Chapter 97: Once Again

After a few minutes that felt like hours for all the students in the introductory class, it was finally time to hand in their exams.

Receiving all the exams, the teacher proceeded to arrange them all before beginning to review them, "Okay, that's it for today then, tomorrow you will receive your results along with your personalized class schedule. You are excused to leave."

Upon finishing hearing that, most students grabbed their things and started heading towards the exit, with a few staying and approaching the teacher to ask a question or two.

As for Jay, he belonged to the first group, quickly leaving the classroom so he could have more time to be able to walk around the bronze city.

Unlike the silver or gold city, this one wasn't as flashy, having more in common with Kluemwood City than any other Academy grounds, which usually had beneficial items for supers everywhere.

However, one thing that the bronze city was unsurpassed in was undoubtedly its size.

Since the bronze city had to accommodate tens of thousands of students, it had to be large enough so that there were no space problems of any kind.

As a result, the streets of the bronze city, while always having students walking through them, never felt crowded.

The sun was still high in the sky, indicating that not much time had passed since noon, giving Jay several things he could spend his time on.

"Oh, right, I still have to check the guide in the smartwatch." He said, suddenly remembering.

The next moment, he pulled out a smartwatch from his pocket to put it on his right wrist before turning it on.

If one looked more closely, one could tell that this watch was not the one he had been wearing before, but a completely new one.

This was a watch that had been given to him by the academy, and it had been completely customized for the use of a bronze badge student, containing all the basic information he had to know about the academy except for certain things, such as their schedule and the specific details of the other cities.

Because he had to attend the introductory class as soon as he entered the academy, he did not have the time to check the clock.

When he turned it on, several icons appeared on the screen, the most striking being a leather book, a map and finally a piggy bank.

'Unexpectedly, it's quite simple.'

Not wanting to waste any more time, Jay pressed the book icon, beginning to read its contents at a surprising speed.

As the minutes passed, his walking speed began to slow down more and more, until finally, he came to a complete stop, on his face an expression of disbelief matching his wide eyes.

Turning off the smartwatch and dragging his body to a nearby bench, Jay collapsed onto it as a nervous smile formed on his face, "...Haha...hahaha."

His sudden laughter caused other students that passed by to look at him strangely, however, there were also others who were apparently from a higher year and they couldn't help but give him pitying looks, as if they had figured out the cause of such a strange attitude.

After all, they too had reacted that way when they had learned about the way the economy worked within the academy.

However, what Jay was feeling at the moment couldn't be further from it, 'This... is too good to be true!'

Thinking again about what he had read, he couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face, 'Who knew there would be such a convenient point system in the academy!'

The system he was talking about was something that while it was widely known in the academy, that was not the case for the outside, which caused this information to take him by surprise.

As for what this system consisted of, it was quite simple.

Within the academy, credits, which were the most used currency in the world, were completely useless.

Instead, what was used were merit points, which were earned through different ways, such as being punctual to class, taking extra classes, fulfilling special missions, taking a part-time job, among many other things.

Thus, besides encouraging students to put even more effort into their academic activities, it also prevented students with superior resources from gaining access to special facilities and objects of the academy using credits.

So how did this benefit Jay?

That was answered by the fact that among the ways in which one could earn points, there was the option of being able to bet them with other people, and with that alone, several plans began to form in Jay's head.

At first, he had thought about making friends with as many people as he could, although he was confident in his ability to make friends, it would still be a complicated and time-consuming task.

However, now that he had found out about this, all his plans became much easier!

Still in a good mood from this unexpected but welcome news, Jay shook his head a couple of times before turning his smartwatch back on, 'Well, I'd better see how many merit points I have."

Jay had also read in the guide that he would receive a certain amount of points each day, so if he had any luck, he would be able to place a bet or two today, getting two host candidates.

Opening the piggy bank-shaped app, his account status appeared in front of his eyes, showing a large zero accompanied by a lone one.

At the bottom were two windows indicating that two transfers of 5 points had been made to his account, one for attending the introductory class and the other was his daily points.

"..."

His smile froze almost immediately, before he again shook his head and brought his gaze back to the street he was on, quickly looking for something he could use to compare.

'No reason to despair, maybe 10 points is a considerable amount!' He thought.

Fortunately for him, there was a coffee shop nearby, which conveniently had a small chalkboard outside with the special of the day written on its surface, costing no more and no less than 5 credits.

"Ah..."

