"I am sorry about before. I didn't know that you guys are actually pretty strong." Unlike the instructors, Talas was not able to accurately measure how strong the three are but just on what he had seen from a far, he knew that they are not normal. "You three are probably already as strong as the senior students."

"Nah! That's nothing." Ortix casually answered.

"Are your race born that strong?" Talas asked looking at Cyziel then at Ortix. Most people still thought that the two came from the same race.

Cyziel do not know how to answer this because he trained a lot as a kid but there are still people who are far stronger than him like his brothers. Not to mention his parents and his other older relatives. He still do not like to look down on himself though since he has almost no competition with his peers. In addition, he really does not have much interaction with other people. His father has always forbidden him to interact with other kids except during competition matches.

Ortix on the other hand was born in a place which strength was always the rules. He was a prince but at the same time an abandoned child. His father has always left his sons and let them survive on their own. He fought to the top until he was recognized as a prince. His goal didn't even stop there. He wanted to surpass his father. Fortunately, after meeting his friends, he no longer has that goal.

"No. I worked hard to be this strong and I would still continue to work hard." Ortix answered seriously that it actually surprised his two other friends.

"I could say that I was bit talented but talent was never enough. In order to surpass my peers, I have always trained hard." Seeing as Ortix actually answered, Cyziel also gave his own.

The group continued with some little chat until they arrived in front of some door.

"Here we are! This should be Instructor Garland's home room." Talas pointed at the door beside him. "Let's just hope that he is here."

In Styrtan Institute, students are assigned a handler instructor. These handlers would be the one who would give you the assignments and requirements you need to pass. They would give you what class should you take based on your talents. From time to time, the handler would also gather all the students under him for his own lessons or for briefing them for group or class assignments.

*Knock. Knock.*

The door opened and a huge man came out. He was more than 7 feet tall, has bulging muscles and a bald head.

"What is it?" A friendly voice could be heard from the man by the door.

"Senior Instructor Sara asked me to send him to you." Talas answered as he pointed at Cyziel.

"From Sara? That woman?" Instructor Garland seemed surprised. "For the first time, she did me a favor. How about the other two?"

"They are assigned to Instructor Nathan." Talas answered with a weak voice.

"Haha! Poor students! The rest of you may go." Instructor Garland laughed as he motioned his hand for the others to leave. "As for you, you are just what I need."

"We'll be leaving!" Talas said his goodbye and turned around.

"Take care man! We'll go first." Ortix said while giving a two finger goodbye salute to Cyziel. Volus just nodded then followed Talas.

"What luck you have guys! You just got a new classmate bringing our class total to 35!" Garland whose body was half inside addressed the class before he looked back at Cyziel and tapped his back. " Go introduce yourself first before we continue. Oh and remove your mask so everyone could see you."

Cyziel removed his mask and was also thinking of whether he should show his real eye color. In the end, he chose not to because his eyes seemed to have some special effect even though he thinks that it is pretty stupid that people are easily mesmerized by beautiful things. Unfortunately, he doesn't know of the other reason why his eyes have become special.

Cyziel has never introduced himself like this before. He was kind of home schooled. He once had a plethora of teachers but never a classmate. The only classmates he could think of was his own brothers or cousins. The other kids seems to always stay away from him. It is the reason why he usually just smiles on other people.

Ugh! I don't like introductions like this. What am I supposed to say? Cyziel, straightening his back, slowly walked into the room. Full of nervousness, he looked back at his classmates that are currently focused on him. "Hey everyone! Uhmm.. Cyziel here! I came from another world called Daraksta and I am pleased to meet everyone!"

He thought that he kind of did great introducing himself but the continued attention was really not comforting for him so he had a hard time observing his classmates. Instead, he tried to activate a probing magic. Unfortunately, someone immediately reacted to his activation of magic so he immediately retracted it.

Oh shit! That girl was magic sensitive. Cyziel thought of trying to act innocent hoping that the girl would just ignore it but unluckily, she was staring at him fiercely. She was wearing a red robe similar to mages which seems to enforce her status as someone who knows magic. She had a fiery red hair which complements the fiery attitude that she currently was showing. It is obvious that she probably could be someone very popular with the male species with her mature body for her age.

Ironically, the act of trying to be innocent, helped Cyziel observe the class. He could see that the chairs are currently in an unorderly fashion and most of them were forming circles as the people who sit in them would be facing each other. This is because a group discussion was being held before he arrived.

"Isn't the new race named Dielif?"

"You might not have heard it but there are 2 survivors from another planet and I learned it from my father in the Militia."

"He actually doesn't look any different than Earthlings and Varians."

"He looks great though!"

The classroom suddenly became noisy and there were a lot of different talks.

