"Dorm room, dorm room," Everlearn mused under his lips as he moved forward through the pedestrian pavement.
WHOOSH!
His hair constantly whipped around his head, a result of the blitzing hoverboards above him, but he paid them no attention, just like the dozens of others walking alongside him.
In X Guard, not only was the ground filled, but the air was too, with students on hoverboards.
What was more surprising was that they were flying less than a meter above them, and yet, there were no collisions or accidents.
At first, Everlearn had ducked his head into his shoulders every time they whooshed past.
But after noticing how no one else seemed to care, either trusting their reflexes or the skill of the hoverboard riders, he eventually learned to ignore them too, diverting his attention back to the green card in his hands.
Just as the woman had said, there was a force that was indeed pulling at the card.
But the card had been pulling for about five minutes, taking him around and around.
The entire situation made him doubt whether it was really working or not.
But he couldn't give up, and that paid off, as just five minutes later, Everlearn arrived before it.
The entrance to a large glass-made building in the shape of a small letter 'n'.
Arriving before the gate, there were no guards or staff, and indeed, students were walking in.
All they did was slide their cards at one of the scanners across the gate before stepping in with no problem.
Everlearn for a few seconds, studied a few students going in, and then he joined, silently swiping his card on the scanner.
It made a tiny,
BEEP!
sound, and he stepped in, feeling the sensation of moving through an invisible barrier for a few moments.
"Oh," he mused in surprise, turning back, but there didn't seem to be anything there.
That was when it occurred to him.
There was a force field preventing entrance.
Most likely, if one didn't scan their dorm card, they would be denied entry.
"Then this green card is quite important," he mused to himself before resuming his steps forward.
The pulling force on the card became even clearer, and Everlearn soon found himself in a large hall within the dorm building.
He was directed to an elevator that swiftly took him up.
When he stepped out, he found a long corridor lined with doors and a large balcony overlooking the bustling base floor filled with students.
Continuing down the corridor, he found himself at the last room at the far end of the curve, and right then, his card pointed exactly at the blue-colored door.
"This is it?" he mused, unconsciously exhaling in relief.
Instead of a doorknob, there was a scanner, highlighting the card's importance.
He swiped the card over, and it made a neat BEEP sound.
"Welcome to your new home, Everlearn."
The AI voice rang out as Everlearn stepped in.
It was dark at first, but when he fully stepped in, with the door shutting close behind him, everything lit up brilliantly, and he found himself in a basic living room.
The ground was covered in a woolly rug that filled quite the spacious living room.
There was a simple sofa for three in a circular shape and an equally round center table.
That was all there was.
Everlearn moved to the sofa and placed the bag on it.
There were two doors to the side, and he checked them all one by one.
There was a bathroom with a basic shower and toilet seat. That was all.
And the third door led to a room that was quite peculiar.
It was spacious, as large as the living area, featuring two clear amenities: a bed and a wardrobe.
But it was peculiar in the sense that the room had another space divided by a glass door, and when he stepped into it, the ground was different.
It was made of a different gem, harder and thicker—almost impenetrable.
And surprisingly, right in the middle of the room was a bag held by a chain from the ceiling.
"A punching bag!?" Everlearn mused in disbelief, walking toward it.
He punched it, and it reverberated slightly.
"It's quite tough," he mused to himself.
[This must be the training room. But for an academy as big as this, this is quite basic.]
The system panel flashed before him, and Everlearn couldn't argue with that.
But he didn't find it unbearable.
His house back in Elloscious was just like this, except his bedroom and living room were just one, not two.
In a way, this looked even better.
"It's enough," he replied to the system before moving to the sofa in the living room.
Taking his seat, he unzipped the bag and placed its contents upon the glass desk:
The Device in the box, the memory card, and the green card.
Opening the device box, he found a communication device.
It was thin as a blade and wide as a book, a folded device.
He unfolded it, its 7.6-inch screen tinged like liquid light.
A silent hum followed as the screen bloomed to life.
"A Galaxy Z Fold, Ultra Spec," Everlearn mused, eyes glinting in slight surprise.
The Head Scientist during the project with Mechara organization was using the same device, and it was not only an expensive device but a true performance-oriented beast.
It was quite surprising for such a device to be handed to the newcomers of the academy.
Once the main screen appeared, he scrolled through basic applications, but found nothing related to the academy.
That was when it occurred to him:
Grabbing the tiny pin that came with the device's box, he opened the memory slot and inserted the memory card he had been given.
When he pushed the filled slot back into the phone, a couple of notifications immediately appeared, and Everlearn watched as new applications self-downloaded.
An in-depth look, and it was just what he needed: they contained information about the X Guard Academy.
He remembered the woman's words: to read the rules first and get familiar with the map.
So he navigated to the Rules, an app of its own, and he went through them silently, only for his eyes to widen to saucers in the next moment.
"What the fuck is this!?"