The following day consisted of a morning of lectures once again. They were still learning about the history of the military and how it had come to be. They explained to them the different systems behind the operation of it.
It was quite a significant part of life, since they were about to join this army and it was also the ruling organisation of the entire country.
Rhys was currently thinking of ways to get more shards, and he soon realised that he barely even had enough money to get buy. He soon found himself eating less and less at the canteen to make sure that he didn't go overboard.
He was given a ration-like payment from the government that morning to sustain himself, but it was barely going to last a month. The issue was, he wasn't even sure if there was going to be another payment for the following month.
He had sold random items around the house that he had kept reminding himself of his parents. Now, as a vampire, he could smell their scent and it brought him comfort, but the time was coming for him to let those things go.
Selling them was made quite easy through the ethereal emporium, where everyone was connected. It didn't just sell battle equipment and beast crystals, but also other items like general clothing and even food.
The transport was nearly instantaneous, so food and drink were used as a staple item on this market. There were even businesses that ran kitchens, making various meals that would then just be delivered to its recipient using the built-in system store.
These were usually called virtual or online kitchens.
Rhys had left his friends, while Lewis had to go to another place on the school site to receive new weapons. He wanted some basic weapons to train with so that he could improve his dagger skills.
After seeing Rhys' surprisingly good performance against their teacher, Marcus Hale, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be left behind.
Seeing Rhys train pretty much every day also motivated him to continue advancing with his own system, so that he could grow stronger too.
Emmerich was left alone for the time being, and just decided to head to a nearby vending machine to get a snack. Emmerich was very large and burnt a lot of calories through the constant training in this military academy.
Even if he wasn't as hard working as Rhys was, every student was forced to put some work in to continue enrolling in this academy. It was inherently competitive, as those that were not up to par by the end of the 3-year course in this facility would be dropped.
Without a guaranteed source of income, it would leave these people struggling to integrate with the outside world, since they weren't seeing as valuable soldiers or hunters.
This meant people like Emmerich, and his friends would have to work continuously to have a chance of being taken as soldiers.
He entered the paved opening of the school complex. It had a brick-like flooring and at the centre was a large fountain surrounded by vibrant foliage. It gave a nice aesthetic to the complex and it was always relaxing to hear the flowing water as he walked across the campus.
Walking on, though, somebody had stopped him dead in his tracks. He looked much smaller than him, but he knew exactly who he was. His name was Giovanni, and he had a B-Rank system. He wasn't close to Bronson or Lexi's strength but was certainly a strong warrior.
It was almost certain that he would be picked up as a soldier in 3 years time.
"Hi, Giovanni. Can I help you?" Emmerich asked politely.
He hated having to put on this tone when talking to those stronger than him, but it was something that had to be done to avoid problems.
Without a reply, Giovanni just soared right at him and grew large, sharp claws across his right hand. He slashed Emmerich across his face, and the force behind his arm swing caused him to nearly fall over.
"I heard that you've been going out of your way to attack my friends. Who do you think you are to stand up for weaklings below yourself!" Giovanni declared, standing over him.
There were soldiers at the gates not too far from them, who had turned to see the commotion. They looked unbothered and turned around to continue surveying the street ahead.
Their job was not to contain student conflict, and it was deliberately permitted to fortify the social hierarchy between them.
Emmerich felt stunned by the sudden attack but had no time to be surprised. Another attack came his way, which was a punch to his gut.
The force made him almost crumble down to his knees, then he received a knee straight to his nose to knock him back onto his back.
Emmerich sprung back up to his feet, wiping the blood from his nose. However, he wasn't going to stand and let this man beat him up. Even if he couldn't win, he wasn't going down without a fight.
He was being attacked for helping Rhys by going after Carson and Leandro, but he believed that was the right thing to do. Nobody was going to put him down for trying to help his friends.
He shouted and rushed forward, attempting to attack the slimmer, smaller student, but he looked unfazed.
"Intense I-,"
Before he could finish his sentence, Giovanni slipped past his incoming palm and slashed at his stomach with his dragonish claws.
His fingers and hands had also been coated in black scales, and his pupils were now slit. He had fiery orange eyes now and looked to resemble a beast.
He had received a special, unique skill tree that contained skills pertaining to the powers of a beast.
"Come on then, Emmerich! Show me what you're made of!" He shouted, now with a more demonic voice.
POW!
A single punch to the face nearly lifted him off his feet and he then received a sequence of blows he could do nothing to contain. Blood was shot out his mouth as he received punches to the face, and Giovanni did this all with a large smile across his face.
Emmerich tried to hit him, he tried to throw back, but he just couldn't. Giovanni was stronger than even he was, while possessing much, much greater speed.
Soon enough, Emmerich had stumbled to the floor, with little HP left.
Giovanni stood over him, and grinned, showing off his fangs.
"Drake's Might!" He shouted, throwing his punch down.
BOOM!
As he hit Emmerich in the stomach, the ground beneath him cracked, and he soon lost consciousness. He was covered in slashes and his own blood, then Giovanni lifted him up to place him across his shoulders.
"Good riddance." He declared, walking off into the distance.
Rhys decided that he just couldn't help himself. He headed back to the canteen, that was usually quite empty by this time. There were only 15 minutes left of lunchtime and the only things for sale were things like snacks and hot drinks.
As he entered the room, though, he saw a boy in the corner of the room, covered in his own blood. He was more than 30 metres away, but he could see his body with ease. It was Emmerich.
He rushed ahead and could see that he was barely breathing right. He hadn't been given a healing elixir, and was just left to gaze out into the canteen. The other students there felt quite bothered by a bloodied up student in the corner of the room, but there was nothing they could do.
They didn't want to upset the person that could've caused that, scared that the same thing would happen to them. The other students in the room that deemed Emmerich as weaker than them didn't even feel the need to help them.
They just felt that was a product of the society that they were in. Weaklings were left to suffer, while those above were free from that treatment.
"Are you okay, Emmerich?!" Rhys asked, looking for a healing elixir or some form of healing item on his person.
There was nothing, and Emmerich just laughed as he saw him.
"Giovanni handed my ass to me." Emmerich said, laughing to himself.
"Don't talk to much, just save your strength." Rhys said, before rushing off.
Now, his sprint was pacy and he had covered the distance between this corner and the entrance to the canteen that was tens of metres away in just over a second.
He managed to acquire a healing elixir from one of the training facilities at the school. They gave out these basic ones for free, because of the students that usually would injure themselves quite badly inside these training grounds.
Rushing back to Emmerich, he fed him the healing elixir, and just thought about what he could do about the thing. Thinking about Giovanni, he was a very weak B-Rank system user but that still placed him at the top of the C-Rank system level.
If he was ever to try and fight him, he would be toast, even now. His blooded blow was stronger than Emmerich's intense impact, he believed, but it just wouldn't be enough.
'Don't think I'll forget about this, Giovanni. I'll come for you in due time.' Rhys declared, as Emmerich slowly raised.