"Among the students within this classroom, there appear to be five wood elves, seven high elves, and three dark elves. Typically, your race will also determine your compatibility with a certain method of fighting."
The instructor, Mr. Ronaldo, begun his first class with a set of basic explanations.
"High elves typically are prone to using healing magic and other general support magic, such as buffing and debuffing. Dark elves tend to have skill with attack magic, such as elemental spells and other dark magics such as the animation of objects. Wood elves typically are able to use their own skills in assistance with their archery, either giving their arrows elemental effects or simply increasing their speed, accuracy, and power with mana."
Glancing around the room, the man nodded as he took a head count once more in his mind.
"This is not to say that you have to pursue a specialization in one field or the other. Rather, it would be perfectly plausible for a dark elf to be skilled in support magic, or for a high elf to specialize in archery. However there is one thing which you absolutely must do while you are here at this academy."
Thinning his eyes, tension filled the room as the man spoke in heavy tone.
"You must become an expert within whatever field you pursue. And you must be able to take care of yourself. While teamwork and cooperation with fellow soldiers is a requirement for those who serve the Alliance, you must never rely on others to perform your duties. You must never hold your team back with your own lack of skill. If you make a mistake, the entire team may fail, therefore I implore to each and every single one of you."
Leaning forward on the podium, Ronaldo spoke with distaste in his own voice, as if rejecting the students before him..
"Ensure that when your team inevitably fails, that you are not the reason for the failure."
The students sat up with strained expressions as the man told them directly that they were expected to fail.
No, not that they were expected to fail- but rather that it was inevitable.
This caused many students discomfort, however four in particular were not shaken in the least.
"It's time to begin our first exercise. All of you follow behind me. We're headed to the gymnasium."
The students begun to stand up, quickly following as the instructor headed to the door.
'We're going to the gym?'
'Is this going to be some sort of training?'
'On the first day? This school really is harsh.'
Many students were left wondering as to why things were progressing so quickly.
"What do you think we're going to be doing?", Natalia whispered to Samantha.
"Ah, it's just going to be a magical power test. He'll figure out our places in the class based on our output."
"Oh... wait, how do you know that?"
"It's pretty obvious."
"Obvious!? Can you read minds or something??"
"Haha....."
Samantha merely laughed off the statement.
[What do we do?]
Using messages, she communicated with the other three as they walked through the corridors.
[We obviously can't show off our full power. That would be way too much for anyone to handle. Unless we're going to destroy this nation, we'd better tone things down a bit], Garett messaged in response.
[Of course. We should allow the other students to go first, and set our own gauges to be within an average range. After all, we are supposed to be normal elves from the Alliance. We wouldn't want to attract further attention to ourselves-]
[I'mma max the meter.]
Trevor's message was cut off by Ashley, to which Garett found a hard time holding in his laughter.
"Is something funny, Gary? You seem to be restraining yourself from laughing. Just what could you be laughing at? Is there something on my face? Perhaps you are mocking me?"
The instructor had turned around asking this question, and all attention was now focused on Garett.
"Ah, nothing. I just remembered something funny from a while back and couldn't help myself from laughing."
"Minus one for creating a disturbance."
Garett's number quickly switched to [-4], and as this happened the students who had been casually chatting ceased all conversation.
'He really is trying to strike fear into these kids. I don't know what they do for punishment here, but it's probably pretty nasty based on how quickly they fall into line when he deducts points. Though, coming from myself that's pretty rich.', Garett thought.
While the cameras which the antiheroes had spread throughout the Alliance had allowed them to gather information on the school and it's procedures, the fact of the matter was that a new semester was just beginning. As such, there was no data on the actual methods and procedures which this school used to train their students.
Therefore, the antiheroes would find out for themselves.
Eventually, the class had made their way to the gym, in which there was a machine.
There was a platform which the student would presumably stand on, and there was a sensor to place one's hand. Connected to this was a meter which measured magical power.
On this meter, there was a scale of 1-9.
'Presumably, that is a measure of the tier system which seems to be commonly used by all in this world. Even the demons know of this system, but the humans use it as well.', Trevor thought. 'I wonder just why this system was introduced in the first place? How did it become so widely known? After all, demons and humans certainly haven't been in contact with one another at any point.... unless.....'
With a grin, Trevor's mind ran off on a train of thought.
'At some point demons and humans were in contact with one another? But for what reason? Could there have been demons in the past who infiltrated the human realm? Perhaps. Or perhaps there were humans and demons at one point who got along with one another? That seems highly unlikely based on what I have learned about the history of this world, but I suppose if it was a very long time ago it would be possible.'
As he thought this, another possibility came to mind.
'Or perhaps some humans were tormented by demons, and learned about demonic culture and practices during a period of captivity? That.... perhaps is the most likely explanation. Well, not that it matters. I suppose any of the demons of that time are long dead.'
