Chapter 37: Velmordop East
Velmordop Public Secondary — East Campus. Or as the students call it, Velmordop East. Or just VPE if you’re lazy and hate syllables.
It’s big and f*cking old. It’s where the city dumps about half the teenagers who aren’t rich enough for a private license mill but still want to pretend they’ve got a shot at passing a Hunter qualification test someday.
Sitting smack in the mid-lower district of Velmordop, it’s the kind of place that looks decent from the front gate — big brick arch, city flag, a training gym with exactly three working punching bag that’s older than half the staff.
Affordable for working-class families, packed every semester, and it only takes basic zoning or a laughably easy entrance test to get in.
You could probably pass if you spelled your name right and didn’t punch the principal.
Its reputation? Ehhhh. Let’s just say that it’s not the worst, and most certainly not the best.
It’s not an elite hunter school, but the city’s hunter taxes keep the lights on and the gear lab stocked with dull practice swords that squeak like squeaky toys when they get bent.
It’s got this big, dumb divide: kids on the "Hunter Prep Track" strutting around like they’re two seconds from signing pro contracts, and the ones who aren’t, the normal academic kids just trying to survive until they can maybe land a Gate support job or a grocery gig that doesn’t suck.
Lanz? Oh, he’s technically "Hunter Track." Technically. But since he flunked his Awakening test so bad that he landed in the FFF zone, which was not his fault, he’s basically their walking punchline.
Almost everyone just calls him a cautionary tale, the mascot for "this could be you if you suck enough." Which was probably an honor for him... or not...?
Still, it could be worse. There’s Velmordop Public North — VPN — with its "tough kids" and half-broken lockers.
Or Velmordop Central Academy, the shiny semi-private one where all the spoiled inner district kids go to spread gossip and pretend they’re gonna be SS-rank legends next month. Talia used to go there before she peaced out, flipped the spoiled brats the bird, and transferred to Velmordop East.