Thankfully, there were still no instructors present, so Clay went to the cafeteria to quickly grab a bite before starting the day.
Clay found a table and reserved the other seats just in case Josh and the others would also head to the cafeteria.
'Eggs, ham, and beans for today's free meal, huh.' Clay gave an appreciative nod at the food choices.
Just as Clay was about to dig in, he saw Josh and the others arrive from the corner of his eye.
"Over here!" Clay stood up and waved at them.
Josh and the others spotted Clay quickly and headed towards him.
"Yo, you guys got here quick." Clay said as he ate a spoonful of beans.
"Yeah, we got here as fast as we can so we wouldn't be late for the announcements." Josh replied.
Clay nodded in response.
"We'll go get our food first so we can head back afterwards." Khael spoke as he stood up and went to get some food.
A few minutes passed and everyone finished and enjoyed their meal in record time.
The group then spent a few moments to rest their bloated bellies before heading back to the dormitories.
Once the group had arrived back at the dormitory ward, they noticed that there were substantially more people gathered around than before.
The students had all formed an orderly line in front of the instructors, there was also a line in front of a table which had a device that Clay assumed was a scanner for the uniform badge as it looked similar to the ones used at the cafeteria.
Their group observed things for a while as frankly, they had no idea what was going on, it seems that they didn't make it to the announcements.
Steve, being the extroverted person he is, approached one student and asked him what was going on.
"Hello, friend, may I ask what these lines are for?"
"Ah, you must be late, well, first, we have to line up here to be assigned our class. Then, once assigned, we line up in either Class C, B, or A. Class C s over there, B is there, and A is right there." The student explained, pointing towards the other lines.
"Ohh, I understand, thank's man."
Steve thanked the student before returning to Clay and the others.
"Okay, I got it, so basically it goes like this..." Steve recounted to the others what the student had told him earlier.
The group then lined up to get assigned to their respective classes.
They waited a while before it was Steve's turn to be assigned.
Holding his badge, Steve placed it on. the scanner.
Beep
Rafael, who was behind the table, spoke up after the beep.
"You have been assigned to Class A, please proceed to Class A's line."
Steve obliged.
It was Josh's turn after Steve and he was also assigned to Class A.
Clay was the same, assigned to Class A.
However, unfortunately, Khael was assigned to Class B, separated from the other three who were assigned at Class A.
Before long, everything was concluded and all students were now assigned their respective classes.
Charlot, the instructor who was in front of the students that were assigned to Class A, spoke up.
"Now that every Class has been sorted out, everyone will be further divided into 4 sections each Class. Students, follow the instructors leading your group and you will be guided to your sections."
"Class A, follow me."
Charlot turned and began leading the Class A students, which Clay, Josh, and Steve were a part of.
"Man, Khael didn't get assigned to our class." Josh sighed.
"Yeah, all three of us are already in the same Class, couldn't the academy spare one more slot for Class A?" Steve also sighed in agreement.
The two talked with each other to pass the time while walking, on the other hand, Clay was silently looking at the surroundings, mentally keeping note of every area they passed.
Clay was going to create a Tier 3 map of the academy so that he could finally return home and not worry about not being able to come back to the academy.
But first, he had to memorize the place so he could actually make the map.
'Speaking of which, I wonder what a Tier 3 map does, the first tier lets you see your 'destination' and the second tier lets you see and teleport directly to your 'destination', so I guess it would be related to that?'
Clay pondered about what the new tier would offer.
"We're here."
Snapping Clay out of his thoughts was Charlot's melodious voice.
"This is where the classrooms of all students in Class A would be. This area is divided into sections for 1st Years, 2nd Years, and 3rd Years respectively. The classrooms for first years would be on the left."
Students of varying year levels could be seen roaming around the halls, their group garnering attention from the other students as they were new faces in the academy.
Charlot continued leading the new students towards their classrooms.
"And here are your classrooms, you should be able to see lights guiding you to your section. Please proceed to your classrooms once you find them, we will begin classes shortly."
Charlot clapped once after explaining everything.
"Some of you guys here might even be my students, with that said, I wish you guys an enjoyable school year."
Charlot smiled as she began making her way to one of the classrooms.
Once Charlot took her leave, all the students who were previously listening quietly exploded into excited murmurs.
"Today marks the day where I, Derek Steinfield, will rise to become someone great!"
"The legend of Harry starts here!"
"I'll become the Hokage one day!"
Every student was excited at starting their new chapter in life.
Every student except Clay.
A while ago....
"Hey, Josh, where's your classroom?" Clay asked Josh once Charlot mentioned that they would be led to their classrooms which was already decided beforehand.
"It's over there, how about you?" Josh pointed towards the end of the hallway.
"Ah.... My classroom is... over here..." Clay turned to the Classroom on their right.
"Oh, looks like we aren't going to be in the same class then, hmm." Josh scratched his chin.
"How about you, Steve?"
"Hmm? I think me and Josh are in the same class." Steve replied to Clay.
"O-oh..." Clay felt his legs turn to jelly.
'Im going to spend a year in a room full of people I don't know?'
The thought made him nervous to no end.
It had to be noted that in Clay's whole life, he had made only one actual friend, Josh.
And that was in a village where basically everyone knew each other, where everyone's parent's had interacted with each other more than once.
And yet, even in that community, Clay had only made one friend.
And now he had to spend a few hours every day for a year in a room full of people he doesn't know?
He could handle talking one on one, but when there were groups involved? Yeah, no.
'This is gonna be rough for you future me' Clay grimaced.