59 Arrival
Because Planet Periculum was declared a hostile territory, the ship didn't need to exit warp outside the star system and carry on at a slower pace inwards.
Instead they just exited warp right outside the planet's atmosphere.
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Alex looked outside the window on the side of the ship and spotted an exotic planet covered in all different types of environments.
There were rocky, mountainous regions; huge forested areas spanning hundreds of kilometres; a huge ocean circling around the whole globe etc.
If you could think of an exotic environment, the chances were that it existed on this planet.
Sensing the student's questions about the planet, Professor Will answered: "When floodgates appear, the energy of the Primordial Expanse also floods out from the other side, changing the environment drastically to better suit the beasts that cross over."
"So that's how it works! Wait, doesn't that mean that there are thousands of different types of beast species all crossing over due to how diverse the environments are?" Alex mumbled to himself, not expecting anyone to hear.
But on the other side, Professor Will had heard his mumblings and smiled when he heard Alex's confusing question.
'Smart kid, he's already figured out a key aspect of Floodgates.'
It wasn't really a secret, but only people who spend enough time researching Floodgates would stumble across the answer themselves.
The truth was that although there was only one singular point of exit in the real world, there were countless points of entry on the other side in the Primordial Expanse.
Alex had speculated this, and relayed his thoughts to Mira who also took on a contemplative look when she learned of it.
But their contemplation didn't last long as time had barely passed yet the ship had already landed on the surface of the planet.
Looking outside, the ship had landed in a relatively tame environment. It was just a huge grass plain surrounded by trees a couple tens of kilometres in every direction.
"Once that door opens, the test starts. Good luck." Professor Will pointed towards the huge cargo door at the rear of the ship and gave some parting words.
Click!
Psssh!
With a click, the door slowly opened and some pressurised air escaped through the cracks.
Alex, taking the initiative, grabbed Mira's hand and jumped through the cracks with her by his side before the door had even opened a quarter of the way.
Shocked, the other applicants looked around at each other for a few seconds, not knowing what had just transpired, before someone shouted.
"Cheaters! They left before the door opened!"
"Yeah, they cheated!"
"They should be disqualified!"
"Ban them!"
"Punish them!"
A ruckus soon erupted as many more applicants grew angry with Alex and Mira's actions and joined in the fray.
"Silence!"
Professor Will released his aura and shouted loud enough to rupture a normal person's ears.
"I said the test starts when the door opens, not when it touches the ground!"
Shock!
Confusion!
Realisation!
The most active applicants who vowed for the duo to be disqualified were shocked that Professor Will was taking their side, but quickly realised that they were fooled.
'Dammit, they have a head start!'
With the competition to reach top 50 so fierce, all the applicants who realised what Professor Will meant, rushed towards the now half opened door.
There was chaos among them, but behind them Professor Will just chuckled while watching this amusing scene play out.
'Alex and Mira huh, I better write those two names down.'
But inwardly he was happy that there were at least two promising applicants among this bunch. Some years there wasn't even a single applicant who knew to take advantage of his words to take the initiative like this.
***
When Alex didn't see any response from his wrist watch, he knew he made the right call.
On the other side, Mira mirrored his thoughts as he had explained to her what he had planned in the short timespan between when he grabbed her hand and when he made a sprint for the door.
She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was actually quite impressed that he managed to think of this.
08:12
Her impression of Alex had gone up quite a lot since she first met him outside the space elevator on Planet Hortus.
"We should head straight to the forest as quickly as we can, I doubt there will be any beasts walking out here in the open field."
Alex spoke from the side, informing Mira of his opinion, which she agreed with.
The beasts weren't stupid enough to do this — they still had sharp instincts.
They didn't just have to watch out for humans, but also other beasts.
"Over there! I saw some movement in the bushes!" When they reached the periphery of the forest, Mira exclaimed to Alex and pointed his eyes to where she was looking.
The two immediately changed their direction towards where the movement came from, not needing to slow down for each other as their speed was almost equal.
In just a few seconds, they arrived before the bush and Alex grabbed towards the shrubbery, easily ripping the whole bush out of the ground with his enhanced strength.
Right where the bush had been previously, a yellow and white fox started growling and barking at them, attempting to bite their legs.
"Just an F+ rank." Alex was let down at the realisation and swiped his hand across the fox's head, severing it in one swing.
The attack was so quick the fox hadn't realised it's head was separated and continued growling for a few more seconds before it stopped and the head rolled off.
Ding!
Ding!
Alex heard two notifications simultaneously when he killed the beast, both from the Primordial Expanse and the watch on his wrist.
'Glad to know the system still works in the real world too.'
He looked down at his watch and saw that his points had increased by 5.
He was confused at only receiving half the intended points at first, but then looked over at Mira and spotted her also looking at her watch.
"It seems the points from kills are shared when we're in a team."
Neither of them reacted to Alex's statement.
They had expected such a thing ever since they saw other applicants forming their own teams on the ship.
'Huh, wha-'
Alex noticed something that he really didn't like the look of.
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