After the uneventful eating in the cafeteria, Ty and Ariel made their way back into the classroom. Once they got there and looked in, they were shocked!
The forms in the room were gone, possibly lowered into the floor, and now it was just a large, long, and empty room. Well, empty except for a lanky professor at the front of the room standing beside… five extremely large snails? They could be any more shocked, the professor spoke.
"HELLO EVERYONE! MY NAME IS PROFESSOR TURBO! I WILL BE YOUR FITNESS TEACHER TODAY! WE WILL GO OVER MANY THINGS, BUT FIRST, I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE MY FIVE SNAILS!"
He points to the first snail, a tall, grey one.
"THIS IS WHIPLASH!"
He then points to the next one, a tall, fat, and beige one.
"THIS IS SHADOW!"
It was an ironic name considering the previous snail introduced. Turbo then pointed to a smaller, red snail.
"THIS IS BURN!"
He then points to a skinny, purple snail with abnormally long eye stalks.
"THIS IS SMOOTH!"
Finally, he points to a smaller, blue snail with large eyes and long eye stalks.
"AND LAST BUT NOT AT ALL LEAST, THIS IS SKIDMARK!"
Professor Turbo seemed to be a certainly… eccentric professor. Not only was he extremely loud, but he also kept around five snails. Not to mention his looks. What was with the bright orange, tall, spiky hair? Before he could think about it more, Professor Turbo spoke again.
"THESE FIVE SNAILS ARE NOT ORDINARY, AS YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL! NOT ONLY ARE THEY MUCH LARGER THAN NORMAL SNAILS, BUT THEY ARE ALSO APPRENTICE [SPECIES] RANK SUMMONS! THIS MEANS THAT THEY ARE PERFECT TO HELP ME WITH TRAINING YOU MAGGOTS!"
Ty now glanced at Ariel, completely shocked. Summoner types were an extremely rare type of profession, and rightfully so. Most summoner type professions could clear out waves of beasts with just their own powers, monopolizing both the relics collected from killing beasts and their cores. Most summoners would only have one or two summons, so Professor Turbo having five was an exceptionally rare talent. This was also Ty's first time truly experiencing any sort of extensive magical abilities.
"NOW THAT I HAVE THUROUGHLY EXPLAINED MY SNAILS, I CAN NOW GO OVER MY COURSE CONTENT! THIS CLASS WILL ABSUE AND BREAK YOUR BODIES, REFORGING YOU INTO MAGGOTS STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! THIS IS NOT FIGURATIVE, AS THIS CLASS IS TO HELP RAISE YOUR STRENGTH AND AGILITY BEFORE YOU AWAKEN AND RECEIVE THE DECREE AND YOUR PROFESSION!"
The professor spoke for a while more before making them run laps around the room, while the unnervingly quick snails chased them. Ty had been a great runner due to escaping after stealing when he was younger and more inexperienced, so it was no problem for him. Most of the other students were also able to keep up with the training. However, a few could not. People like Ariel, or the girl with the light green hair were struggling hard. The girl with the light green hair didn't seem to be too athletic, being slightly chubby, her expertise probably lying elsewhere. However, Ariel had shocked him, since she had the figure of someone who ran at least occasionally.
Eventually, the final two-hour class ended, completing the eight-hour school day. Ariel, exhausted, came up to him.
"Ty~ that exercise was so hard~. How did you keep up with that!?"
"I used to run a lot before coming here, so this was nothing. My question is, why do you seem so exhausted? You look like you run at least a bit…"
Ariel then froze, seeming to get a bit awkward and nervous at the question.
"Oh uhm, I just have a naturally high metabolism, haha…"
It was a plausible explanation, but she seemed awkward saying it.
"Yeah, ok, whatever. Aside from that, we need to find a place to get things for our rooms. Or at least mine. I feel like I'm going to be quite a bit bored in there without something like a notebook or any study material. Actually, what would I even buy that stuff with?"
Ariel seemed to pause, looking at him weirdly.
"You… really don't know anything, do you? Who brought you here?"
"Offshore did, why?"
"Ohh… That's why… He's the most irresponsible professor here. It's no wonder you don't know much about the structure of this place. But don't worry! I will fill you in!"
Ariel made a cute face and grasped his hand, starting to pull him in a specific direction.
"Come on! I'll show everything to you!"
Ariel explained the innerworkings of the underground facility to him. Offshore had really left him with nothing. Apparently, he was supposed to have a watch, along with points on said watch. These points were used as a currency and were either given out by teachers or were awarded when killing beasts depending on their core count and rank. There was also somehow a shopping district underground, allowing them to buy and sell beast parts, beast cores, and even relics. Due to the myriads of profession types that would soon be there, the complex also had alchemy rooms, a small number of rooms dedicated to magic scroll crafting, and even a forge large enough for sixty people!
Eventually, Ty was able to track down Offshore with Ariel and get his own watch, along with the base one-thousand points awarded to every new student. Now he was able to purchase study materials for himself. Ariel then brought him to the shopping district.
"So, Ty, what exactly are you looking for? I can help you search for anything you need~"
Ty had to think a bit harder now. He couldn't just say 'study materials', but he didn't know exactly what he wanted. After a bit of thought, he responded.
"I was hoping to get some plain notebooks, some sticky notes, a lot of disposable pens and pencils, a lot of loose paper, some books on physical training, and some books on the Decree. There is only so much we can learn per day, but I want a head start on some lessons and training so I can use the class time to prepare myself for combat."
"That's… a really good idea. Maybe I should do the same! Anyway, I know where we can get school supplies, but the books are something we're going to have to search for."
Ty and Ariel then went to grab the school supplies and spent a measly twenty points on an extreme number of supplies to bring to his room. However, they had to split up and search for a physical training manual and a book on the Decree. After asking around for a while, they eventually came across a fitness training manual created directly by Coach Turbo, one that outlined the stages of exercise up until the Knight rank. They also found a book on the Decree called "The Decree for Dummies", and it was made by Professor Seahawk. It was interesting to see that both instructors had books that they had made outlining their own expertise, but in hindsight it made a lot of sense. The best way to get people to learn was to make them search for it, after all.
After completing their search, Ty bid farewell to Ariel, who seemed sad to see him go. But it was time for him to sort out his things and then rest. As he made his way to his door, he found that another student was unlocking a door right next to his, and it was someone he recognized. It was the girl with the green hair from class! Ty assumed that they would have their rooms sorted by gender, but it seems that the government didn't really care that much about it. But, realizing this was going to be someone he saw a lot at the very least, Ty wanted to make small talk.
"I guess we're neighbors in more than one place, huh?"
Ty internally cringed as he said that, thinking that he sounded like a middle aged man talking to another man across the fence, not a teenage boy talking to a girl. Luckily, she didn't seem to care.
"Yeah, I guess we are. Needed anything?"
She seemed distant, but it was fair considering they just formally met for the first time.
"No, I did wanna catch your name though. Since we sit next to each other in class I assume I'd have to learn it anyways. I'm Tyson, by the way. But please, call me Ty."
"Well alright… Ty, I go by Cata, so you can just call me that. It's been nice to meet you, but I want to go into my room now."
"Ah that's fine, please go ahead. I'll talk to you tomorrow… Cata."