Chương 2

I took a moment to appreciate the station as I made my way to the platform. A monument to Imperial architecture, the station's pillars were carved with scenes of humanity's triumph over the other races and meticulously designed to make the individual feel how small they truly were when compared against the vastness of the Empire's glory. It still captivated me, despite seeing it so many times, and knowing it for the tool of propaganda it truly was. Yet all was not well in the Empire.

The Orcs were on the march again, and the other factions of the galaxy were greedily waiting for any cracks to pounce upon. Of course, there was no news about that. But, if one knew where to look, there were signs of new grain and metal shortages. The recruitment propaganda had gotten stronger. The new harem law? The fast-track eligibility requirements required participation in the navy. I checked. Sue me.

I had hoped to have a peaceful few years at Magna Protos but odds were that we would too be sent to help with the green tide eventually. The platform was crowded but not too packed, for now at least. The Magna Protos shuttle only departed once per day, and today was the day when first-years had to go in to complete their registration. I expect it will probably be quite full by departure, and may need to even make a second trip today if there isn't enough space.

Making sure I was close to the boarding tunnel, I found a relatively quiet corner near one of the support pillars and settled in to wait. Since I had a bit of time, I pulled up my status screen. It materialized in my retina, projected as a hologram that was visible only to me, or I guess anyone who was looking closely at my eyes, but that was quite impolite. The Imperial Citizen Interface was technically just a sophisticated neural link.

Somewhere along the line, they added gamification elements, making it feel like one of those old-world progression systems from before the Unification. At the moment, there wasn't too much information on my interface given that I hadn't officially registered at Magna Protos yet, but I could still see the trinity of numbers that defined every citizen of the Empire. ═══════════════ IMPERIAL CITIZEN INTERFACE v. 7. 4.

1 ═══════════════ CITIZEN: Jax Akana AGE: 18 STATUS: Student (Pending Registration) SECTOR: Pending Assignment ─── ATTRIBUTES ─── BODY: 14 MIND: 23 SPIRIT: 11 ═══════════════ I sighed. Did Grant really expect me to be able to do anything with a Spirit value like that? Forget picking up girls, 11 meant I just barely had the capacity to socialize properly without social anxiety. After both mom and dad passed, I just avoided letting new people into my life.

Relationships weren't easy before, but afterwards it got even worse, and so outside of Grant and Finn, I barely have any people I can say are more than a acquaintance. Sure, my Mind was above average, and in fact juuuuust in the range of exceptional, but you can't think your way into someone's heart, so, fat luck there. And we aren't gonna talk about Body. I like books, ok? Kinda hard to exercise when the next chapter is just so… tantalizing… ahem.

Still, I maintained a toned physique, but the attribute is biased towards physical strength rather than cardio, which I lacked. I may have been neglecting cardio a bit lately as well… Overall, I think this whole thing will force me out of my shell more, as much as I dread that. Well, we'll see I guess… Scary stuff on the horizon… I dismissed the status screen with a thought and checked the time again. Five minutes. The shuttle platform had now filled up considerably.

I scanned the crowd and tried to guess how many people would be taking this particular shuttle, and their identities. The nervous-looking boy with the expensive luggage marked with noble house crests? Probably a first-year. The cluster of girls near the front of the platform, chattering excitedly among themselves? Definitely students, likely not first-years though.

The rest was composed of people with varying amounts of luggage, ranging from almost nothing, like me, to one girl having five huge suitcases and several servants to help her carry them. I really hope we all fit… One girl caught me looking and offered a small wave. I smiled back and tried a half-hearted wave back as heat rose to my cheeks. Smooth, Jax. Very smooth. The girl just nodded and went back to talking with her friends. I was strongly contemplating whether to go and say hi when the shuttle arrived.

Well, it is what it is. The shuttle was silver and utterly silent. It looked like a top-end model too, I bet Grant would absolutely love to examine it. I should bull- ahem, tease him about it next time we talk. The doors slid open with a soft hiss, and the crowd began to shuffle forward. The eagle was emblazoned on its hull in burnished gold, wings spread protectively over the passenger compartment. I joined the flow, letting myself be carried along by the gentle pressure of the crowd.

