Lyra followed the path indicated by the instructor.
The farther they moved from the intersection they had passed earlier, the fewer male participants she saw.
Meanwhile, the flow of female participants grew denser.
Ahead of them stood a building so massive that Lyra had to tilt her head back just to see the top.
G.I.M.A — FEMALE CADET DORMITORY
The building towered dozens of floors into the sky.
Its exterior was dominated by enormous glass panels and white stone structures decorated with thin golden metal lines.
Several open balconies were visible along the sides of the building.
Soft magical lights illuminated every floor.
A female participant beside Lyra looked up.
“…This is a dormitory?”
Her friend nodded.
“Looks like it.”
“It’s bigger than the hotel in my city.”
Lyra smiled faintly.
She hadn’t expected GIMA’s dormitory facilities to be this enormous either.
A senior instructor stood at the entrance.
“First-year female participants!”
“Prepare your registration cards!”
One by one, the participants presented their cards.
When Lyra handed hers over, a small panel appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
LYRA EVERHART
CADET — YEAR 1
DIVISION
RANGER DIVISION
DORMITORY
FLOOR 7
ROOM
7-24
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Lyra raised an eyebrow.
“Seventh floor?”
The instructor nodded.
“The elevators are on the right.”
“Your room assignments have already been determined by the system.”
“Each room has two occupants.”
“Make sure you proceed to your assigned rooms.”
Lyra nodded.
“Alright Sir.”
She took her card back.
The moment she stepped inside…
Lyra stopped.
“…Wow.”
The dormitory lobby was far larger than she had imagined.
The ceiling was incredibly high.
Crystal lights hung above the room.
Large sofas were arranged along several sides of the lobby.
In the center stood a small garden with a glowing tree.
On one of the walls, a large panel displayed the dormitory facilities.
COMMON LOUNGE
LIBRARY
TRAINING ROOM
BATHING FACILITY
MAGIC RECREATION AREA
CADET LOUNGE
Lyra stared at the list.
“This is really a dormitory?”
A girl behind her answered.
“If this is a hotel, I’m staying here forever.”
Lyra laughed softly.
“Agreed.”
The flow of participants then moved toward the elevators.
Lyra entered one with several other participants.
The doors closed.
“Floor seven.”
The elevator system spoke in a soft voice.
A few seconds later…
Ding.
The doors opened.
Lyra stepped out.
A long corridor stretched out before her.
Thick carpet covered the floor.
Crystal lights were embedded along the walls.
Each door had a room number and a small identity panel.
Lyra searched for her room.
7-20.
7-21.
7-22.
7-23.
Then…
7-24.
Lyra stopped.
She took out her registration card.
The panel on the door immediately lit up.
LYRA EVERHART
ROOM 7-24
Lyra tapped her card against it.
Click.
The door opened.
She stepped inside.
“…”
The room was far larger than she had expected.
Two beds stood on opposite sides of the room.
Each one had its own study desk.
A wardrobe.
A bookshelf.
A personal control panel.
There was even a small room at the back that appeared to be a private bathroom.
Large windows covered almost the entire side of the wall.
From there, Lyra could see the entire GIMA campus.
The academy towers.
The training grounds.
The stone pathways illuminated by magical lights.
And far below…
thousands of participants were still making their way toward their respective dormitories.
Lyra placed her bag down.
“This…”
She looked at her bed.
“…is better than my room back home.”
A voice came from the other side of the room.
“I was just about to say the same thing.”
Lyra immediately turned around.
A girl was standing beside one of the beds.
Her brownish-black hair was tied simply behind her head.
Her eyes were a light blue.
She was unpacking a suitcase.
When she realized Lyra was looking at her, the girl smiled.
“You’re Lyra, right?”
Lyra nodded.
“Yeah…”
The girl pointed toward the bed near the window.
“That one’s yours.”
Lyra looked at it.
“And you?”
“The other one.”
The girl walked closer.
“My name is Nora Bellamy.”
