Jay returned to the dorm building. When would instruction start? This was a school, was it not? Entering, he seated himself at one of the tables. There were more people here now, all eating and mostly looking irritated. He saw Millie over in the corner, at a table by herself. A boy floated in midair next to her, wrapped tightly in water tentacles. For some unknown reason, he was still trying to speak, his mouth moving under the water covering it. Jay walked over, getting stopped by another boy with wide eyes. "Don't go over there. It's suicide. It's not worth getting a girlfriend."

  Jay raised an eyebrow. "You think I care for romance?"

  The boy's eyes widened further. "If you don't want a girlfriend, why are you going over there? Or, are you trying to get some kind of connection to the royal family?"

  Jay shrugged. "She's my... normal friend?," he said, his internal eyebrows flying through the imaginary ceiling above them. Royal family?

  The boy nodded, undoubtedly about to release their 'relationship' to the entire class. Jay continued walking over to Millie. Notably, someone started preparing what seemed to be a healing spell, ready to toss it at a moment's notice. Jay sat down next to Millie. Without even turning, she sent a spike of water at Jay. The healer sighed, pulling back his arm to throw the ball of light in his hand. Jay flickered around it, suddenly sitting at Millie's other side. "Millie. Stop trying to stab me."

  Millie turned to look at him. Seeing he was Jay, her tentacles flowed away from him. Her eyes were bloodshot and she did not look like an ordinary person, her skin pale enough to pass for a vampire. Jay grabbed a cup of coffee and gave it to her. "What... Is... this...?"

  "This is coffee. Drink it."

  Millie's hand slowly raised the cup to her lips, trembling with the required effort. Eventually, she raised it to her lips, swallowing a gulp. A drastic change came over her, color returning to her skin and her eyes turning normal. "This is godsent."

  Millie went over to the barkeep, telling him to get her a pot of coffee. When it arrived, the barkeep started to pour it into a cup, but Millie grabbed it, draining the entire thing. She returned to her seat, beaming at Jay. "I'm better now!"

  Jay pointed to the boy she was holding up. "Can you put him down though?"

  Millie nodded, dropping the boy, who suddenly started speaking. "CanyougoonadatewithmepleaseIreallyneedsomeonetogotopartieswith-"

  Jay turned to Millie. "He's annoying me, and I'm not even his target. Should I deal with him?"

  Millie nodded, nursing another cup of coffee. Jay blinked. When had she gotten that? He stood up, walking over to the boy. "Kid, leave. Or I'll throw you through the wall."

  The barkeep shouted at them, "Don't break the walls. Through him into a wall if you must, but don't damage the wall."

  Jay turned to him and nodded. Then he turned back to the boy. "Kid, leave. Or I'll throw you into a wall carefully, so I don't damage the wall."

  The boy shook his head. "SorryIreallyneedagirlfriend-"

  Jay cut him short again, the kid suddenly sliding down a wall on the opposite side of the room. He sat down next to Millie, discussing the benefits of coffee.

  A new arrival entered the room. They wore a pin made of Jade and walked as if they owned the entire school. As they reached the center of the room, all the conversations quieted, the person holding everyones' attention. "I am Jade, master of Earth. I will be training you today. We're going to the training room. Follow."

  Jade strode out of the room, and the students quickly got up, following her. She led everyone directly to the training room. Her eyes went directly to the dummies. "Who destroyed these?," she asked, her eyes roving over the students.

  Jay confidently raised his hand and Jade nodded. "One point for honesty. One point for confidence. Three points for technique," she said, looking over the destroyed dummies. "Lastly, five points for doing extra training of your own volition."

  Jay blinked, surprised. Shouldn't he have gotten shouted at? "Are you confused about why I didn't scold you?," Jade asked. Jay nodded back. "You came here to train, without anyone telling you to. You didn't lie about doing it, even when you assumed I wouldn't like it. You were confident about raising your hand, without remorse for this. The dummies also got it pretty good. What did you do wrong there?"

  Jade stopped speaking to him, addressing the entire class. "Only if you do something wrong will you be punished. The class is run on a point system. The ones with the most points get the best rooms. The ones with the least points get the worst rooms. The current best rooms go to Jay and four other people in this class. This is an obvious incentive for you to work hard, so do it."

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  "Willyougoonadatewithme?," the boy from earlier asked, having gotten healed by the healer from earlier.

  Jade turned to him. Her eyes flashed, and the boy shrunk back. "No."

  "Anyways," Jade said, turning back to the rest of the class, "Before we start training, I have to give everyone a lecture. First, the rules. Don't be an idiot. There are no real rules you have to follow, but if you do something dumb, the teachers are given permission to decide what exactly is 'dumb' and what to do about it. However, ingenuity is rewarded. Do not cross the line."

  She waved her hand at the dummies. "If the kid had trashed the place, he'd be losing points, even if he came out here to train. However, he had the self control to only go after the dummies, and so got the points."

  "Next, classes and levels."

