The next morning.

Unaware that some (many) people were suffering greatly, Ruri woke up in a good mood. 

The living room was still decorated in the holographic style of the Brazilian forest, but there are some differences from before. At this moment, the forest sky was synchronized to real time, and emulating the magnificent early morning and before sunrise atmosphere in the forest.

It was just a pity that the scenery was just an illusion, as the real Brazilian forest in this era...

The artificial wind and scent coming from the air conditioner, as well as the after-effect of the hologram was a bit rough. The overall experience was not as good as the experience in the VRMMO game Ascension. Anyone would know at a glance that the forest was too fake.

But even if it was just a knock-off illusion, Ruri enjoyed the immersion of the scenery in front of her very much. She stretched her naked body on the living room sofa to shake off her remaining sleepiness.

"Hoaammhh... I feel good today~! As expected, being naked in the nature feels good..."

Of course, she didn't forget to greet her new pet plant that was in the nearby pot.

"Also Kuu, good morning."

"Kweeeh~"

She took out another milk candy from the inventory and gave it to Kuu, who it happily ate.

From the holographic clock floating in the room, Ruri knew that she had slept for about 6 hours, and had woken up at around 5am in the morning. And to her surprise, she found that her sleep quality has been improved and she woke up feeling refreshed. Perhaps it was because Aura Breathing method had some effect on her that her fatigue recover faster.

Is the Aura Breathing method really real and effective?

Thinking of this, Ruri couldn't help but have expectations about how much the limit she, or rather her ability can do.

Originally, she was a sick loli with a terminal illness that has nothing to do except waiting for death. But unexpectedly, she obtained the ability to bring items from the game Ascension into the real world.

With this ability, not only did she cure her own illness, but she also slowly(?) and secretly amassed wealth in the game. As for what she would use that wealth for, Ruri herself had not even thought about it.

At the same time, she couldn't help but be curious.

"Ascension... What is the secret behind this game?"

It wasn't that Ruri hadn't tried playing other VRMMORPGs, but up until now, there was no other game where items could be brought by her to the real world except Ascension. So it was natural for her to be curious.

Ruri shook her head to dispel the distracting thoughts.

There was no point in thinking about it now, as she had no idea how to find out the truth. All she could do now was explore her ability, to what extent she could do with it, quietly and carefully. Coincidentally, this practice of Aura Breathing method could be considered as a new direction of her research for now.

"Well, there's still some time before breakfast time."

And so, Ruri spent about an hour doing the practice again.

Not only that, she decided to add this exercise to her morning and evening routine starting today.

♠♠♠

 

[Ascension - Solstreus City]

Right after breakfast, Hecate logged into the game and appeared at the Auction Hall.

Looking at the outside atmosphere, it was clear that the entire city was still in a state of depression. The refugees, Natives and Players still living near the Teleportation Gate, and their facial expressions don't look good. This was understandable, the fall of Drusel Fort must have left them with considerable emotional damage.

But what does that have to do with her?

The fate of those refugees was irrelevant to Hecate and she still had other things to take care of.

Hecate activated the Warp Portal spell in the badge Frederick had given her. In that instant, a blue light magic circle appeared below her feet. And soon after the circle was completed, Hecate was already in the Solstreus Academy's Stationary Hall.

"I see... this is quite interesting spell."

After experiencing the spell firsthand, Hecate seems to understand how the spell worked.

Portals derived from the Fixed Warp Portal spell in the badge can only be spawned at pre-configured coordinates, which in this case is the caster's feet, and the capacity of people it can transfer is just 1 person. And there is also a need for an anchor destination where the object will be teleported to.

Hecate's understanding about Glyph has also deepened.

'So, it's kinda similar to how programming works.'

From her understanding, all of this can be simplified to how programming works, where Runes, Glyphs, skills, and spells are the software, and the equipment are the hardware.

Long story short:

• • Jobclasses and Subclasses are equivalent to core libraries,
  • Skills and Spells equivalent to functions,
  • then, Runes and Glyphs... are equivalent to the language program, similar to Ruby, Pearl, or Python.

