September 28, 3067, Friday
"You're telling me you're an Adeptus?" Kristan's eyes widened in surprise when Ardiel mentioned the details of his admission test.
Ardiel had decided to share this information with his roommate to build some rapport. After all, it made sense to get along with someone he'd be spending a lot of time with.
"Oh, come on," Ardiel said with a dismissive wave. "I'm hardly worthy of that title."
The term Adeptus referred to someone who had both a mana ring and a mana core. Typically, those who faced stagnation in their growth might explore another path in hopes of overcoming their limitations. However, it was almost unheard of for someone as young as Ardiel to develop both mana sources from the beginning. It was considered nearly impossible due to the challenges of compatibility and foundational development.
"Anyway, how far have you gone with the classes?" Ardiel asked, trying to steer the conversation to another topic.
"So far, we've only had physical evaluations for the Sparring exercises. We also chose our weapon for the Armament class. The instructor for my Augmentation class has yet to be appointed due to sudden changes. Oh! We also got paired with partners for our classes, since we always work in pairs. I think that covers everything for the auror classes. I can't speak for the magister classes though," Kristan said enthusiastically.
Ardiel glanced on the pinned sheet of paper on the wall by his table which contains his specialized curriculum, which included first-year classes from both the Magister and Auror departments:
Auror Department
Basic Armament Studies (Monday - Morning)
Principles of Augmentation (Tuesday - Morning)
Introduction to Mana Core (Wednesday - Morning)
Magister Department
Basic Herbology and Alchemy (Monday - Afternoon)
Magic Spell and Formula (Tuesday - Afternoon)
Introduction to Mana Ring (Wednesday - Afternoon)
Shared Classes
Introduction to Magical Beasts (Thursday - Morning)
Introduction to Magic Theory (Thursday - Afternoon)
History of Magic and Aura (Friday - Whole Day)
Sparring Exercises (Saturday & Sunday - Whole Day)
He had three additional classes compared to the seven classes of a regular student, which meant more of his free time would be occupied.
Thanks to the well-organized schedules, with Auror classes in the morning and Magister classes in the afternoon, he had no problem with overlapping sessions.
But he's basically loaded with his schedule, but that's to be expected, he brought this upon himself and he must embrace it.
"That's a nasty schedule," Kristan commented as he saw the paper on the wall.
"Right? But I think it's bearable at least" a bittersweet smile appeared on his face as he felt helpless.
Auror classes started at seven in the morning and ended at noon, while Magister classes began at one in the afternoon and finished at six. That's five hours of classes each day, totaling ten hours, that's relatively more lenient than he expected so while it seems overwhelming for others, to someone diligent and hardworking as him, it wouldn't matter that much.
"By the way, it's already 6:20 PM. Want to grab dinner? Maybe I could give you a tour of the campus," Kristan offered.
"Sure, I'm pretty hungry," Ardiel replied, hopping off the chair and heading excitedly toward the door.
"Hey, you forgot to change clothes! You're not allowed to leave the dorm in casual clothes. You need to wear at least the athletic uniform—it's in your wardrobe," Kristan called out in shock as Ardiel was about to step out.
"Oh, right!" Ardiel chuckled, realizing his mistake. He had nearly earned himself a violation slip.
He walked over to the corner where two wooden wardrobes stood—one for Kristan and the other for him. Opening his wardrobe, he found three sets of plain dark gray t-shirts and cargo pants.
"Nice of them to get the sizing right," he muttered, somewhat impressed.
He quickly hung up the other uniforms that had been folded on his bed and stored his few casual clothes in the wardrobe. Then, he changed into an athletic uniform.
"Ready?" Kristan asked, already heading out the door.
"Let's go," Ardiel nodded, following him into the hallway, where they passed a few students likely on their way to the cafeteria as well.
"This floor's for first-years, second-years are on the third floor, and third-years on the fourth. The fourth-years have a separate building—a small one-floor place with just a few rooms. Most of them are allowed to go home or live off-campus during their deployments, so they rarely stay here," Kristan explained as they descended the stairs.
The first floor was spacious, with the cafeteria taking up almost half of it. The hallway split the floor into two sections—the office and gym on the right, and the cafeteria on the left. The cafeteria was filled with long tables and attached benches, each table fitting up to ten people, though smaller tables for six were also scattered around.
It was the one place on campus where students could cut loose, making it a hub for conversations, gossip, and the occasional prank.
"It's Friday, so they've got the dish I've been craving," Kristan said, expertly navigating through the bustling crowd. The cafeteria was alive with chatter and laughter, and Ardiel couldn't help but be amazed.
He followed Kristan as they moved about until they reached the service counter, where 10 different dishes were displayed. Tonkatsu and Yakitori from the East, Eintopf and Schnitzel from the North, Fattoush, Bukhari Rice and Beef Tagine from the South, and the Western dishes that he so familiar with, such as Poutine, Split Pea Soup and Tourtiere.
Grabbing a plate, Ardiel joined the line after Kristan. The sight of the Poutine alone made his stomach growl louder. Just the amount of serving he saw earlier already makes him more hungry.
He eyed the dishes with gleaming anticipation, making sure to try the Yakitori and Bukhari Rice, which he hadn't tasted before. As he reached the Poutine, he eagerly grabbed a bowl.
"I knew you'd go for the Poutine," a voice whispered so close to his ear that Ardiel nearly jumped.
"What the—" Ardiel turned, flabbergasted, only to see Reno grinning at him.
"First thing you do is go for Poutine and not me? I'm hurt," Reno teased, but his smirk soon returned as he enjoyed the look of surprise on Ardiel's face.
"Ahem," someone behind them cleared their throat, reminding them they were holding up the line. Ardiel quickly moved away from the counter, following Kristan, who seemed less than thrilled by Reno's presence.
"Let's find a table and let me eat my poutine first," Ardiel insisted, his stomach protesting any further delay.