***
"Is this seat available?" Azariah asked the boy in front of him.
Since he wasn't one of the top tens, he had to be seated among the audience for the speeches.
Worst case, he was also a Division 2 student so he had to be seated even further.
The boy, who was also a Division 2 student, turned to look at him.
"Oh yes, of course-"
He suddenly paused, assessing Azariah's features. In the next moment, a scowl appeared on his face.
"No, this seat is taken. Go somewhere else."
'Huh?'
Why did the guy's whole personality change in a second? Did he know him from before?
'Wait, no..'
Looking up, Azariah saw the whole row to the side of the boy staring at him in distaste.
What did he even do-
It then clicked in his mind.
From generations back, elitism had ruled the academies. The Division 1 students inherently believed they were superior to Division 2 students.
Aside from the huge power disparity between them, it was also the elite narcissistic mindset of the Division 1 kids.
Due to this, there was always a huge crack in the relationship of Division 1 and 2 students.
The academy, even though aware of this problem knew it was inevitable and couldn't be stopped.
So it was left between the students to bear as long as it didn't escalate alot.
Azariah, as a Division 2 student would've been welcomed here by everyone right now.
Unfortunately, they had already seen him roaming with those elite princes and princess.
From what he knew, if there was anything Div 2 students hated more than Div 1 students,
It was Div 2 students that mingled along with Div 1 students. And Azariah had just become a target.
'Ah, shit.'
They might've even started believing he was a spy by the Div 1's. His start to the academy and this world was already going to a huge flop.
'Well, whatever.'
He didn't want to make himself more of a target by arguing with them.
Turning, he stepped towards the front row to look for a seat.
Unfortunately, wherever he tried to look, he was being met with glares and scowls.
There were only 2 minutes left for the orientation to start.
"Hey, you there." A whisper came from up ahead.
Azariah—not able to catch it quite well—looked around in search of who it was.
It came again a second later.
"Up here, to the right."
There he saw a boy waving his palm at him from the top-most row.
Right beside him, Azariah saw an extra seat as well.
Getting some hope, he quickly walked up to the boy who gestured him to the chair.
There was some hesitation in him to easily accept the boy's sudden kind gesture.
But there was too little time to think about it.
Sitting down, Azariah heaved a sigh as the curtains closed at the same time too.
He quickly turned to take a good look at the boy who had helped him so suddenly.
And instantly, he wasn't really taken aback by him or whatsoever.
He looked like an average Division 2 student that he had been seeing all day.
Messy brown hair and meadowish green eyes with freckled cheeks. Nothing special really oozed from him.
Azariah said that because it would be unusual for an NPC to help Azariah like that, but the character was unknown to him.
'Surprising.'
He was quick to strike up a conversation.
"I appreciate the help but at the same time, I hope you realize the mess you've gotten yourself into." Azariah heaved a sigh.
He was right as well.
The whole section ahead of them was glaring at the two right now, even the ones next to them.
But without looking at them or Azariah, the boy was quite chill about it.
"Don't worry, I realize it well enough. But it's fine, I never got along with them much anyways."
He turned to Azariah.
"You're Azariah Indrath, right? The rumored bodyguard of Princess Alyssa?" He offered a smile, putting his hand forward.
Azariah was a little put off by his kind attitude.
'Do we know each other?'
To be fair, he hadn't done anything suspicious so far except his unusual help.
The news of him being Azariah Indrath and Alyssa's bodyguard had already spread across the academy by now.
For now, he'd just observe.
Shaking his hand, he reciprocated the smile.
"Yeah. Again, thanks for helping me out there uh…."
He was unable to finish his sentence.
Taking the clue, the boy quickly introduced himself.
"I'm Aaron Ramsdale. Not affiliated with any clan, just from a normal government family."
Azariah made an expression of understanding.
"Still, it's a big feat to even get an admission in the first ranked academy."
Aaron chuckled, both of them retracting their hands.
"Well, if you put it that way, I suppose it is. Thank you."
Azariah nodded, maintaining his smile.
"Ahem.."
HIs attention diverted to the stage, where all of the top 10 rankers were already out.
And right there on the podium, stood Alyssa, about to make her speech.
But as he watched her about to start, he felt a stare on himself.
No, not those glares he was getting from all around him.
But rather, the stage.
And he was right as his eyes saw two amethysts staring right back at him.
'What does this guy want from me?' Azariah watched Yvan, who had a complex expression on his face.
He had been acting different from the moment he saw Azariah in the morning.
Whatever. He couldn't be bothered to focus on him right now.
It was quite unusual to see the so calm and cocky Yvan, so disturbed.
After all, it was his character.
When making this game, Yuito wanted to do something entirely different from the hundred 100 copies out there.
And so because of that, he made Yvan's personality really cocky and prideful.
Unless the player could get around to changing this, they'd face a thousand different problems because of this in the future.
Fortunately, he had the strength to back up his words most of the times.
'Wait, strength reminds me…'
FInally, he had the time.
Putting his hand in his coat's pockets, he pulled out his terminal.
It was like a metallic phone, with a soft blue aesthetic that really matched his preferences.
Terminals were one of the most important things to a Synapth in this world.
They were devices that stored and showed everything about you.
Your information, your powers, your background, information about the things linked to the Terminal etc.
Terminals were also able to store magic sequences in them to a certain amount for instant use.
The amount of sequences you can store depends upon the type of Terminal given to you.
There are two types, generalized and specialized.
A generalized Terminal is often in the shape of a bracelet, armband or headband.
They are terminals often given to beginners, which is why their shape helps them be attached to the holder's body, to prevent losing them.
The sequence storage is almost always 50 in generalized terminals.
Then, there were specialized Terminals.
These were specially issued to high-ranking Synapths by the government or their clans.
They could be made in any shape that the user would require. A knife, a gun, a candy etc.
Their sequence storage depended upon the materials invested into making the terminal by the organization.
But it could be anywhere from 99 to 300, and maybe even further for higher ranking officers.
The current terminal that Azariah possessed was a generalized terminal, probably issued to him by the clan.
At least they were generous enough to make it into a phone at the previous Azariah's request.
Yuito didn't mind the shape.
It was the best one for him right now since he was used to carrying his phone around in his past life.
'Now, let's see the Terminal.'
He quickly opened the interface, and the next second saw his expression change from one of excitement to absolute confusion.
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