"I didn't see that in the guidelines. I should check it again perhaps," Ariwen said, a little confused.

"Shit. It ain't in any guidelines but this is what we do. This is what most classes do. This is what Antelina did."

"I'm not Antelina. In the First World, we do everything by the book," she countered not at all looking angry.

There were some angry murmurings but nobody was big enough to speak up.

"What if someone starts the loop far away from here?" Gaus finally cut in. "You've got to consider others."

A red-haired girl by his side nodded vigorously. "Honored class rep, please reconsider. I start the loop in the Fifth World southern hemisphere. It's pretty far away. I spend two hours just from my hometown to the gate. From there, I have to climb the water dungeon to come to the Seventh World. They commonly drop me in east Little Lang where I've to take the morning wagon to come here. It isn't possible for me to come here by eight."

"What's your name, please?" Ariwen asked the girl.

"I'm Raya, I come from a small town in the Fifth World called Misky, honored class rep."

"Raya, have you ever been to the First World?" Ariwen asked.

The girl shook her head.

"Well, I can promise you it's much farther away from your place. If I can come from there on time, why can't you? Devise a way to teleport yourself from the Fifth World to this place."

The class fell silent.

Ariwen went on when it appeared there were no more objections, "I'll talk to my dad and see if we can get extra teachers so we can start taking night classes. I want everyone in this class to graduate as a veteran looper. One day when I become Queen I can be proud of my classmates."

What?

It didn't stop there. Ariwen brought three more rules before she finally allowed them to breathe. One was having compulsory group discussions for one hour every day.

"What if we refuse?" Antelina asked.

Gaus was furiously trying to figure out the shithead that made these rules.

"I've no power to judge anyone. All I'll ever do is by the book," Ariwen said with a shrug.

"And what does the book says?" Gaus asked, frowning.

"If you can't stand your class rep you can change them. But to do that you have to challenge them to a duel and win, or at least do something worth that the academy can recognize and recommend you as the next class rep. Alternatively, you can file a complaint to the teachers or student affairs. Your complaint will be evaluated thoroughly and if the class rep was found guilty, they will be removed," Ariwen explained.

"That's in the book. I fear the class may revolt against you if you push them too far," Gaus advised.

Ariwen just smiled and shrugged. "The academy doesn't mind graduating one student from every class," she said.

Now, that was a challenge. The girl thought she alone carried more weight than the rest of the class.

The class was angry.

"You think you are something just because you are from the First World?"

"Even if you are a Longevity Child you can't talk to us like this. We are all brought here because we have qualities, you know."

"I'll take the alchemy challenge and defeat you, today."

"I'll take it."

"Me too."

It was at this moment that Linc showed up.

"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" He asked and it was chaos because everyone wanted to speak.

"I want one person to speak."

Antelina stood up. "Sir, Ariwen is bringing unreasonable rules as soon as she becomes class rep and the class doesn't like her."

"Hold on right there, Antelina. Who dare say they don't like their classmate?" Linc asked.

"Er... nobody, sir. It isn't as if they don't like her, it's her matriarchy that they don't like," she corrected herself.

"She's just appointed, Antelina, be easy on her. Everyone has their style and she comes from the First World. You all know how they do things there. We are one big family, remember?"

Antelina seemed to consider his words unlike the rest of the class which immediately erupted into shouts of 'we don't want her'.

"Alright. Everyone silent," He thundered. "Ariwen is your class rep and you should try to obey her. The teachers are here to monitor her. If she does anything against the book we'll call her to order. Understood?"

"...Yes." They answered reluctantly.

"You are just lucky you don't have to live under her rule anymore," he went on. "Shortly after appointing her as the new rep, the academy received another meritorious service by another member of the class. The academy has no choice but to appoint them as the new class rep effective immediately."

Tiara jumped from her seat. She kept tabs on everything going on in the class and the academy in general, how did she miss it? "Who is it, sir."

The teacher frowned. "Sit down, Tiara, the only person I want to see standing is the new class rep."

The members of the class stared at each other, anxiously waiting to see the newly-appointed rep.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Stand up," Linc ordered, looking at the ceiling.

Now, that was confusing. If he were looking at someone (not the ceiling) then that would be it.

"If you don't want the title then Ariwen can just take it, she probably won't reject," Linc added.

"Whoever you are, please stand," Raya, the girl who was earlier complaining about distance, whispered.

"Must I call your name?" Linc asked.

Meanwhile, in the class group...

Tila: Tiara, who do you think he is?

Tiara: I have no idea. I even asked my friend from the upper echelon and he told me that yesterday only the guy who conquered Nascentos did more service to the academy than Ariwen. But he can't be in our class.

Dilfa: I hope it's a lady.

Gatan: I hate you, Dilfa. It's patriarchy whether you like it or not.

Raya: please, show yourself whoever you are before Linc decided to let Ariwen continue.

Antelina: who are you?

Gaus: hey, be a gentleman or lady and speak up?

"According to the student motivation act, the academy can appoint any student the position of class rep at any time based on their meritorious services to the academy. I've been asked to inform you that our student, Gaus, is the new class rep. Congratulations on your appointment. Will you please stand?" Linc finally called it.

Everyone turned to Gaus, including Ariwen and Antelina. He also turned around to see if there was another Gaus in the class.

