Diaman kept his head down throughout his walk down the hall. The noise of students chatting blurred behind him, and locker clattering filled the hall.
His goal was just to get to class.
[DON'T FORGET TO PUT ON A GOOD SHOW!]
'That doesn't mean on my first day. I don't even know anyone.'
Diaman raised his head to check the small sign in front of each classroom door. He was looking for his class—F class.
He looked at some posters on the wall. 'Three Years Until Carness Ceremony' before continuing his search for his class.
From what he knew, F class, novel or real life, wasn't always the best class to be in.
'F.' Found it. He stopped before it and took a deep breath. He slid the door open and walked in, his head still facing the ground, trying not to stand out. But his height didn't help since he was taller than most.
He raised his head a little, just enough for him to scout for an empty chair.
Spotted one. He moved towards it. He could feel people's eyes on him, but he didn't mind. He pulled his chair back to sit.
"Catch."
'Huh?' Before he could react, someone tossed him a basketball. But he moved instinctively and caught the ball with a single hand, inches away from a girl's face.
Diaman hadn't noticed she was there a second ago. He withdrew the ball from her face. She smiled, but Diaman could see the vein bulging on her neck.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know—"
"Don't worry, it's fine. It's not your fault." She cut him off with a smile. This time it was genuine. She then turned to where the basketball came from. "Shira, bringing basketballs to class is not allowed. Wait till PE." She pointed at the boy seated on his desk. The boy laughed playfully. "That was awesome! Did you see him catch that? That was so cool!"
Diaman looked at Shira's face. He noticed his ears were pointed. Then he looked at the girl beside him—her skin was different. She had dragon scales. The girl was more decently dressed than the boy, who didn't even have his shirt tucked in.
Diaman stood in the middle of their argument, shuffling the ball in his hand.
Soon they stopped arguing. The dragon girl resigned to peace while the elf boy, Shira, kept trying to rage bait her.
"I don't have time for you, Shira," she sighed. Then she put a smile back on her face. "My name is Amanda. I'm the class rep. I—"
"And I'm the assistant class rep!" Shira shouted from his seat.
Amanda glanced at Shira, irritated, then continued. "Yeah, he's the 'assistant class rep,' but I won't recommend you meet him if you need help."
"What's your name?"
"Diaman. Diaman Twelve."
"Ooh, sick name for a dude," Shira added.
"Ignore him. Come, let me give you a school tour."
"Okay." Diaman nodded. At least he'd get to know more of the school. But he was also curious to see their stats. He focused on Amanda a little.
'Stats'
[Amanda May
[Class: ELEMENTAL (FIRE) ]
[ Race: DRAGON ]
[ MANA PRESSURE: A ]
'Hmm, she's also A rank. Still top tier.'
"Hey, don't go without me." Shira blocked the door.
Amanda rolled her eyes when she saw him. "You're making a bad example, Shira."
"What?" Shira walked over to Diaman and put his hand over Diaman's shoulder, making Diaman bend a little since he was taller than Shira.
"You know what, I should give him the school tour myself. Right, big guy?" Shira nudged Diaman.
Shira's behavior didn't feel new to Diaman. He had expected the F class to behave this way—like misfits.
Amanda looked at Diaman. Diaman nodded. "Yeah, let's go." Because he was more comfortable with Shira.
"Ah, see, Amanda? He knows you're no fun. Come on." Shira slipped his hand into his pocket in a casual posture as he and Diaman walked out of class.
"Be back before class," Amanda added.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just a quick tour," Shira replied while looking back.
As they walked down the hallway, it was different. Diaman managed to keep his head high, noticing the students of different races.
The students with pointed ears were obviously Elf's, the furry students — werewolves, and the dragons with scales and a few with horns. But the vampires were nowhere.
'Maybe night school?'
'Just from observation. humans were more than other races.' Diaman's eyes scanned the hall. He had counted at least ten humans before even finding one of the other races.
He turned to Shira. The differences were clear: most students were usually well-dressed, ties knotted, hair combed properly. But Shira didn't even have a tie, and his hair was rebellious too.
