Kyrion’s lunch consisted of stealing a lot of food from the cafeteria for later consumption while eating enough to tide him over as he made his way to a lecture hall.

Ms.Nox was a younger woman with black hair and blue eyes. Her clothes consisted of a black robe and cape which also reminded him of a certain person he beat in the trial the day before.

Kyrion was sitting next to a very confused blond boy. His height was a bit noticeable in the class full of kids who were mostly his age.

“Shouldn’t you be in a more punching oriented class?” Cecil asked bluntly.

“Shouldn’t you be in a more advanced version of this class?” Kyrion tried to raise an eyebrow.

“I’m in a few, there are some holes in my knowledge. How's your first day going?” Cecil asked.

“Good enough. A bit of a pain. One teacher attacks his students while another doesn’t teach at all. Professor Willow reminds me of a wise old man, but I'm pretty sure he’s Gamodren’s age. This is my first normalish class. Well if normal was boring.” Kyrion whispered.

“You’ll adapt to the lessons soon enough. Looks like I let a dam loose though.” Cecil shook his head and looked to the side. His eyes widened and his lips puckered in surprise.

Ms. Nox was standing right next to the two. “What's so interesting? You're hardly paying attention to the lesson.”

“I was, up until around forty five seconds ago you were going over the difference between rituals, wards, and runes. I was just getting some of the basic information that I’m missing from my neighbor. He seems to be better informed than me. The talk on mana channel, ley lines, and fonts of mana were terms I was unfamiliar with. I would love to cure my ignorance.” Kyrion replied unperturbed and with minimal breakage. One could say he lied through his teeth, had they known how good he got at the act. That same person would also have to be either Gamodren or Curella, the former who taught him how to lie, while the latter had a method to pick up on deceit.

Nox and Cecil both seemed quite surprised.

A kick to Cecil’s shin got him back into it.

“There are a few books in the library related to said subject in the library, and while i’d love to go over them now. We’re in class. I was going to tell him to isolate what he didn’t know when you arrived and I'd help him later.” Cecil explained.

“I see. Next time, keep your questions until after the lesson is finished.” Nox walked away and continued her lesson.

Cecil was surprised by his friend's ability to improvise. He was sure that Kyrion had been focused on their conversation. The boy didn’t even know what subject the professor was going over when she arrived.

“Incantations are a primary trait in spell crafting, sure a fire ball can be conjured by anyone with a fire affinity, and enough stubbornness. But through the use of the right incantation you can consistently obtain the same results, with less mana. It is recommended that you don't start using these incantations in combat until you've reached the practitioner as some are more draining than others. Here you will learn how to write and create basic spells, and runic symbols as a foundation of knowledge is better than one built on ignorance.” Nox continued her lesson.

Ms.Nox had a bit of a flair for the dramatic. What she was teaching was dry and technical but the way she spoke of it made Kyrion think of it as an art form. After the main lesson, the students spent the remaining time drawing runes and theory crafting spells.

“Why are you in the class?” Kyrion asked.

“Because I’m a wizard, Kyrion. I have a cat with the order and mana affinities which allows for better control when it comes to spellcraft and artifice. Back in my world I was an apprentice wizard.” Cecil's eyes went wide as that came out of his mouth.

“Your world…are you a foreigner?” Kyrion rubbed his eyepatch as a wave of tiredness washed over him.

Cecil nodded and forced his mouth shut, confused. How could he spill something like that to someone he just met.

“We can talk about this later, or not at all. if it makes you uncomfortable.” Kyrion stated as he kept his attention on Ms.Nox.

“Yeah...”

Class ended and Kyrion made his way towards the next thing on his list. Physical Enrichment with coach Teus.

Tiffany did not like her accommodations. When she opened the door to her room she saw a bunch of giant roaches moving the bed in her supposed room. An intricate spider web covered the ceiling as a dog-sized spider lie in wait. Something would get stuck eventually and it would feast. Tiffany hadn’t seen bugs that big in all the time she spent outside camping.

Instead of entering the room, Tiffany left and grabbed Ceres before heading towards a local inn. Price be damned. She was the daughter of a merchant and had a steady surplus of funds from her father. An inn was nothing so long as it didn’t have bugs this big.

“I still don’t see the problem.” Ceres stated as a spider crawled out of her hair.

Tiffany cringed. “Bugs bite, and crawl, those were at least fledgling ranked monsters and while I'd love to exterminate them, something tells me that that whole wing is tainted. They must have been nesting there for a while. It’s not a place befitting maidens like us.”

“Uh huh. What about master, isn't he the maidenesst maiden of them all?”

“You don’t have to talk like that. You do know he hates that moniker right? And you can’t just make up words.”

“Mana who?” Ceres cocked her head.

“Nevermind. We’re here.” Tiffany opened the doors to an Inn and paid for a room.

This room didn’t have giant bugs and was well cared for. She could sleep in peace here all for the price of one silver a day and a long commute.

The next morning the girls went to their first classes. Most of which were physically oriented. Ceres moved earth with Mrs.Grishla who instructed the class on a few techniques that focused on control rather than speed and power. As it turned out earth worked better with slow and deliberate motions which were trained and increased accordingly. An earth user had to be steps ahead of their opponent. Predicting where they’d dodge, attack and land if they were in the air.

Tiffany practiced her swordplay as she learned various exercises and techniques suited for building her fighting style. A lot of evasive techniques with an emphasis on quick and dangerous strikes.

They then spent their second class in the physical enrichment class with coach Teus. Both worked on building their physical strength. As Kyrion’s brute strength served as a landmark they wanted to reach.

