Chapter 12: Housemates
"No way," said Magnus, unable to think straight. Of all the hundreds of thousands of people that he could've gotten as his roommates...how?
"Hoh. As I said, we are [Children of Destiny]. And for us, anything is possible. Hohohoho, I will say though, this makes things a lot easier, doesn't it."
"I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but wow! You really didn't manipulate anything?"
"Nope, I had nothing to do with this arrangement. I'm just as surprised as you are. Anyway, since we were paired together, we might as well take full advantage of this, shouldn't we? We have a lot to do, after all."
"We? Who are you exactly, Jin, and I can tell you're not hostile, but what do you really want from me."
"As I said, Magnus, you can consider me as a friend. The way you are right now, you're far too weak. Considering the world put us here together, I'd say the world believes that too."
"But what would I even need strength for? To climb the towers?"
"Oh, no, not at all. The world is far larger than those measly towers. Like I've said before, it is your fate to become someone special. And every single Child of Destiny like you or me are granted special abilities. And no I'm not talking about a few skills or traits. I'm talking about something much more complex than that. The world selects the perfect type of person required for their needs, and that person is bestowed with unique, distinct, abilities that cater to the individual. Judging by the look on your face, I'd say you've already received yours. Great."
Magnus did have a look on his face. He was wondering if his 'System' is what Jin was talking about. Was that where it came from, from the world itself? Was he really selected by the 'world' among all of the people it could have selected?
Jin let him sort out his thoughts for a bit, before continuing,
"But like I said earlier, all of that is for a time far, far away from now. For now, all you need to do is follow my instructions, trust me, you won't regret it. What do you think?"
*Sigh*
"Fine. I don't really have a reason to refuse if you say you're going to help me get stronger. Alright Jin, let's be friends."
And Magnus raised his hands for a handshake. Jin, too, accepted it with a bright smile on his face.
*Creak*
It was then. The other 3 of their roommates appeared at once. Magnus and Jin looked at the entrance.
They were 2 two bulky men and one somewhat thin one who seemed like their leader.
"Hey. You two, standing over there. Get outta the way, can't you see our young master is arriving?" Said one of the men on the side.
"Go and get the young master some food to eat, the highest quality ones available. Hurry up, before we break your bones." said the other.
"Oh, look, Magnus. It looks like fate has prepared some more presents for us!" said Jin to Magnus, in a not-so-hushed tone.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
All Magnus saw was a load of garbage standing in front of him in the form of 3 useless buffoons.
"Heheheh, look carefully, what do you see."
"A bunch of useless crap?"
With a sly grin on his face, Jin said, "No, Magnus, you must always try and make the best of everything. Think of it this way, since they're useless garbage, you wouldn't feel bad if we... rough them up a bit. They would make useful servants."
His mouth opening wide in astonishment, Magnus said, "I suppose that's one way to look at it."
"Haaaah. I'm hungry"
"HEY! ARE YOU DEAF? THE YOUNG MASTER IS HUNGRY. GO GET SOME FOOD OR ELSE WE'LL KICK YOUR ASSES."
"Psst. They must not know anything about this place. Hey, listen up, in this place, we could literally beat you up to the border of death and no one would say a thing. The Academy is such a place, it's a dog eat dog world, you know? SO GET THE YOUNG MASTER SOME FOOD BEFORE WE MAKE YOU REGRET BEING BORN."
Jin ignored them and said to Magnus, "See Magnus? We can do anything we want to them, they said so themselves."
Jin walked over to them with a big grin on his face.
"WHAT? YOU WANNA FI-"
*grunt*
*BOOM*
*Crack*
*Crush*
*Break*
*Crack*
*Screams*
Magnus started getting goosebumps, he felt bad for the 'Young Master' and his 2 thugs.
At one point, the neighbors had come, asking what all the screaming was about, and when they saw the condition the 3 were in, they immediately left, apologizing for the interruption.
Sure enough, 1 hour of what Jin called, 'Mental Disciplining', all 3 were all kneeling down in front of them.
"Sob. We're so sorry. Sob"
"Sob. Please no more."
"We won't do it again. Sob."
Said all 3 in sync, they clearly weren't used to such treatment. Magnus sighed and wasn't sure what to say.
Finally, he said, "I suppose they would make good servants." to a pleased Jin.
