One of the reasons Hopes Academy produced high-ranked individuals was its excellent curriculum and facilities. A part of which was the annual field trip that they organized.
They believed that the field trip offered many valuable experiences and helped the students grow both as individuals and as groups, allowing us to grow better. I totally agree with their point, except they forgot to mention it's mostly the blessed group that benefits.
The ordinary section was pretty much neglected, at least in comparison to the latter, and to be honest, the ordinary section was absolutely unreliable to me.
They were weak and pretty much useless... just like me.
"Students! This year, our esteemed institution has decided to take our section to The Most Historic Location Ever!"
- My Toilet?
"The First Land, the very site where the first meteor that brought about the "Second Advancement" dropped. "
"It's gonna be an amazing experience to learn and grow together!" The teacher said it enthusiastically, which resonated with absolutely no one.
I looked around, and just as expected, pretty much no one was excited except for the class representative and a bunch of nerds, of course.
Even though we had absolutely no interest in going to the boring village, we had no choice because they used their so-called "Mandatory" spell on the field trip. One could say it was one of those few times I wanted Zachary or other bullies to beat me to a pulp so that I could save myself from the torture on the trip.
Why was it a torture? Given the fact that I had pretty much no friends or someone to talk to, I was forced to sit next to the bus driver, who bored me to absolute death until my ears bled. Even at night, I wasn't allowed to sleep peacefully while the rest of the students slept like toddlers.
- Why the hell do we even need to go that far?
Nevertheless, I knew how everything was gonna go and accepted it.
- But fate had different plans...
...
On the day of the trip, I woke up earlier—not out of excitement, but to pack my tragically unfashionable clothes..." pairs of undies, cheap biscuits, and other food items about to expire. I'd rather use this trip to consume them before they expire. Besides, my daily allowance barely allows me to buy anything, so I'd use the things I bought to the very dime.
I ran to the bus station because the shit had taken longer than an eternity to drop. It was like I dropped a part of my soul down there.
- Man, I need to exercise again.
Barely arriving, I hopped on and sat at my usual seat on the left-end seat, accompanied by the driver's seat, on the right-end side.
The Bus started, and so did the bus driver's ever tale.
"Long before I was a bus driver, I used to be a hero too. I was nicknamed "The Flying Swallow" alongside my buddies. We used to fight a lot of local criminals, thieves, and sometimes people with abilities.
One time I ...
... ... ...
*After 3 Hours*
"And finally, we have arrived!"
The bus trip to the destination was only 3 hours, but It felt like an eternity with Mr. Wong (The Bus Driver ), or should I say, The Talking Swallow.
-Finally!
The location wasn't half bad. Before me stretched a sea of green, rolling over the land as far as my eyes could see. It was hard to tell if any meteor had ever crashed here. I had honestly thought that the land would be barren, like a desolate desert, but boy, I was wrong.
As we landed, a beautiful young lady, along with a few villagers, came to us and greeted us, "Aloh! Young pebbles, I am your 255-year-old guide Aranyo-Pura-Tan! But you can call me Granny Ara for short, I am here to show you around the place."
- TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-WHAT!?
We were very skeptical of her age. Cuz she barely looked old. In fact, she looked barely 25, and we all were baffled at her young looks. Some of the students looked older than her.
Noticing our baffled yet skeptical gaze towards her.
She explained that her ancestors had acquired the blessing that froze their age at the time of the awakening. Since hers kicked in early, she has stayed young ever since.
The girls were super jealous of her ability, staring at her with envious eyes while the boys fawned over her exquisite figure and pristine beauty.
"Miss Ara! Can I have your number in case I get lost", one guy jumped over.
And soon, the other guys swarmed around her like flies over a cake.
- Geez! Boys, she's older than your great-grandmother! Take a chill pill.
The villagers rescued Granny Ara from the boys, and then she guided us to the place where we were supposed to stay for the night while telling us the stories and lore of the place.
"Long Long Ago, Our Ancestors acquired divine blessings after the meteor crashed on this land, the powers were extraordinary but so were the consequences. Those who couldn't control it perished.
The place where the Divine Rock crashed was initially guarded by the villagers as a sacred location but after the mysterious disappearance of the villagers who went nearby, The Great Elders using their divine blessings, crafted a deep cave preserving the Divine Rock and the people from further harm.
