Following the videogame-like meters and arrow, which presented itself in his head, Greg set somewhat of a brisk pace to his next class. Not too fast, but not too slow. It worked at first, until he realized something. His uniform was blue. But he knew for sure he’d seen at least four other colors. The system revealed an unfortunate prompt to him.

[There are four main uniforms at the academy. First-year blues, Second-year whites, Third-year greens, and Fourth-year Oranges. In addition to these, the student council president wears red, the Discipline Committee students wear black. Professors wear lab coats or robes while on duty.]

Ah, now that made sense to Greg. He caught a glimpse of the student council president, but reasonably, not the black uniform of the discipline committee. Which kind of annoyed the young man. Should they not be fighting off the seniors, keeping order?

The trip seemed clean and smooth, until Greg was close enough to see the classroom at the very end of the hallway. Just more than a dozen meters or so away.

“New kid, I presume?”

Greg turned around to see five seniors, each equipped with wands and staves, fortunately not pointed at him. Considering the gunshots he heard earlier, the young man didn’t want to roll the dice titled, Related or Unrelated.

“I…just enrolled last night,” Greg said bravely.

The senior with dreadlocks spanning down his back seemed to be the leader of the group.

“Let’s cut him some slack, just for today,” he said.

“I’m no fan of ruining someone’s first day experience anyway,” a girl of the group said. “Can’t say the same for tomorrow.”

“Better hope your luck holds off man,” another boy said. “There are a couple who won’t listen to us. You’ll find yourself in a trashcan, whether you like it or not.”

They turned and left without another word.

They probably thought themselves to be cool, walking away, sparing the new kid they were about to gang up and do who knew what to.

Well since he had four years before he could start learning how to…warp or transport home, Greg would train. He would become stupid strong, maybe take over this school. Okay, maybe not something so overdramatic, but if they weren’t wizards, the young man would’ve punched at least one of them, kneed another in the stomach. It was but a classic way to deal with bullies. Establish dominance before them or something like that.

The moment Greg stepped into the classroom, he found his eyes locking onto a woman who looked to be at least sixty, hair tied in a bun, floating in the air with her teaching robes draping like curtains all the way to the floor. She looked as if she was in a dress bought multiple sizes too long for her as a prank. Painfully strict wise blue eyes behind the glare of the glasses and what appeared to be some ever-present blue…light? Radiation? Or a trick of the room. Greg wasn’t sure. Of course the system gave him the short version.

[A mysterious aura surrounds your professor.]

“I presume you’re the new student, Mr. Webber, is it? I am Professor Tika Tanaka,” the professor said without looking at him, her voice also filled with a no-nonsense vibe. “Have a seat, second chair, last row. Good impression, showing up eight minutes early to my class. There may be hope for you, should you prove yourself to be more than a broody or spoiled brat.”

Greg almost flinched at that last name again. Tanaka. The dean, her daughter, and now a professor who clearly had the power to sink the classroom into a blackhole with her stare. Was that the grandmother of the family? Why a professor and not something beyond a dean?

Greg only allowed that thought to stir for a few seconds before pushing his mind to focus on the matter at hand. How could he increase his levels as fast as possible? Where? As ridiculous as this sounded, becoming at least a little feared…or maybe respected, would at least keep him from getting zapped into a frog. Assuming that was how things worked in this place.

When the rest of the students finally dragged in, the professor began the class.

“First off, I’d like to welcome a new student to our campus,” Professor Tika said, surprising Greg a little. “Greggory Webber. Unfortunately, he chose…an interesting time to arrive. Anyway, this is elemental theory.”

Greg pulled out his notebook, ready to jot a few notes. Any advantage to building his skills would be gladly taken. Aside from the true threat, whatever these Bright Ones were supposed to be, the young man had senior students to defend himself from.

“Here’s a quick refresher for Mr. Webber. I won’t be giving another,” Professor Tika said, pacing the front of the glass room…in the air. Greg just couldn’t help but be awed. This…this was real. Someone flying. Magical powers. A school teaching it. Sure, it wasn’t as awesome as Hogwarts, but close enough. He’d take a rip-off anytime if it meant learning real magic. “The elements are as always, earth, water, fire, wind, electricity or lightning, dark, light. Anything else are derived from these, which we call, attributes. Forest, ice, storm, so on and so forth. Magic’s just one of the many sources of power, which mostly takes a specific shape within the elements and from there, you use it to kill things.”

The students froze. The professor’s eyes actually glowed purple as she chuckled darkly. Then they shifted back to a blue. Greg held down his bubble guts. That twisted sense of humor came out of nowhere.

“That of course wasn’t a joke,” the professor said, “but please don’t kill other students. You’ll eventually be assigned into random teams to dungeon dive every now and then in your magical combat training classes. If you’re good enough, you may gain the privilege to audition for an advanced dungeon dive.” She chuckled. “Not that we’re expecting first-years barely learning the basics to so much as consider that option.”

Some of the rich students snorted. One of them glared at the older woman.

“Oh? Spoiled brat, do you know any magic?”

“Of course I do,” a blond-haired young man said. “My family taught all of us when we were children.”

“Technically illegal, but okay,” said the professor, causing the young man to flinch. “Come demonstrate a little of what you can do without blowing us or the classroom up.”

The uptight boy made his way to the front of the classroom, smug. He opened his palm.

“Feast your eyes on this, peasants,” he said. An orange glow emerged into his palm, then a second later, erupted into a baseball-shape real fireball. “I can of course make it bigger, launch it with magic, but as the professor said, I don’t want to burn down the place with my amazingness.”

The rich girls looked impressed, on the outside, but somehow, Greg felt as if they were scheming internally.

“Very basic and boring, but your choice of spell is great for this lesson,” Professor Tika said. She floated a short distance from him as if annoyed by the heat. “Hold that for a few minutes.”

The boy only allowed just a glimpse of nervousness before saying, “of course. I do know what I’m doing.”

Greg…somehow wasn’t convinced, but it looked stable enough, so he didn’t question it.

“Magic cannot exist unless you have enough magic in your system,” the professor continued. “That’s common. From the basics. But what about elements? What’s sparking them to life? How can they all manifest from the same source? Water and fire from the same hand? Isn’t that nuts? This is why you, the researcher, the student at this college institution is here. To study magic. I think. You’re definitely not being scouted for a bigger job offer or something. Something as silly as protecting this town from magical criminals or something.” She laughed while the students groaned. The smug blond boy was no longer smug. His fireball shrank considerably, even dimmed. He began to sweat.

“You can’t even hold that out for very long,” the professor said. The students snickered. “Do not laugh. You’re probably in the same place and for a good reason. Magic is finite, not infinite. Once the fuel’s gone, the element’s gone with it. A good rest and food will bring it back. And if you’re lucky and rich enough, you can find special potions that will allow you to skip the good night sleep for the replenishment right away. On the count of not drinking too many at once.”

Professor Tika yawned. “Alright that’s the end of my class. You may go. Be sure to memorize the elements. I will be testing you later.” She allowed herself to grin evilly. “Either force the Discipline Committee brats to do their jobs or get terrorized by the seniors.”