As the golden rays of the sun peeked through the bedroom windows, making the room light up, Yasuo was gently woken up.
'Ah, I must have forgotten to close the curtain while I was practically in a daze from what transpired yesterday evening.' Yasuo thought clearly.
Strangely, a good night sleep made everything that happened yesterday sink in and clear his mind. 'I really have 2.1 million point.' Yasuo thought, looking at his library card.
In contrast to his dazed state yesterday, Yasuo just felt happy and refreshed, and with a good mood he headed off to the cafeteria to eat breakfast.
'I can't wait to eat a full English breakfast, just thinking about it is lifting my mood up even more.' Thinking about this put an even wider smile on his face as he walked through campus with a nice spring breeze accompanying him.
This spring breeze carried a sweet and savoury smell with it, the wind coming from the direction of the cafeteria. It were the small things in life that Yasuo could appreciate at this moment, just being content with hearing, seeing, smelling and feeling through his senses.
And in just a moment, he would also be happy with his fifth sense, the sense of taste that was still fresh in his mind from his breakfast yesterday.
Walking inside the cafeteria, it was noisy and there was a long line in front of the counter, unlike yesterday. 'Ahh, this is going to take long.' Yasuo thought, but then noticed that there was a another line with just one person in it.
Thinking why no one was standing in that line, Yasuo soon got the idea that it is has something to do with privileges, and he was right. Having walked up to that line, Yasuo spotted a sign above it: 'Top 50'.
Standing in the privileged line, Yasuo, and the other person, were getting a lot of stares from the people who were in the crowded line, which made Yasuo feel uncomfortable. But luckily this uncomfortable feeling didn't last long as a staff member quickly came and took his order.
Just like yesterday, the staff member said that they would bring the meal when it was ready and that he could take a seat. 'The window seat from yesterday would be nice, but because it is so busy now it will probably -' As Yasuo was thinking about this, he looked at the area he sat yesterday, which was almost completely empty. 'So that is a privilege too… thank god I got into the top ten.'
Breakfast was served quickly and Yasuo was savouring his meal, until a sudden high pitch noise deafened the whole cafeteria. *Screeeeeetttchhhhh*
Even though the audio had a bad quality and was way too loud, Yasuo got a warm feeling in his stomach from this. 'Now it is really starting to feel like a school, I am getting excited!' Yasuo thought as he hadn't been to a school in over a year.
Yasuo has never been someone who was late for anything, so even though there was half an hour left until class started, Yasuo quickly finished his breakfast and went to class early.
Having looked up which lecture hall he needed to go to on the way, Yasuo could directly enter the right room. Entering the lecture hall, few seats were occupied. All the way in the front row of the class were ten seats that looked more luxurious than any other seat in the lecture hall.
'Ah right, I remember reading that a premium seating arrangement in classes was also a privilege…'
Yasuo didn't really feel comfortable with the idea of people staring at him for a whole hour by having a luxurious seat in the front row, and with there being plenty of unoccupied seats, Yasuo decided to just sit in the middle of the second row. 'Yes, this seat is in as good of a place as the luxurious seat in the front row…. But that seat does look comfortable.' Yasuo thought sitting directly behind it.
While waiting for the class to begin, Yasuo felt like a freshman in high school again. With more and more students entering, the whole lecture room soon became full and it had become difficult for students entering to even find a seat.
'That must be what the privilege is for, not to have a comfortable seat, but to ensure that there is an empty seat.'
Time passed by quickly and it was now only a few minutes before the introductory lecture would begin, but Yasuo noticed something strange. All ten seats in front of him were occupied, and with Yasuo not sitting there, it must mean that someone else outside of the top ten had sat down there.
Suddenly an angry voice could be heard: "Who is sitting in my seat?!"
A group of three people were standing in front of the first row, who all looked displeased.
Yasuo had quickly realised what was happening, which was confirmed by the badges on their uniform, as they all wore the same badge as him. 'So they are also in the top ten. They look strong.' Thought Yasuo, which lit a small flame inside of him. Knowing that they were stronger than him, Yasuo had unconsciously set a goal to surpass them before he left the academy.
While Yasuo was thinking about this, the dispute had already been resolved and the three students could sit down comfortably even though they were barely on time. And even though they sounded arrogant, demanding the lower ranked students to get out of the seats, Yasuo couldn't dispute that they were in the right.
