The third room of the demonstration hallway held a mass of loud machinery and computers, and the moment the prospectors entered they knew what type of person they were dealing with.
“Sit if you wanna,” The tracksuit-kitted man said with an unenthusiastic wave of his hand towards the opened doorway. Tipping the translucent glass bottle of crystal clear liquid into a shallow glass he tossed it to the back of his throat then returned his attention away from a monitor and to the unwelcome guests. “What? You got a problem?”
“Erm…” The prospector gaped uneasily as he attempted to make sense of the strange reception. It wasn’t the only thing that felt off to the man, but he couldn’t place his finger on the oddity. Finally, he relented and accepted the brash invitation to sit. Stepping carefully over to a fine-looking wicker lounger, the gullible prospector dropped his weight into it only to watch as his body passed through it without even a hint of resistance.
“It’s a hol…” The prospector huffed as he realized what had happened. “I’ve never seen such a perfect hologram, where’s…”
“There’s seven.” The scraggly bearded Novgorodian explained while pointing out a series of small orb-shaped protrusions scattered around the room.
“Incredible,” The prospector said, again returning his gaze to the perfectly represented chair and table.
They say missing the forest for the trees. You’d think he at least might know better.
“Right, My name is Gregory Hutton, I’ve come as representative of the Nordic Union as Finance minister.” The Prospector finally said, realizing he’d become entranced by the projection. “Have you considered your plans after graduation? You’re from Novgorod, right? You should visit us in Stockholm, the weather will be familiar and…”
“The student hasn’t considered yet.” The bearded man answered without allowing Gregory to finish his pleas. “I thank you for the kind offer made.”
“A… ah. Yeah,” Gregory stumbled, with a clear face filled with confusion. Again the odd feeling bothered him for a second time. But this time, he wasn’t inspecting the chair or table projected in the center of the room. “You… aren’t the student.”
“Right.” The man answered with a mischievous smile. “You needed a hint though, lost points.”
The moment the final words fell, the body of the track-suit wearing man vanished into a blur of small projected voxels. Similarly, most of the large racks of computers and machines also vanished revealing a petite woman with deep red hair seated at a desk hidden behind the various holograms.
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“I suppose I should introduce myself finally,” The woman said with a cheerful smile. “My name is Anastasia Kuznetsova and as you can tell I specialize in the development of Magika with a focus on ocular phenomena. As my assistant Boris said, I have yet to consider my future plans, but I would be pleased to at least visit The Nordic Union when time permits.”
“It would be our pleasure to host you.” Gregory said, recovering from the shock as quickly as he could manage. Extending a hand he shook the delicate palm of the redhead, if anything, to prove she wasn’t another illusion.
Giggling, Ana reciprocated the handshake, knowing full-well the thoughts hidden behind it. She couldn’t exactly blame him, only a few people she’d met have been able to discern one of her holograms from the real thing, and shockingly two of them had been her classmates.
She’d known the Academy would be filled with monsters, but she hadn’t expected it to be this outrageous.
“Erhm…” Gregory coughed awkwardly as he again glanced around the room to spot the arrangement of hologram projectors spattered around the room. Two of the one’s ‘Boris’ had pointed out had vanished, clearly another layer of the façade that’d been stripped away during the reveal.
‘So it was even more impressive,’ He muttered to himself silently as he pondered how best to ask the burning question in his mind. “I’ve been informed in the past, that students are limited in their budgets; I believe it was a single—”
“Mhm, all of it was made with materials that costed me less than a single Avalonian mithril coin.”
“That’s… What?— Fifty grand?”
“Fifty-six roughly, I can get a single projector done for under five grand in materials.” Ana proudly boasted with a hand to her chest. “Half my budget went towards the terminal.”
“That’s crazy,” Gregory stammered trying to even consider the possibilities this could bring to his country. “You must give us consideration for this. You know the resource available within the Union’s mainland, and we can certainly do our best to meet any of the other offers you get from the other’s here today.”
“There’s no real need to rush, is there?” Anastasia sighed out as if becoming deflated. “You know, I really wish we didn’t have to graduate. There’s so much more I could learn. I mean, I missed out on so many opportunities because of my stupid dumb idiot head. I just… Argh… ya’know? But then now everyone is probably going far away, and I can’t—”
Gregory breathed a bit easier as the woman began unloading like a machine gun, the previous two had terrified him with their brilliance it was a bit refreshing to finally see a more human face on one of the graduates.
Nodding along as she continued, he and the clock counted down the seconds until the bell finally cut into the conversation.
Like a switch Anastasia returned back to her proper form and slunk away, as-if again it was all part of the act.
He tried to reign it, but a shiver once more ran up his spine as he stepped back to the door towards the next near heart attack waiting beyond the hall.
Same as the last time, he caught a glance towards the man directly in front of him in the parade. The man tossed a curious glance back to Gregory as he vividly remembered the room he was leaving.
“Did you also…” The man curiously began to ask, before remembering one of the few silent rules. He knew they would all have plenty of time to discuss it later, still Gregory’s understanding nod gave Chaz all the answers he needed.