I woke up the next day with great anticipation. Today would be the first proper day of the Academy. It had been many years since I had been inside a classroom.

No one had been in the mood to spar the night before, so I woke up with a healthy body and a calm mind.

The adjusted schedule had been waiting for me on my desk when I returned from the finals.

The Headmaster hadn't been lying about having a busy schedule, as several hours had been added for each day.

Mercifully I only had two days of classes before the rest day. Which hopefully gave me some chance to get used to the pace.

While I had far more worries before, my life had been far more leisurely.

Now, almost every hour of the day would be accounted for. Fortunately, it also meant far more time spent with Goldy. Giving me another excuse to be away from the nightly sparring.

For now, I had a full day of classes, several of which were with Ivan alone. That was something I wasn't looking forward to. After all, those classes had only been the domain of the Commander before.

I didn't think Ivan was best pleased with another person joining in.

Fortunately, the rest of my classes were with the various years. I was attending every monster-related class that could fit into my schedule. No matter which year it was for. It was clear that they wanted to fast-track my theory education.

I wasn't going to argue with that, the quicker I could tame more beasts the better.

Breakfast had once again been quiet, as I continued to get up earlier than necessary. That did give me a chance to check on Goldy before classes began.

If giving him the proper food the night before had made a difference, then he didn't show it. Barely even acknowledging my presence as I looked through the small gap between us.

I could feel a slight sense of discontent through the bond. It was strange how quickly I could begin recognising Goldy's feelings.

It seemed that he didn't want to make too much of an effort without anything tasty with me. His newfound emotions put me in a surprisingly good mood as I made my way to my first class of the year.

For every student, the first class of the day is the Type class, where you learn the basics of your class for the first hour of each day together.

I would be no different.

While the Light and Heavy Types would each have a large auditorium. I would be sitting in Professor Wright's office. A little more informal than the other types. I was curious to know what the other New Types had on their schedule. I imagined it was something similar.

Professor Wright's office was empty as I arrived. Simply a mess of papers and books littered around the room. It was rare to see such a large amount of literature on a single topic in one place.

It was clear that Terror Wolves were top of mind for the Professor. Several papers on their study were sitting front and center on his desk.

It took a few minutes for him to return to his office.

Rushing through the door. He stopped for a second as he saw me before slowing down and walking with purpose behind his desk.

He sat down and clasped his hands together in front of me.

"Now, What do you want to learn?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that for a second. I hadn't thought it was up to me.

"I don't know. What is the first type class usually about?"

He seemed to ponder that momentarily before giving me a wry smile.

"You know, I haven't the slightest clue. It never crossed my mind, really. Either way, I don't know how useful that would be for you."

While I couldn't argue with him, I would have liked more structure in something that would take up a considerable part of my life for the following year.

"Ah, I can tell you which class you have been allotted. Unsurprisingly, all the New Types have been put in Class A."

That didn't make me too happy. While it was expected for us to be put in the top one hundred of the year. It didn't make me feel much better. I would have by far the worst stats out of anyone in the group.

"I would use this class for theory, but you will have more than enough of that with your schedule. Leaving whatever you want to do with this class open."

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That made me feel better as I thought through several ideas that would be useful.

"Can we use it as extra training time with Goldy?"

The smile on his face faltered slightly at my question.

"Unfortunately, no, that is outside of my control. The Academy will be strict with that for the foreseeable future. I also recommend not using its name in classes or in front of others."

I was surprised at how serious he was. While I knew Goldy wasn't the best name it could have. With how serious he had gotten, it seemed like quite the issue.

Before I could argue with the Professor, his smile returned, and he quickly changed the subject.

"Your parents were accomplished Soul Warriors. I presume they gave you a full education?"

"Ah, they died when I was twelve, so they gave me the basics. But I wouldn't say I was too knowledgeable."

He merely nodded at that. He then began to rummage through his papers.

"Well, you will soon get a full education to review anything they missed, so don't worry too much. For today we must fall back to theory, I will give you every paper I have found about Terror Wolves. You will learn everything there is that we know of them. I am curious to see if that will make a difference with your tamed beast."

He handed over a few papers, along with two books. Clearly, he didn't want to talk any longer, becoming occupied with his own research.

While I didn't expect this to be how my first class would go, I listened to the Professor and began reading through the papers.

By the time the bell rang, I had only managed to get through two smaller papers. I learnt a few interesting things but nothing that would be immediately helpful.

