Ruri calmly looked at the familiar network corridor scenery.

It was the same scenery that she saw every day when she dived into the Ascension Network. Except this time, she selected her school network address instead.

The moment she selected the address, Ruri's consciousness flew in a different direction than yesterday.

It didn't take too much time for Ruri to arrive at her school Security Gate.

A few seconds later, Ruri appeared from a large glowing circle inside a grand building. The circle has the Kyoto Academy emblem engraved on it, and served as the anchor for the people who visit this place, called Transfer Gate.

♠♠♠

 

The Quantum Network was very wide, encompassing most of the places on Earth. With a little effort, any person can set their own private server and create their own virtual space.

Then they can publish the address and let people visit them via Quantum Network.

It was like how people create their own sites and publish it on the internet, except it was a Virtual Reality space.

Such space can be customized into a house, a luxury room, or even a world of their preferences. In fact, many game companies that creates VRMMO games started from here. Of course creating a VR-world would require multiple super high-spec computer and other supporting infrastructure. And to maintain such infrastructure is also definitely not cheap.

This is because a VR-world has a lot of instances that must be processed simultaneously. If they dare to use cheap low quality processors, their world would definitely lag and their visitors won't be able to move fluently, like a handicapped person.

- Thus, only wealthy people, or organizations and corporations can casually make their own VR-world.

Kyoto Academy was categorized as an educational institute that was sponsored by the Ministry of Education. It was to be given that they have their own Virtual Space. Of course, Kyoto Academy Virtual Space is not accessible by just anyone.

The access was limited to the students, alumni, and people related to the Academy.

Right now, Ruri's current appearance is the same as in reality, except she was fully clothed and there is no bell on her ankle. Thanks to this lack of bell, she was able to distinguish between real and virtual. 

Without this difference factor, she might strip herself unknowingly!

Unlike Ascension which only uses her body-scan at the character creation, Kyoto Academy... or more precisely every educational institute will request full-body scan data from the user's Capsule Pod each time they visit. That data is used to generate the visitors' avatar, especially the students, reflecting their growth.

Obviously the avatar is not customizable.

In other words, the students can't 'falsify' their body and have to attend the school with their real appearance.

♠♠♠

 

Ruri slowly walked out of the gate.

Many other students also start appearing from the gate as she walked out. They all were students of Kyoto Academy who applied and were approved for attending the school via virtual class.

To obtain the qualification for attending school this way, the students have to send an application to the school administration and must be reviewed and approved by their respective grade dean first. Ruri has long since fulfilled this condition as her doctor had taken care of this beforehand when she had discharged from the hospital.

Before Ruri could walk far enough from the gate, a rushing voice could be heard from behind her.

DODODODODO!

Someone was rushing in her direction at high speed. Ruri reflexively turned her head to look at the source of the noise. But unfortunately, that was a bad move.

"HE~ CA~ TE~ CHWAAANN~!!"

"Wapu~!"

Something soft and round was pressed against her face. Ruri wanted to move away but she found out that her body got locked by a hug. she already found the identity of the assailant out, without seeing the person face.

Thankfully, it was inside a virtual world so she didn't suffocate to death.

"Rena... you're suffocating me."

"Ah, sorry Ruri-chan... But it can't be helped, you're just so cute that I want to hug you!"

The girl, Rena released her hand and freed Ruri from her embrace.

Her name is Kashiwagi Rena, the player that controls Rena-cchi in the game. In the Academy she often shares the same classes as Ruri, so their relationship is very cordial as BFF... or so she believes.

Looking up to the girl which was one head taller in front of her, Ruri replies nonchalantly.

"Okay... I don't mind it. You can hug me, but not from my front."

Well, Ruri already betrayed Rena in the game and took her wand, letting her do as she wishes won't hurt that much. She can let Rena hug her as much as she wants.

But at least, Ruri hopes that Rena won't suffocate her with those twin lethal object in her chest!

"Ohh... As I expected, Ruri-chan is so kind! ...Come, let Onee-san cuddle you."

"Mugyu~"

And having receiving Ruri's consent, Rena instantly squeeze Ruri's petite body again. Ruri can only sigh helplessly and allowed Rena to embrace her body and rub her cheek.

But who the heck is an Onee-san?

She wanted to retort but in the end decided to keep silent.

They are clearly the same age, same grade, yet there is such big difference in height and body stature. Rena has grown properly especially in the height and breast area, a truly glamorous body. She looked like a proper High School girl. Meanwhile, Ruri herself is still in her loli body  with a chest that looked like an airport, seemingly have zero possibility of growth.

From other people's view, they definitely looked like sisters rather than friends of the same age.

Ruri already has a hypothesis about the reason why she still has loli body even at her age.

"Most likely this is a side effect of the Elixir. It heals my illness, but it also stopped my growth."

Her growth originally was bad. Because of her Leukemia, her appetite was not big and her body did not receive proper nutrition. So, her body did not grow much. She already lost a lot of the golden period of growth because of this. And then, drinking Elixir cured her Leukemia, but it also cut off her remaining growth possibilities.

