When I was first told about the academy, I didn’t have high hopes for it.

The level of technology I had seen so far in society was pre-industrial revolution, with magic acting as a substitute for some inventions, such as the streetlamps that turned out to be magically powered glowing moss, or taming spells that essentially rendered leashes irrelevant.

All of which led to me having relatively low expectations for the academy.

Of course, those expectations were blown away once I actually saw the campus. Hell, even before then, I was astounded.

At the end of the registration week, the academy staff had all the newly accepted students gather in the city square once again, and cluster together to fit within a meticulously drawn out teleportation formation. It would take everyone from our current location, the tier 3 city of Khobadaar, and my home for the better part of eleven months, to the tier 2 city where the academy was located, Jyvra City, named after the academy, which itself was named after one of the founders of the original four academies.

By the time I could react, the process was over. I was standing in Khobadaar’s city square, my personal space being violated on all sides by random strangers, then I blinked, and I felt an almost familiar feeling for a millisecond, before I noticed I was somewhere else.

“Now, children, if I could have your attention for just a moment, I’ll let you get back to staring wide-eyed at the city after I’m finished. What now, Hamer?.....Ugh, fine, fine, very well. You all have two minutes to look around like mindless animals before I continue.”

The speaker, who I learned from one of the staff was actually one of the professors at the academy, was impatient, but nobody waited for his permission before taking in their surroundings.

The blue city walls I had grown accustomed to seeing were gone, driving home the fact that I was no longer in Khobadaar. In their place, I saw…nothing. There were no walls in sight. I only saw buildings that were somewhat shorter than the ones in Khobadaar. The tallest building was only two stories tall, colored a familiar yellow shade, with a recognizable emblem: the Workman’s Society.

I couldn’t point out any other noticeable landmarks in the city, but the view was even more stunning, and dare I say breathtaking, once I turned around and saw the academy for the first time.

…Glass.

Every building was made of glass. Some were different colors, but every single building looked like it was made out of glass. I was slightly worried that the temperature inside would become unbearable, as spring had arrived, but hopefully, whoever designed them took that into account. A few of the buildings were transparent, as expected, but the majority of them were opaque, and there was one that had certain sections that were translucent.

The few people I saw roaming around were wearing what looked like high-end clothing, but it didn’t seem like there was a set uniform, so that was a plus in my book.

The campus grounds were amazing as well. There was no gate or fence acting as a boundary, but I could somehow sense that the essence felt…different…in the general vicinity. Whatever it was, the academy was probably the reason behind it.

There were curated trees and flowers everywhere, lining the numerous marble walkways and footpaths. The plants were all pruned to a certain height, providing shade to those beneath them without obscuring the view of whoever was looking outwards from the buildings.

I could see a section of a large colosseum-like building, which was probably some kind of arena or stadium. It stood out as the one building not made of glass, but of…some white material I couldn’t identify.

“All right, that’s enough! Now, boys and girls, I will start introducing this prestigious establishment and those of you too enraptured or too dense to follow me and pay attention only have yourselves to blame.”

As soon as he stopped talking, he began walking past the area where the essence felt strange, and into the more immediate vicinity of the academy campus.

I and plenty of the other students followed after him, not wanting to miss out on anything. I took a glance behind me, and saw several students still milling about, apparently too caught up to even realize they had been left behind.

Look, I considered myself a decent person, and normally I might have gone back for them, but like the guy said, it was their fault for not paying attention.

We were taken on a tour around the academy, with our guide pointing out the various buildings and their functions: the eatery (mess hall/cafeteria) was located in the southmost building, the gardens were in the east, the barracks (which I translated to dorms) were the tallest buildings. Classrooms were in nearly every building. There was no bathhouse, as every student’s room in the barracks had a private bathing space.

Now, that was something worth a pretty penny. Or square, in this case.

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There were training grounds all around the campus dedicated to various activities: some physical, and some magical, but all of them had official looking equipment and supervisors monitoring and maintaining them.

There were two administrative buildings, where we would go if we encountered any problems or questions that came up.

And then the tour was over, our guide having run off at the first chance, flamboyantly ending his time with us with several loud bangs like firecrackers and a glimmering in the air, like a mirage, before he disappeared.

Somehow I found myself at the very back of the line to see the clerical staff. Apparently this was the part of registering where we turned in our unofficial acceptance papers and registered as proper academy students.

The administrative building was a hive of movement, workers carrying paper around from one place to another, stamping and signing various forms. They were probably dealing with the influx of new students. I counted myself lucky my experiences with administration were minimal, as dealing with paperwork for a living seemed soul-crushing and endlessly monotonous, backed by testimony both from my old college friends and Ennin, who said the sheer boredom of doing the bureaucratic nonsense that was filling out forms was only matched by the craziness of every morning free-for-all, the mad scramble to get the good tasks.

