Classes had ended for the day, and Aria made her way toward the administration office. She needed her student ID to access her new dorm. As she was passed a nearby courtyard, a commotion caught her attention. Following the sounds, she happened upon a battle between two students.
One of the combatants was a short, blue-haired boy with a water related ability. He blasted streams of water from his hands, knocking his opponent back into a stone pillar. The other student, a brown haired boy, scrambled to get up from the ground. His clothes were soaking wet from the last attack. He roared while he activated his bloodline. His nails elongated into large, black claws belonging to a grizzly bear. Thick brown fur sprouted along his forearms and sideburns, as fangs protruded from his lips. He launched himself at the water user, swiping his claws with lethal precision. The blue-haired boy managed to dodge most of the strikes, though he still had light scratches on his skin.
No one is reacting to this at all, Aria realized, is this just a normal occurrence here? She hesitated, unsure if she should get a teacher, or perhaps intervene.
While she debated her next move, the fight had already reached its conclusion. The water-user had formed a sphere of water, encasing the bear shifters head inside. Due to lack of oxygen, he passed out moments later.
Curious of both their strength, Aria scanned the two students.
[ Target Scanned Successfully]
- Name: Jordan Finedel
- Bloodline: Celtic (Water Kelpie)
- Rank- D
- Name: Brendan Ursa
- Bloodline: Norse (The Berserkers)
- Rank: E
As the fight wrapped up, Aria continued to her original destination. She approached the secretary at the front desk of the Administration Office.
"Hello, I'm here to collect my student ID please," Aria said. She paused, then added "Also there were some students fighting in the courtyard just now."
"Ah, that is standard practice here," the woman spoke without looking up. "We don't intervene in student battles unless they become life-threatening. Now, what is your name?"
"Aria Knight," she replied, her mind racing. So fighting is actually encouraged here?
The secretary proceeded to bring up her file. "What form did you want your student ID to take? I can issue it as a watch, a standard card, or even as a piece of jewelry." Aria chose the watch since it was the most practical.
After securing the device to her wrist, she decided to head towards the dormitories. I think I have a dorm to myself, or at least I hope I do.
On her way to the second-year dormitory building, Aria passed several private training rooms. Muffled thuds and crashes echoed from behind the heavy doors. She found an empty room further down. These are supposed to be completely private. Maybe I'll check out my stats while I'm here. Aria looked around her before entering the room and locking the door behind her.
The entire room was made of dull reinforced metal, even the door. There was no windows either, only a control console for generating holographic monsters. The room was about 15 feet squared, and at the opposite end of the room was a large, circular device that could measure impact force.
Aria wanted to test her physical strength first. "Now let's see what 12 stat points can do," she approached the gauge device, and threw her best punch at it. The display above the device flashed: 120 points.
Exactly 10 times my strength stat, she noted. Aria tried punching once more, this time at what felt like half strength. The display once again flashed: 60 points.
Next she decided to move onto her speed and agility. She programed a weaker "Rock Golem" with the stats of a standard E-rank. A holographic display of an 8 foot humanoid was generated in front of her. Its entire body was made of jagged stone, and its eyes glowed white.
"Start training session," she commanded.
The rock golem came to life and started to swing its massive stone arm at her. Aria was able to duck under the arm instinctively, and sprang back for more distance. Her lack of formal training was obvious; she felt her movements were clumsy. The golem cornered Aria against a wall, she had nowhere else to go. The golem brought both its fists down towards her head. With no other options, she threw her arms up to block the incoming attack.
To her suprise, she managed to catch the golems arms mid-air. The impact didn't hurt as much as she expected. Though the holograms were designed to replicate the sensation of pain and physical resistance for an authentic experience, her body remained firm.
Aria shoved the golems hands aside, forcing them to the floor with a heavy thud. Aria stepped to the opposite side, where the golems defenses were down. She delivered a full power punch straight to the "ribcage" of the golem. Her fist made contact as cracks began to form in the golems hard exterior. The cracks spread throughout its chest, and the golem crumbled to a pile of rocks before the hologram disappeared.
Aria stood winded from the exertion, but smiled. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. That was exhilarating.
"I guess I am what gamers call a tank character. " Thinking of games brought a sudden wave of sadness as she remembered Ben back at home.
Aria checked out the display once again, checking the results of her training session. Speed and agility were both at 80 points. Durability was at 120 points. Strength was once again at 120 points. The 10 times ratio remained consistent with her system stats.
Aria exited the room, satisfied with her results. In her excitement, she forgot to clear her session history.
As she walked down the hall, a student with spiked red hair approached the room Aria just left from. He was a well-known figure around the Academy, hailing from an influential family, with the power to match. He entered the room after Aria and saw the scores left behind on the screen.
"Well it seems someone decent was just in here," he muttered. He thought back to the blonde-haired girl he had just passed in the hallway.He wasn't in Aria's homeroom class, so he had no idea she was the rumored new F-rank. He cleared the session history before starting his own training, and pushing it out of his mind.