Sword's Chosen - Cultivation, LitRPG

Aodh stared down at the lecturer from the back row of the atrium. He watched as the man gesticulated wildly, no doubt complaining about the rampant cheating that he couldn't seem to snuff out. Of course, it didn't help that all of the questions he put on the tests could be easily found in the textbook he insisted they buy. Even better, the answers to said questions could easily be found online and simply copied into whatever software the test was being run on. 

Aodh watched in mild amusement as the man pointed at one of the students in the first row, and pointed back to the test results he had on the screen. Aodh saw the student raise his hands up in defiance, but swiftly put them back down as the professor's face got increasingly more red. He moved on to another student, slamming his hand down upon their notebook as the woman flinched backwards. There's no need to go that far. It was just a simple test. 

After he was finished berating the poor woman, he realised his microphone wasn't on, and stormed over to his desk. He fiddled with something on his computer for a few seconds before a loud screech echoed through the lecture hall. Aodh quickly covered his ears, and only took his hands away when he heard the professor's voice blaring through the speakers. 

"This is a fucking disgrace!" Aodh chuckled a bit at the language, but swiftly stilled his face, lest the man decide he was a suitable one to take his anger out on. "I have been teaching this course for twenty-five years, and not once, not once have I seen such a blatant disregard for the core principles of academia." There was silence in the hall. Aodh did his best to remain invisible. 

"You are a disgrace to the college, and a disgrace to yourselves. This generation is doomed!" He punctuated his point by slamming his fist down on the desk of a poor student, sending a boom throughout the hall. "I'm ending this class prematurely, hopefully when I see you next week you will have gained some semblance of respect." Even from the back row, Aodh could see the spit flying out of the man's mouth and landing on the students in the front rows. 

"Good day to you all." Aodh didn't think he'd ever heard something said with such venom. After this proclamation the man went over and sat down at his desk, prompting a mass exodus from the lecture hall. As he was at the back, Aodh was close to the first one out. What do I do now? Vincent should still be in class. Aodh let out a breath through his teeth. 

With the class ending early it meant he needed to go back to his apartment to wait for the next class. Of course, he could just wait on the campus but Aodh didn't want to spend any more time around people than he had to. Although Vincent was the exception. They had met in the first year of secondary school, and quickly became friends. 

By pure coincidence, they had both chosen the same college to study abroad at. Aodh often thought about how they became friends in the first place. Vincent was the sporty type, popular with everyone. By comparison, the first club Aodh had joined in school was the chess club, followed by the creative writing club. Although, he had soon stopped going to the latter as he felt there was too much interaction. 

The chess club was much better. He turned up, found out who he was playing, and once he was finished he left. Sometimes there was a small amount of talking after the game, but Aodh didn't mind that as much. As far as Aodh knew, on the first day of school Vincent had signed up for any club that involved strenuous physical activity. 

Aodh's thoughts were interrupted as he collided with someone back. He let out a breath of air as the person he hit into went sprawling on the floor, the books and papers they were carrying going everywhere. "Ah, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going…" Aodh trailed off as the person sat up and looked at him, the blue eyes piercing into his soul. All he could see was the sunlight from the window lighting up her blonde hair as if it was a halo of light. 

The woman he collided with waved it off. "Oh don't worry about it. Hey, you're the guy with the funny name." Aodh nodded, feeling the red starting to creep up his face as the woman started to gather her books. It's not my fault my parents were obsessed with their Irish ancestors. I couldn't do a thing when they decided to name me after a Celtic god of fire. Did they really not foresee the problems? 

Then Aodh realised he was just standing there as the woman was picking up her things. Feeling himself getting more embarrassed, he bent down and started helping her gather the books and loose papers. After he was finished, he presented them to her and mumbled something about missing class and walked off down the corridor. Why am I so useless? Aodh thoughts were interrupted again as the woman called after him. 

"Hey, I didn't get to thank you." Aodh froze. What do I do now? Why is she thanking me? It was my fault. Aodh watched as the woman walked up to him and stuck out her hand. Tentatively, Aodh reached out and shook her hand. "My name's Amy." "Uh, nice to meet you," Aodh managed to get out. "Thanks for helping me clear up my books." "Oh, well it was my fault in the first place, I wasn't looking where I was going."

Then Aodh realised he was probably supposed to introduce himself. "My name's Aodh." She nodded as he was talking. Didn't she already say she knew my name?  "I know, you're doing the same course as me." Really? How would I not notice someone as good looking as her? Amy smiled as if she was reading his thoughts. "I don't show up to a lot of the lectures, I just watch them online after." Aodh nodded his head as if he understood. 

