This time, the group arrived in a really spacious garden. The garden is like a mix of roman architecture and a modern high grade military base. The borders of the garden are mostly covered and only the center is an open area. There are multiple benches and tables around which a lot of students are currently using. Some of them are reading books while the others are using computers or some other electronic equipment. There are numerous statues that are erected that might just be for aesthetic or are actually placed there for additional security.
Speaking of security, the area is well secured. There are cameras and magical circles scattered around but are almost hidden from sight. There are also patrolling guards in each side of the garden. Lastly, there are weird mysterious contraptions that not a lot of people know their purpose.
The group walked straight towards the center of the garden which contained their actual destination. After entering the building, everyone was awed as it was actually a very large library. Professor Anori then pointed at the signs on the wall which says "Do not disturb others." and "Please keep your voice down.". Professor Anori toured them around without really talking much. She just let the students observe the classrooms. Soon, they reached a room that was closed and Anori proceeded to knock.
The door opened and a man with a disheveled hair and robes appeared. "Oh! It's you Professor Anori. Come in! Come in!"
"Is this a good time Professor Alfred?" Anori asked.
"Of course! I need to show them the importance of our role." Alfred opened the door wide for everyone to enter.
The room was just like a university lecture room. Though just a bit larger. The edges of the room contained shelves containing books, stashes of scrolls, cabinets of data pads and interactive maps. Currently, there are only 5 students inside so the new arrivals are able to fit in. Everyone took a seat for themselves while Alfred stood at the front.
"You actually all came on the right time. We still have one more student to present. It would be a good eye opener for all." Professor Alfred shouted before stepping to the side. "Mika! Go present your studies."
A young woman came up front. She was holding her tablet which she connected to some cylindrical device on top of a pedestal. The device created a large high definition holographic display. It was just like a flying TV was suddenly summoned.
"My studies for today is about The Steel Forests and their Resources and Dangers. The Forests are-" Mika started narrating while changing the images in the display.
She talked about a particular type of forest that could be found in semi-stable and unstable zones. She mentioned about the dangers of the alloy animals. Their weaknesses and strengths. She also mentioned the sweet iron fruits which are edible when exposed to certain level of heat. She then talked about the different types of steel trees which include the rubbeel. A metal with a rubber like property. She then listed the possible uses of the metal like tires.
"Very good! That was a great report Mika. My only problem was you didn't talk much about the weather. You might want to elaborate on that for your final presentation." Alfred exclaimed as she asked Mika to sit down. "So have you all understand the importance of Scholars?"
Scholars are probably one if not the most important of the roles that you need to have when forming a venture group. They are tasked with the understanding of everything in this world. This includes new magic and its uses. They also study other awakened to help other awakened. In expeditions, pathfinders and scouts relay the information they get to be processed by the scholars. The scholars should be able to analyze what food are edible, whether the atmosphere is human friendly, what possible creatures are living in the area or when the weather would start to change. During an expedition, their life is always the top priority. This is specially true when a new discovery is found. After all, they are on the average the weakest members of the team barring assistants.
"This is it! I could probably enroll in this class! Even without that much strength, I might be able to do well if I study hard." Kron thought to himself as he listened to the lecture.
He and the others were utterly amazed by the possible discoveries that they could make in this world. Except for the dangers that they might encounter; hearing the beautiful places that they could see, or the exotic foods that no one might have ever have tasted before, were enough for them to dream of going out.
After leaving the large lecture hall, the group went underground. They saw rooms that are divided into two kinds. One was filled with bubbling chemicals, exposed bodies of dead creatures or pots of plants. The other was filled with assembly lines, robotic arms and energy cores. In short, the rooms are laboratories and workshops. Professor Anori didn't let them inside the rooms due to possible danger. Additionally, they already spent a lot of time with Professor Alfred's lecture hall. She didn't explain much of the scientists and engineers because they are no different from that of Earth except for the resources that they have and the abilities of the awakened. Just like assassins, scientists and engineers are considered to be a much more advanced position. In fact, they are just scholars who apply their new knowledge.
The last place they went after leaving the Scholars' Hall was the largest of the 3. This is because it was built for training and combat. The indoors are simulation rooms while the outside are training grounds. There are areas for 1 on 1 battles or team battles. The simulation rooms ranged from floating arenas to underwater caves. If the view was not enough to excite you then the fighting would definitely do. This is the first time that the students could finally see a number of awakened using their abilities.
