The next day, after a restless night, he headed to his new university. He spent most of the way grumbling about his father forcing him to start classes as soon as he arrived.
He walked for a good half hour to arrive in front of a building about ten stories high. Worried, he checked the GPS on his phone several times to confirm that he was in the right place.
The location was nothing like he thought it would be. Apart from a meager park with a few shrubs, there was no large green space typical of a campus surrounding the building.
Moreover, the glass and steel building looked more like the headquarters of a corporation than a place of education. Only the few young people walking into the building proved its function.
Resigned, he followed them, cursing himself for not having inquired further. He rushed into the building and landed in a large, uncluttered hall. He looked up to see the ceiling ten floors above.
For each of them, a passageway went around it, giving a plunging view on the entrance. In front of him, a staircase led to the upper level.
After a quick re-evaluation, he found the place awesome with its modern design, he who only knew the old stone buildings crumbling under the years of European universities.
Delighted, he approached the reception desk as he had been instructed in his admission letter. A woman in her thirties was sorting through a pile of documents.
It took her a few seconds to notice him and stop:
"Hello sir, excuse me, what can I do for you?"
Here, even the secretaries seemed wonderful compared to their continental counterparts, those shrews who pretended to be at the service of the students when they spent their time obstructing them.
"Hello, I'm a freshly arrived student in your lovely city. I was told to come by this office so that you could welcome me."
"I see, you are a permanent foreign student, right?"
"That's correct."
"In that case, please go to the fifth floor, room 514, that's where your welcome is. We'll explain to you everything about our institution, so don't worry. Is this okay or do you need help?"
"I..."
Just as he was about to answer, a young girl came up to greet the secretary:
"Hi Mira! Can you quickly give me the room of the consolidation year?"
"Hi Meline... As you can see I'm busy, can you hold on a moment... Wait, you just said you wanted the consolidation year room?"
"Yes, they only admitted me to the university if I went through this course..."
The secretary smiled at her statement.
"In that case, you can guide this young man since he is going there too."
The girl looked at him for a long time before letting go with a sigh:
"Very well, but you will pay it to me..."
"Thank you for your help! It is room 514. By the way, you're not in high school anymore, you don't need your uniform..."
This remark plunged her into deep embarrassment to the point that she started to walk away from the reception desk. The secretary turned to Remio:
"As for you, follow her, she will serve as your guide."
He thanked her before running after the woman named Meline who was not waiting for him. He supposed that the woman used him to tease the girl and according to the reaction of this last one, she had rather succeeded. He engaged the conversation with his fellow student:
"Hi, I'm Remio, I'm a foreigner who comes to study here!"
He tried to look as pleasant as possible, but her disturbed pout did not help. After an interminable and embarrassing wait, she finally answered him:
"Meline. Thalacian."
She hesitated for a short moment before continuing:
"You have to have guts to come and study in Thalacia in this academy..."
This sentence caught Remio's attention:
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's the worst university in the whole city... Not that the teaching is bad, but... You'll understand soon enough."
A bad feeling crept into Remi's mind. He didn't do that... To be sure, he scratched the subject a little more:
"Why would people go here in this case?..."
She stared at him as if he was fooling her. Then she answered as seriously as she could:
"I don't know how you ended up here, but you seem to be quite a case. This is the cheapest academy in town. For us, it's free. As for you, I suppose that its price must be lower than for the others... To tell you the truth, you are the first foreigner that I meet here, nobody being ready to spend such a sum of money for such a mediocre education..."
As he thought... His father's cheapness had struck again. The old man earned huge sums of money from his work, but he always refused to spend too much... It avoided attracting attention he said...
Remio sighed in turn:
"I see..."
They continued their way in an unpleasant silence, Remio inwardly insulting his father and Meline, wondering about this strange individual who accompanied her.
They reached their destination after a hundred steps.Seeing the shortness of breath of his comrade, he wanted to take her to an elevator but the mention "Out of order" dissuaded him from continuing. In the lecture hall, the students occupied less than half of the sixty seats in the room.
