"My advice is that you get into a group that wouldn't drag you down nor would they be dragged down by you. In simpler terms, dish what you can eat. At the end of every hunt, your MP will be distributed after you have submitted your spoils of the hunt.
If there is anyone in your group with a negative number of MP, it will be deducted from the total merit points of the group. Also if any member in your group dies during a hunt or mission, 50,000 MPs will be deducted from the teammates, collectively. " He smirked as he glanced at Alex.
"Alex, let's partner up and be in the same group," Camron whispered to Alex.
"Are you deaf or you chose not to listen? If you partner up with me then 1000 MP is going to be deducted from our points after our first hunt, who knows, it might even take longer than that before we'll be able to pay it back. We can't be certain until we find out how the points are allocated." Alex replied.
"Don't worry about that, didn't they say that all new students are allocated a thousand MP upon admission? We can just use mine to pay for yours, then we would both start from zero."
"Weird ass." Alex chuckled and shook his head at his friend's reply.
"Good, now we are in the same group." Camron smiled.
"Whatever you want, just don't come crying to me later on, of how much you regret teaming up with me."
In truth, Alex was happy, apart from Sheila no one had made a sacrifice for him for as long as he could remember. People always did things for him in return for a favor or they were just trying to suck up to him.
Without having to strain his ears, Vincent also heard what Camron said and it didn't make him happy.
'Did this kid hear what I said or not? Why does he want to be partnered up with that liability, does he think that it's easy to hunt the monsters in the forest?' Vincent was annoyed because his plan to make Alex suffer was just thwarted that easily.
'If that's what you think then I will I also make things harder for you.' Vincent was about to ask Camron to hand his badge over, but he stopped when he realized that it be petty of him to do so.
He didn't want to be petty and at the same time, he didn't want Alex to have an easy time. He looked at the girl that was seated not far away from Alex and an idea popped into his head.
"I will like to extend my goodwill to some students by allocating them to a group. You, you, and you. The three of you are now officially in a group." Vincent pointed at Camron, Alex, and the girl that Alex referred to as cricket.
Alex was alright with teaming up with Camron, but he wasn't okay with being in the same group as her. He snickered and stared at Vincent with rage in his eyes.
['This bastard just keeps on coming at me.'] He fumed in his mind.
['Just quit looking at him like that before he decides to worsen our situation.']Al advised. He scoffed and did what Al suggested.
Camron wasn't against it at all, he leaned forward and said hello to the girl. While the girl was devastated by it. "I want to change to another group sir." She voiced her dissatisfaction.
"That I would have to deny," Vincent replied.
"Why!?" She blurted out.
"Are you trying to say that my decisions are bad decisions?"
"I… No, I'm not. It's just that… I..." She gave up and resigned to her faith. "Good." Vincent smiled.
"Know that you cannot change your group without the permission of any of the staff here or the permission from someone in the position to give the go-ahead." He narrowed his eyelids at Alex.
Alex starred back at him without fear. ['Does he thinks that I would be stranded without MPs? if he does then he's in for a huge surprise.'] He smiled at Vincent.
['Would you stop challenging people that are stronger than us? I know that you are not used to being in the position of being oppressed, but you need to know how to resist without irking the oppressor.'] Xander warned.
['Yeah, yeah.'] He replied nonchalantly and broke the eye contact he made with Vincent.
To Vincent, he thought he had successfully intimidated Alex. He was not one to care about things like this usually, he just felt insulted by Alex, from the way he spoke and the killing intent he momentarily directed at him. To someone like Vincent with a higher realm of cultivation than Alex, it was just plain insults.
"At the end of every 6 months, the top 10 groups with the highest MP will be rewarded with treasures. So try your best to earn a lot of MP. You all have a week to decide and join a group. That is all I have to say, my colleagues will take over from here. We would cross paths in the future if we are meant to."
Right after he finished speaking he disappeared from his position.
Before anyone could utter anything they heard the female in a kimono speak.
"My name is Hinata, I am Vincent's vice, don't worry I am not as scary as he is."
The woman that spoke up caught everyone's attention. She had the ends of her Azure hair, braided and hanging over her shoulder. Her fair skin and slender figure incited the hormones of almost everyone male in the arena…
"I will just give a brief explanation of how your classes have been scheduled. There would be 2 different shifts in a day. The morning shift and the night shift. Batch-A set of students will attend classes' during the day and Batch-B will attend at night. This will alternate after every 2 weeks…"
"How would we know what batch we are in?" A girl from the audience asked.
Hinata smiled. "That's a good question. Well, you have already been placed in batches. Those of you that were admitted through the test are the batch-A students and those of you that got admitted by paying an acceptance fee are the batch-B students. You are not permitted to miss your classes, not without a significant reason."
"Eh? You can get into the academy without going through the tests?" Alex asked Camron.
"Uh, yeah." Camron replied. "So you are telling me that I could have gotten into this academy without wasting my energy?" He repeated and narrowed his eyes as he stared at Camron.
"Uh, yes. I thought I told you." He smiled and scratched his head pretending to think.
"You told me nothing like that you retard." Alex muttered under his breath.
"Ma'am, what if you are in a group that is in a different batch, how are we supposed to go hunting without getting punished for being absent from class?"
"You and everyone in your group will have to obtain a permission slip from one of us. If you take a slip from us and you do not use it for the reason that it was given to you, you will be punished by the academy. You should know that in the Severance academy there are always people watching." Hinata explained.
"Your schedules are different from those that choose to specialize in Rune inscriptions or those that choose to specialize in alchemy."
Alex raised his hand. Hinata was a bit surprised, the hand that Alex raised was the one that was injured not too long ago. 'How did his hand heal so fast? I didn't see him take any healing pills or rub any ointment on it.' Hinata pondered.
['You fool, that's the hand that was just injured. Do you plan to show others your regenerative abilities?'] Al reprimanded Alex for his stupid mistake.
['Oh, sh*t! I need to stop making this kind of mistakes.'] He cursed in his mind.
Luckily for him, only a few people noticed. Camron, Hinata, and the remaining staff on the ring noticed the difference in his hand.
Despite Hinata's surprise, she permitted Alex to speak.
"Are we allowed to specialize in both alchemy and rune inscription?"
"Uh, technically yes. You are allowed to specialize in the two, just as long as you make substantial progress after every lesson. If do have a talent for the two then your schedule will be changed completely. A customized schedule just for you. But that's easier said than done."
"Thank you, that's all I wanted to know," Alex said.
"Hey don't tell me that you plan on applying for two," Camron whispered.
"Okay then, I wouldn't tell you," Alex smirked and ignored him.
Hinata made a mental note to keep an eye out on Alex. "If there are no other questions then I would b taking my leave." She waited for a few minutes and no one asked any questions.
"Alright then. You students should use this week to join a group and get yourself familiar with the academy's map. Goodbye everyone, and once again welcome to the Severance academy."
-Shoosh!!
They disappeared from the ring. The students that came with them stayed behind after the staff left.