The Retired Hero is an Extra
Chapter 167 - 167: Ranks and Privileges

After Ziva ignored Jash, he too only looked ahead, the two following Zander through a long corridor wordlessly.

Zander glanced at them a few times and caught them purposely ignoring each other, that is, when one looked on, the other would face the opposite direction.

Thinking they were just kids in their rebellious phase, not willing to agree that someone could rival them, Zander shrugged it off.

Thankfully, the walk wasn't too long for it to become uncomfortable, and they arrived at a room, entering it after Zander.

It was a small room with just enough space for a table, three chairs and a sofa set.

"Have a seat," Zander gestured towards the sofas, prompting Jash and Ziva to sit next to each other.

The sudden closeness surprised Zander but he couldn't care less, knowing their background and even their parents.

"Drink this," Zander offered, pointing to the snacks and a drink on the small snack table in front of the sofas.

Seeing their hesitation, Zander added, "It will help you guys, especially you."

His last words were directed at Jash, making Ziva frown slightly in confusion, though she picked up the glass.

'Damn! Why is he giving me that pitying look?' Jash wondered, feeling uncomfortable from Zander's gaze.

'Whatever, it's his problem,' he dismissed it and directly picked up the glass to take a sip without hesitation before gulping it down in one go.

The liquid was cool and refreshing, with a hint of sweetness and a subtle tingle on the tongue.

'That felt good, wish there was more,' Jash thought, his eyes drifting to Ziva's untouched glass.

"First of all, congratulations on your win," said Zander, ignoring Jash's strange actions, focusing on what was assigned to him.

"I am Vice Principal Zander as well as a professor, and I teach about the Ice element, as you might have heard."

Giving a brief introduction, Zander moved on, "As you're aware, this Entrance Test is to admit students but also to decide the first-year student representatives."

As he said so, he fiddled with a strange bracelet on his palm and a hologram appeared above his palm from his bracelet.

It was none other than the famous Solarnelle Academy's insignia, a small shield-shaped emblem with claw marks to indicate successful defense.

But the intricate golden designs etched on it seemed to portray the story of a divine shield, connecting with the Goddess of light.

Its background was light blue, contrasting against the dark wooden shield with metal bars to help support it.

Last but not the least, on the top of it, there were some thread-like luminescent extensions of white color.

If one looked closer, they could count the white threads as each of them represented the number of people responsible for protecting the world.

Basically, the total number of SSS-Rank hunters was what it entailed.

'All this idea about it envisioning that one of the students would become a SSS-Rank and increase the number of threads is so stupid.'

Despite his inner thoughts, Jash kept his face neutral while sneakily glancing at Ziva's untouched glass.

It seemed he still wanted to take her glass and drink it as she had yet to take a single sip from it.

—Twack!

Disrupting his thoughts and sight, Zander took out two blue-white rings with golden designs on them.

"Take them," he gave it to them as a wave of cool air made the rings float and land on Jash and Ziva's palms.

Although it would be surprising for anyone else, the two had already seen SSS-Rank Hunters, so it wasn't anything shocking for them.

Not caring much about their lackluster reactions, Zander explained after taking note of the curiosity etched on their faces.

"These rings represent your status inside the Academy. And only by wearing them, you can use the privileges of being the Year Representative,"

"It also makes you a part of the student council, but your role and position is undecided as of now,"

"Talking about the student council, they have their own authority inside the Academy, and it can even rival that of some professors, but not all of them,"

"You will learn more about this once you join officially as that's something the student council will explain."

Seeing the look of slight apprehension on ZIva's face while Jash sat there, unbothered about the whole details, Zander looked at Ziva only.

"There is no need for any worry, these rings don't have any function that will jeopardize any kind of information about you to anyone."

"Thank you, professor," Ziva nodded in response to his words and directly asked, "What are the privileges exactly?"

'Hm? Ah, right!' Jash was fiddling with the ring and thought for one second that it ended before he heard her question and continued playing with the ring.

"Well, you both already know that one can't leave the Academy's grounds after entering as a student, unless the Academy needs you to leave for some assessment or something else," Zander said.

Ziva naturally nodded, having not met her elder brother, while Jash's slight nod indicated his own long-awaited reunion with Brandon.

'He should be graduating now only, right?' Jash recalled about the graduation ceremony soon and felt it to be a waste to be after the opening ceremony.

Totally ignoring the unattentive Jash, Zander carefully explained, "With these rings, you can leave, but only for a week at most, or you will be punished to some extent."

'That's the only thing that's actually useful,' Jash rolled his eyes inwardly, already in the know.

This was another reason he had tried so hard to win it, of course, money came first.

'It would be better to skip some nonsensical plot inside the academy to explore outside,' he concluded not long after confirming the state of the world after the Imperial Banquet.

Of course, as mentioned, there was no way to exit the academy without proper reason, if he wasn't the Year Representative.

While being a member of Student Council also gave the privilege, it was far more restrictive than being the Rank 1 of the year itself.

Without a doubt, the Rank 1 of the whole year, regardless of their gender, would get slightly more privileges than just the Rank 1 of their gender.

Nevertheless, it was all far away and Jash chose to focus on Zander's words to ensure nothing was different.

"I am sure you have heard about this, but inside the Academy, most of the facilities do not use money. Instead, we use our own point system, which grants you YP," informed Zander.

"YP stands for Year Points. Of course, you can still buy some YP monthly using real money or exchanging them from other students as well," he added.

This was done to ensure that normal students could live comfortably and earn their facilities, ensuring that competitiveness amongst students was always high.

But no matter how anyone tried to equalize the social status, there would always be some sort of inequality present.

In the end, students were allowed to buy YP monthly, but the conversion rate was very high to discourage this behavior.

One YP costed around 1000 Solaris Marks.

'Of course, one can still get it cheaper by exchanging it for something from other students,' Jash scoffed inwardly.

He was already aware of the academy's futile efforts as even limiting the amount of YP to be purchased based on rank didn't work all that well.