"So why do we abbreviate our academy's name as PAFF rather than PA? Isn't our name just Parrotise Academy?" a wee lil bud asked a baby parrot.
The baby parrot cocked its head sideways before replying, "Cuz we're the Parrotise Academy for Friends and Fools!"
"Why's that for?" the lil bud asked.
"Cuz only the headmaster's friends would knowingly send their kids here, everyone else, therefore must be a fool! Didcha know that? You a fool bud?"
"Er… no, my grandmother is one of the headmaster's friends..."
"Wow, but you didn't know that. You must be that legendary existence!" The parrot got excited and decided to take a closer look at the lil bud with one of its eyes.
"What legendary existence?"
"Why the friendly fool of course! caw!" the parrot started cawing uproariously.
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As you may have guessed, the aforementioned wee lil bud was none other than young Meteor Shower. Due to a lack of human children, there was not a single human school, so the oldies of the village sent him to be educated by the parrots.
Today, Meteor Shower was about to start school again, but in a different country and at a school for humans rather than parrots. And he had learned his lesson, never ask what your school's acronym stands for. Thus he never questioned why he was attending a school nicknamed CRAPI.
Of course, this was also due to wrongly believing that Professor Parrot had a sense of propriety and would, at most, steal his housing deposit and not also his tuition. In a way, it was only because professor parrot was this shameless that he could hide three quarters of the pink guavas he bought without arousing Meteor Shower's suspicion.
Entering his first period class Meteor Shower was astounded by the desks. The chairs were built in and fitted with their own tables with a basket for books underneath. The chair itself had a curve where the human butt could rest for better posture! It was a seat and desk designed for humans! Too extravagant! He thought.
Coming from Parrotise where they didn't even have a single classroom and just had lessons amidst the guava trees, this was incredibly lavish! Hence, another reason Meteor Shower did not suspect he had been cheated out of even more money.
Fortunately for Professor Parrot, Meteor Shower's grandmother never told him what his new school's name was. She simply never considered just how cold blooded Professor Parrot could be in the presence of pink guavas. She was even thinking the miser would have some shame and give Meteor Shower pocket money! Ha, what foolish thoughts. She should have known better!
After looking around, Meteor Shower saw his name written on a name card on a desk. Assuming that it was his desk, he went and sat there, marveling at how nice the seat felt and the convenience of the attached desk. As more students entered the classroom, his eyes began to shine, he had never seen this many people his age!
"Psst, who's that weird little kid?" One student at the back of the room asked his desk mate. Her name was Elle and she was considered to be one of the quirkiest students in the class for her laugh magic. Like the name suggests, her spells would cause people to laugh, and not because they only tickled.
"IDK but the way he is looking at everyone seems like he's seeing humans for the first time. Could he be an indigenous tribe kid from the mountains?" Elle's friend, Krilly replied. This was obviously not too far from the truth. It is important to remember that Meteor Shower was 2 years younger than the other students in this entering class, and since he grew up without any kids, he had no sense of fashion! His hair was a mess, he was wearing baggy robes which were a decade too old! Slim fit clothing was the contemporary style!
"Alrighty kiddos, I hope y'all are having a wonderful day and welcome to the Clear Seas Restitutionary Academy! And no, while I understand how disappointed some of you are to be here, the reason we are called a Restitutionary academy is not because we are responsible for returning lost cause students to society," a short man no one noticed standing next to the podium at the front of the room spoke. He was a dwarf named Triasterisk, and also an advanced mage.
In the Clear Seas Kingdom, mages were categorized based on the amount of mana they could control. The SI unit for mana was the mina, named after the woman who developed the Mina Scale for mana. Elementary mages could control between 1-25 minas, and thus cast so called elementary spells. Intermediate mages were able to control between 26-200 minas and cast autospells, while advanced mages could control between 201-1000 minas and cast spells while flying. Once a mage can control over 1000 minas of mana, they would have sufficient control to safely bring mana inside their bodies and convert it into their exclusive mana. At this level one would become an archmage.
In the class a few eyes brightened up as they saw who their teacher was. Many of them had heard of Triasterisk before, he was said to be an extremely easy going teacher who believed that the point of school was to build connections and develop a social life because in the Clear Seas Kingdom where libraries could be instantly accessed from anywhere, learning was basically free and could be done whenever!
Although many of the other teachers in the school doubted his methods, none could say anything because he was the only advanced mage besides the principal. What would happen if they alienated him but then wanted a pay raise for themselves? Who had the power to go head to head with the principal and make demands that the institution would take seriously? Not them, that's for sure!
Meteor Shower was put in this class because Professor Parrot had done his homework and did feel a bit guilty about using up all of his housing and tuition money. And of course, as a highly intelligent parrot with tons of teaching experience under his belt, Prof Parrot knew that this would be a good environment for Meteor Shower.
