National Mark Academy

From the moment Yune left the slums until now, he had been guided through every step of the way and just went with the flow of things. Now that he was given a student identity card with no further instructions, Yune finally began to think about where he was and why he was brought here.

As Yune slowly headed back to room number U115, he began thinking about the situation.

'I got brought to this place from the slums, along with that girl, because I received some kind of mark. I don't know what a mark really is, but I do know that I am here because I have one. Given the fact that I got a student ID and Rosalie saying that classes begin in two days… is this place a school for people with marks?'

This was the only reasonable answer Yune could come up with. This place was a school for people who had received a mark.

On the way to his room, Yune passed by some students. And once again they started gossiping behind his back, but this time only positive things were said about him. Female and male students alike were talking about his appearance, which stood out from the norm as Yune had quite a young but feminine looking face with long white hair and a slim constitution.

Having been lost in thoughts about the school, Yune didn't hear any of that unlike last time. Now finally at his room, Yune could finally find out what this place was.

Grabbing the brochure that was on the table, Yune sat down on the ground and started reading it.

<Welcome to the national Mark academy!

<In this school you will be taught everything you need to know about marks. You will be taught what marks are, how to use them and the reason why people have marks.

<Introductory classes start on Wednesday, January third, where further information about the academy will be made clear.

<Before the introductory classes begin, you can make use of the many facilities on the campus such as the cinema, cafeteria, training rooms, the library and many more.

Having read this, Yune turned over the brochure a few time to see if there was more information on the brochure, but there wasn't.

'Well… that didn't really help much. But at least I know for sure that I am a student at an academy where I will learn more about this mark on my chest.'

Putting the brochure back on the table, Yune looked outside to see that it had already become pitch black. After driving for about fifteen hours, washing himself and making a student ID, it had already become late in the evening of January first.

Yune had eaten nothing after he ate the military rations when he first entered the military vehicle almost twenty hours ago, but didn't feel hungry at all. In the slums he would be glad to eat a few rats in a week and most days he wouldn't eat at all, so Yune wasn't hungry in the slightest.

But now, at the academy, he would always have access to food, unlike in the slums, and his body didn't need to go into energy saving mode anymore. Yune also knew this and wanted to gain a little bit more weight so that his body wouldn't be so fragile and low on energy anymore.

Grabbing the military rations that he had taken from the vehicle, Yune started eating them against his instincts of rationing his food as he had become accustomed to in the slums.

Yune could have eaten at the cafeteria, but decided not to as he wasn't really accustomed to a lot of things yet and wanted to avoid busy crowds as long as possible.

After having eaten, Yune took another shower, brushed his teeth for the first time ever and got into bed early.

"Wow! The bed feels so nice."

Lying in bed, Yune had a delighted look on his face. Fighting the urge to fall asleep immediately, he thought of what he was going to do tomorrow.

'I think that I need information the most. I could ask Rosalie, but I think there is a lot of information in a library. That is the place with a lot of books right? Well, I can just see tomorrow. What else -'

But before Yune could think of anything else, he fell asleep Lying in the soft and warm embrace of his very own bed.

---

With rays of the morning sun piercing through the windows, lighting up the room, Yune slowly opened his eyes and stretched his body.

'My back doesn't hurt so bad anymore. Is this the power of a bed?'

Having had a good night's sleep and having nutritious food in his stomach really helped to energize Yune's body, which also started having a positive effect on his mental state.

Quickly getting ready, Yune went out in search of the library. Luckily, the campus grounds weren't as much of a maze as he thought as every place was indicated by some signs every so often.

After only a few minutes of walking, Yune had arrived in front of a building which reminded him of a sort of church from the slums, only was this building much bigger and more beautiful, but most of all it was intact.

Entering this building, Yune was instantly amazed by the sheer amount of books that he could see. In the three story building, there were rows upon rows of filled bookshelves containing thousands of books, and mostly empty tables, sofas or benches where people could comfortably read these books.

Being fully focused on the library's appearance, Yune failed to notice that someone was talking to him and only heard the last of his sentence.

"- So, I hope you have fun reading."

Sparing a glance at the person that was talking to him, who he presumed was the librarian, Yune politely bowed before continuing into the library. The first bookshelf he came across captured his full attention, the sign above the bookshelf reading [Basic information about marks].

'Yes, this is what I need.'

Grabbing a few books of the shelves, Yune sat down at a table nobody was sitting at and prepared himself for a full day of reading. This being the first time he actually read a book, besides the book which taught him to read, Yune instantly became engrossed in the book and started reading one after another.

In these books, although basic, Yune found a lot of interesting information. The first thing he learned is that a mark is the manifestation of one's power. This power comes from one thing, which is known as mana, and is used as a sort of fuel to activate a mark's powers.

Yune also found out that there are countless of different marks, some being more useful than others. After looking through an encyclopedia book about all types of marks, elemental marks like fire, water, earth and wind seemed to be the most common marks.

The book was filled with numerous different marks, but despite having read this whole book, Yune hadn't managed to find his mark or anything similar to it, so he still didn't know anything about his own mark.

The last thing Yune found out was that people valued marks that were related to combat way higher than any other utility mark. Yune found this strange as he thought that a mark which could grow crops faster was way more useful than a mark which could create a fireball, but for some reason the fire mark was valued way higher. But he hadn't found an answer as to why yet.

Having finished his second book, Yune looked at the clock to see that it had already become dinner time. Once again Yune didn't feel hungry, but he decided he was going to eat anyway. And unlike eating military rations like yesterday, he had also decided to eat at the cafeteria.

Not even a minute after leaving the library, Yune had already entered the cafeteria. This was sooner than he had expected, thus he didn't have time to mentally prepare himself. Unlike in the library, where there were only a few people, the cafeteria was jampacked with students.

Yune was nervous as he walked up to the line of students who were waiting to get their food served. But after walking from one side of the cafeteria to the other without people having badmouthed him, Yune suddenly didn't feel nervous anymore.

The only thing he was slightly nervous about was how the food serving worked. In front of him he saw numerous buffet stands filled with food, each with a person standing behind them serving people who held out their food trays. Eventually Yune had just copied everything the girl in front of him had done, which had worked out well.

Now with a tray full of food, Yune walked up to one of the empty tables and sat down to enjoy his meal, which looked and smelled like the best food he had ever had, even better than smoked rat beef jerky.