Mia followed Narissa and Shishen as per their request to the cafeteria. Strangely enough, everyone in the class followed. Mia didn't really know what to expect. She probably could just go back to her house to eat but she knows she needs to socialize. She is showing off a little too much but it is necessary. She did things like that before but she wasn't really conscious of what she was doing. Every time she thinks back on how she rationalized some things she did before, she can't help but cringe a little. Not that she is unable to do stuff without thinking anymore. It's just harder with her soul being older than her body but the body still has its own part on what a person does or at least she hoped so, since that way, once she grew a little more, she would have a lot more control of herself.

As they walked to the cafeteria, Mia noticed that people were opening the way to her class.

Once she entered the building, a cleaning spell activated, cleaning her and anyone who entered the building.

Narissa explains how the building works to the new students in the class. On the first floor is the basic kitchen. Anyone can get food from there for free. It's the worst food you can get in the building but it's really good food all things considered. The second floor has a sort of request restaurant where you can put orders for food you want and they will make it for you if they can get the ingredients and you can pay for everything. The third floor is a high-end restaurant where everything is expensive but equally as good, going by what the few people who ate there said. The last floor just has tables and chairs and is usually used for parties when the academy allows.

Again, to Mia's surprise, everyone in the classroom stayed on the first floor. There was a little of everything, from noodles, fish, meat, vegetables, etc... No desert though. They also had a lot of different juices. Mia got a little of everything besides pasta. If this was her old world, she would know what to eat to grow healthy, but since the number of foods Mia didn't know was bigger than the ones she did now, making a rainbow out of her food and hoping for the best was her best bet until she found someone who might know anything about nutrition. She also hoped that the orange juice was orange juice as it smelled like orange juice and looked like orange juice.

The cafeteria was also nice enough to offer some food to Onyx. It took a while for Mia to notice it but Onyx didn't really need to eat food. He could, but he didn't need to. It was very subtle but she could feel that Onyx was feeding on the mana around him.

Everyone took their food and moved to an empty table. It seems that at least for today they will eat together.

As they seated, Mia saw what everyone was eating. Klaws pretty much copied Mia, just getting more meat than her. Narissa got a pretty wild salad along with fish. Shishen got ramen with fish. Mathias, Kaki and Luminus got the exact same thing, a huge plate of rice, pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs. Their plates were somewhere between three to four times bigger than the rest of the people. Moon got what Mia considered a normal meal. Grains, probably rice or something similar, a vegetable that looks like a cucumber but it's yellow along with some pieces of meat. Cassandra had a salad fruit or a salad that looked like it was made of just fruit. Katia was eating some sort of leaf burrito that was stuffed with a lot of stuff she couldn't identify.

Mia couldn't help but wonder how many different types of fruits and vegetables are out there that she doesn't know. Most of what she saw in her old town were things similar to things in her old life but she can barely identify a third of what she saw in the cafeteria.

They ate for a few minutes before Cassandra asked a question on everyone's Mind. “Why is no one talking to us?” She didn't receive an answer. When anyone tried to look around, everyone turned away from them.

Surprisingly enough, everyone took it in good faith. This was something that probably happened from time to time in some way or another.

“So, new students, how do you feel about the academy?” Mathias asked, trying to break the strange mood in the table.

Moon and Klaws didn't respond, the first because he just can't muster the energy for it and Klaws because he was too focused on his food.

“It's barely been a day. Not enough to have a real opinion.” Katia said

“I am more or less the same. At least I can see that there are a lot of people I can do business with.” Cassandra said.

“I know it's just the first day but I hope this place isn't as disappointing as it was so far. I didn't learn anything so far that I couldn't find in a book. Also, my magic seems to be stronger than the one most people use so I don't see much of a future there.” Mia said. It sounded a little rude but it was true.

“Sooo, what do you plan to do after the classes end? There are these clubs you can join or make that allow you to do stuff around the academy, you can even use some of the more specialized places.” Shishen said. Every time Mia hears her talking, something in the back of her mind tells her to wait for Shishen to say 'Nyah' at the end of the sentence but it never comes.

“Care to explain more about those clubs? Never heard about them.” Cassandra asked.

“They are not really officially part of the academy, at least that was how it was explained to me. It is more something they allow to allow people to get better after classes. They also seem to change names for no reason every few years. An older student in my club once told me that clubs were called gatherings when she enrolled here and before that they were called special groups.” Shishen explained.

“What clubs are out there?” Katia asked.

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Shishen talked about some of the most popular ones. The knight club, a club for people trying to become knights, not just in this kingdom mind you. The magic club, a club dedicated to studying and training of magic. The cultivation club, similar to the magic club but related to cultivation. There was a game club, they made and played games. It is one of the older clubs so there are a lot of older games there made by graduates. The last of the top 5 more popular clubs was the fighting club. They had access to the coliseum and they had a teacher in charge that knew how to use healing magic so they pretty much fought as much as she allowed.

