Kyle walked into the room where his final interview would be taking place and froze in surprise, the man who was waiting for him was a member of the race known as Beastmen who as their name suggested combined the features and strengths of both man and beast. Beastmen came in so many varieties that many people wondered whether or not they should all be considered one race. There were in fact only to reasons that they were considered one race by outsiders and that was that they considered themselves to be all one race and that they all shared one Racial Skill called Beast Form which temporarily increased certain stats depending on their particular variant.

The particular specimen in front of Kyle was a massively built feline variant Beastman who resembled an anthropomorphised lion and even sitting down his mane of dark hair was almost level with Kyle’s head and he stood up when he noticed that Kyle had entered the room with a wide grin that revealed a set of sharp teeth that would have been intimidating if he didn’t otherwise look happy to see Kyle.

Reaching out a paw-like hand towards Kyle the Lionman opened his mouth.

“You must be Kyle, it’s a pleasure to meet you, young man!” he boomed. “My name is Reginald Tyrrell and I teach the warrior type Classes here at the school!”

Kyle smiled at the man’s enthusiasm and shook his hand wincing slightly due to the strength of the grip on his hand.

“Back when I was an Adventurer you father saved my life,” Reginald continued as he vigorously shook Kyle’s hand. “If you could send him my regards when you next speak to him, I would be most gratified.”

“Sure,” Kyle answered extricating his sore hand from the Lionman’s grip.

“Excellent!” Reginald laughed. “Now back to business, Galdon has told me a little bit about your Class already but if I could get the opinion of you and your companion that would be helpful.”

“Fi, my name is Fi,” grumped the little serpent who looked a little put out by how much more attention Kyle was getting.

“My apologies, if I could get you and Fi’s opinion about your Class and how you think you should develop both it and any other Skills or magic that you have that would be great.”

Kyle nodded and explained how he thought his Class worked in more detail with Fi piping up now and again to fill in any gaps she thought he missed.

“Alright,” Reginald nodded pleased with how much information the two had given him. “It’s certainly an interesting Class isn’t it. It’s not often you get a non-magical Class that has Light Armour as a Class Skill but everything else adds up.”

“Now that you mention it that is odd,” Fi realised with a start.

“Mhmm,” Reginald grunted. “If I had to guess the presence of that Skill is hinting at one or more of the paths that the Class can take.”

Being a Class that had never been seen before meant that there was a lot of guesswork when it came to how it could be developed but to Reginald that just meant that they could get creative.

“So, the way I see it you should join the Warrior classes that I take and some of the classes on magic so that you can keep developing your Mana and Enchanting Schools,” Reginald stated.

The warrior classes were mostly primers on the different Skills that were common choices for Classes that focussed on melee, but they also went over the different types of monsters that had been discovered and the best ways to handle them including what types of damage worked best against them. But the main focus of these classes was of course fighting, the best way to learn how to use the Skills that you had was in combat so for every class that they did book learning there were two training sessions one that was for the sake of boosting stats and skills like acrobatics and one that was mostly sparring.

On the other hand, the classes on magic were broken down into the different schools of magic so that the students weren’t spending too much time learning about things that they didn’t need to know though there was also a class on general magic for people who had Mana Manipulation or were planning on unlocking it but hadn’t decided on the path that they wanted to take.

“Galdon also wants you to take a slightly interesting class,” Reginald continued with a slight frown on his face as he recalled what the headmaster had said. “It’s one that will teach you how to use something called Mental Energy, do you understand what that is?”

Kyle hesitated briefly before shaking his head. “I do have a Skill that uses it, which will be why the headmaster wants me to take the class, but I don’t really know much about it.”

“I see,” Reginald sighed rubbing a hand across his face. “Sadly, Mental Energy isn’t really something that I know much about myself, actually not many people do, even a lot of the people who use it.”

“What do you mean?” Fi asked.

“There are Skills that technically use it but don’t mention it in their descriptions,” Reginald said. “The most well-known ones would be Battlecries for example the Taunt sub-skill.”

Kyle blinked at this, the Battlecries Skill was common among warrior and knight type classes and could be used to strengthen allies or weaken enemies depending on what Sub-skill was used. Taunt was an interesting example to use as far as Kyle was aware it was simply a Skill that attracted an enemy’s attention to the person who used it much more effectively than if someone without the Skill simply shouted at an attacking monster and could apparently even work on the intelligent races. But if the Skill actually used Mental Energy to create that effect then it was slightly more sinister than a simple shout which explained why it was so effective. Come to think of it didn’t he know another type of Skill that could produce similar effects?

“Another example is Skald’s Memory isn’t it?” Kyle asked remembering the Skill that Sonia had used in her fight with Ben to add a Stat enhancing effect to her song.