"You heard that you three? You'll be serving us," said Jin.
"But-"
"Oh? You can still talk back? I suppose you still have too many teeth."
"AHHHH. NOOOO."
***
Another half-hour later, they were completely subservient and didn't utter a word of complaint.
"Are you sure this is alright? Won't we get in trouble," asked Magnus.
"Oh come on, did you not see how they were when they came here? They were going to do the same to us if we were weaker. That's just the type of place the world is. Besides, they looked like they needed some disciplining."
"Can't argue with that logic."
The 2 boys were currently eating the food the 3 had delivered and paid for with their credits. It seems like the 100 credits the students had received were actually quite a lot, as they were able to order a full, proper, 5-star meal for 2 people for 1 crown each. Of course, that was a pretty big waste of money since one could get a monthly, 3 meal food subscription to the cafeteria for 2 Crowns a month.
Also, it seemed that the lodging they currently stayed at costed 4 crowns a month, which was a really good deal to Magnus, considering its luxury. However, that also dictated the importance of earning your own crowns as otherwise, you wouldn't have a proper shelter to stay in.
Obviously, though, the richer seniors of the Academy, most of whom had a bunch of credits, and had their own ranking system, were able to purchase even better living quarters.
Currently, Jin was explaining to Magnus many of the different, non-educational areas of the Academy.
"The Academy supports student-based lifestyles. So students can pretty much start any business they want in here. For example, there's an actual Auction House rented by one of the seniors and that's where the Students can buy special items from."
"But what do they sell in the Auction? Where do they get the things from?"
"That's what I was just about to say. You see, once we graduate the first year as Freshmen, the Sophomores are allowed to complete certain assignments and missions where they are sent outside of the Academy in order to complete certain objectives and expeditions.
There are thousands of assignments that any Sophomore or older can undertake at any time. Many of those missions require you to kill the monsters coming out of Gates that appear.
Aside from being paid to bring certain ones, you can actually receive a large number of other materials from those monsters, and if you come across a rare material, you can receive quite a huge sum for it returning it to the Academy, but, you can receive an even higher amount of Crowns by selling it in the Auctions, where there'll probably be someone who desperately needs it."
"And what would someone do with those materials?" said Magnus, his eyes shining, not knowing that the Academy was such an interesting place.
"You can obviously collect such materials and request for an item to be made from them for a commission from the blacksmith or such establishments, that are also made by the students and comprise of students. You can also set up your own shop with those collected materials or items made by the blacksmiths if you want.
That's why the community of the Academy is so large and diverse, it's practically like its own city, and the size of the premises certainly doesn't lose out to an actual city. Anything you want has a high chance of being found somewhere in the Academy."
"Woahh. That's incredible."
"Yeah, what makes the community even better is that it is supported by the staff of the Academy, which means that even the staff can be found in certain places purchasing things occasionally."
"Oh, does that mean you can buy things from the teachers then?"
"Yeah, but that's only if you have enough crowns to convince them. Since the teachers are able to trade Crowns with the Academy for a higher salary, or other things from the other staff since most of them really need the money."
"Hey, you said something about blacksmithing, what about other production services? I've seen both blacksmithing and other such courses like, 'Alchemy' in the course selector. What's alchemy?"
"Well, like you said, other than the combat-oriented courses, there are also production courses such as blacksmithing, alchemy, inscription, formations, enchanting, and many more. Although the students applying for those courses aren't as plentiful as the fighters, there still a decent number, most of whom are part of their respective establishments founded by the students.
And since you asked, alchemy is one of the most important occupations, not just in the Academy, but for Humanity as a whole, and even races outside of humanity. It's basically like medicine and pharmacy, but way more advanced, as all the new materials and life with different properties.
For example, I'm sure you've heard of health potions and mana potions, and such items? Those are all created by using Alchemy. Alchemy is using the different properties of herbs, plants, and other forms of life to conjure and synthesize new materials that can either be beneficial or harmful. For example, there are pills that can increase your strength for a certain amount of time, or sometimes, even permanently, and there are pills that are poisonous, that can be thrown or consumed. The possibilities are practically endless."
"Fuuuuu. The world's a lot larger than I thought it was."
"Oh boy, believe me, it's still a lot larger than you currently think."
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Nothing, just thinking out loud."
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