Orphanage Director Oriana P.O.V:

Director Oriana observed the children slowly stream into the classroom and take their seats. She aimed to maintain order and carefully observe how the orphans responded to their first lecture. She wore modest clothes, covering most of her body. With the features of a beautiful woman in her late twenties, Oriana was well aware of how womanly charm affected teenagers. Her bright red hair went slightly past the shoulders. With her above-average height of nearly 6 feet, she was a sight for any sore eyes. Somehow, the choice of clothing didn't diminish her looks in the slightest but her strict facade kept the kids in check.

Mr. Richard, the teacher, sat at his table next to the Lightboard, waiting for the students to finish arriving. The first students to arrive were Lev and his little gang, no doubt woken up by him earlier than everyone else. He sent a smile her way, and she gave him a look telling him to sit down.

I wonder what makes him so different. That boy is far too mature and hardworking for his age. Maybe it was the ambiance of the orphanage. Despite being the oldest here, I wish he took an interest in more mundane childish entertainment. He only focuses on games that make him exercise or involve a lot of thinking. At least his disciplinary record is perfect.

Oriana observed him take a seat in the middle of the modest classroom, not near the front but not too far behind either. Lev was an odd child, somehow smart enough to understand most things but not enough to be left alone. He fluctuated from wanting to do normal teenage things to preparing for when he left the orphanage. In all of that, he had never looked at Oriana like an adoptive mother. It worried her, so she observed him. He was only twelve when he was first brought to the orphanage. When she noticed nothing wrong with him, she adapted. If he didn’t treat her like a guardian, she wouldn’t treat him like a child. Instead, she treated him like a much younger sibling.

To her immense surprise, she cherished it. Treating someone like family brought her some long-lost warmth. Before long, she adored Lev and his antics. He was also much more comfortable with that arrangement and treated her like an older sister. They had only gotten closer since then.

Within minutes, only one seat remained empty. The director knew exactly who was missing. She rose from her seat next to the teacher’s table and went to look for the last missing student, who was nervously standing just next to the classroom door.

“Come on, the class is about to start. You do not want to be late on your first day, do you?” Oriana encouraged, extending a reassuring hand to the timid girl, who accepted it sheepishly. They moved into the classroom. The Director stopped in front of the teacher's table till the class quieted down. “Today, we have another girl joining our house. She is from Bluerock and has been transferred here due to technical issues. Why don’t you introduce yourself in front of the class?” She finished, looking at the girl.

The girl kept looking at the ground and shyly spoke. “M-my name is Kayla. I am 11 years old.”

The Director nodded and motioned towards Lev and his group. “You should go next to them and pay attention in class today. Lev will show you around the orphanage later and teach you the ropes. Is that fine by you, Lev?” She asked with a bright smile.

“Not a problem, Ms.Oriana,” he replied with a little too much emphasis on her title. She suppressed the desire to roll her eyes.

****

Lev P.O.V.:

“Why would she tell her to sit with us?” Jack leaned in and whispered.

“Probably because we are the only group who wouldn't give her much trouble,” Amelia whispered back.

By then, Kayla had found the last empty seat next to Amelia. She gingerly sat down, feeling the eyes of her new classmates upon her. When she looked up, she noticed Lev, Jack, and Amelia all looking at her.

“H-hi.” she sputtered.

“Nice to meet you, Kayla. As you have already heard from the Director, my name is Lev, and these two are Jack and Amelia.”

The two idiots waved at her with smiles on their faces, and she shyly waved back. Before Lev could continue, Jack superseded him. “Why were you transferred here in the middle of the year?”

“O-oh, that is because Bluerock got hit pretty badly by a wave not long ago. The orphanage and many other small institutes were temporarily closed because of a lack of funding. Normally, that wouldn't happen. Since only three orphans were living there, they decided to transfer them. I, the youngest, was sent here while some guilds took the other two boys as apprentices.”

She certainly got some confidence back. Was it because of the entire class’s attention?

Before they could continue their quiet conversation, the teacher cleared his throat and motioned toward the lightboard, displaying a human body outline. The lightboard was an interesting device, allowing anyone with mana manipulation skills to direct their mana into the board and make it display whatever they wanted to. It supposedly used Light Mana to create images on the board and could even display text if the user was proficient enough.

“Good Morning, students. Welcome to your first class. My class will be focused on general knowledge you should be aware of and what you can expect to do in the future.” The class quieted at his introduction. Mr. Richard continued after a moment of observing everyone.

“All of you have heard about The System and its miracles for your entire life, but nobody has explained anything about it to you. That is intentional. When your interface first unlocked at the age of 10, it only showed you your Attributes and nothing else. That is because the Class selection is only available once you turn 14. So before that, children are kept unaware of how the system works for their safety. Every student in this classroom is now either 12 years old or almost there, which is why this class is only happening now. So, for our first lesson, we will focus on what is currently available, Attributes.”

