9:13 AM.
Everything was a bit behind schedule, but most of the first-year students had found their classrooms and were waiting for their teachers to arrive. The students couldn't explore the academy, as they were basically ushered in the direction of their classes. The teachers made sure no first-year students wandered off and tried to miss this lesson.
Inside a particular classroom, all the students were already seated. This class was the first to fill up. They made their own seating arrangements, sitting wherever they wanted. Whether or not they stayed in those seats depended on their homeroom teacher.
The class had a quiet buzz. Conversations weren't loud enough to overlap with one another, but they were still there. Quiet introductions and ice breakers. No one stood out and tried to rally a group. It had the vibe of a workplace office.
Everyone looked professional in their uniforms. A few students stood out for their appearance, but kept a calm profile. Some of them talking to others, some keeping to themselves. No one was trying to be the main character.
One boy was seated in the far corner, next to the window. His chin rested on his left palm as he stared out of the window. The view was a beautiful one. It featured an outdoor area with a fountain and flower beds at each corner. An aesthetically pleasing area that students could walk through or relax during break.
The boy blankly stared at the view, waiting.
Step! Step! Step!
A figure in a suit entered the class. A tall, dark-skinned, bald man with nothing in his hands walked towards the front desk. He stopped in front of the desk and scanned the room. The class was already silent the moment he walked in, so he didn't need to say anything to quieten them down.
"Welcome to class 1-A," he announced, spreading his arms. "My name is Mr Saint, and I am your homeroom teacher."
Class 1-A. The top class. Out of the 150 students who enrolled, these 30 did the best in the application process.
No one made a noise. They all listened attentively. All locked in.
"This will be the start of your three-year journey here at Astral Academy," Mr Saint continued. "You all got a brief introduction from the principal, and I know you're all brilliant, so I will not beat around the bush, and I'll give you the details you want to hear."
Mr Saint stood straight and brought his hands together.
"This Academy is simple. It runs like an ordinary school. But there is another part of this academy that makes it special. You will all compete with each other to get the number one spot," he said, holding up one finger.
The whole room was listening. Some students had notebooks in front of them just in case they needed to write something down. Everyone was ready. Everyone was prepared.
"A point system will be used to determine who is number one," Mr Saint continued. "The student with the most points before graduation will be the winner."
Hearing the word winner brought out a few smirks.
Seeing the smirks made Mr Saint make one, "Sounds simple enough, eh?" he said. "You can get points in many different ways. One way is exams."
Hearing the word exams dampened a few faces.
"You all probably feel like, since you've left high school, you've left some subjects behind," Mr Saint said, feeling the swift downshift in mood. "Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics," he listed, slowly walking up and down the front of the room. "However, you will be taught these subjects at this academy just like in high school."
The low mood spread throughout the room. The subtle slumped shoulders gave way to looks of disbelief.
They knew this would be the case when researching this academy, but they didn't think it would be such a big part of it. Also, hearing you're going to have to learn and take tests is never a good thing to hear for young adults. They wanted to learn bigger things, not Pythagoras ' theorem again.
"You will be taught these subjects because you will be tested on them. Your results will determine how many points you get," Mr Saint continued. getting a slight kick out of their disappointed reactions. "Some of you look worried," he smiled. "Don't worry. Exams, homework, and assignments offer a decent number of points."
Then he stopped in front of his desk. The exact spot where he started.
"But! The thing that will get you the most points is challenges. Challenges offer a lot of points."
The students were on an emotional rollercoaster. Now they were excited again.
"These challenges are random. You cannot prepare for them. So you cannot rely on your intelligence to win. This is why you must do well academically and get a lot of points in your exams, so you have a comfortable cushion to fall back on if you don't do well in the challenges."
Mr Saint started walking towards the students.
"Imagine someone from a lower class surpassing your point total because you relied on doing well on the challenges and didn't take studying seriously."
