Damien walked out of the door of his Basic Spells class in a group of classmates he'd yet to associate with, heading down a wide and tall hallway for his lunch break.

'What a waste,' he lamented, sporting a disappointed smile as he moved through the crowds.

The class had been lackluster. Not because of the man teaching it, though, but because of the topics.

The instructor was a Human named Finn. He was very invested in his lecture, and equally engaging. The class would no doubt be a significant stepping stone for everyone that would benefit from the content.

For Damien, though, it had been... interesting, if useless.

They'd gone over an introductory of what the class would be throughout the year, and it seemed they wouldn't get to any of the magic he wanted help with until much later on.

Initially, the plan was to focus on basic spell creation, structure, manipulation, and binding magic to words. Sure, it would be nice to see how they did it, novel even, Damien supposed, but ultimately a waste of time. He'd learn nothing of actual use to himself if he stayed for the entire twelve months, other than the basics of messaging magic and a type of casting that he would never use.

If anything, the long period had at the very least given him the opportunity to heal up his hand and the multitude of other bruises, scrapes, and hairline fractures he'd incurred from Reinal, Kastra, and Layla. The three-hour-long combat class had been painful, and Layla had only promised it would continue to get worse. Perhaps he'd continue to use it as a way to practice speed healing all at once after Advanced Combat.

Damien continued down the hallway, eyes flitting to the ceiling as he smiled at the silver lining. He hadn't gotten a good look at the interior of buildings during the tour, what with how quickly it had gone, but now that he had the time he was surprised at how modern it was compared to what he'd expected. The lights up there didn't use electricity, instead appearing to be crystals giving off a grayish-white glow, but they were very similar to light bulbs from Earth and very different from the lighting used back in Carlon.

Looking at the walls showed many different three-dimensional works of art as well. Masterly crafted pieces depicting waterfalls draining into rivers, sand dancing through the wind around dunes, clouds wrapping around mountains as they floated past them, and deer galloping through lush forests that you could almost feel the moisture oozing out from. Some of the paintings seemed connected even, allowing the deer to travel on to take drinks from the river the waterfall flowed into and the clouds to travel away from the mountains to above the dunes.

"Hey Damien!" a feminine voice called out from his right.

Looking left, down a long hallway he was passing, he saw Gianna smiling while jogging toward him. He stopped to wave back, admiring her blonde hair that seemed to be flowing in waves with each of her small bounds. The slump he'd felt after finding out he'd be wasting time in basic spells began to disappear as she closed in, smile lighting up the long hallway.

'Maybe they'll let me switch it up,' he hoped.

"You headed to lunch too?" he asked as she arrived next to him.

"Yep, just finished up. What were you in?" she shot back as they began to make their way forward again.

"Basic Spells," he answered with a bit of a sigh.

"Not exactly the most thrilling of classes?" she asked with a laugh.

"No, not really. Any chance they'd let me swap out for something different?"

Her face morphed into one of thought before replying a few seconds late.

"I... If you ask, I'm sure they would. Normally, they don't let first years do whatever they want, but it seems you get to not only skip on the basic courses, but jump into advanced ones as well."

"You heard about that?"

She looked down a bit nervously while responding.

"I was curious what you'd take, and there are registries that tell you who's in what class when you sign up at the beginning of the year, so I went back and searched for your name after orientation. Sorry if that's weird..."

"No, don't be it's fine," he replied with a smile as she trailed off and looked away. "Why were you curious, though?"

"No reason really," she smiled back. "So it looks like we have a couple of classes together though!" she exclaimed, perking up.

"Which ones?"

"The next two after lunch break! Beast Handling and Advanced Manipulation. I'm glad you'll be there with me."

"Neat, I don't think Alexa or Gallion will be there so it'll be nice to know someone at least," he responded, noting how overly excited she seemed to be.

Turning a final corner, they came upon a large pair of dark brown double doors that were currently propped open to reveal a room that was much, much larger than should be possible for where Damien thought they were in this building. A vaulted ceiling rose almost a hundred feet in the air with multiple crystal chandeliers hanging down from it, each giving off a vibrant source of white light through the slight haze that permeated the room. The entire floor was painted like realistic grass, giving off an earthly, homely feel.

