“Ralph, do you really not have to carry your stuff?“ Odis asked with a skeptical gaze.

“I told you, I already took everything.“

“But, sir Ralph, it wasn't even one entire box,” Jin Xuefeng muttered, adjusting the boxes in his hand after getting distracted, like a young child carrying eggs for the first time.

“It's you two who are weird,” I said. “Why do you have so much stuff?“

“Tsk. Don't say anything if you aren't going to help!“

I laughed at Odis' words and continued waving my hands, walking around empty-handed while others worked their asses off was truly a feeling of its own kind. Heck, I didn't owe Odis anything in the first place. He's only about to stick with us because I helped him.

“What a coincidence though, Jin,” I muttered. “I didn't think you'll land up with the same ranks as us again.“

“Truly, it must be fate.“

“Now, that's going a bit overboard—”

“Fate.“

“Alright…”

Our short walk ended in no time, from the northeastern mountains to the extreme northern ends of Agriche Island. The pavements below started grating against our shoes as sand was mixed in with the bricks. After walking a bit more, the cover of trees started to dwindle.

“Tastes like salt,” Odis said, trying to get the taste of the air off his tongue. Alongside his words, soft crashing sounds of waves reached our ears, their rhythmic ebbs like a calming beat.

With another turn, all of our steps came to a natural halt as we stared at the sight in front of us. Whoever created the world must have forgotten to add a distinction here as it became completely impossible to tell where the 'earth' ended and where the sky began as the stretch of blue water and the ocean of the blue sky merged into one in the distance.

The sunlight scantily reflected on the ocean surface, its golden glow covering the clouds that the ocean had swallowed. Shifting my sight much closer, my eyes fell on the wettened sand at the end of the ocean. Every wave would bring in some help and shells from the bottom of the ocean and gift it to the sand, before another would go even further and swallow them back up.

“Not a bad place to spend the rest of the year in…” Jin Xuefeng said.

“I don't know,” Odis answered without shifting his gaze. “I've had enough sand for a lifetime.“

“Just stock up for another then,” I shrugged and took a step ahead on the path. In the midst of the sandy grounds, six gigantic mansions stood aloof. The short pickets covering its perimeter barely hid the sight inside. Devoid of sand, the mansions were settled on stone grounds with paths connecting all six mansions and the smaller miscellaneous buildings in the place.

We came up to the doors made of steel with wooden pillars on each end. Two finely carved wooden crabs sat atop the pillars, gazing at whoever came in.

“Red Crabs Dormitory,” Odis muttered, staring at the lifelike crabs.

The mansions were set up forming a semi-circle with its open end toward the beach and a gap in between the two at the center for the doors. The smaller miscellaneous buildings were erected in between the gap or even the space between the mansions.

{What's in those places anyway?} the system asked. I spoke loudly, pointing at the different buildings to let in Jin and Odis on it as well.

“That one's a gym with a fair bit of equipment, you can use it to grow some balls Odis.“

“Tsk.“

“And then there's a game area near the last building on the left, a study room on the right.“ Next, I pointed at the end of the dormitories walls which did form a circle but stopped at the ocean, near the water was a set up for a campfire and barbeque gear. “There are kitchens in every mansion, but you can also eat together here.“

“Is that a fucking infinity pool? On the fucking beach!?“

A bit away from the barbeque set up, an infinity pool stretched right into the ocean while the other half came stretching inside the dorm grounds. Deck chairs surrounded the poolside with parasols setting up shade for them. Tables were set up on the side with a small robot already going around with juice in its hands to and from the pool to the counter set up a bit behind.

“Yeah, that's there too,” I said.

{Oi you bastard! How can you ignore the pool!?}

“Oi you bastard! How can you ignore the pool!?“

Odis and the system were strangely in sync. I already knew what was coming next, so I slapped Odis' face and pushed it toward the mansion closest to us.

“That one's for the first-year boys, get going, bitch.“

“You already took the best room, right?“ He said begrudgingly.

“Yup, reception is self-service.“ I pushed Odis again as he clicked his tongue and stepped ahead toward the mansion. Jin nodded at me and walked behind Odis.

I watched the two of them go inside and stretched my hands above my head. It was still early, the ones who should have already been here must be sleeping or working, while others hadn't come over to move in yet. Stifling a yawn, I pulled out a hair band from my pockets and walked over to the poolside.

As I tied my hair up, I went next to the deck chair that had the robot standing peacefully and relaxed on the chair with my eyes closed. My hands naturally reached out to the orange smoothie and brought it to my lips.

{Tastes good?}

“Pretty good.”

“Hey, that was mine!“

I opened one eye and glanced to my side at the familiar voice. There, with her light blue hair and curious gaze, Blaine Sothsfield was scowling at me. She tapped the head of the robot and it frantically returned to the counter to bring another smoothie.

“Been a while, Blaine,” I said, closing my eyes again.

“Yeah, sure. Asshole.“

How rude.

“Liking this place?“

“It's like a damn resort.“

“Indeed.“ It was one of a kind. Aren't they giving better treatment to the 200th ranks than the top hundred? Is this what you give up in return for a fee waiver?

“The top 10 dorm was better though.“

“Eh, you couldn't have enjoyed a beachside view like this there.“

“I could,” she said in a flat voice. “Anytime I wanted.“

What the heck? Seriously?

“Seriously.“

Just what kind of dorms did the top 10 get?

“Still, this ain't that bad,” Blaine spoke between a yawn. “I guess I don't have to curse you for this.“

I chuckled at her words.

The influence I could wield in the school through Zachy was good, but using him outside was not an option. The Ainsworths were high-class, but they weren't a bigshot family.

The time to get rid of my limiter was close. It also meant I had to start looking outside the school to spread influence, and what was a better place to make connections than Agriche Academy?

Unfortunately, I had no big-shot close friends. Kristina was ranked high, but she was an orphan, Zachy's family was small too. They were both useless.

{But there was someone who knew your secret and was a big shot as well, right?}

Hah, is it fun reading my mind?

{I can only do it when you let me though…}

That's the best. If you could read it all the time I would've killed you myself.

The system's updater was a sensible existence.

{Still, you aren't close to Blaine Sothsfield. It is necessary to keep an eye on her as well. How did you plan to get her to be in your debt?}

What do you think this is, dumb system?

If there were others Blaine was close to and spent most of her time with, I just had to get them away and make her rely on me instead.

I let her only have enough cores to get the both of us to a similar rank so that we could end up in the same dorm. We were already in the same class and shared a good connection. There was no better way to make her easy to use than this.

{And you gave the extra cores to Odis?}

I had no one else in mind.

“I look forward to the time in this dorm, Blaine,“ I said.

“What? Creepy.“

Tsk.

“Well,” she said. “Me too.“