Aurora Over a Dead World

Chapter 5: Starting Something New

The time I had to adjust to the city was up, unfortunately. I bought some basic things, proper clothes, and most importantly, a phone and my repair tools.

It was kind of strange waking up extremely early every day and realizing I no longer had a reason to wake up at 4 a.m., which is unfortunate because I can’t fall back asleep after waking up anymore.

The walk to the academy was relatively calmer. The streets full of people simply made me decide to go quickly so I wouldn’t get distracted, so I ended up arriving quite early while the academy was just starting to open.

Which, fortunately, meant I didn’t run into any students until I reached the teachers’ room, which is also empty. I had time to look over the tutoring materials along with papers made especially for me, with permissions for what I can and cannot use in the facilities.

"Hmmm... classes start in about 40 minutes... and the other teachers should arrive in about 20 minutes..." I’m really tense about this, but I have to do a good job so I don’t cause problems for Nadir. After all, he definitely offered something to get me out of my position.

"..." The class system Astrid gave me is at least interesting, because I can have direct classes with the six, and individual direct classes, and the individual classes interest me quite a bit.

"If they’re rebels, I should start by teaching them the basics." I bet they have no idea how important the basics are. Besides, many of these students from the current generation have never killed strong, dangerous monsters.

"Tsk, this is what happens when you keep everyone sheltered from the hell that’s down there." Fear monsters are born on Aurora Island, so obviously it’s impossible for monsters not to appear here since they’re born from fear.

But the quantity and strength are far lower than the monsters born on the earth’s surface or underground, so the students have never seen the horrors down below.

"Class... first class... I should beat them up, shouldn’t I?" There’s no better tutor than pain. A duel is the best thing I can do. First, because it shows them they aren’t the top of the world.

Talented, rebellious people are stupidly arrogant and think they’re above everyone. I need to break that mentality right from the start and show them that if they don’t respect me, I have the power to punish them.

And it’s also the only way I know that works to get attention. Showing strength makes it clear from the very beginning who’s in charge of whom, and it shows experience.

"Now, a duel is useless if I lose or struggle. I need to defeat one of them so fast that all of them become cautious..." They’re all strong, but with zero practical experience.

I, on the other hand, am relatively strong, but limited. However, I’m full of experience and I’ll use that. At least I have plenty of practical content to show them.

"Hmmm... take a deep breath... I just need to stay calm... if something goes wrong, losing an arm or a leg is worth more than taking damage." I can always sacrifice my metal parts if necessary, since they’re things I can recover later.

I don’t want to run into other teachers yet, so I quickly eat a lollipop and head up to the upper floors. The academy is divided into several wings, with multiple floors and several buildings and structures.

The teachers’ building is one of the tallest, so I go up to its rooftop to keep watching. The view is beautiful, the place is truly magnificent.

"So much technology... so much money spent on this..." I understand. It’s an investment in the future, but still, the "sponsors" who earn a fortune just for investing a little don’t pay for the lives of everyone who dies down there.

"Being rich seems so nice..." I wouldn’t say I’m rich, but I’m far above average. I checked how much money I had in my bank account, even though it took me two days to learn how to use a phone, and the money I have easily puts me in the top 5% of people with the most money.

Which isn’t much, because humanity’s numbers have fallen drastically, and currently there are only a few million humans, quite different from the more than 11 billion people of the past, but it’s still a lot of money.

"Looks like they’re arriving." I see thousands of students from various fields entering through the academy gates, and another portion leaving the dormitories heading to their respective wings.

"...!!!?" A girl down there notices me. She looks directly at me.

’What a skill...’ No one but her notices me. I wonder who she is. By her clothes, she seems to be an upperclassman, and even though I’m not hiding, I’m quite far away.

"..." I give a wave, and she briefly returns it before moving on. Well-mannered too, from what I can see.

"Everything is so well organized." The lines of students have no fights, and everyone’s care for the place seems excellent, though I do see a scuffle here and there scattered outside the lines, but of course there would be.

The academy takes students from 10 years old all the way to 26 years old, so there are various age groups here and fights are always going to happen.

"I wonder if I’d be stronger if I had been a student..." I never studied here. My situation and Nadir’s situation were worse than these kids’. Nadir and I learned through experience.

Fighting to survive and learning to control ourselves and control our powers on the streets, hunting monsters to climb up in life.

"Lucky ones." Students who live in safety, are paid to study, receive various forms of aid, and their families get benefits. All of it designed to encourage new weapons, but they’re weapons who were given proper gifts.