As he stopped talking, six words appeared in a vertical list on the right side of the body outline present on the Lightboard. These were the Attributes of any system user:

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Strength

Constitution

Dexterity

Intelligence

Wisdom

Perception

“Let’s start with the first attribute: Strength. What is strength? Strength is your body's physical power—how much you can lift and how hard you can punch. It is the explosive force that we can produce with our limbs. This concept may be confusing, but it will make more sense as time goes on. For now, note that strength also greatly affects how fast you are. I will explain further when we cover Dexterity.

“Constitution is the attribute responsible for our toughness and stamina. It makes your body more resilient and resistant to physical harm such as Slashes or Blunt damage. Additionally, it minorly increases the body’s resistance to natural weather phenomena and their magical counterparts, such as Fire and Water attacks. But the most important aspect of the Constitution attribute is the ability to channel a higher amount of strength throughout your body. If your body is not robust enough to handle your strength, then a single punch will tear your muscles and break your arm. The attribute has a similar effect on Mana, where a higher Constitution allows for easier channeling of mana.

“Dexterity is what ensures that you don't trip and fall with every step at high speeds. It is our body’s reaction time and how much control we can exert on our body. Higher Dexterity will make it easier for a person to move faster and react to attacks quicker, but that doesn't mean that the attribute is solely responsible for speed. The dexterity attribute and the Strength attribute work together to increase a person’s speed. The strength attribute is what allows the user to produce enough force to move at high speeds, and the dexterity attribute is what allows the user to move precisely at such speeds. A person without enough dexterity will not be able to control their strength and may run straight into a wall.”

Some of the students chuckled at the mental image while the teacher continued, “Intelligence is a rather simple attribute when compared to the previous three but is no less important. The attribute increases how fine of a control a person can exert on their magic and how far from themselves they can control it, making it the most important attribute for mages who require strict control over their element. For example, a person who needs to control flying blades will need an increasing amount of intelligence to control their blades from further away without them falling outside of his control range.

“Wisdom is the bread and butter of any mage. The attribute dictates how much mana can be stored in their core and how much mana they regenerate. Its function may seem straightforward, but it is extremely vital for any caster or enhancer.

“The last attribute we will discuss today is Perception. It is arguably the most important attribute in my opinion, but that is irrelevant. I’m sure you guys will notice its importance as well. Perception is responsible for what we perceive from our five senses. That's right, it will improve all your senses and, at the same time, increase the reaction time of your mind. At higher levels, the Perception attribute is also known to slightly slow down your perception of time, allowing you to react to threats faster with your mind and body. What makes Perception even more important is the fact that monsters get faster and stronger with each level, but it is often grossly underestimated just how fast large monsters can get. Remember, physical Attributes are just as effective on monsters as on us. To have a chance for survival against them, enhancing Perception is a must.”

The first official lesson concluded on that ominous note. Mr. Richard told them some more about Classes and how the attributes worked in tandem. The children slowly exited the classroom. As soon as Lev and his group got out of class, Jack spoke up, “Hey, do you guys want to go to our river spot again?”

“Sure, let's go. Kayla, do you want to come with us as well?” Amelia asked while looking back at her, who just nodded. When Amelia was about to ask Lev, he shook his head, “You guys go ahead. I need to talk to the director for a bit, then I’ll be there.” Amelia gave him a dubious glance and left with the others.

Standing outside the director’s office, Lev slowly knocked twice. “Come in.” Director Oriana watched Lev enter and take a seat with a slight smile. “How was your first class today?”

“It was different from what I was expecting. I thought it would be about something more mundane, like history. Instead, we finally learned something about The System. I was almost certain that it wouldn't happen for at least a while.” He replied with a smile.

“So, what did you learn?”

“Well… from what I have understood, it's important to make sure that no attribute is neglected because of how they synergize with each other. But that brings me to the question I wanted to ask. Why did it feel like the entire class was about monster combat or at least implied that?”

For a moment, something resembling, but not quite pity, flashed across her face. She looked at Lev’s face before replying, “I am only answering this because you would somewhat understand what I mean. For anyone else, I wouldn't answer this before the age of 14, but you are already fairly mature for your age. Remember this, Lev. The world is not a forgiving place. Monsters are a threat on every front, and it takes a lot of effort to keep them under control. The new transfer, Kayla, is a victim of a monster wave. Bluerock was fooled by illusions conjured by multiple shamans and wasn’t prepared for extremely strong monsters to show up in the middle of the fight. Thankfully, they managed to hold on and eventually got everything under control. Do you understand why we need to mentally prepare everyone for monster combat?”

“...So we will be ready for it when the time comes instead of being scared.”

The Director revealed a sad smile upon hearing his words and patted him on the head, “That is correct, but you shouldn't be worrying about such matters yet. Tomorrow, we’ll start some physical training and teach you more about Attributes. Be prepared.”

With that, Lev left the office and made his way back to his friends. He idly brought up his status to check if anything had changed:

[

Name: Lev

Class: None

Titles: None

Attributes:

Strength: 0

Dexterity: 0

Constitution: 0

Intelligence: 0

Wisdom: 0

Perception: 0

General Skills:

-

]

Nope. Still a grand collection of zeroes.