The students lined up next to one another before the machine, which the instructor now stood next to.
"It's about time that we see where everyone stands. I'll be straightforward with you all. As of right now, you all are likely tier 3. If you're lucky, you'll be tier 4. If you're unlucky, you'll be around tier 2. For the record, I am tier 6. By the time you exit this academy, if you manage to survive then you will be at the very least of tier 4- a value which is considered among humans to be the skill level of a genius. If you cannot even reach this tier, then you simply have no place among our graduates."
Following his explanation, the instructor walked down the line of students, eyeballing each of them before stopping in front of Ashley.
"Why don't we have our little troublemaker here take the first exam. We'll see if her magical power is something worth her insolent behavior."
"Sure.", Ashley replied as she stepped forth, walking onto the platform.
"I just put my hand on this thing and try to push out some magic power, right?"
"Indeed. Go right on ahead."
As she faced away from the people, a horrid grin drew itself across the face of the girl.
"Excuse me instructor, but are the units of the machine properly adjusted? That is, if each tier is ranked on an exponential scale, how is it the case that one's tier can be measured by a linear gauge?"
Trevor quickly asked a question, causing the instructor to turn away from the machine to face his student.
'A well planned distraction will allow for things to go more smoothly.', Trevor thought.
"Ah, that? Well the machine takes the magical power and converts it to a linear value, which is then converted to tier based on a range of values and applied to the gauge. A good question, Theo. I see that you're at least considering these things."
It was then, as the instructor was answering the question of Trevor, that the hand of the gauge begun to spin.
It spun, and spun, and spun.
After rotating around the meter for a total of 6 loops, it landed on a 1.
"Ah. Looks like I'm only a 1st tier."
The instructor turned around to see the result, and he let out a laugh.
"Only a 1!? I've never in my life seen anyone only hit the 1st tier before. Only newborns are so weak! Perhaps you shouldn't have acted with such pretention, Ally. I might just have to expel you before you're even able to-"
"Um.... instructor....."
It was then that a young boy spoke up, shaken as if he had seen a ghost.
"Hm? What is it, Raphael?"
Not only this boy, but almost every other student stood in shock, as if they had just witnessed an anomaly.
"I..... think something happened with the gauge. Take a look for yourself."
"The gauge?"
Looking over to the gauge, Ashley then removed her own hand from the sensor.
It was then that it spun backwards over and over, until it landed back at the initial position.
"What..... that certainly is strange. Has the machine been calibrated properly? What could....."
Ashley stepped back in line without a word, and as she did so Ronaldo felt a chill down his spine.
'What was that?'
"Er..... I suppose let's try having another student take the test. Minus 6, you're up."
The boy who had been labeled as minus 6 stood forward, looking around in confusion.
This boy had hair which was spiked up in eccentric fashion, though he appeared to be far tamer than he was the previous day. The realization of being given so many deductions on a single day, and the potential to drop even further had caused him to rethink his own approach towards this instructor and his schooling as a whole.
Stepping onto the platform, he held his hand forward and closed his eyes.
It was then that the gauge bursted forth, landing on the number 9.
'Hehe.... I'm gonna mess with the instructor a bit....', Ashley thought.
"Wha- 9th tier!? No, that can't be right. Perhaps there is some sort of strange systematic error within the machine? Maybe the conversions are indeed linear, just as Theo pointed out earlier. If that is the case, then my own tier should be somewhere in the hundreds. Let me try this out myself."
The boy quickly stepped down from the machine, allowing way for the instructor to step forth.
The gauge reset to zero, and the instructor placed his own hand on the meter.
To which, the meter didn't budge.
'What!? I'm exerting magical power, and channeling it directly into the machine. It's not even moving?'
"What's wrong, instructor? Is your magic not even enough to make that broken machine budge?"
"This is..... that's it. It must be completely busted. Someone must have sabotaged the machine before our lecture."
Stepping down from the machine, the man turned to the students.
"Does anyone know anything about this?"
Not a soul responded, to which the instructor paced back and forth.
"Either way, the machine is completely broken. The error here isn't even systematic. It's as if there's no function at all, almost as if someone set it onto a random setting that doesn't even consider input when determining output. Unfortunately, it looks like we won't be able to get any accurate results from this class. Therefore, instead I want you all to run 20 laps around this gymnasium and then I want you all to report back to me where I will have a magical exercise prepared for you all."
'Eh....'
'Running laps.....'
'Blergh... that sucks...'
'How annoying..... I'll get my uniform all sweaty.....'
Samantha overheard the complaints within the minds of the students, and she sympathized with them.
She too had no intention of getting herself dirtied in such a manner.
'How unfortunate. Though it was funny to see that man's reaction as Ashley held the meter in place with her own mana.'
And so, the students all begun running around the gym.
"Ah, and Ally. Come with me."
