The following days went by much as the first one did. We had theory lessons in the morning and more practical classes during the afternoon. The theory classes that we were currently taking were Ethereal Beast Analysis, Group Subjugation Design, and Metaphysical Formation Analysis. The practical classes were only Basic Combat Technique, or BCT, and Survival class. Later we'd start with courses such as Group Subjugation Engagement, Sparring Class, and even Live-Combat classes. From tomorrow and onwards, we'd also have weapon's practice two evenings a week with specific instructors that'd be teleported in from all over the world to help us students improve.

I'd made sure to practice my archery by myself as much as my body allowed, and I'd made a lot of improvements already, but it'd be nice to have a professional giving me some pointers.

Other than that, Liang had also approached me a few more times about the study group. While I'd been planning on outright declining her offer now, I realized that accepting it might not be such a bad idea. I might be in the same class for some time, and it'd be better to establish a relationship — even a weak one — with some of the people in the class so that I know who they are. The study group was at least a practical way of doing that which didn't involve participating in any of their other gatherings. If it turns out it's a waste of them, then I'll just leave.

Liang had also persuaded a few others to join and proposed that we'd meet the following weekend. The time didn't matter much to me, so I agreed without complaining. It was Wednesday now, which left me a few days to wrap my head around our subjects.

And that was what I was currently doing. I had finished my evening practice session and was sitting at the desk in my dorm, looking over some of the problems in our textbook. Ethereal Beast ANalysis and Group Subjugation Design weren't that difficult for me at the moment. In Ethereal Beast Analysis, we just had to memorize some common monster types, their weak points, and parts of their biology. In Group Subjugation Design, we only had to know the fundamental roles in a subjugation group and a few common strategies plus where and when to use them. The roles themselves were simple.

You had the supporters. Arguably the most important role in most subjugation groups. The abilities of these heroes could vary a lot, but they were usually weak by themselves. Focusing on supporting others, common abilities they had were healing, buffing, and terrain control.

Then you had the vanguards. The vanguard's job was to stand at the forefront of the battle and stop the enemies from reaching the rear. How they did this depended on the hero. Some worked as tanks, taking the attention of the enemies and enduring their blows. Others weaved and dodged through the monsters' attacks and tried striking the enemy's weak points. And then there were the vanguards who didn't have to care about any of that and could just beat the monsters senseless as soon as they saw them. But in the end, there were almost as many different kinds of vanguards as there were heroes who filled that role. The one thing they had in common was that they were all close-range fighters, though.

The sharpshooters were also important. In lower-ranked groups, these people could be gunners, but in higher-ranked groups, they were almost exclusively archers. There wasn't much to be said about them. They were sharpshooters. They worked from the back lines and were often tasked with taking out or crippling the stronger monsters.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Then, last but not least, you had the magicians. Depending on the magician, they could fill all of those roles and more. They were very sought after because of how versatile they were. Magicians were much rarer than heroes, though, so guilds usually only used them in the high-ranked groups.

Memorizing the roles wasn't hard, and I didn't have any trouble with remembering the strategies that we'd covered yet. It wasn't rocket science.

What mostly required my attention was Metaphysical Formation Analysis. The subject focused on the theory behind dungeons and towers. How they worked, what they were, and what you could find inside. The problem was that there were a lot of calculations that needed to be done in it.

For example; if you had a dungeon that was a certain size and let out a certain amount of maha, and showed signs of accommodating certain magical plants, what sort of monsters could one expect to find inside? Different monsters and plants let out different amounts and different kinds of mana, so you would often be able to calculate these things to get a rough estimate of what to expect from the dungeon. The problem was that, sometimes, you were supposed to be able to do this on the spot. While the smartwatch did have features in it that could with this, there was always the possibility that you wouldn't have access to that. So you had to know how to calculate and work answers without external aid. But I hadn't done any kind of math for over three years, and some of the math involved with this was completely new to me. And things quickly got complicated.

During the last few days, almost all the free time that hadn't been used for my training had been spent studying this. I'd made decent progress, and by now I'd already gone through all the problems in the first quarter of the textbook to almost know them by heart.

It was when I sat there, having looked at the same problem for thirty minutes straight without understanding it, that I suddenly realized something.

"Hey, Hope. What's two plus two?"

[4]

"And two times fourteen?"

[28]

I nodded my head. "What about three-hundred and forty-seven times two-hundred and twenty-three, divided by seven?"

[11054,4]

A small smile formed on my face. This could make things easier.

[Hope, do you know about the monster knows as the Himalayan Blood Toothed Tiger?"

[Yes]

"Do you also know what its weak point is?" I asked.

[No]

I frowned. Maybe it was too good to be true.

Or perhaps not...

"Hope, if I told you that the Himalayan Blood Toothed Tiger is unable to move quickly and agilely after losing their tail, could you remember it?"

[Yes]

"Then, can you repeat the Himalayan Blood Toothed Tiger's weak point to me?"

[The Himalayan Blood Toothed Tiger: Once it loses its tail it is incapable of making use of its agility and swiftness. ]

While this wouldn't help with the particular problem that I was currently working on, this could help me a lot. Of course, there wouldn't be much point in using this to cheat my way through tests. I was here to learn, after all. But it could help me with my studies. It'd save a lot of time if I could ask Hope something if I forget it, instead of having to go back to look it up every single time. And depending on where the limit is, this could become a very useful tool in the future. Imagine having easy access to an encyclopedia of knowledge no matter where you are.

I guess that's basically what the internet is, but this is more practical. And from what I've read, the smartwatches all connection to the outside world whenever you enter an instance. Besides, Hope is smarter than watches. Hope might even be able to recognize monsters by itself.

I'd have to look further into it in the future, but this had potential.