The act of engraving Glyphs onto a piece of equipment was equivalent to writing a bunch of code onto a piece of hardware, calling one or more functions from the library, compiling them into an executable program for the users to use, with mana or STA as the energy source.

As for the functions that was called, naturally comes from the user's own Skill Tree. If the user doesn't have or learned those skills, naturally the program will fail and the equipment couldn't be used.

It would be possible to recreate skills or spells outside the Skill Tree with Glyphs. However, most skills or spells also have some prerequisites that must be called from within the Skill Tree. Moreover, each piece of equipment has a limited capacity to hold Glyphs, which was affected by the material they are made of.

For example, to cast the spell Tidal Wave Lv10, one of the conditions was that the user must learn the skill Water Amp Lv10, while Water Amp Lv10 requires Water Boost Lv10 and Water Mastery Lv10.

If all of those skills and spells were to be fully engraved, the equipment capacity might not be enough. But if it's just a bunch of calls of  existing functions, then it won't take up much capacity. Artificers had to consider this and usually prioritized calling some necessary skills first before engraving any other skills or spells outside of the Skill Tree.

This was why there are various Jobclass or skill requirements before someone could wear equipment.

"If my guess is true, maybe it's possible to do some tweaking for improvement."

As for Runes, if Glyphs were closely related to skills, then Runes were closely related to stats.

There are several ready-to-use Runes that can be endowed onto equipment to increase the wearer's stats, starting from HP, MP, STR to LUK, as well as some other hidden stats. But of course, this increase is somewhat double-edged.

If there is one stat to increase, then something will decrease.

For example, endowing a ring with a Brave Rune will increase the wearer's STR stat, but also decrease one or more other stats, depending on how the Runemaster made the Rune.

And naturally, the same equipment capacity also applied.

"...Let's focus on learning about the Glyphs first. Runes can wait another time."

It would be too complicated to learn many things at once. She decided to master studying the Glyphs first before deciding whether or not to continue studying Runes later.

♠♠♠

 

While thinking this, Hecate went to another area on the map that she had not visited yet, the Exchange Area.

During yesterday's recruitment, Frederick had said that her uniform would be ready in about a day, which was today, and she could get it at the Exchange Area. Although there was no prohibition against her wearing non-uniforms, a loli walking around the Academy in ceremonial clothes would be too conspicuous.

Hecate spoke and showed her silver badge to the Exchange Clerk.

"Hello sir, has my uniform been made? This is my badge."

"Oh, are you a new student, miss? Enrolling here at this time is very unusual. Wait a minute..."

The clerk took the badge from Hecate's hands with a smile, but then his expression quickly changed.

At first, when he saw Hecate, he thought she was just a new student who had entered the school at an unusual time. But when he realized that her badge was silver, he felt something was wrong. And when he checked her ID from the mana imprint on the badge, his expression became absolutely wonderful.

"Huh, seriously? You're a special staff? Not a student?"

"Hmm? Yes... Mr. Frederick recruited me as a special staff. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh no, no, no... There is nothing wrong with this. Please wait for a moment."

At this point, the clerk wouldn't dare to underestimate this loli anymore.   

Whoever the Principal appointed as Special Staff undoubtedly not just some nobody. They all have something special that the Academy considers very important. This was the reason why they are given a lot of privilege and freedom within the Academy.

The clerk quickly activated an unknown plate-shaped artifact, and before long, a set of clothes appeared on the plate. Most likely, the artifact was something like a summoning tool.

"Here is your set of uniform, miss."

"Thank you."

Hecate received a set of uniform consisting of a robe and a cloak.

The uniform design was quite different from the student or staff uniforms she had seen. The students she met were seen wearing uniforms with solid color themes in either gray, red, blue, green or brown. As for the staff uniforms, they have some similarities to the student uniforms, with the addition of some decorative pattern.

For example, the red-colored robe worn by the clerk in front of her.

And lastly, the uniform she received was grey-colored but rather extravagant with rich decorative patterns.

