<h4>Chapter 98 Interlude</h4>
The moon shone of luminous light, bringing upon a beautiful gleam to the dark, quiet city of rankers below.
After a long day, Elias returned to the Red and Blue apartment. His gaze wandered the ce before it fell on a figure on the left side of the apartment.
It was a beautiful woman wearing a pair of sses.
Alice Heartfelt looked at the moon distantly while her head rested upon her hand. She looked like a character out of an art book at this moment.
Elias took a nce at her before moving to the stairs. He carefully walked to the stairs. It was unknown if he noticed or not, but Alice saw him.
Soon, he arrived at his destination. He stood in front of Room 12 before he gently twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door.
Click!
Upon entering Room 12, he was immediately greeted by Peter''s ttering smile and chubby form.
"Boss Elias! You''re back!"
"...I am."
Elias nodded strangely. After entering, he closed the door from behind.
Click!
Looking over the room, he couldn''t help but notice that there was someone missing. He looked at Peter and asked.
"Where''s Robert?"
"Robert... erm..."
Peter scratched his head awkwardly. After a small sigh, he answered with a shrug.
"He didn''t tell me where he went, but he''s probably preparing for tomorrow. sses will start tomorrow, after all."
"That''s true."
Elias took it as that and didn''t continue the topic. He removed his coat and hung it over the suit valet beside the door as he thought deeply.
Peter''s words reminded him... sses were finally going to start tomorrow morning.
''My first ss or program is a Hunter-specialized one...''
Upon passing the entrance exam, students were informed of the necessary programs or sses they must undertake during their time in the academy.
Depending on the profession of the student, the programs or sses they were required to undertake usually differ from one another.
For example, Elias'' profession is a Combat Mage. Because this particr profession needs both skills of a Hunter and Sorcerer, the programs assigned to him were both Hunter-specialized, Sorcerer-specialized, and Combat Mage-specialized sses.
This included 8 ss programs like; Hunter (Strategic Survival), Sorcerer (Magic Theory), Combat Mage (Efficient Bncing Control)....
Inparison, Sorcerer students or Hunter students have different programs or sses assigned to them to suit their own profession.
To name a few, Sorcerers have a special specialized (Thaumaturgy) program exclusive to them and Hunters have a specialized (Navigation) program also exclusive to them.
This was to prevent the students from learning useless information that they wouldn''t necessarily need in their own profession.
However, worth noting, a student can still undertake programs or sses outside of their profession as long as it''s of their own volition. This was called "extra programs" by the academy.
However, a student could only take 2 "extra programs" because students can only have a maximum limit of 10 programs or sses overall.
As of the present, Elias wasn''t really too keen on having any extra programs. But it may change in the future.
While he was removing his suit from the corner, Peter remembered something and suddenly asked.
"Oh right, boss did you know about the Witch of the Red yet?"
"The Witch of Red?"
Elias was slightly surprised. He knew about it of course. It was what made Red and Blue apartment popr among fans of the novel.
However, Peter had thought that Elias was confused about the Witch of Red and thus immediately exined to him.
"The Red and Blue apartment is separated into two sides; the Red side for the female students and the Blue side for the male students. There''s a beautiful woman in the Red side, but you have to be careful Boss Elias..."
Elias feeling amused, tilted his head.
"Why?"
"Rumor has it, that beautiful woman is a terrifying Witch."
Peter proimed solemnly. Witches were a bunch of cruel sadistic female sorcerers with mysterious powers rted to ult and curses.
"I definitely don''t want to meet them then."
Elias inly replied. He opened his suitcase and put his ck suit inside before closing it gently.
If it wasn''t obvious enough, the Witch of the Red was Alice Heartfelt.
''Witch, huh...''
Thinking of something, Elias couldn''t help but let out a long sigh all of a sudden. It was a sigh that felt so... empty and sad at the same time.
Peter, noticing the sigh, squinted his eyes and didn''t continue the topic. He returned to his bed and used his tablet in silence.
Although he might not look like, he was a perceptive person.
''Never mind.''
Shaking his head, Elias shoved away the distracting thoughts he had to the back of his mind.
Afterward, he went to the single, medium-sized bed in the corner and sat on top of itsfortable surface.
"I''ll have to sleep early..."
Elias muttered under his breath. This day could be considered the most eventful one so far since he came to the academy.
From this day alone, he had recruited Ragna, Hajin Sanchez, and Fey Scaffold to his club in session.
Whether his decision would prove to be a mistake or not .. that was left for the future to decide.
Before long, Elias fell asleep on the bed while thinking about the things he had to do for the rest of his days in the academy.
***
Arcane Academy.
Elias stood in front of the renowned academy of rankers. He saw many students go through the gate of the academy.
"Ugh, hell days are starting again..."
"I failed my Thaumaturgy programst year... I can''t fail again... I don''t think I canst another year..."
"I have to join a club... I don''t think I can keep up with the sses this year..."
Contrary to the beautiful morning, the faces of the students going through the gate were grim and solemn.
It was as though they were entering hell itself, not the famed academy sought by many young aspiring rankers.
But that description was not that far off.
The sses in the Arcane Academy were indeed hellish.
Elias wasn''t too fond of going to school either. But if he wanted to umte strength and knowledge, the academy was undoubtedly the best ce to stay.
After observing for a few seconds, he didn''t dy anymore and promptly went through the gate of the academy.
The academy was unsurprisinglyrge. It was easy to get lost if one was not paying attention to where they were going.
After some time, Elias soon arrived in front of an entrance to a Lecture Hall. He went inside and saw that there were already a lot of students.
The academy didn''t have any ssrooms, but instead used lecture halls.
The total poption of the Arcane Academy was toorge, so using ssrooms was simply not an effective method.
Therefore, such things like ss A, ss B, and ss C that divided students by ss were non-existent.
Instead, departments existed to divide or differentiate the students. There was the Hunter Department, Sorcerer Department, and the Combat Mage Department.
At this moment, a familiar voice called out to him.
"Hey, Elias! We''re in the same program, huh?"
Turning to where the voice came from, Elias saw a dark-blue haired man wearing modern clothes on the seats near him.
Beside the dark-blue haired man, there was a monstrouslyrge white-haired student whom he also recognized.
"Hajin… and Ragna?"
"Bullseye, dear cousin. One and only. Hajin Sanchez, part-time life enjoyer, and full-timedy lover."
"Wasn''t it the opposite before?"
Elias smiled in amusement as he took a seat beside them. Hajin gave a nomittal shrug to his question and instead switched the topic.
"Fancy meeting you here, I didn''t think you were in the same program as me, Elias. You don''t mind if I call you by your name, right? Boss sounds too shitty,"
"No, that''s perfectly fine."
Elias shook his head. He didn''t really like it either. He looked at both Hajin and Ragna before informing them of his ns.
"Don''t leave immediatelyter. I''m going to do something, alright? I need you guys as backup."
"Sure, sure."
"Alright."
Hajin and Ragna bothplied with his orders without asking. Although they were interested, they could just seeter anyway.
Soon, the lecture hall was filled with students. It didn''t take long before a teacher finally came inside and took everyone''s attention.