First Place As Expected

After the nimble youth was gone the rest of the opposing team got cleaned up easily.

"The left team is the winner!" The old man looked towards James with a big smile; he knew that James was going to be an invaluable asset to the academy in the future.

After that the rest of the students all played their games as well, they would then proceed on to the next test, and after another eight rounds of tests there were three hundred students left, and they had been placed into a ranking depending on their performance in each test.

Out of the group of youths from Alner only Mary, Daniel, Sebastian and the girl with the crossbow had passed. They had all placed around the 100 mark showing they were above average for their age.

After the rankings came out it wasn't out of anyone's expectations that James had taken first place, one thing that did surprise James was that the other youth he had seen as his potential competition had placed relatively low on the leaderboards at 70th, although James just attributed it to him not doing well in the physical tests.

"Here is your prize for first place James" The old man handed James a beast leather bag, and in it, James found 100 Leones.

"Uhh, thanks I guess" James looked at the man with a face half between awkwardness and half reluctance.

'Cheapskate bastard, I figured I would get a new element crystal at least, guess they don't expect kids to have a lot of money.'

The crowd were all observing James with looks of envy, and you could even see a few plots hatching on students faces. It seemed that it wasn't worth placing first; all it had done is bought unwanted attention to him.

'Oh well, could be worse I suppose.'

"Okay everyone, your placements correspond to your housing for the next few years. I will note that this is subject to change and it is relative to the other students. So the first place is 300 places from the bottom of the academy. We will explain more about the student ranking system after you have begun your lessons."

The academy students that were dotted around began guiding people in the direction of their housing dependent on their placements. James found himself being directed to a building that he would have to share with the top ten students in his group's rankings.

There were two dorm rooms in this building and two single rooms as well. Before anyone could say a single word, James walked forward and branded his name into the door of one of the single rooms. One of the other students darted towards the other room in the meantime and was stopped by another student.

'You guys can have fun arguing I guess.'

While those students were arguing, James headed into the room and took a look at where he would be spending his time for the next few months.

'It's nothing special I guess; the mattress is going to need to be changed for sure, my sleeping bag is more comfortable than this thing.'

It seemed that the room was furnished quite cheaply as the mattress was simply a shaped bag of straw, so it was naturally quite uncomfortable for someone who had been living the high life recently.

'I guess I am only three hundredth from the bottom of the academy; if they're bringing new people in constantly three hundred at a time, we really are the bottom of the food chain.'

After James had taken a look around the rest of his accommodation he headed towards the centre of the academy; he felt that he might as well see what he could find out about the academy before he started lessons the next day.

"Excuse me, is there anything you think I should know or see before I start lessons?" James had approached a student a few years older than himself as he knew they would have a lot of knowledge on the best places to visit and what he should look out for.

"Uh, sure. First thing I would say is to be careful how you interact with people; it really is every man for himself here. Even though the academy talks about teamwork constantly, they wouldn't have rankings if they cared that much. They just want you not to cause too many problems if you work as part of a team, but if you stand out individually, then you'll get better treatment."

'So the academy wants talented individuals to have a place to thrive and then prepare the masses to work in structures like the army where they wouldn't be in charge of themselves. I guess it's the same as Earth in that way, force the masses to stop thinking for themselves at a young age. I guess the only reason that didn't happen in my last life was purely that I didn't interact with enough people to be trained.'

"Secondly, there are a few shops closer to the centre of the academy; they're the only shops in the entire academy so be careful how you treat the shop owners as they're likely to ban you for life if you anger them. In that case, your development will be cut short very quickly. Even if you have to give in a little, it will be worth it in the long run."

The 16-year-old youth then explained a few of the finer points of the academy to James and told him of a few decent places in the academy as well as people to watch out for. James had lucked out to find such a friendly student, the information he had given James made him realise that his perspective was all wrong and this academy was still every man for himself.

"Thank you; you've been really helpful. If you don't mind, can I treat you to a drink? I definitely want to go and check out the restaurant you mentioned. The Flower and Stem right?"

'I hope the wine's as good as the kid says it is, I haven't had any in the longest time.' In his past life, James had never had the luxury of trying the expensive stuff, but he was able to get decent wine for himself. He had always enjoyed a glass of wine while he read.

"I suppose we can go yeah, as long as you're paying." The young man laughed as he pointed down the road and began walking towards the restaurant with James.