"How do students get expelled from here?" Varian asked in a solemn voice.
"Eww…"
"It's that guy…"
"Be punctual. That's hard for you. Haha"
The senior stared at Varian for a moment and almost laughed. Perceiving Varian to be only Level 2, he let go of inhibitions and sneered, "There are three cases.
If your balance mp is zero or negative on the last day of a month.
If you don't pass the test every month
If you're crippled or punished.
The senior seemed to generously explain, but his tone was plain mockery.
Varian wasn't bothered by the so-called senior's manners. He just wanted answers.
'Now I have 0 mp. So I'll need to get some mp soon. Plus, having mp helps me progress quicker.'
Merit points are everything here. One can purchase anything — star treasures, special pills, elixirs. Even private tutoring from high level teachers can be requested with enough merit points.
"How to get merit points?" Varian raised his hand and continued to question.
"Anything you do can be awarded merit points. Say you killed an Abyss Lord, you'll get a few merit points.
But if you kidnapped one, and used them to negotiate and free a corresponding human awakener, you'll have way more merit points." the senior rubbed his chin and said.
He concluded, and the students nodded. Only Narcis stood aloof.
Then he continued on the topic of gaining merit points:
"Your classes will start from tomorrow. After 2 weeks, you can start doing missions. Missions are the main source of merit points. One can earn from tens to hundreds of merit points every mission." He said and saw his juniors getting excited.
He poured cold water on their enthusiasm "25% of those join never make it to graduation."
The air turned still.
'They weren't present when that senior girl, Sarah, told the same stuff?' Varian wondered as he watched the students go pale.
"2% drop out. 23%… die." He sighed. Perhaps he was missing his friends he'd never meet again.
The senior continued, "Out of those 23%, 13% come from first year, 3% in second year and 7% from third year."
"So the right people having your back is important. For your missions, you'll be forming teams. Single missions don't exist." He glanced at Varian inadvertently and others caught his hint.
'Wait, what? Am I being blacklisted already?' Varian saw their gazes and knew his credibility took another hit.
No one would bet their life on a guy who was late for a military school on the first day. In fact, it wasn't about being late. It was about the commitment. A thousand reasons wouldn't bring back a fallen life.
The students' gaze told Varian he wouldn't be able to join in any team for his first mission.
So, basically Varian had zero merit points now and needed some merit points before 45th to not get expelled. The major source of merit points, merit points was a team game. He'd not be let into any teams. That also meant he'd likely not any merit points from missions.
'Don't worry too much. Everything is already fucked. Nothing can go more wrong. I'll just try to think of a solution.' Varian cheered himself.
There was one more thing he needed to clarify about being expelled. The tests.
"What's the process of tests?" He asked.
"We have 8 months in a year. 3½ months for one semester. So 7 months classes for every academic year."
"You'll need to pay 20 merit points last day of every month to attend the monthly test. You all have at least 10 merit points from your entrance exam. You'll need to earn 10 more on your first mission." He snickered.
Solar Calendar or Runic Calender had 8 months on the basis of the 8 ruins. Each month had 45 days. So one needed to pay 20 merit points on 45th.
The students inadvertently glanced at Varian, but with pity this time.
Varian looked calm on the surface, but inwardly he was cursing the nine generations of Evander.
'None of my peers will team up with me. I'll need 20 merit points by 45th. So I can only go by myself. But single missions are suicides. I thought things couldn't be worse.' He panicked for a moment.
Then he took a deep breath and calmed himself. 'I've been at death's door multiple times. The odds were horribly low. I still made it through. Why can't I make it here? I will.'
Instead of breaking his will, the crises only hardened his resolve.
The senior continued to chat, and more buses arrived. The students and the senior guiding them stepped down and hard a cordial chat.
Soon, there were a hundred students and a dozen seniors in front of the dorm building.
Varian was left out. Now the conversations revolved around the best beauties, team tactics and others.
He walked to the entrance and saw the same holograph lists.
There were four of them. The first list was in purple color. Second in diamond. Third in gold and fourth in silver.
Each list had 10 names. The purple list was the largest and had a more grandiose font.
Charles Xander 80k mp
Williamson 60k mp
Sarah 56kmp
….
…
A couple of students also took an interest in the lists and were checking them out.
"Senior, this is?" a cute girl with a ponytail asked cutely.
"These are the ranking lists. Amethyst, Diamond, Golden and Silver Lists. Everyone in the academy can compete for the ranking." Her senior, a tall girl, answered with a sunny smile.
"These rankings are based on your cumulative merit points." The senior of Varian's group interrupted and stared at the cute girl.
"Amethyst List is ranking for the top 10 cadets of the academy, regardless of their year. Diamond List is only for 3rd years. Golden for 2nd and Silver for first." He said out loud.
His words attracted the attention of everyone on the field. The students gathered around the lists. After glancing at the amethyst list, they saw their own Silver list.
Varian 510 mp
Narcis 130 mp
Ryan 100 mp
A guy whispered, "So is Charles Xander the elder brother of Narcis? He is the undisputed first. But Narcis is just second."
It might be inaudible to normal people, but everybody was an awakener here, and at least Level 2 at that. Every morpher and body awakener a few hundred meters away were able to hear it clearly.
"Boom!"
A punch sent him flying, and he crashed into the wall.
"Trash, do you have any qualifications to say my name?" Narcis rubbed his fist and glared at him.
The crowd evacuated the area in the blink of an eye.
The injured guy slowly stood up and spat his blood on the ground "Even that Varian got first somehow. You can't even defeat your peers. How can you compare to your brother?"
'Damn. This is bad. I don't think is a coincidence.' Varian felt the tension in the air and glanced around.
He saw a familiar face.
Adir!
He fought with Ryan the other day and was fined. When he first saw Adir, he was arguing with Narcis. He also mocked Narcis after they returned.
'So I got caught in their crossfire?'
There was no way all of this was a coincidence. All the way till here, no one spoke ill of Narcis. They didn't want to piss him off.
Even after getting down the bus, Narcis took off his VR set but stood alone in a corner.
He stood out because everyone was keeping a large distance from him.
So how can one neglect his presence so blatantly and trash talk him.
'It's orchestrated by Adir. The goal?'
Varian saw Narcis walking up to him with fuming eyes.
"You… you are the reason I'm getting questioned. These fucking idiots question me because of you."
'No. You are that fucking idiot to fall for the trap. Adir was fined his mp, and he wanted you to be fined as well.' Varian shook his head. There was no way Narcis would listen to his 'reasoning'.
Varian wanted to avoid fighting for two reasons.
One was to focus on his priority of getting 20k merit points.
Second was to keep his space powers as a trump card. It was a deliberate decision.
Third was that fighting Narcis would likely start a revenge story of sorts.
But now that trouble knocked at his door, he couldn't fight Narcis half handedly. He had to give his best or get thrashed.
Varian channeled his chi and space power.
A blue light flashed, and Narcis shot at Varian at a breathtaking speed.
"Come."
Narcis threw his fist at Varian and Varian punched back.
"Shaaauu"
The wind exploded at that moment, and everyone held their breath.
"....."
"....."
There was only an eerie silence.
The students widened their eyes as they saw a single finger stopping the two fists.