Rustle... rustle...
The sound of wind brushing through leaves came from all directions. Sunlight spilled across the boy's unconscious face, making his eyelids twitch slightly.
"Why is it so bright? Did someone in the dorm open the curtains before everyone was up? Have you no sense of common decency?"
Munir muttered while rubbing his eyes, but then noticed something off about the feeling beneath him—it wasn't the soft dorm mattress. It was ground mixed with pebbles and dirt.
"What the hell? Am I dreaming?"
He froze for a moment, looked around, and found that he was still wearing his pajamas, now lying in the middle of a lush, verdant forest.
Thick trees surrounded him on all sides. Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, scattering dappled patterns onto the forest floor. It was a full-on primeval jungle scene.
"Where the hell am I?" Munir quickly scanned his surroundings, trying to get his bearings.
Then he heard shouting coming from nearby.
"What's going on? Where have they taken me?"
"Where am I? Is this some kind of forest? Are we on a reality prank show or something?"
"Is anyone out there?!"
As the voices echoed, Munir saw that plenty of boys and girls around him were also wearing pajamas and nightgowns, blinking groggily as they looked around.
A few seconds later, some of them exchanged surprised looks—
"William? That you?!"
"Lilian? Y-You're here too?"
"Dylan, where the hell are we?"
"Helen! Get over here—this could be dangerous!"
The people talking clearly knew each other. Munir recognized them too—they were all classmates from the same school, and some were even from his own class.
Munir glanced around again and realized that, including himself, there were probably over a hundred students from various classes who had been brought into this forest.
"If this really is some kind of variety show, they must've spent a fortune pulling in this many people," he estimated inwardly.
The students nearby were chatting while naturally clustering into groups. In such an unfamiliar environment, their instincts pulled them closer together.
But...
There weren't many people near Munir.
Some even glanced at him nervously.
A few students who were near him seemed like they wanted to come over—but someone stopped them.
"Hold on! What are you doing getting close to Munir? You want to team up with him?? Are you out of your mind?" shouted a boy dressed in formal wear.
"Uh... Helen, you're right. Thanks for the heads-up." Hearing that, the students suddenly came to their senses and steered clear of Munir like he was bad luck.
Helen chuckled. "No worries, we're all classmates here."
After saying that, he looked at Munir again, a glint of provocation in his eyes.
Munir's face remained cold, as if watching a clown perform.
At school, he had a reputation—everyone knew he was a "ruthless guy." He'd even beaten up a few notorious bullies before. Many students kept their distance from him. So this kind of scene was hardly surprising.
If it really came down to surviving in the wild, Munir had no interest in dragging along dead weight.
It was just... this Helen...
He shot Helen a cold, indifferent glance.
Once, Munir had been cornered by a few school bullies from the rugby team.
He couldn't fight all of them at once, but he stubbornly held off the leader among those who bullied him, forcing that guy to pick fights with him after school every day—fighting until the leader was forced to apologize.
This made the entire Haicheng High School remember Munir as a strangely intense and ruthless guy—a madman.
Everyone avoided him like the plague.
Munir had first attracted the attention of those bullies because of Helen's provocation.
Later, Helen kept spreading rumors that Munir was violent in fights and had a strange personality, which isolated him from his classmates…
Of course, Munir had also taught Helen a harsh lesson, so Helen usually kept his distance from him.
Unexpectedly, now out in the wild, Helen actually got bolder, secretly being annoyingly disgusting.
If there were no cameras nearby...
Munir's mind flickered. Seeing Helen already blending in with a large group of students, subtly becoming a minor leader with some influence, Munir's lips curled into a faint smirk.
He looked away. Helen could wait for now. If it really was some kind of supernatural force that brought them all out here, his first priority had to be ensuring his own safety.
Munir cautiously scanned the surroundings, wary of a sudden attack from wild animals.
The students around him spoke louder now: "The trees here don't look like any we learned about in natural science class. These species are completely unfamiliar, and this fruit—it has six different colors. Something so unique—I've never even seen it on any short videos online... Are we still even in our original world?"
"Wait! I think I know. Could it be that we've crossed over just like in those novels?"
After the initial chaos, the boys and girls began to explore actively—after all, only some small flying insects and rabbit-like animals had appeared in this primitive forest so far, seeming harmless.
Before anyone could summon the courage to venture out, everyone suddenly felt a bright flash before their eyes, and strange memories flooded their minds.
"Summoned ones・Otherworld・Chosen by fate…"
Gradually, a glimmer of understanding rose in everyone's eyes—themselves, including students from Haicheng High School and many other schools from the world they came from before crossing over, had been chosen by an unknown existence and brought to the Otherworld.
They, these otherworlders, were born with the "Divine Blessing" talent, able to awaken in this world as various specialists possessing special powers, growing stronger at an incredibly fast pace. They could also kill Demonic Beasts to level up, boosting their strength like in "monster hunting" games!
Compared to the natives of the other world, these crossovers obviously had greater potential.
The reason there were only about three hundred students in this primitive forest was because otherworlders with special qualifications were extremely sought after throughout the world.
Powerful factions and races had paid a heavy price and together completed this summoning.
The students were divided among these factions and races, and their teleportation locations were scattered.
As the information was digested, everyone opened their eyes again, all showing extremely joyful and fanatic expressions—
"Does that mean we're the kind of otherworld heroes from novels, summoned here to become rulers over others? And we can even possess powerful abilities that we couldn't control in our past lives?"
"So, aren't we the chosen ones, the lucky ones? I wonder which other high schools, besides Haicheng High, got this lucky and were chosen too?"
Everyone wore expressions of joy. They were all just teenagers who had just started middle school—who hadn't dreamed of controlling superpowers, commanding the elements, or crossing into another world to start an epic adventure?
Now, their dreams had come true!
A spark of excitement flickered in Munir's eyes.
Although he was usually a loner, he also watched anime, movies, and read novels. If the information conveyed by that light was true, didn't it mean a magnificent life was about to unfold right before him?
Especially—
A special light screen suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Special energy absorbed.]
[System unlocking…]
Munir was stunned. He had read many crossover novels, so he naturally knew what a system was.
Looking around, he realized no one else was frozen in place staring into the void like he was, nor had anyone mentioned the word "system."
"Could it be... this is a power exclusive to me?"
His expression gradually grew excited, a bit surprised.
At that moment—
Before the many students could snap out of their excitement, several students standing to the southeast let out piercing screams.
Following their terrified gazes, everyone saw several sharp arrows lodged near their bodies, scratching bloody marks along their arms and thighs!
This caused the usually pampered, never-before-suffering students to clutch their heads and wail in pain.
Other students, seeing this, grew chaotic. Some anxiously looked around and shouted loudly, "Who's there? Show yourself! We're Divine Gifted, summoned from another world—who dares to touch us?"
In response to their agitated cries, a few more arrows flew—piercing their clothes and leaving bloody marks on their bodies.
Those hit screamed and rolled on the ground in agony.
The remaining students, witnessing this scene, trembled all over and turned pale. Their earlier ambition was shattered by the arrows, piece by piece.
They no longer dared to dream of "reaching the pinnacle of life" or "ruling and dominating," only thinking, "What's happening? Don't kill me, I want to survive!"
Some even wondered, "Weren't we told that the major races paid a heavy price to summon us here? Where are they? They summoned us but won't even protect us, letting us get attacked like this?"
Crying and screaming, the students no longer cared about becoming rulers over others.
All they wanted was to cross back home as soon as possible…