novelraw Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6 : The next morning
When Sal arrived at his room, the first thing that caught his eye was the door he had broken while entering earlier.
It still opened and closed, but he had to put some shoulder into it for it to work properly.
However, in the current situation, that level of inconvenience was nothing.
It wasn't enough to wipe the foolish grin off his face.
It had been an evening where emotions swirled like a storm.
Sal was exhausted, but at the same time, overwhelmed beyond words.
His parents’ smiles kept coming to mind.
He, who was always cautious and tried not to compete with others, had clashed with everything he had just for today.
That must have been a surprise to his parents as well.
Sal leaned his back against the door and put his entire body weight into closing it.
And he exhaled deeply.
His mind was still spinning like a vortex.
Sal wanted to do everything at once.
‘Should I check my Q-Credit balance? Should I check the price of skill imprinting first? Should I check what classes are tomorrow and where they are held?’
All of those things occupied the top of his priority list, but none of them could stand against the bed right now.
Mustering the last strength remaining in his muscles, Sal dove magnificently onto the bed, and the bed that softly embraced him immediately became a sanctuary of victory.
Without even being able to change out of his uniform, he fell asleep just like that.
"Wake up. Orientation begins in 1 hour at the Amphitheater. Welcome to the first day of Quest Academy!"
Sal opened his eyes.
It felt like he had woken up as soon as he closed his eyes.
The sound of the announcement ringing through the entire dormitory was still hovering in his ears.
He didn't know where the speaker was installed in the room, but for him, who hadn't set a separate alarm, this broadcast was a true blessing.
If left alone, it was certain he would still be in a deep sleep even now.
Sal knew himself well.
If he didn't get up now, he would fall asleep again.
The problem was, his body wasn't moving properly due to the muscle pain accumulated from the previous day.
“Ughhh….”
Sal spat out a curse mixed with a groan and staggered to the bathroom.
He turned on the shower and tried to take off his clothes, but stripping off the clothes that were stained and crumpled with liquid that was either drool or sweat was a torture in itself.
Sal kicked the clothes away and sighed in relief at the feeling of hot water touching his whole body and relaxing his muscles.
When he opened his eyes, he suddenly realized.
‘Is there even a towel…?’
Having fallen asleep yesterday without properly looking around the room, he was moving entirely on instinct all morning.
Fortunately, his arms were fine, so he could wash his rough black hair and face.
A beard was growing roughly on his chin, but it was at a level where he could let it slide for a day or two.
Turning off the shower was always torture, so he turned the temperature control to the coldest setting.
The moment the ice water touched him, Sal practically jumped out of the shower booth.
His mind was also miraculously completely clear.
"Ughhh…"
Sal groaned while trembling.
After throwing open all the bathroom drawers, Sal found one large grey towel.
His body still ached, but the shower definitely had an effect.
Sal carefully opened the bathroom door and looked at the screen hanging on the wall of the room.
He just had to get to the Amphitheater within 50 minutes.
There was no need to rush that much anymore.
The steam on the mirror slowly cleared, and after seeing his face properly, Sal decided he had to shave today.
A few minutes later, he took out a toiletry kit and organized a few basic necessities.
He decided to do the proper unpacking in the evening.
With a toothbrush in his mouth, Sal returned to the front of the screen on the wall.
Pressing the console at the bottom a few times, he realized this wasn't a simple TV.
It was a system connected to the Academy intranet.
Various menus were aligned in text on the screen.
Faculty Notices, Leaderboard, Facilities and Maps, Workshops, Class Modules, Student Notices…
Sal scrolled down and finally found and selected the Q-Credit item.
Name: Salvatore Argento Code Name: [Unregistered]
Occupation: Student
Starting Class: Supporter
Rank (Student): 1st Year - 19th / Silver Cohort - 2nd
Ability: [Unregistered]
Essence: [Unregistered]
Transcript
Common Required Subjects (M)
• (M) Skills: No Grade
• (M) Survival: No Grade
• (M) Combat: No Grade
Electives
• No Electives
Reputation
Quest Academy: [Unidentified]
Guild Association: [Unidentified]
Hunter Bureau: [Unidentified]
Affiliation
Argento Auction House (Sponsorship Tier: Tier 3)
Reavers Guild (Silver Token Holder)
Scout Status: N/A
Official Certification: N/A
Threat Level: [Unidentified]
Assets: 600 Q-Credits
System Remarks: [Unidentified]
Sal didn't know exactly if this was a lot or a little, but considering he was in the top 20 out of 1,000 students, he guessed it would be on the higher side.
