Hanjun and Jayhon walked over to the spot Shiki had pointed out.
The moment they sat down, the skeleton from the back row slid down the bench, approaching them with a wide, toothy grin.
"Heyo!"
the skeleton said, his voice rattling merrily.
"You two seem way too new to this. Are you guys completely new to the kingdom? Or did you just get lost on the way to the farm?"
He broke out into a dry, clacking laugh, clearly throwing a joke.
Hanjun stared at the bare skull in pure confusion.
"How can you even talk? You're a skeleton."
"Yes, my friend!" the skeleton replied cheerfully.
"But isn't there something called Zheki? So let's think about it next time, maybe we could use it to talk!" As he spoke, he opened his jaw wide, revealing glowing lips made of pure green energy zheki formed inside his mouth to articulate words. He leaned back proudly. "Anyway, my name is Skarl. I am exactly skeleton-years old." He stared at them blankly for a few seconds, completely motionless.
"C'mon, can't you see that I'm trying to blink here? Oh, and what are your names?"
Before they could answer, the heavy wooden door swung open. Reki entered the room, followed closely by a brown-haired man with sharp eyes and a stern face. He was clearly the teacher.
Reki scanned the room and waved his hand.
"Hanjun, Jayhon, get up here."
front of the room, standing right beside the instructor. The teacher cleared his throat, looking over the class.
"Alright, listen up,"
the brown-haired man said.
"I'm the Zheki Control teacher from yesterday. We have two new students joining us today." He pointed his finger directly at Hanjun.
"This is Jayhon."
Then, he shifted his finger, pointing directly at Jayhon. "And this is Hanjun."
Jayhon's eyes widened slightly. He leaned over and whispered quietly, "Uh, sir... it's completely the opposite."
The teacher's brow twitched. He glared down at Jayhon in pure annoyance.
"I know! I said that on purpose! Don't fix your teacher!"
From the desks, the white-furred werewolf let out a low yawn.
"Man, those are way too long. Their names are a mouthful."
The teacher nodded.
"Fine. Everyone just call Hanjun 'Han' and call Jayhon 'Jay'. Now, let's do quick introductions so we can get to work." He pointed to the werewolves. "The two black werewolves—the one with the scar on his chin is Jax, the one with the scar on his forehead is Rex. And their leader, the white one who doesn't have any scars, is Lux. The Jester standing over there by Shiki is Trixie. Shiki, as you know, is Shin's sister."
The teacher then pointed toward the center row. "The two half-elves over there—the white-haired one is Eldrin and the black-haired one is Elidyr, but just call them Eld and Eli. The guy sitting in the back wearing full armor and a helmet, that's Seth."
Seth raised a heavy iron gauntlet and gave a silent, brief wave.
"And that idiot skeleton over there is Skarl,"
the teacher muttered.
Skarl's jaw literally dropped open, hitting his collarbone with a loud clack. "Idiot?! Excuse me?!"
"Moving on,"
the teacher said, his voice turning incredibly respectful as he looked toward the front row. "As for that pretty lady sitting right there, she is the daughter of the great Dragon Lord Valerius, one of the seven rulers and the owner of one of the insanity Crystals. Her name is Varia. And the one standing beside her is her personal maid, Ernus. The vampire sitting in the corner is Vladimir. Now that you know your class, we're going straight to the garden to train your Zheki concentration. Let's move."
The class filed out into the academy garden—a massive, sprawling field of vibrant green grass surrounded by stone pillars. The teacher instructed everyone to sit down, and the students dropped into various cross-legged positions across the lawn.
"Listen closely,"
the teacher commanded, standing in front of them. "Every single Zheki user needs to learn how to control their energy, drawing it tightly into that exact spot on their chest that feels the best. For example, if you don't learn how to concentrate and contain your aura, a single loose surge of your power could easily destroy buildings, whole continents, and even far more like entire planets. I'm talking about Tier 5 Juniors here. And you guys... you are all probably higher than Tier 5 Senior, since that is the absolute minimum tier you need just to be allowed into this elite class."
Han and Jay looked at each other in pure, unadulterated shock. A wave of cold fear hit them simultaneously, and they both swallowed hard, gulping down their terror.
They were only Tier 3 Middle Level! If anyone in this room found out they were vastly under-tiered, they would be completely cooked.
"Now, sit straight and start concentrating your Zheki," the teacher ordered.
"Make sure absolutely no energy is leaking out of your bodies."