When Damien stepped in, he was surprised to find his foot landed on a thin, well-kept layer of actual grass, not anything painted to look like it. Head swivelling left and right rapidly, he caught a glimpse of Gianna covering her mouth while grinning wide.

He squinted at her in response.

"I'm sorry, you just seemed so surprised it... Yes, it's real," she laughed out.

Damien rolled his eyes and scanned the room again, re-evaluating what he knew about the school again. Five rows of tables were set up, spanning what looked like five hundred feet or so into the distance. They were rather plain looking closest to the door, seemingly there for functionality rather than decoration, but as the tables went off into the distance each section got a bit more lavishly decorated, and the many chairs became more and more inviting. He couldn't see it, but Damien assumed the end of the tables would have a throne of sorts.

The rows also held color schemes among them to further separate the crowds that were seated among them. The furthest left table held a mixture of purple and black while the one next to it was a dark blue that bled into a lighter sky blue, almost clear. The table in the center of the rows was clear on its left side but faded to a light green on its right which fed into the row next to it. That row changed from light green to dark brown while the final row on the far right switched to a brownish red and ended in a deep, dark red the color of blood.

"When Lemshire gave me a tour he only showed me where the doors were, not... all of this," Damien mumbled out. "I... are we allowed to take our shoes off in here? The grass looks so inviting," he questioned.

"I suppose you could. I don't think any Humans do usually, but... well, don't keep your feet in the same place too long if you don't want to have to fight the VineGrass off," Gianna responded, pulling him off to the right side of the door to let people through.

"What?"

"The VineGrass," Gianna grinned back. "One of the faculty learned how to tame a Host tree and instead of a monster, integrated it with grass. After that, they planted it in here," she said, pointing to the corner nearest the cafeteria door and across from them, "and... well, it lives off the droppings and leftovers of the room. So if you drop food, it slowly gets pulled underground by the living grass. If you rest your bare feet in the same place, like most Kreels do, you'll just have to move them every so often so they don't get snared," she finished.

Damien did his best to keep his mouth from opening wider as her explanation continued.

'Not only beautiful, normal grass indoors, but living grass. That eats things. And potentially people.'

Reigning in his thoughts and planning to deal with the shock that more than a few first years around him were going through as well, Damien glanced around the tables again, eyes resting on the red side.

"So... am I supposed to sit anywhere in particular? It all looks color-coordinated."

"Nope! Most people just sit with their friends wherever there is a free spot, though if you are sitting outside your tier, someone who wants your spot can kick you out. The closest tables to the entrance are for the Bronze and Silver tiers. Your spot is near the middle; mine is justtt one above you," she added with a challenging grin.

Damien rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a voice he'd been hoping not to hear for the rest of the day.

"Gianna!"

Damien sighed and turned, already getting a bad taste in his mouth as he recognized the Celestial coming toward them from the blue tables.

He watched Gianna turn with him and put on a smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes.

"Hey Cedar, what's up?" she said curtly.

"Just figured I'd come to escort you away from the low-life. Your parents wouldn't appreciate it if they knew I let one annoy you for too long," he said, holding out an arm for Gianna to grab on to.

Gianna glanced at Damien apologetically, and he shrugged. It wasn't particularly irritating when he wasn't pissing off Alexa or Kastra, just more in the realm of bothersome.

"Sorry, I'll uhm... I don't usually sit next to Gallion anyway, so I'll head my way. Have a good lunch," she said, walking past Cedar after smiling sadly and waving at Damien.

He nodded back before looking at Cedar who was grinning at him smugly. Damien smiled back sarcastically and flipped the man off before turning and heading toward the tables decorated like fire. If he knew anything about Gallion, it was that he'd be at the brightest table that represented his passions.

Also, it was where the most noise was originating from.

Walking down the row and trying not to kick the random bits of food he saw in various states of being dragged under the floor, he came upon a group of men and women all drinking what he assumed, by the gasoline smell surrounding the area, to be something alcoholic. They were all laughing and chatting happily, not sloppy drunk but clearly tipsy.

