Being the least popular of the elective classes, History had always been quiet and peaceful. Today, however, Lucius found the class much pleasant to be in than usual since only seven other students attended the class, all of whom didn't seem to know each other personally. It was great. This way, there was little to no annoying chatter and fewer distractions to mess up his concentration. He was here to learn, after all.

"And so, after the fall of the Indigo Bridge, the Age of Dawn that was started by the Ancients and Allagorians that lasted for about 1,000 years ended. It was followed by the Age of Strife ushered in by the arrival of Ferrians and Humans, both of which we only now suspect were spontaneously introduced to Elyssia after the theorized event called the 'Lost Patches'," a short, pudgy man explained while walking around—his words being written automatically on the board in front of the class.

"The Lost Patches Theory, proposed by an Outworlder named Julius Madera, also explains how the Outworlders themselves arrived here in our realm. And alas, the ancient texts written by the Ancients revealed that Humans and Ferrians were also 'born' into the realm in such a sudden manner, which only supports Julius Madera's claims."

Lucius nodded subconsciously as he listened to the lecture—his eyes trained right at the board while taking mental notes.

"Now, before I end the class, can someone tell me what they have learned about the four races that have been mentioned? Outworlders aren't included, of course, since they came to this realm each with a choice of becoming whatever of the four races they wanted. The Insidious Ones? Well, that's a topic for another time. Now, anybody?"

Despite his lack of competition, Lucius's hand shot right up as if he were afraid somewhat else would beat him to it and said, "I believe I can, Master Garland."

"Oh, Lucius again?" Garland wiped the sweat off his forehead before sweeping the classroom with a dissatisfied look. "That's good, but can anyone else share what they've learned?"

An unmotivated groan was all the response Garland received from the other students, prompting him to sigh before turning back to Lucius and nodding. "Fine, young lad. Go ahead and tell me what you know."

Lucius nodded in return and cleared his throat before he spoke, "The Ancients, which consists of the subraces of elves, hobbits, dwarves, and fairies along with The Allagorians which consists of the subraces of orcs, goblins, trolls, imps, and arachnea are believed to be the first intelligent lifeforms created by Deus along with the natural flora and fauna of the realm. Mythical Beasts were also created along with them, but they aren't considered one of the races because of the simple fact that only a few of them can interact with the other races even after the Providence of Babel was implemented."

Garland nodded with a slight grin before motioning for Lucius to go on.

"After the Age of Dawn and the destruction of the Indigo Bridge by the hands of Humans and Ferrians, the new age dubbed the Age of Strife started a new era full of war and conflict between the two existing races and the two new races. These new ones were the Humans that are singular in appearance save for minor differences, and Ferrians that are further divided into clans that, despite looking more or less like humans themselves, each carried with them the traits and some degree of physical characteristics of different beasts of the land, and rarely, Mythical Beasts hence why they were once called the beastfolk. The Age of Strife, however, only lasted until the Year 1232 before a truce was finally made between the races."

"Hmm, very good Lucius. Although, I don't remember mentioning the truce in my lectures thus far. What, pray tell, is this truce you speak of?"

Lucius responded to Garland's subtle challenge with a grin and answered, "The Tower of Babel, Master Garland. No one knows exactly why they did so, but despite their past enmities and the obstacle of having different languages, the four races built this magnificent tower to appease Deus. Needless to say, we are now enjoying the benefits of their actions."

"Ah, yes. The origin of the Language Providence. Well done, Lucius, well done!" Garland exclaimed, clapping with a proud smile on his face. "Why, I'd dare even say that you're far ahead of the lectures on your own!"

"Yeah. Why does he even come here anyway? Know-it-all kissass," a student seated at the back of the class muttered.

Lucius's ears twitched. With his enhanced hearing, the student's words didn't go unnoticed. He turned around and glanced at the boy. Black eyes and curly brown hair. Lean, lanky, and an absolutely terrible sitting posture.

The boy was a human named Aaron Savinhail. Lucius remembered it from the class sheet he requested Tissette to make for him days ago. More importantly, however, he also recognized him as one of Dario's henchmen.

Lucius scowled inwardly as he turned his attention back to Garland. The human can talk for now, but he had a little something planned for him. No. For all of them. All he needed was to have some patience and bide his time—two things he knew very much about.

"Our next lecture will be all about the only race that has been confirmed to be completely extinct. The Asherii, or the Insidious Ones, as most people called them," Garland said, wiping the sweat from his brow before tidying up his books in a bumbling manner. "Alright then, you're all dismissed. Oh, and students? Don't forget to—"

Lucius watched as the others, led by the boy that badmouthed him earlier, got out of the room without even letting Garland finish. It was disrespectful to the master, to say the least, and he was damn sure that such a display wouldn't go unpunished if it were Castarossa leading class. Too bad it wasn't.