Just what the hell was going on? He did no meritorious service at all.

Amid the commotion, a silver-haired, old woman wearing a necklace of red stones around her wrinkled neck walked into the class. She took one step at a time, waiting for three to five seconds to catch her breath before she took the next. Linc and everyone else turned to the woman with wide eyes. Gaus was immediately relieved to see the attention turning away from him.

Linc ran forward and bowed to the woman like a child. "I welcome you to my humble class, honored teacher."

"Little Linc, how are you doing?" She asked. Her voice was strong and healthy you wouldn't believe she was the one speaking.

"I am fine, teacher. Thank you." He turned to the class. "This is my teacher and mentor - XM9997 - who taught me enchantment. It has been so long since she taught anyone but you guys are lucky. She has decided to take two enchantment classes this year, yours included."

XM9997? That would make her a senior member of the upper echelon. Only two people, XM9998 and XM9999, were above her in the entire academy.

The class stood at once and greeted the teacher. Linc exchanged a few more pleasantries with her before he hurriedly went out.

The old woman who was supposed to be their enchantment teacher suddenly said something in an unknown and incomprehensible tongue. It sounded like the babbling of a seven-month-old child who was just learning how to speak.

Rewind has saved 3 seconds.

You've Rewound for 3 seconds, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember.

Are you sure you want to use CP on the saved memory? Y/N?

1 skill was detected.

He pressed yes.

Runic Tongue of Old

Rank: archaic 1

Years come years go, the language that was first spoken on the multiverse remains. It was used to create the first magic the world has ever seen. Learn it for in its pronunciation you will find the magic that is forgotten.

Cost: 0

Save the skill for 1 CP? Y/N?

Note that this is an unusual skill in the sense that its exp comes from the words you learn. You may be required to master both the letters that form the word and its pronunciation.

He pressed yes.

You've learned the Tongue.

Runic Tongue lvl 1/80 (8/100 words)

"Purple Meam butterfly," the teacher said. That would be eight words if you combined these three with the five she spoke earlier. The skill couldn't just install the whole language in his head; he had to learn every word as he leveled up. It was still useful since it made learning the words trivial. He just had to figure out a way to get someone to speak the right word and the skill would interpret it and install it in his mind.

He looked around him and saw the confused looks of his colleagues. None of them knew what the teacher was saying.

The teacher somehow took so long to realize none of the students was getting her before she changed to the common tongue.

"I've spoken eight words of the Tongue," she said, and then she used the quill and the purple ink on the front desk to draw on the board. "This is what I've just said in writing." She pointed at the drawing.

It might sound confusing to call it a drawing but that was as close as it could get. Half of it was flowers, shrunken flowers mind you, and the other half was Chinese, Arabic and Persian alphabets slammed together to create a certain... artistic something that just couldn't be described with words.

Just when Gaus was thinking about how utterly complicated the whole thing was, the drawing turned into a purple glow, which then turned into a real butterfly before flying to the other end of the class. It slammed on the opposite wall before dissolving to produce the same drawing.

Gaus Rewound the whole process, hoping to pick something. He was at first reluctant to Rewind within the academy and in front of the teachers, but he later realized how much he would be losing if he refused to use it.

"The three basic enchantment skills are runic tongue, runic writing, and mana insignia," the teacher went on. "You learn the Tongue first. Then you learn the skill runic writing that will guide your hands to write it. When you achieve this, I'll teach you mana insignia so you can imbue your mana into the letters to make an actual enchantment."

"Just as you did, honored teacher?" Ariwen asked, apparently not as confused as the rest of the class.

The teacher nodded. "Yes, Ariwen, just as I did."

"Honored teacher, how long will it take to learn the skills?" The bald guy asked.

"One loop month if you've talent of 90% and above in enchantment, two months of vigorous studying for anything between 50-89%, and up to six months for any affinity between 10-50%. There's no study done on affinities below 10%. Some of them can take years and some just can't make it no matter how much loop years they spend on it." The teacher explained. Gaus and any other who had zero affinity in enchantment had fallen into that last category where they would need several years to learn the three skills. But somehow Gaus was already learning the skills even before the class began.

Are you sure you want to use 2 CP on the saved memory? Y/N?

2 skills were detected.

He pressed yes.

•Runic writing

Rank: rare 1

For so long the languages have lost their meaning together with their innate magic. In this era, magic is treated as a separate entity from language when in fact they are one. Use runic writing to channel the magic contained in the Runic Tongue of Old to the intricate design of the blessed letters to create magic.

Cost: up to 1MP (increase by leveling up)

Save the skill for 1 CP? Y/N?

•Mana insignia

Rank: rare 1

Enchanters create magic by transforming their mana into skill, unlike other mages who just used mana to power an already invented skill. Many magi of Old believed that enchanters are the first order of magicians because their magic is unique and unadulterated by any outside force. They learn how to speak the words, they learn how to write them, and they use mana insignia to put life into the words by binding them to their mana for all eternity.

Cost: up to 1MP (increase by leveling up)

Save the skill for 1 CP? Y/N?

He pressed yes for both.

You've learned runic writing.

Runic writing lvl 1/30 (0/100)

You've learned Mana insignia.

Mana insignia lvl 1/30 (0/100)

Now, it wouldn't matter how long it would take others, Gaus had already paved his way to enchanting.