((I'm just going to move on to the tour. All questions that had been asked will be answered as if they'd already have. If you still have any more questions for the Q & A session, they will be in the past tense. If you have any questions during each section of the tour or if you just want to write in greater detail your characters' actions, please reference those sections as well. Shall we begin?))
Sometime earlier...
"I'm not asking to go around fixing holes and leaks my whole life, I'm asking if it would be possible to learn how to fix any holes or leaks that happen while I'm close by. Keep the mess I an' any I work with make to a minimum, ya know? As for adverse effects, since when was life completely safe?"
"bit shallow to assume that's all I want in life, isn't it? Shooting is a hobby of mine, but it isn't everything to me. I'm sure you know a bit about farming, and how there's pests that try to hurt or eat the animals and crops under your care."
"I'll hunt, that's not the question. It's more of "what is the next target", be it mental or physical."
"I understand, Metz," Madeline said, nodding.
"Good to have you on board. I trust that you're find no shortage of physical targets to keep you busy and perhaps mental ones to master. As for your offer of assistance: we could teach you how to repair tears in the near future. However, it's a complex process that will take a toll or your body and mind. Perhaps if you become stronger, we can ease you into the basics first and make our way up from there."As the headmaster talks about Jun's experience with foster care her body language tightens, and even though she tries to hide it it's evident that the subject is still a bit of a fresh wound. She slowly loosens up as Madeline talks more in depth about the nature of the Academy's predicament. At the end, she takes another minute to consider what she's learned, and then leans back in her seat. "Alright. I'm game." she says. "Just one last question: Are these things mandatory?" she asks, pulling at the collar of the school uniform shirt.
"You are required to wear your uniform while on these premises and during missions. You are representing Altera Vita Academy, after all. However, during school events where dress codes aren't enforced and while visiting places outside the academy when not currently on a mission, you may wear whatever you want," Madeline then smiled reassuringly.
"Of course, in the meantime, you have speak with our tailors if you wish to modify your uniform to your personal tastes, providing that its new look isn't too... revealing."Lemmy doesn't look impressed at the light show and the talk about how whatever you want in the world, the one and only solution to all your problems is right here. He also looks unimpressed by all the dewey-eyed people around him, behaving as if this is some kind of personal fulfillment.
"So we're all immortal here? Does that mean we can do whatever we want?"
"You certainly can, within reason of course and as long as you respect your fellow classmates," Madeline said cheerfully as she opened a golden scroll. Reading the contents, the headmistress frowned slightly before glancing at your chest. She sensed that unlike the other students there were no blob of spiritual matter within your chest.
"I see that you haven't activated your weapon assembling gem and your Psyche along with it. I could ask why but, telling by your expression, you either doesn't trust it or would rather remain normal."Pursing her lips, Madeline shook her head slowly in pity.
"A normal human usually won't survive very long in a fair, toe to toe fight with even the weakest of Contorted, Lemmy. That's how dangerous they are. There's no doubt that the Wall of Snark will become more acquainted with you than anyone else."Madeline paused before a wide smile stretched across her face.
"However, we'd seen how humans in every universe surpassed trials that would've broken lesser creatures. Despite having pathetic nails, shorter and blunter teeth, a relatively long gestation period, a puny sense of smell, poor night vision, slow running speeds, and frail bodies, humans have always overcame challenges using nothing but their ingenuity, tenacity, and the help of their fellow kin, Perhaps such things still apply here and no one tried it before? Either way, I have no doubt that you will make me proud, Lemmy. Now, any more questions, my dear student?"THE WALL is not pleased.
Well. THE WALL doesn't have that name yet, I don't think? THE WALL's just... well. Not sure what THE WALL is, really. Not really Karl anymore, what with the circumstances. Karl was a proper man's name. He was, quite obviously, not a man anymore. There were promises of glory, and of reward, and of fulfilment.
These were immaterial. There were two things which fulfilled THE WALL. Meaningful work, and TRUE AND EFFICIENT GERMAN ENGINEERING. And there seems to be a MAJOR OVERSIGHT HERE. A MAJOR BREACH OF EFFICIENT FUNCTION.
"Yes, Frau Goldenchilde, I have a question pertaining to what appears to be a slight oversight in that I appear to now be a small girl-child."
"Ah yes, of course you would want to know why you're a little girl...," Madeline summoned a scroll and unfurled it, reading the contents.
"... and not a strapping, luscious hunk of a man. Humanah humanah...<3 The headmistress is practically drooling as this point.
Noticing your expression, Madeline immediately regained her composure, clearly her throat.
"A-ah YES! The reason for you-your change of appearance is another effect of being transferred here. The idea is that since you've come here to basically get a second chance, a second life, your age and appearance, sometimes even gender, will change. Just think of it as essentially being reborn as a new person."Madeline then gave a sideways glance at Jun.
