“You can all call me Principal Lin. Here, you will all learn the basic skills you will need to survive in the world.” The man said as he waved his hands. Suddenly, a menu screen popped up in front of everyone’s eyes. “In front of you are the courses you will be attending and their times and locations. The name of the classes naturally correspond with the names of the skills or sets of skills you will be learning. As for the Battle Experience course; that is naturally for you to get experience points and level up. The beasts you will be fighting will naturally be set to your level.” Said the man, giving some basic information on the class.

Why is he saying ‘naturally’ so many times? If it’s natural would you need to explain it? Thought Zellin before looking at the courses. The courses were Cooking, Archery, Close Combat, Basic Medicine, and Battle Experience.

The courses were spread out over six days with different classes on different days, which Zellin assumed would rotate as they went along. There was only one class a day which suited Zellin’s nature quite well. The last day was even a rest day. But of course Zellin wouldn’t spend all this time doing nothing. It’s just that he didn’t like to be restricted, and liked to do things when he felt like it. No one likes to feel as if they weren’t in control of their lives.

“You’ve naturally been given time to get to know each other so that you can make friends. As for its purpose; it’s naturally so that you can choose your dorm mates. In this world, it’s best to find teammates who you can get along with and whose skills compliment your own. In this way, it will be easier for you to survive.” Principal Lin ‘naturally’ explained.

“You may choose up to 3 dorm mates, all together making 4 of you. If you’re a girl, be wary to choose any of your boy classmates. Boys are the natural predator of women. Remember girls, all boys are naturally pigs. You’re better off choosing 3 girls to be your dorm mates.” Principal Lin said with a straight face as if what he said was all fact. “If you wish to be alone, you can naturally request to do so. If you wish to live as a group of 3 or 2, that’s also naturally allowed.”

Zellin looked to Reyal and nodded, then watched as Reyal nodded back. Like this, they already tacitly understood that they would be roommates. Liu nervously watched this from above before speaking out, “Hey, guys, don’t leave me out. I know we started off badly but I’m sure we’ll soon be brothers. Let me in the dorm too.” Liu didn’t know anyone when he came so he sat alone, and he didn’t know that the long time they waited was for choosing roommates. As he heard Principal Lin talk about survival he suddenly got nervous, regretting that he insulted the only people he talked to.

“Sure, you can be our roommate, but you’ll have to call me Boss from now on.” Reyal replied with a mischievous grin. Liu’s face suddenly looked conflicted. One part of him wanted to beat this guy up for even suggesting it, the other part really wanted to be part of the dorm.

“Don’t mind him. Of course we can be dorm brothers. In the future our team name the Three Mage Rulers will resound throughout the world.” Zellin responded.

Liu’s face suddenly turned sour. “Who wants to be a mage!? I’d rather be a chicken.” Liu replied, his natural disposition coming out.

At this point, a shy looking girl walked towards them. “Hey, do you guys want to be roommates?”

Reyal, this way too precocious kid, suddenly beamed, a perverted grin on his face. This will be the first step for my future harem, he thought as he nodded his head. “Of course, of course. How could we turn away a helpless girl like you. You don’t know this but I’m actually a prince from a far away land. As such, it’s my duty to save a beautiful princesses like you.”

Zellin gave Reyal a strange look. Isn’t this kid already way too perverted for his age? He thought, while also wondering if it was a good idea to associate himself with this kid.

The little girl suddenly let out a happy, innocent smile. “Really? Thanks! But you guys have to remember that I’m already Level 3, and I’m training to be an assassin. So if you look at me funny again I’ll cut you in your sleep.” She said with a smile.

Reyal suddenly started sweating and his back became drenched; a fear of women growing in his heart. Isn’t this girl’s innocent smile totally different from her nature? I’ll definitely never look at this girl like that again! Reyal thought in fear.

As Liu saw this he suddenly burst out laughing. “I like this girl. She’s really funny. Hey, what’s your name?” He asked.

“Coral.” The girl replied with that literally deadly smile.

Liu and Zellin also introduced to themselves, after which they looked at Reyal who was still sweating. “Ah… I’m, ugh… Reyal.” He forced out.

“Nice to meet you all.” She replied with a slight bow.

“Okay, okay, children. Form a line to get your room keys. Classes will start tomorrow morning.” Principal Lin called out. “If you get lost finding your dorm ask someone. I’m naturally not your mother.” The group of children then formed a line and went to get their keys.

