Chapter 9 : The Dragon Whip and the Mission Hall
The three of us bade each other farewell. We split up, each heading in a different direction to explore the academy on our own.
...
Meanwhile, in a dimly lit room located in the second-year dormitory block.
A boy sat on a lavish chair. He had striking green hair and wore the uniform of a second-year student. This was Michael.
Kneeling before him with his head bowed low was Sam.
Hovering in the air in front of Michael was a peculiar weapon—a long whip. The handle of the whip was carved in the shape of a menacing red dragon's head. At Michael's subtle hand gestures, the whip snaked through the air, circling around Sam like a predator stalking its prey.
Whoosh— Swish—
Cold sweat trickled down Sam's forehead. His heart pounded against his ribs.
'I'm dead,' Sam thought, terrified. 'The Boss knows. He knows I failed to do his dirty work and came back after getting beaten up. I tried so hard to suppress the news, but he found out anyway.'
Michael stared at him, his voice icy.
"I will forgive your mistake this time," Michael said slowly. "But remember, this must be the first and the last time. If you fail me again… well, you can guess what will happen."
To demonstrate his point, Michael flicked his finger upward.
Snap!
The floating whip shot toward a wooden training puppet in the corner of the room. It wrapped tightly around the puppet's neck.
Fwoosh—!
Suddenly, flames erupted from the whip. The wood groaned under the heat and pressure until—
Crack! Thud.
The puppet's head was severed and fell to the floor, turning into ash.
Sam watched this with wide eyes. He gulped audibly, swallowing the lump in his throat. He immediately dropped to his knees, pressing his forehead to the floor.
"Yes, Boss! Thank you for sparing my life! I promise, I won't give you any reason to complain ever again!"
Michael leaned back in his chair. "Now, tell me. What information did you gather about them? I want every small detail."
"Yes, Boss," Sam replied, his voice shaking slightly. "I found out that the guy named Jeevan seems to have a Copy Ability. He copied my power to beat me. As for that Aditya… there is a high chance he possesses a Healing Ability. I pierced him with my spikes, but he healed in less than a second."
"Hmm," Michael hummed thoughtfully.
"Now leave," Michael ordered. "I will deal with them myself. However, even though I spared you, you must be punished for not reporting this to me immediately. As punishment, your share of the credits we loot from others will be cut in half."
"Yes, Boss. I accept the punishment," Sam said through gritted teeth.
He bowed once more to show respect and quickly scurried out of the room.
Once Sam was gone, Michael recalled the whip.
Slither—
The weapon coiled back into his hand. He sat in silence, analyzing the situation.
'I cannot touch Jeevan,' Michael thought, his eyes narrowing. 'He comes from a powerful Origin Family. If I mess with him, the consequences will be troublesome.'
A cruel smirk formed on his lips.
'But this Aditya… he comes from an ordinary family. He is fair game.'
'First, I will try to recruit him into my team. A healer is always useful. But if he refuses after I ask him nicely… I will make his condition so miserable that he will regret ever coming to this academy.'
...
Unaware of the schemes being plotted against me, I was walking through the corridors, exploring the vast campus.
Eventually, I arrived at a massive hall. It was bustling with activity—people were constantly entering and exiting.
Curious, I stopped a passing student.
"Brother, can you tell me what this place is?"
The student stopped and looked me up and down.
"Oh? You're asking about this place?" He smirked. "You must be one of the new students who joined yesterday, right?"
I nodded. "Yes, I just joined."
"I thought so," he said. "Well, knowing about this place is common knowledge. This is the Mission Hall."
He paused, rubbing his thumb and index finger together. "That's the free preview. If you want more information, you'll need to pay with Credit Points."
I was taken aback. "What? Even information isn't free here?"
"Don't get me wrong," the boy said, shrugging his shoulders. "I've been here for five months. I've learned the hard way how difficult it is to earn Credit Points. So, I don't want to miss any opportunity to make some. Nothing is free in this academy."
I looked at him and understood. In this place, currency was power.
"Fine," I said. "Tell me everything you know. I am willing to pay 50 Credit Points."
