The tour around the school went by pretty quickly. Since it was only the first day and the teaching staff was 'getting rid of flies buzzing around', many places were closed down until the morning. So after showing them where their first few classes would be as Black Magic students, Sally brought the pair to the canteen.
Inside, there was a banquet taking place. All of the food was made from magical creatures or mystical plants. Sally pulled on both of them before getting into the line for the Black Magic students where there were only a few seniors present.
"Eat up, kiddos. This is the only day when food will be free and be of such high quality. A single plate of food like this will cost a person 1,500 achievement points," Sally stacked several different pieces of meat on two plates while putting veggies and fruits on another couple of plates.
Wyne and Mil followed her lead and began stacking up plates of food as well. Each of them got 4 plates of meat and only a single plate of veggies and fruits, with the exception of carrots which Mil got an entire plate for herself.
"How do we earn achievement points?" Wyne asked as they sat down and began digging into their food.
"And what are they used for?" Mil added while nibbling on a carrot
"That's simple," Sally answered while eating a glowing, purple apple. "There are 3 ways to earn points. The first is class rankings. Being in the top 10 during the weekly rank will get you between 10 and 100 points, 10 more points for every rank. There are also the mid-term and end-of-term rankings which are worth 10 times as much.
The 2nd way is through missions. Each grade is assigned certain missions that they can take after classes or during the weekend. By completing missions, you gain points but if you fail, you end up losing half the points you would have gained if you completed it.
Lastly are private exchanges between students. You can give points to others, sell items or potions, or tutoring for points, or bet them. Pretty much any way you can think of as long as you are not forcefully taking them. The school does impart survival of the fittest but it doesn't want us to stoop so low as to be criminals. If students wish to fight for points, it must be approved by 3 professors, one from each of their respective schools and then one from a different school.
Teachers also aren't able to just give out points because they could have relatives or favorite students but there are ways around that. Like if they put up a mission and tell you about it ahead of time so you can grab it and earn the points. That is considered fair.
As for what you use points for, that is pretty easy. Everything in the academy costs points. Besides the textbooks and lousy meals, you need to pay for everything. Dorms cost 50 points per month, food costs more, equipment and tomes are also pretty expensive, and even for some classes you have to pay for a spot using points. Private exchanges also usually use points except for commoner students who really need the gold to send back to their families. They are the only ones desperate enough to exchange points for gold."
Wyne paid close attention to what she said. He made sure to memorize everything because he knew that this was an important lesson from his senior.
"How many points do we start with?" Wyne noticed she didn't mention
Sally smiled when she heard this question.
"Zero. Zip. None," she told them frankly. "This academy is very cruel. No! Sadistic is the better word. Just like how you really only see senior students here right now even though dinner is almost over. This is a place where you either take the effort to learn ahead of time for yourself or you learn at the last moment and suffer.
Most students won't find this out until tomorrow when they announce it during your first class. I suggest you two wake up early and accept a couple of missions on the board before class. That way, you won't be caught in the afternoon rush when everyone else learns this."
Wyne already made the mental note for himself to wake up early. But he was starting to like that he had come to the academy.
"I like it!" Mil finished her plate of carrots and moved on to her meat. "Reminds me of home."
Sally laughed mirthlessly. The two had shared tales about everything they went through in Naliah like it was something simple. She was from a family of knights and knew that even their squires would not be sent on tasks like they did unless they had a squad of at least 5 people with one of them being a beginner knight.
"You guys will definitely like this place. At first, we were worried that you would run away. But you two might be running this place by the end of your first year."
Mil was just about to agree when someone appeared right beside her. It was a young girl with purple hair with green tips.
"Sally! Did you hear the news? Black Magic got 3 students with High-tier aptitude and a Sage! Same with White and Blue schools. The Green and Red each only got 2 High-tiers but they didn't get any Sages," the girl blurted out before grabbing some food off of her friend's plate.
Sally wanted to smack the food out of her friend's mouth but held back the urge since she wanted to look like a diligent big sister to the Beastmen.
"Liz! We have two guests," Sally admonished her before turning to the pair and apologizing. "Sorry for her. This is Elizabeth Vega. She is a second-year like me and my best friend. She is also the best at gathering information out of all the 2nd-years. She is able to get information before some of the professors do."
"No need to apologize," Wyne didn't care. It wasn't his food that got stolen. "Are High-tier talents and Sages really that rare?" Naliah had few mages and most just used basic enhancement magic so they truly didn't have much information to go off of.
"Of course!" Liz told them. "Out of the 500 freshmen each year, we usually only get 1 or 2 High-tiers for all the schools. Sages are even rarer. Only 5 can exist at a time for each school of magic.
With the 3 new ones here and the rumors of two others being found in far-off kingdoms, that means that all the Sages are accounted for except 1 from the Green Magic school."
"Oh," Mil responded indifferently. "Didn't know we were that rare."
"Wait? Are you both high tiers?!?!" Liz asked with shock. Sally was equally shocked, not expecting the two freshmen she had been leading around to be High-tiers.
"Nope," Wyne said, allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief. "She is high-tier in Black Magic and mid-tier in Blue Magic. I am a Sage in Black Magic."