“Are you… ready… to,” I managed to get out slowly.

Sylvia finished sliding on her last shoe and stood up from the couch. “What’s wrong… do I look funny?”

Funny? That word isn’t even floating in my head.

“No… not at all,” I mumbled.

Sylvia’s uniform fit her snugly, almost a little too snugly. Even the winter uniform had fit the lines of her body perfectly. But the red uniform with gold trimming was exquisitely hand-tailored, and although every student wore one, they were made for each individual student.

The rest of Sylvia’s uniform consisted of a skirt that appeared to be just a few inches shorter than all the other ones I’ve seen so far, stopping above her knees. Black stockings covered her pale legs, and she wore a pair of simple black shoes.

Sylvia ran her hand across her chest and down her legs as her ears flushed red. “I knew I should have gotten my sizes rechecked… I didn’t think I grew this much… what do you think?” she squeaked.

My heart sank even deeper than it already was. This is a trap. No matter what I say, I will be wrong. I’ve learned my lesson.

“Can you take off your mask?” I asked.

Sylvia tilted her head in confusion, but she seemed taken back by my request. “My mask? Sure… I guess.”

Trap successfully countered. Good job, me. However, I may have dug myself in deeper…

Sylvia took off her mask and flicked her purple and black hair. It fell loosely on her shoulders while framing her beautiful pale face. Her cheeks were almost as red as her crimson eyes that matched her uniform.

“Why aren’t you saying anything…” She tried to sound annoyed, but her words barely managed to come out as a small whimper.

I had to stare off at a corner in the room and take a deep breath to steady my cloudy mind. “I think you look wonderful. It’s a shame you have to wear your mask since your uniform matches your eyes.”

Go, me. I managed to say that without my voice cracking. Man, I’m getting better at this.

“Well, take off your mask then. It’s not fair…” Sylvia mumbled.

Oh…

I obliged and took off my mask. I didn’t feel any different when my skin changed color from a creamy white to a tan or my hair from an ash gray to my usual black. But Sylvia’s reaction was not what I was expecting. Her red eyes were as wide as saucers while she stared at me in silence.

“Is something wrong?” I asked. Sylvia’s face was getting even redder, and she was clenching her jaw.

Did I really make her mad again? I literally didn’t even do anything! She was acting so cute and meek just a few seconds ago!

“No… it’s a bigger shame that you have to wear your mask. The red and gold uniform looks a lot better on… the real you…” Sylvia squeaked.

My heart skipped a beat and I felt my face and ears start burning. I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face. “Ah…well…thank you,” I mumbled back.

Sylvia let out a short breath and frantically slapped her mask back onto her face with a loud thud. “Let’s go! We are going to be late for class!” she yelled.

“Yeah…”

—

“Hey, why is everyone staring at us?” Sylvia whispered from beside me.

“I don’t know. Probably because we are wearing masks? Or maybe they are just staring at your skir—ugh.”

Sylvia silenced my joke with a swift punch to the kidney. She didn’t even break her stride or look back at me as we continued walking. “I knew you were staring, you perv…”

Well… I am—was… ah... whatever.

I didn’t bother to defend myself this time as I scanned the faces of all the students. It was true that people were staring at us, but it was to be expected. Sylvia and I both stood out like a sore thumb with our masked faces.

My uniform was the same as every other man’s. The Beastmen, Elves, Dwarves, and Humans I saw were all wearing the same red and gold uniform. Our thick winter coats buttoned down the center, and we all wore red pants that had gold lines running down the sides. The school’s uniform was simple, all things considered.

It was a good-looking uniform that served the express purpose of removing individuality. Some might find that to be a negative but in Bowen’s ideal school, that was ideal. Outside of this school, some of these students would be treated as gods, while the others would be nothing more than the dirt they walk on. Having everyone look the same gives a sense of uniformity.

How effective it is, remains to be seen.

We arrived at the door to our classroom in the primary school building, and Sylvia reached out with an unsteady hand. I gave her some time, and she took a deep breath and opened the door. Was she… nervous? I thought Sylvia said she went to school… or was it that she had teachers come to her? I can’t remember exactly.

The chatter in the room quieted down as a myriad of people stopped talking to watch the two of us walk into the room. I was tempted to get a good look at all the students sitting in the stadium seating but my eyes were drawn to the Human man standing behind a desk.

He patted the paper on his desk and stood tall while watching the two of us with swirling dark green eyes behind a pair of glasses. I haven’t seen someone wear glasses in a long time. He looked to be around his late thirties, but age hadn’t bothered him all that much, considering he still had a handsome youthful face.

The teacher was a tall, muscular man that was well over six feet, and his brown hair was cut short at the sides and kept long on the top. Teachers wore a black on black uniform with white trim, and they even had a red coat to wear if they so desired. But this man wasn’t wearing his cloak and instead had the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to above his elbows, revealing white skin that was tattooed from the knuckles up.

The inky black lines snaked up his thick muscular forearms and I couldn’t discern any meaning from the design. His large hands were calloused from constant work and I could tell he was a fighter just from the way he carried himself. This man was no ordinary teacher. And not only could I see that he was strong… I could feel the power radiating off of him.