"Of course, it's extremely rare for someone to be reborn with the exact same age, appearance, and gender."
Presently...
Only she have finished answering all of the students' questions, Madeline clasped her hands together as she passed her gaze upon them.
“Now that this Q & A session is over, I can commence with the tour,” she said after taking a deep breath.
“Don't worry about the total volume of people I will be guiding; in addition to the ability to speak one-on-one with each of you simultaneously, I have the ability to form multiple mirror images of myself while I'm still inside Altera Vita. You must understand that this academy is a huge place, full of many sectors and the rooms they are comprised of. In fact, there are even many iterations of the same room, hence the thousands of auditoriums. However, I am the only one overseeing all of this so put two and two together and you'll get a headmistress who's all over the place, literally...”“...and almost everywhere at once!” came a sudden outburst of synchronized shouts. Looking frantically around, you find yourself surrounded by hundreds of Madelines, each standing next to a section of students. Each Madeline wore something different to differentiate her from her sister copies. The one standing next to you wore the same garb as the one on the stage but also donned a wide-brimmed summer hat.
“Don't be alarmed by them,” the Madeline on the stage continue with an impish smirk.
“They're just as cordial as I, provided that you don't attack them. At the very least, you'll survive their first hit, just barely, but I digress. Each of my images will guide your group to your assigned home sector and the facilities and amenities therein. You will be given codes to access whichever rooms you want to enter provided that they're not off limits. Once we've given you a tour, we will hand you two-part assignments. Once you complete the first part, the second part will come shortly. Enjoy your second life and good hunting.”With that, the headmistress and her Seraphim disappeared in a burst of gold, white, and black confetti and a loud pop. The Madeline, the one wearing the bonnet, turned to give you a grin. If one looks closely, they can slightly see through her.
“Now that that's over with, let the tour commence!” she said as she materialized a cyan scroll of shards. Several purple writings appeared on the surface as if by an invisible hand.
“Okay let's see, here are the students I will be guiding today...”Metx, Sully, Jun, Roland, Alicia the Entombed, Lemmy, MEDEA MAUR, THE WALL, Clint, and many other students are now part of Group 1000. Since Corvo is Roland's familiar, the both of them are counted as one person.
Tour Session 1: Amenities.
“First stop is the kitchen and dining room!” Summer Hat Madeline said cheerfully as she inputted the numbers into the rollers, making sure to inform your group of its code (1021). Soon enough, your entire group found yourselves inside a huge room filled with groups of round tables and chairs. Gold and mahogany wallpaper covered the walls, accented by rows of golden sconces that gave off a dim and relaxing light. Chandeliers that consisted of orbs of crystals locked in concentric orbits around a golden icosahedron hanged from the ceiling in a grid-like formation As the headmistress' copy guided your group through the room, most of the students breathed in awe as they gazed with starry-eyes at not just the impressiveness of the interior but its dimensions. After all, the room looks large enough to hold an entire football field.
Summer Hat them led you to a pair of doors at the other end of the dining area which opens to a huge kitchen lined with dozens of refrigerators, stoves, and other cooking appliances. She explained that the refrigerators are always stocked with the ingredients for whichever meals you want to prepare if you choose, just input a request through their HUDs. In case you are unable or unwilling to cook, she explained that someone will come to assist once you press a button near the door.
“Now that you're acquainted with the main kitchen and dining area for your sector,” Summer Hat Madeline said as she turned back to your group.
“It's time to show you the recreation area!”The recreation area (code 1022) is smaller than the dining area but was full of a variety of entertainment. From table games to VR gaming sets, the recreation room has everything for everyone. There was even two doors that led to two areas: one of them led to an indoor ball court and gym and the other even led to a smoking area.
“I trust that you already know about your dormitories, which is accessed using the code 1024, so the next place that I will take you is your sector's library, which will be the last part of our tour of the amenities,” Summer Hat Madeline said.
“Books are wonderful things, no? You have only to imagine yourself being there and you will be in the blink of an eye! Perhaps we are all characters living inside a grand story of adventure, blood, and triumph!”The library (code 1025) was absolutely massive. Shelves full of books tower three stories high and were accessed using floating platforms, some of which were being used by either students who'd been here longer than any of you or the librarians. To those of you who hate reading or found it useless, this was a place to be best avoided. However, to those who loved reading, this is nothing less that a slice of paradise.
“Now that you seen what we have to offer for your bloody business, do any of you have any questions?”
Tour Session 2: The Wall That Snarks.