Finally, it was my turn to finish my registration, and after a few minutes, I had my assigned sleeping quarters at the barracks, and a student card marking me as a first-year student at Jyvra Academy. It was similar to my Workman’s Society card, just slightly bigger, about the size of the average smartphone, roughly the size of my hand. It was a black metallic card, with my personal details (my age, race, appearance, etc.) on the front, and two sections on the back.

The top part was a map of the academy, shown from a bird’s eye view. It was too small to be of any help with directions, although it strangely had a texture to it. Below it was my schedule for classes, which apparently started tomorrow. That was fast. I guess there was no grace period, between joining and classes starting, to let us acclimate.

There was also a line underneath the class schedule that just read ‘Points: 0’.

What, was this like Harry Potter and we got points for doing good things, and had points revoked for bad things? Well, they had the concept of zero here, but hopefully they didn’t have the concept of negative numbers yet. I didn’t want to somehow owe points.

With all the new students having left to do their own things leaving me alone, I decided to visit the barracks, aka my sleeping quarters, aka my dorm.

The barracks were the most conspicuous of all the buildings I had seen thus far, due to their towering height, which made them the tallest buildings around, and the customizations some students had done to their windows.

The barracks themselves were colored green, the same green tint that some windows had when the light was angled a certain way, but that green was interspersed with windows that were different colors, or that had messages or drawings on them. One particular window had strobe lights shining outwardly, red and blue rays of light pulsating.

Walking into the building felt normal. There was nothing to indicate that I was stepping on glass, no ominous cracking or shattering even when I tried jumping up and down on the stairs leading up to the main door.

There was a small entryway before I came into a long hallway, running from left to right with doors every few feet. A staircase, also made of glass, led to the upper floors. Next to the staircase was a huge paper with enormous letters written on it. Ah, it was a notice for the newcomers to…synchronize their student cards with their room locks? With a drop of blood?

Okay, before I get lost in another endless swamp of questions, let me just do what it says first and see how many questions get answered.

I checked my barracks assignment on my student card, and went up to the next floor, searching the doors for the correct room number among the dozens on this floor. I found it after a few minutes, and saw a metal circle next to the door.

So this is what they meant by synchronize.

I placed my finger on the metal circle, and a tiny prick later, the circle blinked red and the door opened. My hand flinched reflexively from the blood being drawn, even though I was expecting it.

Wait, does that also mean…

I took out my student card and looked at the map on the back, noticing the textured feeling had a very similar look to the metal circle next to my door. I put a different finger on the coarse part of the map, and the same thing happened: it flashed red for a second.

And in the space of a heartbeat, the useless tiny map became far, far more useful.

An illuminated projection of the map was displayed in the air in front of me, and it was coming from the card itself. It was also much more practical, as now the map was at a usable scale. Touching any of the buildings let me see a short summary of that building’s function, where certain classes were located, and where staff offices were. Surprisingly, the map also had a red square at my location, dimming and brightening in intensity in a regular pattern. It was basically a magic GPS.

If I were a paranoid man, I would postulate that the academy management had essentially placed trackers on every single student and could determine our location in a heartbeat, but it was a good thing I wasn’t paranoid.

Probably better to keep that particular tin foil hat on. It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.

Putting aside the worrying possibility of Big Brother watching my every move, I entered my room, and saw that, once again, the academy blew my expectations out of the water.

The room was well lit, despite the lack of visible light sources. There was a comfortable bed taking up half the room, complete with sheets, pillows, and a comfy mattress, and the other half had a table and chair, meant for a single person’s use. There was a part of the wall near the headboard which opened up that acted as a dresser.

The best part was the fully equipped private bathroom that was next to my bed, with a sink, mirror, chamber pot, tub, and magical showerhead. Everything looked like an upgraded version of the private suites in the bathhouse, which I only managed to visit once.

I dumped most of my stuff on the table, only keeping the essentials on me as I went out.

I left the room, locking the door as I did so. Testing out the mechanism, I noticed that I could either open the door by pressing my finger against the circle, in which case it would take a bit of blood from me, or I could just press my card against it.

Yeah, I think I’ll stick with swiping my card. Why would they even make that blood one an option? Aren’t they worried about too much blood loss among the students?

It was just about late afternoon by the time I finished everything and settled in, and my stomach was making rumbling sounds, so I headed to the eatery, looking forward to the meals here. Following the map on my student card, I quickly reached the eatery, and was immediately hit by a wall of various fragrances that all implied amazing flavors: herbs, spices, oils, fruits, everything I could smell was fantastic.

The food was, if possible, even better than what I had smelled. There was a veritable cornucopia of dishes, and everything I tried was sumptuous. I am not ashamed to say I pigged out there, ignoring the occasional looks and giggles thrown my way.

Finally, the feast came to an end, marking the perfect end to an amazing day.

I slowly made my way back to my room, and slumped onto my bed. The mattress was soft and inviting, and the lights had somehow dimmed to match the setting sun outside. It was a question for another day. Now was the time to sleep.

My first day at the academy ended on a perfect note, covered in soft sheets, with a full belly.

Tomorrow would no doubt be just as fulfilling.