3 hours later, Ramon finally arrived in Centerpoint City.
Arriving here, the 10-year-old boy's eyes twinkled like stars as he stared at the large wooden signboard announcing their arrival to their destination.
{Welcome to Centerpoint City!}
"Hahahaha…!" Ramon suddenly burst out laughing.
Whoosh!
Shaggy reacted, swiftly jumping out of the back of the orange hound even as he stared around alertly, searching everywhere for the enemy.
On top the biggest hound in the group, a white hound, Frank also tensed up.
Where was the enemy?
As for the culprit…
"Hahaha…!" Ramon laughed.
"Hahaha…, I'm finally in the capital city of Stoneflower State!"
"I'm no longer a Hope Town bumpkin!"
"I'm a big boy now!"
"I'm a man!"
"Muahahaha…!"
"…" Shaggy and Frank were stupefied.
"Ahem…," Coughing, the duo of astral warriors, the escorts for the new student continued the journey even as thoughts of the weird student that received a scholarship kept on flowing through their heads.
'He's a weird one, that's for sure'.
The journey to Centerpoint City lasted only 3 hours on top Frank's Hounds. Ramon had no idea how it worked but watching Frank's astral energy stir a bit, he saw this astral warrior materialize massive Hounds to life.
Frank summoned 3 Hounds, 2 big white and orange Hounds that they traveled on, and a smaller brown Hound that the new student traveled on.
During the journey, they tried to engage the new student in random conversations but Ramon was too busy fantasizing to pay attention to them.
For literally all his life, he heard of legends of Hope Town astral academy.
But now, he was about to attend an academy that was even rated far higher than his home town academy, it was impossible not to feel hyped for it.
Besides, stepping foot in Centerpoint City alone was an achievement.
After seeing the wooden signboard, they were finally exposed to the interior of the capital city of Stoneflower State. Ramon's first impression was traffic.
Centerpoint City was a busy city.
Going further through a straight road after the entrance to the city, there was a junction that led to 3 other smaller roads. "This is Coca Junction". Shaggy spoke up again at this point.
"Centerpoint City is divided into 3 main districts, the Coca Market district, the Merchant district, and the Academy district".
"If you follow the straight road and go further up, you'll find Coca Market".
"Coca Market is the busiest part of the city. There, you can buy anything that you want so long you have gold coins, and there are more non users there".
Ramon looked up at this young brown-haired man, finally interested in his conversation. "What is a non-user?"
"They are the normal people, those unfortunate enough to not awaken astral energy after their 10th birthday".
"You can say Coca Market is the hub for non-users".
"As for the Merchant district, it's the opposite of Coca Market. It's the hub for astral warriors and astral travelers who visit Centerpoint City".
Hearing that sensitive word, Ramon's ears stood like antennas as he stared at Shaggy with even brighter eyes. "There are astral travelers here?"
Shaggy looked at the little boy, amused by the expression on his face. "Of course," He laughed. "Is there anywhere in the world that there's no astral travelers? They always lurk around".
'They always lurk around'. That word registered in Ramon's head and it made him remember something similar that he once heard long ago.
'I protected them because I wanted to'.
'That's the joy of being an astral traveler, you're not tied down by any rules or etiquette of society, you get to do what you want'.
Ramon said no more as Shaggy continued his explanation.
"The Merchant district is a busy city hub, that's where you'll see most resources connected to the astral world being sold and exchanged for gold coins".
"In the future, after you gain your hunter badge and start hunting astral beasts, you can go to the merchant district to change your hunt for gold coins if you have no need for the academy's contribution points".
"Like I told you before, going straight leads to Coca Market, that leaves the destination of the 2 other roads of Coca Junction obvious".
"Taking the left road leads to the busy Merchant district".
"Taking the right leads to the elite district of Centerpoint Academy, this is where the true elites and leaders of Centerpoint City stay. And of course, it's also the location of the academy, that's where we are going".
"Do you want to have a tour of the Merchant district and Coca Market now, or you want to go to the academy first?"
"You can take me anywhere?" Ramon was surprised.
"Of course," Frank chimed in at this moment. "The more places we take you and the more time we spend with you, the higher our pay".
Ramon's eyes widened. "I thought you were my escort".
