4 .Cube..

Today is the day I start my classes at Cube. After washing up, I changed into the Cube uniform. Cube was the world's greatest training institute that boasted state-of-the-art magic, science, and engineering. It was located in the East Sea on a huge artificial island twice the size of Yeouido. [1] This huge area contained 5000 hero cadets, of which 1300 were first years. Although 2000 non-combatants graduated 2 weeks ago, elite cadets from all over the world would replace them and further increase the competition. In a sense, this place could be considered too harsh to be a proper home for 17-19 year olds. Starting from the second year, magicians who wanted to become heroes would also transfer from the National Magic University, adding another 200-300 cadets.

Furthermore, Cube also included training instructors, cafeteria ladies, store workers, cleaners, recruiters, government associates, engineers, security, doctors, and researchers who all took care of the cadets. All these individuals added up to a total population of around 50,000.

Oscar could be considered an elite as a Cube cadet. His destiny should be detached from the main storyline since I didn't read about him.

As the 'Portal Station' is a bit far from my apartment, I decided to leave now. Cool breeze passing by me.

When passing through the portal, a strange feeling enveloped my body, but only for a moment. Although in the novel nothing is ever said about someone getting sick going through the portal, this is kind of a cliché. A few meters away from the Cube portal station, there is a bus stop, which passed every 10 minutes. I had to wait about 5 minutes for a bus to arrive. He looked quite luxurious.

At the end of the comfortable ride, I thank the driver and make my way to my class room.

I sighed in front of the classroom door.

[Novice – Veritas]

Novice referred to first year cadets, while Veritas was our class name. Simply put, I was in year 1 class 1. I knew that it's the same class as MCs. Did anyone have any doubts that I would go to another class?

"Huuu."

I carefully opened the door after collecting my breath.

The interior looked sleek and clean. White with no sign of dust and three long desks cascading up. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘪𝘵? I looked around and found Shin Jonghak in the farthest back seat. He seemed imposing with his closed eyes and hands in his pockets. Yoo Yeonha, chattered next to him. Kim Horak and a few more followers that were not described in the novel.. They didn't pay any attention to me. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘒𝘪𝘮 𝘏𝘢𝘫𝘪𝘯?

Tracing my gaze around I find Kim Suho sitting on the bench ahead. I've only seen him in videos on the internet, as I couldn't watch his fight against Jonghak in person. He's more handsome in person, it's okay for you to make a handsome main character, but what's the need for him to be so perfect?

I sat at the edge of the side row. I looked straight ahead . A screen projected holograms instead of a chalkboard. I couldn't help but sigh as I looked at it. Currently, it was 8 A.M and class would begin at 8:30. I looked at the door. It was the time Kim hajin should come. 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨.

After some time the instructor enters the classroom through the front door, he enters silently and heads towards the podium, the students who noticed his entrance were quiet, but for those who were distracted...

"Now!"

A thunderous voice shout up. The instructor stood behind the podium.

"Today's the first day, so there won't be any special training. But I hope all of you did your morning training. You can never go wrong with training in the morning when mana is most dense."

"Now, let's start with self-introductions. I'm Kim Soohyuk, the instructor in charge of all of you for the year."

I vaguely recalled his name.

"My national rank is 3850. World rank 9737. By the association's classification, I am a high-intermediate rank, grade 5 hero."

The students' eyes lit up. That was understandable. Only around 2 million heroes existed in the world, so rank 9737 meant he was quite skilled.

"That's enough for my introduction."

Kim Soohyuk grinned at the students' reactions.

"The first day will be special. You may not have slept due to excitement and worry, or maybe you are feeling good about being able to improve even more. Heh, maybe you're happy to see your crushes again."

The cadets began to laugh. But the instructor froze his expression severely.

"But Cube is not the same as before. I promise you that there will be no time for relationships. In Cube, you will experience various real combat situations. Look forward to experiencing true fear."

After a roguish smile, he starts to explain how things work here.

"Cube is objective. The only indicator of success will be your grade. That'll be the only thing that guilds look at, so we will grade you accurately and strictly. You will be held back if you underperform. Statistically, less than half of Cube cadets graduate without repeating a semester. Even then, you can only be held back up to 2 years. Any more than that and you will be expelled. If you can't become a hero, you can become an agent or a mercenary. I take it that's not what you want."

The instructor scanned the students' faces after giving them a scare.

"I see a few familiar faces."

I did too. Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun, Rachel, and Yi Yeonghan.

These 6 were the important characters I spotted. 𝘒𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘫𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨. Shin Jonghak sat with Yoo Yeonha. Kim Suho and Chae Nayun sat apart since they considered each other rivals. Princess Rachel sat alone while Yi Yeonghan sat behind Kim Suho.

" I repeat. At Cube, you will confirm what you've learned until now and hone your skills in battle. There will be no easy training here. Remember that."

With that, Kim Soohyuk announced the day's activity.

"Prepare yourselves. Our schedule today won't take long. The first task is to select your main weapon."

***

"Any weapon you can think of should be here."

"Stand in front of your chosen weapon. We'll supply you with the training weapons, but don't underestimate them. Their market prices go for 5 million won each."

There were all sorts of weapons, more than I could've ever imagined. The 100 students of Veritas each stood in front of their chosen weapon.

Swords and spears were the most popular. Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak stood in front of a sword and a spear respectively. Seventy percent chose one of the so-called holy trinity of weapons: the sword, the spear, and the saber. On the other hand, Yoo Yeonha chose the whip, Chae Nayun chose the bow, and Rachel chose the rapier.

However, I choose a shield, even when having a long history it's not that famous choice for main weapon. This was my only choice. I couldn't use any other weapons. Even if Oscar had talent. If you say why i didn't choose a gun, 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰 𝘒𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘫𝘪𝘯.