There are other clubs but they usually don't have more than 10 people as they are very specific. Shishen knows about an occult club that looks and studies information about ghosts and cursed stuff, they have 7 people in contrast to the knight club who last year had approximately 300 members. Mathias was part of the club along with his two friends. They confirmed.

“So, asking again. What do you want to do after classes?” Narissa asked Mia.

“I want to go to the library. There has to be a library, doesn't it?” Mia said.

“There is a book club that has their base there. I have one friend there. If you are anything like her, you will like it there.” Narissa added.

The more martial inclined people at the table got a little surprised by Mia's choice.

Klaws left the table and came back with pretty much the same amount of food he had before. Some of the people joked about it but that was the extent of it. Whatever was happening, it was healthy for him. He was actually digesting the food somehow.

Once Mia was done she returned her dishes to the kitchen and made a quick trip to the bathroom. Not that she actually needed to use the toilet. For the last few days Mia noticed that her body was becoming more efficient, absorbing more of the food and making less waste. She couldn't still cultivate like before, only being able to do it for a few minutes at a time. Probably due to the damage and the operation but she could feel that wouldn't be long before she was back to normal.

Shishen and Narissa accompanied Mia to the bathroom. There, Mia understood that girls will be girls in any world. Bathroom talk was everything she imagined it would be. Mia fixed her appearance a bit with the help of her friends and left. For the most part she didn't really mind her own appearance but there are some things you could only do if you were beautiful. And one thing Mia knew is that beauty cultivated from an early age would triumph over all others.

Until it was time to go back to the classroom Mia decided to sunbath. For the next few years she will probably stay inside a lot more so she will have to get some sun when she can. Shishen and Narissa accompanied her. Treating her like a doll, in a good way, all the time.

Inside the cafeteria, just after Mia left.

“Hey Mathias. Is everything alright? Did that girl do anything to you?” An older male student in similar clothing to Mathias asked.

“No? Why do you ask?” Mathias asked back.

“A lot of people saw what she did to the elf boy over there.” The older student said while pointing to Moon, who himself didn't like it.

“He kind of deserves it and he knows it now.” Mathias said, looking to Moon. He didn't really deny it. “Besides we all know that she could have done way worse.”

“Do you know what she plans to do for clubs?”

“Library.”

“I am starting to believe in God a little.” The older student said as some worrying thoughts left him.

“So, anyone here interested in joining the knight club? I am Ashito by the way. Current leader of the club.” Ashito said to the rest of the table. “What about you hairy boy?” He asked Klaws.

“Can't, have to study. I am too dumb to be here so some professors will be giving me lessons after the normal ones end.” He said non-nonchalantly. More than one person near him was surprised by what he said.

“I been meaning to ask but this, but how exactly were you accepted here?” Cassandra asked Klaws.

“One of the professors said that it was because I broke the armor he was using during the test.” Klaws answered between bites of his food.

“Hmmm. Klaws, you look poor. You are probably poor so how about this. Work for me and I will pay you really good.” Cassandra said, dropping what was clearly her act until now.

“How much and for what? I promised my mom to not hurt people unless they did something bad to me.”

“Before I answer that, I need to know. How strong are you exactly?”

Klaws stopped eating for a few seconds and was really thinking on how to respond.

“If I fought, the only person in our class who could defeat me would be Mia.” He said really seriously. The aura around him changed for a moment when he said those words but went back to normal once he started to eat again.

For a moment the other boys in the class were almost ready to contest that but something in the back of their minds made them not open their mouths.

“I will pay you 1 gold a month and you will just have to do what I ask you and come with me when I need and don't worry, I will not make you do anything that would remove you from the academy.”

Klaws was really surprised by that amount of money. One gold coin was a lot of money to him. His family barely made silvers so hearing he would be paid in gold shocked him.

“Can you send that money to my family?” Klaws asked.

“If you want I can even bring you family here but then our contract would have to be a little longer than the time I will stay here.” Cassandra said with the allure of a hypnotic snake, one that Klaws was going to accept and nobody really saw a logical reason to stop.

“How long?” Klaws asked, fully focused on Cassandra.

“15 years, and you have to become better than you are now. I don't care if you are not all that smart, I can think by myself. But if I tell you to protect me, I want certainty that I am not wasting money.” Cassandra explained, firmly.

“Alright, when do I start?”

“Right now. Once you finish eating, follow me.”

“This feels wrong.” Luminus said.

“Money makes the world turn. He needs it and I have it. Even you have a price.” Cassandra said.

“I would not sell myself for money.” He answered back.

“But you would probably do it for something I can buy with money.”

“You can't buy power and honor with money.” He said somewhat angrily.

“Would you bet on that?” She said confidently. The only thing she received back was silence.

Soon Klaws finished eating and followed Cassandra.

The rest of the Class went their own ways and had a few talks with the other students. The students of the special class were treated with a lot of respect, bordering on fear, but due to their upbringings they didn't really see that as too strange.