As we walked towards school, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of anticipation. In our first and second lives, the education systems had revolved around apprenticeships. There hadn't been large schools where everyone learned in the same classroom. I wasn't sure if I would meet any new friends, but last time, we had met Anise. If we got lucky, we might find someone else who was likely to join the Market.

As I stewed in my thoughts, we finally arrived. At the gate of the school, I saw two guards checking each student's papers before they passed through. I noticed that the guards didn't have guns, but they were very muscular. Their hands were also made of metal. Getting punched by them would hurt a lot.

They're probably trained in hand to hand combat, I mused to myself as we walked up to them. I pulled out my school papers and handed it to the nearest guard.

He examined them, before cross referencing them with a list of names.

“Little Miria? Yup, there you are,” he said, making a check mark on his clipboard. “Do you know where to go?”

I shook my head. "I don't," I said.

“Well, in that case, head to the auditorium. Walk through the main entrance, take the first right, and walk in a straight line. It’s the big set of doors at the end of the hallway. Can’t miss ‘em. Today is orientation and class introductions,” said the guard. “Some teachers also like to do a bit of actual teaching on the first day. Good luck!” He gave me a cheerful wink.

“Thank you!” I said. The guard waved me through the gate. I waited on the other side for Felix and Anise to catch up before we proceeded.

As we walked through the hallways, I peeked at our surroundings with my spatial sight.

I could see that the school was very well-built. The paint on the walls was new, the wall materials were all imported wood from the colonies, and the classrooms were richly decorated.

I also saw a teacher in one of the classrooms using an ability to levitate decorations and books around. I blinked in surprise.

According to Old Mo, even Verne, the industrial powerhouse of the continent, only produced a few thousand ability potions per year. Smaller and less industrialized countries, like Damilius, produced less than that. Damilius produced less than a thousand ability potions a year. There were probably less than thirty thousand ability users in Damilius. For one of them to be teaching in a school seemed extravagant.

I smiled.

I said.

said Sallia, who sounded as if she was trying to stifle a mental yawn.

I winced.

It would have been even nicer if Sallia could attend school with us, but…

That wasn’t possible.

Next time, I promised myself. Once we got stronger, it would be harder for one of us to die early on in a life. Next time we had a reason to go to school, Sallia would be with us. Then she wouldn't have to watch through the bracelets. She would be able to see everything with her own eyes.

said Anise, breaking me out of my gloomy thoughts. Anise sounded like she was vibrating with excitement.

I eyed Anise, but couldn't see any physical signs of her excitement. She looked calm. Seeing the difference between her expression and her mental voice made me smile.

said Sallia. A moment later, Anise started broadcasting her vision and hearing through the bracelet. I noticed, with some amusement, that Anise’s eyesight kept jumping from one object to another. She seemed to have a hard time concentrating on one thing. Every few seconds, she looked at something new.

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A few moments later, we reached the doors of the auditorium. I looked around, and saw several other children milling about in front of the doors. I started approaching the doors, to see if they would open.

“They’re locked! We have to wait a bit,” said a girl right before I touched them. I turned towards the source of the voice, and saw a cheerful-looking girl sitting nearby. Her clothes were clean and well made, but not extravagant. Her face was a little lean, but not malnourished. She had golden- blonde hair, much like me. She gave me a cheerful wave when I looked at her.

“Hi, I’m Iselde. Let’s be friends! What’s your name?” asked the girl.

“My name is Miria,” I said, smiling. I admired Iselde’s attitude. Making friends was great!

“Are you also going to be a student here?” she asked.

“Yeah! The three of us are all going to study here. We’re friends!” I said, indicating Felix and Anise. Iselde gave the two of them curious glances, before she looked at Anise in particular.

"Your hair is pink! I've never seen someone with pink hair before!" Said Iselde.

Anise nodded. "It's amazing, right?"

"It's very pretty!" said Iselde. She paused a moment, before turning back towards me. "Where do you live?"

"We live pretty close to the university," I said. "How about you?"

“I live on a big farm with my parents and my two brothers. My older brothers aren’t my friends though. They’re mean!” said Iselde.

“Is that so?” I asked, taken aback. I hadn't expected her to change topics so quickly.

Iselde nodded. “One of them always messes up my hair! Two days ago, mommy spent a lot of time helping me braid my hair, and then my little brother messed it up right after!”

“How old is your brother?” I asked, relaxing. When Iselde had mentioned her brothers being mean, I had pictured something worse. Messing with her hair was pretty tame though.

“He’s three, and he’s the worst!” said Iselde.

“Well, he’s not really that old yet,” I said, conversationally. “When he gets older, he'll learn to behave better.” Even transmigrators weren’t usually very functional at three years old. Whenever I had grade 5 intelligence, I was essentially semiconscious at that age. Before I turned four, I was just sleepwalking with some minor situational awareness.

“Hmph!” said Iselde, looking as though she was pouting. I realized that my approach might not have been great.

“What about your older brother?” I asked, trying to change the topic. Iselde seemed friendly, and I didn't want to put her off from talking with us.

Iselde’s pout grew even bigger. “He laughed at me!”

“Why?” asked Anise. “Laughing at someone isn’t nice!”

“Well, my family doesn’t let me help very much on the farm,” said Iselde. “They only let me milk the cows, and only sometimes. The ten… tenn.. tennenment farmers usually do it.”

Tennenment farmers? I wondered. A moment later, I realized Iselde was probably trying to say 'tenant' farmers. That would make sense.

“I wanted to help mommy and daddy with more chores, so I started thinking about how to get bigger faster!” said Iselde.

I blinked. Trying to get bigger faster? I didn’t know of any ways to accelerate growth in this world’s magic system…

“So I asked my big brother where we kept the fertilizer potions,” said Iselde. “I thought that if I drank some fertilizer potions, I would get bigger! After all, daddy says fertilizer potions are what makes plants big and healthy. But when I asked my older brother where the fertilizer potions were, he asked me why I wanted them. When I told him, he laughed at me! I’m mad at him!”

I froze.

Drinking fertilizer potions to grow big and healthy?

I felt my stomach start cramping as I tried not to chuckle. I spent a few moments working to keep my face steady.

Humans drinking fertilizer potions to grow big and healthy faster. Fertilizer potions were made from human waste. They were optimized to help plants grow. I didn't think a human would get much out of drinking them.

“Is… is that so?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice steady.

Iselde gave me a very serious nod.

I asked. No wonder Old Mo said I was bad at pretending to be a normal kid. I would never have thought of trying to drink fertilizer potions to grow bigger.

said Felix. said Felix. He also sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

I sighed, and resisted the urge to rub my forehead.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I said. “But maybe plants and humans need different things to grow bigger.”

“I don’t think so!” said Iselde. “My older brother is bigger than me, and he’s only two years older! He must be drinking them and not telling me! But I’m a grown up now, so I want to help too!”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just gave Iselde a reassuring nod. A few moments later, the doors of the auditorium swung open, rescuing me from trying to explain how fertilizer potions worked.