"I think there is not much to tell you. Go! Look at the different arenas but don't go too far and come back here after an hour." Professor Anori said.
Just like everyone else, Kron didn't waste his time. He immediately went from place to place. The one on one battles was the first thing that he looked at. He was able to see elemental spells like fireballs of the attuned clashing with blasts from invoked hand cannons of an invoker. There were also awakened with superhuman strength going toe to toe with a mutant that was twice as big as him.
The one on one fights was great but it was nothing to the team battles that he saw. The arena they fought was a simulated forest. One has a pathfinder, engineer, fighter and support. The other one has a scout, auxiliary, defender and fighter. The pathfinder was leading the way to ambush the enemy team since they lack firepower. Unfortunately, the scout was able to detect them before they could get near. A clash ensued. With a fighter and auxiliary on the team, they had an upper hand in full on frontal combat because auxiliary are sub fighters. Fortunately, the engineer that the other team had, has combative abilities.
What sealed the fight though was that they didn't expect for the fighter of one team to go after the enemy support. The defender blocked the enemy team's fighter and for some reason the enemy fighter was not able run and help his support.
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"What? Why can't he run and help that girl?" Kron softly said, wondering why the fighter was wasting his time attacking a well defended enemy.
"Huh? Don't you know that defender?" A guy in front of him interjected, looking back at him. "Oh! You must be a new student. That guy is Daman. His title is called the Leash!"
"Title? The Leash?"
"You haven't seen a gifted yet? Unique awakened like the gifted are usually given titles based on their abilities." The guy replied. "The reason for his title is because you can't run from him."
Kron was finally enlightened. It was the first time he saw a gifted. The uniques as their title says have abilities that are even far from logical compared to the other awakened. As an example, his enemy seemed to be tied with him and the moment his enemy tries to ran away, his enemy would feel some tight string pulling towards him back.
The fight finally ended in the favor of Daman's team. Without the help of an allied fighter, the support has gone down in no time. The engineer was already disadvantaged against the auxiliary and with the fighter joining the fray, he has also gone down. The pathfinder was next to go down. The pathfinder and the scout's battle was on a deadlock but when two others joined in, it was obvious that he would lose. The enemy fighter was ferocious and he was their strongest member but against 4 people, he could only surrender.
From the fights that he saw, he learned a lot on what is an awakened. He learned that even attuned with the same elements vary greatly on how they could use their abilities. For example, some use lightning to attack while others to enhance their speed. He also learned that invokers have subclasses. Some invokers summon spirits, some summon animals and others weapons. The most important part that he learned is that every awakened has a weakness. Even the gifted. For one, Daman seemed to only able to use his ability right now with one person. The other is that he still needed to rely on his mutation which is some kind of a rock armor. Without his other ability, his leash ability would be useless because his enemy would be able to defeat him quickly.
An hour finally passed and the class met up again. Kron already learned a lot but he still listened to the general knowledge that professor Anori was teaching them. It was about the different class of combatants and supports. The supports are divided into a defensive and offensive support. The defensive supports heals and buffs their ally while offensive supports curses, controls and distract enemies. As for the combatants, there are defenders, auxiliary, fighters, nukers and assassins. Defenders are usually there to protect supports and utility classes like scholars. Auxiliaries usually function as a second fighter if needed, otherwise their function is to poke or stall the other team. The nukers are long range attackers. Finally, fighters are the front liners.
"Well, Did that help you find the path that you would like to take? Remember that you have still until the end of the week." Anori said before dismissing the class.
With the class being finally finished, they have now a whole week to think about what path to take. The problem was that there was also a quota for each path. Unless you think that your awakened abilities are a standout compared to the rest then you must apply fast or be forced to take another path. As for Kron, he found the combatant paths more fun but he knew that his chances in getting it was close to none. He doesn't have any offensive abilities that would allow him to compete. With that in thought, he immediately applied for the scholar path, not waiting for the next day.
He went back to the Scholar's Hall to pass his application. Unexpectedly, there was someone there who came before him. It was Min-Joon. He was currently filling out a form. He looked at Kron and nodded at him and Kron nodded back but there was no conversation afterwards. Min-Joon seems to be another timid person. Kron sat beside Min-Joon and also filled out the form using the tablet that was lent to him. After the two finished, they were then made to wait.