She held out her hand.
“Nice to meet you.”
Lyra shook it.
“Nora.”
“I know.”
Nora smiled.
“I noticed your name during the Crystal Resonance earlier.”
Lyra sighed softly.
“Ah…”
“Don’t tell me you saw my stats too.”
“Everyone saw them.”
Lyra laughed softly.
“True.”
Nora returned to her suitcase.
“You’re in the Ranger Division, right?”
Lyra nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Nice.”
Nora pointed toward the beds.
“So we’re in the same division?”
Lyra glanced at her registration card.
“Looks like it.”
Nora nodded in satisfaction.
“Thank goodness.”
“Why?”
“I was worried I’d get a roommate from another division.”
Lyra frowned.
“Why would that matter?”
“I heard room assignments are based on division.”
Nora closed her suitcase.
“If we were from different divisions, our training schedules could be different.”
Lyra nodded.
“Makes sense.”
Nora then looked at Lyra for a few seconds.
“So…”
“What?”
“Are you really Aether’s friend?”
Lyra was silent for a moment.
“Aether?”
Nora quickly nodded.
“The one whose name appeared in huge letters during the Crystal Resonance.”
Lyra smiled.
“Yeah.”
“What’s he like?”
Lyra thought for a moment.
“Quiet.”
“Seriously?”
“Sometimes.”
“And?”
Lyra looked toward the window.
“He’s actually pretty nice.”
Nora raised an eyebrow.
“Sounds like you know him pretty well.”
Lyra smiled faintly.
“Not for very long, though.”
She didn’t explain any further.
Nora didn’t press her.
She simply nodded.
“Alright.”
Then she threw herself onto the bed.
“At least I know my roommate has a famous friend.”
Lyra laughed.
“Don’t say it like that.”
“Why?”
“I don’t even know why he became famous.”
Nora chuckled.
“Then I guess we’ll find out over the next three years.”
Lyra nodded.
“Deal!”
The two of them fell silent for a moment.
Outside the window…
GIMA could still be heard.
Footsteps.
Instructors calling out.
Participants still searching for their rooms.
The academy lights glowing in the distance.
Lyra stood near the window.
Her first day.
She had just left Nareth.
She had entered the largest academy in the world.
She had been assigned to a new division.
She had a new roommate.
And somehow…
a new life.
Nora turned toward her.
“Lyra.”
“Hm?”
“For dinner, let’s go to the Grand Dining Room together, okay?”
Lyra smiled.
“Sure.”
“Good.”
Nora lay back down.
“Because I have no idea where the Grand Dining Room is.”
Lyra laughed.
“Neither do I.”
Nora remained sprawled across her bed.
A few moments later, she raised her head.
“Lyra.”
“Hm?”
“You said you haven’t known Aether for very long, right?”
Lyra, who was arranging a few things on her desk, turned toward her.
“Yeah.”
“How long?”
Lyra thought for a moment.
“A few weeks.”
Nora immediately sat upright.
“A few weeks?”
“Yeah.”
“And in those few weeks, he somehow got into the Special Division, has three S-rank parameters, and made the Crystal Resonance display the data of someone who disappeared a thousand years ago…”
Nora paused.
“…and you still say you haven’t known him for very long?”
Lyra laughed softly.
“When you put it that way, it does sound strange.”
“Is he actually strange?”
Lyra shook her head.
“Not really.”
“Then what?”
Lyra took a breath.
“He’s just… hard to figure out.”
Nora slowly nodded.
“Fair enough…”
She dropped herself back onto the bed.
“Now I’m curious what he’s like outside the arena.”
Lyra smiled.
“He’s more normal than you’d think.”
“That’s good.”
Nora patted the bed.
“Then let’s go find that normal person.”
Lyra frowned.
“The Grand Dining Room?”
“The Grand Dining Room.”
Lyra looked at the time on the wall panel.
“If we leave now, it probably won’t be too crowded yet.”
Nora immediately stood up.
