Chapter 60: Fighter’s.Inc
Fighter’s.Inc
The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully, which was strange as Mike had been certain he would get jumped at least twice by students who felt like he shouldn’t have been there.
The last three classes had more or less the same. Mike had made some progress with his Energy Pathways and ensuring that the energy that flowed through the openings near his skin didn’t leak and go to where it shouldn’t have.
As for their instructor, Alice, she hadn’t reused anything throughout the session, though, her staring hadn’t changed.
His last two classes had also gone okay. They were still largely theoretical with bits of practical sessions here and there. His classmates found it boring, but Mike was soaking up the knowledge like a sponge. It was like he was starved of proper knowledge his entire life, and now that it had appeared, he was absorbing everything he came across.
But alas, the classes eventually ended, and Mike was free to do what he wanted until the next day.
As soon as classes ended, Mike went to the front of his dorm room where he found Theresa waiting for him.
"Ready to go?" She asked, and Mike just nodded.
As for where they wanted to go? Well...
After learning about the existence of Fighter’s.Inc, Mike had become incredibly interested, and Theresa noticed. So she suggested that they go after classes ended.
The two of them soon fell in stride with each other, and they started heading towards the building that held the pods meant for the platform.
"So, how exactly does it work?" Mike asked as they walked, and Theresa briefly glanced at him.
’He looks... brighter than before. Which is strange, seeing as 80% of our grade hates him.’ She thought, seeing his bubbly behavior. Regardless, she answered.
"Once you get into a pod, it will require you to briefly manifest your ability so that it can be scanned. That is, if you don’t already have an account, and if you don’t have an ability. For the latter, that’s usually where civilians or military personnel without abilities register. Once that is done, you make your profile, which is just how you will look on the platform, your username, and password to log into your account." She explained briefly, and Mike nodded slowly.
’Huh... wait, in that case, can it scan my Lupine traits? But that technically isn’t an ability. Hm.’ He frowned slightly.
"Won’t the people who control the platform be able to see what abilities people have, then?" Mike asked. If a simple scan could give people details of his ability, then that would be a bit of a problem.
Granted, most of the higher-ups in the school probably already know the details of his ability after the entrance test he took. So his worries were a bit redundant. Still, he felt a bit uncomfortable at the notion.
"Oh, yeah don’t worry." Theresa shook her head. "While it was created by the Arkwright Family, it is technically managed by all the Apex families together. And one thing they aren’t fans of is exposing the abilities of their members to each other... or people in general. So they figured out a way to circumvent that. I don’t know the details, but basically every account has its own sort of memory storage that can’t be hacked into, not even by other members of the Arkwright, so the full details of your ability will be stored safely." She explained, and Mike felt his worries get eased a little.
He wasn’t wholly convinced, as he wouldn’t be surprised if there was some sort of backdoor they could use, but he had no way of telling, so he took what he could get.
The two of them continued chatting on the way, and Mike learned that Theresa already had an account, though, she hadn’t used it in a while. He also learned that there were rankings on it, though, they were extremely hard to get on, and they didn’t exactly offer many benefits other than clout.
Eventually, the duo reached a large building located some ways away from the central part of the Academy. It was large and rectangular with a simple design. Despite this, though, many people were going in and out, and this time, Mike barely saw anyone from their grade.
It was mostly seniors, and the number of people leaving and entering revealed just how popular this place was.
Mike felt a little strange at the lack of disdainful gazes, and most people here didn’t even spare him a glance, but before he could ruminate on it, Theresa took his hand and led him inside.
Upon entering, Mike was faced with a large lounge filled with students chatting and watching various holographic screens with interest, and when Mike looked at said screens, he saw them showing various fights going on between people. Some were 1 V 1 fights, others were duos, trios, and entire team battles.
There was also a counter with numerous staff members attending to those who entered. Mike saw the people who entered with them going to said counter to pay for something, and he assumed that was how he would be able to enter the platform.
"We’ll pay for a certain duration and then get into the pods." Theresa explained as she led him to the counter, Mike trailing along obediently. The person who met them was a staff member who Mike realized was an older student as his attire looked like a mix of the school uniform and a suit.
’Anything for the credits huh?’ Mike smiled to himself. The grind could not be halted regardless of what year one was in, it seemed.
"Good evening. I’m assuming you’re here to log into the Fighter’s.Inc?" The student asked, his tone professionally polite.
"Yeah. 3 hours for the two of us." Theresa said simply and the guy nodded.
"That will be 90 credits each." He explained and the duo also nodded.
They both quickly paid and then he proceeded to forward an alarm to their watches.
"This alarm will work even while inside, so when your time is about to end, it will tell you." He explained.
"What happens if we run out of time during a fight? Do we automatically forfeit the fight or what?" Mike asked.
"If you run out of time during a battle, you will be removed as soon as the fight ends. So that will be your last fight." He continued to elaborate.
Mike asked a few more questions, and the student answered them all patiently. Sadly, Theresa dragged him away before he could keep asking questions.
The two of them went into another part of the building. It was a large room that was lined with sleek silver pods. They sort of resembled the healing pods in the infirmary, but they were a bit bigger and weren’t transparent. So whatever went inside wouldn’t be visible.
On the wall above each pod, there was a small automated sign, and most of them had the word ’Occupied’ on them written in red. But a few had ’Vacant’ written in green.
The two of them went to the closest vacant pods, and Mike scratched his head.
"How do we get inside?" He asked, and Theresa just showed him her watch before positioning it near the right side of the pod. It hit scanned, a it slid open to reveal a space large enough for someone to lay inside comfortably.
A look of understanding appeared on his face, and Mike repeated the action. Sure enough, he felt his watch buzz, and the pod slid open.
He was about to get in when Theresa called out.
"By the way, when you create your account, go to the friend section and search for Artemis_Ignis. That’s my account name." She explained, and Mike nodded, guessing that was how he’d find her when he created an account.
He got into the pod and was surprised by how comfortable it was.
’I could just fall asleep in here.’ Mike thought as he subconsciously relaxed.
When he did, he saw something akin to a visor get lowered on his face by thin mechanical arms. He felt no danger, so he let it happen. As such, his eyes were covered, and he slowly felt his senses get pulled, which, admittedly, was a bit unnerving, but he decided to trust the process as his vision gradually faded.
It was only for a moment, though, as his vision returned swiftly, but when it did, he was no longer in the pod.
Instead, he found himself in a blank white room.
He blinked and looked around. However, there were no openings or anything of the sort. It truly was just a blank white room.
However, Mike felt a bit weird.
It was faint, but he could still somewhat feel his body inside the pod. Which was odd as he could also sense his body here. But despite his real body feeling faint, it felt more ’real’ than his body here.
Moreover, he could tell that this place wasn’t real. He couldn’t explain why, but his senses and instincts let him know that it wasn’t real.
He stared at his hands for a moment, then he called out.
"System." He was a bit nervous about whether his helper would be able to appear here or not, however.
[Yes host?] Mike let out a relieved sigh.
’Okay, you’re still here. So, what do you think? Can I do everything here that I can outside?’ He asked in his mind.
[Had it been on your lonesome, no. This construct has no way to detect your Lupine traits and the associated skills. However, the System was able to interfere and allow it to be such.] It explained, and Mike was pleasantly surprised.
’That’s... actually very useful.’ Mike thought and clenched his fists. Then, a holographic screen appeared in front of him, and this time, it wasn’t his system.
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