Chapter 17

Fresh-Student Orientation

Every quarter it seemed that the Academy would host an event called Freshman Orientation, that is until this year. This year the name had been changed to Fresh-Student Orientation, a moniker to denote the fact that the Academy was now hosting Endar. While no Endar were in the any of the first-year courses, that would soon change. Here the students would be given a life lesson as to what to expect from their military career and why pushing yourself was so important.

This event was another difference between my previous time loops to now. I was coming up with a few theories to define this process. Excluding PDD, which currently made the most sense. There were a few other factors that also could explain why this world was so different. The first idea was that each life I’ve had so far was held in a wholly unique universe. There in that universe most of the conditions were the exact same, except for a few evolutionary changes that happened early on. Thus, when I re-awaken in the Trials. I am the same person with the same knowledge gained from my previous lifetimes, but the only problem comes with the random variables that are unique to that particular universe. This theory would also explain the scourge only showing up in the last seven or so loops. So far, I am calling this one my Unique Universal Theory. This would also mean that the Mel I met in this universe is wholly unique and would never be able to be replicated in another.

A second new theory I have is that this universe is itself a paradox in and of itself. Meaning that the rules and conditions that I am learning, or often finding that I must re-learn correctly are wholly unique for this life. I recently heard a few terms that seem odd to me. Terms that have never come up in my previous lives at all, which is why I am interested to be here. Apparently, every year there are new orientation meetings held that help direct students down certain paths.

Fresh-Student Orientation Questions:

Curious About Levels?

When do you get Levels?

Do You Gain Attributes from Leveling?

When do your Attribute Limits Increase?

If curious find out more at Orientation.

Those questions alone caused my mind to burn with excitement. Levels?

Looking on to the other years’ fliers I noticed other questions that came to mind as well.

Sophomore Orientation Questions:

Curious about Proficiency Rating Before Class Selection?

What is the only Attribute that does not increase outside of a Temple-Trial?

Are there more Temples that are still active?

Why do Certs Matter?

There were a few more questions there that came to mind, but it seemed that my knowledge of other active Temples was not wholly unique. Also, there was the question about Classes? Didn’t I already have a class? If so, what did they mean by proficiency needed before Class Selections? Again, this universe, or life was making my head hurt. There was also the question about Certs, did they have some other feature aside from just getting a good posting?

The Junior Class flier caused even more questions.

Junior Orientation Questions:

How many certs do you need to get an Elite or higher ranked class?

Can I get a fusion class by getting Endarian Certs in addition to my regular human Certs?

Can I focus solely as a Endarian studies expert?

Can I take the dual culture route and get certs for cross over classes for Endarian and Human?

Wow, great questions. I wanted to go to all four lectures. The only problem was that all four were smartly held at the same time by different groups of instructors. The Senior class flier seemed to tell the most while also telling the least.

Senior Orientation Questions:

So, you are about to fully integrate into the system and get your first class.

How to know if you’ve advanced enough?

What are your leveling prospects like?

Can you get a career with a Common class?

Reading the senior’s flier made my head spin. I had a few ideas of what to expect thanks to this flier, but overall, it seemed odd? Basically, you need to have enough certificates to get an elite class once you fully integrated with the system. I didn’t quite know what that meant, but apparently it seemed to happen after your senior year. That likely fed into the Fresh-Student orientation questions when it asked if we were curious about levels and when we would get them.

This universe is so strange. I don’t even know what to expect from day one on. My class is in the middle of this quarter. The quarters, while dealing with three different months’ worth of initiates, are broken up oddly. Our quarter is the second quarter and comprises of students who undertook the awakening in March, April, and May of this year. It had something to do with beginning Quarter three in June, when school normally ended. So weird. I tried to understand the logic of this universe, but it seems wholly different than what I am used to. Also, oddly enough it feels like I do know these strange factoids, I just must focus. Though whether that is based on my inheriting prior knowledge to my Awakening Trials in this lifetime, or some passive effect of my Precognitive abilities I don’t know.

