Their sudden applause made Lionel flinch in surprise. They were all smiling at him, not missing a beat. He could also hear claps from behind him, from Mrs. Dewitt. The teacher instructs him to return to his seat and he does so.

“Today, we are going to discuss a new topic. Everyone, please get your Mana Biology Textbook and turn to chapter eight.”

“...” Lionel holds himself back from gasping. Chapter eight? The textbook had a total of ten chapters. It’s barely the middle of the year. They were already close to finishing everything for the first semester? Though Lionel heeded Kaius’ warning and scanned the book, he didn’t scan this far ahead.

Wait, the teacher could just be skipping chapters and will return to the previous one another time. Maybe that’s it, at least, that’s what Lionel hoped.

“Before that, can anyone recall what we discussed in Chapter five?”

A sudden light beams from the desk on his right.

What the hell!?

Lionel looked from left to right to see that everyone had done the same thing, tapping the button on their desk.

Mrs. Dewitt calls a student, “Evangeline Belmont.”

A short girl seated by Lionel stood tall and proud. She had short, curly hair and eyes that matched the color of coffee. Her face was also small and round with a button nose.

She answers, “We discussed about Mana Load.”

“Good job, Ms. Belmont. You may sit back down.” Mrs. Dewitt notes something down on paper, giving points to Evangeline.

“Our new chapter enters the world of Mana Output. The first topic is collecting mana. Can anyone tell me why I asked about chapter five and how the first topic is relevant to Mana Load?”

Another signal appears from the front row of the class.

“...” Lionel had never felt so lost in life before.

“Erica Walker.”

This time, a tall girl with long black hair and dark eyes stood up. She had a sharp look to her, making her look more mature than the rest of them. “We can relate load as the storage for mana of the individual. The bigger the load, the longer a mage can cast spells and store a lot of mana. The size of the load can affect how much you can absorb from the environment as our bodies naturally absorb mana, and the environment is the only way we can recharge our mana load.”

“Exactly, thank you Ms. Walker.” The teacher proceeds to explain, “Every life in this realm has mana. The wildlife, the trees, the flowers and grass. Mages subconsciously absorb mana from the environment. Let me ask another question, is mana output determined by the load?”

Lionel swears he’s gonna turn blind from the beam of light on his right.

It was Evangeline called again.

“Determining what coincides with mana output in this case is very complex, Mrs. Dewitt. A mage can have a large mana load but a weak output and vice versa. All mages generate different maximum forces. Some Mana Outputs are determined by genetics, others are determined by power training and some by the use of potions, but it is not determined by load.”

“Good answer, Ms. Belmont.” The teacher continues by reading something through her textbook, “Let me expand on the definition of Mana Output. Mana Output is the power and intensity as a result of using mana to cast spells. For example, let’s say a mage casts a simple fire spell. If the mage has excellent mana output, the flame is stronger. If the mage has a weak mana output, then the flame is small. As Ms. Belmont states, it is not determined by the load.”

Mrs. Dewitt raises her palm and a flame is lit. “There are different levels of output. This is the insufficient level one.”

The flame grows, matching the size of a human head. “This is level two, the moderate one.”

Once more, it grows as large as the table and the students in the front could feel its heat. “This is level three.”

“And finally…” Lionel swore he witnessed an explosion as the flames roared into a completely different life, becoming an untamable beast under the teacher’s influence. Lionel could feel its fierceness, its sensation deep and searing, like a burning plate pressing against the surface of his body.

“Level four.” Mrs. Dewitt snapped her fingers shut in an instant, the flames coiled and slithered back into her hand, like a serpent reclaiming its territory.

At that moment, Lionel knew that Mrs. Dewitt isn’t someone anyone can mess with. And for some reason, Lionel couldn’t help but question her students' empty stares and stony silence. Were they not amazed or intimidated by their teacher’s performance? Even just a little bit?

The teacher proceeds to snap her fingers and her table drawer bursts open. Several papers fly out and land gracefully on top of each students’ desks.

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Assignment

Name: __________________________

First-Year Class | Mrs. Dewitt’s Mana Biology Class

Objective: Understanding Mana Output through Experience.

Duration: One Week

Next week, the class will undergo formal Mana Output Enhancement Training under Instructor Julius Seaton. The student’s goal is to be able to perform a mana output demonstration at the end of the week based on the criteria below. Throughout the five days next week and including today’s, the student must submit at least a 200 word essay about their experience.

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CRITERIA

100% - Students are able to perform level four mana output.

85% - Students are able to perform level three mana output.

85% below - Students are not able to perform a level three or above mana output, resulting in failure and points deduction.

Deadline - Friday

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“...” What the heck…?

Lionel’s eye twitched at the assignment. She expects them to be able to reach level three or four next week? Several brilliant and acclaimed mages trained for months and even years to reach such heights.

“And that concludes our class for today. Make sure to study the rest of the chapter as we are going to have a thirty-item quiz tomorrow. Thank you class for your participation and see you all tomorrow.”

“Huh?” Lionel’s shock escapes through his lips. Everyone stood up and began to leave the classroom like a flood. Lionel looked at everyone then at the teacher who stayed at her desk. That quick? Thirty minutes hadn’t even passed yet! A quiz already? A strange assignment? Just what exactly is going on!?

