Meaty little thing wasn’t it? But according to Teacher Jocelyn, it was also one of the best sources of reasonably accurate information on Grades that wasn’t heavily influenced by the culture of the author. Apparently Grades were deeply connected to Algrean culture. Speaking of culture, my crossing over to the Primal Grade meant that I now had a name!. Well the actual name would have to wait for the Naming Ceremony and me crossing over.

But getting to select your own name was still fun! I’d never had a real name, but I’d heard many of them, from the lips of rebels as they launched a coup, or from the lips of loyal subjects as yet another Dynasty began. I had always wondered what having a name would be like. Now I would finally have one. As soon as I decided on it even.

Now if only it wasn’t so hard to decide on a name. At first I had considered brick as an option. It had been my existence for many millennia and was something that I could see myself being recognized by. But in the end I had decided to forego that in favour of a more humanoid name. I may have been a brick, but I was now a Balmeru and it was time I accepted that.

Currently there were three options for the name. Mastel. Algresian for Master of the Arts of War. Algresian was the language used in southern Algrea which had a very warlike history. Mastel was apparently a very common name there. Second up was Renswoor. Launeior dialect for English, it was apparently the name of a rare tree on Earth. Finally was my favourite. Wasloran. Ancient Agrean from before the first Transmigration, I had found out about it from the cards that Miss Aloise gave me. It mea ‘Alchemist’ because that was the name of the first Alchemist and the people had taken to calling it Wasloran’s concoctions back then. Later on the term Alchemy was coined.

The fact that the meaning of the name was still unknown appealed to me, after all going on a quest of discovery through time and space was interesting to say the least. But before all that, I had to first get my stats up. It was now time for my Training AKA P.E. Class.

I walked into the P.E. gym with bated breath. My teacher had heard of my stats and was furious that my Combat was still so low. According to him, I needed to stop running around so much and do more training. In my defense, running around was fun, exercises were boring. Either way, I was now stuck doing some weird exercises while my friends played Cricket.

Did I mention that I now had friends? Or Cricket? Likely not. Getting friends was a strange experience for me, they would first approach me in the class, ask if I needed help or maybe if I could teach them something. After a few days they’d then ask,” Do you want to be friends?” Of course, I said yes.

But it always seemed a bit choreographed to me. Why did they all go about it in such a way, why not just say ‘Hi! I want to be your friend’ from the start? But there was one thing I was very happy about. Cricket! I’d found out about it from the new ‘friends’ of mine, apparently it was a sport that had been brought by Donald Arlford from his home planet of Earth.

It was quite fun to play, and one of the main reasons my Enduarance is so high. Standing around for hours while waiting for the ball to drop was a apparently good for Endurance. That and repeatedly having to get up and about to pick cards from the pile.

10ft tall stacks weren’t exactly baby friendly. The only reason I could even get there was because I kept making the ground elastic. Too bad it usually took me a few tries to get there, especially when the thing piled high. Thankfully the cards at least disappeared when you solved them, saving me the pain of restacking them.

By the time I finished ruminating, the P.E. Teacher, a Dark-haired, very fit Banmeru named Boleran Mostern arrived. Supposedly he was one of the few Grade 2s in the school with most being Grade 1.

“So, ready for some combat training, your excellency?” The Teacher said

“Sure! Sure! But uh, I just want to know what exactly does Combat training mean?” I asked

“Combat is the stat that shows the quickness of your reflexes. The surety of your hand as you land your blow.It is useful not only to fields focused on fighting but also in many others. Alchemy for example has a very high demand for Combat as even the slightest mistake requires an immediate reaction.” The Teacher said “Now stop gabbing and start practicing,”

With that he handed me a book of sword and staff styles that I was to practice with. In the book, which was both pictured and textual. Not only that but at the later parts of it you had to sing while doing it. I could understand that it would teach one to concentrate even with distractions but couldn’t they hve had us just do something else? Like speak sword continuously. They had even provided a song for it, in both books. Now I had one more thing to remember.

Resigning myself to my fate, I started to train. One exercise to another, my arms moved, shifting their rhythm as I let them sink into the rhythm-’Thwack’

“ I told you to practise the exercises, not do the first then do your own thing.” The Teacher said

“I was?” I answered

“No you weren’t, if you were you wouldn’t have been so easy to hit. Combat is about being aware of your surroundings, not being unaware of them.” The Teacher said.

“But...it happened so naturally…” I replied

“Which is why we have to train it.” The Teacher said, “Now do as I tell you. It is a pity there isn’t anyone around your age otherwise I could have had you spar against them. Guess you’ll just have to make do with this little training room.”

Suddenly I found myself in a closed water room, for a second I thought that the guy had teleported me into the ocean but then my Space Affinity told me that I hadn’t moved. It was likely a cage of some sort.

“Do the exercises, if you miss any you will be hit by a splash of cold water and with each hit the temperature will be lowered. Begin in 3, 2, 1...Now” The Teachers voice boomed from one of the walls.

I lept into action but was too late, I had already been hit by a splash of cold water. Not wanting to fail, I started the exercises, desperately trying to follow them and avoid the splashes. I still got hit every few moves as the exercises got harder.

Towards the end I started to stop thinking of the exercises and just react to the water that emerged, apparently the water not hitting me counted as me doing the exercise ‘properly’. Thanks to my high perception the water missed a lot. I still found myself being hit by ice-cold ice within ten minutes. At least the perception earned me an extra 3.

After that final ice-cold water splash, the cage collapsed and I found myself face to face with my instructor. “Ten minutes huh, not good, you need more work, your excellency. Have a ten minute break to revise the exercises then back in.

Just like that my day of hell began. Throughout the day I kept getting hit by the water. No amount of remembering the exercises had me succeed. In the end it was when I stopped remembering but just reacting that my time actually increased.

Instead of growing by a few seconds each time, it started growing by minutes. By the end of the day I lasted inside it for half an hour, triple my initial rate. The progress felt...good. Like I was getting results on my work.

“So, you realised the trick huh little guy?” the Teacher said after my last run.”DOn’t waste your time remembering the exercises now, you will have the chance when you get into the higher Grades. Now just react.”

“Why not just tell me that from the beginning?” I asked

“Because you Mr.Count are an arrogant pompous ass that has been plaguing this school. So I decided that it was time for you to learn some humility and perhaps earn yourself some stats while you're at it. " The Teacher replied. "Remember to come back for more tomorrow. "