Greeting the new freshmen of the Superversal Academy of Tomorrow, alien to the vast campus with an immense size that reflects its prestigious superiority to the norm, the first week on campus is dedicated to an orientation.
Although some other universities may have students spend this time indulging in fun activities that may not have such an explicit connection to academics as a way of easing students into their new life, due to the great size of the campus, the entire week at the S.A.T is dedicated to daily pairs of tours that students are required to go on in order to gain a sophisticated understanding of the campus they inhabit.
Especially when the university prioritizes on student success over all else, situating the students properly and giving them as much aid to traverse properly is the absolute necessity, for when classes begin, it is imperative for all students regardless of experience to be able to effectively maneuver to their classes, which may be in different sides of the whole campus.
While this orientation may not be as traditionally exciting for some students, it's understandable that this is the most effective use of the time before classes, as it will no doubt help many students move both between their classes and around the campus to wherever they may find value in.
Classes aren't the only places students would need to be able to get to properly, for there are meals and other facilities beneficial to students, either due to their helpful staff or it being sufficient areas to spend time with fellow students for work or play. Due to that, there is even greater incentive to desire the tours, and to want to genuinely focus on them, as failure to do so could lead to a stressful beginning, or at least more stressful than need be.
Of course, all students going to the Superversal Academy of Tomorrow are well aware that they're in for suffering, but how much they must suffer is a quantity they have some degree of power over depending on the effort they're willing to put in.
Each day of the orientation week contains two separate tours, with one taking place shortly after breakfast time during the morning, and the second taking place shortly after lunch time during the afternoon. Each tour is several hours long, and takes place in a unique area of the campus, designed to be special in order to make every tour helpful without overlap. With so many sectors in the campus composed of smaller regions, all of the tours are indeed necessary, as every single one has more content to last the hours they run.
For each tour, the adult staff acting as tour guides lead their own group of students after having them section themselves by guide, showing them areas of the campus twice each day.
It isn't only simple sight watching however, as the guides have priorities in explaining the significance of the region they are in to give an overview of what the region is for and what a student would thus likely explore and need it for, as well as showing the contents of the area and how to access them, and giving advice on how to best use the sectors to aid on their academic journeys. At the same time, they also like to sprinkle in a few historical facts just to add some spice to the otherwise uniform experience.
For the first tour, the female guide stays relatively within close proximity to the dorm field, not moving too far away, as the distant sectors are reserved for the later days. The first tour is meant to cover the fundamental base of the campus, although that said, the guide doesn't linger on the field, as she takes the group down the sidewalk, using the path that the students needed to take in order to get to the hall both this day and the other.
The tour guide reaches the end of the glowing gray sidewalk, and from there she intersects the road to get to the forest area, leading the other students to follow. She approaches the thick forest composed of softly dancing vibrant green leaves and stiffly standing dark brown bark.
It's a forest that the group has gotten fairly used to after having trekked through it twice, however even then, it's still wonderful, as it seems to be flourishing with a life that isn't typically present in this area. The students step onto the dirt path as they follow Ms. Nyugen, gazing around as the guide seems to slow her pace, as though she's arriving at an area to focus on.
Ms. Nyugen then begins to speak as she walks down the forest path, her voice professional yet charismatic, while the students feel a soft breeze brush against them.
The tour guide explains, "On July 3rd, 2684, while this very campus was in the process of being built, the founder of the university was standing just around here, since he was very hands-on with this project. It was his life's work after all, he spent so long getting the right funds for this project, and especially while Versepolis was coming into its prime, he wanted everything to be perfect. So while he was looking around at all these tall, flat, silver buildings, the pinnacles of engineering with no sacrifice in quality, he suddenly decided that he wanted to bring some contrast to this place, and he wanted some life that felt more...organic. And so he looked over the design of the campus, and saw that he had originally planned for another large, silver building to be in the area that he stood in, and that was something he just didn't feel was right with everything else around him. So he had that plan scrapped, and instead chose to do this, requesting an entire forest to be constructed right here on the campus, something less shiny but something more elegant. You've already seen the forest by now, but let me tell you, there's a lot more to this forest than what may appear at first glance. This forest is the nexus of the campus, for it houses the many paths that lead down to the university's many sectors for class buildings and much more. From here, you'll be able to go just about anywhere you want on campus, as the whole campus was practically built around this forest. But that's not just it, with innovative technologies, this forest provides a perfect scent and breeze, making it a perfect spot for relaxation. You can come here to read and work out if you want, but just remember to get to your dorms before nightfall. But since you all probably know about that, or at least I'd hope so, and if you don't then that's concerning, I'm going to show you one of the many routes that branches off in this nexus today! Starting...here!"
