All of the students were looking at their adviser, Mr. Jacobs like he was some lunatic.

Shouldn't this day be used for the students to get to know one another and form a never-ending bond of friendship?

​​

They haven't even introduced each other to the class!

So, why exactly are they having a showdown with the next class on the first day of school? This takes 'intense experience' to the next level.

"What're you waiting for, fishes!? Bait!?", seeing that his students weren't moving and were just looking at each other. Mr. Jacobs slammed his fist on the chalkboard, shattering it into the wall.

This made the students flinch back as they all stood up at the same time.

But before they could move from their seats, Mr. Jacobs' robust voice once again echoed through the classroom.

"If it is bait you want…", he said, "There are 4 Explorer guilds that will be watching this match!"

"!!!"

As soon as the students heard this, their previous faces of hesitation quickly disappeared as they all rushed outside the classroom, cleanly lined up.

There was only one student who didn't even budge from her seat and just returned to sleeping, the female student seated beside Van.

"Uhmm… Excuse me?", Van whispered as he slightly leaned closer to the female student, "The scary teacher might see you slee--"

But before he could finish his words, Mr. Jacobs started walking towards them.

"O..oh no!", Van's words started to get louder as he called for the sleeping female student, "He's coming here, get up quick!". With Van's voice getting louder, the female student slowly raised her head to look at him.

Mr. Jacobs had a pissed off expression on his face as he approached the two. But when he saw the face of the female student, he quickly cleared his throat and looked the other way. Van was fairly familiar with Mr. Jacobs' expression-- fear.

"Let's go, boy! You're the only one left!", Mr. Jacobs awkwardly said as he beckoned for Van to leave the room.

"W...what?", Van was weirded out at first before walking out of the room. He took one last glance towards the female student, who was still looking at him. Van could only awkwardly bow his head as he waved his hand in farewell towards the female student.

"Oi, Van. What took you so long!?"

"Did the scary adviser scold you?"

Harvey quickly raised his hand to call Van's attention, who looked like he was trying to find them.

"Ah, guys!", Van jogged towards the two, "No, it's… nothing", he said as he shook his head.

Van refrained from talking about the female student. He had no idea what circumstances there were. This academy… truly is weird, he thought.

Students beating up weak and ordinary people, promoting violence, and now a teacher being afraid of a student.

Is that what he needs to learn… for him to survive the world of System Holders and Explorers?

They all centered in one thing-- strength.

In order to survive and excel in this new world that he stepped into, he needed strength. Once again, a newfound resolve slipped inside Van's mind. Money and strength, that is what he needed.

"...Van?", Beatrice tapped Van's shoulders, "Are you okay?"

"Hm… yes?"

Van quickly woke up from his thoughts as he heard Beatrice's voice.

"You got lost in your own world again there", Beatrice said as she slightly chuckled.

"S...sorry", Van stuttered as he scratched his head.

"Pft, why you apologizing?", Harvey hit him lightly on the stomach, "You shouldn't apologize to a gorilla!"

"What'd you say!?"

"Oi, no breaking the line!"

Van could not help but chuckle as he watched his two new friends being reprimanded by the adviser.

***

"Oh, this is a first. The association sent you to watch Jacobs and Lang's nonsense competition?"

In one of the academy's overly gigantic covered practice fields, a man with his hair neatly slicked back sheepishly approached a woman that was sitting idly on the side.

The woman, seeing the man walk towards her, could not help but sigh as she crossed her arms and looked back towards the empty field.

"C'mon, you're ignoring me, Ms. Sarah?", the man said as he forcefully sat beside her, putting his arm over the woman's shoulder.

"Remove your hand or I will cut it and feed it to you"

The woman was Sarah, the member of the Explorer's association that helped Van get into the academy, and the only one who knows that he killed his father.

"Ohoho, feisty as ever", the man raised his hand and comically fixed his hair, and then, his expression suddenly turned serious as he also looked at the empty field, "So… are you going to tell me which freshman has caught your eye?"

"It is none of your business, Bellick", Sarah said in a cold tone as he stood up. The man called Bellick watched her walk away and sit in another place.

"Well…", Bellick pulled his already slicked hair to the back, "...this is getting interesting", he whispered as he looked at the students that were slowly coming inside the field.

Although he called this a nonsense competition since most of the freshmen here can't even control their System yet, this is also a good chance for them to see who had potential or not.

In other words, he was scouting future Explorers for his guild.

***

"This… is too big"

Van could not help but widen his eyes in awe as he looked around the huge covered field. He lived in the relic graveyard, the slums for all his life. This whole covered field was bigger and more luxurious than his own settlement.

"What's this squirt doing here?"

"Ack… There goes our chance to showoff. It will be meaningless if we win against a class like that"

"It's better if you sit this one out, little boy. Don't shame your class!"

"You sure you are in the right year, little boy!?"

"Pft… why is there even a bumpkin in the academy?"

Seeing Van's awed and clueless expression, the students from the other class started sneering and throwing insults at him.

"Who said that!?", Beatrice could not help but wave her hand as she looked at the students that were mocking Van.

"I… it's alright, Beatrice!", Van quickly calmed Beatrice down, "...I don't really mind"

"Yeah, you guys better shut up or the gorilla will eat you alive!", Harvey said as he raised his fist towards the other class, he then grabbed Van's shoulders, "Put your chin up, man. It brings down the morale of the whole class when you look like that! Be more aggressive, man!"

"O...okay", hearing Harvey's words, he took a deep breath as he slightly tilted his chin up.

'New life… this is your new life', Van repeated the words in his mind, 'Be aggressive… Be more aggressive'

And after a few seconds, he let out his breath and looked at the other class, his eyebrows furrowed.

"We will f*ck you up and kill you, you motherf*ckers!", he said as he raised both his middle fingers towards the other class, "Go home to mommy and tell her to lick your sorry ass!"

"..."

"..."

"...Maybe not that aggressive"

You have to understand... Life was different in the slums.