This man is on a different level.

He gave us a friendly smile that showed his pearly white teeth and extended a hand towards me. “You must be Voker. Welcome to Class Onward. I’ll be your professor for the year.”

Class Onward?

I shook his hand and was surprised to see he was being kind. I thought he might try breaking my hand or something aggressive, but he didn’t do anything along those lines. “Nice to meet you… Professor…?”

“Garrison.” He let go of my hand and extended a hand to the person next to me. “And you must be Sylvia,” he said in a friendly voice.

Sylvia surprisingly took his hand and shook it as well. “It’s nice to meet you, Professor Garrison. It’s surprising that you know who we are.”

Professor Garrison let out a small chuckle. “Yes… I suppose it is. I do my best to remember all my students, and on the first day, I try to put names to their faces. But you two make things a lot easier. Why don’t you two stay up here with me for a bit?”

“What for?” Sylvia asked.

“Well, both of you are new students to not only the school but this class,” Professor Garrison stated.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Isn’t everyone new to this class?” I said, trying to get an answer.

He gave me a confused smile. “No? Just how much did Headmaster Taurus tell you about this class?”

“Almost nothing,” Sylvia huffed in response.

Mr. Garrison looked surprised for a second, but he shrugged his broad shoulders. “Well, that’s unlike him. Then, in that case, I should tell you that Class Onward is the premier class of this school. The thirty or so students in this class aren’t your typical run-of-the-mill students. They are all in the top thirty of this entire school. Students in Onward are both proficient in studies and physical aspects including both magic and combat. You will find a lot of future important nobles or strong fighters amongst your peers.”

Of course…

Sylvia looked over at me and shrugged, so I just returned one. I didn’t care about my ranking in this school, and I wasn’t going to put in any kind of extra effort to maintain a top thirty position. If Bowen wanted me here, then I didn’t care either way. I’m just hoping he doesn’t expect something extra out of me.

Professor Garrison continued on. “Many of these students have been in the same class for over ten years. Of course, a few have joined in throughout their studies, and even a select few have come in the last two or three years but… for the most part, they have all been together.”

“Which makes us outsiders…” Sylvia grumbled.

Mr. Garrison let out a weak laugh. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it. I’ve actually only been their teacher for less than a year, so the three of us aren’t that different.”

“Yeah, but you’re the teacher,” Sylvia argued. “It shouldn’t be a big deal if the teacher changes, right?”

“I hope so,” Mr. Garrison said, trying to sound hopeful. “Anyways, class is about to start, so could you two introduce yourselves?”

Most of the class had funneled into the class and began taking their seats. The room was hardly close to capacity since it could easily hold fifty students and probably around a hundred at the maximum.

Humans made up a large population of the class, but I did see quite a few different-looking people. One or two of them were from the Mists, even a few from The Dunes as well. There were a handful of Beastmen, two or three Wood Elves, some High Elves, and even a grouping of Dwarves. My eyes also drifted towards the three Dark Elves sitting in the room.

The two boys were probably around my age or just slightly older and the one girl might have been a tad bit younger than me. Then again, I couldn’t be sure about their ages, but I at least knew they weren’t fully grown. Most of the class seemed to be relatively young.

This was my first time seeing Dark Elves who were around my age, though. They were indeed much larger than either Wood or High Elves, and their features were softer, making them look slightly more Human in appearance. The two boys were bigger than me and I could see their well-built muscles from here.

All three had raven black hair that went past their shoulders and a pair of dark-skinned droopy ears coming from the side of their head. The two boys had their long hair braided. If my memory serves me correctly their braids mean “Good luck, safe travels.” It seems the girl opted not to braid her hair and simply just let it loose down her sides.

One of the boys had the same light smokey gray color to their eyes as the girl, and I had a feeling they were related, perhaps cousins? While the other had soft pink eyes that reminded me of a sunset.

And I don’t believe I’m related to any of them… I can’t be sure though.

Besides the Dark Elves, I also saw two pairs of twins. One group was a Human boy and a girl in their mid to late teens. The girl had dirty blonde hair that was almost brown and was done up in a ponytail. I could tell she watched us closely as her hazel eyes slowly observed us. The boy next to her had hair that was more blonde than brown, and his light brown eyes were staring off into nothingness.

If anything, I was more interested in the other identical twins because I had a feeling I knew exactly who they were. The two young Human girls couldn’t have been much older than me, but they had a different aura about them compared to everyone else in the room.

They both had strawberry blonde hair and their skin was a light tan. Their facial features were almost exactly the same, however their bodies were slightly different, and they were also wearing different clothes. One of them was a little more… developed than the other and wore the usual girls’ uniform, while the other twin was wearing a man’s uniform.

However, I don’t believe she was trying to pretend to be male… unless she was doing an awful job. The one in the girl’s uniform had green eyes, and her hair was much longer than her sister's. She was speaking to the girl from the other twin pair and her voice carried across the room easily. The one in the men’s uniform had her hair cut short and was far more curly than her twin. She watched Sylvia and me with cautious light sky blue eyes. But there was no doubt about it.