It's located on the far east of the shrine of Goddess Prim but no one is allowed to go there."
As I looked around, the village bustled with life—children chased each other between simple wooden huts, merchants called out their wares, and the scent of fresh bread drifted through the air. Yet despite the lively atmosphere, the place felt untouched by modern technology. Strangely, few people seemed to possess the blessings, even though this land was said to be the birthplace of them all.
Observing the ordinary population, I turned to her, puzzled, "Why aren't there many Blessed villagers in here? Isn't this the very place where it all began?"
"Oh! You have good observation, young man," she remarked.
- Young Man... (Do I have a chance?)
"Most of the blessed left the village to earn and live a better life in the cities, not that we have a worse life here, but having an opportunity to have a better life is not something anyone wants to leave... at least not most," she stated in a calm tone. But I could feel her expressions turning melancholic.
"So why didn't you leave?" I asked.
She quickly changed her expression back to a cheerful smile and answered.
"Well, my blessings aren't very powerful or prosperous, and I like it here much more."
- Not useful? Has she heard of this thing called modeling? I could be printing money if I had her blessing.
It took us nearly an hour of exhausting trekking to reach the place, and while the rest of us were wiped out, she bounced around like she had just woken up from a power nap.
The place we were supposed to stay didn't look very lavish from the outside, but I wasn't expecting any five-star treatment either. As long as I could eat and sleep in peace, luxury didn't matter much. The manager, mistress Archie, greeted us warmly and showed us our room.
The interior was far more spacious than it looked from the outside, evoking the traditional homes I'd glimpsed in TV shows and history books—wooden beams overhead, sliding shoji doors, and the clean scent of tatami mats underfoot.
They even had a hot spring at the back, something the other students were especially pleased by, but for different reasons.
The girls were happy because they could relax, the boys on the other hand were delighted because they could relax something else...
- Iykyk.
I wasn't much interested in anything and crashed right away into a corner, tired. I was woken up a few hours later by a violent jerk by none other than the jerk Zachary.
"What the hell? Dude!"
He gagged and left with his monkeys out of the room.
I didn't have any interest in even shouting at him, so I just sat there staring at him silently with irritation as he walked outside.
With my nap officially ruined by Zachary and his circus, I sat up and looked around. The room I was napping in was huge, almost ten times my own dorm.
The furniture smelled of some authentic yet pricey wood that I could never afford in my whole life. The aroma felt unique yet familiar, like a movie I had watched in my past life. It was low-key awesome.
The floor was covered in matcha-green tatami mats, and walking on them almost felt different than usual.
It had a slide-in door which for some undefined reason (skill issues) I could not operate properly.
- It would have been better, If I continued my exercise.
After about five failed attempts, I rolled up my sleeves, determined to defeat this demon of a door, and swept it aside with a swift jerk. It actually worked, and it finally opened, but I crashed into someone who was walking towards the other side.
"Ahh!" the other person screamed and thought there goes a pervert tag to my name now, as I crash-landed onto her. I quickly bounced off from her and was flung a few inches back on my butt.
"Uhmm, Ouch! Sorry, Miss - " I apologized immediately, and saw what seemed to be the most muscular girl I had ever seen.
"Huh! Can't you guys control yourself around a pretty girl," she said in her feminine voice that matched not even an ounce with her body.
Her biceps were larger than my head, I couldn't tell If I should call it chest or breast anymore, they were big, round, and solid. Her waist can get a pass though, given both guys and girls want a slimmer waist.
I couldn't stop myself from somewhat admiring her majestic figure but controlled it given that I couldn't tell If I would be called off as a pervert or dead by her.
As I stared at her body in a totally non-perverted and respectful way (absolutely respectfully), she looked at me and felt shy and quickly covered her breasts and waist with her muscular arms. That's when I observed her face, Despite her muscular manly body, her head was pretty small, with a small face. Her hair was also cut short in a dashing boy cut that made her feminine face look more handsome.
"Uhmm, You're Pretty" I blurted out, totally unaware of the situation.
Her face turned tomato red, and she swung her hand back and gave me a tight hard slap, then ran away screaming "Pervert!"
- So I'm both dead and a pervert now.
Well, luckily I didn't die but was knocked out for another trip down the dreamland.
Can this trip get any worse?...
- And It did get worse...