Clubs, one of the most important parts of the academy.
On the surface, they were merely just places where students could gather and pursue activities together.
The rock climbing club, the nature walk club, the botany club. All clubs where students could enjoy their downtime and maybe learn a few things on the side.
There were a few stand out clubs however, clubs that aimed to gather talents in advance. The stereotypical academy stuff yadda yadda.
The Sky Soaring club, a club aimed on helping talents advance as far as they could. With a history spanning nearly the entire academy along with lots of funding and help from past graduates of the academy.
The New Elites club, a club that wanted to bring together future leaders, guild masters, anyone who would be important in the future. Basically a social circle for only the rich and the powerful.
The Mages For Life club, a club for mages. Simple as that, a club that consisted entirely of mages and anyone studying anything magical.
The Dungeon Camping club, a club focused on living and camping within dungeons. A necessary skill for many awakened who planned on becoming heroes.
Finally, the Fight Club. This was the club for anyone who enjoyed fighting, namely people like Zachary.
And right now, the presidents of each of the five clubs were sitting with Raymond. Each with their own offer to Raymond.
Each student could theoretically join as many clubs as they wanted as long as the student and the club were fine with it.
Many students would choose a few core clubs and then a few extra clubs mainly for the fun or experience.
The problem was that each of the five clubs were all essentially core clubs, with nearly weekly meetings, activities and programs.
Even if Raymond joined all of them he would be absolutely swamped with stuff to do!
Not that Raymond was interested in any of the clubs.
"Yeah sorry not interested in any of your clubs."
"I knew it, I'll be taking my leave now then. See you all later."
Quincy chuckled, he was the president of the Dungeon Camping club. Seeing Raymond's disinterest in joining any clubs—he stood up from his seat and left.
She raised her eye at his statement, "Hold on Raymond, I think you'll be interested in what we have to offer. You're a mage after all, support from us could massively help you! We have contacts with the mage association, knowledge on almost all types of magic and more. Surely you know how crucial stuff like this is?"
If Raymond was a mage he might have accepted their offer but who was he?
'I'm the goddamn Archmage! The hell do I need help from you guys for?'
Even if they offered their best knowledge Raymond honestly couldn't care.
From his perspective, it was like little children bragging about doing multiplication by simply summing everything together.
Sure it worked but it was also incredibly backwards!
"Like I said, why would I need help from a bunch of people like you all? No offense but honestly none of you guys could help me with anything actually important."
The important thing naturally being Raymond recovering his strength. Unless it was some sort of godly elixir it wouldn't help Raymond much.
This dimension was just too backwards for him.
She sighed, "Raymond, I get that you feel very important with your high potential score and guaranteed future but you can't deny how important stuff like this is!"
Waving her off, he finished his first plate and moved on to the next. "Like I said, thanks but no thanks."
She threw her hands up in frustration, "Fine then! But just so you know our club is always open for you."
Another one gone, leaving only three others.
The first guy, the muscular red hair guy looked at him silently for a bit. "Raymond, I'm sure you know our club well. Are you really not interested in joining? We can offer you help in much more things then just magic. The Sky Soaring club only wishes to help people with talent soar."
The Sky Soaring club definitely seemed nice at first glance, except for the fact that the vice president was literally a demon contracter! Upon seeing Zachary and the groups talent, he literally started planning on killing them the moment he saw them!
Raymond wanted a comfortable life, and the best way to achieve that was to not get involved with stuff like that!
Seeing Raymond's insistence on not joining, he sighed. Shaking his head slightly, "Suit yourself then, but our offer still stands if you ever change your mind."
And another one gone. That left only two others at the table. The presidents for the New Elites club and the Fight club.
"Raymond, I think you have talent for fighting! With our help we can help your talent to bloom!"
The president of the fight club, a tall blue haired guy—waved his hands in desperation.
"Not interested in fighting sorry."
