The boy blinked in surprise as he went completely silent for a good few seconds. He had to contemplate those words deeply again and again. After all, the weight they carried was heavy.
He looked like he was confused yet also shocked by what he saw. In the end, he opened his mouth to say one single word.
“… Interesting.”
The fact that breaking rules would deduct credit points made some sense. But, the fact that someone would actually lose all their credits sounded like a very brutal punishment. That meant that they had to live their lives on the Middle Island with no income whatsoever.
“I mean they wouldn’t probably starve to death since they can eat at the cafeteria. But still, they can’t do anything else.” He muttered. “I wonder what kind of offenses would lead to such a punishment.”
Arthur found himself even more curious about this manual mentioned in the app. He could already see that there was one last item in the box that still had not been touched. But, before looking at it, he decided to check the rest of the apps on the phone.
Leaving the bank account, he looked at the rest of the apps. There was an app for his school schedule, potential breaks, and other things related to the timetable. There were the normal lessons that he was accustomed to like Math, literature, and the like. Then, there are new things like ‘Martial Arts’, ‘Swordsmanship’, ‘Archery’, and other forms of fighting added to their schedule.
“This is actually perfect. I’m finally going to get proper training to use my sword. This is huge!” He exclaimed with a smile. “Though, it seems I’m going to get extremely busy. This schedule is a little insane.”
Naturally, with the addition of several new things, the timetable was completely filled. He didn’t know if it was going to be too exhausting or if he could even handle or balance such a new lifestyle, but Arthur wasn’t scared at all.
In fact, he felt quite excited to finally start the new school year in such a place.
“Oh well, I’m going to spend the entire night playing either way so I’m not missing out on anything.” He muttered as he left the app and finally looked at the last one.
“Ok, so this is the map. Good, I forgot about it for a moment.” Opening the app, he was met with an extremely detailed construction of the middle island in 2D and 3D with markers that showed his position and the locations of other places. There was also a search bar to look for specific locations on the island in case Arthur needed that.
It looked quite thorough in its presentation which made Arthur less worried about getting lost in this gigantic island. However, there was one particular function he noticed that caught his attention.
“Wait, why is there a contact list in here? Hold on…” Tapping on it, Arthur quickly realized what it was. “Wait, I can point out the location of my friends on the map? This is completely new!”
Arthur had never seen such a thing before. It sounded like a bad idea at first when he thought about it. But, since it only allowed those you accept as friends on your BlueLink to know where you are, it shouldn’t be a huge problem.
“Either way, I’m not adding anyone to my contact list. Screw them all.” He shrugged as he finally put the phone away. “Good, with that done, let’s read this goddamn manual and see how I shouldn’t screw myself over and get expelled.”
The manual was as he expected, a black book with the logo of the game on it. It looked quite massive and intimidating to read but he still opened it.
The first page was simply a welcoming letter to him as a new student there and wishing him a great time. In the end, it was signed by someone but they didn’t add their name.
“No name? Weird.” Arthur rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, it’s clear this is some kind of higher-up in Divinity Corp. But, why no name?”
What was worth mentioning was that nobody actually knew the identity of the higher-ups in the Divinity. They seemed to keep themselves away from the spotlight and simply have representatives that deal with the media. This was but another instance of that mystery. Naturally, nobody knew why they were doing that or how they even could do that.
“Oh well, this isn’t really something I should care about. Ok, hmm, let’s see what the rules are.”
Then, for the next hour or so, Arthur continued reading the entire manual carefully. As he expected, the rest of the book was rules and pieces of information that each student is required to know.
Most of it was things he already knew and was familiar with as they were a part of every normal institution. Things like respecting the teachers and the staff, not destroying any institution’s property, not doing anything illegal, and things like that.
However, there were also things that weren’t normal at all. Things like ‘Killing or harming students or staff is instant expulsion along with being handed to the law enforcement of the nearest nation. Accidental accidents aren’t included.’
“I guess since they are going to teach us how to actually fight, conflicts are bound to happen so they don’t want any victims or casualties,” Arthur commented with a calm expression. “However, this one is a little weird.”
Looking at the one after that, he frowned. “‘It is prohibited to leave the Academy City without permission. Leaving the city would lead to instant expulsion no matter the reason.’. Huh? Why is that? Is there something dangerous in the forest around the city?”
What concerned Arthur was the tone they used. It felt quite harsher and colder than the rest of the rules before it. That made him question why they would be this worried about a student leaving the city on their own.
“Uh, well, if they are this insistent on it then I won’t question it. I don’t have any reason to leave the city either way. I don’t like nature that much either way.” He shrugged as he continued reading.
The rest of the rules involve the attitude the students have to take toward the people around them and the lessons they are being taught. In a nutshell, they want the students to be disciplined, to always attend the lessons unless there is a clear reason why they couldn’t, and to simply treat everyone kindly. Exclusive content from freewebnovel
“Uh, I doubt about that last part. Most of these guys are spoiled and rich brats. Asking them to be nice is like asking a fly to give you some honey.” Arthur rolled his eyes.
He knew conflict and mistreatment was bound to happen between these students. He noticed that the rules didn’t mention a single time that students had to be equal in everything.
Perhaps because Divinity knew that it was impossible to ask them to do that as they had the innate desire to control one another so they didn’t try to stop them and simply limited how much they could go to actually apply their control over one another.
“It’s going to be a battle of control. Perhaps not a bloody or violent one, but it’s still going to be ugly.” Arthur squinted his eyes as he muttered. “Oh well, I guess I should be ready to witness a chaotic war.”
A//N: Thanks for reading!