After looking at the two item descriptions, Hecate had some understanding.

"I see, so the color of the uniform will change according to the type of spell I cast. Am I right?"

"Ah, yes... It's as you said. My apologies, this explanation should came out from me but I was too nervous."

The clerk was snapped from his reverie by Hecate's question.

He quickly apologized with a wry smile and started explaining about the uniform.

"This uniform will absorb your wasted mana to strengthen itself, and change the color will be based on it. So if you cast fire spells often, your uniform will become red, or, blue for water spells, green for wind spells, brown for earth spells, white for light spells, and purple for dark spells."

"It's kind of like growth equipment..."

All of the uniform colors from the students she had seen most likely because of this. Though she didn't seem to met anyone wearing a white or purple uniform. Maybe they are just shy?

Hecate asked again.

"Well, is there any meaning in changing the color of the uniform?"

"Of course there is. Basically, the color of your uniform will decide your belonging in this academy. Those six colors that I said earlier represent the 6 factions in this place, each named after the 6 great elemental spirits. They are Ignis Faction, Aqua Faction, Ventus Faction, Gnome Faction, Licht Faction, and Umbra Faction. Do you understand up to here?"

"Yes, please continue."

"Okay, so... Those who had chosen to start out as Fire Mages and devote themselves to the Fire element like me, basically belonged to the Ignis Faction, Water Mages to the Aqua Faction, and so on."

So it was kind of like a certain H**warts way of sorting students, except without the dirty hat.

This was somewhat different from the Rosenweil Kingdom, the place where she had become a Mage. Everyone there wore unified uniforms and only changed their uniforms after they had advanced their Jobclasses.

"But what about people who use more than one element, I mean like, all of those 6 elements?"

Hearing her question, the clerk only laughed.

"Hahaha, then the color of their uniforms will be messy like mud, and no faction will accept them."

"Oh? I thought that if one learned each element it would allow them to join all the factions. But I guess not, huh?"

The clerk's answer somewhat surprised her.

It seemed that those factions had a serious pure blood, or rather pure elemental supremacy prejudice. They doesn't accept students who have the elements outside of their faction even if it just a little bit.

But in that case, what about Composite elements such as Ice, Wood or Thunder?

To get each of those elements requires people to have two or more Primary elements though.

"Yes, only by focusing our element can bring the greatest power with our spells. Everyone knows that devoting to more than one element is a very foolish act. Doing this will only divide the power one can master in their lifetime. Who would be so stupid to do that?

'Well, of course Players will do that.'

Hecate didn't say what she was thinking out loud.

But this also makes sense, because in this game's setting, the Human race has a shorter lifespan than other humanoid races. Compared to other races, their time to master magic was shorter, so they had to pursue efficiency.

In places where other races like Elves or Draconids lived, learning the Composite elements was commonplace. But here, Native Humans who learn Composite elements are in the minority.

Of course, Players didn't have such thoughts, as they leveled up much faster than the Natives.

"Is there any other question?"

"Hmm, let's see, I think I'm done... Oh wait... there is one more."

Hecate felt that she had nothing else to ask, but then she remembered one more thing.

"Mr. Frederick has said that I can upgrade my badge with Contribution Points. And to get points, I have to exchange them for resources here."

"Yes, that's right. You can trade your resources, such as Potions or some crafted items and exchange them for Academy Contribution Points, or ACP for short. Then, you can exchange your points into another resources you need. Badge upgrades are also done by exchanging ACP, but I'll tell you beforehand, this is quite expensive, you know."

The clerk nodded, confirming Hecate's words.

He remembered about his student days, that he had spent several years working hard at the Academy to collect the necessary amount of ACPs to upgrade his badge to Gold rank. He collected materials, made Potions, even went as far as becoming an assistant slave to some Professors and helped with their research. Everything was now a nostalgic memory for him.

Then, Hecate let out a smile, and took out a bag full of  Gold coins, totaling 1,000,000 from her inventory.

"So, can I exchange these money into points?"