When Lenny was discharged, he went straight back to his room. It wasn't too far, but he hadn't known the way back and failed to follow his map. When he finally arrived through the door, he was surprised to see his roommate, sat on his bunk, typing away at a computer.
"Hi," said Lenny.
The boy carried on typing for a few moments, then paused, looked up at Lenny and back down to his laptop. "Hi," he said in response.
"My name's Lenny," he carried on.
"Cool," the other boy said. He continued typing away at his keyboard.
The boy's face was pale and his eyes looked bloodshot. He had sort of a scrawny build but was tall and wiry with frizzy black hair.
"I'll just call you roommate then," said Lenny, but it was like the boy had not heard him. He looked at the table and found the welcome documents he'd been too tired to read the night before.
It turned out that the map he'd been given in the infirmary was also on the welcome documents. He'd been informed by the healer that he had missed the assessment and would be awarded a score through some other means. It turned out the following day would be a role reversal. The students who had been observed today would get the opportunity to shop around the masters tomorrow, enrolling in whichever classes they liked the sound of.
There was one mandatory class: Spirit Studies, described as the study of spirit essence, spirit beasts, their territories and cores. A combat class had to be picked from the following: Melee Arms, Transformation Arts, Elemental Fighting, Archery, Group Warfare, and Hand-to-Hand Combat.
Honestly, even without going to find out more, there were two that stood out. If he could enhance his fists the way he had his forearm, then Hand-to-Hand Combat was a great way to turn his body into a weapon. Besides, after being stripped of his own weapon the previous day, this seemed particularly appealing, as it couldn't be taken from him. And Melee Arms definitely interested him, though it was fair to say he didn't yet have a weapon he would describe himself as competent with, the mandible dagger had ultimately saved his life and the rock mole hammer too. Besides, if he could create such weapons again, once he'd concentrated on enhancing himself a little, then it would seem ridiculous not to gain proficiency in them.
There was one thing above all that he felt like he was missing in his last fights though and that was speed. Without the means to purchase any spirit armour to enhance this aspect, he hoped he would gain an opportunity to increase his stats instead and knew in advance where the next several points would be placed.
He read the final part of the leaflet, which mentioned an extra-curricular option too: Crafting, Forging, Medicine, Research and Development. Although the forging tempted him, it was too risky that he might get caught producing weapons with his ability. Surely, that was cheating. If not, it would raise a lot of attention to himself, which he didn't want or need.