Nil got up and wiped the tears from their eyes. The dream was still vivid in their head. The woman dying after trying to defend her planet… The beings sent to destroy it…

Why had they taken the role of one of the invaders in the dream? Even if they didn’t remember their past, there was no way that was one of their memories. It had to be related to the visions they had seen after their life was saved by… whoever had sent them those messages.

Nil realized they had been too distracted by their own thoughts to notice they didn’t recognize the place where they had woken up. They needed to keep it together and stay on the move. The voice had said that they needed to get stronger if they wanted to ‘stop it from happening.’ Did that mean those things were coming to Asphodel?

A shiver ran across Nil’s spine as they recalled the might of those beings. Could they really hope to resist them? How much time did they have? Even if they dedicated the next twenty years to non-stop training, it felt impossible.

They shook their head and scanned the area. It looked like a castle’s main hall, with tall stone walls decorated by colorful stained glass windows. However, modern-looking furniture like couches and coffee tables was filling the room, making for a strange contrast. It looked like a medieval structure that had been redecorated into some sort of lounge.

The lack of people was somewhat unsettling, so they decided to try to find someone. Nil noticed there were five large gates leading to separate sections of the castle, labeled 1 through 5. Just as they were wondering which one they should go through, they felt a tap on their shoulder.

“You look lost, brother.” The person who had tried to get their attention turned out to be a burly white-haired man. He was smiling brightly.

How had they not seen him?

“Well…” Nil said. “I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go.”

“Oh!” The man let out a belly laugh. “You must have missed the opening ceremony. Don’t worry! I will show you around.” He extended a hand. “Call me Kai.”

Nil was taken aback by his energy levels, but they smiled and took Kai’s hand.

[Name: Kai. Age: 26. Background: Boxer. Level: 0.]

“Nil,” they said. “So, what is this place?”

Kai shrugged. “The lady called it the Academy. We’re supposed to stay here until we’re ready to head out and roam Asphodel or something. Said we weren’t prepared.” Kai frowned, as if he thought there was no way he wasn’t strong enough to go wherever he pleased.

“The Academy? Do we have to attend classes?”

Kai nodded. “Asphodelian Geography and History, Combat Training, Mana Manipulation…”

Nil’s eyes opened wide at that last part. “Mana Manipulation? You mean we’re going to learn how to use magic?”

Their thoughts jumped to the woman from the dream. The way she used the elements—was that magic? Nil felt a strong urge to try it for themself, for some reason.

Kai sighed. “Yes, but they said not everyone will have an aptitude for that kinda thing.” Suddenly, his expression brightened. “That’s right! You need to get evaluated.”

Nil cocked their head. “Evaluated?”

“Follow me!” Kai said, setting off without even checking whether Nil would follow. They walked together through the castle’s labyrinthine corridors, eventually arriving at an area labeled ‘Training Grounds’.

There were some mannequins and some other bizarre machines, but what really stood out was the large crystal that stood near one of the corners.

As they entered the room, Kai turned around and puffed his chest proudly. “Listen up! It’s time for you to get the explanation you missed.”

He signaled to one of the mannequins, which was suspiciously positioned isolated from the rest. “That guy will handle the evaluation of your endurance, strength and agility.” He then pointed to the crystal Nil had taken notice of. “And that thing will measure your mana capacity and mana conductivity.”

Nil raised an eyebrow at Kai. Seeing the confusion in their face, Kai laughed. “It’s like a game! Have you ever played an RPG? It’s kinda like that. Think of them as your stats. Right now you are level 0, and your objective during your stay at the Academy is to reach level 1. Simple enough, right? You’ll even get a class when you graduate!”

Nil cocked their head. “A… class?”

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Kai nodded energetically. “Yeah! You know, like a knight, or a ranger, or maybe even a wizard! The lady also said we could get a unique class if we did well enough, so I’m aiming for one of those!”

Nil chuckled while looking at Kai’s childlike grin. It was hard to avoid getting excited when he was explaining it so energetically.

“The class you’ll get depends on your stats. You see, they start at F rank, and go up from there, like a school grade. You need an all-around average of E rank or higher to reach Level 1, but the lady said it was normal to have a couple of F rank stats and a couple of D rank ones instead of them being all uniform. As long as the average is E, it’s all good. So, if you have good strength, you’ll be a melee class, and if you have good mana manipulation skills, you can be a mage! Pretty neat, huh?”

Suddenly, Kai leaned in to whisper in Nil’s ear, as if he was about to tell them a secret.

