History of Awakened followed by History of the World was a sin equivalent to a war crime and whoever was in charge of their timetables deserved life in prison with no parole, no early release, no clemency, no pardon, no remission, and they had to spend the life sentence in solitary confinement.
Those four hours was the most boring four hours Raymond had ever experienced in his life. He honestly couldn't care less about the history of a dimension he didn't even live in permanently.
Besides you'd think a dimension with mana and heroes and demons and angels would have interesting history!
Even looking at his recently purchased textbook made Raymond's head spin slightly.
'Where are all the pictures?'
At least on Earth, the history was kind of cool. Learning about how humans made do without mana really expanded his worldview. Compared to frauds like the engineers in this dimension.
Smartphones? Powered by mana. Cars? Powered by mana. Everything here relied on mana just to function!
Not that Raymond's home dimension was any better. Most people there were still living in medieval Earth standards!
Closing his book, Raymond decided to just study it later at home. Luckily the grades of students were determined mostly from practical exams. Written exams consisted of only 25% of the final grade.
The remaining 75% came from stuff like actual combat, teamwork skills, group presentations and more.
Even if Raymond flunked every single exam and got a zero it wouldn't matter anyways. The students rank and their grade were considered separate things. Although most students at a high rank would naturally have a good grade. Raymond could get a zero for all his exams and still remain as the second ranked student as long as no one challenged him and beat him.
Slogging through the four hours, Raymond felt his own energy being revitalized like a phoenix the moment the bell rang.
Raymond mentally added to his list to ask for permission to use his phone in class. Something he wished he had asked for earlier.
After a quick lunch of more pasta, he and Ellen quickly made their way towards the event hall where the club showcase was.
Feeling the cool air conditioned air hit him, Raymond nearly moaned from how good it felt. The entire academy was completely open, forcing students to walk between buildings.
Normally, it wasn't a problem but timing it so that lunch took place during the hottest time of the day made Raymond want to strangle the person in charge of their timetables.
...after they served their life sentence of course.
Seeing the numerous booths of students clubs, each with someone desperately promoting their own club. Raymond was reminded of the old night markets he used to frequent on Earth.
"That's Raymond Vance and Ellen Grace!"
"Please join our club! We'll offer yo-
"Shut up! They should obviously join my club over your stupid club!"
"What did you say you bastard?!"
"We are the frozen hell club please join us Raymond!"
Raymond ignored the numerous love calls directed towards the two of them. Mentally slandering the last offer in his head.
'what kind of name is the frozen hell club...that's so damn edgy!'
Following Ellen, the two pushed their way through several people and finally made it to their first destination.
It was much quieter at this booth, probably because most students knew they couldn't enter the club but a few still tried anyways.
Seeing his signature red hair and muscles that made him look like a walking human tank. Raymond pulled out his club registration form and handed it to Ellen.
"Ellen! You're the first one here today. Have you seen Zachary or Thomas or Noelle yet? I'm still waiting on them."
"Not yet, also I'm not just here to sign up for myself. I'm here to sign up for Raymond as well."
He grinned even wider, grabbing a pen. "You finally convinced Raymond to join? I knew I could count on you! Gimme your forms I'll sign them now."
Sitting next to him was a tall and lean man. His eyes were thin and his hair was combed neatly. Paired with rimmed rectangular glasses, he looked way too fed up with the person sitting next to him.
The very reason why Raymond didn't want to join the club was sitting right there without a care in the world. Ethan Caldwell, a demon contractor hiding in plain sight at the academy.
Raymond could bet his life savings that his mind was swirling with thoughts on how to kill or cripple them right now.
At least there was still another few months before he would actually act on his plans to kill them. That was enough time for the gang to grow stronger and defeat him.
"Thank you for convincing Raymond to join Ellen. I guarantee that the two of you won't regret this decision!"
For such a massive person, his cheery personality was very different from what someone might expect. He was far from being stupid as well, since he was the current first ranked student of the fifth years—with an extremely high grade.