We are in a large amphitheater where all three platoons of students are crammed together in neat columns that span dozens of rows. In all it is a mess, though fortunately since I am so despised by my own class and the senior platoon of March students seems to be cautious about me, I get a seat by myself.

Murmuring.

The audience is generally taking this time of being forced together to chat. It is one of the few times when people can speak up or down to other students so students at the fringes are generally the most social of the groups. I say, generally as I am one such individual in a seat by myself, or at least I was.

“Hey man. I hear you are some types of extreme guru with your magical technique. Am I wrong?” A male from the March Platoon asks. I look at him, hoping he will just get unnerved and go away.

“Aww, come on man. You can’t be like that. I’ve got to get something to take back.” He says, then gestures to the group of March students who are actively looking on at our conversation with rapt attention.

Seeing this and realizing the student did go out of his way to talk to me, I nod.

“Okay, now we are talking. So, what are some tips and tricks? I know you had some like crazy head start or whatever, but what is your secret.”

“How do you know about the head start?” I ask.

“Oh, come on. It is a secret on a Military Academy, meaning everyone knows what that secret is. Also, the fact that you managed to test out of not just Magic but Mind Energies with Psionics no less, that is impressive.” He says, genuinely sounding excited.

Hearing his relaxed tone, I can’t help but loosen up a bit.

“Aren’t you jealous or something?”

“What for a head start, no way. Besides you only have the initial knowledge and skill percentage over us. What really matters is your level up ability, and the number of attribute points you gain per level.”

“Wait, your Attributes aren’t permanently set?”

“What, who gave you a stupid theory like that?” He asks. I want to say that my previous twelve lives of experience, but once again this universe seems to be different than every other universe prior. “No, Attributes are only set in stone until you gain your first class. That is why getting past the basics of knowing how to use your magic fluidly is so important, so we can get certs.”

“Certs?”

“You know the different classes. Come on, I know you are already in the flight class, one of the longest cert programs, but also one of the ones that pays the most certs.” He speaks.

As he speaks, I suddenly realize I might not know anything about this universe at all. In a way this is good, especially if I keep getting reincarnated, as it will mean that I can potentially expect every lifetime to be wholly unique. It could also mean that I am only half as prepared as I thought I was. At this point I think back to the twelve different case studies of students who were posthumously noted as suffering from PDD. If they thought they had the highest Attributes, Skills, and Abilities only to find out that their Attributes meant nothing, then they were in for a world of hurt. Especially if they ticked off a god level combatant with Attributes that well surpassed the twenty-point threshold, which seems to be at least possible according to some of the other fliers I read.

“I thought Certs just meant I could do a job. Do certs do something more?”

He just shakes his head in disbelief. “What are they teaching you. No wait, this is about to begin. Listen here. Then come to me when you have the basics down. We will trade information.” He says as he gestures to the stage where DI Hopewell is standing.

“Good evening. Welcome to the Fresh-Student Orientation. We have four topics that we must cover, as per curriculum standards. If you have questions about any further topics, you will have to let me finish our lessons so we can get to the open forum section. Once at the open forum section any question will be available to ask until our allotted time is over. Know that while we only have four topics to discuss, they are quite lengthy and will take up a lot of time. So, if you want to get through to ask deeper questions, please be quiet until the very end. Any questions?”

Silence.

Hearing that he nods, then begins. “So, as you all know you are currently in the indoctrination process to the system. What does that mean? Well simply put it is a four-year process where you are given a base description of your class. Each class is listed in its most base terms. This class is what we call a Common grade class. You are literally worth nothing and offer nothing to the system as you currently stand. While we won’t get into the particulars of Class theory and ways to improve your class rarity, we will state two words that will help you achieve better rarity ratings for your class. Those two words: Try Harder. Now why did I bring up the subject of class grades if we won’t cover them in this lecture, simple. To talk about the first main topic on leveling you must first understand what your classes mean. In four years’, time you will be fully integrated with the system. At that time, you will finally be able to earn levels. Levels are the systems way of saying you are better at your job than others. This is like the Skill and Affinity percentages you learned in classes. Remember what the general rule of thumb is when it comes to a skill percentage?” DI Hopewell asks.