Regarding of this, Ruri didn't have any regrets. Without Elixir, she would already dead by now.

She then remembered the time, the first class is about to start.

"Rena, until when do you keep hugging me? We should go to classroom now."

"Ah, you're right. We're about to be late! Let's go Ruri-chan!"

With that said, Rena stopped her cuddling and pull Ruri's hand to run to their classroom.

♠♠♠

 

The education system of the Senior High section in Kyoto Academy is similar to the education used in college. You only need to take classes for your designated courses. Of course it was truly okay to take more, but it was recommended for the students to focus on the subject that they are good at. And based from that point, carve the student path of career from their early stage.

Humans are destined to be different from each other, and different people have different talents.

For example, a student that was bad at math, but good at foreign studies. No matter how much he studies math, his scores won't be better than average. So why bother wasting time?

The time and effort used for studying math in vain could have been used to further enhance his foreign studies.

- By eliminating unnecessary subjects and focus on developing ones own talent, one can truly maximize their potential!

Rena aspires to become a doctor so she can save as many lives as possible. For that reason she took mainly Math, Science and Chemistry related classes. This determination can also be seen from her choice of Healer type Job-class and raised it until she reached 3rd tier Job-class High Priestess.

As for Ruri, she also attended Math and Science classes, but not because she want to become a doctor. 

- What's the use of becoming a doctor when you have an all-curing Elixir in hand?
- Just chug a bottle and all ailments are gone!

Other than those 2 subjects, Ruri also took Technology related classes. Her true aim for attending those subject is obviously to become an Engineer, because it was in line with Hecate's Blacksmith Sub-class. Most of the knowledge learned from the lesson is very useful and applicable on her crafts.

♠♠♠

 

Ruri and Rena spent about an hour and a half in Science class.

This class was attended by 34 students taught by a male professor who excelled in his teaching. He used a holographic 3D model to explain how energy conversations work.

Using a virtual stylus, students wrote their notes on the Holo-screen, which would then be stored as data on their T-Bracelet and could be reviewed at any time.

People almost no longer use paper, because wood is scarce and unable to meet the consumption needs of 14 billion people. Now physical paper has become an old relic and has been replaced by Holo-screen technology. Most of the books in the world have been digitized and become e-books and VR-books.

Magazine, comics, newspaper, and many more can be read by a simple swipe on a Holo-screen.

Of course physical paper still exists, but its use has been greatly minimized.

Ruri completely focuses on the lesson and looks very concentrated at the Hologram.

The lesson was about how to utilize natural resources such as solar and wind energy. The teacher explains how solar panels and wind turbines work which can generate electricity from light and wind. However, what was on Ruri's mind was not about lessons.

"Energy can be converted... then that means, Mana Stones should be no exception."

She couldn't help but have various outrageous ideas. Mana Stones basically are lumps of mana and contains a lot of energy. And most importantly, creating them is free, just a little time consuming.

A free and unlimited energy source!

She can create a lot of Mana Stones in Ascension, and then converting them into energy that can be used in reality. If this idea can be implemented, it definitely can be utilized for various things!

 

After one and half an hour, the teacher ends the lesson.

"This is for today's lesson. Don't forget to review your note at home."

With that said, the teacher logged out and immediately disappeared from the classroom. Most students followed suit and disappeared too. Only students that either have another class, or just want to chat with their friends remained.

Rena approached Ruri's seat and started a conversation.

"Ruri-chan, today we will have emergency meeting. It's about yesterday's raid.
Leon has instructed other core members to be present. "

"Leon-sama did? Then, Emi will be there too?"

Ruri looked straight at Rena's face. Rena was one head taller than her so she had to look up. Her petite and lovely face, while looking up like a small animal reflected in Rena's eyes, triggering her sense of cuteness overload.

"So cyuuuutee!!! How could such angel existed in this world? How much mod used to make this kind of avatar?
Ah... I forgot that we can't modify our appearances in the school. So this means this cuteness wasn't fake, right?

Without realizing it, Rena had moved behind Ruri's seat and started to hug her again. It's just that she snapped out from her daydream and remembered her purpose. But since Ruri did not resist her hug, she refrained to release her hand.

Even though it's just avatar, hugging her feels nice.

Rena then responded Ruri's question while stroking her hair.

"Yeah, you already left the chat yesterday so you probably wasn't informed."

"Okay, I'll attend the meeting."

Ruri nodded as she allowed Rena to do as she wishes. Anyways, she also planned Hecate to go back to the town later to test her newly gained skills. Attending the guild meeting is just a bonus.

There are no more class for her today, so Ruri actually can logout at that instant. But she still wait until Rena satisfied from cuddling her. It's only 10 minutes later that Rena releases her hug.

"Then, I'll go to my next class. See you later in the Guild Base."

"Yeah... See you later."

Rena still has a Biology class right after this, so she had to rush to another room.

Ruri watched her leaving the room before she clicked the logout button. Her body instantly turned into particles of light and her consciousness returned back to the real world.

It's the time for Hecate to arrive at the stage.