While I was a weapon who got nothing but a power that doesn’t work right.

"Tsk, time to stop wallowing. Complaining about the younger ones won’t change my life." I adjust my teacher’s outfit, a soft white lab coat with black buttons, and black pants, since I prefer pants and shorts over skirts, and since I’m not going to wear shorts at a school, I was left with no choice but to wear pants.

’Although I’m going to have to start wearing skirts...’ Starting tomorrow, most of the clothes I wear will be skirts, because military clothes have adjustments, but casual clothes and teacher’s clothes don’t have adjustments and they snag on my metal legs, creating little tears.

"...Time to go." I jump down from up here. A faint metallic hiss occurs, but unlike the impact one would expect from my body, which is extremely heavy because of the prosthetics, the landing on the ground is extremely soft, not even raising dust or making a sound.

In war, you’re either silent or you’re dead, and prosthetics are no excuse to make noise, so I learned to be as silent as I should be.

"Well, since my students are older and are the problematic ones, they must be in a private wing." The school obviously separates and keeps problematic weapons far away from normal students.

And my rebellious students have already made it painfully obvious that they aren’t exactly fit to be near other students. So I wander in total silence to the most distant private wing. Astrid didn’t tell me where I was supposed to be, so I’m forced to search on my own.

’Will they recognize me?’ I hate to admit it, but I’m not as respected as I should be. My bad attitude, lack of respect for superiors, body in a state they call "broken," and a dangerous power gave me a terrible reputation and kept me away from the public eye.

Combine that with my life alongside Nadir, and it ended up that Nadir became quite famous and respected, and I became almost a pariah commander that everyone despises but obeys out of obligation. As a result, the population doesn’t know me, and my records are private.

’Looks like this is it...’ I arrive at a building where, from down here, I can already see one of my students in the window. She seems to be talking to another one, so I actively enter the building, heading quickly to my classroom so I won’t be late.

’...?’ After a few minutes, as I get near my classroom, I feel a rather large variation in the vectors, indicating that some vector in the area has been altered.

’They’re using vectors... how irresponsible.’ No one should use their powers without permission or inside the city, but it seems they don’t care about that.

"Hmmmm..." I take a deep breath before opening the door and walking in. Immediately, my gaze goes to the source of the variations, and I see Tanya pointing a finger at me like a little gun.

"Bang." She fires a hot beam at my face. It’s not that fast, but it’s dangerous. The trajectory is meant to graze me, but obviously I care very little about these girls’ lives, so with a "Slap," I drag the "sky" into the strike’s position, reflecting and amplifying the shot’s speed.

"O-Ouch!!?" Tanya groans in pain as the shot cuts her cheek and pierces the wall behind her. Immediately, the room falls silent and the sound of conversation stops. All the girls look at me, but Tanya, who attacked me, makes an irritated expression.

"What’s your problem, you broken whore? Attacking a student like that? Are you crazy?!" She immediately goes after my condition, as if that would hurt me.

"Be grateful it was just your cheek and not one of your arms. Do you think just because I’m a teacher, I’ll tolerate attacks?" I don’t back down, because the position of teacher isn’t relevant to me.

"...Aren’t you a little too arrogant for a mere little teacher? Don’t you know who I am? I’m one of the strongest students of this generation!! And I might just end up becoming the strongest, who knows!! And you dared to hurt my pretty little face?" Her arrogance matches exactly what was described in her file.

’Dealing with brats in adult bodies is so frustrating...’ It’s already started. Exactly what I knew would happen. It doesn’t matter that they’re all of legal age; to me, they, who have never faced the horror of war, are stupid brats.

’But this is an opportunity.’ She’s right about one thing. Her power is easily among the strongest of this generation, so she’s one of the strongest in the room, and she’s someone I can deal with without too many problems.

"If you’re so dissatisfied, how about a duel? No conditions, no prizes, no punishments. Just a fight to see who’s stronger," I propose to her.

"But if you get hurt, that’s not my problem. And the others here will watch, to see who they’re dealing with." Some murmur things, but others just accept, and Edith in particular looks at me and blinks flirtatiously, but I ignore it.

"Great! I’ll show you your place, you stupid little bitch. You’re going to pay dearly for hurting my face." Chip and Core mess a lot with the body’s condition, so small wounds usually regenerate without scars, so her criticism is quite foolish and empty, but the opportunity to show dominance is good, so I just shrug.