"Don't think you can live easily in this school ?!.. Just you wait !" Hero4 shouted behind him.
'He is quite energetic. He must have only sprained his leg, not fractured' Tom mused.
It did not matter to him either way. They will learn their lesson sooner or later. He happily carried on to classes.
Beast taming class for the first three days is held in a large auditorium.
This class is the only original class Adventurers Academy provides. This class is the reason the school can prance around with it's head held high. Simply put, AAA gives out free beast tablets to tame during beast taming class, as long as you are able to tame it by end of the day, the beast is yours.
In times where each beast tablet costs as much as a car, you can imagine what giving out a beast tablet does for students. One would think it an utterly money losing business for school. Surprisingly, it is not. First of all, anyone willing to take a beast taming class must register with school. Thus, over time, a registry of beast tamers got built, and such a registry is simply money making service.
Second, the school is the only one with an adventurer team venturing out to the spirit realm to catch beasts. No school can bear its cost by itself, save AAA, thus all the associated schools which are in cooperation must bend and scrape to receive the benefits. Third, despite it being called beast taming class, beast taming takes only five days of teaching.
After five days, the school conducts tests in various subjects. It shamelessly scouts only the talented students. Thus, the school never lacks for true talents for any job whatsoever. Other than Beast tamers registry, school also creates various other registries for services, such as enchanters registry, adventurers registry, top hundred this year, so on and so forth. All of which are valued highly. These, again, make plenty of money. Thus, despite giving away beast tablets, they won't lose much here.
On the first day, the class only makes introductions. Students from many schools attend. AAA's own students are young, but most other students, especially students from other schools are fairly old. Even so, only teenagers, but there is a vast difference between a fourteen year old and a nineteen year old about to be twenty.
Everyone is actively discussing the demonstration tomorrow.
"Hey! Did you hear? Goldmedal corporation is going to release beast taming scrolls. Tomorrow we will get a demonstration on how to use one." One of the students excitedly told his friend.
"I heard something even better. It seems they are sponsoring a beast taming class this year. So, even more rare beasts are added to the list. We are quite lucky.." another exclaimed.
"Tch.. Tch.. Plebeians.. So excited over a simple beast. My brother went to the east sea, he has especially gotten me a kelpie horse. Could you imagine? This time, they allow even beasts belonging to rare environments.. So all training grounds are open for taming practice. I am going to soooo enjoy this.." one of the younger AAA students exclaimed to another.
Training grounds are another special feature of AAA. They have training grounds resembling artificial sea, river, desert, even rain forest. Usually, only forest and sea training grounds are open for practice, given forest is near by woodlands, sea is the salt lake a few minutes away from school. All training grounds are space modified, allowing for realistic simulation of a certain environment. However, this enchantment drinks off spirit power like there's no tomorrow, thus used very rarely. Training grounds could be said to be the pride of AAA.
It is said, at the highest level of enchantment, the sea environment could simulate a tsunami five hundred meters high, river, an all consuming flood of hundred miles per hour with a million cubic meters of water flow per minute, the desert where you can run two thousand miles in straight line and rain forest has every last species of plant in there. Sounds like a tall tale, but one must keep in mind these refer to 'highest' form of enchantment. They could be maintained but for days in a year. For the rest of the year, they are very much scaled down versions of realistic environments, and some times, they are open seasonally.
The whispering of students petered down as a professor entered the auditorium. He has a gavel like judges in court. He rang the gavel, calling class to session.
"Hello, dear students. Friends who came from outside to AAA, Welcome to Adventurers academy. Dear students and returning students.. " the lecturer made a gesture with two fingers, pointing to his eyes and them.
"I am watching you. Dean is watching you.. You better behave.. " he said threateningly.
The students from outside snickered..
"Now, that's out of the way, all of the adventurers academy students have basics in geography and history. That might not be the case for many of our students coming from outside. Thus, I will explain the basics to you."
"Arcadia refers to our entire landmass on the planet, shaped like a dragon curled around a blue rugby ball. We are divided into roughly seven continents. Dragonia, anemone, hornland, the pearl, breath, Ize and Snow. As you know Ize and Snow refer to either ends of our planet, both are off limits due to the strength of beasts that exist there. Anemone is this finch-like land you are seeing at Arcadia's northernmost tip. It's near snow.
Dragonia is the largest of the continents, covering from just beneath anemone to the horn land. Hornland represents the head of the dragon, and like head, it's unpredictable, and houses the world's largest dungeon Sechan valley. Pearl island mostly houses sea related animals, and contains few, but very valuable dungeons. Breath is a volcanic land. 90 percent of the volcanoes in arcadia. It houses many fire spirit beasts, and has the record for highest number of undiscovered dungeons. "
"With me so far?" the professor asked the class in general. This is fairly basic information, but good to know.
