There were only two other SSRank classes and five SRank classes, of which Felix was the only special case.
The rest of the candidates obtained ARank classes and below, excluding FRank.
Then they were flown aboard a flying sea ship powered by a magical crystal core, from the temple to the Sage island, where an old, isolated castle stood with an imposing aura. A wide training field could be spotted at its center.
By the time they arrived, were screened, and had their rooms assigned, it had already gotten quite dark, and the candidates were left feeling exhausted both physically and mentally.
What was worse? Felix got assigned to a room with a female candidate, without even being consulted.
Not that he had a problem with that, but he was still a guy on the inside and hated the fact that they had assumed his gender.
Setting aside his only briefcase containing all of his belongings, he was starting to feel the frustration kick in when he saw his roommate had five larger briefcases than his.
"Please, tell me your mom is inside one of those!"
He had only packed a few pairs of his boxer shorts and the few ’dudes’ clothing he possessed and couldn’t tell what she could have possibly packed in each of her briefcases nor did he know or even possess any of the girls’ stuff.
"Hah~" he chuckled, part nervous and part amused.
He was grateful for the collaboration between both worlds that presented a working w/c toilet and a shower thanks to proper plumbing.
After a quick shower and almost stepping out with just boxer shorts, he was pleasantly surprised to be met with a few pairs of ladies’ bras and underpants and a few ladies’ clothing neatly laid on his bed.
His roommate had probably left this for him while he was in the shower and had already left for the common room like they were instructed.
"How thoughtful of her..." Felix mused, deeply moved by her kindness.
"But I won’t be needing these," he picked the panties up with a pinch and flung them further away with a yelp. "Eughh~!"
He could never imagine himself putting on those. Unlike the brassieres he’d be needing to keep the jiggly boobs—which he took his time to make sparkling clean in the shower—in place for future battles.
He threw all of his clothes onto the bed to inspect what would be the best fit for the feast night. It just didn’t sit well with him wearing the new clothes he just got that same evening.
Draping over one of the brassieres, he pulled over a casual white button-up shirt, which was now a big fit—and did he also mention his loose boxer shorts were now tight-fitting, body-hugging his ’budong budong’? Yeah.
"Welcome once again, young Sage candidates, to the realm of Vastoria and to the humble abode of all Sages. My name is Gareth Griffin, and I’m the overseer of all Sages!" A charismatic old man with long white beards like that of Dumbledore began.
Felix and his peers were all seated in the long rows of tables that filled the spacious common room, with plates and bowls filled with all sorts of exotic meat and dishes unseen on Earth.
They weren’t the only ones present though; the front tables were occupied by full-fledged Sages. At least thirty of them. But none looked as elderly as the big boss.
"It wasn’t easy for you all to get here, and I’d tell you now it’ll only be harder moving forward. Every decade we get a hundred Sage candidates for over a century now, but if you look ahead, you’ll see only a few of us present. Where are the rest of us, you ask? Aside from those maintaining order back on Earth. Dead. They’re all dead. Not killed by old age—I’m the oldest there ever was—but slain in battle, against the common enemy."
The candidates’ expressions all turned serious with the revelation. Felix no less.
This wasn’t something you’d hear on the media back on Earth.
"So, I’d advise you to never be reckless even when up against the weakest of the dark creatures. As the years fly by, the more influence the Dark Lord has in cities and kingdoms. And we all know what that means for Earth too... with both realms tightly connected, if we don’t stop the Dark Lord soon enough, then both realms would be ravaged by beasts, and the Dark Lord shall rise to enslave the world."
It wasn’t always . Earth was once a peaceful planet where the highest form of dangers were terrorists and war.
That was until a few hundred years ago, when spatial rifts began tearing open to spit out otherworldly creatures unknown to mankind.
The military were swift to act, organizing a special ops team to head into one of the rifts, where they met with some rulers of Vastoria who surprisingly were expecting their arrival from a prophecy that claimed powers would be bestowed upon the chosen hundred young earthlings by their Goddess and creator every decade to help battle the dark creatures sprouting from the underworld of their realm.
One of the craziest histories of mankind.
And so a deal was struck between both realms and it has been till date. But the chosen hundred were required to serve as Sages in Vastoria for exactly ten years until the next set of Sage candidates, before they were permitted to return to Earth.
"... Due to the increasing numbers of the Dark Lord’s spawns here in Vastoria, you’ll only be trained by the Sages for a few days here and filled in on every vital information, before you’re sent on your first mission." The rightful source is novel fire.net
The hall quickly broke into indistinct chatters as the candidates discussed amongst themselves the weight of the old man’s words, as they all knew Sage candidates were usually trained for at least three months before being sent on their first mission.
Felix was also worried, but at the same time excited to face his first dark creature.
"With that being said, to access your class systems, place a finger at the soft spot behind your foreheads and you’ll get to see your stats. Then will to mentally operate it as you wish. Easy."
Felix and the other candidates all repeated the old man’s gesture, exclaiming in excitement as they studied their class systems visible only to them.
"I believe I’ve said it all. Well then, let the feast begin!"