"As you no doubt noticed, I put name tags for where you should sit. This helps me learn your names faster so please sit in those seats only everyday," Triasterisk called while floating up so that he could be seen behind the podium, "One by one, please stand up and introduce yourself to your peers with your name, what you had for breakfast today and some of your hobbies. For those of you who are exchange students, please also tell everyone where you are from."
A student instantly raised his hand. A few students behind him rolled their eyes, knowing exactly what he was about to ask.
"Yes Evan?" Triasterisk looked at the student who raised his hand.
"Teacher, are we not going to introduce our mina control levels?" Evan asked.
"No, what good will that do? Those of you with high mina levels will pick fights with those with a lower mina level and form gangs to bully others. All it will build is animosity when I want you all to be friends!" Triasterisk shook his head. His first day of classes was always like this.
"But teacher, if the reason we should get along well with our peers is to network, then isn't knowing each other's mina control level an important prerequisite? School is supposed to prepare us to face the real world and this is how the real world operates," Evan replied.
Triasterisk sighed, but before he could continue another student responded.
"Evan, I mean no disrespect, but I think school is not meant to be the real world. It is a place where we are supposed to learn, where we use the creative juices in our brains to come up with ways to make the world better. The system where everyone focuses on power or money has too many flaws and thinking like that is why the other kingdoms don't have as many archmages and sages as our Chanze. This includes this supposedly liberal Clear Seas Kingdom."
Triasterisk looked in surprise at the student who spoke. As did the rest of the class, but they didn't look over because of the same reason. Triasterisk was surprised that someone was so well learned and had similar ideas to himself, the rest were shocked because that student just said that they were from Chanze!
Out of the 5 countries which controlled most of the supercontinent, Chanze had the greatest amount of mages and sages. That was why, although they had fewer people, and controlled the smallest territory, they were considered one of the strongest powers in the world!
Why would a student from Chanze possibly do an exchange program in their country? The Clear Seas Kingdom was strong on their supercontinent, but not strong enough to be considered a global power.
However, while the students were confused Triasterisk's eyes lit up. In previous years, although he tried to teach the students to respect everyone, they only did it because they were respecting his power as an advanced mage. So although they eventually become respectful to others because of a prolonged period of time in his class, they never fully believed in his ideals. He was fine with it because there were still some effects of his teaching, but with the addition of the transfer from Chanze, there was a possibility for actually changing the thought process of the students.
"But we are not innately gifted with sage bloodlines like Chanze. Chanze is able to produce so many powerful archmages and sages because of the bloodlines that run through the Chanzeans. For the rest of us, the fastest way to grow stronger is in an environment which brings out our potential, a world where the strong are revered. In Chanze's case, you just have to make sure your descendents survive and they will grow up to powerhouses. In our cases, without fighting and bloodshed none of us can reach such heights!" Evan rebutted. He was not entirely wrong, Chanzeans were said to supposedly have a special bloodline. Whether it was really so magical or just made up though needed more investigation.
At this time, Elle was getting annoyed in the back of the class so she silently channeled the mana around her. Laugh-a-lot Spell!
"Hehe, haha, hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe,ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA" Evan suddenly started laughing, confusing the rest of the class. Only a few people noticed Elle.
Triasterisk who had seen Elle cast her spell from start to finish only cancelled her spell after it looked like Evan was about to pee from laughing too hard.
Before anything more could be said, the student in the first desk near the entrance of the classroom stood up and introduced himself.
"Hello everyone, I'm Loare and I had a bagel for breakfast today. My hobbies include hunting and collecting crystals!"
Like this, everyone began introducing themselves, until it was Evan's turn.
Still glaring at Elle, he stood up taking a deep breath. "I'm Evan, I don't need breakfast and my hobbies include practicing magic. I can control 24 minas of mana."
Meteor Shower looked at Evan in contempt. This kid is so disrespectful to his teachers, Meteor Shower thought silently.
After a few more students introduced themselves, including the Chanzean whose name was Kritz, it was Meteor Shower's turn.
"Hello everyone! I'm Meteor Shower, I ate guavas for breakfast today and my hobbies include watching Evan laugh till he pees his pants."
Evan glared towards the boy who dared to challenge him like that. He was nearly 4 inches taller than Meteor Shower so he naturally didn't take Meteor Shower seriously. Just you wait midget! He thought.
However, Meteor Shower's next sentence left him thunderstruck.
"Oh right, like Kritz, I'm also an exchange student. I'm not from Chanze though, I'm from Parrotise!"
Triasterisk's eyes widened in disbelief. Some students from higher ranked families were dumbfounded. The name, Parrotise, echoed in their ears and they all had the same thought.
Does he mean… that Parrotise?!?!