Ceres exercised while wearing heavier armor increasing the strength of her body. While Amadeus was strong, Ceres’ endurance proved to come out on top. She wanted to make sure no one could get through her defenses.

Tiffany spent her third class in a business-oriented class, one that specializes in money management and increasing revenue. Tiffany got in due to her status as a merchant and decided to keep herself business savvy. It was possibly the one field where she passed Kyrion’s by miles.

Ceres spent her fourth class learning how to properly wield her weapon. It was clear she was untrained and that wasn’t going to do. Ander that green-haired boy was leading the class in a few exercises, which was odd. Until she learned that their professor was currently on a mission and he was the most experienced among them.

Tiffany was exhausted but luckily for her, she had a class on rune script. Since her sword let her draw runes in the air it served as an important class. Swordplay was nice, but the more ways she had to use her limited mana the better.

Kyrion made his way to the outdoor training lot. Various dirt circles were marked out as a giant green-skinned man with, muscle tone that reminded him of Stone. Large tusks protruded from his mouth, and on his head was a helmet with a single horn that stood straight up. Kyrion was curious about how far the man could throw him. He did not speak of this curiosity, as he approached the man.

“I’m Kyrion Mosely, first year, are you coach Teus?”

“Teus I am. Coach I be. You are early.”

“How early?” Kyion looked at the empty field.

“Come back tomorrow. Dress light. Bring water.” Teus ordered.

Kyrion looked at his schedule. “So does the 2 in this column mean day 2?”

“Tuesday, thursday.”

“Ok. What about friday?”

“Homeroom. Here.” Teus pointed to the top right corner of the page.

“Gamodren… So he’s still my teacher…Thank you. See ya tomorrow.” Kyrion sighed.

Teus nodded solemnly as the boy ran away.

“So that's the boy who tied with your pupil?” Teus said to someone behind him.

“Had to weaken him a bit. He has more stamina and endurance than most. The fight would have dragged on for days before it ended in a draw.”

“I see, he can’t beat Amadeus, but they can’t beat him either.”

“Pretty much. For a trail he already passed it was easier to expedite things like that.”

“I see. He’s going to have it tough, making an enemy of the champion of the fledgling class.”

“He’ll be fine, it’s a friendly rivalry. So long as he doesn’t grow his hair out and start acting like a rooster.”

“Gamodren, your son is his teacher. If he doesn’t have that boy hiding his strength and acting like a buffon by the end of the year. I’ll be worried that he’d been swapped.”

“Don’t worry. He’s already doing that. He broke a table this morning and escaped from the disciplinary committee.”

“Did you help him?”

“Nope, he’s got a talent for disappearing in plain sight. Hence why he’s training to be an illusionist.”

“You mean a professional liar.” Teus shook his head.

“That too. The others are doing well for their first day. No trouble, they did however move to an inn. Though that was expected, given that dorm’s inhabitants.”

Teus shook his head as the man in front of him vanished.

Kyrion was now officially lost. He didn’t know where Max was, and his friends were MIA. He needed to start recruiting.

As Kyrion tried to leave campus a brute of a boy with black hair and dead fish eyes appeared in front of him. His hair was cut short and well-groomed, and his face was stoic if not mad.

“Kyrion Ahanu Mosely. You are suspected of brutality against other students, damage to school property, and now leaving campus without permission. How do you plead?”

“What's Ahanu?” Kyrion raised a metaphorical bushy eyebrow.

“Your middle name.”

“Uh huh… Why haven’t I heard it before?” Kyrion asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Since I don’t know this Ahanu, I can only assume that you have the wrong person. I'm sure you’ll find this Ahanu person, somewhere.” Kyrion patted the taller boy on the shoulder and turned around. Headed in a different direction.

“That's him. That's the bully!” Dee said from the side.

Kyrion hadn’t cared to notice and sighed.

“Perjury as well. Kyrion Ahanu Mosely, you now have detention.”

“Is that some sort of disease? Is it contagious?” Kyrion asked aghast.

“Someone your age should know better than to cause trouble without going through the proper channels.”

“I’m nine and have only been here a day. Shouldn’t you know all this?” Kyrion scowled, opening his senses to mana he discovered that the boy in front of him was a practitioner.

The boy pulled out a scroll and examined it with his blank eyes.

Kyrion vanished from sight and proceeded to sneak away when a familiar green-haired man appeared in front of him.

“Kyrion, just take your lumps and get it over with. I’d rather you not cause too much trouble. You have the right to an appeal, but only if you give up.”

“Lingar!” Kyrion hugged the older, but slightly shorter boy.

“Kyrion? You can let go now. Hey. You're squeezing pretty hard.” The plain-faced older boy stated.

“Oh sorry.” Kyrion let go of his friend? Recruiter? The man who helped save his life?

“Stop right there criminal scum!” The dead fish-eyed boy ran towards Kyrion and clapped his hands.

A pair of cuffs appeared around Kyrion’s wrist and wrapped around his back.

“Attempted escape as well. That's four marks against you.”

“You mean five. Who do I talk to to get this cleared out? It was them who started it by jumping me in an alley yesterday. Then they provoked me in the cafeteria. I was only paying back what was old. As for th…”

“No more of your lies to detention!”

Lingar just shook his head and sighed.

Kyrion was tossed over the boy’s shoulder as he was dragged away. He saw that the boy dubbed Dee had a smirk on his face. Kyrion tried to tie a knot of grass in front of the boy’s feet but the mana stopped at his hands.

“This sucks.” Kyrion had half a mind to kick and scream bloody murder but he was being carried which was always sooting to him. In moments he was unconscious and drooling all over this person’s shoulder.