“Though, be warned. If you ever decide to change classes or copy these skills into a skill book, all Summoner skills that you learned here will be erased from your character.” Principal Lin explained seriously.

Zellin nodded and an information screen popped up, listing various skills available to Summoners of his level. There were several skills for conjuring different enchanted weapons, and some skills for summoning enchantment spirits. The first skill on the list was Contract, as it was a basic Summoner’s skill.

Damn, Zellin thought with a grimace. These skills are pretty expensive. I’ll only be able to get 2, at most.

“I’ll just take the Summon Earth Elemental skill.” Zellin finally said after some thought.

“You won’t take the Contract skill?” Principal Lin asked in confusion.

"Already have it." Zellin says with a wave of his hand.

“Oh?” Principal Lin says, surprised. “I hope you didn’t contract too many beasts as that will have a severe impact your ability to stay awake.” He lectured.

Zellin could only smile awkwardly in response.

“Since you already have the skill, you’ll probably be interested in our Habitat Cards. They’re cards that connect to a separate dimension, with specialized habitats already installed onto them. They’re for storing your pets so that your mind won’t become exhausted from the mental connection. They're pretty cheap, considering; higher level summoners set the price to facilitate the growth of the younger generations.” Principal Lin explained, thoroughly answering Zellin’s question about his recent condition.

“Really?” Zellin said in surprise. “How much?”

“A set of cards, including the related Summon skill, costs about 70 gold.” Principal Lin replied.

“Ugh.” Zellin exclaimed. Why do I feel like suddenly giving up my dream of being a super mage? He wondered to himself, before nodding to Principal Lin.

“Including the Summon Earth Elemental skill, all together will be 150 gold.” Principal Lin said with a smile.

Zellin slowly handed over what was left of the money his parents gave him, and received two skill books and a set of 10 cards in return. The cards all had pictures of different scenery on them. Some of them were forests, and some were pictures of a lakes. Zellin assumed they were habitats made specifically for beasts of the Super Kingdom.

Zellin immediately used both skill books as they turned into white light and entered Zellin’s head. Then, Zellin left, waving goodbye as he walked out the door.

As he was leaving, a 3 meter long, pure white bird suddenly swooped down from the sky and a girl with long white hair, about Zellin’s age, jumped off the bird. She gave Zellin a cold look and raised an eyebrow at his nearby pets before walking into the Summoner’s College.

Zellin admired the bird for a moment before walking over to his friends, ignoring the girl.

“How was it?” Reyal asked.

“The place robbed me, but I got what I needed.” Zellin replied frankly. “Come heroes, our quest has yet to be completed.” Zellin said, continuing onward to the next destination.

The rest of the trip went as planned as Coral was apparently rich and Reyal got his loan. Loki was only Level 3, so he couldn’t get a class as of yet.

After the group got their classes, they had planned on buying a small house on the outskirts of the city, but Coral said she already had a place for them to stay. She lead the group to a more centralized area of the city, where the buildings were bigger and the people were more important.

Zellin’s curiosity of this little girl’s background grew even stronger as she lead them towards a huge mansion which had a large courtyard, gate guards, and several servants. But he didn’t ask. He simply shrugged his shoulders and assumed that Coral would talk about it if she wanted to, otherwise it wasn’t high on his agenda of need-to-knows.

After settling in, everyone went to do their own thing. As murder was literally forbidden in the city by the laws of this world, unless you were challenged in the Arena, so it was pretty much safe, in a sense, to travel alone.

Liu went to join the Mercenary Association, Coral went to join the Assassin Association, and Reyal went to buy some basic weapons to inscribe enchantments onto, for both money and skill experience. As for Zellin, after allowing his pets to enter his Habitat Cards, he went on a walk, full of new life and vigor.

Zellin happened upon the Medical Association and decided to join. He didn’t even blink twice when speed writing the entrance test for more than 2 hours, as he was so hyped up on this new-found energy that he was ready to take on the world if need be. He had withdrawn his summons into their habitats and he was feeling great. If he were in his usual state, he’d walk out simply at the mention of a test.

