Han stared at the screen before dismissing it with a bat of an eye; he looked at his companion, friend—Timothy Cook. If he told this guy to kick himself out of the Academy, would they do it? He wasn't sure of how much influence he had, and he really didn't want to know either.
In some way, despite everything informing him that this was a simulation, Han Jing considered Timothy as alive and real as himself. This person felt more real than the supposedly real [ Demon Lord ], [ Wood Elf ] and other [ Races ] in their chatroom.
"Choose whatever you like, Tim. Whatever you think would work best for you."
The young man's lips twitched, a familiar sneer as he eyed Han dismissively. "You don't know what to recommend either, do you?"
This guy still had his bouts of narcissism at that. But it seemed to be a defense mechanism if anything. "You got me, though," Han grinned and shrugged. "I think it should be your decision and not mine."
It was both a gracious thing, allowing the man to choose what he wanted and a calculated risk that Timothy inherently knew what curriculum to take, him being an NPC and all.
"I'll be taking the Primary Mage curriculum then, Professor Lavelda," Timothy responded with a short nod.
"Splendid!" The Professor clapped their hands, a grin on their face. She pushed her robe sleeves up and glanced at her fellow teachers. "Let's draft your schedule immediately, fit you a uniform—class is ongoing, but you guys can start tomorrow."
"Already on it." Someone replied, scribbling on parchments in their hand. It only took a quick moment before they handed it over to both Han and Timothy. "Timothy Cook for the Primary Mage curriculum while Han will be in Mixed Combat and Mage curriculum."
The two of them thanked the person in charge and glanced at the parchments, it included a list of their classes and professors, required items and prescribed books and uniforms.
"Since the two of you have just arrived, we'll let you guys finish settling down in the dorms." The Professor explained, she turned to the only remaining student. "Ah, young lad—mind leading them to the dormitories?"
A charismatic smile formed on sir Leon de Harrington's lips, "It will be my pleasure, Professor Lavelda."
Timothy tried not to gag while Han stifled a laugh. Now this person in front of them was the de facto nobleman with a pleasing personality—the type you'd see in novels, movies and other mediums.
.
.
.
The Academy of Kraelonia was already huge when they had first arrived and compared it to the size of the entire city of Gloria—but now Han's head was spiralling as they passed through corridors and stairs that seemed to go on and on. He had a feeling that the Academy was magically designed this way, shifting and altering… trying to find classrooms would be a mess.
But he would worry about that later, he paid attention to the young man leading the way. Even the way the guy walked was reminiscent of a nobleman striding in a ballroom—how that idea came to mind was a little embarrassing. Han cleared his throat, "So this dormitory of ours… what's its name? What makes it different from other dorms?"
"Name? Does everything need to have a name?" Sir Leon de Harrington glanced back at them, a genuinely puzzled expression on their face.
Timothy chose to ignore their conversation, paying attention to the parchment on hand. He for some reason was even more irate than Han with the nobleman.
Han shrugged, "It makes sense, you know? It'd be great to identify students according to how they act? If you could group people based on their attributes or characteristics, like all brave people go to Griffin, kind people to Puff or like smart people are Ravens?" Should he have gone with something like 'Districts' or some people being 'Divergent' or 'Dauntless'?
Sir Leon de Harrington stared at him.
Timothy looked up from his parchment, his brows furrowed at him.
Han cleared his throat, trying to explain why that made sense. "You don't necessarily have to name them that way—but like, it's a good way to know which is which. If I'm in need of some people to understand a cryptic codex or language, I go to the Ravens? If I wanted some adventurers then I would approach those in Griffin?"
It also meant it'd be easy for him to avoid those slithering kinds of people if they were all lumped together.
"Using it to identify key individuals and people of note for certain tasks does sound great." Sir Leon de Harrington admitted, "But I feel that it will promote much schism between already divided students. It's not that different from aristocracy's political games..."
Han didn't think of it that way, he had been always a fan of classifying himself to certain 'roles' like being in this 'House' or 'Faction' or supporting a certain band or sports team... but the guy also made sense. He scratched his cheek. "But it's also one way of ensuring that we don't get complacent right?"
"Complacency?"
"If there's some division, then there will be competition as each student strives to be the best or at least bring honour to their faction. It's like how we're all identifying ourselves as people of [ Yegarian Kingdom ] and would fight for it?"
"I suppose you do bring up good points, Han isn't it?"
"Yeah, just Han, Sir Leon de Harrington."
"No need to be too formal, we're all [ Students ] here, aren't we?" The young nobleman opened a door and they entered into a grand hall filled with numerous doors. They were all lined up neatly like a hotel actually, and there was even a grand staircase that led up to other floors also brimming with people.
Actually, it should be more comparable to a mall—the doors were all entrances to shops while a large courtyard was present in the middle. There was a water fountain inside the place along with benches and even patches of ground that had evergreen trees. Some students were seated and discussing animatedly.
"Woah." Timothy glanced around with obvious amazement. "It's bigger than even our village—I suppose that makes sense as Kraelonia Academy is filled with numerous students from across the kingdom. This is completely normal." He ended his sentence with a cough.
"I don't recall the dormitory being called anything but this entire portion of the Academy is in the Dewrowan Tower." Sir Leon de Harrington explained as he waved at some students passing by.
Once again, some people looked at them oddly—probably because they weren't in uniforms but Han paid no heed to that. There were things that he wanted to know.
"How many students do we have in each room? Bunk beds? Porter type of beds?" Perhaps it was his only way of grasping the situation they were in. Han Jing connected it to things that already existed in his world. "Are the girls segregated in another tower or floors?"
"We all have our separate rooms, there is no need to share when there is an abundance of space." Sir Leon chuckled, "You're quite inquisitive aren't you, Han?"