First day at the academy [1]

Waking up, I was lying in a soft bed in a small apartment. Knowing that I was already at the academy, it didn't take long for me to figure out that this was my living quarters. It was a small apartment, the living room also being the bedroom as well housing a small kitchen area. It had pretty much all I needed to live; Wardrobes, a desk with a laptop already set up, and a small bathroom with a shower.

Making my way to the wardrobe, I withdrew a set of some casual black training wear and put it on, which consisted of a black hoodie and black trousers which fit somewhat snuggle around my thin body.

I had already gotten enough experience with my body that I knew that my physique was smaller than average... By a lot... Still, I knew that I had made the right choices. The biggest demerit to my manual was the immense amount of mana needed, as well as the necessary agility to free up my movement.

Having dressed up, I noticed that other than the front door and the bathroom, there was another door in the apartment.

As I opened it up, I was met by an amazing sight. It was a full-sized practice room, the floor made of hardened black rubber and the walls completely white, just like the ceiling carrying a lot of lights which illuminated the room as soon as I stepped in.

On the side was a weapon rack filled with all kinds of different weapons. All kinds of different swords, spears, maces, and many more. Unfortunately, the weapon of my choice was not among them.

'Guess I'll have to ask a teacher if I can borrow one...'

Suddenly, a robotic voice rang out in the room.

*Greetings Mr. Jackson. This is your personal practice room which is fully controlled with voice commands. If you want to know about the specific commands, please read the manual that will drop in 3...2...1...*

*Thud!*

A small pamphlet fell from the ceiling and I quickly picked it up and read through it. Just like the robot had said, it contained the necessary voice commands to set the practice room, mostly consisting of the different dummies that could be brought out.

'This is great! That means that I can keep my training a secret from everyone else!'

It could be said to be obvious, but I didn't want anyone to know about my Manual as its potency lay in the secrets and surprises it brought.

I exited the room as I didn't want to practice with a weapon that wasn't the weapon I was going to use and sat down on my bed again.

"[Double Trouble]"

My body split in two and another James emerged before me, also sitting on the bed. My vision split in two, just as if I was playing a game with a split screen. "I assume you know what I want you to do?"

The James in front of me sighed, or rather I sighed, or he sighed... I am not really sure...

"Haaaa... Of course I know. Why are we talking to ourselves anyway? We are one person you moron!"

"What did you say?! You are the moron!"

"Yes, I am. Because we are one individual, you idiot!"

As both of me were frustrated with the never-ending banter, I chose to quit being stupid and made my way out of the room with my clone to find a teacher and ask about my weapon. Simultaneously my main body started to try and meditate in an attempt to gather mana.

The god had already told us that the two ways to strengthen one's mana were to either find enlightenment in battle or to meditate, thus I got to it. This was the first thing that I found incredibly efficient about my chosen manual. While my clone was out doing stuff, like fighting or attending class, I could let my main body cultivate.

As I (clone James) left the apartment I was met by a long hallway filled with doors to other students' rooms. It didn't take long for me to find the way to the exit, which was accompanied by a lounge filled with chairs and tables. The whole building appeared to have been built with some kind of white stone, very similar to marble. 'The Ainu Academy is pretty rich, I guess...'

In the lounge, there was a reception with a single brown-haired lady running it. Walking up to her, I started my mission.

"Excuse me, lady."

Turning her head up from the papers she was working on, she met my gaze head-on. Fortunately, it seemed like we were almost the same height, with her just being a couple of centimeters taller, so she didn't have to look down in order to see me.

"Yes? Do you need something Mr...?"

"Jackson, James Jackson. And yes, is it possible to borrow another weapon from the academy other than the ones we have in our rooms?"

The lovely lady pondered a bit but soon gave me an answer, "I think it's possible... If you tell me what you want I could probably procure it by tomorrow."

I felt my clone face start to smile brightly, incredibly happy about the painless interaction. "Thank you, Miss! Actually, I need two of the weapon I had in mind, I hope that it doesn't create any problems for you..."

I realized that unlike in the game, where my weapon would automatically be multiplied when I created my clone, this would not be the case in the real world, therefore I needed two of them.

The woman in front of me just put on a gentle smile, "No need to be so polite Mr. Jackson. It's my job to help the students after all. There won't be an issue even if you need 10 weapons, just tell me what you need. Oh, and you can call me Samantha."

'An angel...'

'Ey! Clone me, stop daydreaming! Get on with it!'

'I am on it! Jeez!'

It was so incredibly weird to have two bodies with the same fallacies. While my main body was meditating, he was unaffected by the sweet Samantha while my clone, who was in the vicinity, couldn't help but react to her gentle aura.

"I need two scythes and it would be great if they weren't longer than 150 cm."

Yes, my weapon of choice was a scythe. There were many reasons for this. The reach was great and it also carried a bit of versatility as both sides could be used, one for slicing and one as a blunt weapon. However, the most important reason was that they were fucking cool.

Yes, I was a bit of a nerd, but come on! Imagine a robed, scythe-wielding person that you don't know if it's the real one or a clone. Adding the skills that I would get when I increased my understanding of my Manual, there were a lot of good things coming.

Unfortunately, Samantha didn't seem to carry the same opinion as her face strained and it looked like she was trying her best not to laugh at the short man who wanted to wield a scythe like a weeb, "Sure... Pfft!... No problems...! Now please go away so I can... Pfft..."

Having already figured out that she wanted me to leave as quickly as possible so she didn't laugh in my face, I quickly made my way back to my where my main body was, which was still meditating and cultivating our mana.

As I had concluded what I had to do for the day, I made my clone start physical training consisting of pushups, situps, and squats. I knew that I could get weights to lift in my practice room, but I was hesitant to make my clone train too much because of one single reason. As soon as I fell asleep, my clone would disappear, and all the training it had gone through would be inscribed on my body.

This meant that I would have to bear the consequence of overtraining myself, something I didn't feel like doing before I knew my limits.

And like this, I spent my first day at the academy. Why I didn't explore more of the academy grounds? I was a loner for most of my previous life and although I didn't have a problem talking with other people, it took a large toll on me. I had already spent more than half my social energy level talking to Samantha, so this was enough for today.

****

[Sophie's Pov]

Walking around the academy grounds, I couldn't help but feel so incredibly awkward.

There were a lot of students already walking around, scouting the area to prepare for when the classes start in three days. All of them were young and full of energy, almost glowing with their beauty and handsomeness.

This in itself wasn't a problem. I was a social creature from birth and loved to be around other people, so in that regard, I fit like a glove. The only reason I had played the game in my previous life was because I was bedridden as a result of my illness after all.

The awkward part was that I was looking down on 99% of the students. I felt like a giant as I walked around, having to look down in order to make sure I didn't accidentally bump into someone.

However, this didn't stop me. I was determined to find the person I was looking for, the one I was sure was already at the training grounds trying his best to grow stronger!