I arrived at the classroom early and sat down in the same spot as before close to the entrance. More students soon followed. As they entered I studied their faces, trying to make that I remembered them in the future. No one paid particular attention to me as they picked a seat and sat down. Some of them had already formed groups it looked like, judging from how noisy they were.

The last student to enter the classroom was a short girl with medium-length white-blond hair and a detached expression. The only seat that wasn't occupied by now was next to me, and she saw down without saying a word before nonchalantly laying her head on the desk. It looked more like she wanted to sleep than anything else.

“Tired?” A voice called out from behind.

I glanced over my shoulder. There sat a diminutive Chinese girl with a tomboyish air around her. She had dark brown hair in a bob cut and big brown eyes. She was currently sporting a broad smile as she looked at the girl next to me. Said girl leisurely raised her head looked back at the girl behind her.

"Not really." She said.

The Chinese girl's smile widened.

"You sure? It looked like you fell asleep the moment you sat down, so I just assumed that you tired yourself these first few days, sorry" She said and laughed.

"I like lying down." The girl next to me answered.

The Chinese girl then put her hand forward. "I'm Liang Yuhan."

The other girl looked at the hand for a few seconds.

"Kay," She said and took her hand.

Liang formed a confused expression.

"Kay?"

The white-haired girl nodded her head. "Mm. I'm Kay."

Liang's face lit up in understanding.

"Ah, sorry, haha. I totally misunderstood you. Nice to meet you, Kay!" Liang smiled brightly and turned towards the girl that sat next to her. "This is Alima. I met her during the gathering a few days ago."

The girl, Alima, Smiled shyly and waved her hand.

"H-hello."

"Mm. Hi." Kay said casually.

After having introduced the two, Liang looked towards me. "What's your name?"

She wore the same smile that she'd had when she asked Kay about it. It was impossible to tell if she was genuinely a cheery person, or if there was something more behind it.

“Kim," I said. "Kim Hooper.”

"I didn't see any of you at the class gathering a few days ago. How come none of you went?" Liang then asked.

"I was busy."

"Didn't feel like it."

Both I and Kay answered almost simultaneously. Liang Yuhan looked back and forth between us and started giggling. She then looked behind us and went silent. I'd heard him enter the room, so I turned around and looked at Mr. Basara who'd walked over to the center of a large board that covered the wall at the front of the classroom. Most of the students had already stopped talking.

"We can talk more later." I heard Liang whisper from behind. At the edge of my vision, I saw that Kay had a blank face as she paid attention to the teacher.

"Morning, class 1." Mr. Basara said, and the last of the talking died off.

"I hope you've all been well these past few days, and that you've had enough time to get used to some of the different training facilities here at the academy. I think I've already mentioned it, but you'll all be using them quite a lot during these coming years."

He tapped on his watch, and a hologram showed up above his wrist.

"This here is today's schedule. Every day there will be at least one theory class and two practical classes, except during the weekends where you have leave. For those of you that don't remember, that's every other weekend." He pointed towards the hologram and continued. "Today, your first class will be Ethereal Beast Analysis up until lunch, followed by Basic Combat Techniques and Survival Class. Fortunately for you guys, Survival Class is mostly theory at first during the year, so you'll be able to take it easy after the Combat Technique Basics class. Trust me; you'll be thankful for that this afternoon." He said with a dangerous smile.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

----------------------------------------

And he was telling the truth. The Ethereal Beast Analysis class during the morning had been about different kinds of monsters that existed, their potential weak points, habits, and general biology. I was already familiar with many of the monsters that the textbook mentioned, so I don't think I'll have any problems with that subject in the future.

But the Basic Combat Technique, or BCT class as the teacher referred to it, was another matter. The class began with us warming up by running a few laps around the track. Since there existed various types of heroes, and not all of them focus on the same areas, everyone wasn't expected to run the same distance. This was also when I realized that not all the students in the class weren't super athletic. At least not when compared to the superhuman standard that I'd been expecting.

