George put on his clothes and followed the woman to the principal’s office when he entered he saw the principal sitting behind his desk clearly still tired. The principal had an irritated look on his face which made George even more nervous, he could usually understand people and keep out of trouble but the principal was different, why didn’t he just listen to Solomon and follow some classes, than all of this wouldn’t have happened. When the principal saw, George enter the annoyed look turned into a smile like he had found something to release his frustrations on.

“Come in and sit down, I don’t have much time to play with you today. The next tournament is coming up and I have a lot of work to do, playing around with you is pretty fun but I need to spend my time on students who are worth it.”

George got hearing the principal got happy but tried to hide his emotions, he didn’t want to be associated with his madman and just wanted to be left alone. But right at the same moment, the principal got a mocking smile on his face and he started to write again.

“If only life was so simple, the only way you are going to get rid of me is to get yourself killed or grow a pair. Now, did you read the first two chapters of the skills and its uses manual?”

George was raging inside but didn’t say anything and nodded his head, George was a pretty smart person but one of his biggest faults was that he was pretty gullible. But he was also a little happy because he had prepared chapter two and wouldn’t get into much trouble. The principal nodded his head in approval and started to write again.

“Good, now I can add a couple of extra activities to your chart, let’s see… basic training, reading the first two chapter of the skills and its uses manual, hiding underneath your bed like a twelve-year-old girl and getting revenge on the three baboons by lying, and manipulating your roommate.”

George got a shock trough his whole body, he was completely caught off guard and didn’t know what to do next. He could try to deny it but would that work? Besides he didn’t know how the principal had found out and he had to find the mole first before he could do anything rash again.

The principal seeing George freeze started to laugh out loud and clearly wasn’t as angry as George had expected.

“Don’t worry kid, it’s the best thing you have done since the day I met you. It’s the only reason I haven’t send you to the mines and forgotten about you after that embarrassing incident, the way you manipulated everyone to get what you want was brilliant. You remind me of myself when I was your age, the boy took a beating for you and didn’t betray you and you still used him to get what you wanted and made it look like you were doing him a favor and you did it all without blinking.”

The fear turned into anger after he heard the principal compare himself to George, it was true that George had done something he wasn’t proud of but the principal made it look like he had done it because he liked it and not because it was the only options to stay safe.

“it’s true that I did something I'm not proud of but I did it to survive, what was I supposed to do, get into a fight with one of the best martial arts students at school and try to fight him?”

The principal didn’t say anything and started to shake his head, the smirk on his face turned into a little friendly smile and he looked at George for the first time, George didn’t know why but he felt like the smile on the principal’s face was sincere but he hadn’t forgotten the lesson from five minutes ago. The principal stood up and started to make two cups of coffee and went on with his story.

“There are always going to be reasons to act and the important part is that you didn’t hesitate and pulled the trigger. I’m not here to tell you what you should and shouldn’t enjoy, what I’m here to teach you is how to survive in the real world. The reason I made the joke when you entered was because I know what you see these sessions as punishment, but why do you think that Solomon sent you to me? We have lived for a long time and know that the world is not a nice place where everybody is a good person and you can just live a happy life. There will be points in life where people will try to take advantage of you and there are only two things you can do, fight or submit. I know that you think that you know a lot but there are things we grownups know true experience and try to pass it the next generation. I’m not asking you to become the strongest member of the academy and join a big clan even though I think you can do it, the only thing I want is for you is to be able to do is defend yourself when someone breaks into your house. When you reach the next area, you will find out that a lot of people decide to live a normal life or work on jobs instead of martial arts, but everyone knows the basics and that’s all I’m asking for you to learn, is that so much to ask?”

George didn’t know how to react; he didn’t expect the principal who always rambled and looked completely insane to say something so reasonable and took a sip of his coffee. But was he sincere, or was it just another ploy like last time? But George knew that it wasn’t something he was going to figure out right now and decided to agree with the principal, he had already decided to follow basic training anyways after the break-in incident. So, George agreed and the principal nodded his head in approval and asked George to explain the characteristics system to him.

“Characteristics are a system made to enhance the body, after every breakthrough the user gets five points to spend. There are five different stats available, vitality, strength, intelligence, chance and agility.”

The Principal nodded his head and asked him what Characteristic he was thinking of upgrading himself and why.

“Vitality adds to a player’s health and makes them more resilient to attacks, it also makes it easier to learn defensive skills. Someone with high vitality will have strong resistance to attacks but it still has its weaknesses like not beeing able to survive if the attack hits a critical part of the body like the neck or heart. Most protectors go for vitality because of the resistance they get not only against other players but also against magical beasts, the other reason vitality is the only viable option for protectors is because the other four will need three points to level once after it reaches fifty points.”

The principal nodded his head in agreement and told him to explain the other four.

“Strength like the name suggests increases the strength of the player and also makes it easier to learn attack skills. There are some that say that it also makes it easier to gain insight on the earth element but that has never been proven.

Intelligence will increase the player’s mana and the regeneration rate, it will also increase the recovery rate from injuries and make it easier to learn magic skills. There are some that say that it also makes it easier to gain insight on the fire element but this also has never been proven.

Chance will increase the Prospecting of the player which mean it will increase the drop rate of materials from magical beasts and make it easier to learn jobs. Which makes it popular with people who have committed their whole lives to becoming masters. There are also theories going around that it increases the chance of gaining insight on the water element but this also has never been proven.

And lastly, there is Agility that increases the speed and stamina of a player, players who put points on agility will find it easier to learn movement skills. And once again there are some that believe it will help with insight on the wind element.”

The principal nodded his head and was happy with how good George had prepared, he wanted to scare him and didn’t expect him to have already memorized the second chapter and asked George what his thoughts on Characteristics were.

“Characteristics are very important in the begi….”

Just as George was explaining he felt he couldn’t move his mouth anymore, it didn’t take long before he fell and hit his head hard against the ground. He could see and sense everything but he couldn’t move his body, he even felt pain from the fall and tried again to move his body without success.

The principal got up from his chair and picked George up and put him on the ground at the center of his room, he had a smirk on his face and didn’t look worried at all.

“That took a lot longer to work than I thought, I was getting worried that the guest would arrive before the drug started to work. You don’t need to be worried kid; it’s going to be over soon.”

George hearing the principal say something like that with those look in his eyes got a little scared and didn’t know if this would be the end of him. Maybe the Hooper clan had heard the rumors about him and Martin and this was their solution.

A couple of minutes past and George didn’t know what was going to happen next, he couldn’t move so the only thing he could see was the ceiling and if he concentrated he could hear the principal writing behind his desk. George was a pretty negative thinker and thousands of different scenarios were rushing through his head.

Some time passed and someone entered the room, it didn’t take longer than ten minutes but to George, it felt like years. This was the worse experience in his life, it felt like he was a prisoner in his own body. But he tried to calm himself down and listen to what was happening.

“Welcome commander, please take a seat, I’m happy you could make some time and visit us at the academy.”

George hearing the word commander felt a big shock, the only person in the village that was called commander was the village leader of the Hooper clan the young man he had met the first day he entered Wine village.

“I don’t have time for small talk, it’s the turn of the Hooper clan to do the preparations for the annual tournament and knowing that old fart he is going to complain about everything. Is that the boy from the incident with my cousin?”