Pristine Academy: Singularity's Manifestation

Grayscale of Colors

Veronika seems uneasy to answer this. She sighs, and she answered despite that. “Yes,” she said rather uninterestingly. Their professor nods, “That’s why your name and your face seem rather familiar.” He giggles, “You have changed a lot! Your hair seems a lot shorter than we first met, and your demeanor seems a lot more… how do I say this?” He rubs his chin trying to think of how to speak without being impolite.

Veronika didn’t wait for his input and sighed, “I am aware, Sir Rohan.” Her tone was enough to signal the professor to stop asking her and just nod, “Very well, I hope your skills and performance never changed. Thank you for introducing and joining us once more. Next!”

“I didn’t know that your roommate is possibly older than us. She might be even a repeater.” Antonietta commented. “How could you fail in a school like this? If anything, they will just train you more.” Gabriel joined in. Patricia sighs, “Let’s have some respect and not talk about her when she’s just some distance away. I don’t want to get kicked out of my dorm room. She’s as stern as you are thinking she is.” Both of her newly found friends shut their mouths and continued to listen to their class introduction. It goes on until there was no left. After that, their professor went over the rules inside the classroom.

“This building is built for you all to have pseudo-senses. Everything that you summon here and every way you attack your classmate will never hurt you to the brim. This very classroom is designed for everyone to fight freely without any consequences of gravely injuring one another, but I should tell you that you will still feel pain. This is for you to feel the full experience of duels and battles, but it will not cut the realism and even your learning experience to do the real abilities. The same thing applies in the outside world, but you are safe to do anything here. Only inside this building, once you step out, you are responsible for any injuries you have inflicted to others.”

He blabbered more about the rules in his classroom and more about his class. “All that things aside, for our first lesson, we are going to study weapons and their uses. It’s also to find a weapon that could suit your body, strength, agility, and overall battle strategy that you are comfortable executing. Although even with that, you still need to train to use other weapons. We strive for the best, and an excellent warrior doesn’t settle on one simple knowledge of the battle.”

Lava spurts magically from the ground and slowly forms the four families of melee weapons known to man. There was a double-edged sword, a polearm, a halberd, and a whip around him. “In front of you are examples of the four families of weapons, well, melee weapons. Swords, Polearms, Blunt, and Flexible weapons.”

Professor Rohan started talking about these families of weapons, their use in battle, and their origins. “Every weapon is handled differently. That’s why today’s activity is to know the weapon best suited for you. It will be your main weapon, and you will train with that weapon for the rest of your time here in the academy. Please take note that things could change, but what matters is the present.”

He settles the lava figures down, “If I called your name, please go in front of me and answer the question that I will ask. Please do not be shy in answering them. I assure you no one will laugh at you if they did…” He winks at them, “A talk will suffice.”

Rohan claps that resonated with the whole classroom. He started calling names and started asking questions that honestly, almost no one can hear. Every whisper he manages to catch was silenced by the sight of his hand closing gently, silencing them with a gesture.

“Miss Patricia Prudent, you’re up.” Patricia bolted up from her seat and walked up to him, smiling confidently. “First question, Miss Patricia, do you consider yourself observant of your surrounding?” The blonde girl thinks for a bit before answering, “Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends whether I am focused.” The professor nods, “Do you consider yourself agile?” Patricia nods merrily, “Yes, it’s the thing I am proud of every time we do P.E. classes back in my place.” She giggles.

The professor smiles, “Do you consider yourself physically strong? Please be fully honest with this one.” Patricia shrugs, “I mean, I can handle a few stacks of books and can run a mile on a marathon, I guess.” The professor nods, caressing his chin, “Do you consider yourself flexible to work with unfamiliar types of weapons, especially you’re an Arthean?” Patricia shrugs once more, “It really depends, sir. I am not really a fighter before I got here.”

Professor Rohan chuckles, “Last question, do you have any personal preference for the weapons earlier. I want my students to work with a weapon they are interested in taking on, despite their physical challenges.” Patricia thinks for a while, “I am personally interested in the polearm family. I have seen those halberds and swords so many times, and I think a whip is too much for me to handle.” The professor smiles, “Then your wish is my command, I will require you to use a polearm in our specialized classes. Please take your seat.” Patricia goes back to her friends.

The professor finished assigning weapons to the whole class. The whole assignment of weapons took up all of his time, but he wasn’t disappointed despite that. “The next meeting, we will be starting to train with the common attacks that these weapons share. I am expecting you to know the weapons yourself but not in practice. I don’t want anyone getting to the guidance because of that. Class dismissed.”

The students dispersed as the professor’s sight goes to Veronika, “Miss Gilmartin, please stay for a while. I would like to have a word with you.”

