Chapter 6: Chapter 5

The exhaustion from waking up so early only really hit me at noon. Before that I had looked at some maps of the city to better familiarize myself with it. All things considered, it was nicely laid out. You could generally describe it as a semicircle built around a natural bay, divided by walls into concentric rings which themselves were divided into wedges. The original idea was probably to have each wedge contain specific types of buildings- but without perfect oversight it had become more of a suggestion. As you got farther towards the edges, the streets became less like neat radii and rings, looking more like that was the easiest way to build them after plots were built on.

 

I was also able to take a look around the ‘true’ University grounds where most of the teaching and club buildings were centralized. If anything it looked like a normal university from my memories- lots of fancy brick buildings made in an eclectic group of styles and sizes. It was also big, taking up a bit over half of the second ring- a 15 minute walk end-to-end. In addition, there were buildings sprinkled into the rest of the city where they’d be closer to actual workshops or materials relating to the class, but most of those were for later-year classes. I’d done this walk before, but as I had nothing better to do I figured I might as well refresh myself.

 

Waking up from an afternoon nap placed the time around three, giving me four hours more daylight. I spent the majority of it prepping what I needed for tomorrow and stressing about what classes I might get and what I might need for them. From what I’d heard, most first years are given variety-classes in a spread of fields to give them a taste of what's out there. There is also a class everyone has to take that covers literacy and math.

 

The next morning I learned a few important things about being a courier my guide had left out. First, there were more of us than routes, which meant you could easily take days off. The important thing was that by the end of the year you had completed 100 routes, giving you about eighty days off. Secondly, a lot of people arrived before our official start time of four. This left only a few of what I assume were the worse routes. Lastly, there were people who’d sell their completed clipboards for a little extra cash. All of these were things I should have realized before now- but I was just out of it yesterday morning.

 

Now, you might think that people competing to get good routes, enough routes, and sell completed routes would lead to a bad work environment- but everyone was actually pretty nice and helpful with filling in the gaps of my knowledge. A lot of people would have friendly races to see who could get done first and there was a board in one of the rooms where you could see everyones fastest times, both for the year and all time. 

 

Moving on to the entrance ceremony, it was a slog of speeches with only really one that warranted attention. Said speech was given by the headmaster themself- who was an obfuscating bundle of clothes from head to toe, with a matching ambiguous voice that somehow still conveyed that they were undoubtedly the top of the hierarchy. 

 

“Greetings, friends new and old. As all of you are aware, in addition to teaching and preparing you for advancement in the world, we are here to study the origin and rules concerning Abilities. For being an integral part of our life from the far reaches of history, little is known concerning the underlying factors to their development. We hope that some of you might be able to provide further data on this subject. Those who have awakened are encouraged to come talk to us about what potential influences might have guided you. Those who have not are encouraged to help us in attempting to influence one’s progression. Once again, if you should be interested- seek out us or other related academy staff. We know that approximately ten percent of you have had your awakening, and further twenty percent will happen within the next week.” With that abrupt cutoff, they simply turned and left- the next speaker quickly coming to the podium and continuing the more typical introductions.

 

I was able to easily snag my schedule by leaving a bit early from the last speech, a good decision based on the chaos that ensued when it was the proper time to pick them up. Overall it didn’t seem that bad:

 

Unday:

    9-10am: Basic Fitness and Combat Training.

12-2pm: Basic Academic Skills.

    3-4pm: Basic Ability Theory --> Ability Training when applicable.

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Douday:

    9-10am: Basic Craftsmen Overview in Preparation for Selection.

    12-2pm: Basic Academic Skills.

    3-4pm: World History

 

Triday:

    9-10am: Basic Fitness and Combat Training.

    12-2pm: Basic Academic Skills.

3-4pm: Ethics --> Counseling if Applicable.

 

Quaday;

    8-9am: Basic Academic Skills.

 

Under the 3pm slot on Triday was a handwritten note simply stating: “Please visit the Headmaster on the first day of this class. We know about your extremely recent and extremely special circumstances. Do not be late.”

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