Rocky enjoyed the rest of his first day at the university by just lurking aimlessly alongside Buhara and Erin as they toured the campus grounds together.
The orientation was supposed to be the next day and there was not much to do at the academy on the first day.
It was indeed a very different place compared to Earth and a slight culture shock for Rocky who was not accustomed to being around a myriad different species.
Apparently -
Werewolves hated vampires
Beastmen hated Fishmen
Dwarves hated Goblins
Goblins hated Orcs
Elves hated everyone
And humans were considered too weak to be hated.
There was a heavy racial stigma on campus grounds and apart from a handful of mixed race trios, it seemed like most had chosen to form a team with their racial mates compared to roommates.
There was some fraternizing going around amongst different groups as well, however, nobody approached Rocky's team for holding a talk.
With the 9 foot tall Buhara standing behind Erin and Rocky, nobody really dared to approach the group, as Buhara scared everyone off.
This was the way both Rocky and Erin prefered it to be as they did not wish to idoly fraternize either.
Rocky still felt a little uncomfortable under the enhanced sensory effect of the tower's ambient mana, however, he was feeling much better compared to when he first entered the tower.
It was almost like his body had automatically learnt how to get attuned with the ambient mana in the surroundings, and apart from a mild headache, Rocky felt fine as a bird.
The trio visited the university's grand arena, the various special lecture halls, the swordsmanship hall, the library, the canteen and many other important places as they took a thorough survey of the campus grounds feeling awed by its grandeur.
The university for nourishment of young talents, was most definitely the best university to enroll in and its environment matched its reputation.
The students here walked with their noses held high and with a spirit under their step as looking at them one could easily determine that everyone here was brimming with confidence and not shy of fighting at all.
If one made accidental eye contact with another student, then the eye contact was not broken for a long time as both would smirk and try to intimidate the other, trying to establish their dominance early before the true geniuses left the normal ones in the dust.
Rocky too often faced a staredown while he was touring the campus, however, he laughed the fools off instead of humoring them.
In a way, he was more mature than teenagers his age were supposed to be.
He was not easy to agitate or taunt, however, on the other hand, he was his own worst enemy.
The amount of time he took to reflect upon his own actions and future was not healthy, underneath the facade of confidence that he maintained, he was a fragile child who was far from becoming a man.
However, unlike him, Buhara did not shy away from any staredowns, in fact he initiated most of them.
Also, unlike him, when Buhara stared someone down they flinched and looked away, as noone wanted to mess with that beast.
Amongst all the other orcs in the academy, Buhara was by far the largest and most ripped looking one as apart from a handful of Hobgoblins and Minataurs, nobody was even close to his size.
And almost a complete opposite to Buhara, Erin did not even look up into the eyes of other people as he kept to himself and kept staring at the ground below.
If someone made a mean face at him, he hid behind Rocky, as Rocky quickly realized that Erin was going to be the pampered princess of the group.
**********
While the trio were almost approaching the end of their tour. They noticed a large crowd having gathered at one spot, crowding over someone or something.
There seemed to be some excited chatter going around as Rocky's interest was piqued as to what might be going on?
"Hey brother, what's going on? Why is everyone gathered here?" Rocky asked a fellow human who seemed to be heading out of the crowd with shock evident on his face.
" Oh? A champion of gods has appeared! She's showing off her mark! It's really cool" Said the human, as a smile immediately popped up on Rocky's face as he pushed through the crowd to take a look at the champion.
As he reached the front of the crowd, he saw a beautiful woman with sea green eyes, standing with a dazzling smile and an exposed arm.
She appeared to be very gentle, and Rocky was almost captivated by her charm for a second, until he noticed the exposed tattoo on her arm.
A mermaid holding a trident, the mark of the Olympian God Poseidon.
Almost instantly, Rocky pushed back away from the crowd, dark thoughts entering his mind as he walked furiously back towards his room.
" Rocky?"
" Puny human?"
Buhara and Erin called out to him, but he ignored them as he kept walking without a response.
He was excited to meet the champion when he heard there was another from the admissions clerk, however, never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that it would turn out to be a champion of the Olympian Gods.
Someone destined to be his foe.
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/// A/N - This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron allcat_gaming, please thank him in the comments for the same///