“Yo Tiger, serious question. What do you think about Reina, man?”

I turned around to Miroslav, latching his arm over my shoulder as we walked outside the elevator. He was tall and good-looking, a sports star in his last district, with side-swept brown hair and hazel eyes that glistened like honey. Unlike most male students, he wore the uniform shorts and a white-wool cardigan with rolled sleeves.

I wouldn’t say I particularly admired his unconventional fashion sense, but it was different.

“She’s cool, I guess.”

“Oh, come on? Is that all you got? I heard you guys got together last night in the female dormitory with some other hotties.” Miroslav said with a grin. “And word is she saved your ass when you tried to appeal for your club. You two got something going on?”

When it came to Reina, I saw her as a peculiar individual. Sometimes, she was thoughtful, and at other times, she was distant and astute. When I first met her in that clubroom, I thought I had her personality all figured out. But she surprised me repeatedly, like when we talked in-game about my situation and her helping the others out with their contracts.

She was complex, but someone could see that as an attractive quality. From my perspective, she seemed like someone who would require much effort in a one-on-one relationship. Some people may like the challenge, but I'd rather have an easygoing, cheery girlfriend.

“You’re asking a lot of questions, Miroslav. You interested in her or something?” I asked, while pushing his arm off my shoulder.

“Well, she is cute, no doubt about that. And the confidence she had to speak against everyone in class yesterday was hot as hell. But, I dunno,” Miroslav yawned while stretching his arms. “Heard that Yenagree girls are high-maintenance. What if she wants an expensive first date? This credit system is a pain in my ass. Can’t buy nothin’.”

She was cute, but her confidence and pride were overwhelming. And I didn’t get the vibes of someone who liked expensive things from her. Sure, she dressed the part, but I think that was just her style.

The credit system was another concern on its own.

After the late WW3, most paper currency was burnt due to a turnover of power across major countries, leading to NAVE's implementation of the monetary credit system. Even after all this time, they had enough influence to create another system that adhered to players to earn credits for a VRMMO. Just how many parties were involved in this new program? That’s probably a moot question to ask at this point.

But despite Reina’s pompous speech, her observation based on our uniforms was accurate. The districts we came from were not as prosperous as Yenagree. I could attest since I came here with virtually nothing except the Nexern rigs my pops fixed up for me. I wondered if they set this up beforehand, knowing we’d participate regardless of the program's conditions.

We continued down the hall toward the activity center despite the elevator malfunctioning and its name being wrong. There were even some small dints on the doors as if someone were banging against them. Maybe someone took out their rage and made the elevator stop functioning.

The entrance to the activity center was entirely different. Its lounge-room atmosphere was now devoid of furniture, along with the abundance of students who lingered as a primary hang-out space. It was unsettling stepping toward the now opaque-glass double doors at the edge of the room.

Miroslav slowed his pace, feeling the same unnerve I was with a hesitant laugh.

“Ha… Something’s not right, man. Where are all the other students, anyway?”

If I remembered correctly, the rest of the class got on the elevators before us. I was originally with the other club members, but Miroslav pulled me aside and started gossiping about chicks. Though I didn’t mind, as that was something I was also thinking about.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It’s not that I wasn’t satisfied with cute friends like Reina or Kimberly, but having more prospects is always better. To be quite frank, I’d never had this many female friends ever, so this was quite the elation.

“We may be the last ones here, so let’s just go inside. We don’t want to be late.” I said and reached for the handles.

The lounge’s changes were nothing compared to the inside. They widened the entire space, which now resembled an old library with wooden floors and towering bookshelves. Books whisked from shelf to shelf while detached paper flew to make figure eights above us.

Miroslav and I both stopped with open jaws at the elaborate display. We continued down the aisle into an open area with cushioned wooden seats around a raised platform. The podium had a large cylinder bookcase in the middle, with multiple holographic screens on its exterior.

The rest of the class was already sitting in different areas around the room. I found Chase and the others waving at me and sat down beside them.

“This is so cool! It’s like we’re in a magical library in a wizard school!” Kimberly said with awe.

I nodded. “I was a bit concerned when I saw the outside, but I would’ve never suspected this.”

This must be what Chairman Homura meant by learning in a metaverse. It felt real, even the chairs we sat in. I remembered reading about this type of responsive meta-tech in a brochure my dad brought home, but I never expected to experience it in person.

I looked around to the end of our aisle, then behind us.

“Where’s Reina?” I asked.

“She and Ms.Riseheart went somewhere a few minutes ago. They haven’t come back yet,” Chase said while adjusting his glasses.

Hm. Homura said we’d be helping create the curriculum for this class, though we only received that survey a few days ago and nothing since. I wanted to ask Reina about her thoughts on it, but they’ve kept her busy since announcing her as our class representative. Being included back on the student council must’ve been a tough decision for her. She wasn’t the type to express her feelings outright, but I hoped she wasn’t bottling everything in.

Nicole and Reina then appeared, walking past a set of shelves in front of the platform. They spoke a bit more, then Reina sat on the front-most bench as Nicole stepped onto the platform.

“Welcome, students, to the Alexandria Complex. You’re now in Plato Hall, the first floor. This will be your new environment for learning until graduation. I hope it wasn’t too overwhelming at first sight.” Nicole announced, crossing her arms.

“Above me are screens displaying your student ranking, Callixtus game event timeline, and other general announcements. You can think of this space as a general hub of information.”

Nicole then pointed to the second railed floor of the space, filled with closed-off rooms separated by bookshelves. “The next floor is the Constantinople Compository, which will be your instruction area. Each room has a distinct theme set by your instructor, which you’ll meet after getting assigned.”

The highest floor, almost cast in a dense shadow, had fifteen transparent glass rooms surrounding the entire space.

“You will receive your own Nexern rig and be assigned a partner on the highest floor, The Vatican.” She said.

The room erupted with cheers and squeals as the students pointed to the upper floors. The amount of quality they put into making us this learning space also surprised me — and in a day, no less.

Nicole let the last of our cheers subside, then flicked a holographic clipboard into her hand. Several holographic screens appeared before us, with class subjects ranging from Mathematical Literacy to Creative Writing, all with numerical values.

“You can now choose the core subjects you’ll study in your instruction period. The subject scale score must exceed or equal to thirty to be valid. Each subject can be increased up to .5 for advanced difficulty.”

Another wave of excitement coursed through the students. I appreciated this unusual approach, but why give us free rein over our studies? It almost felt like there was something else tied to this approach. Or maybe I was just being skeptical.

I was decent at Math, so I set Mathematical and Quantitative Literacy to 10.5, Scientific Inquiry and Exploration to 8.5, Physical Wellness and Holistic Health to 5.0, then selected Global Citizenship and Diplomacy since it had a scale of 6.0, setting me at 30.

My reasoning was to go for areas I was already strong in, which could help my studying in the long run. A bit of diversity never hurt, so Diplomacy was something new to focus on, along with Physical Wellness, which might help boost my LPL.

I glanced over at Paige’s screen. She had a more diverse list of subjects in the lower categories, such as Creative Writing, Public Speaking, and Journalism. I didn’t take her as someone to pick Public Speaking as a core subject or subjects that incorporated a public image because of her introverted nature. But who knows, maybe she wanted to change that about herself.

I submitted my choices, and the rest of the students’ screens flickered away after a few minutes. Nicole scrolled down her clipboard with a grin, then flicked the screen aside. One of the main holo-screens then blinked, with six columns spinning with five separate slots.

“We will now split you into five groups based on similar subjects,” Nicole announced. “These people will be your study companions for the next four years.”