"Astram, I forgot to tell you about this. I have to go to the "Academy" by today or tomorrow. I'm a special entrant." Astram listened closely, thinking about what he has learned from the internet, he tried to remember the academy...
And he was once again, shocked.
'W-WHAT?! That Academy? How can someone as weak as you go to such a place? Does this world have no standards at all?' The academy was... the "Best System User Educational Facility" in the whole world, according to the things Astram had read on the internet.
"Due to my [Analyzer] ability being different from most scholars' [Analyze] ability, I have been granted special access to their theory and non-physical classes. Most related to "Magecraft" and not "Magic". I've seen that this is the best way to get stronger and experience more things, possibly even breaking out of emotional instability with the social interaction of my peers and so-" He was quickly cut off.
'Even if you have that analyzer ability, it seems you can't analyze that you ramble on too much! Pah! It doesn't matter anyways, you'll become strong one way or another with my help... if you can't use mana, you have to use your body. I'll turn you into the Sword King.' Astram was smug, even without a physical form, you could feel it in your bones. For Bael, this might have been literal.
Bael sighed, a rare show of emotion whenever he took over his body again. You see, the analyzer ability was his [Passive Skill], he couldn't turn it off. The good thing about all of this is that it only affected the emotional state of his mind, with a negative effect. This would have been horrible and not a good thing, if it wasn't for Astram who could take the wheel instead of Bael at times.
The skill never affected Astram as much, as he had great mental fortitude after his 200 years. He also takes his emotions and their importance very seriously... especially after his death.
Bael suddenly turned around after hearing a noise, it was his phone's notification sound. He quickly picked up his phone and read the message.
"The cruise ship is currently docking, please be by the dock in an hour before being left behind, if transportation needs to be provided, message this number as soon as possible. - Instructor Julia." Bael read out loud to Astram, who non-existentially nodded.
'Alright, that's fine... but what is a cruise ship, young one?' Astram asked, genuinely intrigued.
"A cruise is simply a big ship, usually with a lot of activities and places of rest. Due to the nature of this cruise, it will probably be very expensive, and there will be rooms for each student on the cruise. 5 Star chefs are to be expected, and a buffet will most likely be provided, much to my excitement." Bael smiled, after saying that robotic last line about emotion.
'It seems you can show emotion, albeit, more puppet-like emotion.' Astram did not know the phrase robot-like, so he used puppet-like since it seemed more 'modern' to him.
'What's the hold up then! Get a move on! I can train you in one of those cruise rooms!' He pressured Bael to hurry up, and he did.
***
"So... big... it's amazing how it even fits inside..." A female student exclaimed while looking at the cruise, barely fitting around the docking station.
'Truly a modern world's spectacle! Without magic, they had made something as big as this... truly, I would have never known of something like this while holed up in my magic research!' Astram looked at the cruise ship with a child-like glee, if he was in Bael's body, he would have been drooling.
"ATTENTION STUDENTS! I am an Instructor at the Academy, Kolark! I will be the instructor of some of your homeroom classes, and I will be an instructor of the sword for many others! Now that I have finished this short introduction, we have some RULES that you need to follow on this cruise! You hear me!? Good. Now instructor Julia will explain the rest." Instructor Kolark walked indoors to the cruise, possibly to sort a few other things out before the crowd of students entered.
Astram didn't want to listen to the rest of the rambling, so he simply ignored the explanation of the rules and the chatter of the students around him. He was using mental imagery to figure out how he could use his failure of a Magic Rank at its maximum efficiency if it was ever needed. He was slowly planning everything he needed to protect himself and Bael, as well as to support Bael's training.
Bael could hear Astram's ramblings in his head, it would've been more annoying if it wasn't for the emotion-suppressing effect of the [Analyzer] ability. Bael looked completely stoic.
"Excuse me." Bael had felt a tap on his shoulder, by the feeling of the slender finger, it was most likely a female.
"Yes? Do you have a question?" Bael quickly asked as the most likely reason for getting his attention would be to ask a question.
"Yes, although more of a proposition. Would you like to be partners for the upcoming cruise battle?" She bluntly said, revealing what the cruise had in store.
Bael knew something was off from the start, the ship was too big to simply be to show off. The Academy has a reputation to uphold, and not one of them was being rich. He looked behind him and quickly came to a quick deduction on the identity of the person asking this question.
Her name was Ophelia Hill, the daughter of [Rose-Gold]'s leader, the second-largest guild in America. He noticed at first sight due to the news surrounding her early exploits before the freshmen year of the Academy started. Even though she was popular, beautiful, and had a lot of connections, one big question still lingered.
'Truly a beauty on par with the princess. If you want Bael, I have mastered the art of not only magic... but seduction.' Bael turned Astram's voice into white noise.
The Academy never tells outsiders the activities of the freshmen year except for trusted and related instructors. At least, the ones that don't happen every year. The "Cruise Battle" is one such thing that has never happened before, the Academy always pulls stunts like this to test certain capabilities of their students.
"How would you know what the Academy has in store this year, for the freshmen students?" Bael quickly asked, all the above being thought of in mere seconds.
"It seems I was correct, you are very calculating... the reason behind me knowing the contents of this event is because of the entrance exam. The top ten in performance obtained the privilege to know beforehand." She quickly explained, which only led to more questions in Bael's mind.
"Then why tell me, of all people? Why not any of the other top ten students?" Ophelia gave a soft smile.
"That stoic look on your face reminded me of another strong person I know, he was very calculating. Much like yourself." Bael started thinking of famous strong people... and one came to mind.
The "Battle Analyzer", although still not having the passive skill [Analyzer] like Bael, had several active skills that he used almost constantly to his advantage in battle and outside of it. The main one just happened to be [Analyze]. This person was the husband of the leader of [Rose-Gold] a mostly mysterious individual who usually only acted as the manager of the guild and never fought.
But ever since an incident with a hostile guild, he was called the "Battle Analyzer" due to his overwhelming prowess in analyzing his opponent's attacks and taking little to no damage. He destroyed this hostile guild in its entirety by spamming the abundance of analyze-related skills he had obtained. This took extreme skill to do, as he was a lone man against many.
"It seems you know more about your father's strength than the rest of the world. I wouldn't mind if you told me more about him. Maybe even... er, how he uses his skills." Bael was flustered as he analyzed his feeling of wanting to know more about his idol, to his idol's daughter's face.
"Fufu, I almost thought you were emotionless. it seems you're shyer than at first glance." Bael thought she was a... very sociable person, to say the least.
He analyzed that not everybody teases someone they just met like this.
"- Now that the rules for how to behave on the cruise are over... we would like to announce that this was actually an attempt to set up the cruise ship before you got on. Contrary to your expectations of a fun cruise trip, we will actually be holding a "Cruise Battle" event! Everyone can get on the ship now, but please be ready for the following announcement once we go out to sea."
'Why exactly did they say all of that before then?! Is this academy nuts?! They've been spouting words for seven minutes straight! Truly, back in my day...' Bael agreed, he went through a whole conversation and had made a partner in the amount of time that it took for her to finish and for the students to get on the cruise.
... Bael analyzed, that it was probably because of that exact reason it took that much time. "They really planned everything so meticulously, annoying." It seemed that the Academy was pushing the stoic Bael to his limits.