Inside, it was already starting to get packed, so I found a window seat near the back where I hopefully wouldn't be disturbed. I also liked watching the landscape blur past, so that was a plus. I stowed my pack in the overhead compartment and sat down. The seats were much more comfortable than I had expected, with plush cushioning and adjustable lumbar support. Transportation heaven. Don't even get me started on budget transport. Inter-galactic travel made the ancient world's airplane seats look like cushy sofas.

Magna Protos apparently believed in treating its students well, even before they arrived on campus, and I was deeply thankful for that after carrying my backpack for the whole day. I leaned back, letting the tension drain from my shoulders, and enjoyed the view. The shuttle filled up around me, and began to buzz with activity. Most of the passengers were female, another piece of evidence for the ninety-one percent statistic. Some of them even looked almost as attractive as Lady Seren.

You could practically feel the amount of money their parents spent on gene mods and surgery. I definitely don't want to piss off any of their families. Somehow, most of them already knew each other too. No one was paying any particular attention to the unremarkable young man in the window seat. Which was fine. I would have plenty of time to make friends once we actually arrived. Yes. Definitely. I nodded to myself. And then someone came up to me.

"This seat taken?" I turned to see a girl shorter than me by about half a head, with silver hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She wore the same generic travel clothes as everyone else, but somehow they looked deliberate on her, like a uniform chosen for functionality rather than defaulted to through lack of options. It was her face that drew my attention, however. She had a smile that seemed to push the rest of the crowded cabin into a blur of background noise.

I recognized her as the one that waved at me after I looked for a tad too long. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it"No," I managed.

"It's not. Please." I moved my coat off the seat and onto my lap. She settled in beside me.

"Thanks! All the other seats had people who looked like they wanted to talk about their family lineages for three hours… I'm not sure I would have survived that." I glanced around the cabin. She wasn't wrong. Half the students were already deep in conversations that involved a lot of hand gestures towards family crests on their lapels and luggage. I saw several other students that looked like they were desperately trying to escape a noble explaining their superiority to them.

One looked ready to tase a guy that seemed to have every intention of talking as close to her face as possible. About harems of all things.

"And I looked like I wouldn't?"

"You looked like you were thinking about something actually interesting, unlike the other braindead morons." She extended a hand.

"Charlotte Valen, by the way."

"Jax Akana," I replied. Her handshake was firm and brief.

"First year too?"

"That obvious?"

"The lack of exhaustion in your eyes," I joked Charlotte laughed, and I realized that I quite liked the sound.

"I'll take that as wisdom from experience, except you're clearly a first year too."

"What gave me away?" She gestured at where we sat.

"You picked a window seat, and sat at the very back on top of that. Returning students are usually already familiar enough with the view they don't really care for it and instead sit in the middle since the climate control and politicking is best there." I nodded slowly.

"You're observant. How did you know this stuff though? ~""I just pay attention to things. Doesn't everyone?" Sure, As if most people pay attention to every detail.

"It's a useful habit to have." The shuttle hummed to life beneath us. Through the window, I watched the platform begin to slide away as we were gently pushed back into our seats. Somewhere out there, Grant and Finn were probably still arguing about something trivial, and waiting for their own shuttles. The thought made me smile melancholically despite myself.

"Sooo, whatchu thinking about?" she poked my side.

"You have that look." I jolted a little. Hey! That tickled!

"What look?"

"You know the one," she waved her hand vaguely, "Where you're here physically, but definitely not mentally." I considered deflecting. It would have been easy enough to change the subject or give some vague non-answer, buuuut… Well, new life new me I guess. Why not change and be a bit more honest with her, and myself?

"Friends," I admitted.

"And my whole old life. That I left behind this morning. It… just started to register." Charlotte nodded slowly.

"Hmm… I guess it would be hard. Leaving everything behind."

"You sound unconvinced."

"I know the theory of it." She said, winching slightly, but I didn't want to assume an invitation to pry from a person I just met.

"What were they like? Your friends, I mean." The question caught me slightly off guard. Most people just offered sympathy, the generic "I'm sorry", and moved on, not really caring about anything deeper than the surface level. They don't ask you to describe the shape of the void the parting leaves behind, even if temporary.

"Well, the first of the two, Grant, he's loud," I said.