  "You all have a status page you can open, where it shows your Gift, level, abilities, and stats. Your Gift will eventually determine your class, when you get one, and your stats determine the power of your existence. Some of you were born with better stats than others, but it doesn't matter. When someone reaches the limit of stat points in a stat, they can evolve it to new heights. For example, the basic strength stat is 'strength', but when someone reaches a hundred points in it, you cannot increase your strength anymore. You must evolve your strength into a new variant, and keep going and going. On the topic of stat points, you gain them after you get a class. Levels start giving you free points and points in specific stats."

  "Now, Gifts. They're things you chose, yourself, the gods letting a more mature version of you choose the Gift that you would have for life-yes, Jay?," Jade asked, seeing Jay's raised hand.

  "I don't have a Gift," Jay said, looking at her.

  Jade looked taken aback. "Show me that portion of your status."

  Jay opened it, showing her the location. Her eyes widened by a margin. "Oh, I get it."

  She waved him back into the crowd. "So, you have your Gift for life. They vary immensely and can be any number of things. For example, the king's Gift is that he always knows how much of a thing he or his country has. Incredibly useful for a ruler, as you may imagine."

  Jade pointed at the dummies and they restored themselves. "Now, let's start hitting things. Everyone get in front of a dummy."

  The children lined up one by one, and Jade walked over to the leftmost child, waving at him. A sloppy bolt of fire launched out, hitting the dummy and doing almost nothing. Jade walked over to the next student, who ran up and punched it, stumbling back holding his arm.

  As Jade continued, Jay contemplated not showing his true capabilities, but decided not to. He'd really destroyed those dummies earlier. Eventually, Jade got to Millie. Her tentacles grabbed the dummy, tightening. After a couple of seconds, the dummy broke, the force too much for it to handle. Jade nodded approvingly, and then she was on to Jay. He raised a sword, waiting for her to give the 'go ahead'.

  Jade waved a hand at him, and Jay nodded. He sped forward, teleporting forward in the eyes of the other students, slashing his sword in the Form of Acid. Shearing right through the dummy, he watched the intent he'd brought to bear act like real acid, dissolving the cut halves.

  Jay stepped back, watching Jade's eyebrows raise. The rest of the class started muttering, looking at Jay and Millie. Their instructor recreated the dummies, walking to the front of the class. She started pointing at the students, giving them advice. "You, fire kid. Sloppy control. Earth dude. Hit it next time. Girl, what are you doing punching the dummy without enhancing your fist first?"

  Eventually, she got to Jay and Millie again. " Millie. Crush them all at once, instead of slowly. Jay. Keep doing whatever the hell you're doing."

  Jade strode to the entrance of the training room. "Now I have an idea of what classes you should all be choosing. We're going to the Selection Stone."

  The class filed after her, chatting idly. Jay sidled over to Millie. "Are you going to be taking some kind of kraken class?"

  Millie nodded. "At least I assume so, unless she has other plans. She's older than me. What about you?," she asked, turning her blue eyes on Jay.

  "I don't know. I'll see the options and then choose, I guess."

  Millie nodded. "Fair."

  The group arrived at a large obelisk of white stone. Jade guided the first child to reach up and touch it. The child walked away after a few seconds, firing a fireball straight up. It exploded above them, providing a small firework display. The next student walked up, going to the side without testing any new abilities. After the long line, it was Millie's turn. Jade walked over to her, whispering in her ear. Millie nodded, touching the class stone. Then she stepped away, a wide smile coating her face. Jay stepped forward, the last person to touch the stone. Jade leaned down to whisper to him, as she'd done with all the students. "Choose a melee class, or something interesting, if you see it."

  Jay nodded, reaching for the stone. Suddenly, a barrier appeared between him and the stone. He turned to the side, watching someone hold up a glowing hand. "You don't have a Gift. You're not worthy to do this."

  The sky rumbled above, as if the gods were agreeing. The child looked up. "I challenge you to a duel."

  Jay stepped away from the stone, and towards the child. Jade stared daggers at the kid holding light in his palm. "Minus thirty points," she said, in a deadly calm voice.

  The child paled, but didn't stop the barrier. "I accept," Jay said, stretching.

  Jade nodded at him. The child raised both of his hands to the sky. "God of Light, Lumenia, I ask for strength to kill this unworthy man."

  Jay cocked his head. He didn't think they would be that prejudiced against him. Nothing happened, and he continued to walk forward, getting closer to his opponent.

  Then the god answered.

  Golden wings sprouted out of his opponent's back, as a voice rumbled from the sky, "I wish you well, apostle. Goodbye, Bluejay. Better luck next time."

  Jay stepped back as the kid accelerated, a sword slash happening directly in front of him. He turned to Jade and mouthed 'sword'. She complied, tossing him a metal sword, a hasty grip of wood made for it. He ducked the next slash, cutting directly through one of the kid's legs and holding his sword to the kid's throat. "Surrender."

  The kid barely managed to nod before Jay set towards the obelisk again. The sky rumbled once more. "The Monsters will find you. Don't touch the stone," a chorus said, as Jay reached for it. "Don't touch tHE STONE!"

  Jay's hand made contact with the stone, and his mind was immediately transported to another place.