The test wasn’t really for the sake of entering the association, but to test his capabilities in the different specialties of medicine. For most people, as long you had the Medicine skill, you would be allowed into the association; but if you had the basic Level 1 in the skill, the jobs they offered you wouldn’t be as glamorous.

After the test, Zellin was given the very generally-termed, Doctor profession, and was offered the job of extracting certain medical ingredients for a reasonable sum. But Zellin refused and simply asked if he could buy some herbs and other medical supplies, instead. As the association had access to many medical ingredients and tools, it wasn’t too hard to get what Zellin needed.

Zellin was only mildly interested in the healing arts; his main interest in the Medicine skill was the art of poison crafting.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city…

Liu was walking through the city in awe of the people that he saw. Shit, it’s an elf. She’s really pretty. Damn, a dwarf! It’s as tall as me but can carry that huge war hammer! Liu thought in admiration of all he saw.

Liu had already joined the Mercenary Association, but the only jobs they had for people of his level, were things like finding lost cats and babysitting babies. As the pay went from several coppers to a couple silvers, he refused, thinking those jobs were beneath him. After nonchalantly spending 300 gold on his class skills, his attitude towards several silver was that it wasn’t much.

As he walked down the street, a taller and just as skinny youth ran up to Liu. “Hey, Little Brother, wait up.” He called out as he approached. “Little Brother, what’s your level?”

“Ugh, I’m Level 5.” Liu responded without thinking much.

“Pretty good, pretty good. Don’t you know that you’re actually qualified to join the only beginner’s guild in the city?” He asked as if it was basic knowledge.

“What’s a guild?” Liu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You don’t know? It’s like a support structure you can use to help you get money and level. If you’re dedicated to the guild, they’ll even provide you with high level items as rewards!” The youth said enticingly.

“Really?” Liu said, his eyes revealing eagerness. As he now knew how expensive it was to level, he wouldn’t turn away someone’s help to make money. Plus, all his items were too low-leveled, even for his current level; thus, he really craved the high-leveled items that were mentioned. “Can I join?” Liu asked hurriedly as if the opportunity would soon disappear.

Liu was led by the youth, named Bo, to a nearby, large 3-story building. Bo left Liu in a tavern-like area, instructing him to wait as he went to get the guild leader.

Liu sat down at an empty table and waited patiently. Soon, an old man with a missing arm came over and asked Liu what he’d have. Liu simply told him to bring their most popular drink.

The man brought back a neat whiskey with a teasing smile, which immediately caused Liu to furrow his brows. “What am I, a baby? At least fill it up to the top!” Liu exclaimed with annoyance. This immediately drew the eyes of the surrounding guild members.

The man raised an eyebrow before going back to fill Liu’s cup, and then stood off to the side to watch the show.

As a kid, Liu had never drank before. So after taking a big gulp of whiskey, he immediately began to cough furiously, bending over and attempting to puke out the burning liquid in his stomach. Did that old bastard tried to poison me!? He thought.

The surrounding guild members immediately burst out into a raucous laughter. “Hahaha! Well, kid, tell us, are you a baby?” Someone mocked loudly. “Ha! What’s wrong, kid? Never had a drink before?” Someone else called out.

Liu’s face turned bright red as he fumed with rage, realizing that this must have been a joke of some sort, at his expense. He knew it was impossible to beat everyone up so he immediately turned to leave.

“Hey, wait up little man. Aren’t you going to join the guild?” A youth in his teens, dressed in iron armor, called out as he approached with two of his friends, feigning friendliness.

“It’s fine. I don’t need this guild; I already have a support structure.” Liu replied in a haughty manner as he turned around. The teens surrounding Liu let out a grin as they heard this. He could secretly be some noble’s child, they though excitedly.

“Come on, kid. Don’t be like that. I see you’re already Level 5; have you upgraded to a class yet?” The armored youth who first approached Liu asked. They frowned when Liu nodded, before asking, “Then who’s your support network?”

“I have three friends who I’m really close with.” Liu responded instinctively.

“What!? Are you serious kid?” The pudgy one, awkwardly dressed in black, assassin’s clothes exclaimed. “So this kid is really as poor as he looks. Too bad we caught up with him after he got his class.” The equally pudgy archer said in disappointment.