“Well done!” Reginald grinned. “You’re absolutely right. But the main Skill that directly uses Mental Energy which is what you’ll be learning is quite different to any other Skill out there.”

“In what way?” Fi asked.

“Well for starters if you don’t have an affinity for Mental Energy you can’t unlock the Skill at all.”

‘Anyone can unlock any Skill if they work hard enough’ many people considered this to be the rule that the System worked by. Even a mage could learn the Swordsmanship or Heavy Armour Skill, they wouldn’t necessarily be very useful to them, but they could still learn it. However, hearing that only certain people could learn this mysterious Skill that Reginald was referring to wasn’t much of a surprise to Kyle, as far as he knew his father’s ability to conjure and control suits of armour was something that was completely unique to him.

If there could me Skills, magic, or Classes that were completely unique to their user then the idea that there were Skills that only certain people could learn just weren’t that surprising to either Kyle or Fi.

“Well I don’t think that there’s going to be a problem there,” Kyle muttered causing Fi to snort in amusement. After all he had unlocked the Skill that had caused Galdon to insist on him taking those Classes by accident, so it was pretty unlikely that he was lacking in affinity for Mental Energy.

“I wouldn’t expect there to be,” Reginald said. “Galdon’s rarely wrong about this sort of thing. Sometimes I wonder if he’s got some sort of Skill that allows him to predict what talents people have.”

The Lionman sighed heavily as he said this before continuing under his breath. “In all honesty it’s probably just a Mentor Sub-skill that can only be unlocked when you reach a certain Level.”

“So, the you recommend the classes for warriors, the Mana and Enchanting Schools and the class for this Mental Energy Skill then?” Fi said wanting to move the conversation along.

“Yeah,” Reginald nodded. “It seems to me that Kyle’s Class is closer to an Agility based warrior-type Class than a rogue type which is why the headmaster sent you two my way and the other classes will keep you strengthening the magic that you have and all of them will add to your skillset which will help you unlock the best possible Classes for selection when you reach Level 5.”

This did sound like a good plan, but Kyle was still thinking about the mysterious classes that would involve Mental Energy which was something that he didn’t know much about.

“Is there anything else you can tell me about the Skills I’ll be learning about in the classes about Mental Energy?”

“Hmm, like I said; it’s not really a subject I’m very familiar with,” Reginald replied thoughtfully. “I don’t have any affinity for Mental Energy myself which limits my knowledge but the only other interesting thing I know about it is that different people can only unlock certain Sub-skills and that the sub-skills they can unlock are dependent on their personality traits.”

“Seriously!?” Kyle exclaimed. Not only was this Skill something only certain people could unlock but the things you could do with it were limited as well?

“Kinda sounds like Classes,” Fi mentioned.

The System essentially used two factors which were personality traits and any Skills that they already knew to decide the list of Tier 1 Classes that someone could select so this was actually a pretty good comparison.

Reginald nodded at this and went on to explain that not only would Kyle be taking the specialised classes based around his fighting style but also more generalised classes to learn about parts of the System that wasn’t general knowledge for most people, as well as history and guild-specific knowledge.

“Because you have a companion, you will be taking a class related to how companions grow and the different ways you two can increase your strength if you work together,” Reginald continued causing Fi’s eyes to shine excitedly, she had been feeling a bit left out but this piece of information was enough to restore her usual good spirits.

“There’s a specific class on that?” Kyle asked in surprise. Though they could be generalised into different types and there were many companions that were similar they were in fact all unique in how they could grow just as their partners were which Kyle would’ve expected to make having a class on companions to be a difficult thing to teach.

“We have three people on staff with companions and they work on a rotation to make sure that all the different things a companion can learn are covered. Sometimes we even get an Adventurer to come in and teach a little,” Reginald explained. He didn’t have a companion himself, but most parties of Adventurers had at least one due to how useful they could be and had worked with more than a few Adventurers who had companions meaning that he understood the young man’s confusion.

“Is there anything else we should know?” Kyle asked guessing that they were reaching the end of the interview which had turned out to be little more than a discussion that assumed that he was in fact a student here.

“Do you know about the jobs that students here can do?”

“Yeah,” Kyle nodded, Yuliah had told them about this on the way here.

Students at the Adventurer school could take simple requests from the Adventurers Guild that were too simple to send a fully-fledged Adventurer to take care of themselves, these were often little more than odd jobs that ranged from finding lost pets to killing pests, but the students could take them on to earn some money and get a little experience in the way the world worked.

“Well then I suppose the only other thing that’s really relevant is graduating,” Reginald shrugged. “You officially graduate when you obtain your Tier 2 Class at Level 5 at which point you become a fully-fledged Adventurer in your own right. As you probably know we occasionally take students into the dungeon or bring in weak monsters for them to fight so that you can earn experience and reach Level 5. You don’t have to take your Tier 2 Class right away when you reach Level 5 but if you want to keep going to classes here the school starts charging you extra for any classes that you take.”

