“You must have been told this already in the opening ceremony,” Mr. Claudio looked at me and Kristina. “But I'll repeat it. Attached to your desk is a holographic tablet pen that connects to the Academy's network. These tablet pens are spread over the campus from your rooms to the library, so you can access your data from about anywhere. Now then, feel free to set up an ID for yourself.“

The sounds of the tablet pens turning on spread over the room as everyone turned to it from their desks. The same interface as last time opened up on my desk as well. A biometric scan passed quickly and a screen to enter my name and password opened up.

{Mike Oxlong!}

"Huh? It's supposed to be my name." I whispered back at the system.

{Hugh Jass}

What was it... ah! I narrowed my eyes and ignored the system. I set up my ID in a flash and checked the mechanics of the device. It was connected to the internet, and there seemed to be no sites blocked either. I didn't want to risk it too much, though, so there was no accessing any shady sites from the pen. While others were setting up their devices as well, a whisper made its way to my ears.

"Hey, so like, am I in trouble now?" The corner of my eyes shifted to the right to see Kristina whispering with Luke.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked back.

"Like, didn't they call out the top 10 students?"

"No? Why would they do that?"

I held in my snicker and turned my head away as Kristina snapped toward me. It's fair game, bitch.

Our teacher started walking around the desks, and after a bit, the noises all died down. He walked up to the podium again and spoke up. "The next order of business is to select your extra-credit subjects and then you're free to go collect your belongings and visit your dorms. You can check the list of classes available, I'd recommend choosing whatever will be useful for you."

With that, he walked around the class once again. I opened up the list of classes I could choose from and skimmed through them.

Magic Structurization and Implementation.

Mana-Based Engineering.

New-age Robotics and Golems.

Dwarf Crafts and Techniques.

Fairy Magic 101

Understanding yourself, the mysteries of Awakening.

The way of presenting classes was starkly different from how things worked back in school, we could see more detail on the class and the instructors which made it convenient. Choose a big name and you're set!

Maybe Mr. Claudio noticed us all being confused so he interrupted us and said with a toothy grin. "You guys can ask me anything, I'll help you identify what's best. And after that, you can take till tomorrow to choose."

Quite a few girls blushed at his smile, and the others relaxed knowing it wasn't necessary to do it right away. To my surprise, no one went up to Mr. Claudio for any help at all, but it wasn't that unexpected. These were all top-class students from all over the world, and going to him for help would injure their pride to an extent.

Soon after, Mr. Claudio checked his watch and shrugged. "There are 20 minutes till the bell, but y'all leave whenever you want. There's no point in staying here since there's not much more on the agenda. The class will start in full swing from tomorrow, so be on time..." With that, he stood up and walked out of the door. "I'm gonna miss the horse race..." I think I heard a whisper like that.

A strange tension filled the classroom as Mr. Claudio left. A new school, new faces, and a class we would have to stick with through the year. No one wanted to miss out on this chance to interact and gauge their competition. Mr. Claudio leaving was to make time for this in class. How well we get along and who all will lead the class would all depend on what happens next.

After a few seconds of silence, Luke Reese stood up from his seat attracting everyone's attention.

"Everyone," he spoke in a gentle and calm tone. "Since we will be with each other for the entire year and have the time, won't it be a good idea to get to know each other?"

"Hmph. I would like to know about someone here, sure." It was the 10th-ranked Ardreth Vallen who answered while banging his hand on the table. Naturally, after everything ended I looked into Luke Reese myself, there was absolutely nothing about him anywhere, he was a dark horse that anyone would be curious about.

"You! Who are you? I'd never heard of you before!" He stood up from the seat and pointed straight at Zachy. Fuck, I forgot that that tsundere weakling was the real dark horse here.

"Hey, now." Luke motioned at him to sit back down with an awkward face, a pointless attempt to calm the situation. "Why don't we all introduce ourselves in turn and we can all be friends with each other."

{Take a hint!}

"I agree, in that case, why don't we go by rank? It would put every one of us at ease as well." Seraphina Exise had crossed her fingers like an intellectual and rested her face on them. She really didn't give a mature impression like this back in the entrances.

It was difficult for any of the lower ranks to interfere in this, everyone was interested in Zachy too, it all worked out. I could see Cauldron and Florris waving at me from the seats, so I waved back. I had no interest in getting involved here anyway.

"Hey, Ralph. What was with you acting like strangers huh? I mean, it's not like I care or anything but still, help a buddy out!" Zachy unabashedly turned to me and spoke up.

Why was this fucker talking to me?!!!

{Why was this fucker talking to you?! Gross! We don't want to hear all that shit from a guy!}

The lecherous system had different priorities.

Everyone's attention had turned to me, the one person who the first-ranked student was talking to after ignoring all these big names. I quietly turned to Zachy and saw the gleam in his eyes.

I was wrong.

He wasn't being an idiot. He was so pissed about me ditching him, that he was bringing attention to me as his revenge!

"Uh, since you two are so comfortable..." Luke Reese interrupted. "Do you want to start with the introductions? Ralph, was it?"

Fuck!