Once all the students had been put to sleep, the hangar doors were opened, allowing the gas to be let out. After the soldiers got to work, placing a black bag over each of the students' heads.
After what had happened with Peter, the military was taking extra precautions. There was a chance a student could be woken up or even have an ability that counteracted the smoke.
While Rayne was being bagged, he kept his eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. It seemed to have worked; after bagging him, the soldier went to the next student. It was impossible to see, but he didn't need to worry about that. Not only does he have superior hearing compared to any vampire and human alike, but he also has his [Draconic Vampire Eyes]. Although it's not an ability but more of an advanced energy-based skill, it does all the things that the original ability [Dragon Eyes] did, if not even better. The only reason why the skill even has "dragon" in its name is because of the nature one needs to obtain, which also makes it impossible to learn such a skill. One needs to drink the blood or heart of a creature that belongs to draconic categories, just like every other dragon magic spell of the nightmare realm, where one needs to either eat the heart or drink dragon blood to be able to perform dragon magic. And he had fulfilled both conditions in both worlds. In the nightmare realm, he completed it when he drank from the dagon, a pseudo-draconic creature, and in the overworld, he was once again able to unlock it when he killed and drank the blood of Dalki. This was also one of the reasons why he only had one dragon skill because finding a dragon and killing one in both worlds is hard, and the overworld doesn't even possess a single dragon that he knew about, other than the Dalki, which were basically useless because of their pseudo-dragon origin, which was only helpful for low-level skills like his dragon eyes.
At that moment, he heard the sound of something large and heavy, followed by several men grunting. He could then hear the squeakiness of wheels. A big clunk was heard, and what followed after was a sort of humming sound, like an electric current passing through something.
"I have heard this sound before, but where?" Rayne thought as he suddenly felt his Qi sense act up, detecting distortion in space and energy around them. Curious, he immediately activated his eyes, and he was finally able to see a swirling mass of energy. Only one thing came to his mind, "It's a portal!"
"Start shifting the students in through the portal one by one," a soldier said.
"Wait, why do we need to go through a teleporter?" Rayne thought. "Aren't all the military bases on Earth located on their respective islands? Think, Rayne, think! Where could they be taking us?"
"Don't tell me, are they taking us to Military Base One, the mysterious base whose whereabouts are still unknown to this date?" Rayne thought.
After finding this information out, he felt like there were two possibilities: either the base was not located on Earth and is on a different planet, or they just didn't want to spend much fuel to transport all the students and wanted to throw them all to the military base because they are lazy, and it's quite convenient.
The second his body passed through the portal, he could feel the strange sensation that would usually occur. Once through to the other end of the portal, Rayne continued to pretend to be knocked out. His body was chucked and moved gently sometimes by some and quite roughly by others. Sometimes one of them even started touching his body, more like feeling his abs and running her fingers. It was quite frustrating to act like he was knocked out while this beautiful, lustful woman ran her fingers all over his body. How did he know it? All thanks to his [Qi sense] and dragon eyes; they gave him all the useless information that he needed.
As they continued moving about, he consistently heard strange mechanical sounds around him. Eventually, after a couple of hours of being chucked around from place to place, his body wasn't moved for the last fifteen minutes. And then, the first student other than him woke up shouting.
"What the—! What the hell is on my head?!" The student shouted out. Despite opening his eyes, the only thing he could see was the color black. The thought of the world being taken over entered his mind. This caused him to start screaming.
"Ahh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" The student continued yelling before feeling a bump on the back of his head.
"Calm down, will you? You just arrived at your destination," the soldier explained as he took the bag off the student.
Because of his screaming, it managed to wake up quite a few students. Very slowly, every one of them started waking up.
"Please remove the bags from your heads and stay where you are until further instructions have been given." The voice was recognizable, and it seemed to come from Old General Mike.
All of the students did as instructed and removed their bags, and for the first time in a while, they could finally see. The students were slightly confused as to where they currently were.
There was no clear sky, and all that could be seen around them was metal. A thousand students all stood in a clear open space with the generals at the front of the large room.
"Are we still in the hangar?" A student asked. Rayne couldn't really blame them for thinking like that because it really looked like they had never left the hangar. However, only he knew that was not the case, and they were now in a completely different place. Maybe that was not true because Quinn was also awake, along with a few others, so maybe they also knew it.
"Who am I kidding? Of course, they know it," Rayne thought as he continued looking around.
All of a sudden, the sound of something coming from behind them could be heard. The pressure head was released, and the light started shining through. When the students turned around, they could see the sides of whatever they were in opening up, and a metallic platform stretching out. It eventually hit the floor, and there was a good ten meters from the opening before the platform touched the ground.