After Summer Hat Madeline answered every question, she then brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“Now that we'd gotten the amenities out of the way, it's time to meet our long-time guest of honor! Sure, he's a bit of a… jerk but you'll warm to him, eventually.”Dialing the code (100) into the rollers, the mirror image and your group find yourselves floating in a starry expanse. However, instead of the pitch-black of space, the background was white and the 'stars' were grouped into swirls of colors. Finding that you can move in any direction by 'swimming', you followed Summer Hat Madeline to what appeared to be a giant silver wall ahead that stretched to unfathomable distances in both directions. Its surface was unbelievably smooth and polished. In fact, you can see your reflections on the wall. There were several epithets etched into the surfaces, some depicting the particularly gruesome deaths of the referenced people.
“Unlike the rooms we'd visited, this is one of the few is which only one version existed. You won't find another room like this. Even now, I suspect that the other groups are busy examining other portions of this wall.”Suddenly, the epithets parted, revealing a blank area that quickly became opaque. Before anyone could ask what's happening, a set of symbols appeared on the surface that looked something like this:
/(=_=)\.ooo(Hmmmm...)
Blinking in confusion, Summer Hat Madeline begin to ask tentatively,
“Is there anything wrong WOS?”The set of symbols moved around the wall's surface as if looking at each student before disappearing. A few seconds later, some words etched themselves into the surface, reading,
“-Not sure if I'm looking at walking corpses or future dead guys.-”As the students murmured among themselves, Summer Hat Madeline placed her hands on her hips and gave the wall a disapproving glare.
“Now, now, WOS, be nice! Please introduce yourself to these new students.”The words disappeared, only to replaced by more which read,
“-Yo, I'm the Memorial Wall, a.k.a. 'the Wall of Snark. When you spiritual bags of guts croak for the umpteenth time, your name will appear on my surface along with how you bit the dust and who or what did the dirty deed. You can revisit me anytime to peer over your novel-worthy epithets and mayyyybe have a chuckle or two.-”“It's our understanding that humans are fond of dark comedy, usually concerning death,” Summer Hat Madeline added, raising a finger.
“Most students do in fact enjoy the Wall of Snark's company.”“-Like maggots on a putrid corpse, they just can't get enough of me,-” the Wall of Snark continued.
“-What's with the look? Surely you didn't think that any of this was going to be family-friendly? You obviously wanted this sort of life after the real Madeline broke it down for you to understand or you would've asked to be transmigrated by now. She never lies, after all.-”Some of the students looked disgusted at the WOS's antics. It wouldn't be far from the truth to say that they are seriously considering wanting a way out of this life. Others; however, looked on with interest, even anticipation some might say.
“An excellent use of the WOS's… specialty is finding out who killed you. Let's say that you're in the middle of a mission and suddenly something takes you out in one hit before you can determine who. Let's say that you're fuming in the medical area, thinking that an enemy killed you. However, if you go back to the WOS and ask to see your epithet, you may find out that, for example, that it was actually one of your fellow students who'd attacked you for a perceived slight. Unless your attacker finds a way to hide their deed from even the WOS, their name will always appear on his surface.”“-Hah!-” the WOS 'scoffed'.
“-People will have a better chance smuggling a demon into Altera Vita from the Tartarus Realm than fooling my skills!-”Turning to the students, Summer Hat Madeline rocked on the heels of her feet.
“Right… Anyway, do any of you have any questions?”“-Don't bother asking whether you'll truly be remembered, meatbags. I have plenty of space on my body just for you!-”
Tour Session 3: Revive, Repair, Redeploy.
The next area (code 1026) looks for all intents like a medical wing with enough rooms to fill a big city hospital. One half of the Medical Section as it was called was full of hospital beds, each surrounded by strange equipment and machines. Here is where seriously injured students will be placed to be mended by the machines with replacement tissues and organs made from their tissue samples, which Summer Hat Madeline instructed them to give. By her estimate, even the more heavily damaged student will spend no more than 25 hours being mended to full health.
The other half contained full-body nutrient vats for when the students do die in combat. According to Summer Hat Madeline, special recovery soul link machines will retrieve each slain student's Soul, which contained all of the student's memories, activated or unactivated Psyche, conscious, and skills and put it in a cloned spiritual body for the student to take control of and leave to go back into battle or get stronger. Due to the current rate and capacity of the machines and vats, each student can only use up a maximum of three bodies before they have to wait for them to be completely refreshed each day. Each vat room contains lockers full of spare uniforms for the students to wear once they returned. Summer Hat Madeline pointed out that although all of the students' items are also retrieved a few minutes after death, it's possible for more intelligent enemies or even your fellow students to take the items after breaking the soul seal. However, your weapon, if any, cannot be taken away as it has literally become a part of your Soul.
