Capítulo 24: Chapter 23:

*** Steve P.O.V.

Liam was gone as soon as we exited the classroom and didn't know what else to do so I decided to take a tour of the academy.

" Where should we go first?" I looked downwards at Cynthia as we walked randomly.

" Meow"

"Okay, cafeteria it is. Make sure to keep up, okay?"

The area was well planned out. Shrubs and plants are grown to divide both sides of the road.

There were not many people out on the path as we walked. It might be because only 1st-year students didn't need to take a class today except the first one.

We enjoyed the warm glow of the sun in the winter that was perfect, not too hot like in summer or absent like in the rainy season.

It was mellow that entices you to take an afternoon nap if you stay too long under it.

Thankfully for us, we reached the cafeteria before sleep could overtake our minds.

I said it as cafeteria but it was anything but that. The thing was that there were at least 500 students in just 1st year and since there were 5 years before could graduate, there were at least 2500 people just counting the students only.

That didn't even include staff members and teachers and people employed to make sure Academy remained in top condition all the time.

I would be not surprised if there were as many adult people as students in the academy town which made it impossible for a single cafeteria to handle such traffic during mealtime.

That's why there were two to three large open space cafeterias to serve food in the academy.

Instead of providing chairs, the cafeterias were built near a grass garden so students could sit and eat their food either there.

Though doing a rainy season, they provide Bentos that you could eat in class or your dorm.

I randomly choose one of the cafeterias and walked up to the staff.

" What will you be having? " The man in early thirties looked at me before glancing at Cynthia that was sitting beside my feet and looking at the desk.

" 2 boiled eggs for her and a mutton soup for me, pls. " I passed him my id and I ordered a dish from the available options currently.

" What about spice level?" He nodded as he swiped my card before returning it to me.

" Just normal pls. It's better to check what's considered normal before choosing for extra spicy. " I shamefully confessed.

It happened to me once due to peer pressure. Ordered a dish with extra spiciness at a new place since others were ordering too and I still get nightmares about that sometimes.

" Will be ready in 15 mins. Here's your token. your food will be delivered by her. " He pointed at another staff that seemed responsible for giving orders.

I thanked him before making my way toward the next stop. There were a couple of students waiting for their food.

I looked at my coupon and the one currently being displayed on the screen before sighing.

" Looks like you have to wait a little longer. "

" Meoow~"

We waited in line before picking up our order and walking to the garden.

" Meow"

" I know that you are hungry but could you please stop getting in my way. " I sat down and delivered her eggs before her.

She carefully inspected it by smelling first before touching it to check if it was not hot. After she felt satisfied enough, she finally took a bite.

" Where the hell all of it goes?" I asked her as she devoured everything on her plate.

She had been sucking mana out of me in such large proportions that if it were a normal person they would have died on the first day.

Thankfully, my mana sensitivity allowed me to utilize mana directly from the environment as my own.

For normal people, environmental mana is like an ocean from where they collect mana in their mana pools, and they could only utilize mana present in their mana pool for supernatural and fantastic things.

In my case, the ocean itself was my mana pool because of my unprecedented mana sensitivity.

We enjoyed our lunch quietly for the most part except for a few instances when some students from other classes ask if they could pat Cynthia.

***Third-person P.O.V.

After lunch, both moved on and visited the laboratory and alchemy wing. Sadly, freshmen were not allowed inside before they had their first science class.

From there both randomly strolled around the place visiting places like dorms of upper-class students and club buildings.

Clubs were divided into three categories: Authoritarian clubs like student council and disciplinary committee, Normal clubs like sports and library club and last but not least clubs related to supernatural like alchemy club and martial clubs.

Normal clubs were given rooms in club buildings to run their meeting and all and they were mostly controlled by students themselves.

New clubs could be made if enough people were applying for it as well as a staff member agreed to be a club manager.

They could also be disbanded by authorities like the student council and disciplinary committee if they didn't follow rules.

Supernatural clubs were a different matter altogether as they were controlled by the academy itself enough though students ran them most of the time. Authoritarian clubs have the power to punish any member that violates academy rules but they couldn't disband the club.

This was because these clubs were essential for developing skilled human resources in selected sectors.

These clubs were also assigned personal buildings since they had a lot of members and they required special instruments for their activities.

Authoritarian clubs were at the top of this pyramid as they had all the privileges that other clubs had and more but they have equally important responsibilities.

Steve didn't visit specialized club buildings since he would be visiting them in a few days anyway. He just looked around normal clubs like acting, basketball club, archery, etc.

Since only freshmen were free right now, he wasn't able to enter them. But looking from the window, he got a certain feeling of what is their situation right now.

Archery club had likely the most members since they were provided by a whole floor for their activities, plus there were a lot of students that use the bow as a weapon.

" Why does acting have more members than basketball?" Steve asked the janitor that was cleaning the floor.

Unlike what he expected, the janitor was manipulating water itself to clean the area rather than using a mop. He argued that it helped him in perfecting his skill control while also earning something.

" Don't just decide things from the cover. Most people in here were capable of jumping half the basketball court without even sweating so the game didn't have much popularity in our people. "

" Meanwhile, Acting is an important skill to have once you graduate from here. If you got lucky to be employed as a hero of a district, you would be needing the ability to act when you search for criminals while hiding your identity. "

" It is obvious that it is popular among people. Unlike sports, it takes a lot of time to master acting so a lot of people join in their freshman year so they didn't have to waste time learning to act during their final year. "

" Interesting..." Steve thanked the man before he exited the building with Cynthia on his shoulder and walked toward the freshman dormitory.

*****†***††****†******†******†*****†*****

Just watched tick tick...boom yesterday. I don't have anything but praise for the movie. All the actors did a wonderful job, plus the direction was in great hands too. If you haven't watched it, I would suggest that you do. Brilliant piece of art.