As soon as we started warming up, the majority of the class began running at a speed that was more than double mine, and they didn't seem to have any trouble with it. But some weren't that much faster than me. Amongst them was that Alima girl. I had to push it a bit more than the rest, but I managed to keep up with those students decently well.

The lesson itself lasted two hours and mostly consisted of the instructor demonstrating different grips and techniques, which we then got to try out on dolls. The instructor, a Korean woman called Oh Sung-Suk, said that we'd stick to dolls the first couple of weeks before switching to sparring partners.

Even though today's lesson was only sparring with a doll, it was still exhausting. You had to keep up a decent rate throughout the class and if you ever slacked off the instructor would on you and yelling at you in less than a second. At the end of the lesson, I was sitting on the ground, barely able to move my arms. I was extra thankful that one of the effects of training in a mana-dense environment was also a quicker recovery rate, so I'd still be able to get in a little bit of practice during the evening.

After Basic Combat Technique, we had Survival Class — which was exactly what it sounded like. Because dungeons and towers could differ a lot in how they looked on the inside, during the course, we'd learn how to survive in different dangerous environments and the correct measures to take while in one of these instances. This, of course, also involved basic medical care and things like that.

For the record — an instance is what the inside of a dungeon or tower was often called.

I think my experience will be of great help during the Survival Class, especially so during the practical parts. But there was still a lot I had to learn, so I made sure to pay attention during the lesson and took lots of notes.

When the lesson had concluded and I was just about to head back to my dorm, I saw Liang Yuhan approaching Kay to try and start up a conversation. It seemed like she was interested in kay because I'd seen her do that a few times during the day. Kay didn't seem to care much, though, as she just casually nodded now and then when Liang talked. When Liang saw me looking at them, she waved towards me cheerfully. I hesitated for a second before nodding slightly at her. When she saw that, she grabbed Kay's hand and walked over to me. Kay seemed to have given up pretty quickly and just let Laing pull her along.

"Hey!" Liang yelled as she closed in on me. "Are you smart?"

I raised my eyebrows as I stared at her. "...What?"

She stopped in front of me and let go of Kay's hand. "I'm wondering if you're smart. Like, good at studying and things like that." She smiled brightly as she asked me that.

"I'm not sure. Haven't had to study for a while, but I think I'm decent." I usually didn't pay much attention to school back in the day, but when I did try it often went well. "Why are you asking?"

"You haven't had to study?" She looked at me questioningly, before waving her hand in front of her. "Well anyways. You see, I've never been good at studying. I prefer fighting. And apparently, Kay here doesn't like studying either." Liang gestured toward Kay, who was looking at me like she was trying to remember where she'd seen me before.

"The problem is that my parents have been nagging me lately about how I have to get better grades. So I've been asking around, trying to find people who can help me out now and then. And since Kay also doesn't like studying, I thought that she could join too! It'll be like a study group! So, what do you say?" She clasped her hands together and looked at me with begging eyes.

"What about that Alima girl. She might be able to help you."

Liang sighed. No, I already asked her. She's not good at it either. And she's a bit shy, so she doesn't want to join a study group." She looked at me as the tips of her mouth turned upwards into another smile. "But if you really want to, I can probably convince her to join."

"Don't. That's none of my concern." I shut her down before she got any misconceptions about me.

"ok, I won't. But what about the study group? Wanna join? I'm planning to ask a few more people too, and if you join, we can probably help you out with other things in the future. I can even spar with you whenever you want!" She announced.

I looked at her for a few seconds before glancing at Kay, who still looked like she was trying to remember who I was. Was I that forgettable? Or was this just because of her personality?

Turning back to Liang, I thought about her request. Was there any point in accepting it? I'd already decided to not actively seek other people out. I wouldn't gain much from agreeing. But I did find it oddly hard to decline her when she was looking at me like that.

So I chose the cowards way out.

Turning around, I let out a tired breath and said, "I'll think about it. How's that?" Then I began moving towards my dorm.

"That's good enough for me. See you later then, Kim!" Liang's voice sounded out from behind me.

"Kim...That's what his name was..." I heard someone mumble directly after.