As Zellin’s group approached, Principal Lin raised his eyebrow in suspicion. “Little girl, did these boys offer you candy to be in their group? Do you know how gross boys are? It’s naturally best to stay as far away from them as possible.” Principal Lin warned.

“Don’t worry Principal Lin. They already understand never to look at me funny, under threat of death.” The girl replied with her natural innocent smile.

Principal Lin nodded in approval. “That’s a good girl. Since you boys have a girl in your group, you’ll naturally be given a larger living space. Each of you will have your own room and a shared living room and kitchen; with two bathrooms. Here’s are your keys.” Said Principal Lin, four keys magically appearing in his hand.

Wow, Zellin thought as he received his key. Who knew girls could bring such luck?

It took a while to find their room as they had to ask for directions several times. The academy was actually a pretty big place. Their room was actually pretty nice; nicely decorated and spacious. Zellin sat on the couch and let out an approving, “Hmm…,” pleased with the comfort of the couch. The others also sat down, each one on the other couches that formed a square around a wide, short, and circular glass table.

“So what are your guys’ levels and skills?” Coral asked curiously. “I, myself, am Level 3. My skills would be Silent Steps, Dagger Proficiency, and Dual Wield Proficiency. I’ve been leveling since I was 4 years old. I’m currently six.” Coral said in that dainty voice.

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“I’m Level 2.” Zellin began. “My skills are Contract, Sprint, and I also have Dagger Proficiency. I got the Sprint skill from constantly running away from chasing monsters.” Zellin continued, quite proud of himself. “I’m also six this year. Also I have two pets. Leggy the Poisonous Spider Hatchling and Bear the Wolf Cub.”

“Why’d you name your wolf cub Bear?” Coral asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course, because he’s as ferocious as a Bear!” Zellin called out matter-of-factly causing Coral to roll her eyes. Aren’t wolves also ferocious? Why not simply call him Wolf? Coral thought.

Next was Reyal. “I’m Level 2. My skills are Preserve, and Cooking. And I’m currently 7 years old.” Reyal introduced, slightly shy about his achievements.

Everyone then looked to Liu whose face started to turn red before turning his head to the side and snorting. “Hmph! You’re guys’ achievements aren’t much. It’s not like I’m Level 0 with no skills whatsoever. It isn’t like my only achievements were an increase in my Endurance stat from forcing myself to play with my toy sword even when I was tired. Hmph! Hmph! It’s not like I’m not as impressive as you guys!” Liu called out, very shamefully.

The others simply responded with silence. Zellin even shook his head, thinking, such a sad story…

After the awkward silence, Coral suddenly had an idea. “Hey, Zellin. Since you’re the only one with fighting capabilities, do you want to have a spar?” She asked with a smile.

When Zellin saw that smile he instantly became fearful. “Spar with you? No way! A spar to you is probably a death match to others! You’ll probably end up killing all my pets before I can get you to stop! Don’t put on that sad face; I know there’s hidden killing intent behind those sad eyes.” Zellin immediately vehemently rejected, fearful for the lives of his pets and himself.

“Hmph!” Coral exclaimed with cute pouting face. “Party pooper!” She called out in a spoiled little girl voice.

Wow, Zellin thought. This kid’s cute with everything she does. But she’s definitely evil. She probably plays tag by stabbing other kids in the back, calling out, ‘You’re it!’

“Then should we go to the forest and hunt some beasts?” Coral suggested, eagerness in her eyes.

“Hmm…” Zellin responded, in thought. “Sure! We can even get some experience for this useless guys. Even if Liu doesn’t kill anything, we can still form a party and he’ll also get some experience.”

Coral suddenly frowned at the thought. “Do we have to? How about we just let whoever killed it get the experience?” Coral suggested.

”Be a good girl and don’t be greedy! Come on let’s go; if you behave I’ll give you candy later.” Zellin said firmly causing Coral to frown. What are you my dad? Coral thought as she got off the couch and followed.

Zellin actually has the experience of the sum of 21 years, so of course he’ll treat this frightening little girl like any adult treating a spoiled child. He reproved her and gave her a goal with possible rewards; the building blocks of any well-disciplined child. Unfortunately this would be received by Coral in a totally different manner than if it was said by an elder, as Zellin was Coral’s age.

It took about an hour for the group to reach the forest outskirts where they began to hunt.

“So how should we do this?” Reyal asked.

Zellin had thought about this on the way here, so a plan had already begun to form. He talked it over with the others, who nodded in agreement.

“Okay! Sounds good.” Coral responded.

“Right, take positions. I’ll be back shortly.” Said Zellin before quietly moving into the forest.