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Gallion sat at the head of the table, in what looked almost exactly like a throne. It was higher than most of the other seats, though not by much, and gave him a view of the entire table. He had his left leg crossed over his right as he stared out with a look that seemed to equate everyone below him at the table to peasants. He'd even fashioned what looked like a wreath made from crystal and set it atop his head as a makeshift crown.

Alexa sat on his right side with her face in her hands and wings drooped down the sides of the chair while Kastra was on the table munching on a few white rolls. When she noticed Damien approaching, she jumped up and flew over to his shoulder, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Welcome back lover-boy."

He sighed and smiled, looking up as Gallion looked down at him with a slight grin.

"I see you've come to marvel at my grace finally," Gallion said.

"Alexa, why is he sitting in your seat?" Damien asked, standing behind her and resting his hands on her shoulders, giving her a slight massage as Kastra settled in against his neck as usual.

Gallion's smile tweaked slightly as Alexa turned her head to glare up at the cocky Celestial before looking directly up at Damien standing above her.

Damien's shoulders went to war, the angel barely winning out and stopping him from bending down to kiss her.

"I can't sit up there, it's embarrassing. He asked if he could instead and I said sure, but ever since he's been acting like a king of the land and it's... more embarrassing, I think."

"Well, kick him off, and you can sit up there on my lap," Damien responded with a smirk, sitting down in the vacant chair next to her as she moved her wings the left slightly.

She nudged him with her elbow as her face tinted a light red.

"So how was class with the butch woman and her pet?" Gallion asked. "Alexa didn't tell me much except that it was worse than what I had last year."

"You actually made it through that class last year? And you knew it would be that bad before signing me up?" he posed to Alexa, who turned to look in a different, more interesting direction.

"Of course, though only partly because I paid for help on the excursions in ball gags and handcuffs," Gallion replied with a reminiscent smile.

Damien rested his head in his hands with Alexa that time, mentally cringing and responding to Gallion's earlier question in a muffled tone.

"It was pretty terrible. After making everyone break their fingers on one hand, she proceeded to use us as target practice."

"Ooohhh starting out with a little torture and moving on to body conditioning. She must like your year," Gallion responded.

"Yeah, sure. And Kastra helped her. The traitor," Damien said, kinking his head to the left to put weight on Kastra's body.

"You need the help and I didn't shoot the rocks too fast," she responded, pushing up against his jaw with her small hands.

"Yeah but you also didn't aim for anyone else except Damien and me," Alexa added. "We had enough to deal with already with Reinal and the Witch herself throwing those rocks as hard as they could. We didn't need you targetting us."

"Love hurts. Maybe you should learn to enjoy the sting," Kastra replied, biting Damien's neck slightly and leaning around his front to wink at Alexa after.

A larger than usual smirk spread across Garllion's face as the rest of his followers in earshot burst out in laughter.

"Please stop teaching her that stuff. Teach Alexa instead; she's the one that needs it," Damien begged, looking up at the fool responsible for it who held up his hands defensively.

"I didn't teach her that one, she's evolving on her own now. I've taught her more than enough. And Alexa is my pure little Angel. I wouldn't dare spoil her childish ideals-"

"Hey!"

"-for fear she'd never be the same and I'd be without a source of entertainment in watching you two bumble around each other," Gallion finished, trouncing Alexa's protest.

Damien shook his head, wishing Gallion would solve his problems, and looked around the table at the other men and women present who were laughing. He was surprised to see a multitude of the other races. Unlike at other tables, Gallion seemed to surround himself in anything but his own, not that there were many Celestials to start with, something that had been bothering Damien of late. He'd been wondering why at a school that was one of the most prestigious, there wouldn't be more of the race that was basically awarded free entry.

"Also, if Layla had been throwing rocks at you as hard as she could, you'd be dead," Gallion added after a moment of silence, looking at Alexa.

Damien nodded in agreeance. She certainly seemed like the type that could turn a stone into a rail gun projectile.

He looked over at Alexa and bumped her lightly with his shoulder, getting a questioning look in response.

"So how do I eat?"

"Rest your ring on the table anywhere and a menu will pop up with prices and your allowance for food and other things. Pick what you want, and it will come up from inside the table in a few minutes."