The boy's eyes lit up. "That's a fair price!"
He pointed toward the entrance. "As I said, this is the Mission Hall. Once you go inside, you will see a massive digital screen. That is called the Mission Board."
"On this board, you can accept various missions to earn points," he explained. "And one more thing—missions are divided into grades based on difficulty."
He held up his fingers to count.
"They range from F, E, D, C, B, A, up to the legendary S-Grade."
I listened intently, absorbing the information.
"The logic is simple," he continued. "The higher the grade, the harder the mission. F-Grade is the lowest, usually for beginners, while S-Grade is the highest, meant for the elite."
"There is one more thing you need to know," the student said, holding up a finger to pause my excitement. "You can't just accept a mission immediately. For new students, there is a mandatory waiting period of two months before you are allowed to take any tasks from the Mission Hall."
"Two months?" I frowned, my eyebrows knitting together.
That was a significant amount of time. In a place like this, where power dictated everything, sitting idle for two months while others potentially moved ahead was a massive loss. I couldn't afford to waste sixty days just attending classes.
"That's a huge loss of time," I muttered, looking directly at him. "There must be a way around it, right?"
The student grinned, clearly pleased that I had caught on so quickly.
"You're sharp," he chuckled. "Yes, there is a way. But it's expensive. You can bypass the waiting period by paying a fee of 100 Credit Points."
"100 points..." I repeated.
"Exactly," he explained, his tone becoming more serious. "The Academy set this rule for a reason. It acts as a filter. They don't want low-level students running into dangerous missions and getting themselves killed or going bankrupt in their first week."
He gestured around the hall.
"Think about it. We all received 100 Credit Points as a starter bonus. A Level 1 or 2 student needs those points just to buy food and basic necessities. If they spend it all just to unlock the Mission Hall, they'll have nothing left. If they fail their first mission, they starve. That's why only Level 4 or Level 5 students usually dare to take this route."
I listened to his logic, and it made perfect sense.
For a weak student, 100 points was their lifeline. Gambling it away on the chance of earning more was too high a risk. But for the strong, those points were merely an investment. They had the power to complete missions quickly and earn back double or triple what they spent.
'It's a system designed to favor the strong,' I thought. 'The strong can pay the price to get stronger, faster. The weak are forced to wait and fall behind.'
I did the math in my head.
'I currently have 200 Credit Points—100 from the starter pack and 100 I earned from the two days. Spending 100 to unlock the hall is a small price, I can afford it. And unlike the others.'
I looked back at the informant.
"I understand. It's a harsh rule, but fair in its own way. Most students wouldn't be able to bear the loss of their entire starting capital in one go. They'll choose to wait the two months."
"Exactly," the boy nodded. "So, was that information worth it?"
"It was," I replied. "Thank you for telling me."
I tapped my smartwatch, pulling up the transfer interface.
Beep— Boop—
[Transferring 50 Credit Points...]
[Transfer Complete.]
"Here is the 50 Credit Points we agreed upon," I said.
My balance flickered on the screen.
[Current Balance: 150 Credit Points]
The boy looked at his watch, his face lighting up with a satisfied smile.
"Pleasure doing business with you, friend! If you need more info later, you know where to find me."
He waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowd, happily walking away with his easy earnings.
I took a deep breath and turned toward the massive double doors of the Mission Hall.
Hiss—
The automatic glass doors slid open smoothly.
As I stepped inside, the atmosphere changed instantly. The air was cooler, conditioned to perfection. The interior was even more impressive than I had imagined. The floor was polished marble, reflecting the bright lights from the ceiling.
Everywhere I looked, students were bustling about. Some were gathered in groups discussing strategies, while others were staring intently at their holographic tablets.
At the far end of the hall, just as the informant had described, stood the massive Mission Board. It was a colossal digital screen displaying hundreds of scrolling text lines, color-coded by difficulty.
However, before I could go there, I needed to unlock my access.
To my right, there was a long reception counter made of sleek black stone. Sitting behind it was a girl wearing the academy's staff uniform. She was typing away on a holographic keyboard, looking bored.
I adjusted my collar and walked toward her.
To be continued...