the white pavilion is the branch responsible of handling most matters that relate to white robes and it consists of three sectors, the first being the library of mystic arts, filled with the techniques meant for the white robes, and it's mostly deserted throughout the year except for rare visits of disciples wishing to change their current arts or for the beginning of the year, where recruits would come to pick an art.
The second sector was the rations and resources sector, meant to provide the white robes with pills and food for their stay in the academy, and it had a relatively small number of students visiting every day, all picking their monthly rations of resources at different times to escape the rush hour at the beginning of the month.
As for the third sector, and the one most visited by students throughout the entire month, than that's the merit guild of the white pavilion of the school.
It was the building where students can take on missions provided by the school to gain merit that can then be spent on different resources , weapons and privileges within the school.
It was also the exchange center of merit, where students can hand over resources gained in the wild, such as beast carcasses and materials for a price of merit, that can then be exchanged for resources of use to the students.
This place was busy and full of bustling movement at all times, hundreds of students would group at this place every day, forming parties and going on missions and adventures around the continent, striving to gain merit and exchange it for resources to grow stronger.
It was without a doubt the heart of the ancestral academy, and it was the place where Aric would exchange the resources he had hunted for into merit.
He wasn't afraid that the referees would question his power after hunting such pray, it was achievable after all through traps and luck, it wasn't unheard of for mortals to even hunt a vicious beast as such.
And Aric was exchanging for just the skin, horns and fur of the wild dogs and the boar, without the carcass as a reference, no one can make out for sure how the monster was killed.
When Aric made it back to the merit center, the sun had already set and he thought that the center would have only a handful of students still around, but that was so wrong.
The sector was filled to the brim with students, all white robes clad in armour and holding different weapons at hand, forming small groups within themselves, some entering from a long day of hunting and adventure, and others preparing themselves to embark on their Journey.
Aric was ignored amongst the leagues of different students, some covered in blood and other in weirdly coloured ooze.
He then made a beeline towards the retrieving desks, and after waiting in line for a while, he was finally received by a lovely lady at the front desk.
" How can I help you? " The woman at the front desk asked indifferently, having spent the last couple of hours of her shift asking this question, again and again, she grew numb and tired by the end of the day.
Aric dropped the resources he had gained through his journey to the woods, wrapped in the small linen sheet he bought, over the counter and said "well, I want to exchange these for merit "
The attendant reached for the linen cover, inspected the resources contained within, checked a catalogue that was sitting by her side, and after she was done with it, she reached her palm indifferently at Aric.
Aric kept staring at her arm confused, he didn't know what he was supposed to do, and out of awkwardness, reached forward and shook her hand.
" What the hell are you doing ?!" The attendant looked at Aric with glaring eyes, as if she was looking at an animal.
" Well...you stretched your arm…" Aric felt even more awkward, how was he supposed to know what to do, this is his first time here, and he wasn't given a tutorial or anything.
" I reached for your token, idiot."
" Aha, ok ." Aric couldn't find words to explain his situation, so he just gave the lady his token and blushed with a stiff smile at the giggles of the other students behind.
" These bastards, have mercy for a recruit for god sake !" Aric glared at the students giggling behind him and decided to memorize their faces one by one.
The lady took his token and snickered, she then placed it on a squared piece of blue Crystal covered in runes and started flickering with a set of seven rotating blocks of jade sitting by her side.
She flipped the first block three times and the second one once, and then handed back Aric's token and said, " it was thirteen merits, now recorded on your token."
" Oh, thank you so much, " Aric received back his token and stuffed it into his inner robe, he then asked with a stiff smile the attending lady " well, where can I exchange them for things! "
The lady in the reception looked at Aric as if he was an idiot at first before it hit her and she asked him " you are a new recruit ?!"
Aric nodded his head awkwardly, he felt the urge to cry, he didn't do anything wrong, it's just his shit luck throwing him from one hell of a situation to another.
" oh, that explains a lot, what brought you here so early? You'd be given a tour tomorrow on all sectors of the school, anyways, this is the reimbursing sector, you receive your pay for missions and resources in here, if you want to exchange your merit for things, that'd be the sector on that side, what do you wish to exchange for? " It seemed that the attendant felt guilty for the poor new recruit and asked him with a sweet smile.
" A staff … I'm looking for staff " Aric sounded a tad bit awkward, such a shift in character wasn't something his baseline social skills could handle.
" Well weapons would be the second booth to the Left, it's the bulky bearded dude with red hair right there, ask him for the catalogue for staff and he'll give it to you" the lady guided him with a smile and pointed out which booth to go to.
Aric thanked her and then left towards the arms trading booth.
He didn't have to wait for much, the exchange branch was much less crowded compared to the rewards branch and the Branch on the other side, that was just as crowded and he could assume to be the mission assigning sector.
When it was his turn, he asked the bearded guy for the catalogue of staff and he was given a relatively small book with dozens of pages within.
Every page described a handful of staff of different shapes, lengths and weights, made of all kinds of materials and qualities.
Some of these staffs had a rating of stars right next to their illustrations, indicating what rank the staff belongs to.
Weapons can either be ordinary or mystical, mystical weapons have the property of being able to interact and let essence flow within them.
The easier and smoother a weapon can let essence through the higher their rating would be and the more expensive they are.
Some arms even possess special attributes and abilities in their arsenal, and those go for astronomical values.
And speaking of prices.
_ what the hell are these prices !! _ Aric was pulled back from his daydreaming fantasies while checking all the staff in the catalogue when he made it to the bottom of the page, the price menu.
Everything was worth so much merit, the cheapest mystical arm, and the lowest of quality was worth tens of thousands of merit.
Even the ordinary one was worth a couple of hundreds and the simplest of wooden staff was worth a hundred.
Aric sighed dishearted, knowing he'll have to bring the frenzy boar to extinction before he can afford one of those mystical weapons.
He scrolled in pain all the way to the cheapest of price, and picked the most ordinary and worthless staff the could find, with a description of, ' it was found in the street, and thought to hold some use to cheap people "
He went back to the arm booth with his head held low, and a dream pulsing in his heart.
" One day… by the name of lady Alina, I'll buy everything that the menu has to offer ?"