As Kaizen entered the old tavern, he noticed that the music was coming from a small stage in the corner of the room, where a group of musicians were playing beautiful melodies on instruments he didn't recognize. Some of them had strings, others just holes from which the melodies came out.
All the tables were occupied by wizards of various races, shapes, and sizes, some drinking beer, others discussing magic. None of them seemed to care much about the hooded stranger who had entered the establishment, and of course they went about their business.
Kaizen walked up to the bar and greeted the owner, an old mage with a long white beard.
"Hello, do you have a room for me to spend the night? I will pay you well."
"Yes, of course. We have many rooms, but all of them are occupied. Can you stay in a double room? The only differences are that you will have a slightly larger bed to rest in, and it will be a little more expensive for the overnight stay."
"That's fine, it can be a double room."
The man nodded and handed her an old rusty key. "There's a staircase on the right, go up and look for room number three. There is no mistake."
Kaizen climbed the creaky stairs to the room on the second floor as instructed. When he opened the door and entered the room, he saw that the room was small, but cozy. He closed the door and threw himself onto the bed, mentally exhausted from the journey so far.
He immediately slid his right index finger down to open the interface and log out, but suddenly he heard a strange sound coming from outside the room. It was as if someone was scratching at the door. He slowly stood up and cautiously approached the door. Looking through the magic eye, he saw a pair of yellow eyes glowing in the dark. He quickly turned away, startled, and heard a loud laugh coming from outside.
Kaizen immediately opened the door to his room, but there was nothing to see. He just stuck his head out into the hallway and looked both ways, but saw nothing. Kaizen went back into his room, making sure to lock the door this time.
"What the hell was that?" Kaizen wondered, and despite his fright, he unexpectedly smiled. "Looks like this city is going to be more fun than I expected."
Of course, he disconnected after that, since he was in a place the game recognized as safe.
In the real world, Klaus Park opened his eyes inside the deep immersion capsule.
The capsule's internal monitor showed his time and heart rate in real time. It was nearly eight o'clock at night. Since Klaus was still on the other side of campus, he had to walk a few kilometers until he finally reached the men's dormitory A-3.
When he got to his room, his colleagues started asking a lot of questions, such as where he had been all this time and which lecture he had gone to when he left the archery department's hangar. Since Klaus didn't want anyone to know that he played Rise Online, he lied that he went to so many lectures that he couldn't remember them all, and that he went into town to see what it was like. After that, they stopped bothering him and started talking about how the other members of the department were also very cool and impressive. Besides, there was already a lot of gossip going around campus, and Klaus' colleagues seemed to be excited about it.
On the other hand, Klaus didn't care about any of that right now. As long as his name was not involved, it was all right with him. That being the case, he went to bed early and slept like a log, and since he was mentally very tired, he didn't even care about the sounds of their voices during the night.
The next morning, Klaus woke up before any of his classmates and went to the common bathroom on the second floor of the dormitory. He took a cold shower to cheer himself up, got dressed and left the dormitory to go to the cafeteria.
As he ate his breakfast, Klaus watched the other newcomers around him and noticed that most of them seemed so confident and comfortable. He felt a little out of place, but he knew that he would have to adapt quickly if he wanted to succeed in this place. For a moment he thought about neglecting Rise Online for a few days, but he quickly remembered that he was 4 months behind the strongest players in the game, so he didn't have time to step away if he wanted to become the best.
After breakfast, Klaus joined a line of people heading to the mandatory Ethics and Personal Responsibility class. Suddenly, he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, and when he looked back, he saw Andrew, one of his roommates.
Andrew had dark hair, green eyes, and a serious expression on his face most of the time. For some reason, however, Andrew talked more to Klaus than to the idiots David and Nathan. There were still dark circles under his eyes.
"Good morning." Klaus greeted him.
Andrew yawned and scratched his eyes as he answered. "Yaww! Boom morning. You're up early."
"You didn't sleep well, did you?"
"Not much, no. I talked to the boys until late. Then I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. How could you sleep with those guys talking until two in the morning?
"Oh, but you seemed very interested in their business." Klaus said, teasing him as Andrew tried to do the same.
"I am a simple man, when I hear the beginning of a story, I listen to the end." Andrew also smiled. "Anyway, it's nice to have someone you know in first class."
"I think so too, but if you fall asleep, don't sit next to me."
"Don't worry, I'll pay attention in class."
As soon as everyone in line entered the room, Klaus and Andrew sat in the back and watched the professor sitting at the desk with a huge monitor. It didn't take a minute for Andrew to put his head against the wall and start dozing off, which annoyed the professor from the beginning of the class.
Klaus almost laughed at Andrew's attitude, but decided to concentrate on the lesson.
The professor, an older and serious man, began to talk about the importance of ethics in professional and academic life while projecting slides on the giant screen behind him.
While Andrew slept, Klaus tried to pay attention to the class on ethics and personal responsibility, but it was difficult with the loud snoring of his colleague. The professor continued to speak, but his voice seemed to be muffled by Andrew's snoring. Klaus looked around and noticed that other students were also disturbed by the noise.
Suddenly, the teacher interrupted the class and said:
"I think it's time for me to ask a few questions to make sure everyone is paying attention." He picked up a clipboard on his desk and read one of the names from the list. "Andrew A. McClelland!?"
After a few seconds in which no one spoke, everyone somehow knew who it was.
Klaus was the person closest to Andrew, so he nudged him. "Hey, wake up, man. The Professor called your name." He whispered.
Andrew rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Hm? Oh, sorry. I'm still a little sleepy. Hi, Professor, do you need anything?"
His sleepy reaction made most of the people in the room laugh out loud, but it only made the professor more annoyed. "Mr. McClelland, this is a disgrace. This is only the first hour and you are already asleep."
"That's just it, Professor. But I wasn't sleeping, I was just resting my eyes." Andrew replied, making everyone laugh again.
"Frankly, I'm disappointed. If you weren't sleeping, then you'll have no problem answering a question about what I was talking about, right?"
"Go ahead."
The professor obviously didn't expect Andrew to accept, so he thought for a few moments about what to ask, and when he finally came to a conclusion, he looked at Andrew with a smile and asked:
"What is the meaning of the quote, 'Moral norms vary according to culture and historical period. They can also be questioned and rejected'?"
It was a simple question, but it was asked fifteen minutes into the class. Unless Andrew wasn't really asleep or had already studied about it, he wouldn't know how to answer it.
Unexpectedly, Andrew didn't even give it much thought. "This means that the norms vary with each historical moment and depending on each culture."
Everyone was surprised that Andrew had answered correctly and applauded, including the professor.
"Very good answer, Mr. McClelland. However, I want you to pay full attention to the required classes, and that goes for all of you, because it is these subjects that will determine what kind of students you will become. You must quickly understand that the world is watching you, so it is time for you to show the world why you are different from the majority. I know that each of you entered this special program with your own reasons and your own goals, but what I can say is that you are all ambitious, and that's a good thing, because when we compete with NIST institutions from other states, that's what makes you stand out."
One of the students raised his hand after the professor finished and asked:
"Professor, what do you mean we will be competing with out-of-state institutions?"
"Oops! I think I said too much," the old man said, obviously embarrassed because he got too excited and said something too soon.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske
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