At the southern end of Agriche Academy's campus was an enormous building covered with glass panes.

Walking over the wide pathway leading to the enormous gates of the building, I reached the entrance and the doors automatically slid open.

A place reminiscent of the most formal corporate offices was carefully crafted inside. Dozens of students wearing lab coats and protective glasses ran around in the place while others sat in different lounges all over the place and talked with suit-clad students and adults.

Unsettling. It was an environment starkly different from a school. This was the headquarters of the technological course and department in Agriche Academy where innovators from all over the world gathered.

There wasn't much of a choice though, the professor who was taking on this class was an esteemed scientist whom everyone in the field knew the name of.

Dr. Thrabulir Khegmauil.

I quietly made my way from the busy lobby to the elevator at the end of the room and got inside.

Floor 13th. I was the only one in the elevator so I relaxed my back against the edge of the elevator and sighed.

{Overwhelming place}

“Sure is. I would've been in a place similar to this if my sister hadn't pushed me into the awakener course, huh?“

{Oh, right! Your sister? How have we not seen her once in these four days?}

“Big place.“ I shrugged.

—Ding.

With a loud ring, the lift came to a stop and the doors opened up.

The thirteenth floor opened up to a wide lobby filled with bluish tiles and tinted translucent glass walls. Enormous magic circles sparkling with electricity came into view through the walls, people taking cover from a set-up centered around a mana stone and others rigging their machines and charging them with mana on their own, all kinds of sights unfolded in front of me.

As I continued onward, the scenery in the gigantic labs continued to change. From a device that seemed to amplify electricity through mana to another that replaced the internet with it. I'd heard some of the more advanced research labs were also looking to outdo quantum computing by having processors running calculations through mana.

Soon, I reached the lab at the furthest end of the room and walked in. Not more than twenty desks were arranged in the southernmost end of the lab facing a digital board while the rest of the place was filled to the brim with neatly arranged devices and tools used in the lab.

There were a few other students, many of whom seemed to recognize me with a glance. Heaving a sigh, I shook my head and took the seat at the back. The other students who came in next also had a similar reaction and avoided sitting next to me.

Then, a girl with light blue hair stepped inside the class. Suddenly, the other students' whispers started again as they shot multiple disgusted gazes at her.

What's this now?

I raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the girl. She wore a black tank-top with a white blazer tied around her waist, likely the uniform of her course. A thick set of golden cinder goggles rested on her forehead with a toothpick sticking out of her mouth.

Despite my best attempts, the other students were just too far for me to hear their whispers. But it seemed the girl had taken a hint as she ignored them all with a flat face and sat on the desk next to mine at the very back of the lab.

{It seems even pretty people can have it rough}

Huh? "Wasn't that exceptionally clear with my case?"

{Sure, sure}

I held in my rage against the system as the last person entered the lab. I looked up at the door and saw a... giant stool floating in?

As I lowered my gaze, the messy hair-filled head entered my sight. A nose as sharp as blades and a beard longer than his body, the tiny person barely reaching three feet in height was none other than the esteemed innovator and dwarf scientist, Dr. Thrabulir Khegmauil.

The dwarf disappeared behind the teacher's desk in the makeshift classroom in front of us and slammed the chair to the ground. He struggled to climb up and then sighed when he came back into view.

"Good afternoon."

A voice as deep as a whale's rang out in the room. The inconsistency of the voice with the size of the person almost made everyone crack a smile but they stopped themselves in time.

His sight alternated between the projection on his desk and the students, inspecting each of them. The electives were displayed differently to each person, so that only the ones deemed fit could take specific classes like this one. It wasn't a big issue for me since my academics were what got me into the exams in the first place.

The doctor's brows furrowed at his screen. He lifted his gaze to look directly at me.

"You."

"Yes?" I shot up from my seat and asked.

"Rubinstein, like Irene Rubinstein?" the dwarf asked.

I nodded at his words. "Yes, doctor. Irene Rubinstein is my mother."

"Hmm," his eyebrows raised and his mouth curved into a smile as if he had stumbled onto something interesting. "Alright, sit down."

Mom was quite famous.

As I was about to sit down, a yelp rang out in the room. All our gazes shifted to the front to see the dwarf doctor staring at his screen with his surprise. His eyes shot up and he looked at the back of the lab, at the girl sitting next to me.

Before I knew it, she had placed her feet on the table and was leisurely picking away at her teeth.

"You!" Dr. Thrabulir Khegmauil pointed at her. "You are Remy Marcin?"

"Aye," the light-blue haired girl casually replied.

"Hah!" the dwarf scoffed at the display of disrespect while all the students, this time me included, stared at the girl with extremely surprised gazes. "Why are you in this class?" he asked.

"Wanna."

"Kh-hahaha! Alright! Alright! We have two interesting kids here! Let's begin with our class already."

{It's not looks, it's you guys' pride that makes it tough on you}

Really, when did it get so cocky?

"You all must know the basics already, so we'll dive right into using complex magic structures in circuitry."

A long lecture began.

***

The next day, the New-age Robotics and Golems class took place in the same building but on the 15th floor. It was a joint class by two scientists, one human and another elf.

Before the class began, I received a similar reaction from the other students with dozens of whispers. I had to admit, thanks to my rank I had become quite popular. Even if I wanted to handle these rumors, doing so right away would be troublesome.

Soon enough, the whispers stopped and changed direction. To my surprise, the girl from yesterday was in this class too. She stopped for a second when she saw me before shrugging and taking a seat next to me.

I didn't pay her much heed and shifted my gaze away from her.

"Ye stalkin' me?"

My looking away barely lasted a few seconds as she made an outrageous claim. I scowled and met her eyes. "Remind me," I said. "Who entered the class second?"

"Me," she said, narrowing her eyes.

"So, are you the one who might be stalking me?"

The girl placed her feet on the ground and looked at me with a shocked gaze. "Damn, you some detective of some kind?"

"Yeah," I scoffed and ran my hand through my hair. "They used to call me Holmes,"

"Nice ta meetcha, holmes." She coolly extended her hand toward me and said, "Name's Marcin, Remy Marcin."

Fuck, that was cool. I smirked and shook her hand.

Even with the rumors, I could make friends. No problems with my quiet and smooth school life at all.

The day ended without much else happening. Finally, the day of the next elective, Advanced Magic was here.