“Let’s go.”
A few minutes later…
The corridor on the seventh floor was already much busier.
Female participants from various rooms were heading toward the elevators.
Some were still wearing casual clothes.
Others were carrying menu panels while discussing what they wanted to eat.
And from the direction of the stairs…
a group of Ranger Division girls walked by, laughing loudly.
“Hey, Nora!”
Nora turned around.
One of them waved.
“You guys going to eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Come with us!”
Nora looked at Lyra.
“What do you think?”
Lyra nodded.
“Sure.”
They joined the group.
Within just a few steps, their group had grown to seven people.
Most of them were girls.
One of them walked beside Lyra.
“You’re Lyra, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw your Crystal Resonance results.”
“Starshot.”
Lyra smiled.
“That’s right.”
“That’s really cool.”
“Thanks.”
Another girl immediately cut in.
“Don’t praise her too much. Her head might get too big.”
Lyra laughed.
“I won’t let that happen.”
“Not yet.”
“Hey.”
Small bursts of laughter echoed through the corridor.
Lyra looked around at them.
The Ranger Division was definitely lively.
And most of the girls seemed easy to get along with.
It didn’t take long before Lyra felt more relaxed.
They arrived in front of a large elevator.
The panel above the doors lit up.
GRAND DINING ROOM — FLOOR 1
The doors opened.
“Get in!”
Everyone began entering.
The elevator was much larger than an ordinary one.
Even after their entire group entered, there was still plenty of space left.
Lyra stood beside Nora.
The doors closed.
One of the girls tapped the panel.
“Grand Dining Room.”
The system immediately responded.
Destination Confirmed.
Lyra briefly wondered why the elevator wasn’t moving up or down.
Then—
WHOOOM!
The entire space inside the elevator seemed to lurch forward.
The scenery outside transformed into streaks of light.
In an instant…
everything stopped.
Arrival.
The doors opened.
Lyra blinked.
“…That was fast.”
Nora laughed.
“It’s teleportation.”
They stepped out.
And Lyra immediately fell silent.
The Grand Dining Room…
was far larger than she had imagined.
The ceiling towered high above them.
Hundreds of crystal lights illuminated the room.
Huge tables occupied almost the entire floor.
Dozens of cadets sat at each table.
Thousands of voices blended together into one enormous hum.
On the other side of the room, several second-year cadets were laughing together.
Farther away, a group of third-year cadets were seriously discussing their training.
Several couples sat close together at the corners of their tables.
And among all of that…
the first-year cadets were beginning to find their respective groups.
Lyra looked around the room.
“Wow…”
Nora smiled.
“So this is where we’ll be eating for the next three years?”
“Looks like it.”
They began walking with the Ranger Division group.
But before they reached their table…
Lyra accidentally spotted someone in the distance.
Silver-white hair.
Sitting at one of the tables.
Aether.
Lyra recognized him immediately.
She slowed down.
“Aether…”
Nora turned.
“Hm?”
Lyra pointed quietly.
“There he is.”
Nora followed her gaze.
“Oh.”
Aether was talking with several other cadets.
Sebas was sitting beside him.
And a red-haired girl was seated at Aether’s side.
Lyra smiled faintly.
At least Aether had already found somewhere to sit.
She raised her hand slightly.
“Aether!”
But at that exact moment…
a cadet walking in front of him passed through Aether’s line of sight.
Aether didn’t see her.
Lyra stopped.
Her hand slowly lowered.
Nora looked at her.
“You don’t want to call him again?”
Lyra shook her head.
“It’s fine.”
“Why?”
“He’s talking right now.”
Lyra smiled faintly.
“I’ll talk to him later.”
Nora shrugged.
“Alright.”
They continued toward the Ranger Division table.
Lyra glanced back one more time.
Aether still hadn’t noticed her.
She then turned her attention back to her group.
Their first night at GIMA…
was finally beginning to feel like the start of academy life.
HUFT..
FIRST NIGHT!