Veronika just nods and was completely unbothered by it. Patricia looks at her with curiosity and concern in mind. “What’s your next class?” Gabriel asks them. “Well, Thereal Beastiary & Herbology” Gabriel claps merrily, “Me too! How about you Patricia?” They turned to her only to find her staring in the air. “Hey? Patricia!”

Patricia snapped out of her thoughts, “Y-yes.” She said immediately, not knowing what they have asked her. “The question is not a yes or no question, Patricia. Is something wrong?” Antonietta looks at her. Patricia looks back at Veronika who’s approaching their professor. She looks back at them with a whispering voice. “I’m just curious as to why Sir Rohan wants to talk to her.”

“Maybe he just wants to ask her how she’s been doing. Based on his words earlier, they have met before and Veronika was his student. It’s not that strange, especially since he seems fond of her. She also seems a good fighter with her physical looks, so I’m not going to be surprised if she was the best fighter before.” Patricia sighs, “But it’s more than intriguing that she attended the school before. She also looks different from before. The professor himself said she used to have longer hair and… her attitude is a lot different than before.”

“Maybe we should talk about that outside. We don’t want her catching wind of our words.” They walked out of the building along with their other classmates. While going towards the door, Patricia could hear some of the words from Veronika’s conversation with their Valiantry professor.

“I am glad that you decided to come back after that. Isn’t it a bit uncomfortable for you to attend here while…” Veronika sighs, “If I want to secure the best future for me, I need to take it as long as I can. I have no one to depend on, after all.” She puffs, “Besides, Miss Cassidy said she got my back whenever something happened.”

Patricia’s curiosity sparked more as she heard these words. There’s more to tell how she’s been for years she hadn’t come to school. As they stepped out of the building, Patricia looks at her friends, “Did you hear something in their conversation?” Antonietta shrugs, “I sometimes dazed out when I walk. One of the reasons why I bumped on a certain someone…” “Why? Have you heard something interesting?” Patricia looks around, “Maybe it’s best to go somewhere for this.”

“Maybe the cafeteria? I am sure few people will be there.” Antonietta agrees, “Yeah, it seems what will you say needs to be kept a secret.” They head towards the cafeteria and took a seat on one of the tables far from both the entrance and the stalls.

Patricia takes a deep breath, “It’s not that urgent nor serious, it’s just… There’s really more to Veronika than meets the eye.” Gabriel nods, “Well, you seem right. People that have those kinds of attitudes do have something to hide from the world. It’s the mask they wear to hide the vulnerability they have. Based on my experience, that is.”

“Well, that’s another topic for another day.” Patricia sighs, “She was a student here before that came back who-knows how many years. She came back and from that conversation, something seems to stop her before coming back.”

“What is it?” Antonietta looks at her, “Is it something about her financial construct? Because to be honest, this school is now overrun by rich people in the world. Even though there are no tuition fees to be paid, it feels like it’s your future daily life when we became adults. Minus the jobs and incomes.”

Patricia shakes her head, “No, it’s about someone that’s in the school. Professor Rohan knows about this. He asked himself will she be okay coming back especially with those people still around. She said she will endure it as long as she can, for the sake of having a much brighter future than the one she was in before when she stopped going to school. She also hinted that she needed Miss Cassidy’s protection to be able to stay here.” Both of her friends think, silence conquered them for a minute.

“Whatever it is, she’s in a tough patch, we know, but do we need to mull over this? She seems doesn’t care about the situation and even though she does, she seems okay. We can’t be taking her problems as ours or even yours.” Antonietta crosses her arms.

“It’s just, I feel that I need to… be there for her.” Gabriel looks at her, “Do you feel there’s some friendship going on with you two? Because if she doesn’t feel it, then she doesn’t need any help from someone she even ignores.” Patricia sighs, “As far as I know, she doesn’t have any. She was always out of our dorm and never mentioned any friend or something similar to that.”

“So as her roommate, you feel inclined to help her? I am not going to question that, but feel if she needs any of your help.” Patricia nods, “Ever since I saw her, I feel inclined to be her friend. It’s not just because my mission is to befriend a Mentiel. If she smiles, she will be a lot more approachable. Her face is tame, just like Gabriel said, she must be hiding behind her mask. I am going to help her to have the courage to remove it and show herself to the world.”

“I am going to join you.” Patricia looks at Gabriel, “I am fine with doing it on my own, but if you want to be her friend as well, I am happy to welcome you.” They both looked at Antonietta who looks so torn. After a few minutes, she sighs. “I am not a good tamer of a beast like her. I could help what I could, it’s just… I have some fear of people like her. I rather just not… deal with them.”

Patricia sighs, she looks outside, “Who really are you, Veronika?”