Arriving at Soluna Academy

It was early in the morning. Daro, Lina, and Drai were standing before the front gate.

"Are you sure you want to leave your posters behind?" Lina asked.

"Yes, Mom. I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to put stuff up the wall. Even if I'm allowed to, I'll just buy new ones later."

"Alancho will be sad, you know? Hahaha," Daro laughed as he reminded Drai of his favorite poster guy.

"Dad!" Drai blurted embarrassedly. Teasing Drai was truly his parents' favorite pastime.

"Speaking of Alancho, maybe you'll get to see him in the capital, Drai," Lina said.

"I don't know if I have time for sightseeing, Mom. And I think Alancho mostly stays in the military base anyway."

"Just make sure to bring back some capital food when you're visiting for holiday," Daro added.

"Sure, Dad."

"Take care, Dear. Don't forget to check your messages from time to time," Lina hugged his son tightly, reluctant to part. Daro also hugged Drai after Lina was done.

Outside the gate, Jack was standing still, waiting for the family to finish their farewells.

Exiting the gate, Drai said to Jack, "Uncle Jack, I'm ready."

"Okay," Jack said. "Mr. and Mrs. Varz, we'll be going."

"Mom, Dad, see you on holiday!" Drai said as he entered the hovercar. This time he sat in the front seat. His luggage was only one large backpack which he put at the backseat.

The car hovered until it reached fifteen meters high. Then, it whirred and shot toward Rivida.

***

Although Rivida was a capital, it wasn't a metropolis. There were no high-rise buildings as per the capital regulation.

In the heart of Rivida was the main building of the Central Government, the Red Bastion. Despite its name, the Red Bastion was neither red nor a fort. It was ivory colored and cuboid shaped. Most of the nation's top echelons other than military personnel managed the nation from this place.

Meanwhile, Soluna Academy was situated near the forests at the outskirts. Its buildings were large and mostly architecturally modern. The campus grounds were filled with greenery and small open areas.

In the skies above the academy, a hovercar could be seen.

"Campus security, this is Jack Dent requesting for permission to land. Clearance code BD28776, Volta-X model, property of Ravismus Ondor," Jack said through the car's comm.

"Permission granted. Land away, Jack," a voice sounded from the dashboard.

"Thanks, Bran."

Immediately, the hovercar started descending slowly. Meanwhile, Drai's face was stuck to the window as he looked at the view in wonderment. To his rustic eyes, the campus was truly picturesque.

'I didn't know the academy would be so pretty. Mom would've loved it here.'

As the hovercar landed, Drai was still sticking to the window.

"Drai, we've arrived," Jack said.

"Ah, okay!" Drai blurted as he moved away from the window. Following this, the car top opened. Drai grabbed his bag and exited the car. 

The car was currently at a road shoulder near a wide footpath. There were several people passing by who couldn't help but notice the hovercar. Some of these people seemed to be new students as they were also bringing luggage.

"The boy's dormitory is down this path. Just walk along it and you'll find it," Jack said. "You should report to the front desk to get your room number. After that you're free until tomorrow's entrance ceremony."

"Thanks, Uncle Jack. Please say hi to Professor Ravi for me."

"Sure, but it's better if you do it yourself after settling down. Didn't you get his contact?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm not used to my comm so I forgot," Drai answered sheepishly.

"It's fine. Okay, I'll be going now. Don't start smashing things before classes even start, Drai," Jack chuckled as he closed the car top and drove away.

Looking at the leaving car, Drai was speechless. 

'Seems like Professor Ravi had already told Uncle Jack about my stats. Now he thinks I'm a brute or something,' Drai thought while shaking his head.

Drai proceeded to walk toward the dorm. Along the way, he saw many students and various buildings. He wondered which of these buildings he could train in.

After a while, Drai arrived at the dorm. It was a huge building with many windows. Around the building were circular benches and small trees, some of them occupied by students. 

The entrance to the front lobby was a sliding glass door. Drai could see some people inside the lobby.

Drai entered and went to the front desk. There were several staff members here and some were busy attending to the students. Drai headed toward an available staff.

"Hello. My name is Drai and I'm a new student. I was told to report here to get my room number."

"Hello! I'm Clara, nice to meet you, Drai," said the young woman at the front desk. "Let me check… Drai Varz, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Oh, my… A recommendation student?" Clara gasped and looked at Drai again, seeing him in a new light.

"Yes, I was recommended," Drai said calmly. He wasn't aware that recommendation students were viewed favorably as they usually became the best performing students of their batches.

"I see… Fortunately, your required forms are already filled in, so you just need to receive your student ID cards. Your student ID number, room number and room key are included in both cards."

"Okay."

Clara then brought up a handheld scanner and scanned Drai, following which a card was printed and handed to Drai.

"That's your physical ID card. For your virtual ID card, please scan this code," Clara said as she pointed toward her VC screen.

After scanning the code, Drai checked his comm and found that his virtual ID card was there. His room was D5.

"Before you head to your room, I would like to inform you that the ground floor has several amenities, such as the student store, cafeteria, fitness center, laundromat, library, study area, community space, and VC center. 

"Most of the amenities are free to use although some require an ID card to access them. The cafeteria also offers paid meals. 

"Payments for academic facilities are mostly done through the ID card's credit system which will be charged to the linked bank accounts at the beginning of each month. Do you have any questions?"

"Is there any outdoor training facility?"

"There are several of them, but from what I know, they are only used during classes. You might be able to train there with a special permit, but I'm not sure."

"Okay, thank you. I have no more questions."

"You're welcome. And welcome to Soluna Academy, Drai!" Clara said cheerfully.

Drai smiled while nodding his head, then headed toward his room.

Room D4 was on the fifth floor. Drai entered his room after scanning his comm on the door lock.

The room was far wider than Drai's bedroom at home. It was uniformly pale gray from the walls, ceiling, and floor. 

There were shoe racks and a row of wall hangers beside the door. There was also a door at the side of the room, presumably the bathroom entrance.

What surprised Drai were the three beds. Drai wasn't aware that it was a shared room. He scratched his head wryly. He had been a loner but now he's supposed to sleep with strangers. This was truly a predicament for Drai.

One bed was parallel to the left wall with the door. The other two beds were perpendicular to the opposite wall. Beside each bed was a low cabinet which also functioned as a night stand.

After taking off his shoes, Drai headed to the lone bed and took out his stuff from his bag and put them in the cabinet. He chose this bed because it was separated from the others and right next to one of the two windows.

The bed's frame was made out of some kind of metal and there was extra space underneath the bed.

There was also a sofa and a coffee table near the corner between the entrance and bathroom door.

'If I had this room to myself, it would be pretty nice,' Drai thought as he appreciated the room's amenities.

He checked the bathroom and saw that it was pretty narrow but had everything except for a bathtub. He then wondered what would happen if two people needed to poop really badly at the same time.

'Maybe we'll take turns by limiting ourselves to only one piece at a time. I think it's the only win-win solution, unless someone is a pro and can maintain a very long piece of poop. It's like cheating but is actually fair. Hmmm... Maybe I should start training for such situations,' Drai thought before he started repeatedly flexing his "muscles".

Returning to the bedroom, Drai tried out his bed. Lying down with his head under the window, Drai looked at the empty wall on his right.

'I forgot to ask Clara if I could put up some posters. This gray color is making me feel down. It would be better to look at Alancho, Drexler, Keita, and the others…'

Drai smiled as he pictured those muscleheads posing on his empty wall.

At this moment, from the corner of his eyes, Drai saw the door open.