A click was heard from the inside of the room.
"Really hope it's the new guy this time... the sword instructor was a horrible guest to have." It seemed a sword instructor, probably Kolark, wasn't the best person to be around other than in more formal situations
"I feel like if it was, I'd be able to smell his hard work from here..." Probably referencing the sweat that came from Kolark, which Bael noticed before when he was talking before they got on the cruise. He was... to say the least, shiny.
"No need to worry, I'm not the sword instructor." Bael simply said as he walked inside the room, looking at the two.
Both the boys sighed, glad it wasn't who they thought it was. Putting their cards down, Bael took a closer look at them to look for any defining characteristics in these two.
"The name's Adam! Adam Green, you know? I was on the news once." The enthusiastic one, probably the one who lost the poker game, introduced himself. He looked to have brown hair and eyes, which had become less common over the years, although still holding its coveted spot of most common. He seemed to be in a uniform, much like the other one who was playing poker with him.
"My name is Fukumoto Yoshi, but since we'll be getting close anyways, I don't mind you just calling me Yoshi." Bael thought his name held a lot of meaning, as according to what heard while outside the door he was "lucky", just as his name meant. He seemed to be much more formal, having the now rare black hair and eyes.
Colors have many meanings, and shades usually refer to the more specific meaning it wants to convey. Ever since the System and Mana life has become much like a novel or story, leaving hints of what could be on each person. As if Mana itself had a conscious, choosing what it would allow a user to make out of it. It was rare to have a skill that could see the attributes of a person, you can either have an array of guesses the moment they were born or you can simply wait until they show talent or gain a skill that aligns with them.
Depending on the shade of green like the wind mage before who had a pale shade, it could have meanings like "Nature" or "Earth" instead of wind. Even referring to more abstract things like "Luck" and "Space".
So Bael wondered how one of the clearest signs of unluckiness, the pair of deep black hair and eyes, is lucky. That didn't matter right now, as he couldn't ask something like that after just meeting them, that would be rude.
'Im glad you at least know how to respect others... Some other youngins I know never respected even their elders!' Astram complained, reminiscing.
"To introduce myself, I am Bael. I am pleased to meet you all... but who's the one sleeping?" Bael pointed to the one on one of the bottom bunks.
"Oh him? He's the younger brother of Arthur Lancaster! He's not really living up to his brother's standards but... why put him in his brother's shadow you know? He's a pretty quirky guy besides the fact that he's always tired!" Adam quickly explained.
"Yet you failed to mention his name... His name is Umbra, and obviously, his last name is Lancaster." Bael nodded, while Adam mumbled something about that he was about to get to his name.
Bael analyzed he was definitely not going to even if given the time.
Looking over at the now named, Umbra Lancaster, he noticed his peculiar colored hair. Although it looked like his hair would be dyed, if you looked closely enough, it was natural. It was a pure-white base, that slowly faded into black. It was peculiar, but not shocking in an age where everyone had differing colored hair.
And right when Bael was thinking about this, he woke up. And looked straight at Bael.
"Are you... an important character too?"
Bael was completely confused.
***
"Well, I hope that explained it. It's good to explain things over a good game of blackjack." Yoshi sighed in contentment, as he finished explaining Umbra's condition.
Umbra thought of the whole world as a game, which all stemmed from his skill, which he willingly showed and explained to the academy. A person in the dorm room must do their best to try to stay with him at all times, whenever they can, to clear up anything that might go wrong. This skill had a very well-known name... just not the exact same effects.
[GAMERS MIND (Rank: A+)
Any type of mental shock will have an extremely less of an effect on you, and mental damage or attacks will be blocked. This includes psychic attacks aimed at the mind and even the soul. This skill will become an active skill when certain conditions are met...
(This world is a game, have fun!)]
It was said that the last piece of information wasn't actually that but was actually what he remembered it to be. When he read it out loud to the instructors, he evidently lost any memory of the sentence that actually said (The user will see this world as a game until he finds the counter condition.) Without any clues, Bael feels they are slightly similar, except he is delusional and actually gets protection from mental and soul attacks.
Bael wondered if, with Astram and the skills, his soul could handle those attacks better.
'You're right, our connection itself is powerful enough to nullify any low-class soul-related attacks. Our synchronization on the other hand... depending on how much we push it, it'll probably become stronger.' Bael once again nodded, ignoring the squabble between the two over the game of blackjack.
And the stare from Umbra. He didn't stop looking at him weirdly, did he have another skill of some sort? Or was he simply looking at him like a secret character in a game?
"Yoshi, I have a question about your apparent luck. Do you know why you have it?" Yoshi looked at him, not displeased, but expecting the question.
"Hahah... Well, it seems at birth that I was so unlucky, that the seven gods of fortune blessed me. And according to the nature of their powers, all my unluckiness was turned into good luck. Of course, the opposite happened as well but since I have more bad luck, it's all for the better really." He swiftly explained the origin of his good luck, surprising Adam.
"Wow! So are you a contractor?!" Yoshi shook his head at Adam's question and promptly smirked.
"Actually, I'm an apostle! I would have become a devout follower, but it seemed those seven gods were a lot more down to earth than I thought and... Soon I just became their apostle, as I had thanked them very much since I was a child you know, and they thanked me for the genuine happiness I expressed to them. It was because of them I could unlock the system so early, luckily." Yoshi rubbed the back of his head, losing his smirk while explaining. He was choosing his words wisely so as to not be embarrassed showing his love for the gods he adores.
"Wow, that's actually way more wholesome than I thought. I thought you were just some serious guy who only found joy in abusing his luck to win card games-" Yoshi threw a card straight into his mouth with great precision, hitting Adam's teeth.
He rubbed his tooth, somehow admiring his aim even though he was the victim of it.
"It seems you're all more important than I thought. I wouldn't mind playing the card mini-game." Umbra sat on the other side of the table, adjacent to Yoshi and Bael and next to Adam.
"If you say so, man! By the way, if you don't mind me asking, besides your gamer's mind skill, do you have anything else? Like what's your element?!" He looked at Umbra, eyes sparkling. It seems Adam is interested in not only social conversations, but also system skills, and possibly magic and that topic in general.
"Unlike my physical attributes that are supposed to explain my alignment... I can actually choose any path I want. I haven't chosen yet, it must be... absolutely cool!" Bael took mental note of Umbra's words, he could choose his alignment. Was it elemental, did he mean his path, what else could he do?
Bael was interested in everyone in the room, there was "nobody normal in the academy after all" many people who came out from the academy had said countless times.
"Actually, Bael, why do you seem so stoic all the time? Do you have some skill that drains emotional and mental effects like his Gamer Mind? I mean, even at this point, Umbra has shown outward emotion on his face!" Adam seemed much smarter at this moment, this was probably a part of the fact that he was quite possibly a fanatic when it comes to skills.
"I'm a bit shocked someone noticed, I actually gained special admission due to this skill." Yoshi seemed to look at me and stopped shuffling the cards, they all seemed interested to hear about this skill.
There was only a handful of people who got accepted through special admissions after all.
"Well if you really want to know... my skill is [Analyzer], after analyzing most things this is probably the best analyzation skill the world has to offer right now, and it's unique to me." Bael started explaining a lot of things about his skill all in great detail...
Umbra and Adam seemed to be the only ones interested, while Yoshi gave a face that said 'You're all skill nerds...' all while Astram was smiling contently while watching the scene of Bael talking to his new friends.