“Hi!”

“Wha…?” Lionel looks to his right.

It’s…Evangeline Belmont.

“Lionel, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Evangeline, but you can just call me Eva.”

“Oh, nice to meet you, Eva.”

“Man, it must be shocking, huh?”

“What?”

“The class I mean, and all the stuff that just happened.” Eva flashes a friendly smile, tilting her head slightly. “You’re new after all, so I totally get the shock.”

“Yeah…Um…What’s going on now?” Lionel then asks.

“It’s break time!” Eva answers, “After every class, there’s a five minute break. Well, it’s not really break as everyone just prepares for the next class. Nobody takes a break. Oh, do you know the schedule?”

“I do…Geography is next…”

“Oh, that’s my favorite subject!” Eva shares promptly, but instead of expanding on her favorite subject, she changes the subject. “How are you holding up so far? If you need any help or have questions, you can ask me!”

“Any question?”

Eva nods, “Yup.”

“Then, can I ask what happened to those two? The ones who took some sort of math test.”

“Oh, Jane and Jon.” Eva frowns, “Things aren’t looking so good for Jane. Let me explain. There’s a Reward and Punishment system, as well as a ranking system. The highest being A-Class and the lowest being F-Class. Each class is treated differently. A and B-Class are treated nicely, while C-Class is treated neutrally, the D, E, and F-Class are treated poorly.”

“Wait, what kind of ranking is this? That doesn’t seem…fair.” Lionel honestly doesn’t like how the ranking system works so far, but he chooses his words carefully, especially since they are still in the classroom and Eva was talking quietly.

“I know, it’s totally unfair.” Eva sighs, her frustration directed towards the school’s system. “The ranking determines what you get at the end of the week.”

“What happens on Friday?”

“If you manage to maintain a good grade by the end of the week, you will be rewarded. If you remain a C-Class, you will be ignored, but it’s better than being punished. If you’re D-Class and lower, then you will be punished by the end of the week.”

“Wait, what’s the point of this punishment? And what exactly are the punishments?” The teacher did punish Jane by sending her to the Dungeon of War or something for twelve hours. There was also Jonathan’s strange request of keeping her door unlocked…

“Apparently it’s a motivational thing, to push students to work harder and get good results. The punishments depend on your grade. You use your grade to survive basically. Every single day, your grade will deplete if you’re not submitting any work.”

“It depletes everyday even if we aren’t doing anything!?” Lionel whisper-screamed.

Eva nods, “Yeah, it’s annoying. You can raise your grade in ways you already know. Signal to answer questions, submit your work on time, answer the weekly exam on Friday, and do well in magic training and duels. The Weekly Exam is a chance for students to boost their grades in a short amount of time…but…”

So that’s why everyone signals to answer questions so desperately. They’re all trying to maintain their grade that’s constantly decreasing. Lionel urges her to continue,

“But?”

“These can raise your grades, but…it won’t be enough to get you to the next rank. The only fastest way to increase your grade is by challenging other students to tests or magic duels. If you manage to get a higher score than someone who has a higher rank than you, then you’ll take their rank. So it’s a guaranteed win and reward. But other students like to slowly take down students with low rankings to make their way up to B or A-Class. The winner can also ask anything of the loser, and the loser has to do whatever the winner wants or else the school will have to step forward and force the loser to do it. So basically, if you lose a test or duel, you get two punishments! Again, one from the winner and a different one from the school, which are the dungeons.”

Dungeons?

What kind of damn system was this?

“Also, if you’re a high-class student and you lose, then your punishment is heavier and harsher. That’s what happened to Jane and Jon just now. I don’t know who challenged who, but now Jane has to suffer the consequences of losing and Jon well…rewarded and became A-Class.”

They are using Rewards and Punishments as a way to motivate or force students to beat each other down and reach higher. Then another question pops into Lionel's head.

“I don’t know my rank. How do I know?”

“The headmaster didn’t tell you how many points you have?”

“No?”

“Hm, we can just ask the teacher then.” Eva doesn’t move her head or eyes to look at Mrs. Dewitt still at her table. Lionel swallows a strange lump in his throat before taking a deep breath. He internally encourages himself and makes his way to Mrs. Dewitt.

Eva now watches as Mrs. Dewitt looks up from her desk. She sees how her lips part open and close. A minute passes and Lionel makes his way back to her and his seat. She pursed her lips in anticipation? Dread? She can’t quite make out what it is with the way Lionel walks so loosely and sluggishly.

Lionel collapsed onto his chair, head hanging low, staring blankly at his desk.

“I’m…F-Class.”

“What?!” It was Eva’s turn to whisper-scream. “What the heck? We didn’t start at F-Class on the first day of school.”

“Uh…” Lionel gulps nervously. Knowing his F-Class meant that he had literally five days to fix this grade. Despite not knowing what the punishments are, he didn’t want to experience one. His head couldn’t properly wrap around why his heart was banging so painfully against his ribcage, but his intuition tells him that something in this school is completely wrong.

“Well, five minutes are almost up. Let me help ya with Geography. We’re learning about the sea!”

“Okay, thank you, Eva…”

Eva prattles on and on about different seas, but Lionel’s mind is locked onto a single letter.

Just what the hell is going on?