Chapter 6 - The academy

Milles felt his heart beat fast enough to leave his chest as someone jumped behind him. He did wonder if someone had finally decided to finish him off, a paranoia from his previous life.

"Hey, you alright? It's rude to ignore someone when they are talking to you" the voice seemed friendly enough and the young tone informed Milles that it was likely a student.

So not a killer out to kill him for creating the neural system.

"Hey, where are you going? I was talking to you" Milles needed only one look at the female student behind him to know that he wanted to do nothing with her.

The female was not fully human and he knew from experience that anything not fully human and having magical powers was a bad sign.

"Stop walking away from me. Hey, come back here" Milles picked up speed when it was clear that the female would not leave him alone otherwise.

The deer antlers on top of her head stood out clearly against her brown hair.

Half-breeds were mutated people that had emerged in the first few years after the neural system had uncovered magic.

Since magic was such a new phenomenon, not everyone was found suitable for its usage. Many such people were the mutants that had merged with animals and formed an entirely new species.

They had been back news back then, often losing their sanity to their animal counterpart, and had been a 'shot at sight' kind of species.

And they had not been happy with Milles as the creator of their suffering. He had faced too many assassination attempts from those people.

As such, having one follow Milles around like this was nerve-wracking.

Milles knew he had to lose this girl before she became a problem, so he hurried up and picked up speed…

…which did not help him out at all since the female also picked up speed.

People jumped out of his way as he ran away from the female chasing after him.

"Hey, Looney is at it again. Someone should go get the teachers. I think she's losing control again" the cry forced Mille's attention toward the speaker and caused him to stop.

He was not the only one. Everyone else stopped to look at the scene as well with curiosity.

And the female chasing him also stopped short in her tracks. And it was not long before a well-suited adult also arrived at the scene.

"You again? You, come with me at this instant. Magical capabilities or not, I knew letting someone like you in here was asking for problems. You mutants are the same, uncivilized" Milles could not help but flinch at those words.

They had hit a little too close to home. Those were the words people teachers in his childhood used to say for him and his sister when they wanted to insult him.

For the first time since the whole encounter, Milles felt himself waver. He wanted to help the poor girl out but it was too late.

The adult, likely a teacher, had already disappeared with the girl.

As soon as that happened, the students in the corridor also started to disappear.

Milles could not help but feel disappointed with the whole interaction but there was nothing else to be done.

He had to reach his dorms and keep his head down. He could not afford to attract any more attention to himself.

So he walked while checking his mobile map.

The dorms were segregated into a male and female section with a central facility area. He was currently in the facility area and needed to report to the dorm office.

The grounds were also separated by huge training fields with reinforced equipment. Some of them he recognized from the net as training facilities for magically gifted, others were new and would require a lot of looking into.

But it all told Milles only one story - the whole academy was customized for magic users.

The world had changed a lot from his times. Magic users were everywhere now.

"Welcome, sir. Please press your hand here and we will register you as a student" Milles placed his hand where it was indicated and his head exploded with magic.

There was a gasp around him, likely at his poor reception of magic but no one was stupid enough to comment on it.

They had likely already heard about him and his inability to channel normal magic.

"Here you go, Room 143. It's a double room but your roommate is not here for now. Expect your roommate to arrive in a week since he's an exchange student" Milles stopped paying attention after the first line.

Since his roommate was not here yet, it was futile to think about it. He would cross the bridge when the time came.

Also, he was not sure how long he would be able to survive in this atmosphere filled with magic.

Room 413 was located on the 4th r of the 1st section. The whole boy's dorm was divided into 5 sections depending on the year you were in.

It was easy enough to find on the map and Milles only followed it along.

His room was the very first one once you climbed the stairs. He preferred it this way as well since the lift's magic made him feel sick.

And there it was, the place he was expected to spend his next years till he had to change. It only had one name on it currently, Misha Raycraft and he opened the door.

The room was a standard 5X3 arrangement with two single beds arranged at the opposite ends of the room and a privacy screen in-between.

Milles felt disappointed with the arrangement but he had no idea why. Maybe he had expected a little too much with such a high-class place.

But being here, he could only say one thing - it was just like a normal scroll underneath all the magic it taught.

And that might have been the most terrifying fact of all. There was a system to this place, a hierarchy Milles was unfamiliar with and he would have to adapt to it all over again.

The first thing to do was to study strategy. Milles needed a course of action and he needed information as well.

Who was the top dog here, whom to befriend, who could help him out? There was much to be learned about this world and how to go about correcting it.

Since the most obvious way to help this world- to destroy the neural system was out of the way, Milles would have to work to change the world in another way.

He would need to empower the unfortunate and give them a voice to stand on equal footing with the government.

Milles unpacked everything he had left to scout out the grounds.

The first course of action had to be to secure a mode of communication. It would not be overkill to say that every media in this school every media connected to the neural system was being watched by the government.

If Milles wanted to achieve his goal, he needed a way to break out of that web. He needed a safe device he could operate from and for that he needed money.

He could not risk using his allowance money to buy those parts since he would be looked into immediately. He also needed a new identity since Misha Raycraft was too high-profile to be making waves.

And last, of all, he needed allies on his side to fight with him. He needed people he could hide behind while he planned in safety.

All this would have to be done before he could start making changes.

The campus was as big as it had been advertised in the papers and Milles could not help but be left in awe.

This was the most natural he had seen at any place, including the city ground and there was no doubt in his mind that it had been a deliberate plan to calm the students.

[Unauthorized zone ahead. Any moment in the restricted zone would be monitored]

The neural system's voice cut through Milles's thought like a knife cut through the butter. There was such a zone ahead?

"Is it unauthorized for even me? Can't you cloak my presence here? I want to check the place out" since the neural system had taken the liberty to warn Milles, he felt even more curious.

There was a magical barrier in front of him that restricted his entry into that area.

[Authorization level overwrites under code Alpha. Professor Milles is authorized to pass through]

Milles knew the code to allow him to overwrite anything would come in handy one day. He had included that command without informing the government and he had never been so glad to be able to do this.

But before he could take a step inside the magical barrier, there was a hand on his arm that stopped him.

"What are you doing here? You are not permitted to be here" Milles had been caught even before he could have made his move.