"Ah? I get out of doing the laps?"
"No. I have a job for you, since you CLEARLY have so much more magical strength than I do. See that room over there? I want you to bring out all the weights so that we can use them in the exercise. Then you will run your laps."
"So much work."
"Another complaint? Minus 1."
[-32]
"Whatever."
"Rude comment. Minus 1."
Holding out her hand, the door of the storage room- which was across the gymnasium- opened on it's own.
Out of this door, a number of weights began to fly through the air, circling around the two like a whirlwind before they slammed to the ground with loud clanging sounds.
"Is that good enough?", Ashley asked.
The instructor could do nothing more than drop his jaw at seeing such an event.
"W-what....."
"Alright. Now imma go run my laps. Later."
The students too had witnessed as the weights flew through the air, and were all now stopped in their tracks as Ashley passed them up.
"What are you all doing? If we don't finish these laps, then class will never end. I kinda want to get outta here, so let's get on with it already."
Placing one hand to his head, the instructor grit his teeth as he looked around in anguish.
'Is she some sort of genius? That student!? That irresponsible.... disrespectful..... carefree student? The one who interrupts me without hesitation, and continuously ignores my own directions, not showing a bit of growth? That one happens to be some sort of prodigy!?'
With malicious thoughts, the man was filled with frustration and uncertainty.
'I have to report this to the principal, but what to do.... no, that goes without saying. If I can correct her behavior, then she may become even greater than Velphis Gersta. The ultimate warrior.... the ultimate magic user..... the ultimate soldier..... ha..... hahah!!! She might become someone who breaks even the 9th tier!! A mere student who has surpassed the realm of heroes! Wait a minute..... could it be!?'
The man's eyes widened as he looked over to the students who were now running together, most of whom were still shocked in the turn of events.
'I heard rumors of the Indeterminant's arrival into the world, and the fact that he has been gathering heroes.... could she be the hero of this nation!?'
Looking down at the ground, the instructor was plagued with indecision, unsure what to think or do.
'Agh!! Regardless, I need to report this to the principal and find out what to do about her. As a matter of fact.... perhaps I should bring her to the principal later during her detention and explain the situation to him directly.'
Coming to this conclusion, the man nodded.
A hero certainly existed somewhere within the Alliance, and the possibility of this student being that hero was not zero.
It was unbeknownst to this man that the heroes were powerless before their promotion, and so he stepped forth with these thoughts in mind, grinning as he planned his next moves.
Little did he know however, that the being which might have been a hero was anything but.
She was an antihero.
An existence of chaos, meant to lead the world into destruction as she faced the heroes of this world.
It was then that a voice played in the head of this man.
[How truly foolish you are. It pains me to even watch you from my throne. I go to check on my beloved pawns, and yet I see something so vile..... that it makes me sick. You wish to use your students for the sake of your own prestige? You wish for them to become great only so you will be known as the great instructor who led them to such greatness?]
A horrid and corrupt, yet somewhat enticing voice spoke into the mind of Ronaldo.
[Haha..... do continue to entertain me, instructor. However, you must be very careful. You yourself may not understand, but you are walking on a thin tightrope, and even the slightest error could cause everything around you to collapse.]
In the next moment, the instructor was put into a daze, and his own memories of this voice disappeared.
Looking around, he felt strange as if there was a lapse in time itself.
'Did something just happen? I feel like someone said something but..... I can't remember what.'
Looking over to see the students running their laps- each of them in a position around 50 meters back from where they were previously- he merely shrugged his shoulders.
'No matter. In this next test, I suppose we'll see where everyone really stands.'
----
[When was the last time I did any proper exercise? I may be only 25, but I've focused so much on my work that it would seem I have failed to keep up with such routines.]
[You say that, but our stats have already been maxed out in this world. This much shouldn't even make you sweat.]
[Well, that much is obvious. After all, is there anything that I could be bad at?]
[Nope.]
Trevor and Samantha had a light conversation, messaging one another as they ran side by side.
[But isn't this.... doesn't this like, go against our image as the antiheroes?]
[It is all for the sake of painting ourselves as normal students.]
[Yeah but this sucks.]
Trevor merely chuckled to himself, looking at the students around him.
None of them seemed to be struggling horribly, but there were certainly some who were doing better than others.
[I never was able to attend proper high school as a result of being thrown into the workforce so quickly. Is this perhaps what it was like?]
[Mmm..... I would say it was pretty different, but there are some similarities here.]
[Is that so? Interesting.]
The two continued to run before finishing their laps alongside the others, after which they all gathered around their instructor.
"Ahem.... we're going to be performing two tests next. Physical strength and magical strength. First you'll lift these weights with your own strength, then with your magic. We need to at least determine whether your magic exceeds your physical capabilities. Because if you cannot even do that much..... then you do not belong in this school."