"Yes, but you think it's for free?" Frank smirked. "So naïve".
"We are students like you and we do everything possible to get academy contribution points. You'll understand soon, fresher". Frank laughed before suddenly frowning as he remembered something.
"You still haven't told me," He looked dejected. "How truly big is your pp…?"
BONK!
"Ouch…, Shaggy!" Frank groaned in complain.
Despite the offer, Ramon opted to go straight to the academy, he could not wait to see this legendary destination of astral warriors.
On the way, he met a lot of people with Taekwondo uniforms like his own, most of them waved and greeted Shaggy. He seemed really popular.
As they traveled, one thing was constant to Ramon. 'Most of these people all have astral energy, this is truly a haven of astral warriors'.
'Here, I can start my dream to be the strongest'.
Thinking this, memories of that long white-haired old man with perfectly combed long white beard appeared in his mind again. 'Hehe…,' He grinned.
12 minutes later, they finally arrived.
{Welcome to Centerpoint Astral Academy!}
The academy was big.
Ramon could not see inside yet but just the gigantic walls alone that rose so high, hiding whatever was inside it were enough to give him an idea of how absolutely humungous it was.
"Our academy is the biggest in the country with a size of over 300 acres," Frank could not help but comment with pride as he saw the look of fascination and admiration on the little kid's face.
"300…, acres?" Ramon scratched his head. "What's that?"
Frank chuckled. "You're joking right?" He looked at Shaggy then back at the boy. "300 acres, like in over 1 square kilometers when converted".
Ramon's head instantly went blank as smoke seemed to come from his head.
Seeing this, Frank's face turned weird even as Shaggy laughed.
Shaggy patted the boy on the head. "It's ok kid, Frank just means to say that the school is really really big".
Ramon's eyes brightened up. "Like in really big?!"
"Yeah, really big".
"Wow!" Ramon exclaimed.
By now, they finally got to the gigantic gates of the academy where they met a brown-bearded fat middle aged man with a bottle of beer beside his left leg. Resting on his lap was a huge broad sword wrapped up by leather.
By now, the skies were already turning dark as night approached.
Noticing them, the fat middle-aged man's eyes opened lazily as he glanced at them before closing back the next moment.
"Good evening Mr. Patrick!" Frank greeted enthusiastically.
"Um…," The Mr. Patrick only groaned in reply, he was on security duty today.
"That is our Wildlife instructor!" Frank introduced enthusiastically.
Hearing that, Ramon looked at the fat middle-aged man. He looked at his chubby laps, his fat cheeks, and his fat stomach that flapped about even as he slept, then his eyes narrowed. "That fat man is…!"
"Who did you call fat?" Mr. Patrick's eyes snapped open, fill of venom.
Shaggy and Frank shook in fear, Shaggy instinctively protecting Ramon behind him as they tried to explain. "Mr. Patrick, sorry, we can explain, he is a new…"
Ramon pushed Shaggy's hands away as his face scrunched up in anger at the injustice. "Don't block me! That fat man is in charge of wildlife?!"
"…!" Shaggy and Frank were speechless. 'This fool!'
Rape disappeared from Mr. Patrick's eyes, now only filled with curiosity. 'Such courage at such a young age despite basking in my aura, that's rare'.
"Kid, what's your name?"
"Ramon Brenden". Ramon responded while glaring at him.
"Of the Brenden family, huh?" He rubbed his chin. "I heard that kid is now the patriarch". He muttered to himself.
Then he looked at Ramon again. "Ramon, welcome to the academy".
"Thank you, fat man!"
"…!" Shaggy and Frank shuddered.
'...' Mr. Patrick's eyes twitched. 'That's definitely going too far'.
He kept a gentle smile on his face though. 'I'll definitely target him in class'.
A few minutes later, Frank left even as Shaggy escorted Ramon to the guest hall. "The academy session already started since 2 months ago, so you're a bit late and a hostel room is not yet arranged for you".
"You'll have to sleep in the guest hall for now".
"Get ready though, tomorrow morning, you have an early class by 7". Shaggy patted him on the head again. "I'll come meet you before 7 to take you there".
"I'll complete my escort job for you tomorrow by taking you round the academy".
Ramon grinned. "Thank you, brother Shaggy".
Shaggy only rubbed his head and smiled.