Extra Pages: The Author's Odyssey

37  Plans For Future

As I continued practising archery on the dimly lit training ground, a notification appeared before me, interrupting my training.

[Your knowledge about your profession has increased. Progress: [15%]

 [ Reach 100% to Level 1 ]

Frustration welled up in me as I read the message. The slow progress in levelling up my skills was getting on my nerves.

Ding!

A notification pops up in front of me.

My Progression has increased to 15% but it's still taking too much time.

"This is stupid," I admitted as I rolled my eyes. "But the clock is ticking. The event that'll start the first arc has already happened."

Yes, the event that'll start the first arc has already happened.

That means, in a few weeks, The main story will start.

So many things will happen once the main story starts. I have to start getting stronger now if I wish to survive those events.

I lay on the archery field of the training ground, exhausted from all training.

Let me tell you something about Academy City and the AI bracket in my hand.

There are still many things to discover about Academy City.

The Nova Academy is peculiar in more ways than one.

For starters, this academy isn't scared to throw its Students into the unknown by stripping them of their titles and wealth during their stay here.

The academy claims to do that to let its cadets become self-sufficient and resilient.

However, more than that, the academy does that to turn them into obedient unquestioning Heros.

Like a puppet with strings.

However, it was clear that students from prestigious backgrounds, like Aric, Emma, Isabella, and Tony Stark from the third year, often received preferential treatment. They seemed to operate under their own rules, even orchestrating events like the recent bullying incident with impunity.

For example, the bullying that happened yesterday was Tony's doing but he is still free and he didn't get any punishment from the academy.

Anyway, let's continue what I was saying.

If they perform well during their training, they will be rewarded with a promotion in rank and additional benefits.

If they do not perform well, they may face demotion in rank, lose access to academy benefits, and may be required to spend additional time in training.

It's a meritocracy-based system that makes something very clear to everyone— Follow orders, do well at what you're told to do and get rewarded.

This system is effective at creating well-disciplined soldiers.

Now, let's get back to what my plan is.

During the first month of the academy, first-year cadets can access all services and make purchases in Academy City without incurring any charges.

Everything, I repeat, everything is free for us here during our first month.

Or at least that's what the instructors claim to be the case.

Anything in this city is free for the first month except the things that could help the cadets get stronger.

If you want any new weapon, you have to purchase it.

By the way, my current account balance is 15000C.

5000C is from the beast I sold to that merchant and 10000C I received from my father the day I left for Nova Academy.

With 15000C, I can't purchase anything that helps me in my growth.

15000C is for next month my living allowance.

I have to gain more money. When I say more it means that like unlimited money source that what I'm saying.

I sigh as I have many things to do here and also ensure that everything goes according to the plot.

And there is Crew too.

The start of the main arc is Crew after all.

This was also the time when first years would come into contact with the senior years.

Because the first, second, and third years were separated they didn't have many chances to interact with one other.

Crew were a great chance for the seniors to interact with their juniors.

Moreover, the more first years they manage to recruit to their Crew course, the more budget they were granted by the academy.

So every year, the first years found themselves getting assaulted by all types of seniors looking to recruit new members.

Furthermore, there was another thing one needed to be careful of when taking into consideration what elective to join.

That was…they had to watch out for the 'hidden politics' in certain electives.

Factions existed inside of the academy.

Elf faction, Drawer faction and human factions.

A good example was the 'Nobel Crew' faction that Tony is using right now.

Many Crews were secretly a recruitment process for certain individuals to their factions.

Fortunately for me, I was keeping a low profile.

Since I was fairly unnoticeable, I was almost certain that I wouldn't be dragged into this senseless conflict.

However, although I may not encounter any problems during the elective fair, that didn't mean others would have it as easy as me.

Take Adrian as an example.

He is already on Tony's radar.

And.

Because he stood out too much, he would not only have to face the endless number of people requesting for him to join their elective, but he would also have to fend off factions who were eager to have a talented person like him in their group.

I could already imagine how miserable his life would be for the next few days.

I didn't need to imagine, I already knew.

Moreover, since I already knew what would happen in the next few days, I also knew that this was the period where one of the main scenarios for the first-year academy arc began.

Seniors vs. Juniors.

The first major event that Adrian encounters since joining the Nova.

An event which even if I didn't want to participate will be forced to join.

'Ah…why did I even…'

Just imagining myself encountering more arrogant characters was upsetting my stomach.

And what type of Crew I'm going to join you ask?

Well, I'm going to choose the crew that the main characters are in.

You can choose multiple crews, it's all up to students after all, what they want to choose.

I already knew who was in which crew.

Adrian and Noah were travelling, Emma was travelling and monster hunting, Isabella was travelling and [ Research Department ], Aric wasn't in any.

Yeah, Isabella chose one department. In her role as Mage.

and Evelyn, I don't know anything about which crew she chose.

I mean she likes me an extra but not an ordinary one, I already see her power in front of my eyes.

Just let's hope don'tn't encounter each other.

After all, whenever I'm with her I sort of feel guilty and my chest tightens for no reason.

Anyway

The travelling crew was an obvious choice. Next, I had to choose from the monster hunting crew and the [Research Department ] crew.

As students could join multiple crews, I could join all if I wanted to.

But that was too difficult realistically. I only had one body to work with.

"Let's go to sleep now. I think all of this tomorrow." Deciding it was time to call it a night, I rose from the archery field.

Tomorrow, I will tackle the Crew selection process. It was yet another step toward navigating the complex world of Nova Academy.

As I walked back to my apartment, I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt and unease that always seemed to accompany Evelyn's presence. But that was a concern for another day.

For now, I needed to focus on getting stronger and preparing for the challenges that lay ahead. The main story was about to begin, and I intended to be ready for it.

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