“I’ll have you know I already got my strength evaluated at a C rank! They said that’s pretty rare at our level. Am I cool or what?” He was smiling from ear to ear as he said it, clearly proud of himself.

Nil stopped to think for a moment. That was actually impressive. Maybe they had been underestimating Kai a bit due to his carefree attitude, but he seemed like a force to be reckoned with after all. However, something didn’t make much sense. If his strength was at C rank, and assuming that a few of his other stats were also above F Rank, shouldn’t his average already meet the requirements?

“Are you level 1 already?” Nil asked, curious.

Kai’s smile vanished, and he shook his head dejectedly. “Even though my stat average is already good enough, they said it’s impossible to reach level 1 before the Academy period ends.”

Suddenly, he smiled again. “That’s why I’m gonna work hard to get even stronger and earn a unique class once I reach level 1!”

Nil covered up a chuckle with his hand. It was inspiring to see Kai’s attitude. How had someone so jovial ended up in Asphodel? They remembered Ray’s words. The ‘dregs of society’…

They shook their head. No point in dwelling on it, at least for now. They all were in a similar situation here. Nil determined it wasn’t a good idea to start questioning people about their past.

They turned to look at the mannequin used for evaluation. After hearing Kai’s explanation, they were getting a bit fired up themself. They walked up to it and glanced at Kai.

“Did they mention what most people’s stats are at the start of the period?” they asked.

Kai nodded. “Don’t worry if you get F ranks across the board, they said that was normal. But you’ll probably have one or two stats at E already, or maybe even one at D or C, like me.” He grinned. “I’m curious about what you can do.”

“How do I even begin the evaluation?” Nil said. It just looked like a normal mannequin.

“Touch its chest and think of the stat you want to evaluate,” Kai said.

Nil did as much, thinking of strength.

[Hit the Mannequin.]

Simple enough. Nil punched it in the head with as much force as they could muster.

[Rank: F]

A message window appeared on top of the mannequin. Nil looked down at their fist. After hearing Kai boast about his strength, it felt a bit pathetic.

Behind them, Kai let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, your forte is probably something else. I have my weaknesses too, you know?”

Nil repeated the process, thinking of Agility this time.

[Dodge.]

As soon as the message appeared, the mannequin threw a punch, which Nil just barely managed to avoid by tilting their head. They stepped back and activated Insight as the mannequin continued its onslaught of attacks, each one faster than the last. Eventually, their body couldn’t keep up with the information coming from the skill, and they got hit.

[Rank: D]

“That’s pretty good!” Kai said. “I got hit almost immediately.” He started loudly laughing again.

The mannequin returned to its initial position, and Nil readied themself for the last evaluation. They touched its chest, thinking of endurance.

[Endure for as long as you can.]

The mannequin suddenly grabbed Nil, grappling them in a way that made it impossible to escape. Then, it started squeezing harder and harder.

“Tap the floor when you’re done,” Kai said. “Otherwise it will keep going until you fall unconscious. Don’t worry, the rating doesn’t change. It’s just checking how durable your body is.”

The grip got stronger by the second, but Nil almost didn’t feel it. In spite of that, they knew Tenacious didn’t increase their real resistance, so it probably wouldn’t affect the rank they got. Fearing their body was going past its limit without them knowing, they tapped out.

[Rank: F]

It made sense, since their body wasn’t any more durable than anyone else’s. In any case, it was time for the part that really interested them.

They walked up to the crystal and cocked their head.

“How does it work?”

Kai shrugged. “I couldn’t even use it, so I got F rank in both of the mana-related Stats. They’re apparently the hardest to master, so most people have a hard time with it. You’re supposed to place your palms on it and suck the mana into your body, and then push it back into the crystal.”

Nil nodded, following the instructions. They could immediately feel some kind of energy swirling inside the crystal. Was it mana? They imagined pulling it into their body, and it easily started moving. Soon, however, the flow stopped.

[Mana Capacity Rank: D]

“Wow, you’re a natural!” Kai exclaimed, surprised.

Nil guessed the flow had stopped because no more mana could fit in their body. Now that they were thinking about it, they thought they could feel the energy inside them now, floating around. They tried pushing it back into the crystal.

A sudden force sent them flying across the room, and they crashed against the wall. After recovering from the impact, they looked at Kai, but he wasn’t even paying attention to them. Instead, he was staring at the message window that had appeared above the crystal, with his mouth wide open.

Nil took a look as well, and what they saw made no sense at all.

[Mana Conductivity Rank: B]

[A record has been broken!]