285 Chapter 285: Embarking on the Expedition

Nope. I'm not going to waste time dedicating an entire chapter (or several, if I was Skeleton Wizard) to describing a meaningless party. There was only so many times you could repeat a party chapter where students from other academies continued to inexplicably look down on your team for no reason other than because you were the main character, and it got pretty old. In any event, nothing of note happened, we had food, we had fun, and then we went home the next day.

That was pretty much it, and I found myself reminiscing over the days that I spent in Vermillion Academy. That week of practice matches and other stuff was really fun.

It didn't take long before Principal Porter contacted me.

"Are you looking forward to it?" he asked me, as ecstatic as ever. I tried not to let a bead of perspiration drip down my head.

"Uh, yeah. I am. This sounds fun."

"It will be!" he assured me enthusiastically. "You'll see! We'll have so much fun on this trip! And I really look forward to seeing your perspective regarding these ruins. There's speculation that the tomb dates back to the early 2200s, a little before the Dark Age. We might be able to unearth some sort of ancient technology or uncover some information regarding the civilizations of those times!"

"Yeah, I guess." The Emergence events began around the mid to late 2200s, which sort of threw mankind into a technological dark age when everyone got overwhelmed, entire nations were annihilated and humans teetered on the brink of extinction. Only with the advent of magic during the 2300s, mankind was able to stand their ground, fortify the few remaining cities that survived the relentless onslaught, and thrived from there.

The Federation and Empires were founded relatively recently, as fortress cities banded together in alliances, expanded to recapture lost territory from the monsters, and rebuilt human civilizations across sprawling continents. It was understandable why so much history was lost to the current Federation, and perhaps that was why Henry Porter and modern scholars found my knowledge of what they considered ancient history so fascinating.

Much historical knowledge had been lost over the millennia, with the death of academics, museums and databases while the monsters ran rampant, almost succeeding in wiping out human civilization before it finally pulled itself together and fought back.

About 200 years after my original time, huh?

Unfortunately, while I possessed a relatively large amount of historical knowledge regarding my era and the preceding centuries before it (though most of it was generally East Asian history because of my major in Japan), I knew next to nothing about the next couple of centuries before the Emergence Events almost threw mankind back into the Stone Age. Consequently, I was extremely curious about the two "lost" centuries. My thirst for knowledge and my interest in history overruled any sense of responsibility I might have felt toward preparing for the tournament. Besides, I wasn't that invested in the tournament.

If they selected me, fine. I would participate in it. Of course, I intended to do my very best to try and win it, but I was under no illusions that Jing Tian Academy would make it all the way to the finals. It wasn't my dream to be number one, or to become the strongest. What, you think I was some weird martial arts freak or a xianxia cultivator who wanted to rule over the heavens or some bullshit like that?

Nope. I wanted to be a hero like my dad. Even though I repeated that quite a few times throughout the story, there were still readers who claimed that the didn't know what my goal was, what my motivations were, and therefore couldn't relate to me or my story. Come on, I even mentioned Emiya Shirou and Fate/Stay Night, and it was clear I was ripping that guy off more than even Wang Zhong from Battle Frenzy, and Dad was just a funny version of Emiya Kiritsugu. Like I said, near the beginning, I always aimed to become a heroic mercenary like my dad, traveling around the world and taking missions to save people from monsters and magic terrorists. That was my dream, my goal, and the agenda that drove or motivated me.

Therefore, protecting archaeologists during an excavation dig appealed to me more than participating in some tournament and increasing my rank. It might seem strange to some people, but my goal was to protect people, not to become number one. So why wouldn't I prioritize participating in this mission over preparing for the tournament? Moreover, as I said, this mission would provide me ample opportunity to become exponentially stronger and allowed me to surpass the talented genisues and flawless prodigies of my generations. Hopefully.

If not…then I had no regrets. I was going to do my best, and it just meant my best was not enough. Then again, I was never interested in competitions and trying to be better than other people. All that mattered to me was that I had the strength to protect others. I didn't have to be number one for that. What I needed to do was to learn how to work with others under those sort of circumstances, and develop a way to work under pressure or highly tense situations where the lives of many innocents lay on my shoulders.

Not win trophies. Those were meaningless to me. If it made my friends happy, then yeah, I would do my best for them. After all, like I said, the team tournament provided me an avenue of learning how to work with others, taught me the values of teamwork and cooperation, and allowed me to coordinate efforts with my friends. That was why I didn't refuse it outright. But when it came down to it, saving people was more my jam, if you know what I mean.

"Say, do you know anything about the 2200s?" Principal Porter was asking. I quickly dragged myself back to the present and shook my head.

"I'm afraid not."

"I see." Principal Porter was unable to hold back his slight disappointment, but he nodded. "Still, I'm confident that you'll provide us a fresh perspective on the dig. And we need you to protect us from the monsters anyway!"

"I'll do my best."

"Excellent." Principal Porter beamed. "I'll see you in a few hours then! Get ready!"

"Yes, sir."

With that, the line cut off, and I went off to prepare for the expedition.

*

Principal Porter was as good as his word. Right on the dot, a massive hovercraft descended from the clouds, its engines roaring like some ferocious god of thunder and casting a huge shadow on the landing bay where I awaited. I shielded my face as powerful gusts of wind buffeted me, and the hovercraft elegantly set itself atop the marked location before its bay opened.

"Glad to see you!" the old man shouted as he stood right at the top of the ramp. He gestured for me to board. "Get in!"

"Yes, sir!"

