The Mage of Primordial Chaos

On the way back to the dorms, Feng Mian and I both finished our CAA (Counterhex Academy App) tutorials, and discovered what the remaining three screens were: Classroom, Friends, and Profile respectively. Classroom was represented by the building icon; Friends the silhouette of two humans, and Profile the portrait of the top half of a stickman.

Classroom was a digital learning environment for every course a student had access to. Of course, all students here at Counterhex Academy shared the same courses, just at different time periods and with different teachers and classmates, but every 'course' in this Digital Classroom consisted of your specific teachers and classmates. Within it, your teacher could distribute homework or assignments, and also post announcements regarding upcoming tests and quizzes. Classmates could also communicate with one another through there with any course-related questions, as well as the teacher themselves.

I'm guessing the school wanted to keep the Navigator Inbox relatively clean and 'general', so academic course-related stuff were going to strictly remain in this Classroom area of the Counterhex Academy App.

Next up was the Friends system. This was interesting. Apparently, through this feature, students could add other students (and teachers as well) as 'Friends' through their IDs in this app, and do a variety of things with them using this identity. For example, when Feng Mian signed herself up for the motorbike racing tournament, she invited me to become her duo partner through the app after adding me as a Friend, and on the receiving end, I got a notification informing me of the invitation. Once I accepted that, the two of us were formally entered as a pair. It was like partying up in a video game, almost.

Of course, apart from that, there was also the basic communication feature of text chatting. This was directly linked to our Navigators' Messages system, so we could use either of these devices to instant message other people. As for the reason to have two mediums to serve the same purpose… I can only imagine it's because often times, we won't be able to carry our phones around—especially once the battle against the Hex truly begins. When that happened, we only had our Navigators to rely on.

And finally, there was the Profile screen. This was relatively simple—it served both as yet another alternative to our Student IDs, and also as a social media platform as well. We could use this in place of our Navigators to identify ourselves should we choose to do so, but we still had to wear our Navigators at all times except when bathing and sleeping. Not only that, but this Profile area in the CAA also provided us with the ability to post pictures and videos to our 'Gallery', where Friends or even non-Friends (depending on customizable privacy settings) could view and comment on our media.

But apart from all of that… there was one more important thing to note about the Profile screen, and also the CAA as a whole:

The MP system.

According to the tutorial, MP (Merit Points) are awarded to students through certain events, which can then be exchanged for items such as pills, Elixirs, top-level secret spells, and various Magic Artifacts. Being funded by the IMF meant all of these items were plentiful and the best of the best, so MP was truly a valuable resource to those who wanted to become stronger.

Winning Tournaments in the Tournaments tab was one way to earn MP quickly, but there are far easier ways of obtaining MP as well—through doing favors for teachers and staff around the school, achieving a good grade on a test, or even something as simple as handing in all homework and assignments on time (depending on how nice one's teacher is). Apart from that, exceptional performance during class may award Merit Points as well.

The app tutorial also stated that once the Hex came here, engaging in combat with them will become a necessity. When that happens, every contribution made in battle will be converted to MP as well.

This system was quite interesting, if I do say so myself. While this school was heavy and strict on the punishment side of things, they were also being very generous with this rewards system. By going to the extremes of both ends, they are able to convince students to really try and follow the rules, since it will only result in good things for them and the lack of bad things. 

Punishment and reward were two sides of the same coin, and the IMF had utilized that well. The more severe one side is, the more compelling it will make the other side seem. In this case, the punishments at this school were very severe, so these bountiful rewards seemed like a godsend. On the other hand, with these rewards on the line and the brutality of the punishments… not many people were going to want to risk falling down on the wrong half of the coin.

In any case, right now, my MP was 0, as was everyone else's. I made a mental note to add all the other girls as Friends as well whenever I got the chance, and finished my journey back to the Dormitories Campus with Feng Mian.

*****

Once we returned, the first thing I did was take a bath. During that time, Feng Mian went to cook something for me to eat before resting, and when I was finished, we switched—she went to take a bath, and I ate the food she'd prepared. Her cooking wasn't very good, if I am to be honest, but she's learning from Qing Yue, Axilia, and Ling Xin—all top-tier cooks. Since she was a quick learning, needless to say, her cooking was already drastically improving from before.

After that, I laid down in my bed and prepared to sleep, just as Feng Mian finished her bath. With a quiet, warm smile, she climbed in beside me and wrapped her arms around my body in a tight hug, enjoying my warmth. That was it. Nothing more. The more… intense stuff can come some other time, when I didn't have to stay up all night and wake up early the next morning. Both of us made a mental agreement regarding that.

As such, for now, I returned the favor and hugged her back as well, and just like that, silently, we fell sound asleep.

This feeling of just the two of us, sleeping soundly and quietly beside one another… listening to each other's breathing, to each other's heartbeats… it was truly magical.

*****

*From now on, release rate will be changed to 1 chapter every other day due to my real life getting more busy. I apologize for the inconvenience.