The problem of the seating arrangement had been solved just in time as a teacher had arrived precisely at nine o'clock and started the lecture right away.
The teacher introduced herself as Miss Jang and began her lecture in an organized way, explaining everything that needed to be known about the academy. It was a lot of information to take in, which surprised Yasuo who was thinking about how the teacher could even memorize all of it.
Luckily Yasuo had brought his notebook and immediately started taking notes diligently, and was just able to keep up with the speed of the lecture. The teacher was telling everything in such an organized way that Yasuo's notes could also effortlessly be structured neatly.
With how much information the teacher gave, Yasuo had to write down everything instantly, which made the lecture seem to fly by.
"Okay class, that is all for the introductory class. I hope you understood everything, because this is the only time it will be explained." Said the teacher before walking out of the room.
As soon as the teacher left the lecture hall, loud chattering began to form in the room. Apparently there was so much information that almost no one had even remembered half of it. It was the same for Yasuo, who also didn't remember much of the class, but he had luckily noted everything down and started slowly reading through them.
As Yasuo flipped to the first page of his notes, he started to read them. 'Okay, on the first page the teacher summed up literally all the facilities there were. Useful, but I can skip that for now. She also named all the teachers at the academy… Let's also skip that for now. Oh, yes. This page is interesting. I have written down literally every class that will be given with a short description. Good job me.'
As Yasuo read down the long list of classes, he marked all the classes that were of interest to him, some more than others. The five classes that Yasuo marked as useful are:
1. Monster identification class (Theoretical)
Description: A class where information about different monsters is taught, including strengths and weaknesses of monsters.
2. Portal clearing strategy class (Theoretical)
Description: A class where information about fighting styles, fighting in different terrains, how to survive in portals and what the best combination of classes for a clearing group is discussed.
3. Dagger wielding class (Theoretical and practical)
Description: A class where the best way to wield a dagger is discussed and practiced in training and duels.
4. Combat training class (Practical)
Description: A class where duels are held between students under the guidance of a teacher.
5. Rune drawing class (Theoretical and practical)
Description: A class where theory is discussed to draw runes with higher proficiency and is practiced under the guidance of a teacher.
'I can't wait to go to a rune drawing class or a dagger wielding class.' Thought Yasuo excitedly as he had never been properly taught before.
Flipping to the next page of the notebook, Yasuo had arrived at the thing he was most curious about after yesterday, academy points, and began to read what he had written down about them.
- Academy points are a currency used within the academy. With the use of points multiple things can be bought, including most privileges, private lessons, achievement cards and a tag along with a professional portal clearing group and more.
- Academy points can be earned in various ways inside the academy. Points can be earned by simple tasks around the academy like cleaning up the cafeteria or mowing the grass. Additionally to this, points can be earned through missions that are displayed in the main building. Information can also be traded for points.
Reading this made Yasuo very excited. The points that could be earned with simple tasks or mission looked like peanuts compared to the points that Yasuo got yesterday, but he was still very excited by such a system.
As Yasuo was looking at the things he could buy with the academy points, only two of them interested him. First of all the achievements cards, for obvious reasons. But the last thing, to tag along with a professional portal clearing group, was maybe as valuable in Yasuo's eyes.
Yasuo was curious as to how an E-rank portal was in comparison to an F-rank portal, having never gone into a portal above F-rank before. But the thing Yasuo was most curious about was to see for himself how efficiently a group of awakeners could clear a portal.
Until now, Yasuo had only gone into portals solo, but he had started to realise that this had become a hindrance for his growth, as he couldn't confidently go into portals higher than F-rank, halting his progress.
'Maybe this year at the academy is the perfect time and place for me to put more trust in others… Could I possibly form a portal clearing group with other academy students?'
Yasuo thought about this a little longer and he started to think more positively about the idea.
Yasuo solo cleared portals because he didn't want to put his trust in complete strangers, but if it were students from the academy, he could get to know them first before they went into a portal. And Yasuo also wouldn't have to doubt the person's strength, because their badge showed their students ranking and thus their direct combat strength.
From every way Yasuo thought about it, only positive things came up. From this, Yasuo could have a way to go into E-rank portals comfortably, which would not only speed up his progress to his goal, he would even be able to get achievements he wouldn't be able to get otherwise, making him stronger in stats and combat ability.
'Setting up a portal clearing group… This has to become my main goal for now.' Yasuo thought to himself, prioritising this goal as a mean to become stronger.