Breakfast was uneventful. Zephyr caught up with Anna and the others for a while before the next magic theory class began.
The white-haired old man was already in the auditorium by the ti they all got there. There were also pictures of various creatures hung up on the board at the front.
’Huh? That’s the ant-like thing that attacked when I first got here...’ Zephyr’s brows scrunched up in distaste.
Murmurs rippled across the auditorium as more recruits noticed the image of the creature among the others being displayed. It seed they all had so encounter with the creature in one way or another.
The old teacher tapped his exquisite walking stick on the podium a few tis to silence them before starting. "I know most— no, all of you have seen this little bugger." He pointed his stick at the ant-like creature.
"And from your expressions, it seems they were not very welcoming." He chuckled.
A chubby kid with a scowl on his face raised his hand, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Yes?" The teacher gave him permission to speak.
"Sir, we almost died— I almost died trying to escape from that—that... thing." He said with a shudder, like he was still rembering how close he had co to actually dying.
"I’d never felt so scared in my life..." He muttered.
"Hmm... So yours was fear." The old teacher nodded like he was filing away the information.
"You wouldn’t have died anyway." He waved his hand nonchalantly.
"None of you would’ve." He walked back to his spot at the center of the podium.
"Just as you’ll soon learn, those creatures have basically been tad. They’ve been trained to attack you like they want to kill you, but they actually won’t... The kind that would actually kill do not roam around the outskirts of the rift."
’Tad?...’ Zephyr thought, still not fully satisfied. ’That thing seed like it was leading sowhere...’
"Besides," the teacher continued. "There were instructors assigned to various zones around the surrounding area. If anything had gone haywire, they would have stepped in."
"Everything that happened was still within expectations."
The chubby kid wanted to raise another point but the old man cut him off with a sharp tone.
"You’re all here, aren’t you? Whole. Safe and sound." He let the statent hang for a bit.
The statent was t with silence like he expected.
"It seems so of you are still holding on to the idea of fairness here."
"Just a few of you have truly grasped the true nature of this place... Well, not everyone comprehends things at the sa pace. It’s still the second day. By the end of the week, I reckon most of you here will have fully adapted."
"Order of the day." He pivoted to the board behind him, tapping his walking stick against the image they were all familiar with.
"Rift creatures and their anatomy, habits, strengths, and weaknesses."
"This is not only a class for magic theory. You’ll also learn how to survive in rifts, learn about common rift creatures and plants, everything you need to know to thrive in any environnt you find yourself."
...
The class went on till noon. For how much the teacher cramd into this one class, it was surprisingly easy to understand for most of the recruits.
The first misconception most of them had was that it was the Skarnid— apparently that was what the ant-like creatures were called— that influenced their emotions after their entry. It seed a lot of people didn’t actually link the cause to the flakes falling from the sky.
The Skarnid had built up resistance to the flakes over the years, thriving in this broken environnt, basically becoming one of the top dogs on the food chain. They were timid by nature and had a natural sense for danger, which also helped them know when to stay and when to run.
Their magical power wasn’t anything of note, just comparable to a two-node awakened with worse casting ti. They had to prepare their magical attack silently ahead of ti, and their spells were usually limited to a kind of chitinous spear spell.
Most of the recruits were pissed after learning all this. Basically, with enough caution, a level head, and proper planning, a regular person could even kill a Skarnid alone.
Aside from that, they learned about other creatures present in the rift. Those could be more troubleso to deal with based on their descriptions, but still, with the training they were all getting here, they’d be able to handle them individually after a month or two.
The more concerning matter was the flakes falling from the sky. It was sothing that affected everyone equally, even their instructors. It directly influenced one’s psyche in various ways. For so, it induced extre fear. For others, anger or irrationality. So people even say it brings out one’s dominant negative tendencies...
The only way to combat it was to apply a layer of one’s mana around the body, like a skin-tight bubble. It was a technique developed by House Ryvelin. There were other thods developed by other houses that did the sa— it was a phenonon common to broken rift worlds— but this required relatively low mana usage compared to theirs.
Zephyr was already pondering how heavy this would be on his single mana node. He’d have to multitask to be able to cast any other spell, and his mana node and multitasking didn’t really go hand in hand.
"I’ll find out today anyway." Zephyr muttered.
"And if I really can’t cast spells simultaneously, I still have the test at the end of this week to finally change things up." He clenched his fist in anticipation.
The teacher had told them the specifics of the point grading system for the end-of-the-week test.
A single Skarnid kill was worth five rit points. A whole five points! Zephyr was literally itching to get so action. He didn’t really care if his core couldn’t handle the load. He’d just rely on his physique alone if it ca down to it. He was sure he could get a couple of kills in.
Besides, with how everyone was progressing, he was sure after a few spells, most people would be fizzled out. That was what he was banking on. At least for this first week, this was his chance to shoot for the top spot.
He wasn’t going to hold anything back. Now, he just had to get through the rest of the classes for the week.
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