Chapter 80: Academy and Uniform

"Are you Mr. Gaius?"

"That's right, I am."

"Then please follow me."

The day after registering and making the payment, Carl followed the procedure sent to him after the transaction and arrived at the entrance of Arasaka Academy at 8 a.m. After undergoing verification by the assigned personnel, he was led into the academy for the first time under the identity of Gaius by a staff member dressed in faculty attire.

The curriculum at Arasaka Academy is primarily conducted through virtual reality, with AI-generated teaching plans tailored to students of different performance levels. However, apart from the AI teachers responsible for lessons, there are still some essential faculty members to manage students.

One such faculty member was the young woman, seemingly in her early twenties, who was currently leading Carl on a tour of the academy. Her role at Arasaka Academy was to serve as a student orientation officer.

As Carl walked through the academy, which occupied a large area in the city center, he listened to the faculty member's introduction while recalling everything he knew about studying at Arasaka Academy.

Many people didn't understand why, in the year 2075-when simply inserting a chip could instantly grant technical skills-there was still a need for schooling. But anyone even slightly familiar with how corporations operated knew that the chips didn't contain the fundamental principles behind their respective skills. To truly grasp and master a subject, there was no alternative to formal education.

A simple analogy explains it best.

If someone inserts a chef's chip, they would immediately know how to cook scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Under the chip's influence, they could mechanically replicate the dish with identical results every time. However, the moment the chip is removed, all related memories vanish without a trace. Someone who didn't even know how to hold a spatula before installing the chip would be completely incapable of frying eggs once it was removed.

Without understanding the fundamental principles, how could they prepare scrambled eggs with tomatoes? And that's just the most basic example-a cooking chip. If even something as simple as that proves difficult, mastering more complex technical skills through chips alone is entirely out of the question.

Sure, people could try to rely on external recordings and muscle memory to remember how to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes. But could someone memorize complex mathematical formulas through muscle memory and apply them to solve equations?

Moreover, external recording and muscle memory are forms of learning in themselves.

Corporations aren't generous enough to hand over technology that allows employees to fully comprehend skills just by inserting a chip. Fundamental knowledge is a form of wealth, and companies don't hand out money to workers for free. Anyone dreaming of that in 2075 should wake up.

Entering Arasaka Academy and learning the knowledge necessary for the corporation to use students as tools is merely the first step in knocking on the door. To truly integrate into Arasaka, students must not only understand the principles behind the chips but also know how to apply them.

For example, if someone inserts a boxing chip, they would instantly learn how to throw a punch. However, they also need to understand the rules-such as not continuing to punch after a referee has intervened. Machines can be rigid and mechanical, but humans cannot.

Arasaka Academy doesn't want rigid, mindless flesh-and-blood machines. What they truly desire are people who understand the rules-people who know how to bow, how to flatter their superiors, and how to respect the corporate hierarchy.

It was clear that, in the eyes of the academy's orientation staff, someone like "Gaius," a street kid, first needed to learn how to follow rules. That's why, at the start of Carl's tour, she led him through various places where regulations had to be observed and repeated the rules over and over again.

Carl, multitasking as usual, memorized the important parts. In reality, the core rule was just one thing-though heavily sugarcoated, it could be summed up simply:

Arasaka Academy holds absolute interpretative authority.

Hmm... straightforward enough.

"That building over there is where you'll be attending classes starting tomorrow. Your student ID and classroom details have already been sent to your personal terminal. Now, please follow me to collect your academy uniform. Please note that any damage or stains during the trial period are strictly forbidden. Additionally, wearing the uniform is mandatory during school hours, otherwise, you will be in violation of section-"

Carl automatically tuned out the redundant parts of the speech, nodding at regular intervals to give the impression that he was listening.

So. Many. Rules.

And to think that Arasaka Academy's rules were just a simplified and watered-down version of what actual employees had to follow. Carl didn't even want to imagine what kind of nightmarish bureaucracy governed the real Arasaka Corporation.

No wonder corporate employees ended up becoming "dogs"-under such an overwhelming, intricate, and suffocating rule system, people were bound to become leashed, obedient pets.

Of course, Carl also understood that these rules only applied to the corporate drones. The real people in charge of Arasaka weren't bound by any of this nonsense. In fact, he strongly suspected they didn't even know about half the ridiculous policies being enforced at lower levels.

But for now, Carl had no choice but to play the role of a street kid desperate to become a corporate dog.

So, he had to listen.

There was no way around it. Who would've thought that, after making it all the way to 2075, he'd have to sit through another lecture on school rules? Unbelievable.

Under the staff member's endless droning, Carl finally received his uniform.

And he had to admit-when it came to making money, Arasaka Academy was frighteningly efficient. He had only registered yesterday afternoon, yet by this morning, a perfectly fitted uniform was already prepared for him. The material looked brand new, too.

"They must keep receipts to prove these are fresh off the shelves. Clever scam."

Carl understood exactly what Arasaka Academy was trying to pull, but credit where credit was due-the uniform was new.

So this is what people mean when they say money buys the best service.

As for the uniform itself, it closely resembled the standard-issue Arasaka corporate suits.

Black and red-like rusted iron.

After all, nothing embodies both red and black better than the metallic scent of blood. Or maybe iron-blooded would be the better term. Either way, it was just a red-and-black suit.

For female students, the lower half was a skirt instead of pants. But since "Gaius" was registered as a normal male, Carl didn't get the privilege of cross-dressing.

With the neatly packed suit bag in hand, Carl followed the staff member out of the academy. As he stood at the gates of Arasaka Academy, feeling the security guards' watchful gazes, he turned back to take one last look at the school he'd be attending tomorrow.

Then-

He let out a deep, exhausted sigh.

"I have to wake up at 7 a.m. just to commute to school... Wait a sec. Given my age, that technically makes me a high schooler again.

...Fuck."

Officially hating school: Day -1.