These two are the princesses of Luminar. They look exactly like their brother, who I saw at Adria’s birthday party in Sandervile.

“Quiet down, everyone.” Professor Garrison’s voice was deep, and although he wasn’t shouting, he had the voice of someone who demanded respect when he spoke. All the students instantly stopped talking and watched him closely. “These are our two new students, Sylvia and Voker. Please give them warm greetings after they are finished introducing themselves.”

Sylvia gave me a glance and cleared her throat. She took a few confident steps forward and projected her beautiful voice out to the room. “My name is Sylvia, and I am an adventurer. Let’s all enjoy our time together in this class.” She took a few steps back and gave me a slight wave while everyone clapped for her.

Leave it to the Empress to make things short and sweet while making an impact. Nearly all the boys in the class couldn’t remove their eyes from Sylvia if they tried. Even some of the girls had surprised faces as they listened to Sylvia’s short introduction.

I was going to say something along those lines as well…

I only needed two steps to stand at the front of the class. Everyone seemingly forgot about Sylvia for a moment as all eyes turned to me. My throat felt dry, and my mind kept blanking for some odd reason.

Am I really nervous… this is the second time I’ve had to introduce myself in front of other kids…why is this a problem for me?

I cleared my throat and straightened my back. “I am called Voker, and I am also an adventurer… and.”

I am called? What the hell am I saying? I want to collapse the roof onto my damn head.

Instead of making an even bigger fool of myself, I just stopped talking altogether and stared blankly out at the class. I took my steps back and joined Sylvia, who I could already tell was glaring at me with confusion and annoyance. At least everyone clapped for me in the end… just a lot less enthusiastically when compared to Sylvia.

“What is wrong with you…” she whispered, sounding annoyed.

“Everything…” I muttered weakly.

Mr. Garrison gave me a weak smile and waved out to the classroom. “Feel free to take any open seat.”

“There are some open seats over there. Come with me.” Sylvia tugged my arm, and the two of us started ascending the stairs, only for a Human boy to step out in the aisle.

He flashed us a broad smile, and his curly blonde hair swayed with each movement of his head. “Welcome to Class Onward. My name is Parker Ruse and I’m the fourth-ranked student. You are Voker and Sylvia, right? Would you care to take a seat next to me?” Parker’s eyes were the color of sapphires and the young man’s skin was tanned lightly by the sun. He was tall but his build wasn’t all that big, however, he was far from scrawny. He clearly trains his body as his forearm and shoulders showed clear signs of training. Perhaps a proper workout and diet regimen would do wonders for him. Maybe I can help him one of these days. However…

This guy is the fourth-ranked student in the class… is the bar that low, or am I misjudging this kid? I think Sylvia could breathe on him and he might die.

“Thanks but no thanks. Nice to meet you, Packer,” Sylvia said curtly.

“Parker…”

“Packer.”

Parker’s smile strained while Sylvia glared at him until, eventually, he moved back into his aisle. Sylvia guided me up to about the middle of the class and we sat above the twins and the princesses which was an odd choice considering nobody was sitting either behind them or in front of them. Either Sylvia didn’t know or she didn’t care.

It’s just a seat… who cares.

At least that’s what I thought. Everyone in the entire room was staring at us. Even Professor Garrison had a slightly surprised look in his eyes despite grinning. The four kids in front of us turned around and looked at us.

“Something the matter?” Sylvia asked pointedly.

Sylvia…

I pinched her thigh somewhat hard, and she let out a small squeak. Her ears burned bright red, and I glared at her through my mask. “We aren’t here to cause problems, Sylvia.”

“I know that… they were just looking at yo—,” she cut herself off and mumbled while rubbing her thigh.

The princess with green eyes and long hair giggled. “You two are interesting. Sylvia and Voker, was it?”

“Yes. Is sitting here a problem… miss who?” I asked, trying to sound like I wasn’t threatening a nation's princess.

“Not at all. Feel free to call me Lauren, and this is my sister Ren,” she said, gesturing to her twin.

“Lauren. Ren. Nice to meet both of you,” I said.

“Yeah, same…” Sylvia mumbled while nodding her head and keeping her red ears flattened to her side.

The twin boy suddenly shot up and extended his arm out while he stared at me with wide eyes. “It’s a pleasure, Voker. I am Sylas Paine, and this is my beloved sister Linnetia.”

What… is with this guy. Why is he introducing his sister as his beloved? He’s so serious… do I just lean over the edge?

I awkwardly leaned over the table and shook Sylas’s hand while giving Linnetia a nod. Professor Garrison clapped loudly, and the entire class turned to look at him.

“This was fun and all, but let’s get down to business. I couldn’t help but notice that some of you enjoyed your three-month break a little too much. This is unfortunate.”

Unfortunate? Why would enjoying your break be unfortunate?

“With that being said we are going to enjoy some light exercise today to strengthen your bodies that have been dormant over the winter. I hope everyone is ready,” he said cheerfully with a wide smile, only for the class to let out a chorus of groans.

Why are things always like this…