1: Back To School

On the first day of the rest of my life, I sat in an amphitheater as one of a group of 100 people. The seat was comfortable, but my body was not. I'd expected that—everyone who applied to join this new PVE—Permanent Virtual Environment—was warned that, among many other warnings, that the environment would start us out as teenagers.

This PVE was one of the cheapest possible to join, and absolutely everybody who was both still alive in the real world and still in my life questioned my decision to transmigrate to it. Even so, securing my place in this amphitheater had required over 90% of my life savings. I had no qualms about that since I didn't have anyone to leave the last bit to. Really, most people these days didn't, even the few like me who had a prayer of still joining a PVE. Those who had already been well off had long prevented the poor or even many who you might consider middle class from uploading their minds to escape our polluted, dying planet with a gleeful callousness.

I'd also ran the numbers not long ago, and it would have taken me another 20 years to increase my savings enough to afford a midrange PVE, and that was assuming my luck held financially. Given the choice between grinding out the MMOs that were basically a discount version of the discount version of a PVE of this scale and realism for that much longer, I was ready to jump in, especially since this PVE, based on a Cultivation type world, would allow me to live for a very long time.

Although, even with everything I'd been warned about, there turned out to be one wrinkle I hadn't counted on...

"On behalf of the illustrious faction of this institution's founding, the Dimension Governors, I welcome you, the new class, to the First of Nine Heavens. Welcome to Outworlder Academy.

 Over the next four years, each and every one of you will have ample opportunity to learn all that you need to know of our culture in order to survive and thrive in what you know as the world of 'cultivation.' Naturally, you will all learn how to actually cultivate as well, and those who prove to have talent will have much to look forward to as graduation draws near. However, at bare minimum, it is vital that all of you learn well the proper behavior of a new cultivator.

In this world, proper etiquette can easily be a matter of life and death, when that etiquette is toward someone with a higher cultivation base than you. While arrangements for resurrection have been provided by mandate to all Outworlders, you will find the penalty most severe. I'm sure none of you want to experience that due to simply giving someone the wrong greeting honorific. So please, do try to take the lessons we impart here to heart.

At the Academy, we arrange classes in keeping with a compatible tradition from your world. The 100 of you will be assigned to four classes of 25 each, A through D. The distribution will be impartial—Class A will not have any kind of superiority to B through D from the start. Always remember: though the Academy is not actually a cultivator sect, you will all be expected to behave as though you are Disciples and your instructors your Elders. Things will be lenient for the first nine days you are here, but after that you can expect penalties for breaches in proper behavior.

One final thing to note: you have all been gifted with an innate System. The identity of a System User carries some status in this world, and your possession of the one we have granted you is proof of your affiliation with the Dimensional Governors. However, it isn't only you Outworlders who possess Systems here. Keep that in mind. 

Classes for the year will begin the day after tomorrow. To conclude this orientation, I will escort you all to the dormitory office where you will receive your room key, identification, class assignment, uniforms, and class materials. After that, you will be free to socialize and familiarize yourself with the campus grounds and the location of the various facilities, as well as the Dimensional Governors' System. You may go anywhere you like until the start of classes, except for the Inner Grounds, which is off limits to underclassmen save for those on official business."

The campus grounds were deserted other than us and a few Elders, the rest were apparently on some kind of annual extended field training. It didn't take me long to learn the layout of the place, at least more or less. What I found more interesting was the System the orientation referred to. It had a status screen, an inventory, a note-taking app, an atlas app...and that was it. There were no communication features, no settings menu, and no quest menu. Rubbing salt in the wound, the Atlas was blank except for where I'd already been—though that was useful for getting around campus—and the Inventory was volume based and limited to a 5 foot cube. More than an ordinary backpack, sure, but pretty limited compared to usual VRMMO pack-ratting.

Well, I'd wanted realistic. If I wanted game-like I could have just stuck with my Dive Gaming career. I was lucky I even had a System with this much. I could work with it. And on the bright side, the Status screen was intriguing. In fact, it was the most gamified looking screen in the System:

<Personal Status>

Health: 50/50

Qi: 0/0

Physique: Experiential Body

Curses/Ailments: None

<Attributes >

Strength: 6

Resilience: 13

Agility: 18

Comprehension: 78

Resolve: 33

Reaction: 20

Aura: 1

Faith: 10

Purity: 62/100

<Cultivation >

Realm: Mortal

Stage: N/A

Highest Rate: N/A

Last Rate: N/A

Qi To Next: 0/100

Spirit Force: 6

No doubt the Academy's class would cover what all these meant. For now, I figured my stat spread either meant I was hopeless in everything but Comprehension, or I was hopeless in a few things, average in some others, and actually talented in Comprehension. It would depend on what was the norm for a non-cultivator.