I hurried onboard, dragging my luggage with me. Once I was inside the hovercraft's bowels, I was directed to a cargo bay where I placed my baggage with everyone else's, and then I was led to the passenger compartment by none other than Principal Porter himself.

"This is my archaeological team!" Principal Porter excitedly introduced them to me. There were about twenty of them, all gathered in comfortable-looking seats that resembled those on a passenger airline jet. Complete with holographic screens where they could watch in-flight movies, play games, or listen to music. A few of them were reading their eBooks on their Kindle, just like what I usually did when I was taking a long flight home in Singapore from my graduate school in America. Ah, I missed those times in my previous life.

They were mostly university students, with quite a few professors among their count. The minimum qualification was a graduate student, so no undergraduate students, which sort of made sense. Though I had a feeling the graduate students were present more as dig assistants who did the heavy lifting in place of the old or middle-aged professors, rather than intellectuals sharing the same status as their mentors. I was probably ranked lower than them in the hierarchy, but at least we would all receive the chance to provide our opinions.

"I should also introduce you to the people you'll be working with. When I informed them that you were coming along, they were more than happy to accede to my request." Principal Porter then led me from the luxurious-looking compartment to the more utilitarian and Spartan compartment where a small group of people resided in. This time, there were about ten or so people, and I recognized one of them. Oblivious to my surprise, Principal Porter continued. "We hired several mercenaries to protect our excavation team." He patted my shoulder and laughed when he mistook my expression. "Did you really think we would just ask a single person to guard the archaeological site? Don't get me wrong. I value your fighting skills, but I'm sure that it's too much for even you to protect an entire dig site and twenty people all by yourself."

"No, that's not what I'm…"

"Richard! It's been a while!"

A very familiar beautiful girl with long, green hair and emerald eyes bounced to her feet and approached me, delighted when she saw me. I nodded toward her, still in shock.

"Anastasia."

"Geez!" she sulked unhappily, placing her hands on her hips. "I told you to call me Ana!"

"Oh, yeah. Hey, Ana. So…uh, the Silver Wolves were hired to provide for this archaeological dig?"

"That's right!" Anastasia nodded as she grabbed my hands. "I'm so glad that you are joining us!"

"Oh? You know each other?" it was Principal Porter's turn to be stunned.

"Yeah." I nodded in affirmation. "We've worked together before."

"This will be the second time!" Anastasia added, obviously in a good mood. She turned to the rest of the mercenaries, who were lounging on the benches. "He'll be a great addition to the team!"

"I know." One burly guy who must tower over two meters – hell, he was almost as tall as me even though he was still seated on the somewhat cushioned bench – spoke up. He cocked his head at me as a greeting. "That's the kid that Brother Feng Hai spoke about before. A potential recruit once he graduates from university."

"I have to get into university first," I muttered.

"Don't worry!" Principal Porter barked out in laughter. "You'll definitely get into university! I have a spot reserved for you at Vermillion University!"

Oi, oi. No favoritism or corruption here, sir. I wasn't going to accept a free ticket to university like this. I wanted to earn my place, not have it handed to me like so many web novel protagonists who get offered the most ridiculous positions by virtue of being the main character (I'm referring to the more contemporary settings like in Metropolitan System or So Pure, So Flirtatious, where the main characters basically get money or status or whatever they want just from asking).

"Anyway, grab a seat. I'll brief you on our plans and give you an assignment." The burly guy paused for a moment and looked at me. "I hope you don't mind if I take the liberty to assume that that you'll allow me to take command."

"No, not at all." I bowed. "As an experienced junior, I hope to learn from you all. I will listen to any instructions you give and do my best to fulfil them."

"Ha ha ha!" a lanky guy, his red hair in a wild mess, laughed and nodded. "He's as humble as Brother Feng Hai said he'll be!"

"No wonder the boss has his eye on him," another guy, a shadowy fellow dressed in a cloak and had a hood over his head, remarked with an approving nod.

"No one has any problems if he's assigned to the same team as me, right?" Anastasia asked, raising her hand.

"None whatsoever," the massive guy confirmed. "Since the both of you have worked so well together, I might as well assign you to the same team. By the way, that was an impressive job the two of you did in Azpire City, defeating the Grim Reaper and destroying a huge chunk of monsters there."

"Thank you, sir."

"Great, Captain Brent!" Anastasia was practically spinning around in glee, her earrings clinging softly. She turned back to me and grabbed my hands. "Yay! We're in the same team!"

"Uh, right." I felt a bead of perspiration drip down the back of my head, but managed to smile. "I look forward to working with you again." I then glanced around and slowly counted the number of mercenaries to ensure I wasn't mistaken. "So…there's ten of you?" I began, but Brent shook his head.

"We have a battalion billeted in the deck below," he explained. "The ten of us make up the command element. Don't worry, we're not stupid enough to trek through the swamp and guard an excavation site with only ten people."

"That's good," I responded, not sure whether to feel relieved or not.

"I'll leave it to you guys then." Principal Porter regarded me for a moment, his eyes flickering to Anastasia occasionally. For some reason, his expression was now unreadable, and there was something in those foggy gray pupils of his. He smiled at me, and then turned away, and I could have sworn I heard him mutter something along the lines of "poor little Lilith."

"All right." Brent gestured for me to take a seat. "Let's get started with the briefing." He then conjured a holographic screen that displayed the dig site in the middle of the Black Underworld Swamp. "So this is where we'll establish a perimeter, and each team will be assigned a sector to patrol…"