Tracing his steps, Jinn passed by the familiar room no. 13. But he only glanced at the closed door of the room before walking forward; the hard soles of his boots clanked against the cold hard floor, making eerie sounds.

Instead of taking the slow, life-draining lift, he chose the stairs. Just like the hallway of the third floor, the whole building was silent.

Everyone seemed to be sleeping.

Most of the rooms were locked, so there was not much he could explore.

Even though he could not access many rooms, the hallways were a sight to behold on their own.

There was a corridor filled with nothing but clocks on the walls around him. With each tick he could feel his mind drumming like something heavy was banging on it.

While walking down the corridor, Jinn saw a floor plan hanging on the wall.

He could see each room on the floor and their names on it. Had it not been for this, Jinn might have lost himself in the maze of a corridor.

Every turn led to another split, which kept on multiplying, and it was easy for someone new to get lost.

But to his shock…

"Where is that corridor with clocks?"

No matter how much he looked, he could not find anything similar to it. Jinn turned around and retraced his steps, but he still found no sign of the corridor with clocks.

"Spooky much."

Each floor was like a different realm, having its own unique setting.

While the second floor had a mysterious corridor no one can see on the map, the first floor had a mysterious classroom where he saw nothing but doors.

Out of caution, Jinn dared not to touch those doors and left without even turning around.

There was also a magical library where books and shelves moved around and rearranged on their own.

For a brief moment, Jinn glimpsed a shadow lurking behind several shelves, but the shelves obscured his view before he could concentrate.

As for the ground floor… it was full of halls and internal training grounds.

But no two halls were identical. Same went for the training grounds.

Each one was made with a purpose in mind, and Jinn could only guess a few of them.

The hallway of the ground floor was much wider and more spacious than the rest of the floors. And Jinn even had an easier time memorizing every path there, especially the one that led to the hospital wing.

The infirmary was the only place that was still open and running. Jinn even saw some nurses sitting inside or tending to the patients, which in this case were students.

"Is getting injured here that common?"

While Jinn was lingering outside the hall, one of the nurses noticed him and approached.

"Are you here to see someone? The visiting hours are not until the evening." She pointed at the nearby notice.

Jinn noticed the warmth in her soft voice and realized she was misunderstanding something.

"No, I just like to wake up early, and I am new here so…"

Seeing the 'awkward' smile on his face, the nurse understood and chuckled lightly.

"Ah, welcome to The Nightshade Academy. Since you are up and ready early, it is indeed a wise choice to get yourself familiar with the place. Believe me, even after all these years, I sometimes feel lost on the upper floors."

The green-haired nurse continued to chat with Jinn until someone called for her from inside the infirmary.

She clicked her tongue and gave some last advice to Jinn before running back to the room.

"You should collect your books from the reception if you have already selected your course."

Jinn thanked the kind nurse and left the vicinity while inside the room, the nurse who called out to her sternly admonished her, "There you go looking for ways to talk to anyone you find."

"Get back to work; the patient on bed three is pissing himself again, administer the big needle and make sure he stops whining."

The sad look on the green-haired nurse vanished instantly as she skipped towards the inner section of the room to get the syringe.

***

Unaware of the dangers of the hospital wing, Jinn made his way to the reception, wondering if anyone would even be there so early in the morning.

Almost an hour had passed since he left the room, and he was still walking around.

"It was a decent workout."

When he reached the northern section of the academy, Jinn was surprised that the woman he had seen yesterday in the morning was still sitting in the same place like a robot.

That fake smile of hers and the straight posture of grace—nothing about her hand changed despite the hours she had spent.

Because of the direction she was sitting in, the woman had yet to see Jinn while she continued to write something on the paper below.

"Good Morning."

Which was why she also jerked in surprise when she heard his voice.

Another reason for it was that she had not expected to see someone at this hour.

The woman mechanically turned around and only relaxed when she saw Jinn. A look of surprise and recognition appeared in her eyes upon seeing the boy.

"Good morning, Mr. Alcott. What a pleasant surprise to see you up so early in the morning."

Jinn stopped before her round desk surrounding a thick stone pillar on which an angelic statue was carved, showing a look of compassion and a posture of protectiveness.

"I am surprised you can still be so comfortable after working for so many hours, and not to mention remembering my name when you have only heard it once."

The receptionist chuckled with a reply, "it's nothing worth mentioning. I just have a good memory, and I change shifts with other staff members every six hours."

"I just started mine." With a casual movement, she slipped the paper under the desk, away from Jinn's eyes, and asked with a charming smile.

"So, what can I help you with?"

Jinn ignored her subtle actions and asked if the books for the year had been prepared.

"You are a bit early, but I think we received the books last night. They should be around somewhere."

The receptionist moved back and looked around under the table before bending forward.

"Alcott… Alcott… There you are."

Under Jinn's distracted gaze, the well-proportioned receptionist pulled out a huge stack of books and placed them on the table with a thud.

There were three books, but each one of them was thick and big enough to be mistaken for three.

Just when he was about to take the bundle, the receptionist repeated her actions and pulled two other stacks similar to the first one in size.

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