Unfortunately, fifth years were always busy on missions, and whatever work the academy assigned to them. Leaving most clubs being run by the fourth years, which is how Ethan Caldwell managed to trap the whole gang.
Waving goodbye, Ellen made her way back towards Raymond. "Lets go to Mages For Life now. But I also need to sign up for the New Elites as well."
The New Elites weren't bad guys. When Raymond met the president, he seemed like a nice guy. Unfortunately, a club made up exclusively of the children of extremely rich and powerful people tended to have less then ideal personalities.
Zachary himself was relentlessly bullied by several members. Insulting him and poking fun at the fact that the Sky Soaring club only took him in out of pity.
Raymond wondered how Zachary was doing right now. It was only the first week of the academy so he was probably still doing just fine right?
...
"Hey! Leave her alone!"
Zachary felt his own murderous intent slightly flare up. The sight of these damn bastards, thinking they can do whatever they wanted just because they were from powerful families!
One of them stopped kicking Zachary's classmate. Turning to see Zachary, he smirked. "Oh? We got a hero over here guys!"
"Isn't he from the class D? Thinking you're special just because you're friends with Thomas and Arthur do you?"
Zachary clenched his fists, his fingernails leaving marks in his palms. He had expected the academy to be different. So why did things like this still happen so often?
[Quest: Save your friend!]
-Save your friend from being bullied!
(9:59 minutes remaining)
-Rewards:10 free stat points
Zachary didn't need the quest issued in order to tell him what to do. Quest or not, he would have helped her regardless.
Their annoying jeers poked at him like needles. Each taunt like adding coals to a flame.
Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his body. Unclenching his fists, and loosening his shoulders.
One of them, mistaking Zachary's exhale as a sign of defeat— taunted him some more, "That's right you trash you better run now or else you're next!"
He approached Zachary, thrusting his finger at him.
Zachary slowly opened his eyes, making eye contact with the one who said that. Moving his body before he could even think. Pushing his hand away and swinging his right arm in an upwards arc.
Zachary's fist hit him straight in the jaw, landing with a dull thud. Knocking the absolute wind out of him.
Zachary didn't even use his mana to enhance that punch, he wanted them to feel the pain without being knocked out right away. Otherwise, they just wouldn't learn.
"This bastard! Get him!"
He staggered back, clenching his jaw. Saliva and trace amounts of blood leaking as he yelled at his friends to attack.
Zachary took another deep breath, getting into a stance. His feet shoulder-width apart, with his right foot slightly angled. His hands were held up, elbows tucked in slightly like a boxer.
"Trash like you all don't deserve what you have. "
....
'Probably still doing just fine...right?'
Raymond suddenly had a bad feeling about Zachary. But as far as he was aware, nothing noteworthy happened for the first few weeks so it was probably fine.
After waiting in line for a while, Ellen finally came face to face with the president of the Mages For Life club.
She recognized Ellen right away, "Ellen? We're sorry but Mages For Life only accepts mages and mage-adjacents."
"I'm here to sign up for Raymond.", she held up Raymond's registration form.
Her eyes brightened up upon hearing that, seeing Raymond's name on the form with her own two eyes. She excitedly signed her name on it and wrote Mages For Life, right under Sky Soaring.
Curious, she asked Ellen. "How did you persuade Raymond to join?"
"I'm his master and he's my shadow. I don't need to do any persuading."
She turned her head and made eye contact with Raymond, who was standing far enough that he couldn't overhear their conversation.
Raymond furrowed his brows slightly, why did Ellen suddenly turn to look at him?
Shaking her head slightly, she turned back. "Let me know if he causes any trouble in your club. I'll sort him out."
"Uhmmm...sure!"
Seeing Ellen's slightly creepy smile was extremely unnerving for someone who was only fifteen. She mentally prayed for Raymond, wishing him a happy future.
'Stay strong Raymond!'