After the bell rang, Angus dismissed the 9 students who had stayed awake, telling them to practice their magic as homework before he went around the class waking up the students.
Delta left before the hallways would get busy, leaving before Diana could realise he was gone, and heading straight out for the plaza with a goal in mind.
He opened his stats menu as he left, scanning over them as he allowed the guards to scan his ID.
[Stats:]
[Rank: Initiate I]
[Strength: 6]
[Agility: 7]
[Dexterity: 9]
[Vitality: 8]
[Endurance : 7]
[Intelligence : 9]
[Magic: 9]
[System advises User to train all stats to level 9. More information will be given later.]
The stats he needed to train were [Strength], [Agility] and [Endurance], all of which were physical stats. With this in mind, Delta was going to go and find some weighted clothing or something similar to train in and increase his natural strength.
He wasn't sure if there would be a store selling any, but he knew he could always ask Old Man Ipsum to make him some kind of adjustable weights.
After a little while, he arrived at the Plaza, enjoying its bustling sounds as people moved around their afternoons, senior students meeting up to have lunch or work their shifts, while the other younger students met up in parks and arcades to play games for the afternoon.
Since many of the students were living away from their parents for the first time, many were enjoying their newfound freedom.
The academy grounds and the Plaza nearby are incredibly safe due to the hundreds of guards taking residence there. Entry in and out of the grounds are incredibly secure, with many being denied entrance due to past actions and lack of paperwork.
There is a barrier around the school funded by the King which makes it nigh-impossible to enter, and on the off chance that you do, it would set off numerous alarms and the area would be surrounded instantaneously by trained guards.
There wasn't a single person who dared to commit any crimes in the Plaza, because as soon as they tried to break the law, a single notification to the Plaza's guards would have them locked away and sometimes never seen again.
Due to all of these facts, it was seen as one of the safest places for people to stay, and thus was one of the only places parents would send their children without needing to ensure their safety, at least until they became powerful enough to protect themselves.
With practically no chance of crime, the Academy was a very popular place to visit and stay at, with its tight-knit and carefree environment.
Taking in his surroundings and enjoying the peace he had never had a chance to enjoy as a child, Delta strolled through the Plaza, arriving at the shopping centre soon enough.
He looked around for a bit, stopping by a hardware store in case there was anything he could use, however, he left slightly disappointed.
After looking around a little more, he found a store with a massive logo written in a fiery font, reading "Will of the Youth".
Through the glass windows, Delta could make out what seemed to be a dumbbell, and he knew he was in the right kind of place.
He entered the store, causing a bell to ring above his head.
At first, Delta couldn't see anyone running a store, but then he heard some grunts coming from the floor behind a rack.
Carefully, Delta walked around, finding a young man in his late teens doing situps on the floor, muttering "17,249" under his breath, counting upwards as he went. He had matted, red hair and was built like a tank, the muscles on his arms and legs bulging as if to try and rip apart the clothes he was wearing.
He seemed to be in some kind of trance, taking a little while before he realised Delta was watching him.
"Oh? A customer! How can I help you? Dumbbells? Barbells? How heavy? What are you aiming for? Can I get you a drink? A meal maybe? Coffee or Tea? You sure you don't want anything? I can get something fetched for you!"
He pulled a notebook from his pocket, then grabbed a pen from the purchasing desk behind him. He then stood in front of Delta, eyes eager to get something to do something different as he practically buried Delta in questions.
"I'd like some adjustable weighted clothing, preferably something I can wear without standing out. My preferred colour would be black."
The boy scribbled down Delta's order quickly as he wrote, writing with enough force to snap the pen's nib off.
Sighing, he threw it into the bin behind him, picking up another from the table.
"That's the 4th one this week…"
"...."
"I'll go get you something now."
He turned around and ran into the backroom, not scared of being robbed because of the Plaza's massive security.
A few minutes and a lot of clattering later, he returned, carrying a black kevlar-like vest and a set of arm and leg bands.
"These should do the trick. You can adjust their weight by adding or taking away your magic, which I assume you can use by the way you carry yourself."
As a seasoned fighter, he recognised the manner behind the way Delta stood and behaved, seeing instantly that he wasn't a regular kid.
Delta pulled the items on, charging mana into them slowly until they felt heavy enough to put sufficient strain on him, then pulled his jacket back over this body, covering his leg bands with his trousers.
Now that he felt a strain when moving, his body would begin to build up its strength and endurance as he moved. Agility, however, would require him to do specific and targeted workouts.
Delta handed over 10 gold pieces out of respect for the boy's mentality and hospitality before leaving the store, feeling the strain of the weights begin to set in.
They were extremely slim and were practically weightless if the mana in them was dispersed, so they were perfect for his cause.
It also gave him a certain avenue of attack, as if he were to supercharge them as he threw or dropped them on someone, it would make a very unsuspecting weapon.
Now that he had his weights, he returned to the campus ground, keeping his weights activated the whole time as he went to the training grounds.
Looking at his calendar, Delta saw that he would have dinner at 7:30 PM, meaning he had a few hours to kill.
He reached his room shortly later, taking off his clothes before realising he hadn't ordered any clothes he could comfortably work out in.
Sighing to himself, Delta pulled on the lightest outfit he could, before heading to the door, ready to leave.
As he put his hand on the handle, however, he felt it open without him doing anything.
Delta stepped back a little, his mercenary nature taking over as he prepared himself for a confrontation, but he relaxed slightly when he saw Arthur at the door.
"Oh, you're here already? This was downstairs waiting for you."
He handed a rather large parcel to Delta, who took it in one hand, his eyes quickly scanning the parcel for a name.
After turning the parcel over, he found a large embroidered tag that read 'Marco's Tailor' in cursive writing, and written underneath was 'Thought this might be helpful for you ~ Marco'
Delta opened the parcel quickly, finding a set of tracksuit-like trousers, trainers and a light, hooded t-shirt that left the arms bare. Fitting Delta's style, it was all in black, with the t-shirt having a large red phoenix on the back, decorating the otherwise plain shirt.
The clothes were all wrapped around a large bottle for which Delta assumed he was meant to put his water in.
"Didn't think you'd start spending your money so fast! Marco's Tailor is a service most students could never afford!"
Rather impressed, Delta picked up the clothes and moved to the other room to get changed, now realising that 12-year-olds wouldn't get changed in front of each other like he had gotten used to.
Delta made a mental note to pay Marco back this favour and was planning on having him as the only person he bought clothes from, especially considering the quality.
Before he could get to his room, however, he was stopped by Arthur, who said "gotten a CT yet, money man?"
"Someone sounds a little jealous if you ask me"
"Yeah yeah. Whatever helps you sleep at night."
They exchanged numbers, saving each other's contacts before Arthur added Delta to the chat.
'That's Delta by the way. Try not to make him feel too welcome.'
Diana replied with a short animation of a deer making a meek face that reminded Delta of the GIFs he had seen at home.
After searching a few different things on the GIF menu, he found the one he was looking for. It was a video of a man wearing beige safari-like clothing with a net in one hand walking towards a pond.
Having replied, Delta walked out in his new outfit, heading out to the outdoor gym to start some exercise. He made sure to fill the bottle on the way over because he wasn't planning to take any significant breaks in his oncoming workout.