Goldsworth gave Soren a cold stare, and then he flicked his hair dramatically.

"Hmph... Three days." Goldsworth muttered.

He zipped his suitcase shut and stormed past, his posse trailing behind him with the remaining luggage in stiff silence.

The door slid closed as Soren and Cynthia stepped inside.

"…Wow," Soren exclaimed.

The room was massive.

The first thing that caught Soren's attention was the soft, white carpet covering the floor.

It was warm under his feet.

Tall windows stretched along one wall, letting in the glow of the academy's aether-lights outside.

Elegant curtains embroidered with subtle silver patterns framed the glass.

At the corners and shelves were little pots of flowers—real ones, not holograms—their faint fragrance lingering in the air.

A low glass table sat between two plush couches, and a polished desk stood neatly against the far wall.

It had a very spotless surface.

Goldsworth had actually taken care of the place.

A side door led into a private bathroom and toilet, steam still faintly clinging to the mirror like someone had definitely used it not long ago.

There was even a small sitting room section, separated by a half-wall, complete with a tea set and a book rack filled with neatly arranged volumes.

Soren stood there for a second, absorbing it.

"…This is my room?"

Cynthia looked around, similarly surprised.

However, after hanging around a bit, she said her goodbyes and left for her room.

Even though Cynthia had more points than him from the Orientation garden, Soren was still first.

No doubt, it had something to do with his defeating Instructor Ivory that day.

The first thing Soren did was to take a hot shower.

After which, he lay on his bed. There was a lot to do.

His main goal in the academy was to achieve the third form so that he could find out if he was actually a Waterfell or not.

Of course, he still wanted to become a Soul Mecha pilot.

But circumstances had taught him that one still needed a ladder to reach the stars above.

Secondly, he needed to find out why Rhea's death was being pinned on Tommy even though his bald friend had nothing to do with it.

And lastly, he needed to find the true culprit.

Also, he needed to familiarize himself with the academy.

And so he turned to his issued cadet wristwatch.

He could see he had a bunch of messages from the message icon.

[Cadet Soren: 100 points deducted for fighting on school grounds.]

This was the first message that opened up when he touched the icon.

He scrolled past it. Then he came to the sponsors.

[Sponsor: Madam Wawa, Lady Quiet,]

[Cadet points: 94067]

One look at its points, and he understood what was happening.

Firstly, his remaining points from prison had been automatically added.

Every kill he had made in the orientation garden had represented 1 point.

That felt shamelessly low, but he was in no position to argue.

He would have had more, but he used the points in prison for clothes when he wanted to leave with Vinegar and again when he resumed school.

The sudden thought of Vinegar made him sigh to himself.

He really hoped she would forgive him and just go about living her life.

The only reason he had left her in that cave that day was that he knew she was strong enough to figure things out on her own.

Regardless, he still felt guilty for how things ended between them.

Just then, another message pulled his attention.

[Silent Song gifted 300 points.]

Of course, this had already been added to his point balance.

This person, Silent Song, was not a part of his sponsors. Yet they had gifted him 300 points.

Soren did a little more research and came to the understanding that sponsors were divided into two.

Primary sponsors and secondary sponsors.

Primary sponsors like Madam Wawa carried the burden of the cadet, such as feeding, clothing, and equipment. Or when he needed a lawyer, as he did in prison.

They are compensated for this through the hunt for resources.

Secondary sponsors, on the other hand, do not take on the burden of the cadet. And therefore are not compensated through the hunt for resources.

They are not compensated for the effort of the cadet at all.

Soren checked the rules for sponsors. There were a lot of them.

It turned out that anyone with significant resources within the empire, noble or not, could become a sponsor.

However, sponsors were given the option to use their real names or a nickname.

Most used nicknames. It allowed them to express themselves as they saw fit without tampering with their standing in noble or business circles.

The fact that Madam Wawa was using her real name showed that she was trying to build a bigger business name for herself.

Of course, Soren guessed who the second person, Lady Quiet, was.

The Kanta family really had a soft spot for him.

Furthermore, there was the entire Gauntlet challenge with Goldsworth in three days.

From what Soren read, the only reason Goldsworth had even pushed it that far was that new intakes could not participate in Gauntlet battles for the first 48 hours of their resumption.

Maybe it was because he had gone through the Orientation garden faster than others, but there were a lot of things he was missing.

There were many things he needed to familiarize himself with.

Classes, schedules, hunts, drills... so much.

However, as he thought, he slowly drifted into sleep.

For the first time in a long time, it was actually peaceful.

No nagging from Chronovore. No day looping.

Even his Blackfield was calmer than ever.

....

[Alarm; 5:00 AM]

Soren opened his eyes to the screaming holographic alarm in front of his face.

He turned it off, then did a morning stretch.

It felt good. Too good.

Then he did a quick exercise to practice his Clap hand-to-hand combat technique.

He brushed and showered.

Made a quick order for fresh clothes on his Wristwatch.

However, when he opened his door to receive them, he was met with a surprising sight.

It was Pencil. He was a mess.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.