"Please make your way down to the vehicle," Mike continued his instructions while the soldiers at the front led the way.
When stepping outside, they finally noticed that they were in the 1st military base. However, it didn't look all that different from theirs. It was more like a city with certain buildings surrounded by construction. There were mechs out and about, transporting cargo.
The main difference was the size of the base itself. It was nearly twice the size of theirs. However, the most shocking thing they saw so far was the sky. Although it could be seen, it looked slightly different from what they were used to.
"Are we underwater or in space? That can be the only way to describe why the city has a protective outer shell. Either of them, it's truly impressive how they are able to emulate the day-night cycle here. Can they manipulate the weather as well?" Rayne's thoughts grew quieter as he entered a mumbling mess about the countless possibilities.
The entire city seemed to be encased in a large glass-like dome, and around the edges was a high-rise wall, making it impossible to see what was outside of the city unless one was in an airship.
Once the students looked behind them, they realized the type of vehicle they were in. It looked like a submarine on wheels. The thing was extremely huge and had sixteen wheels the size of houses on its side.
Once all of the students were accounted for, the vehicle started retracting its platform. When it finished, it immediately headed off in a different direction.
Mike, Nathan, and Duke went out to greet another soldier. They later followed him until they reached a train stop. Since the base was large, getting to their destination by foot would probably take them a few hours.
While riding the train, the students were able to see more of the city. It seemed like the city itself was split up into different sections, and between each section was a small barrier. Each of these sections had soldiers focused on and prioritized different things.
In one section of the city, they witnessed mechs being built and tested. In the next one, it looked like they had beasts in captivity and were conducting some type of experiments. And in the next, it seemed as if it had combat-focused classes, and so on and so forth.
They then passed the city center, a large dome-like building that looked like a miniature version of the base itself, standing firmly at the center. The top of the dome had a flower-like design similar to a poppy.
The army decided to use this symbol after the first war. Most of the battles between the Dalki took place on Earth, and a lot of blood was spilled on the battlefield. Once the war was declared over, something strange seemed to happen.
On the fields all across the world where most deaths had occurred, fields of poppies grew. In the past, it was said that something like this happened once before, but it had been long forgotten. Despite that, they still chose to use it as their symbol.
This building was the world government's headquarters. It was where the Eight Head Generals, the leader, and the four big family leaders would meet to make their decisions. It was like they were in control of the world.
The train continued moving past the city center and eventually went towards the back of the city, where it seemed a little less busy. They passed another small barrier of some type, and many mechs and soldiers seemed to be standing guard.
They entered another part of the city that was separated from the others. Once the train finally stopped, the students got off and continued to follow Mike.
After they exited the train, they could finally see where the event was going to take place. It was an arena large enough to host the Olympic games right in front of their eyes.
It was quite round in shape, almost looking like a wheel on its side. And because it was made of glatherium, it had a slight tint of blue in its color. What surprised them the most, however, was on top of the arena stands. Seven large buildings looked to have been built into the structure, making it look like a crown.
The seven buildings had clear open glass that was tinted black. All of them faced inwards towards the arena. On the front, there were large numbers starting from one and ending at seven.
"Okay, since you guys are from military base two, please make your way to the second building," the guide who had been leading the generals spoke to them. "Because you're the first ones here, when you finish unpacking your things in your rooms, you are free to explore the area. The buildings here are like hotels; you are allowed to check in and out whenever you want for now. Outside the top of the arena, there are many shops and markets stationed for use.
"Since you guys won't be participating in the event itself, we wanted to make you all feel welcome. Shop around and have fun, see if there is something you want to do and treat your stay here like a holiday. Just remember to support your teammates when you can."
The participants were most likely already in the field or staying at a separate location altogether.
The students followed their teachers to the arena, while the generals had split off in a separate direction.
With the large building having plenty of space to accommodate everyone, each student was allowed a room completely to themselves. The atmosphere was quite relaxed.
After unpacking his things in the hotel room, someone knocked at his door. When he opened it, he saw Vorden, Fex, and Quinn standing outside.
"Come on! You're the only one left. Let's go explore this. I've never been to such a place," Fex said excitedly.
Rayne excused himself before retreating to his room and taking out a bottle of some kind of perfume and spraying it all over. It was a scent-masking perfume. He could suppress his presence and scent willingly, but it's always good to be cautious than sorry.
After shutting the door behind him, the four went on to explore the arena's shops. Meanwhile, at the train station, another train had just arrived, bringing in another set of students from another military base.
One of the first people to get off the train was a teacher by the name of Silver. The most noticeable feature about her was her silver hair and red eyes and her strong presence. It seems like another vampire had entered the game. Let's see what happens next...
~To be continued.