Chapter 96: The Cities

On the morning of the following day, the streets of Kluemwood City were once again full of young supers again, although unlike two days ago, where the mood of the vast majority of these was quite good, now a heavy atmosphere of depression reigned over the entire city.

"Haa... another wasted year!" Said one, having a disappointed expression on his face, "Really, who would have thought they would take a different exam this time."

"Well, at least those of us who failed weren't just a few!" Added another young man with a depressed smile who seemed to be his friend, slyly looking around at the other supers in the vicinity, trying to find comfort in that fact.

Both of them couldn't help but let out a discouraging sigh as their gazes drifted towards the horizon, falling on some huge wooden doors that seemed to lead towards another place completely different from the city.

And this was partially true, as those doors were nothing more nor less than the entrance to the Eitsirc Academy, an artifact that possessed a myriad of unknown and almost miraculous effects that allowed the academy to even be able to isolate itself from the outside world if it needed to.

***

Inside those doors, in a large hall with dozens and dozens of seats, several young people were currently facing forward, giving their undivided attention to the professor in front of them.

The hall, although it shared some similarities with a normal university hall, had noticeable differences that could be seen at first glance, starting with the fact that most objects were made of a special type of wood, but despite being wood, they had a resistance even superior to that of metal, and finally, a refreshing feeling that ran through everyone present, only it was a much smaller effect than what they were able to experience on the grass field.

"First of all, let me congratulate you again on passing the entrance exam, you have every right to be proud, as you have proven to possess talent and power on par with the Academy's standards!" The professor, a bald man of average height and stocky build who was wearing a large brown leather coat, said loudly.

As for the identity of this man, although he was nowhere near as famous as one of the head professors, he was also relatively well known, causing awe among some of the students present.

Before any of them could react to the professor's sudden compliment, the professor heavily whipped his hand on his desk, "However, even if you possess the best talent of the world and an immeasurable power, all of that would be completely useless if you are a brute head!"

Thereupon, a set of sheets of paper appeared in front of each of the students, as to what these sheets were, it was quite easy to tell after glancing at them.

Quickly reading the contents of the sheets, Jay couldn't help but smile as his eyes filled with excitement, 'So the time for the written exam has come!'

"This is an exam that you will have to solve so that we know exactly what level you're at, I hope you have studied, as how your schedule will be formed this first semester will depend on this!" Continued the professor with a smile on his face.

"An exam on the first day?! I don't know whether to be annoyed or impressed by this!" Commented an energetic student.

"...Ah, it seems that even here I won't be able to escape the same fate I had in high school..." Added another student who apparently already knew the result of her exam. 

Although the students' reactions were mixed, in general most were depressed about this, after all, they did not expect that even after passing such a difficult test as it was to survive on the island, they would now have to complete a written exam.

"Ahahah, you'd better get started, boys and girls, as you only have two hours to finish!" Laughed the teacher. 

Unfortunately for them, no matter how they felt, they could only resign themselves to take the exam in silence.

After about 15 minutes or so, a certain person let out a slight sigh before flipping over their exam, leaving only the blank part visible, on their face an expression of satisfaction.

'I knew all those hours I spent studying non-stop would pay off!' Thought Jay, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.

While it was true that what Jay had spent the most time on these past few months were undoubtedly his physical skills along with Wind Control, it would be a mistake to think that he had neglected his studies.

Even though first and foremost Jay was the [Carrier] of the Parasyte System, second was undoubtedly his identity as a dedicated student!

Therefore, it was no surprise that he managed to finish his exam considerably fast, giving him time to remember all the information he had received the moment he arrived at the academy.

Fortunately, it was not complicated.

Starting with the most important information would be how the Academy's students were organized.

There were 4 grades in total, with those in the 1st grade being students who had just entered and those in the 4th grade being students who were already in their last year.

Each of these grades were divided into 3 groups, Bronze, Silver and Gold.

As a result, there were 3 large grounds that were divided in the same way, all having at least the size of a small city and only being accessible to the students of the respective group, taking the names of Bronze City, Silver City and Gold City, each of them accommodated with dozens of buildings with different purposes, from libraries, special stores, apartments for students, among many other things, even the teachers made use of these.

Finally, there was the way classes took place.

According to the schedule Jay had received, there were classes that could be taken by anyone, others that were only for espers, pugilists or mages and a few that were mandatory for everyone, such as the one he was taking right now, which was an introductory class more than anything else.

Looking around, Jay couldn't help but be interested in his classmates, especially when he could feel that the life energy of most of them was just as strong as his own, 'Hm, I wonder how many of them are espers... and mages'

Of course, the main reason he had decided to come to the Eitsirc Academy, aside from fulfilling a childhood dream, was one and one only, and that was than in this world, one could find no better place from which to be able to carefully choose his hosts than this one!

Now that he had confirmed that there really was no harm for the people from whom he assimilated abilities, at least not in the short term, his consciousness felt much better, giving him a free pass to use the Parasyte System to the fullest.

Thinking about this, a bright smile formed on his face.

***

At the same time, in one of the deepest parts of the Gold City, which was the part of the academy that only students with a gold badge and faculty could access, the examiner was strolling through the deserted streets of this city.

Unlike other parts of the academy, there was not a single corner of this city that was not brimming with mana and qi, both energies traveling along certain invisible paths that allowed any pugilist or mage to replenish their energy almost instantly.

