the 27 teams of this event.]

[Punishment: -3MP, Loss of all titles]

“Oh dear.”

For him to reach the top 15 with people that he didn’t even know would be a nearly impossible task. These people that he had put together with were quite clearly like him. Outcasts.

They didn’t even have people that wanted to form teams with them and so they were randomly mixed. Those with skill and talent would’ve easily had a bunch of people going up to them to try and form teams with them.

Top fifteen was nearly the top 50% of these fighters, and the punishment was simply too grave.

He wiped his sweaty face upon seeing this system panel and just swiped it away, trying to immerse himself into this event. Even if the task seemed nearly impossible, it would be foolish not to try his absolute hardest.

“Alright, let’s get to the top fifteen then.” Cael told himself rather dubiously, cracking his knuckles.

The students were huddled in a capacious factory-like area that was beside the main forest arena of the stadium. Here, there were many exosuits hanging on the vertiginous wooden walls, along with many autonomous bots rolling and trotting across the area, performing their various duties.

They climbed right into their suits, eventually connecting their minds and actions with the system to move seamlessly with it. Cael was impressed with the new smoothness that he felt in this choice of exosuit.

It simply felt like an extra layer to his body, and he felt absolutely no resistance to his movements. Instead, he felt much lighter, and this was how wearing an exosuit was supposed to be like.

The various teams were handed their various support bots, and many people looked disappointed to see that their bots had been ceased from use. They were simply given replacement bots that consisted of very simply sensory drones and other items of that sort.

They were then guided by some of the teachers to a ring-like hallway. Every few metres or so, there’d be large double doors that they presumed would lead into the arena.

“Now, some of you might be wondering why you’re entering the arena aerially. Well, that’s because we’re going to tie a gliding system to each of your exosuits and heavy items like autonomous bots to drop in a random place within this forest.” One of the teachers announced.

The teachers started handing students modular equipment, that was quite popular within exosuits. This was equipment that people could swap out for other items on the fly. It allowed for one type of exosuit to have various styles and specialties.

However, it was a far more advanced form of technology and very old, low-tier exosuits weren’t even compatible with such designs.

These large thruster-like attachments embedded themselves into the exosuits of these students, and the large double doors opened wide. A large gust of cool wind flew over the students, but they couldn’t really feel it due to the strong, thick armour across their skin.

Many students looked frightened upon noticing that they were at least 40 metres in the air. The ground looked dangerously far down, but the thrusters simply activated and launched them out into the scenery.

Many students started screaming, and there were screams of fright but also joy. It was an amazing sight to see such an expansive arena of forestry from their aerial views.

Large streams of smoke emitted from these powerful thrusters that were capable of holding their own weight, and they gradually descended upon arriving at the right area.

Cael was launched out along with his teammates, and their respective thrusters seemed to huddle them together as they advanced.

They continued forward until they landed in one of the corners of the arena. They arrived near one of the concrete walls around this arena, and as he landed the thruster systems.

Thud! Thud!