Once Silva and I made it to the lunch hall the red haired girl quickly bowed with an apology, excusing herself away.

“Sorry Kirin… I-I’d rather eat alone than with a group…” Silva muttered out as her eyes trailed away.

“That’s fine—I need to find Tulip anyway, she’s supposed to be here, and our next class is together. I’ll see you tomorrow!” I gave Silva a reassuring smile and a friendly wave as she walked away. For a moment I could have sworn I saw a smile creep across her face, leaving a slight sense of accomplishment to fill me as my gaze turned around the dining hall.

Eyes hadn’t immediately turned to me this time, whatever intrigue the school found in me already died down. I was honestly very thankful about that fact, relieved that I could at least eat in relative peace as I walked deeper into the lunch hall. My eyes continually moved around the room, searching for any flash of silver hair that I might be able to spot amongst the crowds—But the entire dining hall was massive…. and it didn’t help that I was so short that I could barely see over the heads of a lot of the taller people within the hall either.

I let out a sigh of defeat after several minutes of looking around. Instead I turned my gaze deeper into the dining hall, all the way at the back where I had sat to eat this morning.

“Tulip can probably find me back there…” I thought to myself as I made my way to the back of the room. I couldn’t make out anyone I recognized in the dining hall with me—It was a kaleidoscope of hair colors, someone wore a coat of hair filling every shade I could imagine and then some.

“And yet no one else has silver or white hair…” I thought passively, noting the odd detail away for later. Maye I could ask Tulip about it?

But that required finding her again first…

I let out a discontent sigh as I sat down at the empty table far to the back of the room. It was already filled with some food—Several cuts of cooked meat, multiple jugs of water, dozens of plates and hundreds of utensils. Every single table was set up like a feast for just another meal in the school, but I understood why.

Even when being starved I never felt so ravenously hungry as I did in these last few days. Constantly forcing my mana to flow through my body during exercises left me feeling utterly exhausted and hungrier than a starved glutton.

With a ravenous growl from my stomach I finally relinquished to its demands—Reaching out with a fork I drew several slices of meat from the closest dish onto my own plate, reaching for the chalice that rested beside it I poured the soft orange sauce over the top of the pale white meat. I could feel myself salivating just from the scent as I set the chalice back down, but my hunger was staved for just a moment when I heard a familiar voice.

“Hungry much?” Tulip asked teasingly. Her signature grin was spread wide across her face as she sat down directly across from me. “Not like I blame you—I’ve been starving these last few days… feels like I’ve been eating half my bodyweight some days…” Tulip added abashedly.

“I’ve definitely been eating over half of mine… but that’s not a hard task for me.” I gave her a reassuring smile as I cut into the large cuts of meat without a sense of even the slightest shame to my actions.

“Kirin, you can’t be more than a hundred pounds wet,” Tulip stated as her grin only widened. “Which… honestly is impressive.” Finally the dam broke and she let a laugh escape from her. I paused just moments before shoving the first mouthful of food into my maw to join her chuckling.

It took several moments for either of us to calm down, and several moments longer for the silence to be broken again.

“How were your classes?” Tulip asked with worry in her voice. I had to raise a finger, requesting any time that she could spare for me to finish chewing on a mouthful of food that was a little too eager for what I could actually handle.

“F-Fine,” I managed to force out before choking on multiple pieces of food—Falling into a coughing fit as I reached for a glass of water to wash it down. Tulip’s brows raised in concern over my lack of breathing, but I managed to wash it down with water soon enough. “Geography is going to be really boring… But history seems actually fascinating. So, I’ll manage.”

I forced another heavy cough out once I finished, relieved that the pain of trying to swallow too much food at once faded quickly.

“What about your classes?” I asked curiously.

“They’re fine as well—Nothing I hadn’t already known before so far, but they’re basic classes and I had a lot of education growing up so I’m not hopeful to learn many new things outside of magic.” Tulip sighed out with chagrin.

The small talk between the two of us continued for several minutes until Tulip finally gathered her own plate of food, gathering what she wanted we both relinquished to eat in silence until the bell roused us from our silent feast.

“Time already?...” I groaned out.

“Guess so…” Tulip shrugged, she took a handful of bites more before she stood up. “Let’s go—You can always eat more tonight.” Tulip teased gently.

“You don’t know that! You have any idea how many nights I’ve gone without food? It sucks! And I don’t wanna go through that again…” I grumbled my discontent. However Tulip’s dangerous glare told me to get up before she made me—Whether it was a white veiled, friendly threat, or a genuine one where she would carry me like a kitten who had just annoyed its mother… I wasn’t sure, nor did I want to find out.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I relented and quickly stood up, both in fear and my own sense of urgency—Though it was far more of the former than the latter. With a slight jog I caught up to Tulip just as she was moving to exit out into the main halls.

The way out through the halls was absolutely packed this time of day. The Dining hall sat directly attached to the main hall of the building, meaning it was the largest passageway—But also the most densely filled at any point during the day.

And directly after lunch? It was like trying to walk against a tidal wave of uncaring arms and legs shoving against my every step. It was a struggle just for me to stay near enough to Tulip to not lose her in the crowd, let alone to push against the tidal wave enough to make it just to the other side of the hall to exit outside.

