The young man's deanour shifted instantly. Instead of accepting Alex's handshake, he swatted Alex's hand away with an arrogant look.
"Don't get the wrong idea," he sneered. "I'm only here because the university requires to be. If it weren't for the fact I'm getting paid a few Pri points for doing this, we'd have never crossed paths. Don't think for a second that we're friends."
Alex blinked, taken aback by the sudden change in attitude. "Uh, okay I wasn't expecting that."
The young man scoffed. "You'll learn soon enough that in this place, there's no room for weakness or naivety. If you want to survive, you'll need to toughen up. This place is no different from the Primordial Expanse in that respect."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Alex standing there feeling a mix of frustration and confusion.
He glanced back at his dorm, the small, shabby house didn't look so bad now that he knew everyone, regardless of status or strength, was assigned the sa at the start of the year.
The information the young man provided was clear: everything in this university was about competition. If he wanted better accommodations, better resources, and any semblance of comfort, he would have to fight for it.
'Well, nothing new.' Alex thought. 'I've fought through, much, much worse.'
He entered the small house and started to unpack his things. The interior was as unimpressive as the exterior, with just enough space for a bed, a small bathroom, and a kitchen.
It was clear this place was designed to only be temporary, as any self respecting person would never willingly choose to live in a place like this.
As he unpacked, his communicator beeped again. He checked the ssage, which outlined the schedule for the next few days: orientation, preliminary strength assessnts, and a detailed introduction to the ranking system.
'Three days until classes start,' Alex reminded himself. 'Three days to prepare.'
***
anwhile, on the other side of the city, Mira was experiencing her own version of the dormitory reality. Her assigned house was equally underwhelming, but she took it in stride, as it was much better than what she used to live in before she beca an Awakened.
She was also assigned a second year 'guide' who explained to her the basics of university life. But contrary to Alex's situation, Mira was the one acting cold on her end.
She unpacked her belongings and reviewed the sa schedule Alex had received. The preliminary strength assessnts would be crucial in determining their initial rankings.
The higher their rankings, the more resources they had access too. Not to ntion a better dorm…
***
The next day, the city was abuzz with activity. Students were exploring the grounds, training in designated areas, and preparing for the assessnts.
Alex decided to take a walk around, familiarising himself with the layout of the city and observing the competition.
Occasionally, he'd see so arrogant looking seniors picking on so new entrants, but he didn't bother to do anything to stop it.
It was none of his business anyway.
But one thing was for sure.
'I'm stronger than all of these guys.'
He spotted various groups of students engaged in intense training sessions. So were practising combat techniques, while others honed their talents and elents. The atmosphere was electric, filled with a sense of purpose and fierce competition.
But all Alex saw was a bunch of weaklings.
Although each one of them were first years like him, he hadn't even spotted anyone stronger than E rank yet.
Nor could he tell if any of them were Mutants or higher classes, but from those he'd observed, there was only one Mutant class, who openly flaunted his strength. He was also the highest rank of the bunch, E rank.
If it were Alex from say, 6 months ago, he'd be impressed with this guy's strength.
But now, he could only laugh at this guy's strength.
Alex knew that he and Mira were stronger than everyone else during their entrance test, but he didn't think that would also extend to the University too.
But then again, he'd only observed maybe less than 300 students so far, which compared to the hundreds of thousands that were in the first year alone, was nothing.
However it did seem like he had overestimated his assessnt of the students here.
He at least knew now that he was at least in the upper tier of first years in terms of strength.
As he walked, he noticed a large screen covering the skyscraper at the centre of the city from top to bottom.
On it, a long list of nas were displayed.
Five rows of nas to be exact, each one 10,000 nas long.
The first four rows were designated to each year group, from first years to fourth years. The last row was special though, as it ranked the strength of all of the students currently in the university combined!
The first year's list was currently empty, as the ranking hadn't been established yet.
However the other four were quite active, and below the top 1000 students, there were frequent changes in na's positions as students challenged each other.
'That's where I need to be,' Alex thought, determination burning in his eyes.
His eyes hovered on nothing but the spot in first place.
On the overall rankings…
Back in his dorm, he reviewed the information packet on his communicator more thoroughly.
The assessnts would cover a range of skills: combat prowess, strategic thinking, elental control, and talent assessnt. Each category would contribute to his standing on the rankings.
'Achieving a high rank will be tougher than I thought…' Alex thought.
As it turned out, the rankings weren't as simple as they seed.
'I'm confident about scoring high on the combat prowess section, but stuff like strategic thinking, elental control etc, I have no clue where to even start…'
This system seed rigged against the poorer students like Alex and Mira, as the upper class students would have already received training in these areas before University even started, giving them a head start.
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