Grey and Ember quickly stepped down from the tram, entering a slick and calming station. Few people could be seen moving around here, as this was just one of the many stations situated around the academy for ease of access. Even the operators here were all replaced by robots, due to the adverse reactions humans had to nether.
Ember wrapped a scarf around her neck before heading forward leading Grey toward the exit. Grey kept quiet following her, as he observed the holographic map of the academy floating by the exit.
' What use is it though, we can all just use waypoints from the holo screens.'
They walked out of the station stepping onto one of the walkways in the academy, it looked to be made of segmented Gray concrete with gravel used to fill the gaps between the segments.
Gray could feel a drizzle on his hoodie. Autumn was already in full swing, with brown leaves slowly dropping from the swaying trees and bushes that lined the pathway, as the sharp smell of dying vegetation and, ⁿ tv the crisp crunch of wilted leaves occupied his senses. The government loved alternating between autumn and winter, summers and springs were very short but beautiful. They said it had something to do with the outside world.
They soon came across a building, or more accurately the entrance to a compound. Grey really started recalibrating his opinion on this school's size.
In front of them was the main dorm building, this was their destination.
The two students looked at themselves before entering the building. The reception area was simple but comfortable, with relaxing colors of cream and brown wrapping around the room accentuated by a curved table placed at the center and numerous couches and lounges, spread across it.
A beautiful blond woman sat at the opposite edge of the table, calmly looking at the visitors with a calming and commercially perfect smile.
Upon seeing their clothes, however, her face into a lazy, casual expression.
"So we got more newbies, huh?"
She sighed, glancing at the cameras stationed in different corners of the room.
"I swear they don't pay me enough for this."
She grumbled, before raising her head again with the former commercially practiced smile.
" Welcome to the Hall of Heroes, oh new rankers. Our facilities here have been conditioned to make your stay here and if you wish your journey as a ranker as comfortable as possible. "
Grey and Ember looked at her confused. The woman's eyes almost twitched upon seeing this but she continued anyway.
" So it doesn't matter if you're coming back from a day of lectures or months diving into the limbo. You can always be sure that there is a warm fluffy bed and a nice delicious meal waiting for you to return. Just submit your names and holo verification Id's so I can check where you've been assigned to, oh Young heroes."
She almost broke character at the end, but somehow she managed to still keep the facade.
Grey nodded looking at her strangely before handing her his details, Ember soon did the same, although not without an excited smile forming on her face.
" Alright, Ranker Ash you've been assigned to apartment 241C. While Ranker Ember's been assigned to 250C."
The lady's face twisted a bit more as she said that. Ember looked at Grey questioningly, and Grey couldn't stop finding himself more confused.
Brushing it off, They collected the keys, thanking the woman before leaving.
"You're welcome young Heros, just doing my duty."
She said flashing a smile, before releasing a light unnoticeable sigh after realizing she didn't have to say anything else.
The two rankers slowly made their way out of the room using the holographic waypoints floating in their vision.
Walking into a hallway, Ember and Grey looked at each other before speaking.
" Is that how folks around here usually behave?"
Ember puzzledly looked at Grey.
"I don't think so."
Grey shrugged.
" Well, she was weird."
" Can't say your wrong."
They both brushed it off before continuing with the waypoints.
Unknown to them, however, the receptionist could hear them. She clenched her fists tightly, shaking for a few moments been she slumped down, defeated.
"When do I quit this job."
A sigh echoed throughout the empty interior of the reception room.
------------
Using the waypoints available to them, they eventually made it to their apartments.
Standing in front of his room, Grey had to admit it was bloody luxurious. Just the living room took as much space as his former house, needless to talk about the wide bedroom, the slightly smaller guestrooms, and the fully fitted kitchen. Perhaps the best part was the high-end training room, with moving dummies and any equipment an average gym could only dream of having. While this was certainly not the best humanity was able to come up with, it was certainly more than enough for a one-person apartment.
Grey and Ember came out after exploring the apartment.
"Well, I guess we'll have to part ways here. Let's meet up tomorrow."
" Alright, see you, Grey."
Grey waved back at Ember, before making his way into the apartment.
' Guess this is where I live now.'
He slumped down on the wide, luxurious couch at the center of the room.
Normally he'd still be reeling in shock that he had this entire apartment to himself. But he'd already been shocked enough times in the past few days that this much was nothing to him.
There was not much he could currently do, as he didn't even bring any luggage so there was no need to even settle in.
Suddenly though, a flashing blue hologram popped up in front of him.
[ You have three new messages.]
Clicking on it made the notification expand.
[From Xxxxxx-xxxx.]
[( Basics of the ranking institute for dummies.pdf)]
[(All you need to know about the hall of heroes.pdf)]
[Ranker Grey is required to visit the medical department at 6:00 am tomorrow, for further evaluation of the suspected effects of his curse. For now, do not take any showers and come to the block as you are, your food will be delivered to you.]
' Just when I thought I had a little free time.'
Rubbing his face tiredly, Grey sat up. He wasn't too surprised though, the police didn't do a thorough investigation on his True Curse yesterday and he had a feeling that he hadn't even scratched the surface of how it would affect his life.
Looking at the files, he was lucky the documents weren't too bulky.
He sighed before he finally started reading them.
------------
An alarm suddenly rang throughout the building, breaking Grey out of his reading trance.
A message was displayed on the holographic projector perched on the table.
// Dinner time//
Grey was surprised looking at it, he arrived in the morning so he was meant to be alerted for lunch.
But he wasn't too surprised though, they probably didn't serve lunch here. He skipped that part when reading the manual.
Well apart from that, there wasn't much he'd skipped. So, he understood how the institute and the hall worked.
And soon enough, a knock sounded on his door.
'Probably dinner.'