Chapter 60: Chapter 60- BlueLink (Part 1)
After much struggle, Arthur finally reached his bedroom as he fell on the bed with a tired look on his face. He couldn't believe that it took him this long to actually make it back there.
"This is so dumb. How am I even this tired?! Make it make sense." He cursed as he finally looked at the package and then brought it next to him. "Ok, let's see what she gave me."
The package was considerably big and made out of what seemed to be fortified glass and metal. It didn't have any actual decorations or aesthetic additions except for the logo of Divinity Corp on top and on the side of it.
With a curious look, Arthur tried to shake it slightly but couldn't hear anything inside. So, instead, he decided to open it.
"Is that a button on the side?" He muttered when he noticed the small protrusion right beneath the second logo. Carefully, he tapped on it.
Almost immediately, he noticed that the logo had started shining with a blue light. Then, steam came out from the inside of the box as the lid started lifting up slowly, revealing what was inside.
"... Unnecessary but cool," Arthur commented with a weird expression. "Ok, let's see what we have here."
The interior of the box was covered in soft, high-quality cushioning that spliced the box into several different slots. The part at the very top had some clothes in them.
"Wait, is that what I think it is?!" The boy exclaimed as he quickly picked the clothes up only to realize that he was right. "It's the uniform!"
The uniform was composed of a pair of blue pants and a blue blouse with the logo of the game on the left chest. Surprisingly, with the lack of different colors, it didn't appear weird or funny and instead seemed quite elegant and simple.
"I like the approach they took to the style. It looks really nice." Without wasting a moment, Arthur wore the clothes to see how they looked on him.
Then, he stood in front of the mirror to see how it looked. As he expected, it fit him perfectly well. He felt like a completely different person wearing these clothes.
"They're also really light and very easy to move in. I feel weirdly comfortable in them." Moving his arms and legs a little, he realized that the uniform was quite stretchy which helped with movement. "I wonder what kind of fabric they used to make it. It doesn't seem like a normal fabric at all."
Arthur had never worn anything that had the same properties as this uniform and he couldn't recognize it either. 'This is definitely perfect though. I don't think it could've been any better. Compared to the usual uniforms I have to wear, the difference is huge.'
Laughing to himself, Arthur looked at the box again only to notice that there was also a pair of white shoes that were a part of the uniform. Picking them up, he noticed that they were made out of uniquely smooth yet robust leather.
Putting them on, they felt very comfortable and yet also latched into his feet very well. "I can definitely run in these and not feel any difference from jogging shoes." He muttered. "I'm pretty sure they had put in mind physical training when they made these as they seem to be perfect for that too."
Rubbing his neck, Arthur admired his looks in the mirror one last time before he sat down again to continue looking through the box. The third item he found was a smartphone.
"Oh, I forgot about the smartphone." He muttered as he picked it up and examined it. The device was as expected very futuristic yet still had the same general appearance as a high-end phone that he was familiar with.
On the back, it had three cameras and the logo in the middle while in the front, it was a massive touch screen with three buttons on the side. When he turned it on, he heard a robotic voice speak.
"Welcome to BlueLink, please continue registration to activate the phone. Put your thumb on the signaled spot on the screen."
"BlueLink? What an interesting name. Hmm, ok, that's where I put my thumb." The moment he tapped on the spot, the screen showed a loading bar as if the phone was reading his fingerprint.
A few seconds later, it finished the analysis before it made a ringing sound.
"Identification completed. Welcome, Student Arthur." The voice said as the screen finally turned on.
The lock screen looked very normal if Arthur ignored the amazing quality the screen showed.
"Is this 4K resolution or am I hallucinating?" Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the screen again with a surprised expression. "I don't think 4K screens even exist in modern phones yet. This is insane."
The phone had already shown that it was ahead by miles in terms of technology before Arthur even opened it.
Shaking his head, he finally put his finger on the screen again and the device was unlocked. Immediately, he was met with several apps on the phone. There was the standard, 'Contacts', 'Phone', 'Gallery', 'Camera', and the such. Then, there are the more eye-catching ones.
"Hmm, Profile?" The first one that caught his attention was the 'Profile' app. "Is this just my profile with all my information?"
The idea, as weird as it was, wasn't completely foreign to Arthur. 'I had seen it before in fictional stories but in reality? Never.'
With that in mind, Arthur tapped on it. The moment the app opened, he saw a picture of himself.
"Wait… Is that the picture I took at the airport?" Arthur frowned as he looked closer. "Yeah, that's definitely my tired-looking face from yesterday. So that's why they took it, to use it for the profile."
Shaking his head, Arthur looked beneath the picture. There, he saw his full name, the school year, then his ID number, and other information like height, and weight.
"So far so good." He muttered as he reached the last one. "Class 1-A… Wait, my class has already been decided this early? That's new. Usually, they tell me my class on the first day." He rubbed his head confusedly.
His first thought after that was naturally if this class was considered good or bad. "Considering how much Divinity Corp likes rankings and hierarchy, I doubt they would use letters to indicate classes without an actual ranking involved in some way. In that case, I think 1-A is considered good."
He didn't know if it was the best, but Arthur was certain it was good or at least not bad. However, his problem wasn't there, but in the potential ranking itself.
"This sounds like a headache. If I'm in a good class already, that means I will stand out like a sore thumb. Goddamit." Exhaling a long breath, he looked at the phone again. "My best bet is to hope that the class is big enough that no individual will stand out unless they want to. Uh, who am I even kidding? I will still stand out either way." He facepalmed.
Arthur knew that there would be 4000 students in total. He didn't know how they divided these students but he was certain that the students belonging to the best class were going to be the target of other students beneath them. Whether that targeting is positive or negative, however, was a whole different matter.
"Sigh, oh well, I can't do much about it now. We shall see how things will proceed soon enough." He muttered as he left the app.
The second app he noticed was the 'Blue Crest Bank' or 'BCB' for short. As the name suggested, it showed his bank balance. However, it didn't show normal currency and instead, a different kind of currency called 'Blue Crest Credits'.
"Wait, I already have 10000 of these? I guess that makes sense. I don't think they want students to work part-time jobs here." Arthur muttered. "But, does it depend on how we perform academically and how much do we get every month?"
Those questions struck Arthur rather quickly and couldn't figure out the answer. However, surprisingly, the app had the answers. He tapped on a small question mark in the upper corner.
There, he found several questions and their answers, listed below.
Reading through them, he quickly figured out how this system worked. The credits were something every student gets every single month. Each one will get 10000 credits which they can use however they wish. The 10k is the bare minimum a student can get. But, if they perform well in the academy, they will get bonuses and other perks.
He also could convert these credits into any real-world currency he wished to convert it to.
But, the last part was by far the most interesting one of them all. So much so Arthur had to read it twice for it to finally sink in.
"Breaking the rules added in the manual deducts credits and can potentially reduce the credits received each month. Breaking rules several times can lead to either the complete stoppage of credits or the loss of all perks accumulated before that. Any more than that and the student is at risk of being expelled."
A//N: Thank you for reading!