With that, as the tour guide walks down the wide dirt path, she suddenly takes a left turn onto a divergence in the path, one that many students hadn't previously cared to notice, causing the students to show surprise as they notice the new path, and take it to follow.
From the wide brown path acting as the core, it seems that various branches stem off, as many more brown paths diverge from the wide path and lead to other sides of the forest. Since most students had their heads up while heading to the main hall, they hadn't noticed the subtle paths, but now as they follow the guide down one of them, that's all they can take notice of.
It's clear that this is one of the paths that Ms. Nyugen mentioned can take a student to the many sectors, as it's likely one of the paths that Rohan will have to walk on daily, as will all of the other students.
After hearing the speech Ms. Nyugen gave before taking the diverging path, Rohan glances at the tall trees surrounding him again, acknowledging the fact that in truth, they weren't real trees. Instead, they were artificial constructs designed to appear like trees and function as them, although that was something Rohan had anticipated, for artificial trees are far more common on this world than the expensive and popularly ruled less effective natural trees that had first originated on the planet long ago.
While the trees may have not been exactly grown from a seed, Rohan has researched deeply into this territory, as he knows that inside, they function similarly to trees. Their purpose is to generate oxygen and other substances, along with generating new branches and leaves when needed.
With the lack of limits due to their man made origins, they're also far easier to manipulate, as they have stronger resistance against weather, aren't subject to the changes that the seasons force upon them, but are also easy to change on command.
Especially when they were invented during a period of a straining climate, as long ago the world suffered great pollution caused by ignorant citizens, these artificial trees were more beneficial to the environment, as they managed to reverse the effects far faster than normal trees would've.
They managed to be all that, and still looked beautiful.
Rohan walks beside Sriya, and as the two continue to listen to Ms. Nyugen, Sriya turns to Rohan to speak.
He says, "I checked, the guide on Tuesday goes over the rec center, where the arenas are. They might drop some hints on how we can try out for the teams, since I think air hockey is an all year sport, at least including training."
Rohan turns to Sriya, and he smiles before nodding his head, remarking "You don't really seem to be paying attention to anything else don't you?"
Sriya smirks, and he shakes his head, clarifying "Of course I'm paying attention, I do in fact have an actual major I'm following. It's just, you know, code is fun and all but the real excitement will come elsewhere. We have our work, and we have our play."
He then turns his head to face ahead of himself, and he adds, "Besides, I'm doing computer science because I have to choose something. In reality, I'm interested in becoming a professional athlete one day. That's all I've really wanted to be."
Rohan looks up at Sriya, and he tilts his head with partial confusion to Sriya's words, as he didn't expect someone to seem almost uninterested with their own major, as their major was their career path, and it nearly definitely defined their future.
Yet Sriya didn't seem concerned with taking that path, but instead he seemed motivated by something else, something such as sports, which Rohan had known is a far greater gamble, as the most probable fate was to fail getting into any major leagues, and end up as a coach for some other grade school recreational team.
But if Sriya seemed adamant about this path, he would know about that probability, for he did show signs of great intellect.
It was a dangerous gamble that could cost him his life, yet even with that he had an iron will.
Rohan turns back to face Ms. Nyugen as she seems to approach a light at the end of the forest, as it seems that the path is reaching its end. Rohan's eyes contract as he takes in the light, following the guide, who steps out of the forest and into the next step of the tour.
The tour that seems to be constantly running for a whole week straight without end, as tours blended together as they formed the puzzle that was the campus, with every tour bringing greater familiarity to the school.