"Oh..." Garland watched helplessly as the students poured out of the classroom. Only Lucius remained.

"I'll be leaving now, Master Garland," Lucius, instead of bowing before he left just like he mistakenly did on his first History class, simply nodded his head respectfully before heading towards the door.

"O-Oh! You take care now, young lad!"

After seeing the beaming look on his teacher's face before leaving the classroom, Lucius did not doubt for a second that he just made Garland's day better just by showing some manners. He grinned, as while the middle-aged human did not look and act like he was worthy of respect, he was still a master for a reason.

After all, every single master in Antebellum was personally hand-picked by Elrond himself—a person that Lucius, regardless if he wanted to admit it or not, respected not only for his strength but also for his eagerness to atone for his past mistakes.

...

Lucius headed straight for the library for his usual rounds of mid-afternoon to early-evening light reading. With an eccentric, yet interesting person like Wesker around, he found that his time spent self-studying in the library was a lot more productive than he expected, and even more so entertaining. He liked listening to Wesker not only because of the useful information that the Outworlder, for some reason, readily handed out to him in a nonchalant way but also because of the stories he heard about the strange, foreign realm of Earth.

For the past few days, Lucius regaled in the bizarre tales about the 'blue planet', as Wesker called it. He heard of stories of fast transportation, instantaneous communication, enhanced agriculture, mind-boggling weaponry, and many, many more things he never would have thought possible in a world without the Providences.

One time, Lucius even admitted out loud that Earth seemed better than Elyssia in some aspects, especially in the field of technology, though Wesker had been quite adamant in denying that this fact made Earth any better as a realm overall. Still, he couldn't help but note the small smile on Wesker's face as the elf seemed to recall a long distant memory while talking about how Earth wasn't particularly that special. It was plain to see that the man, despite how harsh he spoke of its flaws in comparison to Elyssia, still longed for his former world even after all these years.

"That should be it," Lucius whispered before closing the last book he was reading and putting it back on the shelf. He then walked back to the counter and looked at Wesker who was busy reading yet another one of those picture books at the moment, but not for long.

"Thanks for having me, Master Wesker. I've had a great time learning, as usual."

Wesker peeked through his book and grinned. "You're getting better at speaking like you're actually from this century. Have you been practicing or what?"

"Thanks. I was, actually," Lucius said with a straight face. "In front of a mirror, most of the time."

"Seriously?"

Lucius tilted his head, confused as to why the elf looked surprised. "Of course. Many biographies and self-help books say that talking to yourself in front of the mirror makes you better at social situations. Don't you think so too, Master Wesker? Much of the authors of those self-help books were from your world, after all."

Wesker remained speechless for a moment but ultimately replied. "I don't know about trusting those kinds of books, Lucius. To be completely honest, most Outworlders I came with aren't that...adept...when it comes to self-help. Or anything, really."

Lucius was about to ask Wesker what he meant when he recalled yet another particularly intriguing piece of information he came across from his studies. "Ah, yes. I've read that most, if not all of you Outworlders were fairly young when you were sent here."

"Exactly. And I don't know if it works but talking to yourself in the mirror is kinda creepy."

"I...I suppose so. Well, tomorrow then, Master Wesker." Lucius struggled to suppress a frown before heading off. He truly thought the mirror method was effective and not at all 'creepy' like Wesker said, though he kept it to himself in the end.

"Hey kid, wait."

"What is it, Master Wesker?"

"Nothing. You just look like you're about to do something stupid. Maybe either. Maybe both."

"Now why'd you think that, Master Wesker?"

"What, seven books about hexes isn't enough of a giveaway? You could at least try to be more subtle, you know," Wesker said with a raised brow. He put his book down gently and looked at Lucius. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I'll be fine, Master Wesker," Lucius said in a steady, respectful tone before turning his back on Wesker. He was fully intent on giving the elf no indication as to whether he was bothered by him having an idea about what he was planning.

"Fine. Do what you gotta do, I guess."

Lucius stopped in his tracks for a short while before trudging onwards without looking back. Whether Wesker knew exactly what he was planning or not was irrelevant. The only thing he cared about was that Gilly hadn't talked to him at all during PCC class yesterday, and it made him feel even more unpleasant than he did for spending the entirety of the weekend alone. Not only that, but he already knew who the culprit behind all of this was.

Besides Wesker's lighthearted attempt to dissuade him, what else was stopping him from getting a little bit of payback for losing a friend?

"Now, I only need approximately 500 gold. Time to do some quests, I suppose."