Fortunately, on this first day, I didn't have far to go for my next class. This one would be far more official.

Instructor Brown had been a person that Professor Wright had mentioned quite a bit. But I had yet to meet the Instructor. Today's class would be my first opportunity to do so.

It would be the first lesson I would share with Class A, the best of the first years. The first of many to come, as I didn't think I would be failing the class anytime soon.

Even if I didn't do anything for the rest of the year, I imagined that the new Types had no choice but to stay.

There were a few familiar faces as I walked into the auditorium. The Support, Ranged and other new Types first class ended early.

Violet and Jacques had managed to make it into Class A and were sitting far away from each other. The other new Types were sitting with Jacques in the middle of the class. A few other people were sitting with them that I didn't recognize.

I began to walk towards them when I noticed that a name tag had been placed in one of the first-row seats. Seeing my name waiting for me was a little disconcerting. But it seemed I would be front and centre for Instructor Brown's lessons.

While I was happy that I wouldn't be sitting with the others, I was worried about being singled out. Both of my next classes would be with the Instructor. Usually, the third class of the day would be an elective chosen by the student.

I didn't have a choice in the matter. Any lesson that involved monsters I would be taking.

It took a few more minutes for the other Types to trickle in. The room filled up as the most common types arrived. I greeted most people as they passed, wanting to make a good first impression with my classmates.

Ryan nodded as he walked by, making a beeline for where Violet was sitting. It seemed Georgia didn't make it into Class A, as I couldn't see her amongst the crowd. Ivan, however, was very visible as he walked through the crowd without any issues. Not even looking at me as he walked by, heading up towards the others.

There were quite a few more than a hundred seats in the auditorium, which meant that the front row around me was empty.

I wasn't sure how to feel about being the only one in the row. While a few people had sat behind me. They had been too involved in their own conversation for me to introduce myself.

Instructor Brown's appearance broke me from my awkward thoughts. He was quite a bit older than I was expecting.

A long, flowing white beard was the first thing I noticed. Looking up at his wisened grey eyes, he seemed to be staring right at me. I was even more surprised when he gave a slight wink as we caught eyes.

Unlike Professor Wright, the Instructor was a soul warrior.

The blue band was clear on his wrist.

Ranged Types did have the highest survival rates. Even then, it was rare to see such an old Soul Warrior.

While the bindings didn't affect lifespan in any way, they did a lot to keep your body in peak shape for longer.

Most old users saw a sharp decline in their final year of life, their bodies ageing incredibly quickly.

For any Soul Warrior to appear so aged was a rare sight.

The Instructor was quick to start the class.

"Welcome first-years. I am always glad to see the fresh faces of new Soul Warriors. In this class, you will be learning about monster tactics. While the masses are dumb, some creatures out there would rival even the smartest of men. Their amassed forces aren't always single or simple-minded. We will travel through the recent history of our victories and losses. It will be in other classes where you will learn human tactics. It is in this class that you will learn how the monsters think."

They were powerful words to start and had everyone sitting on the edge of their seat.

"This first lesson will teach us about our most recent great tragedy. One that has affected every area of human lands since. The fall of Almire."

That shocked me more than a little. It still hurt whenever anyone mentioned its name. The fact that it would be the first thing I would learn in this class had me out of sorts.

It took a few moments before I got my bearings once again. I had missed what the Instructor had said in the interim.

"That is a great answer, but it doesn't cover the full issue. The fall involved both a systematic breakdown of human systems and an increase in the complexity of monster tactics. The destruction wouldn't have been near the same scale with only one of those factors. Now, can anyone tell me the first human mistake that led to the tragedy?"

It was Ivan who answered the question. His voice took on a far more sombre tone than I had heard before.

"Commander Ty Horne was appointed as the Grand Commander of the city."

Instructor Brown nodded at that answer, giving a smile to Ivan in turn.

"Correct. A novice Commander was appointed to the role of Grand Commander. While he was powerful, there already had been several signs of his weakness in other facets. If it hadn't been for weakness in other areas of the front. He would have never been put in such a position. His incompetence and laziness led to dismantling many of the city's defences. That is not what matters for this class. Now I ask, how did the Demonic Hordes and High monsters take advantage of our weakness?"

That left the class stumped, giving Instructor Brown the perfect opportunity to start his lesson in earnest.