This placed him in an advantageous position for competition from the start, meaning he could access resources first that other students hadn't reached yet.
Now all that remained was to analyze the price list to accurately grasp his position.
Sal pressed the console again to try and check this semester's timetable, but the data hadn't been filled in yet.
Instead, the names of mandatory module subjects, color-coded, were displayed on one side of the screen.
Introduction to Quest Academy
Overview: Dungeons, Towers, Rifts, Portals
Overview: Lineage, Class, Grade, Evolution
Overview: R&D, Combat Gear, Crafting
Overview: Guilds, Factions, Society, Sect Structures
Overview: Survival, Encounters, Conquest
Overview: Trade, Bounties, Betting, Requests
Sal raised one eyebrow.
It wasn't as combat-centered as he thought.
There were far more overviews on strategy and theory.
For a moment, Sal thought Quest Academy might be unexpectedly decent.
An expectation brushed past that he might be able to maintain a high rank, but he soon shook his head and shook off that thought.
He had neither the grit nor the ambition to become a Savior.
But that didn't mean he intended to give up easily either.
Turning his gaze, Sal looked at the grey uniform crumpled on the bed.
His mother would have laughed if she saw where he was about to use his ability.
Restoration was a very powerful ability at the Argento Auction House, used to return numerous ancient artifacts and treasures to their original beauty.
Sal activated his ability, replicating the fiber restoration structure he had repeated thousands of times since childhood exactly as it was.
His mother’s ability was something he had memorized since he was young, a technique he always used whenever he broke something.
Sal smiled slightly and applied the restoration ability to the uniform.
An additional benefit of the ability was that it returned the object to its best past condition.
In the case of this uniform, it was the state when he first received it yesterday.
The crumpled wrinkles disappeared, and the stains vanished cleanly.
The uniform, which started as grey, was now in a dignified condition.
Sal changed clothes without hesitation and checked the screen again.
Checking that 20 minutes remained, Sal exhaled a long sigh.
Before leaving the room, Sal looked around one last time to check if he missed anything.
And standing in front of the mirror, he tidied his attire while trying not to make eye contact with himself.
Satisfied enough with his appearance, Sal left the room.
The door was much harder to open than last night, but he pulled and pushed with force to barely make a gap just big enough for his body to squeeze through.
Closing it was much easier, but at that sound, the gazes of a few students walking in the hallway turned toward him.
Sal’s room was Room 6, located right next to the elevator.
A familiar ‘ding’ sound was heard.
It was the signal that the elevator had arrived.
Sal hurriedly closed the door and started running.
It was a fatal mistake.
“Please hold the door!”
His muscles screamed in pain, but Sal gritted his teeth and forced a smile.
Because he saw a boy with sand-colored hair holding the door for him.
However, the blonde girl next to him was completely ignoring Sal and pressing the close button continuously.
The sand-haired boy was glaring at her while holding onto the door.
When Sal managed to get inside the elevator, another voice was heard from the end of the hallway.
The sand-haired boy was still holding the door, and at that moment, Sal perfectly understood the blonde girl’s extreme annoyance.
The other three people inside the elevator also exchanged looks mixed with guilt.
It seemed there had been a few elevator delay incidents this morning.
Sal turned his body toward the door and read the warning text hanging above the floor buttons.
“If one more person gets on, it looks like we’ll hit maximum capacity. Once that person gets on, we can leave.”
The last student boarded while offering thanks, and the sand-haired boy withdrew his arm.
As the door closed, the blonde girl finally took her hand off the button with an expression as if she had won a small victory.
The blonde girl turned to the group and said.
"At this rate, we'll have to stop at every single one of the next thirty floors.
If we keep holding the door every time, we'll never get to our destination!"
The sand-colored hair boy didn't answer and just blushed.
