"Dorm room, dorm room," Everlearn mused under his lips as he moved forward through the pedestrian pavement.
His hair constantly whipped around his head, a result of the blitzing hoverboards above him, but he paid them no attention—just like the dozens of others walking alongside him.
In X Guard, not only was the ground filled, but the air was too, with students on hoverboards. What was more surprising was that they were flying less than a meter above them, and yet, there were no collisions or accidents.
At first, Everlearn had creased his head in confusion every time the air whipped past, but seeing how the people didn’t seem to care—either trusting their ability to remain unharmed or the skill of those using the hoverboards—he eventually stopped paying attention.
Instead, he looked at his hands, where a green card was currently grasped.
He could feel the force field pulling at the card as he held it. It had been pulling for about five minutes, yet he’d been moving around and around, making him doubt if it was even working at all.
But he couldn’t give up—and that paid off, as just five minutes later, Everlearn arrived before it.
A really large glass-made building in the shape of a small letter N. Arriving before the gate, there were no guards or staff, and indeed there were students walking in.
All they did was slide their cards at one of the scanners across the gate before going in immediately.
Everlearn studied silently before he also joined the line, swiping his card on the scanner.
—sound, and he stepped in, feeling the sensation of moving through a force field for a few moments.
"Oh," he mused in surprise, turning back, but there didn’t seem to be anything there. That was when it occurred to him.
There was a force field preventing entrance. Most likely, if one didn’t scan their dorm card, they would be denied entry.
"Then this card is quite important," he mused to himself before resuming his steps forward.
This time, the field around the green card was bolder. Everlearn soon found himself in a large hall within the dorm building and then found an elevator, which whisked him up.
When he stepped out, he found a long corridor with doors and a large balcony from which one could see the base floor bustling with students.
Continuing down the corridor, he found himself at the last room at the far end of the curve, and right then, his card pointed exactly at the blue-colored door.
"This is it?" he mused, unconsciously exhaling in relief.
Instead of a knob, there was a scanner—further reinforcing how important the card was.
He swiped the card over, and it made a neat beep sound.
"Welcome to your new home, Everlearn."
The AI voice rang out as Everlearn stepped in.
It was dark at first, but when he fully stepped in, with the door shutting close behind him, everything lit up brilliantly, and he found himself in a basic living room.
The ground was covered in a woolly rug that filled quite the spacious living room. There was a simple sofa for three in a circular shape and an equally round center table.
That was all there was.
Everlearn moved to the sofa and placed the bag on it.
There were two doors to the side, and he checked them all one by one.
There was the toilet—a basic shower with a toilet.
It was simple... too simple.
And the third door led to a room that was quite peculiar. It was large—just as large as the living space—possessing two clear amenities: a bed and a wardrobe.
But it was peculiar in that the room had another space divided by a glass door, and when he stepped into it, the ground was different.
It was made of a different gem, harder and thicker—almost impenetrable.
And surprisingly, right at the middle of the room was a bag held by a chain from the ceiling. The source of thɪs content is 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚·𝔫𝔢𝔱
"A punching bag!?" Everlearn mused in disbelief, walking toward it.
He gave it a punch, and it reverberated slightly.
"It’s quite tough," he mused to himself.
[For an academy as big as this, this is quite basic.]
The system panel flashed before him, and Everlearn couldn’t argue with that. But he was used to it.
His house back in Elloscious was just —except his bedroom and living room were just one, not two.
In a way, this looked good.
"It’s enough," he said to the system before moving to the sofa in the living room.
Taking his seat, he unzipped the bag and placed the objects in it upon the glass desk—the device in the box, the memory card, and the green card.
Opening the device box, he found a communication device.
It was thin as a blade and wide as a book—a folded device.
He unfolded it, its 7.6-inch screen tinged like liquid light. A silent hum followed as the screen bloomed to life.
"A Galaxy Z Fold, Ultra Spec," Everlearn mused, parting his lips.
One of the projects he’d worked on in Mechara—the Head Scientist used this device.
Once the main screen appeared, he did a little bit of scrolling, finding basic tools. But there was nothing in relation to the academy.
That was why he grabbed the tiny pin that came with the device’s box and opened the memory slot, slotting the given memory inside.
When he pushed the filled slot back into the phone, a couple of notifications appeared, and Everlearn watched as information was quickly uploaded.
Then a few new apps were downloaded, and the more he saw them, the more he found things he wanted to see, information about the X Guard Academy.
He remembered the woman’s words: to read the rules first and get familiar with the map.
So he navigated to the Rules, an app of its own, and quickly began studying them.
His eyes soon widened to saucers.
"What the fuck is this!?"