Azzy's words gave a stern reminder of the reality they were going to face, very soon.
Just like he said, they were currently the students of Eternal institutions, which have a lot of branches across the continent.
With the presence of three children of heaven, rather than focusing on teamwork, the management would likely want to improve the team's strength further.
There are nine members in a team. So, they can simply select four or five out of this branch and the other four from others. Once the team is completed, there can be a few training sessions and further use preliminaries to improve the teamwork.
This kind of possibility is quite there and everyone knew it. Of the eight students that are standing here, the bottom four in combat strength, namely, Lark, Gideon, Calder, and Mia felt the pressure.
Azzy continued, "The names will probably be announced in one or two days. No matter who ended up on which team, all of us should remember that we are the students of Class Z. The reason we are allotted to a special class is that we have the highest potential among all the students of our academy. This possible minor setback cannot undermine our future.
That's all I would like to say."
It was just something he had prepared beforehand. So, without stumbling on any word, he calmly finished the recital and looked at everyone who nodded seriously.
"Is there anything else you would like to add?" Uphiar then stressed him to reveal the other important matter but Azzy shook his head, "nothing."
He felt that he needed to inform Claire personally as she's the one who might raise a ruckus.
Soon, except for Gideon, Azzy, and Claire, everyone else returned to the Aclein city while the three of them went to a different portal point to teleport to Silver City.
Upon exiting the portal point at the silver city, the three of them took a cab to WAMO headquarters for their one-week training.
Three days later, morning;
Azzy was sleeping soundly on his bed.
*knock*knock* knock*
A series of knocks were heard but he just rolled over to the other side and continued to sleep.
*Beep* Beep*
All of a sudden, emergency alarms in the room activated, forcefully waking up Azzy.
As he slowly sat up on the bed, the door was opened automatically and someone entered the room in uniform.
"What are you doing here, Neal?" Azzy was irritated to his face first thing in the morning. He has nothing against him but was obligated to stay away from the guy who betrayed their master, Barton.
But, Neal was hell-bent on mentoring him and is always trying to get him on his team. This was something that Azzy doesn't like.
That's why whenever Azzy sees him, he couldn't help but openly show his animosity.
This time was also the same but like every time, the latter was unfazed by Azzy's behavior and said, "Did you forget that today, you had the final test? Get ready for the mission. I will be supervising you two."
Azzy and Claire are currently third-tier cadets, who were in a sense, are deemed to be fit to be reserved members for Elite forces.
They take up low-level missions and earn merits. Both of them had a 100% success rate so far and the Lt. Commander Hailey decided to promote them. To do that, each of them had to do one last mission under the supervision of a captain or higher-level officer.
Neal was chosen for the job, or rather, he was the only one who volunteered for it. The others weren't brave enough to test Azzy and embarrass themselves.
After wishing luck to Gideon who was willing to take the test to pass the second trial and become a fourth-tier cadet, both of them set out with Neal in his flying car.
Claire had atleast traveled in an airplane but Azzy only traveled on the black lotus. So, this was a new experience. However, he won't appreciate it because the car belongs to Neal.
As the latter boasted how he works as the brand ambassador for a popular automobile company, which had given the vehicle to him for free, he refrained from even talking with him.
It is as the ancients say, 'if you dislike someone, you would dislike their actions no matter their nature.'
After traveling for a couple of hours, they reached a mountainous area where a village is located on the border of Zuweth, a landlocked nation that is surrounded by five countries. It was always on the news due to the human rights issue.
And right now, the flying car was going to a small village in such a country to solve a mystery.
After landing on the ground, Neal put away his platinum grade storage card and started to walk with the two teenagers while finally briefing them about the first mission, which was Claire's. Until she finishes the mission, Azzy will be her assistant. And during his mission, she will be his assistant.
"We have the reports of the livestock constantly getting missing from the farms. So far, dozens of cattle, more than a hundred pigs, and hundreds of chickens have been gone without a trace. Your job is to investigate it and find the culprit. We are currently going to meet the village chief. From there, you two will be on your own."
Azzy and Claire nodded in understanding.
Usually, a village of just below 200 in population is quite united. Everyone will be familiar with each other. So, these three strangers immediately attracted the attention of every passerby.
After asking a couple of natives, they made their way to the house of the village chief.
As they entered the house, a crowd was gathered outside with villagers discussing the possibility of unraveling the mystery.
Meanwhile, inside the house, a frail-looking old man was explaining the situation to the three of them.
"Everything started about three weeks ago. My grandson and a few of his friends went into those mountains for hunting just like they have been doing for the past decade.
Usually, they return by evening but that day, they didn't. We waited for the next day. No news of them. The next day, it's the same. Three days passed away. The nearby town authorities didn't have time to search the whole mountain full of forests and caves for the sake of five young men of poor background.
Some young lads of our village formed a search party and began to search for my grandson and his friends.
After two days of search, they found a dead body with bite marks and scratches. A few parts of his flesh were torn off. It's as if he was attacked by a carnivorous beast."
"What about the other four?" As the prime investigator of this mission, Claire took the charge of asking the questions.
"None of them have been found so far." The village chief let out a deep sigh before adding, "Including my own grandson."
Claire then thought for a bit and asked the next question, "Did you see anything strange around the body? Unless it is a planned murder, shreds of evidence will always be left around."
Neal nodded in satisfaction. He felt that it is the right question.
The village chief answered, "Nearby the dead body, we have the paw marks. At first, we think it might be a gray wolf. They roam around the mountains but…"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel