I take my gaze up from the Omnium Compendium, feeling some movement from below. I hear some swearing and a very loud yawn. Looking outside the window, I realize it’s morning already.

Huh.

Would you look at that?

Well, I’ll sleep tomorrow. In a world of fantasy and magic, I dare say that losing some sleep is not a tragedy. Plus, considering that the Fellows might have come knocking with Marcellus still sleeping downstairs, it’s better that I didn’t sleep. The short Elf would have needed me to protect him.

I stop reading about why [Sleep] spells would fail on a person and take out a thermos of relatively fresh coffee. Man, I really like this new blend of spices. I would have definitely sold it at—whatever.

“Yo,” I say at Marcellus, who’s already munching on some food. I take a croissant for myself and sink my teeth in it. I miss the ingredient that Stan used to source for me. The butter that I used for these croissants wasn’t the best; that made it almost impossible to create a perfect flakiness.

“May the morning. shine favorably on you, Gioeius!”

“You too,” I say while chomping on my breakfast. “Did you sleep well on the couch?”

“It was more than adequate, thank you. True nobility resides in our hearts, not in the weakness of limbs.”

What?

“Sure, buddy. Lessons start in less than an hour. Have you already found some of the elective classes?”

“Errr—nothing in particular. I was hoping that something would catch my eye today. On top of that, why would you worry about the electives? It’s usually second-year students and older ones that look for them. I mean, people wait to graduate to gather information on what secret classes might be lurking in the darkness.”

“Do they? Meh, whatever. If you have any idea what you would like to know more about, just tell me. I think I could hook you up with something.”

I see a flash of hope in his eyes that is rapidly replaced by sadness.

“For free, Marcellus. I don’t need money,” I rotate my finger to highlight how rich this place looks. Despite the mess, I’ve still splurged more than a few coins here. So many that it wouldn’t be weird if some [Assassins] or [Investigators] came to me. That’s why I also worked hard on the wards.

“Really?”

“For real, buddy. What kind of [Mage] would you like to become?”

At the question, the short Elf starts scratching his head with an embarrassed smile.

“I don’t really know. [Illusionist] sounds cool?”

I laugh.

“You are young, right? You can spend a few more days with me and maybe I can see if I can put together a list of classes that may be of interest, what do you say? Only if your noble butt can take the couch again.”

Marcellus is definitely broke. Like, really broke. I have no idea why. Nor I have investigated his class yet. But I get the impression that all the posturing is the making of a low-leveled [[[Actor]*]]. Maybe a [[[Thespian]*]]? God knows. But this kid seems cool at times, until he forgets that he’s supposed to act, like he just did when I told him that I would tell him where some secret classes are located.

“Anyway, let’s grab some food for the others and head to class.”

…

I look at the [Professor], or maybe [Historian], with wide eyes. Never in my life I have been so interested in history. Back on Earth, it was what I considered the subject fit for dumb people. I had this edgy period where I thought that anyone really interested in history was just too dumb to understand the future, and that’s why they looked into the past. Now, even though I have retracted such a thesis, I have still some reserves on the extensive study of history.

But this is the first time I see an actual Foxman. Or Foxwoman. I have yet to ask what the denomination is. But do you know how some Disney characters like the female tiger in the Lion King look kinda hot? Well, that’s what I’m talking about here.

She has fluffy ears and the fluffiest fox tail. A huge fox tail. God. Plus, her face is mostly Human, but with some foxy connotations. It’s hard to explain, but imagine the blue things from Avatar, but now the movie is called Fox. Yeah, like that. #Foxman

[[[Professor]*]] Aliuna.

That’s her name.

[[Aliuna]].

I think. I wasn’t paying too much attention when she was introducing herself to the class.

I wonder if it’s a trait of this clearly superior species or if she’s just particularly gifted, but there’s another part of her that’s huge. And I’m not talking about the previously mentioned tail. [[Aliuna]]

She teaches History of Epretos I. And she has gone right to the meatiest topic that we will study during her course. To try and give a somewhat impartial look at the history of the continent, they had chosen someone who was not an Elf.

“The famous death of [Great Prince] [[Vespasianus]] is what everyone knows about the Extermination War. Some argue that we should use the plural, Wars. And that’s because many Elves accuse Humans of having tried to exterminate them during the first real Continental War of Epretos. The nomenclature is, sadly, not uniform. Many books were written on this topic, especially here. But few authors were proper [Historians] and fewer still were impartial. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of present politics still involved. Maybe too much to ask for a neutral recounting of the facts.”

Everyone is pretty much bored to death by the explanation. The only thing that’s keeping me awake is the fact that [Professor] Aliuna is a smokeshow.

“So, I can see that many of you are trying to sneak a nap during the first class of the day,” she says with a nonplussed face. “But that why a class like mine is essential, here. [Ringing Voice]. Now, this should help with communication. And to keep you awake.”

Suddenly, I can hear the professor’s voice as if I was listening to her with headphones. At full volume. And just a touch too loud to be comfortable with it. Her voice rings so much that I can feel my eyes ring from the part that’s inside my skull.

“As I was saying, very few wonder why the last war started. Why? Well, because everyone pins it down to the [Great Prince]’s death. But, to be honest, it’s much more complex than that. Elves and Humans alike had a very intertwined politics until then. And the war bled both parts to an incredible extent. Entire classes were canceled by that war. Even though it was a massacre, a lot of Humans ran to [[Teiko]]. To this day, you could trace many Humans’ heritage to Epretos. And that’s why it’s so interesting to study history. Humans came to Epretos, then Elves came. Humans fought Elves. Elves repelled Humans and sent them back to Teiko. That’s an essay in three sentences, beautiful, right?”

God.

My ears are literally ringing, but every single word was spoken with incredible clarity and it impressed itself in my brain. This woman is definitely using multiple skills to enhance her lesson. There’s no other way I could be learning history otherwise, especially Elven history.

“But then, if it wasn’t the [Great Prince], what was it? What great event could have brought two races to fight to the last? The famous war of Ahali and Vanedenis has lasted for centuries and only now some [Historians] say that it could come to an end in the next fifty years. The [[Extermination Wars]] lasted around two hundred years. Remember, there are several events that [[[Historian]*]]s use to indicate the end of the war. But there’s not a widespread consensus. The war was relatively swift for a conflict so big and dragged out. But the last fifty years were the so-called ‘[[Desert Persecutions]].’ The Elves sought out every single member of the Human army, even the deserters, and brutally executed them. Now, many peace treaties are in place, but it’s impossible to acknowledge the enmity that these actions brought upon the two races. And as for the why—”

The professor looks above the desks of the class where hundreds of students are laying.

“I believe in collaboration. And I believe that the greatest feats can only be accomplished by a carefully formed group. That’s why you will be each assigned to a group. The assignment for our midterm is to write a comprehensive essay on why the Extermination War started. And I’d like to point out that History of Epretos I is a mandatory class. Therefore, if you fail, you will fail the year and have to retake the entrance test to the academy. Assistants, please.”

Several Foxmen started scuttling around the place, distributing sheets.

“I have personally handpicked each group based on your affinities and my skills. If your bond is conductive, you are grouped together. If you are friend, but you only waste time when you are together, you will be split in different groups. My skill is able to put together the best groups. Before I landed this job, I worked for the Adventurers’ Guild, the central one. And I was in charge of forming and training special Gold-ranked and above groups. Few people could have better pairing.”

As I scan the sheet that I’ve been given, I immediately find the others’ right below mine.

“Gioeius, team leader,” I groan.

“We have all been placed in the same group,” I hear Amelia cheer from two seats to my right.

Anneus sighs and shakes his head.

Marcellus simply smiles warmly toward the piece of paper.

Zahra looks at me with her ‘I know you are up to something’ look.

Alba cranes her head forward, embarrassed.

I notice that there are more names on the list. Names I don’t know.

“Adrastus, Aurelia, Sabina…”

They all sound like Elves.

“I’m Sabina,” a feminine voice says. I raise my head to look at the speaker while the rest of the class starts moving toward their respective groups, degenerating in a massive chaos.

“Hi Sabina, I’m Gioeius, but you can call me Gioei. These are—”

While the others present themselves, I look at the guy I talked to during the ceremony before I saw Anneus being bullied.

“Gioieus? I’m Adrastus, we already spoke,” he tells me with a pained expression.

“Yeah, man. You stuck with us?”

He nods with a sigh.

“No offense,” he adds a moment later.

“No offense. We are a bunch of idiots. But let’s try to make the best out of this, right?”

Adrastus nods, but his heart is not in it.

“We are only missing Aurelia, then.”

“I’m Aurelia, the last Elf appears among three people who were stepping up the stairs. She dodged them with grace and elegance, pirouetteing in front of us.

“Great. Nice to meet you Aurelia. Why don’t you three sits with us? I guess it’s going to be necessary from now on.”

Everyone starts sitting with their respective group and in around ten minutes we are all done.

“Perfect,” the professor drops the skill and speaks normally. “Now, you will have the entire semester to ponder on the question. I’ll still give out assignments that will count toward the midterm. Every assignment is collective. There’s no individual work here. And, lucky you, I have asked the other professors and most of them agreed to mark your tests based on your group. So, the group you just formed will be responsible of whether you are going to fail the other classes as well. This shall keep everyone accountable. If you don’t work as a team once you are out of here, you will die. I have seen countless arrogant [Mages] not listen to orders and dooming their entire team. This time, I’ll nip the issue in the bud. Oh, and since I can hear some of you already protesting. All those who just protested got their team minus two points on the midterm. So, better ace those assignments if you don’t want to fail out.”

There’s definitely some anger in her tone and she’s left slightly panting at the end. After a quick glance at my teammates, no one seems to have protested. Some look resigned, but at least they were smart enough to keep their mouth shut.

“Lesson adjourned!”