The glare Lucinda bore into me turned even colder as I turned to face her. It sent a shudder down my spine. Though I felt there was no danger, I could tell this woman already hated me. But… not quite in the way Cinthara seemed to despise me. Lucinda acted just as bitter toward Emmett. Maybe she just detested her job.

“It seems Headmaster Bohin has already enrolled you,” she said. “Now, I’m curious, is ‘Grim’ a family name? Because that last name is rather depressing.”

“Family name?” I quirked my head to the side.

I’d only received the name “Grim” after Drayek had officially taken me on as his apprentice, as was custom in Edrona. But then the information Codex had attained from his scans of the planet suddenly informed me in a whoosh of data that almost everyone here had surnames inherited from their parents.

I smiled at Lucinda, trying to hide my confusion from earlier. “Uh, yes. Grim was my father’s last name.”

Calling Drayek “my father” out loud sent a pang through my heart. I cleared my throat and forced myself to focus on Lucinda’s quick fingers as she typed different things on the screen. I only caught a few words here and there–the images on the device flew by so fast. I saw mentions of “first-year student” and “first-year class list.”

“Alright, here we go,” Lucinda said with a bored click of her tongue. “You do not have many options to choose from as a first-year at the academy. Most of the classes you will have to take are mandatory.”

“So, you are saying I’m a ‘first-year,’” I said. “Am I starting at the beginning of the year like everyone else? Surely not because I see students already taking classes.”

Lucinda took her glasses and rubbed her eyes with her thumbs. She really didn’t seem like she wanted to be there.

“Of course not,” she retorted. “Your year starts the day you start at the academy. And then your second year starts on the same date of the next year, and so on.”

How does that work? I thought, not finding any relevant information in Dex’s database. Maybe it took time for him to scan everything about an area or planet, or maybe he just hadn’t scanned certain specifics. Surely, a teacher can’t just restart a course because a new student arrives. Are there some teachers who are specifically assigned to teaching new students?

Turned out I didn’t need Dex’s data to find out:

“Information you missed at the beginning of a course will cycle back around by the end of your academic year,” Lucinda said. “You will have the chance to learn everything offered in each class.”

A bright white flashed onto the long screen that made up the surface of Lucinda’s desk. The eruption of white engulfing the entire screen sent a shock through me, and I leaped back an inch or two. Lucinda eyed me over the thin lenses of her spectacles but didn’t say anything about it.

“You are required to take the following three classes as a first-year: Mastering Group Combat, The Study of Essence, and The Art of Cultivation.” Her nails clicked over the screen a few more times. “There are not many choices for times. Would you prefer to attend the majority of your classes in the morning or evening?”

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Fine.” More tapping. “You can choose one more class out of the electives to add to your schedule.”

I heard a whirring sound that exactly matched the sound of paper printing back at the front desk of the academy. Lucinda ripped the freshly printed paper from the slit it had come from and shoved it in my face. I leaned back to avoid one of the sharp edges poking into my eye.

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“Read through this list of elective options and let me know which appeals to you,” Lucinda said.

I pulled the paper out of the vice-like grip of her red-painted nails. The white page was still warm from its printer, and the black ink pressed into the paper was still wet and bled as my fingers ran over the lettering. Ignoring the fresh ink staining my fingertips, I vigorously read over the list of classes:

ELECTRONICS MECHANICS

AERORIDER EDUCATION

NON-HEALER’S GUIDE TO HEALING

Dex’s database informed me of the basic meanings for each of the classes on the list, and most sounded intriguing to me. AeroRider Education, for instance, would teach me how to operate one of those flying vehicles I’d encountered when first arriving here. That could be fun…. I turned the white sheet over to see if any other classes were listed.

“Only three to choose from?” I said.

Lucinda waved an exasperated hand over her head. “As I said, you are a first-year. These are the only three elective classes available to a first-year student. It is required to take one of these electives as a first-year. Then, you will pick two from a larger list for your second year, three for your third, and three for every year after that. And the list of available electives increases with every year, as well.”

I ascertained from the information Dex had attained through his scans that students could attend the academy for only five years. By that point, a student either had advanced to Tier 10 or hadn’t. Either way, no one was allowed more than five years attendance in the academy program.

With only five years to remain in the program, I determined that I needed to be very particular when choosing my electives. I needed to take what I thought was the most important for me and my goals because I wouldn’t have a chance to take everything.

With that logic in mind, I felt inclined to select the class on healing for non-healers. Learning to better aid in healing a fighting companion or even myself, especially without the availability of someone with healing-related Skills, seemed inherently valuable.

Drayek had died because a healer couldn’t get to him on time. I bit my lips as I recalled the dire night of Drayek’s death. If I had known some non-healing methods, could I have helped save him? At least do enough while we waited for a healer to make it to him?

It was decided.

“Have you picked one?”

I didn’t have to look at her to feel the eye-roll that accompanied Lucinda’s question.

“Non-Healer’s Guide to Healing,” I said quickly and without hesitation. Though, once the words flew from my mouth, I wondered if I’d made the right decision.

Holding my ground, I handed the paper back to Lucinda and frowned as she merely crumpled it up into a ball and threw it behind her into a dark corner. I peered over to where she’d thrown it and found many other similar balls of white in a pile standing about two inches off the floor.

“Alright, I’ll put that in here…. The only Non-Healer’s Guide to Healing class available is at six in the morning.” She offered no pause in her typing to allow me to change my mind. “I’m printing your class schedule now.”

Lucinda ripped out another sheet of paper that her desk spit out, and then she held it out to me. I took it and saw the four classes I had to take listed neatly, with timestamps printed on the left side of each.

“You will see the room and floor number in tiny print next to each of your classes,” she said while scratching at her neck with a demoralized look on her face.

I looked closer at my schedule and found the tiny print she referred to, printed on the right of each class, then made a face at the five-minute break between Mastering Group Combat and The Study of Essence. What concerned me was the fact that the former class was on Floor 14 and the latter on Floor 38.

I opened my mouth to ask if that could be changed, but Lucinda held up a hand as if she already knew what I wanted to say.

“That’s the best schedule I can give you. We have a lot of new students this year, and there are limited time slots. Take it or leave it.”

“But how am I supposed to get to my classes on time?”

With the heaviest sigh I’d ever witnessed, Lucinda responded, “Take the lift.”

I readied myself to ask what a “lift” was, fully expecting, yet still fearing, another eye-roll or incredulous look from the woman, but thank the gods, Dex’s information told me what a lift was before I could further make myself look like a fool.

I felt the blood leave my face as images of a lift, essentially a transparent box that shot people up through a building at scary speeds, flashed behind my eyes.

Looking forward to that….

“New jumpsuits with the yellow sleeves for a student will be sent to your dorm. The system has you in dorm number 61 on the fourth floor. Is that where you are currently staying?”

I nodded.

“Good,” Lucinda said with a yawn. “Now, it’s time to get you situated with a neural implant.”

And yet another thing to look forward to. Yay.