Liu instantly got angry as he heard this. “So what if I’m poor? That doesn’t mean I can’t be a great warrior! Say it again and I’ll beat you within an inch of your life!” Liu foolishly threatened.

“Kid, are you an idiot? You don’t even have any armor, and you say you want to be a great warrior? On the immortal path, money is the most important!” The armored youth rebuked.

Liu’s face expressed confusion as he asked, “What’s the immortal path?”

“Wow, kid, you really are an idiot. You don’t even know this? The immortal path is the path to Level 100! After you reach Level 100, you become all powerful and become immortal!” The pudgy archer explained.

“Forget this kid. Let’s just beat him up for getting our hopes up.” The armored youth suggested. These kids were really hoping to rob Liu’s class upgrade money. After reaching a high enough level, you become able to see the levels of those of a much lower level than you; the higher your level in comparison to the other person, the more information you can see. As these teenagers were Level 9, they were able to see Liu’s level.

Before Liu could get his sword out, he already found himself being beaten from all sides until he was on the floor, only able to cover his face. The other guild members didn't want to get involved, so they simply ignored this shameless act of bullying.

At this point the guild leader walked into the room and sighed. Looks like I have some ass kicking to do, he thought to himself. He walked over to the unknowing bullies who were hunched over and beating Liu on the ground, and started swiftly stomping as he started casually humming a song. It was as if he was a drummer, stomping to the beat of the hum.

“Hmmm, hmm-mm mm hmm-mm-mm,” the guild leader hummed, imagining that the cries of his victims were the cries of fans, praising him for his talent. The beating went on for a few minutes. “Man, I feel like a woman.” The guild leader sang, signaling the end of the song.

“Come on, all of you get up.” He ordered.

Liu weakly got up, feeling pain all over his body, after realizing that he wasn’t being hit anymore. He looked up at the pale, gaunt, white-haired man, then at Bo at the side, coming to the conclusion that the gaunt man was the guild leader and also the person that saved him. Liu bowed slightly, simply saying, “Thank you,” before turning and leaving. Although he slightly respected this guild leader, he wasn’t resigned to feeling beneath anyone.

The gaunt man sighed. “Bo, go after him. Ask him to join the leveling tomorrow.” He instructed, seeing as he couldn’t stop this kid from leaving. “You three.” He continued, focusing his attention on the badly beaten teenagers.

“Yes, guild leader!” They hurriedly responded, standing straight and attentive.

The guild leader rubbed his nose slightly before casually saying, “5 gold penalty,” with an upraised hand.

The teenagers slowly held out a small bag of gold with looks of deep regret. After taking their money, the guild leader simply left in a merry manner, humming a tune as he walked.

Seeing that the guild leader had left, those teens immediately let their anger show. “That little bastard. I’ll make sure he regrets getting us in trouble.” One of them said, followed by another, who said, “Yeah. If that kid actually had money, we wouldn’t have beat him up, and instead nicely coerce him into befriending us before robbing him.” They rationalized with an extremely weird sense of right and wrong.

“Don’t worry, guys,” the armored youth said calmly. “Soon, we’ll make him pay us twice what we lost today.” He said ominously.

Outside the guild…

“Hey, Liu, wait up!” Bo called out, running towards the distant Liu.

Liu turned around as Bo approached. “What do you want?” Liu said with a frown. He wasn’t in the mood to discuss anything right now; his annoyance has pretty much reached the limit today.

“Easy, Liu. You know, not everyone in the guild are like those jerks. They’re only arrogant because they’re at the highest level of the first floor, but nobody likes those guys. As long as you stick with me, those guys won’t dare to touch you.” Bo said confidently.

“I’m not joining the guild anymore. A guild like that doesn’t deserve me.” Liu calmly replied.

“Come on, don’t say that.” Bo said, trying to ease the situation. “How about this. Some of us from the first floor of the guild are going to clear a dungeon tomorrow. So, tomorrow, if you’ve calmed down, you can come by and see for yourself if the guild is worth joining. If not… Well, that’s up to you too.”