He nodded and did as she told, touching his ring to the table. A silver square about one foot on each side appeared on the table, many different words scrawled about it. He took it in for a moment, noticing the few silvers he was given for the day listed under Damien in the upper right corner along with a special exception listed underneath it.

"It says you have to put your thumb here for it to work," he said, pointing to his ring after tapping the button under his account balance.

She glanced at him and shrugged while he crossed his fingers. She reached over and set her thumb on his ring. Within moments, his name disappeared and was replaced with Shared Funds, and his allowance went from a few silver to over a few hundred gold.

He grinned wide. Damien wasn't exactly sure what he'd even be able to spend money on in this country, but he was now excited to find out.

"Don't spend too much of it please, it took a long time to save that much up," Alexa said while casually looking away, causing him to freeze.

He nodded. He'd thought he was being sneaky, but she'd known his intentions. It made sense, anyway. She had been at this school for five years.

It wasn't like he'd have spent any of her gold to begin with, he was too frugal with his own funds to be anything except overly cautious with anyone elses. Having access to and actually spending were two different things altogether.

The rest of the silver menu listed every single food item he'd ever heard of since coming to this world, and more than a few hundred that he hadn't heard of. He took his time browsing before eventually selecting a simple turkey sandwich and some Resil juice, figuring it was best to go with the known. He didn't know what a Thranyu eyeball was, and didn't exactly want to find out at lunch.

Shortly after, he hit the large X above where his funds were listed, closing the menu as he settled in to wait. Just as Alexa had claimed, a few minutes later, the center of the table opened up almost like a pocket dimension and his turkey sandwich came out on a platter with the juice in a white ceramic cup next to it.

"So where are you off to after this?" he asked Alexa as he reached for the sandwich.

"I have a free period to practice in a private arena and then I finish the day off with a Spacial Step class. It's really, really freaking hard to learn. I tried it last year and only was able to transport a frog a few inches over," she responded, causing his eyes to widen slightly and his hand to stop. "Hopefully I can finish it this year. AND before you ask," she said quickly, interrupting his excited expression, "they definitely wouldn't let you take it. They only let me in last year because I was at the top of Platinum for Mages. They usually only allow those in their sixth year or above that have made it into the platinum rankings to attend the class. You have to have a large enough mana reserve to even begin learning it, and no one in the history of the academy has actually succeeded in doing it before graduation. The class is only there to learn the initial steps so you can practice further after graduating."

Damien's heart sunk.

"Then, can you teach me when we get home?" he asked.

"You won't have enough mana, though?" she said in a questioning tone.

"I just want to learn how it's done so I can practice it as I go. In fact, I should just have you teach me messaging magic as well since Basic Spells is a bust... I'd thought it would be good to learn from a professional, but it doesn't exactly seem feasible anymore," he said with a wry smile.

"I don't know if I should teach you Spacial magic though. I'm not very good at it myself, you could really hurt yourself," Alexa replied.

"She's right. Unless you fancy being bonded with a wall for life, it's best to let the actual teachers handle that subject. Spacial magic is no toy, Human" a gruff voice cut in from behind them, surprising Damien and Alexa both as they turned around to see who it was.

Standing there was a Dwarf flanked by two Elves and three Humans. The Dwarf stood at about four feet tall with a bright red beard and bright red hair to match it. He had a four foot long, dark red scabbard strapped to his waist that would have dragged along the ground as he walked if it hadn't been attached to his waist parallel to the ground.

"Hello again small man, come to join my house finally now that you aren't a shiny prince?" Gallion asked from atop his fiery throne.

"Shut it, feathered moron," the Dwarf responded before turning to face Alexa. "I want that duel. I'll be taking my place back and kicking that idiot off my throne. It's a damn insult that you don't sit upon it yourself, and then you give him, of all people, the privilege. It's a disgrace," he spat out.

Damien sensed the raw hostility in the man's tone and began to stand up when Alexa grabbed his shirt and yanked him back down into his seat, where he sat confused for a moment at his sudden change in trajectory.