Although, the first day isn't what Sriya was most excited for, as that was clear, for he was waiting most of all for the next day. That is the day that, as he mentioned, would focus on sports, which was why Sriya seemed a lot more immersed in the tour than usual, standing ahead of the group along with Rohan, for he wanted Rohan to see the buildings in hope that he too would be excited. Seeing Rohan's connection to the same sport seemed to give Sriya joy and excitement, as it seemed the two could go stellar teammates together if they both tried out.
Rohan couldn't help but siphon the same excitement from Sriya when the same tour guide would later bring the group to another sector of the campus on the next day, which as Sriya had prophesied, would be the Sports Sector.
On this day, the guide walks down the gray sidewalk while passing by the major centers, her hands behind her back as the group of students follow behind her, with some students seeming to be different than the ones from the first day after having swapped guides, and others being familiar, such as Rohan and his group of friends.
The group of students gaze around themselves at the large buildings around them, for while the great silver buildings may not be nearly as tall as the others they've seen, they're far wider, with a much greater base where the height is lacking.
The buildings are rectangular in shape, with smoothed edges and no visible windows from the silver body. They vary in height and width, as no two buildings are exactly the same, regardless of their similar features.
One of the buildings is incredibly wide yet also notably short, with that building being the swimming center, which a few students focus on as they aim to be on the team.
Another building is more balanced with a greater height, over twice the height of the swimming center, although not nearly as long. The building seems to be connected with several others in the back however, which is noticeable as they're taller than the main body, although not as wide nor long. That building is the main gym facility, which houses a multitude of training centers inside, hence why there are several components making it up.
However, the one building that seems to be the most astonishing is one that has the greatest visual difference of all, and is also the largest of all, being colossal even compared to the size of the other facilities.
The building is far taller and wider than the others, and isn't shaped rectangularly either. It instead is shaped as a titanic curve, which rises from the ground along the edges for over a story tall before curving up towards a central line that runs down the long side. The building is far longer than it is wide, giving it the shape of what is almost similar to half a pill, as it seems that the building could've been a complete cylinder that was only buried into the ground.
The odd shape and behemoth of a size attracts most of the students, as another fundamental difference is that rather than the building being silver, it's constructed out of a material with a soft blue hue, yet still being made with a similar metallic texture. The blue metal shines in the cyan sunlight, giving it a graceful glow, as the smooth curve of the building catches the eyes of even Rohan.
The tour guide lectures while passing the great curved building, "Air Hockey is one of our biggest sports in SAT, and we've been holding the state champion title for a consecutive twenty four years. The tryouts are a bit intense, but if you do get in, you'll have a blast of a year, especially since the coaches had coached some of the professional teams you still see online. And I'm sure this year will mark the ten year anniversary of being champion!"
It's clear by the subject that the guide chose to speak on, the great building is the air hockey rink, the largest facility of the sports sector.
While Rohan has faint memory of playing air hockey during his grade school years, he has never seen a rink as grand as this one, for it's truly something beyond his recreational days, and something more akin to true professional sport.
Sriya bumps Rohan on the shoulder, and he speaks in a whisper, "Hear that? Who knows, maybe you'll hit the winning goal!"
Rohan smiles and shakes his head, refuting "Okay okay, first off I'm sure a great deal of students here were selected for the team anyways, so I might not be able to get in. Second, that chance is already one in a million, and that's if I don't concuss myself during the season."
Sriya snickers, and he says, "They don't fill the whole team with people they scouted. And you say all that like you're nothing, you're probably hiding the fact you're god or something. You don't need to act humble about it."
Rohan shakes his head again, but he decides not to argue back, and instead he turns back to face the tour guide as she continues speaking.
Eventually after long hours walking in the tour, Ms. Nyugen leads the students back into the nexus forest through one of the many openings, walking down the brown road towards the center. She reaches the center and begins walking down the wide path, continuing forwards while still maintaining a formal posture. Behind her, a group of students follow, with quite a few of them seeming peached, as some hunch and others whine to themselves.
It seems that with all the activity of the tour, many of the students have become tired, barely able to continue moving as it seems the tours give no mercy to them, as they are already feeling suffering before classes even begin.