This caused students to start stressing even more. More worried faces appeared, the atmosphere turned tense, and the calmness of most of the students disappeared. Fear was being instilled into them. How would the lower classes fare if this was how the supposedly cream of the crop was reacting? Mr Saint noticed this,
"That's good. I can see you're already scared, this is a good sign. It shows me you're taking this seriously and genuinely want to win", he leaned back on the front of his desk.
"You will have a timetable telling you when you have each subject. You will also have different teachers for each subject. I am your homeroom teacher, so if you have any problems, you can come to me or email me."
Some students checked their phones to see if their timetable showed up, but they needed help navigating the specialised phone properly.
"I can see most of you still need to get used to the phone. I'll let you figure your way around it in a minute. I have a few more things to explain. Firstly, you are here on the campus, where you will live. You will have dorms, and there will be two people in one dorm. You will get to choose your roommate, and once you have chosen your roommate, you will need to go to the main office to inform them and get your key. If you cannot choose a roommate, you will be randomly paired up with someone. No one can have a dorm for themselves as there is not enough. As you will be living here, you will need to live your daily life here, so eat and take care of yourself. This campus is huge, and I'm sure you have already seen the shopping mall. Whatever you need, you can find it in the mall".
Someone raised their hand and asked. "Do we use our own money or the points we earn?"
"No, you will not use your own money, and no, you do not have to use your points. You will use credits. Credits will be given to you every month in a set amount. Students will be given the same amount, but the credits will increase if they do well academically. Points and credits are two different things. Remember that".
"Can we buy points with our credits?" Someone questioned.
Mr Saint smiled. "Great question. No, you cannot buy points, BUT you can use points to get credits. So if your credits are running low and you need to buy something, you can exchange points for more credits."
What's the exchange rate?" Someone shouted out.
"Hehe, I'll let you find out for yourselves. You can also give other people credits, so if your friend is running low and you want to help them out, you could transfer them some credits. But you can't transfer points".
The students were expecting an answer, but they were disappointed.
"Well, that's pretty much it for the information you need. I can see you already arranged yourself in the seats you want. You are the top class, so I trust you all and won't move you. I've nothing else to say so you can get to know each other or figure out how to use the phone. If you have any questions, I will be here at the front".
With that, Mr Saint finished his speech and sat at his desk. The noise slowly crept higher, with the students whispering among themselves.
"Alexander, what'd you think?" Frank asked, turning to look at Alexander, who was still looking out the window.
Alexander blinked to snap out of his daydream and turned to Frank. "Just like I've been told. Nothing surprised me", he replied. Alexander was a well-groomed white boy who lived the good life and was born into a prosperous family. He had blonde hair slicked to the side and crystal blue eyes. He was the type of person who got everything he ever wanted.
"Do you think you will be able to get the number one spot?" Frank continued to ask. Frank was a strong-built guy with a buzz cut. He was 6'4 with big muscles and had brown hair. From the outside, it looks like he is Alexander's bodyguard, but if you were to ask Alexander, he would say that they are friends.
Alexander scoffed. "Not going to be a challenge. This is nothing like the real world, where people can abuse and cheat the system and live a good life. This is just doing well in studies and reaping the rewards. High scores mean more points and more credits. It shouldn't be hard to get number one. All the dumber students will fall behind while I expand the gap with every exam. The challenges will be simple too". At the end of his monologue, he looked at his phone to check the time and then glanced out the window again.
Frank noticed and looked out the window. "It's a nice view; I'm glad we got to stay in the same seats", he said.
"Yeah, Something to pass the time during lessons", Alexander replied, appreciating the view.
"You're not going to slack off, are you?" Frank asked in a concerned voice.
Alexander scoffed, "Why would I waste my time listening to someone telling me something I already know?".
Their conversation picked up the attention of someone close by. A girl with long, silky silver hair, who sat before Alexander, turned around. Her clear white skin glowed, her blue eyes glistened, her silver hair shined, and her long eyelashes captured Alexander's attention as she turned. It caused Alexander's attention to shift from the view outside to the view in front of him. She joyfully introduced,
"Hey!"