"All right! Everyone be quiet! Continue with your plans." Garland silenced the class. "Vera! Your group lacks one person, Doesn't it? Cyziel! Go join them."

Oh no! Not this scary girl! Of all the groups. Is it the reason why there are only 4 of them? Maybe they are the ones who are left. As Cyziel saw who the teacher was talking with, he knew that his time in school would be more problematic or in a positive way, more interesting.

"Sir! We are already fine with just the 4 of us! Additionally, he just enrolled. Does he even know how to fight? That would just make it harder for our team." The young woman stood up, as she protested.

"I am the instructor here and this is a command. Not a request. Aren't you also a full scholar Vera? Are you not that confident about yourself? Well you can tell me if you feel that you cannot do this task and I will exempt your group from this activity." Garland answered Vera with a reprimanding tone.

"Tsk tsk." A guy in the middle corner smirked. He has a dark blue skin color and he was sitting in an arrogant manner where his right foot was on top of his left leg and his right elbow was on top of the chair's backrest. "So much for being a scholar!"

"What did you say?!" Vera fiercely looked at the guy in the corner before changing his focus to Cyziel. "Alright! He can join us."

"You heard her! Go sit beside them!" Garland gave Cyziel a tap on the shoulder and he seemed to be enjoying the situation.

Cyziel walked towards the group of four. Three of them were smiling at him and only Vera was frowning at him.

"Hello! I'm Ru! I am an Earthling." One of the three women greeted Cyziel. She was a pretty girl with narrow eyes and ivory colored skin. She was wearing a blue mage like robe without a hood so her silky long black hair was visible.

"Earthling?" Cyziel blurted inquisitively.

"Oh! I forgot you just arrived so you might not be familiar with the other humanoid species!" Ru then took some bracelet in her bag. "Hmm..I see that you don't also have a watch yet. I guess I will let you borrow this first. It contains texts and information regarding different humanoid--"

"Enough of that Ru!" Vera annoyingly remarked. "You can teach him later!"

"Alright!" Ru who just got reprimanded surprisingly didn't get angry. She instead pointed her hand to the girl beside her. "This one is Rika!"

"Hi! I am also an Earthling!" Another attractive girl greeted Cyziel. Rika has a warmer tone of ivory skin compared to Ru. Unlike Ru, she also had a shorter hair. Her outfit was a long brown skirt, white blouse and a brown fluffy jacket

"And I am Jorak! I am an Ocarian!" A man with grayish blue skin interjected. He has large green eyes and a blonde hair. He was wearing clothes that seemed like some sort of a light leather armor. "Nice to have another guy in the team!"

The three then looked at the ferocious looking Vera. They were waiting for her to introduce herself.

"What are you all looking at?" Vera aggressively reacted but she soon felt defeated as the three were still looking at her. "I am Vera! I am a Lucrim. Are you guys happy now?"

"Thanks for having me! Nice meeting you all!" Cyziel greeted with a friendly smile.

"Hmph!" Vera snorted. "Let's talk again about the task. As mentioned. Me and Jorak will be the vanguard. Rika you will be the lookout. Ru will focus on looking for the flower."

"What would Cyziel do?" Jorak asked.

"He can help me look for the flower!" Ru remarked as she winked at Cyziel.

"Alright! I could do that." Cyziel accepted willingly. "Anyway! What does this flower look like?"

"Oh! We actually have three targets!!" Rika activated her wrist watch then swiped the holographic screen in the air until an image of a flower was portrayed. The flower looked more like a light bulb as its petals were all pointing in the middle. "This one is called the flower of beginning. It can be found in the valley of beginning. You probably already passed there with the militia."

Rika made another swipe in the air. An image of a white flower with glowing petals appeared. "This next one is the flower of hope found in the plains of hope. It is said that it rarely grows. The only exception was after an aether storm so I believe this one would relatively be easier than normal."

Rika made a last swipe. What the image showed were flowers with different shape, size and color and the only similarity between them are the receptacle of the flower which was always purple. "This one is the flower of destiny. They said that it comes in different shape and size and you need to look at its receptacle to verify it. This one is said to be found in the northern half of the southern forest and it is really rare."

As Cyziel saw the last flower, he immediately shook his head. He knew all of this flowers. He knew that the first two would not be a problem at all but the last one is different. It might sometimes grow in the northern half but its actual location was in the deeper part of the southern forest.

The deep forest is far different than the one near the entrance. The true creatures of the wild live there. It was still a mystery to him why they don't go out of that forest. He knew that thousands of his people have died trying to pass that part of the forest. The magic "harmony of speech" that was casted in this world has limitations. It only includes beings of flesh or for a more accurate term, beings of the Aether because not all that have physical forms are made with Aether. Some things like the Abyssal creatures are not. This creatures of the wild is also one of those anomalies.

