The next day, at 5:00 AM, everyone was awakened by a loud sound coming from the center of the gated community where all the students were staying. This loud noise signaled that it was time for everyone to get up and begin their conditioning training. Once they completed their training, they were all escorted to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The system greeted him when he woke and gave him his daily quest.
'Daily quest: Meditate in sunlight for 30 minutes.'
'Reward: 40 EXP.'
'125/200 EXP.'
Erie finally rested sufficiently and was thankful he didn't need to do much to level up to level 3. "Just two more days, and I'll reach Level 3," he thought excitedly. However, he began to notice he was still lacking in energy, so he checked his energy status.
'Energy 49 Percent'
"I guess I still need to meditate to replenish myself properly."
The first day of school was finally here, so everyone in the cafeteria was first-year. It wasn't a mixture of students like it was the previous day. Erie looked around and noticed that all the members with a gold ribbon sat in a specific section; silver ribbons sat in the middle while everyone with a bronze rippon sat outside on the ground. "wow, this reminds me of the orphanage village. It's the same here." On the first day of school, the outside influence has been established. "The bronze ribbons are being mistreated here."
While Erie was standing in line, he saw Alex standing a few people before him; he hadn't seen Alex during morning conditioning. He approached Alex, but Alex seemed to have ignored him and turned his body away from Erie.
Since Alex had a silver ribbon, he seemed to avoid Erie now and hang out with students with silver ribbons. Erie didn't know how to address Alex, and it seemed like he was trying to distance himself from him.
Gene walked up to Erie and looked at Alex. "Don't worry about him, bro!" he said. "This is probably his first time fitting into the crowd and trying to stick to code," he said. Erie looked at Gene's. He also had a bronze ribbon, but he was Rank CC.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Erie looked around for a spot to sit. He saw the bald guy sitting by himself on the side of the ledge, eating food. Gene and Erie walked past him and sat near a tree in the courtyard.
Before Erie sat down, though, Jake appeared with a plate of food and handed it to Erie. " I was expecting you, Jake." erie announced. Gene looked at Jake's ribbon, and they saw he had a golden ribbon on his arm.
"Hey, Jake, do you want to sit with us?" Jake stared at Gene and sat down in front of them.
"Yeah, you can sit with the other at the top table in the cafeteria." Jake didn't look back; he didn't move. He just stared at Gene and Erie.
"Do you even speak, Jake?" Gene asked.
Jake looked at eries hand and looked at his hand and held his palm out to Erie. Erie looked at his hand. He was confused because he didn't know what was going on. However, Gene pointed out that he thought Jake wasn't ready to grab his hand; a message appeared when Erie touched Jake's hand.
"Energy consumed."
"10 percent energy gained."
"Energy level 75 Percent."
Erie snatched his hand back and stared at Jake. He looked at Erie's hand and squeezed his fist a few times. A moment later, erie was hungry. He began to eat his food without realizing it.
He finished everything on his plate and began eating everything on Jake's plate; both plates were full of vegetables, meat, fruit, and grains, enough to feed five people.
Erie grabbed his water and finished it, which was around a gallon, to be exact. Since he was already outside, he told Jake and Gene that he would meditate momentarily. He wanted to complete his test as fast as possible, so he sat in a meditative pose and began meditating.
"That was sudden?" Gene began to announce out loud. Gene couldn't believe how much Erie ate and its incredible speed. He looked at Jake while he was still rubbing his hand, "Did Jake do something to him? He didn't hurt Erie.
"Daily quest complete."
"Reward: 40 EXP."
"165/ 200"
"Energy 100 percent"
"Now!" Erie thought. Tomorrow, I will level up to level 3!" This would be his second level up. Erie couldn't wait to see what he could get. The system told him to reach level 3 to unlock a move from the skill and level 5 to receive his first special skill. As he thought about this, he recalled he unlocked a skill before entering the city.
So, he decided to open the skill tree once more.
"Skill tree,"
"Concentration."
Erie paused. He saw that he only had one skill and had never had the chance to activate it. He wanted to test it one day before bringing it into a live fight.
"Hey Gene, could you spar with me later? I want to check out a move I learned."
"Hey, yeah, I love sparing. Let's spar together after class." Gene smiled and stood up from his spot, scratching a little. "as a matter of fact, I think we need to spar every day until you find yourself an ability." Erie stood up after Gene and Jake's body flicked, and an echo of him stood next to Erie.
"Is your ability to echo dominion, Jake?" Jake shook his head no and reappeared in a different spot in the courtyard, back in front of Erie.
While Jake's body was in two places at once, his second location was on a table by the same girl he appeared above in the courtyard from the fight. She screamed again and threw another bottle of water towards Jake. Once again, the body flew right through him. and he disappeared. "Seriously!" she screamed. "who is that guy!"
After Jake's demonstration, the bell finally rang, signaling the students that it was time for class. As they were walking, erie saw Baldy again, and he looked past Erie as if nothing had happened. "I guess he won't bother me anymore," Erie thought.
The boy walked down the hall, and Erie overheard people murmuring about Erie's fight with Jason. Erie noticed he was getting side glances from people as they approached him, looked at his watch, and quickly walked away.
Gene leaned in and asked Erie, "What's that all about.?"
" Long story," Erie commented.
They finally reached their first classroom room, and it was the same person who had shown them around the school; his name was Levi. The structure was the same here. All the silver ribbons sat in the front, and the bronze sat in the back., there was only one golden ribbon, and that was Jake. He sat next to Erie and Gene in the back.
The students stared at Jake and quickly began discussing it among themselves.
"Why is a golden ribbon sittin' with a bronze?"
a girl said out loud so the others could hear. "He's that creepy guy I have seen in the cafeteria. He keeps appearing out of nowhere, but he mainly hangs out with that orange-haired kid."
Another kid said out loud, "I saw them hanging outside the cafeteria as well."
Erie overheard the people talking as Jake stared at everyone talking about him. He looked expressionless. Erie couldn't help but worry about Jake. He was a little weird, but he also didn't want him to be a subject.
"Hey, Jake?" Eerie said, "I do not want you getting in trouble; you do not have to sit with us."
Jake looked back at Erie, but he also felt like someone was behind Erie, staring. People began to look back in their seats and look around. "Is someone else in here?" some said aloud.
The students were all murmuring about Jake because he had a golden ribbon. The school was the perfect example of the structure outside the city. Those with a higher status and power ruled. They got better jobs, joined the movement, and received support from top-tier families and clans.
The ones at the top loved this treatment because it only benefited them; this rule gave them power over the people with the lower levels, and the lower level always tried to get on the good side with the higher people to guarantee them a good job to help them feed their families. But anyone who tried to upset this balance was quickly dealt with.