Amongst the group of students, Shuraj stays close behind Ms. Nyugen, breathing heavily and wiping his forehead from the energy drained from him, as he lowers his head upon entering the forest. He lets out wheezing sounds as he fights to catch his breath while needing to keep moving, as he didn't prepare for such a physically demanding task.
Beside Shuraj walks Rohan, who moves with a straightened back and formal posture, his hands by his side while he keeps his head in front of him. He makes no such sounds, nor does he seem to have broken a sweat, as instead he seems completely fine even after the long tour during the morning.
His green and white jacket drifts backwards from the wind's current blowing against it, and his hair hardly moves at all after having been groomed well and short.
His blue eyes seem content as he wears a subtle smile, as he seems to have enjoyed the tour. His eyes gaze around at the various trees while following Ms. Nyugen, anticipating that the tour is coming to a close based on their location.
Ms. Nyugen reaches the end of the forest, as the cyan light illuminates her once she steps out of the shadow of the trees. The students follow behind her, and as they peer through the light, they find themselves at their destination.
The students' attention immediately jumps to the building in the near distance for them, as their eyes settle on the main hall, which stands tall on the other side of the plaza. The plaza also seems full of students and other tour guides, as it seems that they've come to the meeting place.
Ms. Nyugen walks down the ramp as she approaches the plaza, leading the rest of the students to do the same. Some students give weak cheers upon seeing that they are now at the hall, excited to eat, but too tired to show it.
Ms. Nyugen reaches the end of the ramp and takes a few steps forward before she turns back to the group of students before giving a warm smile.
Ms. Nyugen takes a deep breath, and concludes with the same charismatic voice, seeming to not have been tired at all even with all the speaking she had to do: "This concludes our first tour for today! You are welcome to stay and ask any questions, or you are welcome to get lunch in the hall, which is in the main hall right over there behind me! Remember, the next tour is at two thirty, so make sure to be at the dorm field around two twenty five or so, give or take. Anyways, I'll see you there! I hope you had fun!"
The group of students finally begin talking again, as some approach the guide seemingly to ask questions and others walk right past her and down the plaza, heading straight for the hall.
Shuraj turns to Sriya, and he nods, as though getting his attention so they could begin moving once more. He lets out a deep sigh before wiping his forehead, which has been drenched with sweat, as he much needed a break.
Sriya on the other hand, similar to Rohan, doesn't seem to be too tired out, as while he doesn't have a formal posture in the way Rohan does, he still stands straight and shows no sign of fatigue.
Shuraj then proceeds to walk down the plaza, and Sriya steps to his side where Ara stands, currently speaking to Vrey, as they seem to have been conversing for a while. Sriya lightly nudges Ara in the shoulder to grab his attention, which succeeds perfectly, and the three begin to follow Shuraj, with the rest of the group right behind them.
Dexter and Rohan turn to see the group seeming to start to move towards the main hall, and they follow as well, walking down the plaza and passing the other hordes of students while staying near the friend group.
After entering the main hall doors, Shuraj approaches the stable doors, where he's scanned for authentication. The energy door vanishes for him, allowing him to walk through the lobby and into the food station room before immediately searching for a line to stand in.
Vrey enters the hall second, and he also immediately begins searching for a line, however he spots one quicker than Shuraj. He approaches the line closest to him and stands in the back, being the first of the group to get in line.
A line quickly piles up behind Vrey, and among them stands Rohan, patiently waiting to order his lunch and eat, hoping there would be some time to converse before their next tour.
After the group manages to place their orders and take their food, they make their way to the main room past the next doorway to eat and resupply themselves with nourishment.
Ari exits the station room and surveys the crowded room full of overlapping conversation, only to find the same table he sat in the other day occupied by his brother and other friends, with a space kept for him already by Sriya.
He smiles, and approaches the table and its hovering benches, taking his spot and starting to eat, beginning with a piece of garlic bread on his tray.
Once more, the main hall floods with the sea of conversation previously contained by the formal dam, as students finally breathe freely without the stress of the next tour.
Inside the station room, lines of students stand in front of tables, waiting to build their lunch and eat as quickly as possible, with the students who had just collected their food advancing to the entrance into the main cafeteria room.
