Glory City: Stream Quarter Dorms
Metcalf Luo woke to the sound of soft music and a calming water mixer that served as her alarm clock. Sunlight poured into her room signaling late morning. Her bed and blankets, soft and warm, left behind for the day’s work. Dreams slipped from her head as she frowned remembering her tasks and what must be done; what she must do to stay at Sword Mint Academy.
Happy plush toys lined the dressers and tables along the pale orange walls. They were as close as they needed to be. Most activities were done outside anyway. All the same, she would have preferred to have a larger living space.
After her shower, she checked her handheld for the student ranking. The holographic image displayed a transparent image of all Sword Mint Academy students ranked by their Academy Points. The rankings changed ever so slightly as she looked; that happened constantly.
She focused the image on the lower forty percent. The lower half of her focus was covered in a red hue. These students would be the ones most desperate for Academy Points. The final exam was dreaded by all students. If they didn’t find a way out of the red zone within the week, they would have to take it. Her own portrait was just above the red zone, her rank slipping as she slept.
She looked all the way to the bottom. “Hm… Still hasn’t moved yet,” she said to herself. Lance Da had been accepted to the academy a month or so ago. There was a little fanfare at his arrival but she paid little attention. Metcalf recognized him differently now. He was at the very bottom of the pack since he arrived, still with zero Academy Points. Most new students rest for a week or so before they start trying to advance, but Lance?
It could be easy enough for him to pass the test. The Quarter Masters would not expect him to learn enough to warrant a strict grading curve. However, everyone takes the same strenuous test. It was difficult enough that even the newer students try to learn as much as they could to prepare for the inevitable. Lance wasn’t even trying.
She hoped he did well. It would be embarrassing to fail in the first half year. For new comers, the test was more of a wake-up call. A heavy reminder of what Sword Mint Academy expects its students to be able to do. She took the test once and passed, barely. It was as horrible as she expected. She never wanted to take the test again. Since then, she managed to stay above the red zone with Naoh and Koh’s help.
It worked well but she did not like what they did. It had to be a perversion of the Academy Point System. Thankfully, Mid Term was coming up soon.
Now sixteen years old, she had been at the academy for most of her life. She started realizing her niche a few months ago. Her type of combat was not the type that warriors crave on the battle field. She attacked from the shadows. She was getting good enough to stop gambling with her Academy Points. She would miss hanging out with Naoh and Koh, but they would have to get their points without her. Perhaps after Mid Term she could speak to Master Fu about getting a new training regimen.
She stretched and put on her armor. She grabbed her weapons; Blue, her short bow with barbed bolt arrows; Rasz and Black, her weighted aluminum nightsticks. She took a count of her throwing knives, making sure she had all twenty of them. She put the lot into her traveling bag and went out for breakfast.
She still could be a great warrior. Stealth warriors have a good place in their field. She would need more training to be useful but that was for another day. Today, she needed to ensure her own survival at Sword Mint Academy. To do that, she had to play the swindler; again.
“Here we go again.”