Then in unison everyone, but me, answers as if they know the answer. “One Attribute point is enough to overcome a 10% gap in skill proficiency.”

Hearing that nugget of knowledge, I cringe. I have a lot of highly ranked skills. Skills I had hoped to leverage for maximum value to get an easy life. But this? This knowledge throws a wrinkle in my plans. This means that if someone threw everything they had into physical attributes or had a higher pool rating of physical attributes to begin with then they could easily overcome a wide margin in skill ability. Thinking about this causes me to shudder slightly, did I do the trials incorrectly? Surely, I could have put more into Dexterity and Agility at the very least.

“So, we all kind of understand that levels are something we can gain after we are fully integrated with the system. That is why this is a four-year Academy, rather than have you waste your four years at home, we could train you up properly. With the level of training and knowledge at your fingertips here, to conduct the same from your own personal dwellings would cost multiple billions of cryptos.”

Hearing that I lower my head in sadness. I was so close, though I know I could never have cashed the ticket myself it is still nice to dream about what could have happened.

“So now that brings us up to our second agenda topic. When do you get levels?”

“Killing enemies.” A cadet calls out.

“Yes, killing others who are initiated into the system is one way to advance quickly. It is not uncommon for populous space faring races to fight with each other to level up as quickly as possible. The other method is to perform your job. If you have a healer or support class, then by performing the actions of that class you can also gain Class experience that will help you level up.”

There is a pause as a few students ask questions about killing people and monsters that are above your weight class and level.

“All right, I will only broach this topic slightly. I will only answer this one time tonight. So, pay attention and do not expect me to repeat myself. Yes, it is possible to kill someone that is a much higher level than you. It is possible to kill someone that is a much higher-class grade than you. Such kills are called trophy kills because they are rare. Can anyone tell me why they are rare?”

“Because they are tougher to kill?”

“Okay, they are tougher to kill, but why?” DI Hopewell asks.

There are a few ideas bandied about, but finally someone says what he is looking for. “They likely have more attribute points than you. So, if you are fighting them, you can expect them to have more advantages that Skills and Affinities won’t be able to cover.”

“Yes, again. I go back to one of my first topics. One attribute point is worth the equivalent of ten percent in either an affinity or a skill.” He speaks.

Once again, my heart goes out to the other sufferers of PDD. How they must have thought themselves to be Gods here. Only to find out they were fish with a lot of potential in an ocean.

“So now we are in the homestretch of our mandatory topics. With that we will move onto agenda topic three: when do you gain attributes from leveling?” He asks.

“It depends?”

“Yes, it does depend, but on what?”

“Class rarity.”

“Right, your class rarity dictates your attribute progression rate. But how?”

“The Ten Minus Rule.” One student shouts out.

“You have been speaking to your seniors, but yes. The Ten Minus rule. There are seven tiers of class rankings. Each class ranking can reduce your Attribute allotment rate by one per tier you go up. This means that since you all are on the first tier, how many levels will it take you to gain your first attribute point?” He asks.

“Ten.”

Hearing that the DI just shakes his head. “Clearly math is not in your class’s future.” The DI says, eliciting some chuckles from the crowd. “No, this is the ten minus rule. So, you are going to subtract how many?

Silence.

Finally, he shakes his head before answering. “One, that’s right. Wow you all are smart. Everyone count with me. Ten minus one is how many?”

“Nine.”

“RIGHT! Nine. So right now, assuming you do nothing to improve yourself in the eyes of the system. You will gain one Attribute point every nine levels. Now, let’s say someone is an Omega tier class, or Tier 7 for those of you who have not learned the rankings. This means they get one Attribute every…?” He asks.

“Three.”

Phew. DI Hopewell visibly exhales at the fact that someone got that correct. “Right so that means every three levels an Omega Tier Class holder gains an Attribute point. This means that by level nine, when you Common ranked cadets get your first Attribute, they already have how many?”

“Three.”

“Right. Which means if they put everything into the same attribute that you put your attribute point into, they will have how many more?”