“Well that makes sense, thanks for letting me know,” Kyle said. “I guess that means that I’ve been accepted?”

“Ah… yeah,” Reginald looked embarrassed as he answered Kyle’s question. He had completely forgotten that he was supposed to be making the final judgement on whether Kyle was a suitable candidate for becoming a student but Galdon had given him so much information on the young man in front of him before he had even arrived in Greenhearth that you would have thought that the old man was a proud grandfather talking about his beloved grandson so the thought of refusing his entry into the school hadn’t even crossed his mind even before Kyle had walked in and as they spoke he found himself liking the earnest young man in front of him even more. He knew that Galdon wouldn’t have revealed his emotions to Kyle while he was interviewing him himself, the old man was just too professional to do something like that and he would’ve accepted it if Reginald had refused his application but from the moment Kyle had walked in Reginald had felt a tingle run down his spine, something about the young man had roused his bestial instincts and made him want to see how he would grow.

“Yes, you’ve been accepted,” Reginald quickly attempted to recover from his awkward reply to Kyle’s question. “Here’s the key to your dorm room.”

“Thanks,” Kyle replied with a smile as he took the key from Reginald’s outstretched hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Mr. Tyrrell.”

The lion Beastman bid the younger man farewell after giving him directions to the room he would be staying in while he was a student at the school and after closing the door behind him Kyle sighed heavily as he felt all the energy suddenly bleed out of his body. It had been an interesting and stressful day so far but now that he was officially a student at the Adventurers School, he could finally relax a little. Wondering how his other friends were doing he headed in the direction of the dorms that Yuliah had pointed out to him when they had arrived.

Finding the room was fairly simple as FI flew on ahead as Kyle climbed the stairs to the third floor of the dormitories where his room was and soon, he collapsed onto one of the beds inside.

“Huh, looks like you’re going to have a roommate Kyle,” Fi noted looking at the bed on the opposite side of the room before looking over to see that Kyle had fallen asleep.

“Heh, never mind then,” Fi chuckled. “We can deal with that later I suppose.”

Some time later Kyle was awoken by someone opening the door and craned his neck up to avoid knocking Fi who was still asleep off his chest.

“Hey mate,” greeted Hal who didn’t seem particularly surprised to see his friend asleep on the bed.

“Oh, so you got in did you,” Kyle said blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“Yeah and Damian did as well.”

“Cool,” Kyle replied with a grin as Fi awoke with a yawn before blinking at the sight of the red-haired young man standing in the doorway. “So, the three of us all have good news to give our parents tonight when we head to dinner.

“Yeah, speaking of which we should probably get going,” Hal said giving his still sleepy friend a wide grin. “Yuliah and Damian are waiting for us outside.”

“So, you and Herman are our roommates, are you?” Fi asked as Kyle dragged himself to his feet.

“Yeah, Comhan the teacher that interviewed me explained that they try to keep people who know each other together because its less stressful than having a stranger in your room.”

Kyle nodded at this as he followed his friend out the door.

“Well then, good to have you roomy,” he chuckled causing his friend’s grin to widen further.

“Yeah, you too mate.”

“Oi, come on you lot,” Yuliah shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “Sonia’s waiting for us at a restaurant just outside the Musicians Guild with a friend of mine!”

The two young men glanced at each other and chuckled as they quickly made their way down the stairs to find Yuliah and Damian waiting for them.

“Sorry Yuliah, Kyle fell asleep,” Hal said quickly blocking a vicious elbow from Kyle as Yuliah stared at them with her hands on her hips.

“Never mind that,” she sighed rolling her eyes at their antics. “Let’s get going.”

The group made their way back into the centre of town and sure enough Sonia was waiting for them at a table outside a fairly busy restaurant just opposite the building they had dropped her off at earlier with a slender gnomish man of indeterminate age who introduced himself as Drenn. It turned out that Drenn who was now one of the instructors at the Musicians Guild had been in the same party as Yuliah back when they both actively worked as Adventurers.

He was a very cheerful man with light brown hair who was constantly fiddling with the many stringed instrument he had sitting across his lap producing such a large variety of sounds that if he hadn’t seen it was one man making all of them would have assumed that there were at least three people playing.

Apparently Sonia had also made it into the Musician’s Guild and was happy to hear that all three of the boys had succeeded as well although Damian had admitted that it had been a bit of a close thing for him considering his history, he had been told that he would be on probation for a few months until he proved that he would act the way student of the Adventurers School were expected to.

All in all, it was a good night and Kyle activated his Communication Orb to give their parents and friends back home the good news. Yes, things were looking good right now and Kyle hoped that this new chapter of his life was going to be the best yet.