“Umf—” I grunted as I felt a sharp pain jab into my side as someones elbow found it’s way into my ribs. I quickly moved my hand, covering the quickly festering bruise as I broke out to the edge of the ceaseless, heartless wave of people.

“Owww…” I groaned out once I stopped next to Tulip. My hand remained at my side, rubbing at the bruise as I walked next to Tulip.

“You alright?” Tulip asked with a concerned glance at me.

“Yea… just an elbow check from someone in the halls.” I sighed out, shaking my head with a discontent grumble. We were outside now, walking towards a small but still forming group in the main square of the school.

I could already make out several figures I recognized in the crowd: The glowing mane of golden-blonde hair that stood beside the heterochromatic red and blue hair that I had seen just this morning stood out immediately. Erick and Lucia were both busy talking amongst each other, barely even glancing away from their own hushed conversation.

The next one I recognized surprised me a little—The soft violet colored hair of Anestesia caught my attention quite quickly. And beyond the three that I recognized there were three more students that I didn’t recognize at all.

And lastly, at the forefront of the group stood a man that I could only just recognize thanks to his eccentric clothing. His bright white leather jacket that folded over his thin frame, his skin was almost as pale as the bright white of his overcoat while his eyes matched his hair—Both were a brilliant, shimmering mossy green color.

“And there are seven and eight, finally,” The man spoke with a warm smile on his face. His green eyes shifted around, passing over each and every student as I stopped beside Tulip in the small crowd. “I am Sanders Gellimere—And I am the teacher of this, frankly brand new class.”

His warm and gentle gaze made a second pass over everyone, nodding to each of us individually.

“And when I say new, I mean this is the very first semester that I have any students. So, I look forward to teaching all of you,” Sandars turned on the spot, heading away from the school. “Now, follow me please—What we are doing is not something allowed on direct school property.”

I raised a brow, glancing from Sanders to Tulip in confusion—But she just shrugged in response, looking just as lost as I was.

When I glanced at the other three I recognized here they all wore similar faces of confusion. After all… this class already started rather strangely, requesting us to meet outside instead of inside of the school in a dedicated classroom—Thankfully, I wasn’t left to be the one that had to voice these concerns.

“Why can’t we stay near the school for this—Or even have a classroom?” Lucia was the one who asked. Her miss-matched eyes blinked several times as she awaited a response from Sanders.

“Ah… hm, now how to explain this easily…” Sanders pondered over the question, slowing down so that all of us could walk more effortlessly with him. “What I specialize in and wish to teach you all is a skill that cannot be taught by textbooks or in a classroom—Researching wild, magical beasts is a job that is best done near those beasts.” Sanders glanced back, meeting Lucia’s gaze to see if his answer sufficed. However when her mildly annoyed gaze refused to abate he caved, continuing with a soft sigh.

“Because the school emphasizes the safety of its students—For obvious reasons of course—We cannot study beasts in the school, but I’ve found a compromise with Headmaster Daedrik to manage this instead.” Sanders finished, turning his gaze forwards as he kept walking along the path leading to the very foremost section of the school. The same spot where a bridge would lower to allow students to enter or leave without the capability of flight.

Lucia seemed, moderately satisfied for the moment—And I was as well. While I wanted to know what the “this” he referred to was exactly, I had an inkling of an idea forming about what it could be.

It didn’t take long for us to arrive very near to the bridge, we were so close in fact that I could easily see the twin stone pillars and the grand crystals that sat upon them like braziers. Even from here I could vaguely sense the incredible amount of mana held within those azure crystals, waiting to activate when they were needed.

“And here we are.” Sanders said confidently as he stopped.

“And this is?...” Tulip was the one to ask this time. And, if she hadn’t I would have.

There was nothing here, no trees, no path, barely even any grass—It was barren dirt near the very fringes of the grand island. It made no sense as to why we would even be out here, but Sanders just replied with a grin.

“Patience my dear Princess,” Sanders said with a wagging finger. “Wait here just one moment please.” Sanders requested as he walked further from us—And towards the edge of the island itself. I watched blankly as he moved towards the edge and then… jumped?

“What?!—” I called out in shock and horror as he fell off the edge of the island. All eight of us stood where we were, firmly rooted in place—Incapable of moving from the absurdity

“He can probably fly…” Tulip muttered, sounding rather annoyed by the situation.

“I almost hope the weirdo can’t.” Erick sighed in a rather surprising agreement.

“Why is she even here… just my luck to share two classes with her.” Lucia spat out. I felt myself clenching a fist in response to her words, turning my gaze away from them and back to Tulip.

“So… how long do you think we’ll be waiting?” I asked, meeting Tulip’s gaze.

“Not very long,” Tulip wasn’t the one to answer—Instead it was Anestesia, a smile spreading across her face as she hopped over to my side. “Sander’s is eccentric but he still has good timing.”

And, as if it was his que to return, Sander’s began to rise back up from the edge of the island. A massive leaf was lifting him and a half dozen cages into the air with ease—he smiled warmly at all of us as vines grew out of the ground, looping themselves through the tops of the covered cages to bring them inland as he walked back towards us.

“Here we are—Now, come on over! I have an experiment, and you’ve all signed up to be my very first helpers in conducting it.”