"You don't fight my battles, Damien, just as I won't fight yours," she growled out, radiating as much if not more hostility than the Dwarf. "I'd be glad to fight you, Eita. How does now work?"

Damien almost laughed out loud as he looked at her. All the raw aggression and violence she always claimed not to have was once again rearing its head at the prospect of a spar of sorts. The pact was roaring with so much expectation, hostility, and competitive spirit that he almost wanted to butt in and make it a three-person duel. Every single time they'd sparred in the past Damien had felt the same mix of emotion, making it an ingrained expectation of a fight at this point.

Damien almost felt bad for the Dwarf. Almost.

"That's what I like about you, N'moran. You don't fuck around. Now is perfect," he finished, turning on the pads of his feet and heading straight for a door at the back of the cafeteria.

Alexa was about to stand when Damien poked her in the side and caused her to jump, breaking her out of whatever excited trance she'd been in.

"Don't do that when I'm focused on other things!"

"Am I allowed to watch you beat him up? I did help you with your confidence and all the other day," he asked, ignoring her complaining while sending as much calming and happy feelings he could through the bond as Kastra helped.

She stared him down for a moment before breaking out into a small yet happy smile.

"Fine, come on," she said, grabbing his hand and hoisting him up while leading him out the back door of the cafeteria. "I've wanted to show you anyway," she mumbled.

Damien smiled and let her pull him along, eager to watch. Suddenly, he remembered something incredibly important and turned around frantically.

"Don't eat that, please!" Damien begged, pointing at his sandwich while looking at Gallion, only getting a smirk in response as the doors closed.

"And no, I won't need a confidence boost," Alexa said, facing forward as they moved across the grounds, headed in a straight line for one of the many Arenas around the east side of the main building.

"What about from me?" Kastra asked.

"Not from either of you," she said.

"For good luck?" he questioned.

"No, it's embarrassing," she responded.

"I thought it was just a family kiss that isn't embarrassing?" Kastra shot back as Damien mentally high-fived her.

"It isn't it's... I don't know, whatever. Fine, do it if you want," she said dismissively as they slowly began to descend into the grass filled Arena the Dwarf was waiting in.

Damien smiled at Kastra and pulled on the hand Alexa was using to guide him forward, spinning her toward him and wrapping his arm around her waist as he held her in place. She began to get red as he stared into her eyes for a moment, and just as she was going to turn away, he kissed her. A second turned into two as it continued and she began to melt into his embrace once again.

Right at the moment he felt her begin to pull him into her more, he separated from her. No matter how bad he wanted to continue, making her want more was what he planned to do until she admitted it wasn't just familial affection she wanted out of those kisses.

She gazed up at him for more as he smiled back down at her.

"Do you need another?"

His question seemed to break whatever trance she was in as her eyes widened and her face blushed. She spun around to look at the Dwarf and his company who were looking in every direction but theirs as they waited.

"You're not supposed to... hold someone like that when you kiss a family member, Damien. You made them all feel awkward," she said from in front of him as she began to stomp towards the Dwarf.

"But you were holding onto m-"

"Come on, let's fight. I don't have all day," Alexa yelled, interrupting Damien.

"Ya sure you're ready or do you need another minute with lover-boy over there, Ms. Lover-boy?" Eita responded, redder than usual in the face as well.

Damien could almost feel the heat radiating off Alexa's cheeks... and her fists. He definitely could feel the embarrassment, excitement, happiness, and frustration she was currently feeling through their bond.

'That Dwarf is in for it...'

"Both combatants know the rules?!" A tiny voice shouted out from the highest point in the stands, opposite from where Damien stood at the entrance to the arena.

He looked up and saw what looked like a mix between an Elf and a Dwarf. Short, slender, and aged properly but unlike a dwarf, free of all facial hair and lithe. He'd never seen a Tiefling before now, but now that he was staring at one, he thought they looked like an Elf in Dwarf size.

Both Alexa and Eita nodded as the Dwarf slowly rested his hand on the wraps of his sword, clicking it very slightly open with his thumb. Damien saw the faintest hint of a red luster glint out from the metal being struck by the sun.

"This is a match for Diamond placement, rank five! Both combatants are ready, Match, BEGIN!"