“Thr…” One student is about to say but is quickly cut off by a glare.

“Two.”

“Two! That is correct, which means if you are using a Skill that utilizes that same attribute then how much higher must your skill proficiency be than theirs to have an advantage?”

“Twenty-one percent.”

“Right, to have a slight advantage in that scenario you would need to have a twenty-one percent advantage. That of course is assuming you are both the same levels. Both started off with the same initial rating in the same Attribute and distributed your attributes the same way. Basically, you are dead. Unless you out level them by a wide margin, you will not be able to match them Attribute wise. Which means what?”

“Use overwhelming forces and tactics to succeed.”

“Right. Now onto our last forum topic. When do your Attribute Limits increase?”

Silence.

“Okay, well let me ask this, did anyone know they have a current limit, or what that limit is?”

“Twenty.” I shout out.

“Right, twenty is the current limit. Now what you might not know is that this limit is only set early on. Once you start gaining levels your limit increases. Can anyone tell me what the universal rate for Attribute Limit growth is?” He asks. He looks at me, but I just duck down low. Fortunately, someone seems to know the answer from the front.

“Every five levels?”

“Correct. Every five levels that Attribute limit increases. While it won’t matter to classes below Elite level or Tier 5 quality, can anyone tell me why that is?”

“You will gain attributes slower than your rate limit?” A student asks.

“Yes, this is the reason why we try to push all cadets to get their classes to the Elite status, otherwise known as Tier 5. The reason being that this is a harmonious class. Every five levels both your maximum attribute limit increases by one, as does your number of free Attributes to assign. With those of Omega quality classes gain two Attributes every six levels, meaning they can effectively have one Attribute constantly maxed out, while also improving others along the way.” DI Hopewell says.

With that he does open the floor to general questions.

“How do we increase our class ranks?”

“Good question. The answer is there are multiple ways. The only way I am legally allowed to answer however is to tell you to earn certs. Generally, it is three certs per class level. So, to get through to Elite status you will need to have received a total of fifteen certs.”

“What are certs exactly?”

“Good question, and one I am not allowed to answer right now.”

“How can we get fifteen certs when there are barely twenty courses offered that distribute certs?”

“Good question, the answer is depending on the complexity of the curriculum you could be awarded multiple certs. I know the piloting program is one of the most extensive ones. Where you gain five certs from it alone. Add to that the navigation cert program and you will gain three additional certs from that for eight. Then hobbies will get you several certs. So will volunteering on the weekends. There are many ways to gain certs. You just need to pass your proficiency exams before you can be eligible for certificate programs.” He states.

Then he answers a few other questions, but the majority are just repeats of the same. Or people asking for further clarification on the agenda topics that were just covered. I look over, to see that the older cadet who came to speak to me snuck off sometime during the briefing. I look, only to find him with a group of friends further away.

Seeing the gaggle of friends, I sigh and wonder not for the first time what I did wrong to be stuck in this fucked up universe. Though I am glad I was given this orientation meeting now, before I did or said anything too stupid. Though it is me, so I am bound to do something stupid.

Still, I can’t help but wonder one thing. Why are my powers so much stronger than others? Even my Mage Breaker abilities were impossible for others to resist. Though in a way I guess it made sense. Assuming others were stuck at a Power level of twenty. By the rule of the limit increasing every five levels it would take someone over level sixty-five who put thirteen free attribute points into Power to cover that gap. But even still, someone surely must have done so by now.

Though there was one concerning thing about the presentation. It seemed to state that working out was not a way to increase your physical attributes? Did I miss that, or can we only increase them through free attribute points, regardless of how hard we work? I wonder this, but DI Hopewell is already gone from the stage.

I make a note to ask someone else when I get a chance. Maybe the General will know? Though she has been hinting at switching me off to another instructor here shortly. Not just for my Tuesday Thursday classes that still don’t have a teacher, but also for her classes where she is clearly the best Precognition user we have on campus. While this orientation helped answer a lot of questions, I didn’t even know I had. I still find that I am leaving with even more questions than I came in with.