As for the espers, they had something even better, as every few meters, they would find that on the sidewalk would be nailed a small shimmering green mineral, this was known as "Cyrite", and in short, it was the ambrosia of espers, not only recovering their energy, but also boosting their skills to a great extent.

If any experienced super saw the way so many types of precious materials and energy recovery techniques were used to build this city, they would undoubtedly faint due to how extravagant this was!

And that reaction would be completely understandable, after all, the price this city could fetch on the outside reached into the tens of billions of credits, a completely unattainable amount for any organization that wasn't on the level of the Eitsirc Academy.

While the occasional student could be seen from time to time, in general, the streets of this city were incredibly empty, causing the examiner to let out a slight sigh, 'Even though we have this city, it is rarely traveled in. Sometimes I can't help but think it's a waste...'

As he thought about this, he made his way to a certain rustic-looking three-story building that had a sign on the outside on which was written, 'Apothecary'.

As he entered, the sound of a small bell signaled his arrival, accompanied at the same time by a medicinal fragrance that immediately assaulted the examiner's sense of smell, coming from everywhere, due to the fact that there were dozens upon dozens of different potions in glass vials of all colors and sizes hanging from the ceiling, all with a small note indicating their name and a brief summary of what they did.

Alerted by the sound of the bell, the receptionist of the place quickly greeted the examiner, bowing slightly behind the large counter she stood at, which of course was also completely filled with colorful potions, "Welcome back, Mr. Estefan, how may I serve you today?"

"Good afternoon, I was wondering if Mr. Hoze was available?" Said the examiner, Estefan, before pulling a small vial out of his pocket, "It's just that I think one of the potions I bought was defective..."

*BAM!*

Just as he finished speaking, a loud noise came from upstairs, followed by several hurried footsteps of a person coming down the stairs.

Immediately, the wooden door behind the receptionist burst open, revealing a remarkably small and plump looking older man with a prominent brown beard that reached down to his belly, on his face an expression of mixed interest, disbelief and anger as he looked at Estefan.

"Did you just say defective!?" He shouted, hastily jumping over the counter and walking towards Estefan, quickly snatching the potion from his hands.

Despite the fact that Estefan was part of the academy faculty, as well as being a rank (B) mage, this man didn't seem to care in the least about these details.

Though of course, he had the qualifications to afford this, and that was because he was one of the best apothecaries in the entire world, if not the best, which gave him a position incomparable to that of any ordinary super!

As the saying goes, extraordinary supers abound, but a good apothecary is needed everywhere.

After he took the vial in his hands, the man began to inspect it closely, smelling the inside before finally taking a small white cloth and a metal stick from his pocket and putting the cloth into the vial with the help of the stick.

Within seconds, upon contact with the small remaining drops of the potion, the originally white handkerchief took on a vivid green color.

"Both the smell and the contents of the potion were in perfect condition, don't come telling lies to my establishment!" Said the man, losing all interest in the vial and tossing it back to Estefan as he walked to the counter.

Quickly catching the vial, Estefan chased after Hozef, just as the latter was climbing onto the counter, "But sir, when one of the students drank this potion, he had a violent reaction, although his energy recovered, his body overloaded and suffered damage, almost paralyzing him for 5 minutes straight."

Hearing what Estefan said, the bearded man paused and slowly turned around, this time with his eyebrow raised, "You said overload and paralysis...? Hm, well now you have caught my attention. Neither of those are effects that should be possible with the ingredients I use!"

As the creator of these potions, he was the one who knew best what effects his potions had, so it certainly struck him as odd.

*Ring*

Just then, the door to the store again opened, letting in three people. two young women in white attire led by an older man dressed alike, the man appeared to be in his seventies and possessed a thin appearance with a thin white beard, noticeably different from Hozef.

"Hoho, I think I heard the word defective?!" the man shouted as soon as he entered the store, as for the women behind him, they merely waved to the receptionist, who also returned the greeting.

"Nosu, you mangy old man, who gave you permission to enter my store!?" Hozef replied, completely forgetting the subject of the defective potion.

"Well, I just couldn't help but overhear a customer complaining about a defective potion, though well, they're your products, so really what can one expect?" As he spoke, the man by the name of Nosu quickly approached Hosef.

Doing the same, Hosef got off the counter and jumped to get one of the vials hanging from the ceiling, one that looked exactly like the one Estefan had in his hands, evidently, this one was brand new, "I would expect nothing less from a decrepit old man such as you, both your sense of smell and your eyesight have turned useless, how could you say that this practically perfect potion is defective?!"

It was obvious that Hosef was quite proud of his potion, but regardless of this, Nosu continued, "Ptu! Even if I pee right now, whatever comes out would be much better than that fourth-rate potion! Besides, if what you're looking for is something to revitalize an esper, this is much better!" Thereupon, he pulled out small cloth sack from his pocket and opened it, revealing several spherical pills of a golden color with brownish tints, "Just look at this color, you can see from miles away that it's so pure it's perfect!"

"I know that color, it's the color of sh*t!" 

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU BASTARD?!" 

"WHAT YOU HEARD, YOU STUPID OLD MAN!!!"

*BAM!*

Quickly, the situation got out of control, with the receptionist and the girls who came with Nosu trying to stop the now enraged alchemists, as for Estefan, he stood still in a corner, this due to the fact that he was not qualified to touch either of the two people.

Instead, he just stared at the empty vial in his hands, thinking a thousand times about Jay's reaction.