The faint buzz of a watch-sized white luminescent crystal filled the dimly lit room with the only other source of light coming from the narrow strips of amber sunlight breaking through the blinds. The crystal's glow illuminated the pages of a book filled with various periodic elements along with their atomic structure and how they can be linked together with each other. The muffled sound of muttering emanated from outside of the room as the occasional weak knock against a door.

"What do you call that? You couldn't wake an insomniac with knocking like that!" an annoyed male voice said.

"But I heard the last guy who knocked on Alovain's door got socked in the face for being annoying or something like that, so he'd definitely punch us," the other male voice said. Within the room, a male groaned in frustration as the light of the crystal disappeared. The two college-age students continued whispering to each other as the footsteps of the bedroom's occupant grew clear. The bedroom door swung open at blinding speeds, making the two males scream from shock with one even covering their face.

"What is it? I'm reading," Alovain said calmly with a cold tone.

(Alovain is a tall twenty-one-year-old human male with a toned body; he has elbow-low horn-shaped spikey dark green hair with pitch-black undersides, black eyes with golden pupils, super white skin, and an ever-present neutral expression)

(Alovain is wearing a black sleeveless t-shirt, grey and silver checkered fur combat trousers, a silver chain with a locket on it with a spiral engraving, and black hiking boots)

One of the students exhaled in relief as he lowered his arms from his face.

"Erm... we were sent by Lady Monigrail to tell anyone who wasn't in class today that we'll be going to the Nebulous Stars Ruins tomorrow for...," the student stated.

"The stella bond ritual," Alovain said as he finished the guy's sentence.

"Yeah... that," the guy uttered nervously. Alovain silently stared at his fellow students as they nervously stood in front of him.

"Yes?" Alovain asked. The duo flinched as they scratched the back of their heads.

"Erm... would it be alright if you could answer a few of the questions for our project, please?" one of the students asked. Alovain blinked before he glanced to the side.

"Seeing as you asked nicely, unlike the last guy, and also informed me about the trip, I shall oblige," Alovain stated, making the duo sigh in relief.

The next day, Alovain stared up at the front of the mansion with a silver marble exterior widely known as Stellalyte Academy. Alovain heard a cheerfully higher-pitched female voice calling out to him to not space out. Alovain glanced down to his feet to look his homeroom teacher, Sukimi Monigrail, in her face.

(Sukimi is a short adult female half-vampire/half-dragon with the appearance of a fifteen-year-old; she has waist-low scruffy pale violet hair, ruby red eyes, pale violet skin, a chunky curved pale violet horn on the left side of his forehead, super long chonky dragon with a pale violet upper side and super pale violet underside, and vampire fangs)

(Sukimi is wearing a black knee-low hoodless fur cloak covered in violet braided roses, a white headless plain full-body jumpsuit covered in violet braided roses, and violet wood sandals)

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"Honestly, I should just be grateful you even showed up for once," Sukimi mumbled disappointedly.

"But isn't it redundant to go to classes I already know the material of?" Alovain asked with his neutral tone and expression. Sukimi pouted as she flailed her hands up and down.

"Even if I agree with the sentiment, do you know how it feels to have all the other teachers making remarks about having a student ace all their tests and assignments without even attending their classes?" Sukimi asked as she frowned at Alovain. Alovain remained visually unaffected by Sukimi's pouting as he remained poker-faced.

"...no?" Alovain asked. Sukimi sighed and shook her head.

"Of course, you wouldn't, not that you'd care even if you did...," Sukimi uttered, "but at least you showed up.".

"You already-".

"I was talking to myself, Alovain.".

"Sorry for interrupting you and you," Alovain said. Sukimi rubbed her face while quietly giggling at Alovain's weird apology as Sukimi's other students arrived.

"Look, he actually showed up," one of the students who were at Alovain's bedroom door said. The student's remark spurred the others to mutter amongst themselves. Sukimi did a quick head count and concluded everyone was here although she did notice Zaizuro staring daggers at Alovain as he was reading his chemistry book.

(Zaizuro is a tall twenty-two-year-old human male with toned muscles; he has black spikey hair, cyan eyes, and fair skin)

(Zaizuro is wearing a red hoodie with the look of a trench coat and a large black gear, a skin-tight black tank top, black cargo trousers, and red fur boots)

"Do you know why Zaizuro is glaring at you?" Sukimi asked with a slightly worried voice as she dreaded Alovain's response.

"I punched him in the face for causing a disturbance in my section of the dorm room," Alovain stated coldly as he kept his focus focused on his book. Sukimi sighed as she itched her head horn.

"Good grief," Sukimi uttered defeatedly.

An hour later, with the academy barely visible in the distance, the class stood on the side of a hillside overlooking a forest. Sukimi floated over to a large ancient doorway before turning towards her class.

"Alright, class. Although there isn't any real chance of any monsters appearing until after the ritual has happened, I'd still prefer if you teamed up in pairs just to be on the safe side," Sukimi requested. The other students agreed and began pairing up while Alovain continued reading his book. Sukimi disappointedly sighed at Alovain's disinterest in humouring her request, but a smile did grow on her face as she saw someone walking over to Alovain.

"Check it out; our shoes match," Lyiana said as she stood right next to Alovain. Alovain glanced at his feet to see the two pairs of black hiking boots. Alovain closed his book and put it away somewhere before looking Lyiana in the face.

(Lyiana is a slightly short teen-sized nineteen-year-old female human; she has neck-low super pale lime hair with pale pink hair tips, and her hair is tied into two head-sized pigtails styled to look like plant bulbs, pale pink eyes, tanned skin, slightly plumpy thighs, and is flat chested)

(Lyiana is wearing an open pale almost white velvet red fur hoodless coat which she wears like a cloak, a loose-fitting purple tank top, a black sports bra, fluffy white fur trousers, and black hiking boots)

"So, they do," Alovain stated.

"And since they do, why don't we team up?" Lyiana suggested with a slightly worried expression.

"Very well, even if the reasoning is from a surface-level similarity".

"Come on it- wait, really?" Lyiana said with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"It would be illogical to refuse so why would I?" Alovain stated before he took out his book and began reading it again.

"I... never mind," Lyiana muttered before she took out her handheld gaming console. Alovain glanced up from his book before returning to reading it while using his book to cover his smirk.