At that moment, Jay realized that once again, he was poor.

***

After a quarter hour had passed and Jay had calmed down considerably, he had already to visited several places in the city.

Specifically, places where he could earn points in some way, either because they had jobs available for students or because one could earn points by completing certain tasks.

Although the guide on his smartwatch had information about these, Jay preferred to visit them in person so he could check every last detail and see what worked best for him.

Crossing off one of the names on a small list on his smartwatch as he exited a hospital-like building, he looked for a place to sit while he organized his list, "Let's see, I've already been to the coffee shops, restaurants, the library, the farmlands and the hospital, so that leaves... the training center, which is the most promising place."

Of all the places he had visited, the lowest and highest salary was 15 and 25 points per hour, belonging to the cafeterias and the hospital respectively, with the employees getting paid every 15 days, although there were some requirements to apply for some of these jobs, it was not too difficult to fulfill them.

As for the special assignments, they consisted mostly of research work and the rewards ranged from 5,000 points to 10,000, but unfortunately, these took far too long to complete, with the minimum being at least 2 months, and worst of all, Jay wasn't too sure he would be able to complete them successfully either.

Normally he would immediately set off to be able to apply for the hospital job as the pay was good, but according to the guidebook, there was a much higher paying job, and it was at the training center no less.

Getting up from the bench he was sitting on and putting away his smartwatch, he was set off towards the training center, in his eyes a look of determination motivated by the sheer desire to earn money.

After about another 15 minutes or so, Jay arrived at his destination, taking in the facade of the training center, which definitely didn't lose out to the academy building in terms of size.

The appearance reminded him a bit of James' house, which was a huge dojo that covered several blocks, and even with that, it still fell short compared to what Jay was currently seeing. 

Shaking his head a bit, Jay proceeded to enter.

As he did so, he was greeted by a large hall with several students entering and exiting different doors that led to various training grounds, some for public use and others reserved for personal use.

Pushing his way through them, he made his way to the receptionist desk, where a young girl in martial attire was, apparently busy looking at something on her smartwatch.

"Good after-"

Before he could finish speaking, the girl raised her index finger to stop him, without taking her eyes off her watch, "If you're looking for a training room, go through the first door on the right, if you're coming for some job position, it's through the first door on the left, you continue straight down the hallway until you see a wooden door and enter."

Although the way the young woman had responded had been a bit odd, Jay didn't mind and quickly entered through the door to the left, but not before saying a thank you to the young woman.

After a short while, he found the wooden door and entered, being greeted by a particularly large room, with several benches and students present, in fact, there were even a few who had been in the introductory class.

'Hm, looks like I wasn't the only one to think of this...' 

With nothing else to do, Jay walked in as well and sat down on one of the benches, waiting with the rest of the students, turning on his smartwatch to give the academy's guidebook another once-over.

*BAM!*

Just then, however, the door was flung open to let in a tall red-haired woman with an athletic physique, dressed in martial attire.

"Wow, looks like we have quite a few candidates for a first day!" Said the woman as she entered the room, not caring about the scare she had given them by opening the door in such a manner, "Nice to meet you, I am the close combat instructor of the training center, and temporarily, also the one in charge of recruiting the personnel we will employ!"

Her tone was quite energetic and refreshing, causing several of the trainees to get a little excited.

"As you should know, some positions have opened up since a few students graduated, normally, these would have been taken by other grades, but for your luck, or rather, for your punctuality in coming here on the first day, you have the opportunity to compete for them!"

Hearing this, the students couldn't help but feel a little proud of their punctuality.

"Now then, the positions that are open are two, janitor and gardener, whoever wants to apply for the first one stand to the right, the rest to the left."

As she finished saying that, the students moved quickly, Jay included, who moved to the right.

However, there was one exception, a tall,slim and rather groomed looking young man who stood in his same spot and expressed his doubts to the instructor, "Those are the only options?"

"Any problems?" Replied the instructor, giving this young man a look of interest.

"Yes, it's just that I think my skills would be wasted on either of those two jobs."

A sudden silence filled the room, with the new students giving this young man a strange look and those from other years looking at him with some ridicule on their faces.

"Hm? Is that so? Then what position would be most suitable for someone like you?" Unlike her normal tone, one could tell that the instructor was amused by the young man's response, something that the wide grin on her face only made more evident.

"As a rank (C) esper, I believe I am qualified for the position of assistant instructor!" As he finished saying that, the young man puffed out his chest, proud of himself.