Dragging his feet, Raymond and Ellen soon arrived at their third class of the day—'basic monster biology'.
Finding an empty spot near the back, he set his things down. Compared to 'Foundations of Mana Sciences' which took place in a semi-circular hall. This class took place in a laboratory with several large tables.
The walls were white, with all sorts of lab equipment taking up a decent amount of space inside.
"Good afternoon everybody! Hope you all didn't eat too much just now because I'll have to warn you all, monster biology can get a bit disgusting sometimes. Ahem anyways, my name is Martin Floriza but most of my students just call me professor Martin or just professor." Clapping his hands to get everyones attention once everyone settled in, their teacher loudly introduced himself.
"I'm going to be teaching you all about the basics of monster biology. Now, I'm sure you're all probably thinking 'Why do I even need to learn this?' and the answer is simple. Because all of you will need to fight these monsters and more once you graduate. Knowledge is power after all!"
Nice words for someone who looked like he had never seen a lick of combat in his life. His coat was completely clean and pristine—paired with his neatly combed hair and shining white teeth. He gave off the impression of one of those sheltered kids who grew up privileged.
"Knowing about weaknesses, knowing how to exploit certain biological processes, knowing the habitats, diets and movement patterns of monsters. All of this will be immensely useful for your future."
He turned on the laser pointer and aimed it at the whiteboard.
"So before I start teaching you all, let me give a brief rundown on what to expect and what to prepare for in the future. Firstly, let me get this straight with you all. You need to desensitize yourself to the sight of blood and gore. The textbooks used and the experiments conducted will show a lot of parts one might consider disgusting."
Raymond nodded at that, on paper it didn't seem so important or hard to do. But learning to get over the sights of bloody creatures and sometimes even humans was very important.
but expecting a bunch of students who were barely fifteen to do such a thing? This was the type of stuff that could scar young kids mentalities!
"Naturally, my class will teach you all about mainly monster biology. However, my syllabus also includes chapters on humans and the other intelligent races on Terra with us right now. Unfortunately, the demons and angels are excluded from that. If you're interested in learning about them, you can do some self-studying at the library or choose to take advanced monster biology as one of your courses once you reach your third year."
Raymond tutted internally, he personally believed that this was why they could never fully defeat the demons until now. If most students could only learn about demons once they reached their third year then how were they expected to fight against them?
Monster biology was probably one of the most unpopular classes ever in the academy. Although its benefits were clear, putting them into practice was much harder then it seemed. Most would prefer learning other more popular and rewarding classes.
it was also a famously difficult course, requiring a lot of hard work and dedication just to pass. Once, there was a student so desperate to pass he carved up a piece from his own friend to use as his final exam project—the project requiring them to hunt and dissect a monster all by themselves!
Naturally, the exam was cancelled due to the overwhelming backlash—and the student was expelled from the academy for seriously injuring a classmate.
Another year, students were required to fully map out the movements of a monster. Simple on the surface, problem was that the monster was a demonized gold hawk. A monster that has only ever been spotted on the demonic continent, the continent that once held most of humanity until the demons invaded and took it over, forcing humanity to flee to another continent on the other side of the world.
Safe to say, that exam was also cancelled. But not before four students died before they even managed to find the demonized golden hawk!
"And lastly, unfortunately—I will be teaching you all about the reproductive systems of monsters, humans and the other races. So I ask all of the boys, please do not act like immature children. And I ask all of the girls, please do not act so embarrassed. It's just biology. You're all grown now."
...well, at least he tried to warn them. Raymond could already visualize the future in his head when it happened with lots of immature childish acting.
...
Raymond had already blanked himself out the moment the teacher started talking about other topics, by the time he got woken up back into existence by Ellen. The class had already ended.
Raymond stretched his arms and back after standing up. Luckily, professor Martin wasn't the type of teacher to call out sleeping students or students who weren't paying attention.
Yawning, he followed Ellen as they both left the laboratory. Making their way to the fourth and final class of the day.
'Special Class Personal Guided Education"
Unlike the other three classes which were shared with the class A students. This was one of their classes which was purely for the special class students. The academy would assign its best instructors who would personally teach and guide each special class student one-on-one.
He and Ellen were the last to arrive, walking into the large empty training hall. He could see Noelle, Thomas and Audrina in a line along with five other adults.
'How did they even get here this fast? We left like at the same time as them.'
Raymond shelved that thought for later, right next to the wondering of why the academy assigned them their floors.
Getting into line as well, Raymond found himself in front of an instructor—she looked deceptively young, with long messy gray hair. Although based on the amount of mana Raymond could sense from her. She was definitely way older then she looked.
The hall was quiet for a bit, with the five of them just standing there awkwardly looking at the instructors in front of them.
After a while, she finally chuckled as she looked at Raymond dead in the eye, "I'm not the personal instructor assigned to you, and also none of you kids are in front of your assigned instructors except for Ellen."
Looking at the others, he could see the confusion in their expressions. While Ellen's face was as still as ever.
Her eyes locked onto Noelle, flashing the barest hint of a smirk on her lips.
'My, how embarrassing. Unable to even find your own instructor?'
A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
"if my instructor is not Rudeus Floriza, may I know who is my instructor then?", Thomas asked.
The burly man in front of him showed a surprised reaction, "Oh? I'm surprised that people can still recognize me now. It's been years since I retired already."
"You were known as the Weapons-Meister. Considered to be the best wielder of swords, spears and all types of weapons. I would naturally be aware of such a legendary figure." Thomas smiled slightly.
He patted Thomas on the shoulder, a smile on his face as well, "You're a good kid, it's a shame that I'm not the one teaching you. I'm the instructor for Noelle Asteria—her father roped me in to teach her once he found out she made it into the special class."
With that, Noelle silently moved from where she was standing. Until she was in front of Rudeus Floriza.
"I look forward to learning under you instructor Floriza."
"Likewise, your father told me that I wouldn't be disappointed. I hope you don't prove him wrong."
"I'll try my best sir."
Seeing this, the instructor in front of Raymond waved her hand at Thomas, "I'm your instructor Thomas, don't you recognize me?"
Thomas stared at her for a bit, before eventually giving up. "I must apologize, but I am unaware of your identity."
"What! Really? I know I haven't been active much as well but I should still be pretty popular!" Her face was glum upon hearing that.
She sighed, "Whatever then, my name is Juliet Famol Ephraph. I'm your personal instructor starting today."
That left only two others, Raymond and Audrina. Seeing everyone else with their instructors. Which meant naturally the one in front of Audrina was Raymond's and the one originally in front of Noelle was Audrina's.
Moving places, he found himself looking up at his instructor. His light blue eyes meeting her dark blue.
Raymond lamented his current young body, being so short was a massive pain!
Knowing his future height was capped at 174.7 cm as well made it all the worse. Although he could technically use magic to make himself taller, it just wasn't the same.
She nodded after analyzing Raymond up and down, "So you're Raymond Vance, I must say. It's an honour to be in charge of teaching you."
"Thank you instructor.....
His voice trailed off, Raymond realized he committed a faux pas as he didn't actually know his instructors name.
"I'm Sienna Lerdusk, you can just call me Sienna. I hope we can get along well in the future." Extending her hand to Raymond as she ran her fingers through her pale blue hair with the other.
Grabbing it with his right hand, the two of them shook hands. "I'm looking forward to it as well instructor Sienna."