Chapter 45: Food Station
For someone who had spent both lives in poverty, Jethro had never learned how to manage money— especially not around food, and especially not when faced with so many options at a buffet.
The abundance felt almost alien; he eyed the spread, torn between curiosity and frugality. After a moment’s hesitance, he exploded into action.
Jethro selected three ration bars, some grilled bird and actual-looking synth-vegetables to spice up the meal. There was sauce and omelet and so he added that too, before topping it all off with a box of sparkfruit juice. Once he got to the payment pad, his paycard flashed and the reader displayed the total: 15.00 Cr.
Jethro frowned. He hadn’t expected the food to cost that much, but there was no backing out now. With the payment done, he stuffed his paycard away, reminding himself he had to ration his credits if he wanted a shot at visiting a mechshop to buy stuff for Scorch’s evolution.
He turned just as Kekius and Oand finished with theirs. From his vantage, Jethro could see nearly the entire hall: students dressed in different garbs and colors, mingling, eating, talking, clustered into districts of years and Factions.
First-years— apart from the nobles like Jessamine and Eryn —were dressed more simpler and practical, and the mechbeasts by their sides were younger, mainly around Hatchling and Juvenile Stage.
The Second-years moved with more self-assuredness, showing more confidence in their clothes. They sported personalized cybernetic accents: glowing wristbands, reinforced boots and gauntlets, head gears, some even already had mods. Their beasts looked healthier, more alert, already past Adolescent and Mature Phases, and climbing to their designated grades within their established ranks.
Third and Fourth-years projected an air of seasoned competence, and rightfully so.
At this level, all of them had engaged in high level combat and cleared multiple Rifts. They wore custom gear: armored vests, holsters for aether guns and compact magic weapons, mods gleaming along skin and armor. Their mechbeasts were larger, having arrived at the Apex Stage, some of them had their mechbeasts tucked inside their Dimension Dens.
Dominating the far end were the Fifth-years. The Apex Tamers of Beastcorp Academy. The mods— for those who had —were more pronounced: some had cybernetic hands, half-mechanical faces, neon steel glistening on necks, wrists, jaws, shoulders, legs.