"No, what is it?"
"The tower divides everybody into 17 regions, and after every dimension shifts, they select the top 10 best-performing recruits in each division into a list," Zane replied. He never stopped interacting with Xi'Ke, and after weeks of contact, the latter revealed this bit of information. He also verified it with Professor Burbank.
Keesha frowned. "They wouldn't do this for no reason, so what's the benefit?"
"Many," Zane replied. "From higher rewards to more resources, and even asking the professors to give us more focus and help."
"I see, but why are you telling me this? Do you want to prepare for the next shift to enter the list?"
"That's not it." Zane shook his head. "If I'm not mistaken, you, me, and Sergeant Rhode are on the North America List."
"Really?"
"To be honest, I'm not completely sure. But after learning of the list, I started to notice some things. For example, Instructor Seiya usually treats the three of us differently compared to the others."
"Now that you mention it, his eyes are often on us, and he seems harsher on the three of us."
"Exactly," Zane nodded. "But, as I said, I'm not too sure, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt."
"There is more?"
"Yes, but before that, I need to ask a few questions — and it's about your roommate."
"If you're asking what happened between us, I don't want to talk about it."
Zane shook his head. "I don't care about that. I want to know if they are in the same class as you."
"Evelyn and the other mage are. Why are you asking?"
"Do you sit next to each other at the front of the class?"
"How do you know?"
"I'm the same," Zane replied, eliciting a frown from Keesha.
"What are you getting at?"
"Hold on, just answer a few more questions: are the mages talented?"
"Well, you know about Evelyn, and the other one is the tenth in the last tournament; she's in the Elite Class."
"What about the knights? Are they talented?"
"That, I don't know."
"You should have sensed their life energy. How is it compared to normal knights?"
"Hmm, if you compare them to the people I've seen in the gym, they are indeed talented," Keesha pondered. "But, once again, what are you getting at?"
"Haven't you noticed your situation is exactly like mine? Talented mages who are my roommates and sit next to me in class, and a small group of talented knights."
"You mean the tower purposely designed things like this? But how would they know who would get into the Elite Class?" As soon as Keesha asked, she thought of an answer: Divination.
"I thought divination couldn't predict the future. Did they use a Seer?"
"It's probably just a predictive model," Zane said. Divination is all about information, and with enough data, it's possible to predict things to a high enough degree that it appears like predicting the future. "We can verify tomorrow."
"How?"
"Ask the sergeant about his roommate situation."
"You want me to talk to him? No way," Keesha shook her head.
"You don't have to do it yourself. Ask Evelyn to do it; she's quite charismatic, so she should be able to get some information."
"I'll ask her, but I don't know if she'll agree."
"Anyway, let's get back to the topic."
"There is more?"
"From my observation, the tower is testing all our abilities, including our leadership. All the signs are there: the roommate arrangements, the class pairing, the instructor arrangements —"
"Do you think it's all related to the next dimension shift?"
Zane paused. "I didn't think of that, but you may be right." Xi'Ke had refused to reveal any information about the next shift; he claimed he didn't have any information, and Zane was inclined to believe him.
"Anyway, I thought I should warn you that it may be in your best interest to get along with your roommate, at least most of them. Even if it's just to show you can get along with others."
Keesha frowned. "Is this why you get along with your roommate?"
"More or less."
"Not because you guys are friends?"
"That too."
"You can't have both," Keesha disagreed. "You're either friends or treat them nicely because it serves your purpose."
"Why does it have to be mutually exclusive? They treat me well, and I return their kindness. Such a relationship also helps build a better future for myself."
"The way you think is too logical."
"And yours is too binary."
"Is this how you feel about Evelyn and me?"
"Why are you suddenly interrogating me?" Zane asked. "I chose to warn you because I wanted to help, but it's fine if you don't want my advice. Just pretend I didn't say anything." After saying that, he opened the elevator door and stepped inside.
"I didn't realize before, but you have a lot of trust issues."
Zane ignored her; this woman was a little too insistent on being his therapist. So, he pretended he didn't hear her as the door closed. It was a bit late, so Zane hurried back to his dorm. His mini-fridge had enough snacks, so he didn't need to rush to the cafeteria to get some more. Back at the dorm, he saw Ahmed waiting to ensure he returned; Zane reassured him before settling in for the night.
After the mandatory ice bath, Zane lay on his bed and reviewed the designs Keesha had brought him. There were only seven, and after seeing the third one, Zane was immediately drawn to it; he even chose it in the end. The design was that of a spider — which was Anansi's animal, and sometimes, his form — with Anansi's head drawn into its posterior. The head even contained two web-like earrings that Zane really liked, and the crystal added to Anansi's head also brought him an air of mystery and wisdom, which was one of Anansi's domains.
"You're the one," Zane decided before logging into the web and making an appointment for Tuesday and Wednesday. Finally, he had time to look at the Necromancer Journal. "Let's hope this thing is useful," he thought. Unfortunately, after less than thirty minutes of reading, he wanted to rip his hair out. And it wasn't because of how gory the contents were, but because the Necromancer was simply insane, a fact that instantly revealed itself by how this journal was written.
The first issue Zane encountered was the mixture of languages. One moment, the man recorded his findings in Gremorian; the next, he wrote in Elvish, Orcish, and other languages. Sometimes, one sentence could be in five different languages. Luckily for him, the professor had translated these languages and even left his notes, but this was far from the only challenge.
The second issue was the colloquial words. While Gremorian is a widely spoken language across the Astral Cosmos, languages are never permanent. On the contrary, languages are constantly evolving based on regions, cultures, customs, and many other factors. Gremorian hasn't existed long enough on Earth for that change to occur, but it was not the same for whatever dimensions the Necromancer came from.
While reading, Zane discovered so many words that he didn't know. Some were just spelled differently, which wasn't so bad, but a lot of them were unique to whatever dimensions the Necromancer originated from. Once again, Professor Burbank's notes came in handy, but even he had trouble with some of the translation, offering multiple possible meanings.
And those two problems were not even Zane's biggest gripe with this journal. That damned Necromancer straight up invented new words. At first, he thought the latter did so because he had invented a new concept and invented a word to define it; Zane could accept that since it was common in academia. However, upon further reading, he realized this was just the result of this man's madness.
"This is going to take a while," Zane sighed to himself. "If only I could get some help." He suddenly remembered Leon Dimaala, the linguist he had met in the first Analytic Club lecture he attended. Zane decided to contact him and ask if he could deduce the meaning of these words. He couldn't show Leon the journal, but Zane had no problem sharing a few phrases, words, and the definition Professor Burbank had chosen, and asking for his opinion. As a Linguist, Leon might detect certain patterns.
"Anyway, it doesn't hurt to try," he thought. He immediately emailed, explaining the situation. Zane told the truth about the journal and how he couldn't show it to him, but he'd still appreciate any help; he also offered compensation if Leon felt it was appropriate.
It was late, so Zane didn't expect a return tonight. So, after reading a couple of journal pages, he focused on something else. With mana channeling, his coding efficiency was extremely high. As long as his brain could keep up, his hands could type at an alarming speed. Plus, this method of using mana channeling proved to be an excellent training approach. Then, as usual, Zane ended the night after finishing his homework and a bit of reading on magic theory.