Chapter 7: Trial by Fire
Climbing back to the surface was like coming back to life. The daylight, even the somewhat dim light of the academy’s hallways, seemed incredibly bright after the darkness of the basement.
The hallways were empty. The other students were still in class.
"Perfect," Min-Soo said. "We have an hour to spare before the lunch break. Let’s go to the main terminal in the building to spend our points."
We went up to the ground floor. There was a large hall with several wall-mounted consoles. This was where important transactions were made.
Min-Soo went straight to a free console. I did the same.
"Open the course catalog," he instructed me. "Filter by ’Practical Combat’."
A long list appeared. Most of the courses were grayed out, with a note saying "Rank C required" or "Rank B required."
"Now, try to enroll in the ’Practical Combat - Fundamentals’ course," he said.
I clicked on it. A window popped up.
[Registration denied. Rank F insufficient.]
"Okay," said Min-Soo, who was looking over my shoulder. "Now, look at the bottom of the window. There’s a small option."
I saw it. It was written in tiny print: "Use Contribution Points for rank waiver."