She’d always remember the gorgeous face she’d seen on the freeze scans around the city. He was already cute four years ago, but now that he was older? He was uber-stellar. She watched as he trained on a CDSim, delivering fast-paced punches and kicks.

  What if she got to take a class with him?! It would definitely be hard to concentrate!

  “Move it, humie,” a marble-white skinned Voraxian man muttered, practically shoving Calista forward.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Calista said, ignoring the insult, which made her body run cold for a couple of seconds. While ‘human’ was only offensive to Socializers, ‘humie’ was definitely derogatory for every Earthian. She wanted to confront the man, but Voraxians were known for their monstrous heights and strength, and were very easily offended, more so than Socializers. This man was at Level 15— thirteen levels ahead of her. She knew better than to anger him.

  -10 Rel-P

  New Person: Talrin Zyrek

  Achieved: Hostile Acquaintance Status

  +Interactions I

  +Disaffiliation I

  In her Socializer life, she hadn’t interacted with a lot of ‘top’ species, accustomed to Paeseoans, Seeyastians, Martians, and half-Earthians. Now that Calista was surrounded by species that were much bigger, stronger, and levels more intimidating, she had to remind herself to be careful.

  “We have now passed over to the School of Combat,” President Chrisman said as they entered another hallway. “This school contains thousands of students looking to become coaches, professors, and experts in combat without competing in the Games.” Unlike the other hallway, this one was full of students, who made way for the tour group, walking against the walls without even sparing them a second glance.

  Everyone wore the same outfit: a bodysuit made out of a scaly material that looked tough and plastic-like. It was mostly dark blue, with red along the shoulders, circling the abdomen and waist, and running down the lower half of the pant legs, ending in sturdy-looking, yet flexible, red shoes. They all had thick white Pet belts and white-colored turtlenecks. On the back was the Fistborn logo— the circle with the diagonal ‘FBA’.

  Calista noticed a few students with strange, circular patches on their upper arms, colored variably in green, silver, or even yellow. Those didn’t go with the uniform. Was it a fashion choice?

  The uniforms looked stiff and boring, in her opinion. They could use a few tweaks besides the weird patches.

  The group teleported to another building, which was also full of students. Unlike the Fighting students that hardly spared their group a glance, these students stared at them and whispered to one another, much like Calista expected Socializers to do. Being Journalism students, gossip about fighters was their ticket to a job. This was the place where Xavier Hennett and Yvonne Macon studied to become the main news anchors of the Versus News channel. “The School of Journalism contains careers for students to follow the Versus Games through a reporter’s lens. They eventually move on to the large Versus News corporations to share the fighters’ stories and progress with the rest of the world, and by extension, the galaxy.”

  Versus reporters always made fun of Socializers, but they were pretty similar. They stuck their noses in others’ business, made up rumors, twisted people’s words. The difference was that they got paid handsomely for it. Socializers needed to grow substantially to get any sort of payment for what they did, or simply be lucky enough to be born into a well-established family.

  The other two schools were the School of Medical Science, for people specializing in treating fighters in the competition, and the School of Strategy and Relations created the analysts and PR officers that sponsored fighters, weighed odds, and measured stats. These students were more ‘nerdy-looking’ than the others, for the lack of a better word. They scurried through the halls like Earthian squirrels, their eyes fixed on AIDA bands and Pet screens. They likely lived in the Studitorium as opposed to the gyms. The PR students took time to stare at the tour group, taking freeze shots with their Pets.

  After finishing the tour of the Versus Wing, they also did a quick tour of the other half of Fistborn— the Technological Wing. The students here were a bit more excited to see the new Versus School students. After all, once they graduated, they would be operating the game maps and designing the combat suits for the fighters in the competition. Fighters didn’t have to worry about how they looked; that was the designers’ job.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  These people were even nerdier, but more happy-looking than the ones in the Versus Wing. Some of them even waved at the group, and bounced on their toes when Calista waved back. The other newcomers in the tour group weren’t as friendly, mostly ignoring the students.

  She sighed wistfully. Katelyn would thrive here. Her skills in architecture and technology were incredible. But as Mr. Kalley said, only the Versus school offered full rides, and Jennifer would never pay to send Katelyn here.

  Task Complete— No Reward

  Task Acquired: Go to dormitory— No XP

  The class was teleported back to the Hall of Affairs at the end of the tour. Checking her AIDA band, Calista read her orientation schedule.