Zellin quickly found some fresh tracks which led him to the distant Level 3 Tusked Boar. Zellin circled around it from a distance before slowly sneaking up to it, trying to make the least noise possible. When he neared the edge of the clearing he bolted, activating Sprint which increased his max speed by 30%, and struck out at the boar.

The fat boar was then stabbed in the butt causing it to squeal loudly. It turned around, intent on killing Zellin. But Zellin immediately used his Sprint skill to run as fast as he could, back into the forest.

Zellin ran for several minutes, sometimes slowing down so that the boar wouldn’t lose hope. Gaining ground caused it to excitedly run even faster, not aware that it was being lured. Suddenly, a sticky glob of white shot out to intercept the boar, spreading out into a wide web and trapping the boar inside. The boar struggled for a while before breaking out of the webs, but at this point Bear was already upon it, attempting to bite at its neck. Coral also appeared at this time sending a fierce flurry of stabs at the Tusked Boar’s back with her dual daggers, instantly becoming drenched in the Boar’s blood. It wasn’t long before the Boar’s squeals grew quiet and it died before them.

“Reyal, quickly!” Zellin called out.

Reyal immediately appeared and used his Preserve skill before continuing to butcher the boar and gather its remains to sell later. It was much more profitable that way.

Liu also walked out at this point, nodding his approval. “Good job, guys. You did really good work. Good thing it wasn’t too tough for you guys, or else I’d have to come out and embarrass you guys. You wouldn’t want to look weak in front of a girl, right?” Liu asked rhetorically.

Reyal snorted. “Scrawny, compared to Coral, this blood-drenched girl, you’re lower on the food chain than this boar.” Reyal scolded, as he looked at Coral’s grim appearance and shivered slightly.

“Yeah, Coral. Since when did you get so fierce. I’m pretty sure I saw you smiling as you were slicing apart the boar. I dread to think of how your childhood was like.” Zellin said, shaking his head.

“Of course not! Killing is very serious business; of course I wouldn’t smile!” She said as she puffed out her slightly red cheeks.

Zellin continued to shake his head. So deadly, yet so cute… Zellin thought to himself.

They continued to hunt for quite a while before stopping to eat lunch, allowing Reyal to cook the Tusked Boar meat for them. They had killed quite a few recently.

Zellin looked off to the side as he bit into the boar meat and saw Liu pouting. “What’s wrong?” He asked as he chewed.

“Ah,” Liu began, not quite sure how to say it. “It’s just that I’m kind of bored letting you guys do all the work. Of course, I don’t want to embarrass you guys with my might though.”

Zellin simply smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t be too embarrassed; just don’t do anything too skillful. How ‘bout you take the lead for a while with Leggy to assist?” Zellin asked. Reyal shook his head at the side. He didn’t support feeding Liu’s ego.

“Really?” Liu blurted out excitedly before coughing slightly. “I mean, really? Hunting monsters of this level is kind of tedious.” He continued in a calmer and slightly disdaining attitude.

“Come on.” Zellin urged. “Actually we’re all kind of tired, so if you could help out, that’d be a big help.”

Liu simply sighed. “Alright, if you say so.”

“Do you want to borrow my dagger?” Zellin asked. But Liu shook his head as he tapped the air twice, opening his Inventory screen and took out a longsword from thin air.

The Inventory menu actually works as if you were carrying items without actually carrying them. With more things in your inventory, the heavier your steps will be, but it’s still convenient as you don’t actually have to carry anything. It’s most useful if you had to transport something like a table; you can carry it but it’s actually kind of awkward to walk around with it. With an Inventory, all you’d have to suffer was a slightly heavier weight. Zellin was pretty amazed when he realized this simple function of this world.

To most others, the longsword was a longsword, but to Liu it was a large two-handed sword. Liu struggled to lift it with an excited look on his face. “Come on, let’s go now!” He called out.

Zellin let out a grin at Liu’s excitement as he stood up and wiped his hands on his pants. He gave a signal to Leggy before heading out with Liu, leaving the others behind to finish eating.

Eventually they found a Level 1 Fox and Zellin had Leggy confront it with a sticky white web. Leggy then moved forward as the fox struggled to break free of the web. Before breaking through, Leggy had already bit his fangs into its neck, releasing a paralytic poison. This poison wasn’t very strong, but it was enough to slow it down, causing the fox to feel as if its limbs were 5 times as heavy.

“AHHH!!!” Liu let out a battle cry as he charged from behind a tree.