"OLIVER!"
Oliver shuddered as a bucket of cold water was thrown over him, just what was Callum doing to him now?
"I called you 5 times and you still didn't wake up, are you trying to get us in even more trouble with the academy?"
"Ugh, what's the time? It's still freakin dark in here, we have ages," rolling back over in his bed, "this is so comfy, damn nobles been living the best life."
"And who exactly was the one who gave this too ya? Get ya ass up, there's a uniform for you in the cupboard because we aren't getting any girls with you dressed in those rags..."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence there buddy, I'm sure with your looks we won't be getting any anyways," yawning Oliver finally got up from his bed, staggering over to the cupboard and getting changed. Callum was just staring with wide eyes at this point.
"Alright if your done staring let's get going, being jealous has never got anyone a girl before," Oliver just rolled his eyes at Callum, "besides, what kind of cultivation do you think your going to go for in a couple of weeks?"
"Exceptionally humble.. My family are mainly body cultivators so I'd have access to more techniques if I went in that direction, but magic is just so fucking cool. I think I may be a dual cultivator until I reach Amateur level in magic and see which is better for me yknow? Besides I have a gold rank talent in magic and only silver in body cultivation."
'This guys going to give me a damn headache before schools even started, a freaking gold/silver talent?! That's a dream hundreds of thousands of people could only aspire too, although his family is rich, maybe he used items to increase his talent level? Agh my head'
Oliver just shook his head, he'll find out his secrets in the future anyways there's no need to obsess over it.
"I honestly would love to focus on both paths, it may take longer but being able to destroy a mountain with my fist whilst blasting a meteor into the ground sounds amazing. I don't know my talents yet though, I haven't had my 12th birthday yet, agh we're almost there, I can't wait to learn."
"Ha, I never once thought I'd hear someone say that, the slums must've really been crap for you man, from here on out though, its all upwards."
'Why wasn't it all up for my mum... Why did I have to lose her? What did I do to deserve this? Fuck the Vipers, one day, I'll come for your heads, all of you.'
"Ahh I sure hope so man, welp now we gotta go deal with some noble bullshit lets head into class."
The homeroom teacher was standing at the front taking attendance, Olivers and Callums face turned pale, they thought school started at 7:40 but they seemed to have read their timetable wrong. The class just stared at them in disdain, the divide between nobles and peasants obvious with peasants pushed to the back and nobles occupying the front desks.
"Kid, do you just have a habit of being late? Carry on like this and you'll be kicked out in no time," the homeroom teach just glanced at them out of disgust, "take the two tables up front, and no talking."
"Yes, miss," Oliver took his seat next to a posh looking girl, daggers were being glared into the back of his head, Callum sat down on his right pulling out a piece of gum to chew.
"Alright, first things first class, this class is only your temporary class for the next two weeks. At that point you'll be sent into the VR battle simulation, you will have to fight multiple enemies of different levels, the longer you survive the higher your score. This score is combined with your talents in body and magic cultivation and determines where you will be placed."
"Miss, isn't this unfair? Some of us awakened our systems long ago and have had time to level them up."
"Good question. The simulation monsters you'll be facing are based off of your stats, so someone with a system just awakening will face goblins whereas someone whos levelled it up may face orcs or kobolds, the school understands everyone has different starting points so the first challenge is simply based off your ability to fight monsters of your level. However battle prowess can substantially change within a term, therefore at the end of this term, class battles will begin with the top 5 from a class being able to challenge those above them and those within the class being able to challenge those higher in the class."
'Shit, even if I can get into the T1 class with just a silver talent, there's no way I'll be able to stay there unless I significantly increase my battle prowess.'
"Any other questions?"
"Miss, if you're a high rank within the T1 class is there any benefit to aiming for the top 5?"
"Ha, Oliver, you're late to class and you think you'll make it to the T1 class? Never mind the top 5? Don't joke in my lessons. If any of you are in the fortunate position of making it into the top 5 you will understand then.
Alright, homeroom is over, for the next two weeks you'll be studying your system, where to places your status points and how they interlink with skills.
After this you will be able to chose a specialization such as blacksmithing or alchemy. Of course, combat classes are also compulsory."
The day flew by for Callum and Oliver it was all boring with just admin for the first day, combat lessons only started once everyone had awakened their system, it came to 5pm and they both headed over to the teachers office.
"You two actually came? After hearing from your teacher this morning I'd assume you'd just forget about this."
"No, sir, I wouldn't dare," Oliver paled, offending a teacher with their statuses in society was the same thing as ostracizing yourself.
"At least one of you has some brains," glaring at Callum, he was just staring blankly at the teacher like he didn't really know what was going on.
"Uh sorry sir, did I do something?"
"Tsk damn youth nowadays cant even show respect to their teachers, call me lucy because the rest of the time you two are under my care you'll be put throw hell, understood?"
"Yes, sir" Oliver and Callum said, 'Just what kind of hell is he planning on putting us through? Ah whatever it can't be any worse than the slums.'
"Follow me. we're going to the VR room."
They walked through the corridors before reaching a room with well over 100 pods in it, "Sir, what are these things?" Oliver had never seen anything like it, in the slums the majority of people were far too poor for even basic electronics never mind a state of the art VR pod.
"These are VR pods, Callum I take it you've seen these before? Well this will be your training, I'm going to set the pain settings to 120% and pit you against monsters of a higher level than you, if you don't want to die of excruciating pain over and over again then you must find a way to overcome them."
Callums face paled, he had seen the VR pods and even used them before but on usual settings the pain was set at 40%, 120% was even more painful than being ripped apart in real life, "Sir, is this really safe? I know it doesn't hurt us physically but that level of pain..." He shuddered just thinking about it.
"Suck it up kid cause for the next two weeks its only going to get worse, Oliver, you'll be fighting against 2 level one orcs, Callum seeing as you've already increased your status you'll be fighting against 3 level two orcs."
Both Oliver and Callum almost died of fear at this point, Oliver had never even seen a monster, he could only imagine the monstrosity he would find inside, Callum had barely levelled up a status and could only hold his own against 1 level two orc. Three of them were going to rip him apart.
"Alright kids, step up cause you're not going home till you win, I'll be in spectator mode giving both of you tips got it?"
"Yes sir," They had no choice but to meekly respond and step inside of the pods, one mistake in an assembly earned them two weeks of torture? How was this fair..