Inside the main room is the true heart of the sea, as students fill the long tables that make up the majority of the room, but also the more personal tables set along the perimeter of the floor inside the smaller, personal rooms.
Students walk into the main room from the stations, with one of the students being Dexter, who walks with both of his hands carrying his tray. He looks to the same table the group has been using for every meal, and just as anticipated, Rohan is already sitting beside Vrey and speaking to Ara, and around them are the rest of the group.
They all have their trays out in front of them on the hovering tabletop, already seeming to have already had some of their food consumed, yet they were more focused on speaking than eating.
Dexter looks to see that nobody was sitting to Rohan's right, and he approaches his brother before seating himself next to him.
Rohan turns to Dexter after sensing his presence, and he smiles, giving a light nod as though to greet him.
Dexter returns with his own nod, and then grabs his meal on the tray, which seems to be a tall burger with three roasted patties, vibrant red tomatoes, lush green lettuce, and juicy pickles all sandwiched by well baked buns. Dexter holds the burger up in front of his mouth to begin eating it, clearly wishing to focus on eating as the priority.
Rohan turns away from Dexter and back to Ara before asking, seeming to have been in the middle of a conversation, "So, what do you mean there's a 'food court?' I thought this was the 'food court.'"
Ara shakes his head, and he takes a bite of his food, which is a sandwich composed of two baked slices of loaf bread with melted cheese seeming to be in between them, as though he's eating a grilled cheese sandwich, or at least something of the sort. Crumbs of the bread fall out as Ara chomps into the sandwich before moving it from his mouth.
He then returns his focus to the conversation, answering "No no, this is the hall, not a food court. All the food here is made in the school funded kitchens, so all of the food stations, as cool as they look, hichinkly suck compared to...well...literally anything that isn't from school. But there's another building on the campus that has food from actual restaurant chains, like sure this food is fine and all but actual chains are earths better, you know? I'm just saying, when we have time to explore the campus on our own, I'll find that building and I'm going there for all my meals. Even if they also generate their food with similar techniques, their machines are way better and they use way better material. Also, they give the food actual taste, and believe me, once you taste that real food, you'll never want to go back here!"
Rohan tilts his head in confusion, and he asks, "But if this food is school funded, who funds the chain foods?"
Ara shrugs his shoulders, and he simply responds, "You."
Rohan takes a bite of the salad on his tray, and he then asks once again, "Wouldn't that cost a lot though? At least wouldn't that stack up quickly? I don't have a job…."
Ari smiles, and he chuckles, gaining Rohan's attention. He then looks up at Rohan, and says, "You'll get an internship and probably will get some pay from it. Also, if you want, we can pay for your food. You better start doing everyone else's tests and substitute for me, actually better yet you should start doing my tests too, not that I need it but it'd be nice to relax instead."
Rohan blinks twice, but as he opens his mouth, Ari interrupts, "I'm joking I'm joking. If Ara isn't making this up then we can figure it out from there, I'm sure there's something we can do. And as I said, I can pay for your food, my parents gave us a lot to work with anyways. Most students get money from their parents in case they need it."
Rohan shrugs his shoulders, and he takes another bite of his food before objecting, "I didn't get any."
Ari sighs from the rather unfortunate circumstances that have befallen Rohan, and he offers, "Then we'll cover you."
Rohan nods his head, and he continues eating his food in silence after the conversation wraps up.
The group continues to eat their food as short conversations pop up, and they stay another half hour in the room while speaking over the distant ocean of other voices.
Eventually, they finish their food, and they all get up, with Rohan's tray now being empty of all food, as he has successfully finished his salad after having the proper balance in lunch to do so.
The group picks up their trays and brings them to the long tables where the other students also wrap up their meals. The seven place their trays on the table, allowing the black tabletops to then bring the trays down into the inside of the table itself as the trays phase through the surface.
After doing so, they then all walk together towards the exit of the hall, having finished with their food, content with lunch. They approach the exit as the door dissolves for them, allowing them to step out into the plaza.
The first tour of the day has been completed in the morning, however there is still the second tour that they must tend to, and the rest of the day.
Although, since they are together, it will be less of a tedious chore and more of an exciting adventure, one that will begin their long journey ahead as individuals but also as a single unit.