The Fight club was an automatic no for Raymond, Raymond wanted a comfortable life!
He wasn't some kind of fighting brute (such as Zachary) who only enjoyed fighting and training!
He pleaded, "How could you not enjoy the thrill of battle! The rush! The excitement! The adrenaline!"
From an outsiders view, all they could see was this man with his hands clasped. Begging for Raymond to join.
It was weird how someone so strong like him was so earnestly pleading for Raymond to join. But Raymond already knew why.
'This guy just wants to fight me is all!'
What other motive could a fighting brute like him have?
Standing up, he put his hands into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper—handing it to Raymond.
"If you don't want to join the Fight club that's fine. Here's my personal number, if you ever wish to spar or ask for help then just call me."
Putting it into a pocket, Raymond nodded at him. Excuses on how he lost the paper already forming in his mind.
With him gone, that left only one final enemy for Raymond to face.
"Let me guess, you're also not interested in joining my club right?"
He had been quiet the whole time, his legs crossed with his eyes closed as he patiently waited for all the other club presidents.
"Yup, I'm not really interested in becoming a sycophant for some rich bastards who don't even know a lick of how my magic works. And I'm definitely not interested in letting others lick my boots."
He smirked at that, "Well you're not wrong about that, but I promised my vp that I would make you an offer. Anyways, if you join our club we promise to give you access to a lot of our resources—funding, items and most importantly connections. The New Elites club has lots of connections with lots of important people and we can really help you progress up the social ladder."
Raymond waited for him to finish his offer, which sounded like a pre-memorized offer if anything and shook his head.
"Sorry, not interested."
He nodded in understanding, standing up. "I'll take my leave then, just like the others. If you want to join in the future, we'll leave a place open for you."
Finally! Raymond was alone now and could eat in peace!
For about two minutes.
"Were you guys just waiting for them to leave to bother me as well?"
Ellen smiled slyly, "It seemed like you had it handled already and oh wow this tastes really good."
Sliding over one of Raymond's desert plates, she took a spoon and started eating from it.
Raymond nearly used his magic to return it to him, "Ellen, there is an ENTIRE table filled with the exact same stuff. All magically preserved to taste as if they were freshly made. So why the hell are you taking mine?"
"It tastes better when I know I didn't have to work for it—and it tastes even better knowing I took it from you."
...Raymond didn't even want to bother with her anymore.
Turning to the other two who also sat down, he asked. "Then what do you two want with me?"
Thomas tilted his head, "I thought we agreed to meet up after the examination? I even brought Zachary. "
"Yeah! We agreed to meet up didn't we?"
Raymond had almost forgotten. Thomas, Zachary and Arthur were a trio, you couldn't have one without the other two.
Although seeing how Arthur wasn't with them, he was probably off doing whatever he could to raise as much chaos.
Nearly palming his face, Raymond said. "Guys, you said in the academy. It hasn't even been more then two hours since the exam just ended and we were all fighting each other."
"It doesn't matter! One fight is enough to be friends for life! We've been through so much together we have to be friends now!"
Seeing his big goofy innocent smile, Raymond wondered how people even read his novel with a protagonist like this. Then he remembered the countless edits he had made.
"We haven't even met each other until today! I fought you twice, twice! That's all?? Shouldn't you be friends with like twenty other people by that logic?"
He waved his hand slightly, "That's different, they were all weak! But you're strong!"
"If it weren't for my generosity, you wouldn't even be sitting here with us right now." Raymond replied.
Resigned, he grabbed his other desert plate that was still free from Ellen and began digging in.
The sweetness of everything seemed to magically melt away all of his stress. Shivering slightly, he closed his eyes and savored the taste.
It was a bit hard to ignore the two in front of him speaking so loudly though—and every time Raymond tasted his desert he couldn't help but remember the plate Ellen took from him...
Licking the cream right off the spoon, he sighed to himself.
'Was entering the academy really the right choice?'