"Min-Joon right?" Kron finding the silence awkward, started the conversation.
"Uh.. yes.." Min-joon nodded. "You are--?"
"Kron. I didn't speak much last time." Kron paused, thinking of a possible topic. "Scholar huh? You also like studying?"
"Yeah! You also do?" Min-joon enthusiastically replied.
"Kind of. I'm pretty good at class back on earth." Kron said.
"Really? Me too! What subjects do you like?" Min-joon asked.
"Its Math and Science. How about you?" Kron asked back.
Min-Joon paused, looking up as he started thinking. "Well, I do like all of them but Science is what I'm the best at."
Kron was actually just making casual talk but he didn't know that it would actually interest Min-Joon. He honestly thought at first that Min-Joon was just scared that is why he applied for this class.
"Mr. Min-Joon please come to counter 1." "Mr. Kron please come to counter 2."
Min-Joon and Kron were called by the attendants to update them on the results of their applications.
"Mr. Kron. There is still a chance that you will be accepted. Please wait for further update tomorrow." The attendant on the counter 2 said.
Since they are already in the Scholar's Hall, Kron asked Min-Joon if he wants to read books with him. Kron already planned to try borrowing books to waste his time today since he had nothing to do and reading with someone else just made it better. Min-Joon , of course, accepted and fortunately, they were also allowed to borrow books, albeit only the most basic ones. Min-Joon borrowed a book about the basic animals that they grow for food and Kron borrowed a book about plants seen around Azalaze.
"You also borrowed a biology book?" Kron said, looking at the book at the hand of Min-joon.
"Yeah. Yeah. I love biology the most. Specially, the life cycles of creatures." Min-joon replied.
The two then quietly discussed the things that they read. Min-Joon shared a creature that he found funny but important. It was like the chicken of this world since it was domesticated in large numbers. It was a spherical animal that could hide its limbs and roll away. As for Kron, he found some dangerous grass called the spike grass. It looked like a normal grass but there are times that it would harden itself and would cause anyone who stepped on it grievous pain. Having enjoyed reading together, it didn't take long until they already spent a lot of time in the library. They soon left and returned back to the dorm.
"I didn't think that I would have fun today." Kron thought before pausing. "But I guess, I should still apologize to Ichika."
Kron rested for a while in his bed then left his room. He took the stairs as the floors of their room are close. As he walked down, he encountered Ichika walking up. It was awkward for the two but in the end, they still nodded at each other. He was already planning to visit her so it actually just made it easier for Kron.
"Uhmm, visiting someone?" Kron asked before pausing. "Why would I ask that? There are only men's room upstairs!" He thought to himself.
"Yeah. In fact, I want to apologize." Ichika said straight.
"She even apologized before me. What am I doing?" Kron felt guilty as he bit his lips. "No. I should be the one who is sorry. I didn't really mean that."
"So friends again?" Ichika smiled, extending her hand.
"And she's back with her energetic self. Is that the real her? Well, I guess that's better." Kron thought, shaking her hand.
"Where did you go by the way?" Ichika asked. "I went to your room before."
"I submitted my application in the Scholar's hall." Kron answered.
"You really applied for the Scholars path? not Combatant?"
"I told you. I really don't have any hidden abilities. I'm not lying to you." Kron spoke sincerely, not wanting to cause another fight.
"Wait, don't tell me you didn't really know what you did before?" Ichika closed her eyes and touched her forehead. "Now, I really feel stupid."
"What do you mean?" Kron frowned, getting confused again.
"When you saved me, did you not see that the branch you are holding turned silvery in color like some sort of metal?" Ichika inquired, observing Kron's reaction.
Kron's eyes opened wide, thinking of what happened before. "Now, that you think of it. I also thought that the branch was too thin to pierce it! I guess I'm pretty stupid."
"Well, we are both stupid for having that fight." Ichika laughed.
"Wait! Wait! So does that mean that I have an ability?" Kron murmured repeatedly, trying to sink in the information.
"Yeah. That's what we are just talking about."
Kron suddenly hugged Ichika then moved away. "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean it... but.. but.... Yes!! I have an ability!" He shouted and made a fist.
"Can you be quiet? We are still in the corridor. And shouldn't you test it out first." Ichika reminded him.