Chapter 115: Grouping
Unfortunately for Ayla, even if many of the surrounding students intensely wanted to take immediate physical action against her, they simply couldn’t.
This restriction was not because there were any strict rules barring them from attacking a fellow recruit within the welcoming plaza.
The real, underlying reason was that all of the million beings gathered across the white marble field were mere holographic projections.
Their real, physical bodies were currently being safely protected by the Nexus system in a hidden, isolated realm somewhere.
After all, it was logistically impossible for the system to safely control and monitor millions of chaotic students from different infinite races at a single time inside one physical space.
Because of this massive scale, the Ascendant Academy was designed in a specific way so that most of the recruits would never actually meet each other face to face in the beginning.
Instead, they would be systematically divided into localized groups of ten thousand students each and start their journey from Class One.
There were a total of four classes within the academic progression line.
To reach Class Two, a student had to successfully meet certain strict conditions regarding their baseline parameter strength and survival metrics.
Class Two would also consist of exactly ten thousand students who had managed to meet these high conditions.
The exact same filtering process was applied to Class Three.
Class Four was the final graduation class.
The ten thousand elite students who managed to reach this ultimate class would represent the absolute top of the million who had originally joined the academy from across the universe.
Those lucky individuals who successfully reached this class were fully equipped to survive in the raw Ascendant plane, and they could even build their own sovereign territories and defend them securely against major powers and ancient monsters.
Ayla lazily glanced around at the massive crowds of aliens who were currently beaming with deep, bloodthirsty auras against her coordinates.
All of them seemed to want to tear her small blue body into pieces right now, but their holographic hands just passed harmlessly through the ambient air.
Ayla found it incredibly funny how these supposed geniuses from the higher races were burning in pure jealousy just because of a single system recruitment token.
She thoroughly enjoyed their angry reactions and their helpless shouting.
To pass the time, she began to deliberately deform her translucent blue slime form to create different physical shapes, mocking them right to their faces.
She shifted her fluid body into a large, unmistakable middle finger pointing directly at the roaring beast warrior, and then she smoothly fluidified herself into a tiny, dancing fairy that twirled sarcastically on the array.
"Look at that wretched blue jelly!" the single-eyed humanoid screamed, his projection flickering with rage as he stomped his foot. "It is openly mocking us! It is dancing!"
"Just you wait until the classification trial begins!" the insect-winged alien buzzed furiously, his holographic fists clenching in the air. "I will personally dry your fluid under my boots!"
Suddenly, a massive, imposing being materialized directly in the sky right above the center of the welcoming plaza, completely cutting off the noisy uproar.
The entity was a giant, terrifying eyeball covered in small, leathery bat wings that flapped with a rhythmic, heavy sound.
It didn’t possess a mouth, but its deep, booming voice resonated perfectly through the minds of every single projection in the field.
"Silence, beginners," the giant eyeball commanded, its massive iris scanning the vast field of millions.
"The registration period has officially concluded. All of you will now be systematically grouped into one hundred separate divisions of ten thousand students each.
The beings within your designated division will be your direct, primary opponents during your entire stay in Class One.
Fail to surpass them, and your will continue in Class one like many have and will die there without graduating. Prepare for immediate transfer."
The moment the booming voice ceased, the teleportation arrays across the plaza flashed with a bright, blinding silver light.
Ayla closed her eyes against the sudden glare, feeling her mass shift across the spatial dimensions. When she finally opened her eyes a second later, she found herself sitting inside a clean, private room constructed from smooth white alloy.
She was placed directly on top of a large metallic table, and right in front of her sat a glowing holographic plate alongside a neatly folded academy uniform.
Funnily enough, the uniform was not tailored for a human body; it looked like a small, stretchy blue cloth that perfectly matched the round shape of her current slime form.
"The uniform will automatically change its physical dimensions to fit whatever shape you happen to be taking at the moment," Nexus’s voice suddenly sounded directly inside her head, completely casual and filled with a light amusement.
"Are you always spying on me?" Ayla asked, her mental voice muttering with a slight touch of annoyance.
She didn’t wait for a defensive answer. She rolled her jelly body across the table, moving toward the glowing holographic plate.
She controlled her internal fluids to extend two long, translucent blue tendrils from her mass, wrapping them securely around the edges of the device to activate its functions.
The interface immediately lit up, displaying a clean menu that contained some vital, inbuilt features.
Ayla scanned the text rows, noting the four primary options: Schedule, Ascendant Net, Market, and Bank.
"I am not spying on you, little girl. I am simply the running operating system of this entire facility," Nexus explained through the mind link, her melodic voice echoing clearly.
"Let me explain the purpose of these features to you so you don’t get lost on your first day. The Schedule tab contains your personal class schedule, which includes the exact coordinates and locations of your daily survival lectures and combat arenas."
"What is this net thing?" Ayla asked, tapping her tendril against the second option.
"The Ascendant Net is a global digital matrix where every single student currently joined in the academy is connected," Nexus said.
"It works exactly like the social media networks back on Earth. You can use it to check up on funny news, look at the student ranking ladders, or see who is currently threatening to eat who in the upper classes. It is very useful for gathering background data on your opponents."
"And the market?" Ayla queried, her golden pupils shifting to the next icon.
"The Market is a decentralized trading platform where you can freely buy and sell resources, beast brains, potion formulas, and equipment with other students across the sectors," Nexus replied smoothly.
"And the final tab is the Bank, which is the secure location where the system saves your personal currency. The main money used here in the higher world is called Ascendant Coins.
Every single student in Class One will automatically get one hundred coins a month from the institution. You will get the exact same amount."
"One hundred coins is not enough to buy large beast brains," Ayla pointed out, her bottomless stomach letting out a small, quiet rumble at the thought of high-tier food.
"Of course it isn’t enough," Nexus chuckled softly, her tone highly teasing.
"To earn more coins, you have to actively work for them. The academy provides various missions and work requests, and these works depend entirely on your own personal choice.
You can participate in arena battles for wagers, hunt wild beasts in the trial zones to sell their materials, or perform administrative tasks for the instructors. It is a completely free market."
Ayla smirked inwardly, her blue jelly body letting out a very soft, happy ripple as she stared at the glowing screen.
She didn’t care about performing administrative tasks or running errands for human instructors. To her, the setup was absolutely perfect.
She would simply use the arena battles and the hunting zones to systematically bait those arrogant higher-race students into attacking her harmless slime form, allowing her to easily harvest their coins and their brains at the exact same time.
"This place is very good," Ayla muttered to Nexus, her golden eyes locking onto the Class One schedule.
