7. Novelia Academy

*ringgg*

It was the sound of the school bell. All the applicants who have successfully made it into the the academy were lined up in the auditorium. Everybody had on an issued uniform that Novelia provided. Despite the term uniform, the uniform was more of a combat uniform, designed for both comfort and efficiency. The colours of the outfit were grey and black, which lined the outfit as well. Everybody wore combat boots and the top of the outfit was was jacket which the ends layered over each other, with buttons on one side. This was the same for both female and male students.

As the new students waited in the lines, the headmaster appeared on the stage.

"Hello everybody and welcome to the prestigious Novelia Academy, I'm not going to continue on some long speech, instead I have a few things that I would like to say. Our job here in the academy is to raise potential tellers in the future generation. Tellers are the most prestigious and highly acclaimed title in our society today, because of this there is a reputation that comes with tellers. You all represent the future generation of the tellers, thus if you act irresponsibly and tarnish the title of the tellers, be assured you will be expelled on the spot. So I expect you all to be able to always be at your best."

When the headmaster said this most people started tensing up [tellers] it was a heavy title, if they could gain such a title they could reach the top of society and enjoy many things, from fame to riches. If they messed up in the academy and got expelled, they may as well lose the chance of ever becoming a teller again.

However despite knowing this not many took what the headmaster said to heart.

Who could blame them, they were still technically kids and just entered the academy so they were quite young and naive. They would only learn later on that every word spoken should have been taken seriously.

When Jun En heard this he quietly nodded his head in satisfaction. This is due to the fact that Jun En was a little apprehensive about possible bullies or those who would use their status to threaten other. This wasn't because he couldn't fend for himself, but was instead because it would be too bothersome to deal with. Listening to the headmaster this wouldn't become a massive problem and he could just focus n getting stronger.

"well that's all I have to say, please make sure you take these words to heart"

Before the headmaster walked away she stopped in her tracks and turned her head towards the new batch of students one more time. Her stare created a pressure so great that many felt winded and crushed under it.

"don't mess this up, or you know what happens"

After the headmaster she slowly left, as she left everybody caught their breath, including Jun En.

'her power is indeed amazing' Jun En thought

Unlike the rest of the students who were freaked out and almost crapped themselves under the pressure, Jun En was full of admiration for the headmasters power to just shut everyone up. As Jun En observed the headmaster's ability to create such overwhelming pressure and intimidate everybody, useless thoughts about the headmaster's ability started to sprout in his head.

'Wait, what if the headmaster's ability had to do with staring and intimidation. O my how useful would that be. Wouldn't that be awesome you don't really have to intimidate with nothing more then a stare. Forgot your taxes 'stare' and never pay your taxes again. You think someone is talking smack about you 'stare' and their lips will be sealed forever. Someone looking on down on you 'stare' and they'll piss their pants. Yes indeed the intimidating stare is the way to victory'

In the middle of his rambling thoughts a voice interrupted him.

"what an imagination, you really are crazy aren't you, I'm starting to feel like I picked the wrong host" Dev replied responding to his thoughts.

'Well so what? Is it wrong? No! You are not infallible as well, for all you know such powers exist' Jun En harrumphed inside his mind in response to Dev

At this moment one of the teachers who had been standing on the side with the other teachers as the headmaster gave her address moved to the position which the headmaster had left and spoke.

"Hello, everyone and welcome to Novelia academy, seeing as it is your first day today, today will mainly be getting everyone to familiarise yourselves with school first, afterwards there will be a couple of introductory classes. I trust every has their schedule. First class starts at 1pm after lunch, for the first half of the day you will familiarise with the school, and check into the dorms if you are staying there. Although today is more of an orientation or anything, do not think that this is a chance to slack, be at class on time. Dismissed!"

*****

As people left the auditorium in search of what to do for the time being and where to go Jun En looked at his watch.

[8:30am]

He still had a lot of time. Jun En decided to look for the dorms before deciding where to go. While his home wasn't too far away, Jun En thought that it would be exciting to stay at the dorms temporarily, at least experience what it felt like.

He was the last one who left the auditorium, taking in a deep breath before turning around and walking out of the auditorium.

As he walked out he looked at his watch, thinking about how he should allocate such extra time. Leaving the auditorium he reached the lobby of the main building for the academy.

Jun En had to first figure out where the dorms were in the first place in order to get there. Luckily there was a reception desk in the lobby, honestly the layout of the lobby made the school seem more like an office building for some big corporation.

Behind the front desk was a woman and man in similar outfits to that of the student which just some slight alterations, with the overall colour of the outfit being a greyish blue.

As Jun En approached the desk he was greeted by the woman behind the desk.

"hello there how may I help you"

"high, umm do you know where the dormitories are located, I'm a new student attending the academy" Jun En replied with a slight smile in his face trying his best to give of a more amiable picture or aura.

"Yes, you are going to need to go out the back of this main building, which will lead you to path towards the dormitories, follow the path and you should find the residential building. Enter the building and approach the front desk there and get your room. Do you have anymore questions?"

"No, thank you so much for your help!"

Jun En walked out of the lobby to find the aforementioned path to the dormitories leaving from the back of the main building. Once he found the path he started on his way to the dormitories.