The next area visited was called the War Room (code 101). Showing holographic maps of local areas and a huge globe of the Animus Realm itself, with Altera Vita Academy being represented as a golden cube for some reason, the War Room also has doors leading to teleporters, which can send you anywhere in the Animus Realm. Near each teleporter were dozens of bracelets with numbers that matched those of the teleporter itself. Named Beacons, each of these bracelets enable the teleporter to zero in on the general location of the other wearers in the field, allowing team mates who died or got pulled out to rejoin their team quickly. As long as at least one student is still alive and is still wearing their Beacon in the field, they can get reinforced easily.
“Now that we toured the places where you will no doubt be seeing a lot,” Summer Hat Madeline said with a wry smirk.
“Any questions you would like to ask?”
Last Tour Session: The Triumvirate of Ass-Kicking.[/center}
After asking the last of the questions, Summer Hat Madeline rubbed her hands in anticipation.
“Now here comes the end of the tour and the meaty part of your life as a student fighting for the safety of the Animus Realm and of Aetheria as a whole. If you forget everything I'd showed you then please at least remember this: no matter how many times you get turned inside out by a Contorted or get killed in multiple ways, you must aim to get better. How you solve your problems is ultimately up to you. Whether you favor slamming yourself against the enemy's defenses harder each time until it finally breaks or find some other, even unconventional, way to make them fall, the Academy will provide you with the resources and materials to aid you in your endeavors. However, Altera Vita believes in giving each student a chance to experience the satisfaction of overcoming adversity so please expect minimum hand holding at best from us. Some of you may decide that this is too much for you and may wish to transmigrate to whatever fate awaits you. You may do so at anytime you wish. However, if you choose to stick with us to the very end then we will very much appreciate it. Now, let us continue.”The first area toured was the Education Nexus (code 1027). Unlike a normal room, a nexus has exclusive access to specific rooms connecting to them. Instead of a set of rollers on a dais in the middle of the room, a nexus has a holographic screen where a desired destination can be accessed by either typing it on the screen or speaking its name. In the Education Nexus' case, the user will be teleported to a classroom that teaches the skill and recipe of their choice. Due to the time-warping nature of Altera Vita, it's possible to take weeks worth of classes within a single regular day. Depending on how well they do, they can master whatever skill or recipe they were working on within a regular day or even spend days mastering a low level ability.
Summer Hat Madeline then directed the students to a shrine-like structure in a corner. On the platform was five smooth stones that showed symbols of different animals and mythical creatures of different colors: a coiled azure dragon, a vermilion bird in flight, a dancing yellow dragon, a roaring silver tiger, and a walking black tortoise. She then explained that each represented what she called castes. Specialized in certain areas of expertise, a caste member can perform certain actions easier than others and gain access to exclusive abilities. Only she explained the details of each caste, Summer Hat Madeline stood back and watched as everyone except Lenny chose which caste resonated well with them. As each person picked up a stone and held it closer to their heart, the stone melded itself with their Soul, changing them from the inside out. Once it was finished, the symbol matching with that of the stone they 'consumed' flashed for a few seconds on their foreheads before fading back to nothingness. A few seconds later, an extra stone materialized on the platform, replacing the one the student took. Once the students received the essence of their castes, Summer Hat Madeline continued the tour.
The next area toured was the Great Workshop (code 1028). A massive workshop filled with all manner of machines and flasks and an unlimited supply of materials, the Great Workshop has everything a potential crafts-person can ask for. Utilizing recipes they previously learned in class or found outside, a student can concoct or manufacture whatever they want to their heart's content. However, the extent of their personal skills can mean the difference between a glorious success and a ruinous accident.
The final area toured was the Esoteric Laboratory (code 1028). Here, students can research new ways to improve their Psyche, provided that they'd activated it in the first place. They can also research powerful buffs and debuffs known as Totem Charms, which can be applied to any Totems they crafted earlier. They can also research items they found here, to uncover their capabilities and their secrets. Throughout each area toured, Summer Hat Madeline gave the student a
brief education on how each activity worked and how they can be improved and utilized.
“Now that we'd finished the tour, any questions you would like to ask before I give you your first half of the assignment?” Summer Hat Madeline asked.
Beginner's Assignment, Part 1
Once she answered the last question, Summer Hat Madeline clasped her hands together, barely able to contain her excitement.
“Oh this is going to be so good! You all must be very excited, no? Well I am and I'm not even a student!”Composing herself as best as she could, Madeline cleared her throat.
“Anyway, now for the first part. You may begin attending classes, crafting items, and researching Perks for your Psyche and Totem Charms in whichever order you see fit. Just remember that you must learn recipes first before you can craft them and you must craft a Totem first before putting any Charms on it. Once you successful complete at least five of these activities then I will take you to the second half of your assignment. Any questions you would like to ask?” 
Author
Topic: (IC)Altera Vita Academy- A Red Day (Read 22383 times)