CHAPTER 69: SWIMSUIT GIRL

A commotion spread across all the outer branches of different planets.

Students got ready, packing their stuff for travel—putting all the necessary items in their bags.

The same was the case for teachers. They were also preparing for tomorrow.

In every academy, teachers made a runic circle—a big runic circle—bringing tons of beast crystals for energy usage.

As the sun rose—well, of course, not everywhere. Some planets lacked a sun.

But Harry felt the warmth as its light cast on his face.

He was ready. He had a new bow of elemental master level 5. The arrows were limited, but they were made from the bones of high-level beasts.

They were specially crafted to penetrate hard skins.

He also had all different types of pills.

The same was the case for his friends—they were also ready for any type of trouble.

Their rings were full to the brim.

They arrived at the place where they had been asked to gather.

For the first time, all the students were in the same place. He couldn’t even count the number.

At least 10,000 students were there, while half of the students had already fled.

It was a large circle, almost a square kilometer in size, surrounded by four towering buildings.

Teachers stood on top of each building.

If Harry had been able to see their faces, he would have seen fear and sadness in their eyes.

A teacher spoke, his voice amplified by some skill or technology.

It was none other than Finn, the one who had taught them Qi manipulation—a short, five-foot-tall guy.

"To be honest, we are sad to see all students here. If you pass this test, you will enter the inner branch, and if you fail..." Finn felt a lump in his throat.

He knew failing was not an option, but he couldn’t say it... so he continued.

"You won’t be able to participate in this academy again."

This announcement caused a huge reaction. The students were totally against it.

But the teachers couldn’t imagine how these students would react when they learned that failing was not an option. Either you win, or you die.

With that, Finn didn’t give the students any chance to speak. He brought out a scroll and put his blood on it.

It lit up, and with it, all the runes engraved on the ground. The beast crystals stuffed in the towers provided enough energy for the formation to work.

The students didn’t notice it until they saw a flash in front of them.

Harry felt space tearing apart, his body traveling through the fabric of space.

His eyes shut.

The ground beneath him shook.

As he opened his eyes, the ground was still shaking beneath him.

He hurriedly tried to make a barrier and jumped on it... but he fell on his head.

He was unable to jump as high as he normally did.

After using barriers so many times, he always made a barrier at his maximum jump height.

But here, even after using all his power, he was only able to jump half as high as usual.

Harry noticed something in front of him—small mountains, with big stone boulders lying around.

The temperature was high. And the reason he fell was that the gravity here was almost double.

As he turned around to decipher his location—

"Fuck."

A volcano was erupting. Lava was spreading across the area, approaching Harry.

A drop of sweat appeared on his forehead. He wasn’t sure if it was from fear or heat.

"Wait, why am I scared? I can run in the sky," Harry said loudly, consoling himself.

The fear had been ingrained deep in his mind by news channels back when he was a normal human.

"Will I get burned by the lava?" A thought crossed his mind.

His resistance to heat and cold had increased, but had it reached the point where he could touch lava?

But then he shuddered.

The lava was way denser and way hotter compared to normal volcanoes.

His mind was working much more smoothly, his thinking becoming faster.

"We are not on Earth." He ran in the opposite direction of the lava, avoiding large boulders.

He felt as if he was carrying something heavy.

As he maneuvered around a mountain—

"Where are we?" a girl called out, also running away from the lava.

"I don’t know, but it seems we are on a different planet," Harry said, watching her run.

She had a small stature—barely four and a half feet tall.

Her short legs were so fast that Harry was unable to keep up with her.

"I also noticed—the gravity is low here." The lava was about to touch her when she leaped into the air, creating a snow path in the sky.

Harry was already on a space barrier, running in the air when he heard it. He almost stumbled.

’The gravity... low?’

As they crossed a mountain peak, the lava collided with it and stopped spreading.

She took a deep breath.

"Hi, me Jessie," she introduced herself, raising her head, trying to meet his eyes.

But what she saw was Harry’s chest.

Then... her jaw dropped. Jessie slowly tilted her head upward.

Harry’s hand wrapped around her tiny hands, almost making them disappear.

"Me Harry... nice to meet you." Harry had already deciphered that she was from another academy.

As the conversation continued, the lava made its way around the mountain.

They ran at full speed, leaving the lava behind.

After staggering for two kilometers—

"Why do you have 1.13L rank on your badge? Do you have that many students in your academy?" Jessie asked curiously.

Harry was confused. Then he pointed toward her badge.

When she saw her badge—

"Oh, me also 1.13L."

Harry was feeling very strange. Why did they both have the same rank?

Then he saw another person approaching from afar.

It was another girl. The odd thing was her clothing. She was wearing a swimsuit.

Harry tried to ignore her.

"You two, do you know what’s happening?" the girl asked as she approached.

Both Harry and Jessie were shocked to see her wandering around in a swimsuit.

"Today, I met two people—both strange," Jessie stated.

For her, seeing someone so tall was a first.

Both people were tall, and on top of that, the girl was wearing almost no clothes.

’Where did I get stuck?’ Jessie wondered. Then, with a fake bright smile—

"We just ran from a volcanic eruption. We also don’t know where we are."

The new girl patted Jessie’s head.

"You’re so cute."

"I know I am, just keep your hands away," Jessie said, shrugging her hand off.

Harry was silent because... because it was awkward.

Harry brought out spare clothes from his space ring.

"Here, you can wear these," Harry said, extending his hand.

"I’m good. Clothes feel itchy."