"Finally, I can rest."
I laid down on my king-sized bed and shut my eyes for a short moment, thinking back on everything that had happened since I had escaped the camp, and god was I lucky to still be alive. If I hadn't met Amelia back then, I might have been six feet underground instead of in this luxurious dorm.
"So, every top five student from each year gets to live here?"
I rose from my bed and began looking around, remembering what little the headmistress had told us about this place.
The first thing she mentioned was the fact that we could lose our spot here at any given time if we began losing our place within the rankings, which would be determined by how we would perform on future tests and exams.
The second piece of information she gave us was the fact that this building had the greatest virtual pods out of the whole Royal Academy. However, I wasn't quite sure what that meant, as I had never used it for training. Still, when I caught a glimpse of the others, they all seemed very excited to try them out.
'Wouldn't training in real life be better and more efficient?' I internally thought as I walked over to the large virtual pod that was about as big as the place where I lived for half my life.
Its design was futuristic, and it strangely resembled an oversized astronaut helmet with a large glass panel covering most of it.
Analyzing it, I placed my hand on top of it. Instantly, a buzzing sound echoed from the machine. It was powering up, but not only that, it seemed to be analyzing me as a gentle AI voice began talking to me.
[Please keep your hand on the device.]
A few seconds passed as the large glass panel opened by itself, finally giving me a way inside the gaming capsule.
[Analysis complete: No past registrations found.]
[Welcome, User. Would you like to create an account?]
"An account?" I repeated, confused.
[Yes, to use the capsule and enter our various simulations, you need to register an account. However, do not worry, we won't ask for any private information.]
"Uh. Sure."
[Perfect. Please sit inside so we can begin the process.]
I quietly nodded and sat inside the capsule. However, just as I sat down, a belt appeared and locked me in place. But more than that, a large syringe filled with blue liquid appeared on my left. Before I could even attempt to react, the liquid was inserted into my body.
"W-What's happening?" I asked before my mind began to waver, my body shutting down. "Was this a..."
When my eyes opened again, I found myself in the middle of an endless white space with nothing in sight.
I glanced down at my body and I had to admit, this felt extremely real. It really felt like my own body.
'I can see why they would rather train here. They can exhaust their bodies as much as they want and their own body won't ache the next day at all. They can probably even fight to the death without a care in the world.'
Still, I could already see some flaws with this training method. After all, if all their training has been done inside of a machine, the moment they would find themselves in danger in real life, there's a great chance they wouldn't be able to react. Nevertheless, if used well, it could certainly be advantageous.
I looked around myself as a beautiful angel appeared out of nowhere, flying right before me.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ala, and I will be your personal assistant within the virtual world. As I mentioned earlier, to register an account all I need from you is a nickname. Do you have any idea?"
"A nickname? What about... Unknown?"
The angel smiled at me. "Perfect, you have been registered as Unknown. What game do you want to try first?"
"What's the most popular one?"
"The most popular game is Duel, where you are matched against other users of a similar skill level and fight against them."
"How do you determine one's skill level? Do you need to do an Appraisal of our abilities?"
If that was the case, I would immediately refuse. I didn't want my abilities to be stored anywhere I knew so little about.
The angel nodded, seemingly aware of what I was thinking. "Your skill level will be determined based on the ranks of the opponents you beat. Before you are given a rank, you will also have to play five placement duels so we can find your corresponding rank."
The angel noticed that I was pleased with her answer and added, "Then, shall we get you into your first placement duel?"
"Wait, what about my appearance? Can I change it?"
If I was to play this game, I needed to make sure there was absolutely no one who could recognize me. If I kept my appearance, then other users from the school were bound to learn about my true abilities.
"You can change it as you wish. Here are some of our presets."
A mirror appeared before me and so did a list of various "presets" as the angel called them.
[Zombie]
[Vampire]
[Demon]
I pressed on [Vampire] and instantly, my blue eyes turned dark red. My overall figure became slightly more muscular and taller, and my blonde hair turned black. However, what was truly strange was the fact that while my appearance was different, my body already seemed used to it.
"Now then, do you like your new appearance?"
I gave myself one last look in the mirror and nodded.
"Yes, I'm ready. Please prepare my first placement duel."
The angel snapped her fingers and my avatar began turning into particles as I found myself in a completely different room facing another user.
[We have found your first placement duel.]
[Opponent: DarkSlayer123]
[Rank: Bronze III]
[W/L Ratio: 12–30 (29%)]
"Hahaha! Nice! I got put against a newbie!" DarkSlayer123 exclaimed, having no idea what was coming for him.