As if to save him, Sal spoke instead.
"The weight limit is full now.
From now on, the elevator will go express."
The blonde was about to refute something but closed her mouth.
The elevator really didn't stop.
Instead of a flustered expression, a smile of relief spread across the blonde girl’s face.
"Ha, thank goodness. If I'm late again, I'm really in big trouble. When the results came out yesterday, I thought I was going to be disowned."
The sand-haired boy turned his head and asked.
"Was it worse than 800th place?"
Sal frowned and patted his back once.
"It's the first day.
There's plenty of time to catch up.
I’m Sal, living in Room 6 on the 51st floor."
"Hannah, Room 3."
She answered boldly, straightened her posture, and looked straight at Sal.
"But why ask for room numbers instead of rank?"
Sal shrugged and waved his hand roughly.
"Just thought it would be good to know who the neighbors are. As for rank, it all shows up if you look at the leaderboard. It’s not a secret anyway."
Hannah paused for a moment, then sighed and shook her head.
"Sorry, I guess I'm too on edge.
These days, everything feels like a test… When you spoke in the elevator, and looking at the color of those clothes, they're almost white so I thought you were a faculty member.
I wondered if you came to monitor us."
"Kane, Room 10."
The sand-haired boy quietly bowed his head and offered a greeting.
His eyes scrutinized Sal’s uniform for a moment.
Sal vowed inwardly not to restore his uniform too much in the future.
The condition of the clothes of the other students inside the elevator wasn't that good either.
Many students were wearing crumpled or stained uniforms, and in comparison, Sal’s uniform was so neatly organized that it stood out instead.
He worried that it might actually become a problem.
The other students didn't reveal their room numbers.
After Kane and Hannah mentioned their low rankings, they had already turned their backs.
Sal couldn't believe the fact that people were drawing lines like this over a single number that didn't exist just 12 hours ago.
Hannah, not minding such an atmosphere, looked at Sal and said as if it were obvious.
"Guess the factions are starting to divide now."
As the elevator doors opened, Sal saw hundreds of students before his eyes.
Everyone was walking slowly toward the Amphitheater located between the giant towers.
Some of them were holding coffee cups, and Sal swore to whatever god might be listening at that moment.
‘Tomorrow, I will definitely wake up early and get coffee first.’
"I'm going to buy a Chai Latte, do you want one too?"
Hannah asked as they entered the lobby.
Sal looked where she pointed.
Pop-up stalls were lined up around the lobby.
From breakfast to lunch menus, coffee, pastries… there was nothing missing.
Since there was still time, Sal moved his steps in that direction with Hannah.
Kane was also following not far away.
However, when the price list came into view, Hannah suddenly stopped walking and frowned.
Then looking around, she pointed to a group of students gathered around a few metal dispensers.
"Let's go drink the free coffee."
Sal didn't mind and continued walking to stand in front of the clerk.
“One Americano, one Chai Latte… and Kane? What do you want to drink?”
He turned to the two and said.
“I’ll treat you as a thank you for holding the elevator.”
Kane shook his head.
“If you don’t say it, I’ll order a Chai Latte. Just hearing it sounds terrible.”
Kane eventually bit his lip and spoke quietly.
“Make it a Flat White.”
Hannah looked at Sal as if in shock.
“I said there’s free coffee over there?”
The clerk smiled and took the order.
“Total is 6 Q-Credits. Please pay with your dormitory card.”
Sal lightly touched his key card to the terminal next to the counter and stepped aside to wait for the order to come out.
Hannah sighed deeply with an expression as if she was about to explode, came close to Sal’s side, and spoke as if whispering.
“You don’t have to act cool, you know? 6 Q-Credits is quite a lot of money.”
Sal raised an eyebrow, wondering if he had underestimated the real value of the Academy currency.
He brought the drink to his lips.
He wondered how different premium coffee would be.
In just a single sip, the fatigue weighing down Sal’s entire body vanished completely.
Sal looked at the cup with surprised eyes, and Hannah and Kane also showed similar reactions simultaneously.
Kane organized everyone’s thoughts into words.
“That coffee just healed me, right?”
Hannah nodded and said.
“…I’m going to have to hold the elevator every morning.”