'How did he even become an assistant class rep?'
'stats'
[ Shira Tengen
[CLASS: ELEMENTAL MAGE (ICE) ]
[RACE: ELF ]
[ MANA PRESSURE: S RANK ]
'Whoa, he's stronger than Amanda. That explains why he's the assistant.' He has high Mana pressure.'
"You play basketball?"
Diaman looked at the ball in his hand, then at Shira. "No."
"What? Dude, seriously, join the basketball team. It's gonna be fucking sick. Pass."
Diaman tossed the ball to Shira. He leaped and caught it. "Also, don't curse when teachers are around. You can get suspended for it."
"So the school is strict?"
"Yeah."
"Have you ever been suspended?"
"Nah." Shira smiled.
Diaman narrowed his eyes.
"You see..." Shira stopped midway. He spun the basketball on a finger. "This school cherishes exceptional power and intelligence over everything. If you are decent but weak or dumb..." Shira shook his head. "They won't take you seriously. But if you're a very strong student, they can overlook something. That's why I'm free."
"What about Amanda? Isn't she strong?"
"Hmm, yeah, she is... but I said exceptionally strong, like S-rank." Pride glared in Shira's eyes at the last word.
"And I'm sure even if Amanda was S-rank, she'd still be Mrs. Boring — But here's the thing, we're not even real Players yet. We can't ascend while we're students. All this ranking? It's just to determine what kind of Carness we'll get when we graduate."
"Carness?" Diaman asked.
"Yeah, your ability. Your ticket to the real game. Once you graduate, you go to the Cami Altar, receive your Carness, and then you can summon your own gates and dungeons. That's when you become a real Player and start racing to ascend to the Heavens."
"What about people who don't graduate?"
Shira's expression darkened. "They can work for dungeon mining companies if they have mana. But without a Carness from a divine altar? You're stuck at the bottom forever."
"What about you? What's your rank?"
Diaman thought deeply. He didn't want to expose his rank. It might draw too much attention.
"I forgot. I didn't really care about it."
Shira's eyes widened.
"What?"
"You didn't care about your rank?"
Diaman shrugged casually.
"Nice. But I guess you'd be A-rank or S, since we hardly get middle or low ranks transferred to F class."
The tour was quick. Shira showed Diaman most of the school and brushed over some parts he deemed boring, like the library and such.
They returned back to their class.
As they reached it, there was already a teacher in class—a man. He held a book on his palm while he wrote on the whiteboard with a marker. He stopped when he noticed Diaman and Shira just entering. He raised his glasses.
"Oh, Diaman, it's good to see you again," the teacher said.
Diaman just nodded. He remembered the man's face from when his mom and his autopilot self had come for registration.
Diaman tried to get to his seat, but the teacher stopped him and asked him to introduce himself to the class.
Standing in front of the class with all eyes on Diaman made him feel nervous. His suit suddenly looked rumpled in his eyes.
He took a deep breath and activated STOIC RESOLVE. His fear and nervousness vanished, his jaw set.
*Click.*
[Stoic's Resolve activated.]
"Hi everyone, my name is Diaman Twelve. I just moved here, so I'm new to the school. I'm into chess and video games. And I'm looking forward to getting to know you all."
He raised his head and swept his eyes through the room, observing their features. All the students' expressions were neutral, except for Shira, who smirked at Diaman, and Amanda, whose face was curious, like she noticed something.
"Okay, you can be seated."
Diaman nodded and moved to his seat. His face was still stoned.
"Sensei." Shira raised his hand.
"What?" .
"What's Diaman's rank? He said he had forgotten."
Diaman froze on the spot.
"Hmmm." The teacher checked the files he had. "He hasn't actually taken the test yet."
"Uh?" Shira was confused because taking a mana test, where they determined your rank, was compulsory for admission.
"It was actually a mistake on our side. But he can take the test after school."
The teacher then turned to Diaman. "Meet me after class for the test."
Diaman nodded. 'I need a parasite.'