Roomate (1)

Lewis knew now that even if he tried to be friendly with Arnold, he would still speak as few words as possible. He did not know whether to laugh or to cry when facing this introvert.

Lewis took Arnold towards the building in front of them, which hand an entrance right at the middle. There were no doors at the entrance, allowing people to come and go at they please. There was actually another entrance on the opposite side, making this hallway seem more like a tunnel.

Lewis reached indoors and turned left. They entered into a room that had "Student Services Center" written at a sign on the wall next to the room. Arnold took a look around as he entered.

The room was rectangular in shape. At the very end of the room was a reception area, with 10 booths that served different students. Half of the booth were empty right now, meaning only 5 of the booths were being operated. There were seats on both sides of the room. "The chairs should be used when students needed to wait for their turn," Arnold deduced. There were two lanes in front of the reception area, one ran horizontally, forming several rows that are connected to each other. The other lane was much shorter at it only consists of a direct vertical path. This other lane is the priority lane only available to certain people. Commander Lewis was included on that list of people.

Commander Lewis directly strided through the vertical lane and stood in front of one of the counters. He placed an entire arm on a counter and leaned forwards, facing the receptionist in front of him with a confident smile.

The receptionist simply smiled back professionally and asked in a polite tone, "How may I help you today, sir?"

"Yeah. I'm here to help this guy enroll, just hand me the tablet so he can fill out all the forms." Lewis pointed backwards towards me with his thumb and said in a casual manner.

The receptionist nodded and took a tablet that was on the table in front of him. He configured the tablet so that all that was showing up were the forms that Arnold needed to submit in order to enroll in this school. Afterwards, he handed the tablet to Lewis, who handed the tablet to Arnold. They went back and sat down in one of the chairs that were located all throughout the student center.

Arnold was sitting in the middle of a row of chairs while Lewis was sitting right next to him. Leaning forwards, he stared at the tablet that was on Arnold's hand and started explaining what he needed to do. "Just write down your name and the subjects you are interested in. Oh, and do you have your own cultivation technique?" Lewis asked in an instructional voice.

"I do." Arnold nodded. It was the cultivation technique that Andy gave him.

"Alright, just put a tick here then so you can be exempt from the standard military cultivation practices."

Many families, especially in the lower subterranean levels, have their own cultivation techniques. Therefore, there is no need to learn the standard military standard cultivation techniques that are designed for the use of everyone. Since everyone had a unique body structure, these mass-produced, written-for-everyone cultivation technique were of low quality and is much inferior compared to their own family's techniques that were past down through the generations.

After filling out the first form, which entails Arnold's academic skills, there was another form that asks a person to write down the information of their next of kin. As Arnold was using an alias when he applied for the military, he could not place his mother's name as next of kin. Troy Anderson was an orphan with no relatives or friends. Therefore, Arnold just left the form blank. Lastly, there were multiple digital forms that Arnold had to sign that entails of liabilities and such.

After completing all the forms, Arnold, with Lewis following him, handed the tablet back to the receptionist. The receptionist placed the tablet somewhere and went inside a room at the very back that only receptionists could enter. After awhile, he came back out empty-handed and asked Arnold in a polite tone, "Mr. Anderson, have you installed a transcational micro-chip within your body yet?"

Arnold shook his head and replied, "No."

The transactional micro-chip (TC) was a chip embedded within a person's wrists that allowed for speeding transactions with just a quick scan. Benjamin used TC when he just returned to base. It also allows people to give access to many things. For example, if Benjamin were to give Arnold permission to enter his house at any time, he simply need to scan Arnold's wrist to add his name within his house's security system. Lower levels also use TC for a school's attendance. It's basically an IC card that is embedded within a person.

"Would you like to install a TC now? We can do it as a free service here in the academy." The receptionist said. "You would need a TC in order to purchase things here. You also need it in order to enter restricted rooms and your domitary room."

After hearing the receptionist's explanation, it seems that Arnold had no choice but to have a TC installed.

Lewis simply stayed behind at the student center while Arnold headed towards the infirmary across from there in order to have his TC installed.

When he arrived at the infirmary, the doctor in charge there simply asked Arnold to reveal his wrist to him. After taking out his left wrist, the doctor made a small incision and placed the chip inside. Then, he placed an anesthetic-filled cotton wool and placed it on top of the wound. After pressing against the wound for a few minutes, he released the cotton wool to find that the wound have miraculously closed in such a short time.

The doctor gave Arnold permission to leave. When he returned to the student center, the receptionist took out a scanner and scanned Arnold's wrist. Then, he said, "As a student, you now have basic access to all public areas within the military academy. There are some places where ordinary students are permitted to enter, which will be explained by your tour guide. Your room number is 389. Do you have any baggage that needs to be sent to your dorm now?"

"No." Arnold shook his head.

"Splendid. Then please wait while I call for a tour guide to come and get you."

Arnold sat back down next to Commander Lewis. Lewis smiled and said, "I guess this is it. Good luck in the academy kid! Don't let me or Captain Young down! I'll sometime come to the academy as a lecturer, so I will see you then."

Commander Lewis patted on my shoulder and gave me an encouraging smile. Then, he stood up and walked out of the student center.

*

After waiting for around 15 minutes, the tour guide have finally arrived. The tour guide first stood at the very middle of the center and shouted, "Troy Anderson?"

"Here." I immediately stood up and headed over to him.

The tour guide gave a friendly smile and said, "Welcome to the military academy, Troy! My name is David and I'm gonna be your tour guide for today. I'm here as a third year student, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask."

Arnold simply nodded and did not say anything.

"Well let's get going then." Seeing that Arnold did not have any questions, David decided that they should get on with the tour.

They left from the exit at the back of the student center and arrived at a long hallway. As the walked across the hallway, David said, "This is the ground floor of the A building, which mostly serves as the main academic building for students. You would spend most of your mornings here, whereas your afternoons would be spent at the B building across from here, which is responsible for teaching you combat techniques, discipline, and any military-related subjects. The C Building is the dormitory for all the students here."

David explained as he walked in a slow pace. It was then that David asked, "Do you have any questions for me?" He gave Arnold an encouraging smile, urging him to ask something.

Arnold simply asked something that had been on his mind, "Since we are boarding here, do we still get to go home sometimes?"

"Sure! Students usually go home during the weekends with their family." David nodded. "However, you can also stay here if you want. Our policies are not that strict in this aspect."

David continued introducing the A Building to Arnold, showing him all the classrooms within the building. As it was the afternoon, most people were already gone, causing the entire building to almost be empty.