He took a seat in the front row. To his regret, Meline went on to sit at the back, away from anyone. The noise of the discussions invaded the classroom. Remio had the unpleasant impression that since he had entered, most of the conversations revolved around him.
Thus, a few bursts of laughter made him uncomfortable. He endured this situation for several minutes before a professor came in and cut off the conversation.
"Hello everyone, I am Mr. Origo, your teacher referent for this year. I see that we have a new face this year as a foreign student, I welcome you and I hope that all the students will make sure that you do not regret your experience."
Remio noticed that most of the students around him were smirking. Oh no, he almost didn't regret it at the moment... The professor continued:
"For his sake, I will explain the functioning of our academy and its rules. This will take us quietly until the end of the morning and this afternoon we will go to the open field in Yocus while I introduce it to our newcomer. So much for the day's schedule."
The utterance of the word Yocus excited the entire class, Remio included, finally he would see the real reason for his presence here.
While the professor was speaking, he listened with a distracted ear, retaining only the essential. The establishment he thought was a university turned out to be an academy, a place where a high school and a college were concentrated, all to gain space and efficiency. Because of this particular organization, classes were mandatory and the days were busier than usual.
As expected, at the end of his presentation, they arrived at the stroke of noon. The teacher gave them an appointment one hour later in the basement of the school.
Without knowing where to eat, Remio decided to follow the flow of hungry students that led him to the cafeteria. After a few problems with the automatic machine used to order meals, he sat down at a table overlooking the whole district, the academy being one of the highest buildings in the area and the cafeteria located on the penultimate floor.
The meal turned out to be more appetizing than he had expected, because he didn't dare to try an unfamiliar dish and chose pasta. With a full belly, he walked down the eleven floors to the lobby.
He spent a moment looking for the entrance to the basement before turning to some students who seemed to know the place. Thanks to his flair, he reached the meeting point right on time for the resumption of classes.
After a quick count to verify the number of students, the professor Origo spoke up:
"I see that everyone has found their way to the basement, even our newcomer. As I said this morning, you have three hours of free time, not one minute more, and any delay will be punished by deduction of points on the ranking, is that clear?"
The audience silently approves the instruction.
"Well, go ahead, except for the foreigner, Remio if I am not mistaken, to whom I must introduce Yocus."
On this order, everyone rushed through the door behind him. Alone with the professor, Remio waited a few moments for the crowd to pass before the latter resumed:
"Well, follow me, I will show you how everything is organized."
They went through the door to reach a gigantic room in which countless lockers were lined up. At the back, it opened onto two doors, each with the symbol corresponding to each gender.
"As you can see, there is a number on each locker, you are supposed to have received one with your registration papers, so go get yours."
"Yes, sir."
He obeyed, walking the long aisles until he came upon his at the end of the row. He opened it with the code he had entered at registration. With a thud, the lock unlatched, giving him access to the contents of the safe.
He took out five items that made his heart beat faster. Finally, he was there!
He took them and went to change behind the door reserved for men. He undressed to put on the pants he had just recovered, a heavy quilted coat, a pair of boots and a long knife that he attached to his belt thanks to the place provided on his top.
Without understanding the use of it, he added to his outfit, a pendant decorated with an intriguing symbol. Once ready, he rushed to the next room where he found the professor in a similar outfit. He saw him arrive with a smile on his face:
"Well now that you are equipped, we will cross the portal to Yocus!"
With these words, he showed him the object located on his right. A circle of two meters in diameter fixed to the wall around which gravitated numerous machines and other metal parts of unknown use.
Inside, a silver film similar to that of a mirror covered the disk, reflecting the room. The professor walked in front of the machine and signaled to Remio to join him.
The latter complied. When the professor put one foot in front of him, crossing the portal, he reproduced the gesture with a touch of apprehension.
His limb passed through without him feeling any discomfort or pain. He could still feel his leg and still manage to control it despite his unusual situation.
Seeing that he accepted the experience without too much trouble, the professor continued by sinking all the way down, disappearing.
Remio, faced with this phenomenon, felt a fear arising in him. Knowing that the longer he waited, the more it would grow, he motivated himself and went into the portal.