  9:00-10:30 AM: Fistborn Campus Tour [COMPLETE]

  10:30-11:45 AM: Dormitory Assignments

  11:45 AM-12:30 PM: Coach Meet and Greet/Schedule Planning

  12:30-1:30 PM: Lunch and Q&A

  1:30 PM: Free Time

  “You will now be sent to your dormitories. Your Versus Pets will be waiting for you,” President Chrisman said. “Afterwards, you will meet with your coaches and receive your schedules.”

  Versus Pet? Calista cocked her head at the term.

  “Those that were personally recommended by a board member have the privilege of having their very own rooms this year. Congratulations. This is a rare concession, so appreciate your privacy and luxury. Ensure you live up to the board’s standard.” Murmurs quietly spread among the crowd at the annoucement. “There are ten single rooms left for first-years; if you impress a Student Coach enough to become a Favorite this year, you’ll get that privilege, too.”

  Excitement rippled across the group, but Calista was just confused. She’d heard of Student Coaches, but not Favorites. What did that mean?

  “Report to the Training Center at 11:45 AM, sharp. We’ll see you then.”

  ===

  Medley, Calista: Room VW1F-175

  Calista made her way through the women’s dorm hall, finally finding her room towards the end of the hall. The others were in order, but the single rooms were placed a little separately from the others, probably as a reminder of the privilege. She didn’t know whether she felt disappointed or relieved to have her own room; that was a perk she didn’t expect. She owed it to Benson Kalley for having recommended her.

  She watched the other girls find their rooms, greeting their new roommates. As much as she appreciated the privacy, Calista was hoping to have a roommate so she’d at least have one friend around.

  The AIDA scanned her and she said her name aloud to open the door.

  Task Complete— Room Acquired

  A queen-sized sleeping capsule was against the left wall, with plush red comforters that looked as soft as clouds. The walls were dark blue and the soft carpets were white. A large, transparent doorway gave way to a balcony, bringing natural light into the room. A HARP was installed for her entertainment with a long, plush red sofa within its transparent, ocean-blue bubble.

  She giggled and ran up to her capsule, where she collapsed onto the soft pad. It was beyond comfortable, bringing relief to her aching back and shoulders, tense from all the stress. She went up to the clothing selection station next to the capsule and it opened into a small slot within, just big enough for her to fit inside, with a flashing changing circle on the floor. When she opened the menu, all her clothes were available, having been transferred successfully, and there were Fistborn uniforms tailored just for her: the bodysuit uniform, a sleeveless red swimsuit, and even a comfy-looking sleep suit made out of a soft, fuzzy material. She tapped on the daily uniform.

  It replaced her outfit and she turned around to inspect it. It was comfortable and fit her perfectly, surprising her, since the material looked so hard and stiff on the outside. She could move very easily and it had built-in sweat absorbers, probably for Practicum courses. The shoes were soft and flexible.

  AIDA provided a mirror screen so she could see herself. It looked okay on her, but… eh. It could use some flair. There was just something about these uniforms that seemed far too plain and stiff.

  She shook her head. This wasn’t fashion school; it was fighting school. She had to shake off all those old habits.

  “Incoming call from unsaved code. Identified as Medley Residence, House 986, #356 South, Residential District. Code RESDIS-3445, Indianapolis, Indiana.”

  She smiled and eagerly went to her sleep capsule. “Answer, please! Save the address as ‘Kate’.”

  The holograms projected in front of her bed, showing her siblings sitting together. “Hi!” Katelyn squealed in excitement. “How is it over there?”

  “It’s really cool. My room is uber-cute! I got a tour, and my uniforms, which are pretty stellar.” She got off her bed and showed her.

  “Your uniform looks awesome!”

  “There’s also a swimsuit…” Calista went into the station, changing to the outfit and displaying it. “It’s nice material, but a bit plain. It should have some school rep on it. There’s also this sleep suit—” she changed again— “which is uber-comfy, so definitely Fluff Cotton or maybe even Snow Fabric… wait, no, then it’d be cold. It’s super warm, so maybe it’s-”

  “Calista,” Katelyn interrupted. “You’re not doing a fabric review, you’re talking to me.” Beside her, Quinlan was rolling his eyes.

  Calista blushed, embarrassed. “Force of habit.” She sat on her sleep capsule. “I keep thinking there’s cameras in these walls… what if there are, though?”

  “The fighting world is all about privacy, you know that.”

  “Yeah, but… they might…”

  “Cali, stop. That life is over. This is why I was pushing you to go.” Katleyn’s green eyes stared at her with sadness. “I couldn’t see you live like that anymore.”

  +20 Rel-P

  Approaching Soulmate Status (Katelyn)