Since when were the lectures online? "I'm sorry to rush, but I have a class I need to get to." Amy smiled and released his hand. Shit. Was I holding it all that time? Aodh was halfway through waving when he decided it would be too embarrassing and just turned and walked straight back down the corridor he was coming from. I can't turn around now, that would be worse. Despite his burning embarrassment, Aodh was careful to watch where he was going. 

As he turned a corner, he was faced with a massive group of people that had emerged from a class. Aodh saw the door to a bathroom on his right, and without hesitation entered and almost ran into one of the cubicles. The clang of the door lock clicking into place was disturbed by the sound of one of the sinks being used. Aodh cursed under his breath. He didn't see anyone when he came in. I suppose it was stupid on my part to assume I would be alone. 

After waiting for a few minutes to be sure the large group of people had moved on, Aodh left the stall and jumped back in fright as he saw a tall guy with shoulder length black hair staring at him. It took embarrassingly long to realise it was his reflection. Aodh sighed. He looked horrible. Pale skin from not going outside and socialising, and the thinness from lack of exercise disguised by the baggy clothes. I really need to fix all that. 

Aodh shook off that thought and went to peek outside to make sure the group was gone. When he saw the coast was clear he left the bathroom, fully conscious of how stupid what he was doing was. I can't really change my dislike for interacting with people, yet I can't accept that. I'm trying to be like Vincent too much I think. He hurried through the corridors, wanting to reach the apartment as swiftly as he could. It was only when he exited the building and made his way out into the sunshine that he felt himself relax a bit. Outside, it was a lot easier to avoid people. 

After a few minutes of walking in the warm sunshine, and mercifully unbothered by anyone, Aodh made it to the student accommodation he called his home. It was a simple apartment building, with about ten rooms on each floor. Originally when Aodh had first visited the college, he was horrified at the fact he would need to share a room with someone. Luckily, that was when he met Vincent and discovered they were assigned to the same room. 

As he was walking inside, Aodh fished out the lift pass from his battered wallet, catching a glance of the picture he had there. There was a sharp intake of breath and Aodh snapped the wallet closed and put it in his back pocket, hoping to forget about it. Absent-mindedly, he flashed the card before the reader outside the lift and was happy when the doors opened immediately. He let out a small smile when he saw the lift was empty as well. Maybe this was the universe making up for what happened earlier. 

[Greetings humans of Earth-107. Great fortune smiles upon you for your world has been chosen for System Integration. While the necessary changes are made to your planet to facilitate increased Energy density, all humans will be moved to the tutorial.]

Aodh's head shot up as he heard a mechanical voice resonate throughout the lift. What sort of strange announcement was this? That was when the lift shuddered, almost sending Aodh flying into one of the walls, and the light shut off. Then, Aodh noticed the blue screen for the first time, its light casting the interior of the lift in a strange glow. Almost automatically, he read what was written, immediately recognising that this was what he had heard a few seconds ago from the announcement. 

Aodh could feel his heart thumping furiously in his chest as he struggled to accept what was happening. Surely he wasn't stuck in the lift. It had to be some strange sort of advertising campaign. He slowly reached out to touch the screen, and was shocked when his hand went straight through it. There wasn't even any noticeable disturbance to the writing. I thought that was just a screen on the wall. Is it a hologram? Surely technology hasn't advanced that much. It would also be strange to do all this just for an advertisement. 

Aodh stumbled over to the list of floors, and repeatedly pressed the emergency button. When there was no reaction whatsoever, he began to despair. He was really stuck in the lift. Consciously, he tried to slow down his breathing and regain control over his mind. He knew that the problem wouldn't be solved if he was panicking hysterically. He leaned against one of the walls, and slumped down to sit on the floor. He had to believe he would be rescued. 

Then another thought struck him. What if the electricity for the whole campus had gone out? Rescuing me would be the least of their problems. After a few seconds of dreadful silence, Aodh turned his attention back to the mysterious hologram, just for a distraction. He couldn't think of anything it could be an ad for. A lot of the things in the message made no sense to him. He had no clue what a System Integration was, and didn't know why the Energy density was increasing. 

After a few minutes of staring blankly at the screen, Aodh was starting to lose hope that he would be rescued. He got back to his feet and started pacing around the lift, just to take his mind off what was happening. Then he stopped and groaned. "How could I be so stupid?" Excitedly, he took his phone out of his pocket, but his face quickly dropped when he saw that there was no signal. "Shit." That plan is gone. Feeling helpless, Aodh sat back down on the floor. 

Just after he sat down, the lift shook again. Aodh flailed his hands around but there was nothing to grab onto. He was sent sliding into a wall, and let out a grunt of pain as his back collided with the metal. What the hell is happening? Just when he thought it was settled, there was another shake sending his face first into the opposite wall. Aodh saw the wall getting closer and closer before everything went dark.