Chapter 7: Bleak Future

    Eryndor came face to face with one of the largest buildings he had ever seen, and, judging by their expressions, the other three seemed to share his sentiment.

    Standing before them was supposedly the main building of the Academy.

    The four of them had already completed their registration at the hall, where they declared the paths they intended to pursue and received their room keys.

    Surprisingly, they were all assigned to the same villa, with no separation based on gender.

    The woman at the counter had offered a blunt explanation: if they couldn''t maintain self-control at such a critical stage, they wouldn''t amount to anything—neither for humanity nor for themselves.

    She also warned that those who succumbed to laziness, lured by the Academy''s luxurious accommodations, would only tarnish their own reputation.

    This arrangement was part of the Academy''s first test: weeding out the unworthy by scrutinizing their discipline and work ethic.

    When the four of them reached their villas, they were thrilled to witness the modern and spacious structure before them.

    The villa had a ground floor which contained the hall, kitchen, gym, lawn, a swimming pool, and a reinforced training area.

    The first floor had four bedrooms, one lounge and bar, and a playing area which housed four sets of latest gaming devices of all kinds.

    The villa contained all the up-to-date convenient devices such as coffee maker, a robot exclusively for cooking and one for cleaning, reclinable sofas and a smart AI connected to all the electrical appliances.

    It had everything one could ask for. The question was, do they dare use it?

    Or rather, do they dare continuously use it?

    None of the four felt confident they could resist indulging further after trying the luxuries even once, so they unanimously agreed to avoid them altogether.

    Eryndor withdrew to the bedroom assigned to him, unsurprised to find the wardrobe already stocked with clothes tailored perfectly to his size.

    A larger percentage of the clothes were all battle suits, bringing about a sense of anticipation for battle in Eryndor.

    After hanging up the clothes he''d brought from home, he changed into something more comfortable and rejoined his group to head toward the Academy.

    Yes, the courses had begun long ago, and they would all need to work hard to catch up.

    They all went their different ways after reaching the main building as each one of them had taken a different path.

    "Currently we have only come across Safe, Caution and Unstable ranks.

    "Next comes the Disruption class.

    "It is the amount of damage the Anomaly can inflict to the environment and people around it if left alone.

    "There are five ranks of Disruption classes: Dormant, Fray, Tremor, Shatter, and Fracture in the ascending order.

    "We have come across Dormant, Fray and a single Tremor rank, which I''ll tell you about later."

    Professor Rockin took a deep breath and gazed at the entire class, peering into the eyes of each student as he asked.

    "Do you all understand everything I explained until now?"

    Seeing that there were no questions, the professor moved on to the final classification.

    "Containment Class is the calculated probability of difficulty of sealing the Anomaly.

    "It is also the most important type since no matter how dangerous the Anomaly is or how widespread the destruction it can cause, it''ll all be useless if we can''t seal it.

    "Containment class contains five ranks as well: Anchor, Threaded, Spiral, Fissure, and Spectral in the ascending order.

    "Again, we have come across Anchor and Threaded ranks, and a single Spectral rank."

    He looked at everyone with a grave expression, with the students gradually registering his final line.

    The Human Federation has already encountered a Spectral rank anomaly!

    The professor might not have said it but a detailed description of Spectral rank was clearly mentioned in the tablet on their desk.

    Spectral: Containment is infeasible or impossible currently; requires mitigation or suppression instead.

    Example: Anomalies with infinite scaling, omnipresent influence, or uncontainable properties that necessitate ongoing suppression rather than containment.

    It meant they had already encountered an Anomaly which could not be contained in the second Cosmic Limit itself!

    The future suddenly looked much bleaker to all the students.