As I sat in the grand hall I sighed out of boredom.
I had arrived at the floating island via transport which was paid for by the academy.
I was then led to a magic shuttle that sped me and a group of other students to the grand hall where we were now sitting listening to the principal's speech.
"As you all know, when the portals first opened humanity was not prepared for the invaders and we were forced to give up most of our territory after the land masses collided."
"As each race is fighting a battle for survival for whoever controls the planet, it is your job as future Mages to help secure humanity's survival," said the principal.
It was a bit ironic that the principal was saying that, seeing as he was actually a vampire in disguise, but I'm not one to judge.
The principal a Thaunal Class Mage, Theodore Paolini was actually a spy planted by the vampires in order to warn them in advance of upcoming Mages that could pose a threat.
There were many other spies in Rosaria Academy planted by other races as well.
Suddenly I heard clapping and people around me were standing up, so I stood up and clapped as well.
The principal then left the stage and the student council president came up.
He had wavy blonde hair and his gait suggested a noble background.
His blue eyes examined all of us.
Some of the girls swooned as they saw him.
Arriving at the podium he stopped and looked at everyone.
As everyone sat down, he said.
"I bet you're all tired, huh?" he chuckled.
Everyone else chuckled as well.
"Well I'll keep it brief," he said with a smile.
However, his smile soon disappeared as his eyes turned serious.
"As future Mages, there are certain expectations of you that must be met." he started, eyes sweeping over us.
"Be they disciplinary or academically" he said, eyes pausing on a few people in the front rows.
"I expect none of you will disappoint me, all of the rules will be posted in your classrooms."
"If you need help you may come find me or any of the student council members, we are here to help you."
"However, breaking the rules will not be tolerated," he emphasized, gazing at all of us seriously.
"Now on to happier news," he said, regaining his smile.
"First years, after your class orientation you will conduct your MSM selection ceremony," he said as his eyes traveled over the first years.
"I expect you to choose what suits you the most and not what others tell you, after all, each and every one of you represent our school. Remember that."
"Second and third years, I expect that you all know what to do. On that note I will leave you to begin preparations for the club festival," he said, before leaving the stage.
People stood up and clapped before beginning to disperse in different directions.
I followed after some other first years I saw.
As we arrived at the building for the first years, I separated from them and headed towards class A-1.
On my way, I fixed my face so it looked happy and put a smile on my face.
There were 400 students in each year and 40 per class.
And I just happened to be in the same class as the protagonist.
Coincidence?
I don't believe in coincidences.
Entering the class, I examined the groups that had formed for a minute.
In the beginning right corner was the class bullies group.
In the middle were the nerds.
In the left corner was the sports group.
And then there were people fawning over the high rankers.
And then there was him.
He sat all the way in the corner by himself, head in his arms.
I think he's sleeping.
He had dark black hair and I knew that he had green eyes despite me not being able to see him.
He's also the lowest rank in the year.
Rank 400.
Making my way over to the nerds, I placed my hand on the back of one of them.
"Hey, did you guys hear about the new VRMMO coming out?" I said as naturally as I could with a smile on my face.
Everything is about confidence.
Act like you are one of them and you will be one of them.
VRMMOs were the big thing right now, so I took a guess that that's what they play and I brought it up in a general sense.
They looked at me weirdly for a second before one of them asked.
"Are you talking about Mages Unite?"
"Yeah, the trailer was sick!" I answered back enthusiastically.
Honestly, I kind of knew the game as I had invented it for an arc later on, it was pretty fun if I remember correctly.
"Dude, I saw it a week ago and I fell off my chair!" another one answered.
And so we continued to converse for a bit.
"Hey man, let's share IDs so we can make a group chat and play," said one of them.
After giving them my ID, I moved over to the sports group.
Of course, there was only one sport that they would be talking about.
"Did you guys see the latest battle in Mage Wars?" I asked them, joining their conversation as I did before.
Mage wars were kind of like a tournament where various Mages competed against each other in different types of situations.
After I broke off from their conversation, I looked around.
There was a group of girls gossiping, but that wasn't for me.
For now, I had succeeded in my mission.
I wanted to form a good impression of myself so that uncomfortable situations wouldn't happen like bullying.
It's a self-preservation technique I learned through experience.
But that's when things started to go wrong.
It seems the main retinue has arrived.
The first to come in was Rank 1, Emilia Von Claire, she swept past everyone and sat down in her seat without looking at anyone.
The second to come in was Rank 3 Wade Von Hoffstien, second heir to the largest guild in the human territory and the protagonist's rival.
His iconic blonde hair was reminiscent of his brother the student council president.
His blue eyes were locked on Emilia the entire time as he entered the classroom.
That's when things started to become weird.
The next to enter the class was someone familiar.
Her long wavy brown hair and green eyes pierced a hole through my head as her gaze locked on me.
Uh oh.
Suddenly her finger pointed at me and her nostrils flared.
She glared at me and was about to say something before a textbook smacked her on the head.
"Rank 8, Anna Beaufort… sit down," said a chilly female voice.
As Anna rubbed her head, she looked up and found a scary-looking woman staring down at her.
Her gaze alone sent shivers down Annas' spine.
Anna hurriedly found her seat, which was conveniently behind mine.
I sat one before the end by the window.
Emilia and Wade sat next to each other conveniently close to the protagonist, Luke.
As everyone scrambled into their seats, our teacher approached the podium.
Her cold eyes scanned all of us.
Her platinum blonde hair was tied tightly in a bun.
'Ice Queen Valeria'
A Tritium Class Mage.
Mages were separated into Class levels that were a representation of the Magic Spell level they could cast.
Eupheme Class Mage: Mana Control E, capable of casting E-Rank Spells
Kator Class Mage: Mana Control C, capable of casting C-Rank Spells
Thaunal Class Mage: Mana Control A, capable of casting A-Rank Spells
Tritium Class Mage: Mana Control S, capable of casting S-Rank Spells
Apollyon Class Mage: Mana Control SS, capable of casting SS-Rank Spells
Paradox Class Mage: Mana Control beyond SS, no known cases therefore it is a theoretical class.
I could feel her coldness from over here.
"My name is Valeria Cross, I am your homeroom teacher from now until you finish school," she said.
"Before we get into things, I have someone to introduce to you," she said before waving her hand at the door and making it open with mana.
Huh?
This never happened in the novel.
My eyes focused on who came through the door.
A girl with long white hair and red eyes came through.
She stood proud and tall and practically exuded a noble aura.
'Fuck me.' I couldn't help but mutter in my head.
This was bad.
"Let me introduce you, Rank 2 Lucia Bellerose," she said.
"Lucia is the daughter of the current Elf Queen so treat her nicely," Valeria said apathetically before gesturing for her to sit.
Currently, the only available seat was next to me.
Oh fuck
What the hell happened?
According to the original novel she was supposed to be kidnapped before making it and it would fan the flames of war between the humans and Elves and would lead to part of the reason for the Great War.
But here she was just fine.
Also, she was an Elf, humans didn't like elves as they had killed many humans during the first invasion and the following war.
Right now she was getting glares from all over the class, however, no one would dare do anything to her as she was ranked 2nd and had powerful backing.
She wasn't just some elf, she was the princess of the elves.
As she sat down next to me, she looked at me for several seconds before turning to the front of the class.
What the hell happened?
*Important*
Added Lucia Portrait to the Illustrations Chappy.
Hope you enjoyed as always, Hugz <3