"Coming to the history of Arcadia, Fifteen hundred years ago, Dungeons appeared in mysterious fashion in our world. People, who did not know much about dungeons, left them to be explored by governments, causing the greatest dungeon break and beast tide in the world. The spirit beasts occupied most of arcadia.
The loss of life could not be measured in numbers. With only ten percent of the population remaining, and loss of all the technology they have accumulated thus far, world leaders made a decision to form a combined resistance, combining all nations into one. That is how the central city came into being. Over time, people discovered they have super powers. Thus, a new profession is born - Adventurer.
An adventurer is a person who explores dungeons, hunts spirit beasts, and helps fight against dungeon breaks. We, at AAA, are dedicated to teach you all you need to know in order to fulfill these tasks successfully, starting with beast taming. Any questions thus far?" the professor asked.
"Will we have more rare beasts tomorrow?" one of the students asked.
All students turned to the lecturer. There are more questions following, but all of them are questions that pertain to which beasts they get and how.
"My! My! Aren't you an eager lot ?! All your questions will be answered in time. Any questions about history or geography so far?" the professor asked.
No one had questions. He continued.
"Now, we come to the most important part of the lecture. Probably the part you are all eagerly waiting for too..hmm.. " the professor dragged along with a smirk, looking at all the students listening with their ears perked up, at the edges of their seats.
"Ah..! I am suddenly thirsty." he said, taking his bottle and drinking a sip of water. Obviously it's a staged show, but all the same, they are interested and eager. This is a question of what will happen to their future after all.
"Now, where were we?" The professor dawdled.
"Beast taming..!" The children shouted as a whole..
"Yes, Yes, I know. Ma… you guys are very aggressive, aren't you? " the professor said play fully, before turning to the map.
"Almost all of the beasts provided to you by the school come from Dragonia. The beasts are divided into three categories, level 0 beasts, which contain pups, herbivores, and easily controllable predators, such as unicorn pups, armored pigs, fanged rabbits, prairie bison, and golden foxes. Many of you will be contracting among these animals. We will be talking more about these beasts later." the lecturer stopped for a moment.
The interest level in class hasn't reduced even a single bit.
"Second category is level 1 beasts. These contain predators, eggs of winged animals and beast tablets obtained through dungeon crawls. You need to have exhibited a certain amount of proficiency with magic, and a certification test with your ability to tame the beast ought to be provided to the school. You little ones.. You are not going to get these, so stop looking at me with that expression." the lecturer said, pointing to a group of very young AAA grads, who are indeed looking at him with pleading glances.
"Most level 1 beasts go to the experienced among you. Now, we come to the third category, rare beasts. Rare beasts, like their name suggests, are rare and not easy to find. Some of them are even unique. You will not be able to find their like again in Arcadia. All rare beasts are reserved. Their ownership will be given over in a knockout auction format." ..
The lecturer took his break.
The students followed his every move, waiting for the announcement.
He continued observing them in silence.
"Professor.. " they whined.
"Yes yes.. I get you guys." the professor said with a smile.
"Fortunately for you guys, This year, Goldmedal corporation is sponsoring the beast taming class. Thus, you will have double the amount of level 1 beasts to choose from, similarly, they have doubled the number of rare beasts. On top of that, they are providing us with three unique beasts. Again, the selection for these beast tablets will be in knockout format." The lecturer added.
Students have a great many questions. Where will the complaints be addressed if they don't like their beast? What happens if one of the students tames a beast violating the auction agreement.. Which rare beasts are making their appearance tomorrow? What happens if they have a custom beast? …
The lecturer answered their questions patiently.
"It's not possible to violate the auction agreement, for the beast tablets are locked in an enchanted case. Unless the case reaches an uncontestable state, they will not open." he answered the student's question.
Many students quieted down at that.
"Now, we will talk about specific beasts available tomorrow, starting from level - 0 beasts." the professor began.
Tom leaned back in his seat, listened to the lecture earnestly. These are all beasts that will serve as alternatives in a few days. The class only ended at three in the afternoon.
A man in a suit approached Tom as he exited the auditorium.
"Mr. Goldmedal?" he asked tentatively.
"Yes. How may I help you?" Tom asked reflexively.
"I am from the School violence arbitration committee. A complaint has been lodged against you. Please come with me." he asked respectfully.