Cyziel sighed as he looked at Rika. "Do we need all the three flowers to pass?"

"Not really! We only need to find the flower of beginning and flower of hope." Rika answered as she turned off the holographic screen.

"But we will get all!" Vera, softly slamming her two fists in the table, interjected with a confident tone. "That will give us a perfect grade."

Cyziel looked at the other members, trying to assess if they felt the same. Unfortunately, it seems that they have that much confidence in this task. The only thing he could do was help them pass the exam. He was only hoping that the other groups would not try to push their luck into a deeper part of the forest.

"Okay everyone! I will be going now. You may continue your plans here or somewhere else. The class is dismissed." Garland, who looking at his watch for quite some time, stood up. "Oh! By the way Cyziel. I will be enrolling you to Martha's class for some basic lessons. Be sure to attend. I will also find you other instructors for your other subjects."

As Garland left the room, the people started to leave with their groups. Some people seemed to want to talk with Cyziel but after seeing Vera, they immediately changed their mind. One particular group, composed of all female members, went up to them.

A large woman with a muscular body stared at Vera. "You don't mind if I greet our new classmate. Won't you Vera?"

"Do what you want!" Vera, with crossed arms, looked away. "I don't own him!"

"Welcome to the class little man!" The woman reached out her hand as she looked down at him. "You may call me Draka."

Does she really need to call him little? It was what Cyziel was thinking. He doesn't know if the woman was being antagonistic or that was her normal way of greeting. The woman was close to 7 feet but he was 6'2 in height. He finally moved on with his thoughts, stood up and reached out his hand. Draka immediately gripped his hand and tried to squeeze it.

Unfortunately for Draka, Cyziel was stronger than the normal people she met. She was surprised and looked at him eye to eye. The other women behind Draka was also surprised. They knew how strong Draka was. She was one of the few who were not afraid of Vera. One particular young woman was looking at him resolutely. She was wearing a white long-sleeves, green mini skirt and black tights which complements her beautiful tan like skin. Unlike the rest, she was looking at Cyziel with a troublesome expression.

"Hahaha! Not only are you a hottie but you are actually strong. I lost." Draka, weakened her grip, which Cyziel did the same. "Vera! You should be concerned of your position!"

"Hmph! What do I care about your physical contest." Vera who was peeking the whole time tried to hide her own amazement. She already knew that Cyziel was not some normal person due to his supposed activation of magic but this simple contest added to that fact. Still, it was not enough for her to consider him someone above her.

Contrarily, his other teammates didn't hide their own amazement. They immediately praised him for not losing against Draka. Even Jorak was only able to contend after augmenting his arm with a reinforcement art. Cyziel didn't really care much about the praises. He was thinking that it was just a simple thing. A real fight would be different.

*Clap! Clap!* The dark blue guy who was previously antagonizing Vera arrived at the back of Draka. "How amusing! You are actually quite strong! Unfortunately, your teammates.."

"Aqola!!" Vera stood up from her previous uncaring position. "Do not think I can't touch you here!"

As soon as Vera stood up, the people behind Aqola except for one released their malicious intent. Jorak and Rika also stood up to back Vera up but Ru was meekly contemplating what to do. It was evident that Aqola and Vera are at odds and it was not a simple quarrel. Fortunately, Draka was here to alleviate the situation.

Draka, with her tall stature, looked down at Aqola. "Are you really gonna cause trouble here?"

"Calm down! I am just here to greet our new classmate just like you." Aqola looked at Cyziel then moved his mouth closer to his ears. *You should carefully choose who you should be friends with.*

"Let's go!" Aqola turned his body and walked away. "I'll see you again next time Cyziel!"

Cyziel do not have any qualms regarding Aqola but the words he said in his whisper left a bad taste on him. It was the first time that someone threatened him. He considered it a challenge and he never liked losing. Running for his life against an Abyssal lord was one thing but someone who he could consider a peer? Not a chance.

"We'll also be leaving first." Draka turned around before looking back. "Next time! I'll show you how I really fight!"

Draka walked away and her teammates did the same except for the young woman who was resolutely looking at him. It took her longer before she turned around and catch up to her teammates.

"It seems that Lucia liked you!" Jorak hit Cyziel with his elbows. "Did you know that she is also a new student? She just enrolled last month!"

"Stop it Jorak! Don't tease him like that!" Ru pouted as she put her hands on her waist.

"Come on! Let's go to Ru's house again! We could continue our preparation there and the food is great!" Rika pulled Ru's arms as she motioned for the others to come.

The group followed as they went out of the class.

Meanwhile on another class, another kind of trouble was brewing.