"In a good way. He fills up whatever room he's in and is quite unapologetic about it. He always has just the right joke at the right time to diffuse any tension, and he's a huge fan of engineering. He's going to Technica Deuteros to work on starships. Heh, he'll probably be running an entire maintenance fleet within five years, mark my words."

"And the other one?", she rested her head on her hand looking at me curiously. Her silver hair was very distracting, not to mention those eyes…

"Finn. He's..." I searched for the right word.

"Precise. If you were just texting with him, there is a high chance you would think he's an advanced neural network or something. He thinks and communicates in nothing but data and statistics, and half the time you want to strangle him for it, but, when it matters, he's there, with the right insight. He got into Fabrica Tritos, and is probably already busy dreaming of all the systems he will design…"

"They sound like they balance each other out." I nodded.

"They do. And I'm somewhere in the middle, keeping them from killing each other." I grinned, then paused, sighing.

"Or… I was." Charlotte leaned a bit to look at the window behind me. I followed her gaze to watch as the landscape began to blur outside the window. Cities gave way to the agricultural zones; vast swaths of engineered farmland capable of feeding billions, which then gave way to whatever remained of the planet's oceans, until details were too small and far away to distinguish.

"It's strange, isn't it?" she said eventually.

"How much of who we are is shaped by the people around us. Remove them, and you have to figure out who you are all over again." I found myself studying her profile as she watched the fields roll past. She was definitely far more interesting than the view being offered. Especially those silver eyes… I almost slapped myself again. Focus. Blasted 11 Spirit.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Any friends you're leaving behind?" She opened her mouth to answer, but the words seemed to have gotten caught in her throat. Eventually, she just shrugged.

"No. Not really." She didn't elaborate, and I didn't push. Either Charlotte had lived an unusually isolated life, or there was something she wasn't telling me. Probably both. Noble politics. I shivered.

"So why Magna Protos?" I asked, steering the conversation toward safer ground.

"The..." I hesitated.

"Demographics?" Charlotte's eyes flickered with amusement.

"Is that why you are here?"

"No, no," I hastily waved my hands, reddening slightly, "I had a sponsorship I couldn't refuse. Should have phrased it better. Yeah- What I meant- I mean- I assume it would feel safer for you than more balanced schools at least."

"Fair." She shook her head, but she was still smiling.

"I chose Magna Protos because it's the only school in the Empire that offers advanced study in Resonance Theory. There's a professor here who's done work that nobody else has even considered attempting."

"Resonance Theory?"

"The study of how Spirit actually functions. Not just what it measures, but the underlying mechanisms. It's the least understood of the three attributes, and I want to change that." Sounds like state secrets to me.

"You mean besides willpower and social skills? That's..." I searched for the right word.

"Ambitious."

"Is that a problem?"

"No. It's refreshing. Most people just say they're here to serve the emperor," I said with a grin. Unfortunately, the words didn't land where I wanted them to. Charlotte flinched as if I had just physically slapped her. Her eyes darted around the shuttle right as it began to go vertical. The G-force pressed us into the seats and a weight that felt like a giant's hand was squeezing my lungs settled down on me. Blasted spirit, and blasted loose tongue.

"Hey, sorry about that, didn't realize…" I tried, straining against the gravity and trying my best to get my words across.

"I'm still getting used to everything." The shuttle shook violently as we breached the mesosphere.

"It's fine. You're right, the Emperor provides for all of us, even my chance to study Resonance Theory," she said and then quickly changed the subject.

"So, why did you choose Magna?"

"I was sponsored anonymously, and who would refuse an offer to one of the best universities in the entire empire?" I said without hesitation. Smooth. Charlotte didn't respond. She just leveled her eyes into me and for a moment, I became lost in her grey-colored irises. They were the color of storm clouds just before the rain breaks. It was beautiful. More like dangerous, you sleezy brat. Get control of yourself before you get reported for harassment before your first day is even over.

"Uh, maybe a bit more than that." I scratched my head as I looked away.

"I was hoping to find a few more friends here." I mentally punched my inner voice silent.

"Someone other than Grant and Finn?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess. They're going to do great things and I'm happy for them. But I don't want to do the same things as them. I was hoping to figure that out at Magna, and see what the future holds." Charlotte nodded. I caught her eyes again and this time, she was the one to look away and break eye contact with a slight smile. Maybe my stay at the academy would be more enjoyable than I had hoped.