On the way there he took in the sights and sounds of the campus, breathing in deep breaths. This was the first time he had every experienced anything like this, he breathed and took in breaths of fresh air as he walked.

It was still early in the morning, for some classes haven't started yet as well. On the way to the dormitories he saw older students along the way, some exercising, some walking and other seemingly to be practicing on their own abilities as well.

Jun En reached the dormitories, it didn't look very different from normal apartment or condo buildings. The only different is that it was a more posh version of an average condominium, seeing as Novelia was quite prestigious so were there dorms.

At the gate of the dormitories or the residential area, there were smaller building strucutres with held security and the office which , where students had to go to sign in if it was their first time there. Thus Jun En approached the booth and signed in, from there he got assigned a room.

Being a prestigious academy, Novelia possessed a lot of wealth, coupled with the small amount of students due to their high standards, results in high end facilities, amenities and comfortable living quarters as well. Allowing students to each own their own room instead of needing a roommate.

Jun En went into one of the condominium like buildings, his room or living quarters on his keys were marked [B5-15-04], building 5, level 15, room 4. As Jun En approached the building with a large 5 on the front of the building, he was met with a door which required, a card to scan in order to open. The keys he was given was composed of a card and a little metal rod the size of a thumb, which he assumed to be a key of some sort.

Jun En took the card and scanned it. The glass doors of the building then opened into a large hotel like lobby, with a reception desk. From there on he made his way to the elevator and moved to his floor. His room was decently near the elevator. As he approached the room door, he found a precarious thumb-sized hole in the door. Taking the metal rod the size of a thumb he slotted it into the whole.

The metal rod or key automatically lit up with blue marking outline circuitry long the rod. The door then unlocked with click. Jun En then entered his room. It was quite a decently sized place. When first entering Jun En found himself in a small living room a couple couch chairs and a coffee table were in the middle of the room. Which were all facing against the window which lined the side of a room. like a small apartment, which was more than enough for him. There was a small kitchen a bed, and a small living room. At the back of the living room was a small kitchen and with a small kitchen island which could be used as a dinging table as well.

To the left of the living room was his bedroom, which had a decent bed, a closet to put his belongings, a bathroom and another window lining the side of the room. Overall it was quite a good living space and Jun En was quite satisfied.

He looked at his watch, before laying on the bed and taking a quick nap. When he awoke it was about 11:30 am, just in time for lunch before class. Jun En went down and after asking around and asking the reception he found a shared canteen or food court like area in this residential zone. There he went and got some food.

Walking in the whole place was quite huge, there were multiple food stalls and lines, in which students could go and order food. For some of the food stalls it seemed to have a fixed theme for the type of food that could be purchased, while others seemed fluid, having a larger variety and an ever changing menu.

Jun En didn't want to complicate things and thus went to one of the more fixed themed food stalls opting to line up for western. When paying, the person at the counter told Jun En to place his watch on a scanner on the counter. His credits were then deducted from his watch, dropping from 1000c to 990c.

Credits were the form of currency within the school system. Silvas are of course normal currency, however credits are used in order to encourage competition within the school. As credits are what helps to feed the students, providing daily necessities and can be exchanged for many different things as well. Such as items, weapons, armour or real currency (Silva).

Jun En's meal was decent it wasn't the most appetising but it wasn't the worst, as he ate his lunch by himself, he fiddled with the smart watch, in order to find out more about the school and system, as while he knew a thing or two, the available information outside was quite limited.

Finding a school guide-like app on his watch, he found out a few things. Firstly credits are way more important than emphasised. Every new student starts off with a thousand credits. Credits are not just currency, but also sort of display your rank. A good student would have a high credit score, and rank, thus allowing them to enjoy multiple privileges which aren't readily available to others.

Credit can be lost by spending or losing rank battles. This leads to the next important thing that Jun En noted, since credit can be lost through rank battles they can be earned through them similarly as well. Rank battles, as the title describes are battles which can be held school widely or cohort wise which determine the ranks or abilities of students within the school. There are single battles, which are split into multiple categories, where students with a story within a certain classification such as those with healing abilities like Jun En, test their healing abilities against each other. Team battles are battles that group students from all three main classifications together in order to face off against other similar teams. Finally similar to single battles there are duels which can be used to earn credit as well, students can duel each other in any field be it battle or their own classification, however both sides must consent. Like a betting system one side will lose credits upon their loss. Duels can be can occur anytime as long as consent is given to by both sides.

The credit earned or losses depends on the amount of times you win, rank battles and duels. The total credit determines one's ultimate rank. If a low ranker challenges a high ranker and wins the credit earned would be larger than those of similar ranks beating each other. High rankers can only earn substantial credit from other high rankers.

This meant that in order for Jun En to survive he had to keep facing off against other students in this highly competitive environment. This explained why the graduating percentage was so low as well. Not only that but he might have to do it soon, as the his starting credits were only 1000c meaning if he did nothing he may lose all his credits in about a months time and be expelled from the academy.

'What a truly cut-throat world'

After finishing his meal Jun En, returned the tray and his plates to the designated area and walked out of the cafeteria to a surprising scene.

'ha, how interesting, I thought it would happen, but not this soon' Jun En thought to himself.

As if responding to his thought Dev replied.

"Well what do you expect, this is what the system creates, this is the system of the world, truly a sad place"