Lia sat in the back of the classroom. Not by choice, but because her wings, even while tucked, were still rather large. The desks/ tables were set up with the lowest seats at the bottom, nearest to the professor. The elevation of the long table-like desks increased as distance from the professor increased. It felt more like a lecture hall (or auditorium) than a classroom.
Lia was very easily placed in the top class, class S. Lacey was placed in class A. She figured that Lacey probably hadn't done so well on the technical and teamwork tests, it was no huge issue. It did, however, annoy Lia a small amount.
Lia and the rest of the top-ranking students were picked up from the hotel, brought immediately to the academy, and sat in their respective classrooms. There were two familiar faces in the class: Saf and Fred. (Saf was the info-broker who gave Lia Ruinia's whereabouts in the elimination exam, and Fred is the "non-masochist" who uses healing magic to take an absurd amount of beatings.) Neither of them chose to sit next to her. In fact, a woman with emerald green hair and sand-colored skin sat next to Lia. Well, her and the window.
Lia's face darkened as she sharply turned towards the woman sitting next to her. "You keep staring at me, it's unsettling. Can I help you with something?"
The woman spoke with a foreign accent, something Lia somewhat expected. Based on the accent, Lia thought she might come from the southern forest region. She was not an elf, so she was likely from one of the beast-man tribes.
"Ah. Apologies! I have just never seen someone with wings before." She seemed to slur her "S" sounds a bit, and Lia took notice.
She raised an eyebrow in response. "I'm Lia. What's your name, and if you don't mind me asking, where are you from?" She had come to this school to seek diversity, and by the gods, she was going to learn everything she could about...well...everything.
The girl smiled. "I am Sisha (pronounced: Sea-sha). I hail from the Snake-kin Tribe and we reside in the southern forest. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Lia smiled. "I'd like to know more about your homeland later if you want to talk. I think the teacher is coming now, however." Lia didn't think the teacher was coming, she knew it. Her mana domain had been up since she left the hotel.
The teacher entered as soon as Lia said that. The first thing he did was turn to Lia and speak. "Ahem. Lia, please dismantle your mana domain during class."
She nodded and did as she was told, dismantling it almost instantly. "Apologies. I try and have it up at all times due to my status."
He merely nodded in response. "Well then. Greetings everyone, I am Juno Carver. I'll be the general studies teacher for class S. Someone else will be your combat teacher, someone you'll meet later. This class will largely go over the different kingdoms and their cultures as well as the history of the world as a whole. Any questions before I go any further?"
One student, a human, sitting in the front row spoke up. "Are there any restrictions on religious practices in the school?"
Mr. Carver shook his head. "Aside from sacrificing students and/or murdering people, no. You should have been given a religion checklist already though, have you not received one?"
The student shook their head in response, and Mr. Carver sighed. "Have any of you been given one?"
Everyone shook their head, and Mr. Carver cursed before placing a checklist on everyone's desk. He summoned them from seemingly nowhere. "If you have specific praying times or anything like that, please note them at the bottom. Your schedule will be molded to fit around them. We accommodate all religions here. If yours isn't listed, do tell us."
After giving that spiel, he waited for roughly ten minutes, until all of the students had filled out the sheet. Afterward, he collected them the same way and placed them in a pile on his desk.
Lia had left the page nearly blank, writing a "Not Applicable" somewhere at the top alongside her name. She was never the religious type.
Mr. Carver continued. "Alright. Typically you'll have combat lessons last, and magical theory second to last. Your Electives will be taken immediately after this class. We offer an extremely wide variety of electives, and I highly recommend you sign up for at least three. Otherwise, you'll be sitting alone in the study hall, lounge, or your dorm room. Any more questions?"
Lia was the next to pose a question. "Do you know who our teachers will be?"
Mr. Carver nodded in response. "Yes. Silvana will teach magical theory as well as combat. Initially, she was supposed to teach this class as well. However, some things have come up that now occupy her mornings. I have been substituted in for the first half of the year."
Lia nodded before thinking to Saro. 'I wonder what could've come up? How nice though, didn't entirely expect to be in Silvana's class. Kinda glad it wasn't that weird guy in the white armor though.'
She received a mental nod in response before the teacher moved on. "All I'm going to talk about today is the general layout of our continent."
Lia knew most of the content of today's lecture. Her family's kingdom to the west, the Human kingdom to the east, the (mostly) Dwarven mountain region to the north, and the massive forest to the south.
Mr. Carver did name most of the beast-man tribes. The Lion-kin, the Bear-folk, the Snake-kin, and the tiger-folk were all named and briefly described. Lia listened, but most of the information she had already known.
She did, however, glean some new information on the Dwarven clans. Each of them represents a different trade: The Mechanis clan is mostly comprised of mechanics, the Aller clan makes great mages, and the Dire clan are excellent soldiers. Not much else was said about them, but Lia found it fascinating information regardless.
Lia was thinking as the teacher continued to lecture. 'Saro, that way of life seems a bit...restrictive, doesn't it? Wouldn't it be better to have your combat mages and soldiers team up for much stronger units? Plus, the mechanics would probably get extremely far if they had much better mages to help them with magitech creations.'
Saro sent a mental nod. 'Indeed. Their society is likely the result of family grudges bleeding into their society. The societal structure might have even formed those grudges. In my home, things were always like that.'
Lia nodded, turning her attention back to the teacher and listening for the rest of the class. When he was done, he looked down at his watch and nodded. "Alright. The first lecture is done. Each of are being assigned a pager. It'll allow you to talk to your peers as long as you're on school grounds. To register someone, just touch your pagers together. They're in the form of a watch, but we have other forms if you prefer them. They'll allow you to speak to and see each other. Be extremely careful with them"
Saro seemed surprised. 'I can't believe you have school-issued phones.'
Lia was confused by Saro's exclamation but shoved it aside for now. She put the silver-colored watch on and nodded to herself.
Turning to the green-haired girl beside her, she smiled and held her arm out. The girl tapped the pagers together and there was a slight "ding" that resounded throughout the area.