“The academy is focused on one thing only. Strength.”

“All classes have the sole purpose of making you stronger. You will fight a lot, and train a lot. That is what is expected to aid the great demon lord. But let me make this clear. Do not under any circumstances break the laws. If you do you will be executed on the spot. There will be no pleading.”

“What are the laws you ask? Rule 1. No killing. Rule 2. Never attack a teacher. Rule 3. Anything a teacher says must and will be respected and followed. I will make it very clear. It doesn't matter if you haven’t followed a rule your entire life. You will not break these rules.”

“As many of you know. We have been transported far away from the city. We are in the middle of wilderness. Or more specifically, in Mount Doom. I’d advise you to stay within school vicinity. We will begin travelling towards your dorms. There you will sleep.”

The ghost floated out of the door. His black hand came back through and signalled for the class to come out. It was completely silent in the classroom. Nobody wanted to be the first one to move.

Suddenly, a smooth red-skinned demon stood up. Two sharp horns protruded out of his head, he was completely naked like everyone else. He didn’t have genitals. He marched towards the door.

“Let’s get going, peasants, I need to explore my kingdom.” He held onto two black swords. Arne hadn’t noticed it but everyone in the room except him was holding some sort of weapon. It seemed like this was the only chance they had to bring accessories.

The rest of the class shuffled towards the door. They found their mentor waiting for them, he began leading them towards their dorms. The hallway was like a tunnel in a cave. It was dark and gloomy.

“The dorm you get will be solely based on what species you are. We find that we can accomodate you much better if you are around other people of the same species.”

The dark tunnel continued, lanterns gave enough lighting to illuminate the floor. The floor was hard and black. Arne’s mind had trouble getting accommodated to the current scenario, it continued screaming, “Danger!” If he could sweat he’d be drenched.

The tunnel entered into a much more established tunnel. The walls were made out of bricks, and the floor was made out of cut stone. Arne saw another class being oriented further down the tunnel.

After what seemed like mindless travel to Arne, they arrived in front of a large slug. The slug weighed over a ton, it had countless wrinkles caused by fat. It’s skin was dry but smooth. It had white long hair, gigantic disturbing eyes, and it’s lips were coloured blood red.

“A new class, huh.” She spoke as though she’d rather be doing a million other things right now.

“Yes Marga. A new class.”

“We’ll come here, then.” Her eyes pointed clearly at who she was speaking to.

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“A Gobber, huh? Don’t eat your bed.”

She handed him a crystal. A green one. Then the other person came and she handed him a crystal. Were the crystals keys? Arne eventually got to the front of the line and was handed his own crystal, it was white.

“Skeletons. Doesn’t get more bare than that.” Marga said.

When everyone had gotten their own respective crystal, Midol, the ghost, floated up into the air. Arne looked up and saw Midol’s skinny black body. Arne found his body disturbing to look at.

“Do not lose those crystals.”

One of the students' hands rose. Arne hadn’t realized it until now, but there was a human standing here. A beautiful one at that, Arne couldn’t help but stare. Midol floated down, his head getting close to the human.

“A siren. It was a while since I saw one.”

“Well, It was a while since I saw a ghost. My question is. The rules don’t protect our crystals” When Arne saw her open her mouth, he realized very quickly that she was not a human. Rows of sharp, yellow, teeth layered her mouth. It looked more like the mouth of a jaw.

“Aha, sirens are known for being tricky after all. Yes, stealing another crystal is allowed. I don’t know why you’d do that, yet.” The black holes on Midols white coating stretched to form a wicked smile.

Midol continued, “Those crystals are keys, complicated keys, but keys nonetheless. As you can see, there is a pathway behind me. If you follow that path, as long as you have your key in hand, you will reach your room:”

“Right, off to the next spot.” Midol floated off towards another direction, away from Marga. Marga gave Arne a foul stare as he walked away. Arne didn’t like her.

They walked back to the giant hall. They passed another class, Arne saw another skeleton. He reactively smiled, but ended up giving a blank stare, and received one back. He felt like he was on good terms.

There was a staircase. They walked up for a few minutes and then found themselves in a huge area. It was the top of mount doom. A circular area. The floor had been flattened. Arne felt like an ant on a table.

“This is where you’ll have physical training. If you notice, there’s a pretty big black crystal in the air. This area is special, but I’ll let your teacher tell you all about that. Meet me back in the hallway.”

Midol floated through the ground, the last thing to leave was his head. The red skinned student from before was the first to start walking. Another student stood beside him. They were soon at the hallway and saw Midol sleeping in the air.

“Finally. You took forever. Let's get going towards the final spot.” They walked towards the opposite direction they’d gone the first time. They entered a seemingly small room, the atmosphere felt choking.

There was three crystals in the room. Each one with a unique letter engraved onto them.

“Touching these crystals will transport you into a unique situation, in total there’s five crystals. The first one will make you get swarmed. The second one you’ll be pitted up against invisible monsters. In the third crystal, you’ll fight against a monster of great strength. In the fourth crystal, you’ll fight against a monster of great speed. In the fifth crystal, you’ll get beaten up.”

“These crystals will be relative to your own strength. The stronger you get, the stronger the monsters get. I’d suggest spending a lot of time here. It’s a great way of becoming stronger.”

“If you were perceptive you’d have realized that the stairs also go down. They lead towards the cafeteria and exit. You’re free to go out any time you please, I wouldn’t advise you to though.”