Luo'er trudged towards the classroom, his mind filled with thoughts of assembling a team. For him, mingling and communicating with his peers had always been a hurdle he could not overcome. If it was any other time, he could have brushed it off, but now that it concerned his entry into the Otherworld, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and try.
When he returned to the classroom, the teacher had just arrived and announced the news of freely forming factions. The classroom burst into a noisy chaos, while Luo'er sat quietly in his seat, deep in thought.
When class ended, Luo'er was still deep in contemplation. At that moment, a girl's voice caught his attention. He looked towards the sound and saw the shortest girl in class, Tangmo, speaking. A mix of Earthians and the Dwarf Race, reaching 143mm was already her absolute limit, which made her stand out among the rest of the mixed-race individuals.
Sitting at her desk, she excitedly offered, "As long as you call me Sister Moumou, you can join my team."
But her proposal was met with sparse responses.
Discrimination exists everywhere. In class, most of the students were of the Realm-human Race and Earthian mix, and those mixed with other races often found themselves marginalized. Tangmo's dwarf bloodline was scorned, and coupled with her 143mm height, it made it difficult for her to rally her classmates.
Luo'er knew, being half-elf, the chance for him to join teams of Realm-human mixed races was slim to none, and he might even end up being a laughing stock. Therefore, he could only bring himself to see if he could join Tangmo's team. As for the selection after the final assessment, he would cross that bridge when he got there.
With that mindset, Luo'er slowly rose from his seat and made his hesitant way towards Tangmo.
"Um, um..." Luo'er, standing behind Tangmo, nervously mustered up the courage to speak.
"What do you want?" Suddenly, a muscular man standing next to Tangmo turned around. His booming voice made Luo'er startle.
Luo'er recognized him. His name was Hu Daoke, a half-beastman ─ a mix of the Earthians and Beastmen. Inheriting the Beastman's fierce traits and robust figure, his towering height of 1.9 meters easily made people wary of him. But what was odd was that he was a faithful follower of Tangmo, always obedient to her commands.
"Little Ke, you've scared him!" Tangmo turned to admonish. Hu Daoke had no complaints about being called such an incongruous pet name and immediately shut his mouth.
"You are?" Tangmo examined Luo'er from head to toe. Because of his reclusive personality, she was not familiar with him, even unsure if such a person existed in their class.
"I, I'm Luo'er..." Luo'er tried his best to keep his speech smooth.
This was the first time he had the chance to take in the girl in front of him. Even though she was of mixed dwarf heritage, her appearance showed little sign of dwarf characteristics, except for her height. Tangmo looked childish, and given her height, she seemed more like a girl who just started middle school rather than a high school senior about to graduate.
"Luo'er..." Tangmo gazed at Luo'er, pondering the name that didn't ring any bells in her memory. "It sounds foreign!"
Luo'er stood uneasily, biting his lip as he watched her nervously, unsure of what to say next.
"You're a half-elf?" Tangmo's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Yes..."
"So beautiful, just like a girl. I think our entire school only has two elves."
Tangmo reached out to touch his pointed ears. Luo'er instinctively wanted to dodge, but he stayed put and let her fiddle with his ears.
"Sister Moumou, Sister Moumou, watch your manners..." Hu Daoke, on the side, couldn't bear to watch any longer and quietly pulled her back.
Realizing her rudeness, Tangmo pulled back her hand and asked, "Do you want to join our team?"
"Can I?" Luo'er asked, pleasantly surprised.
"Of course," Tangmo stood up, put her hands on her hips, puffed out her chest and said, "But you have to call me Sister Moumou."
"Si, Sister Moumou..." Luo'er stuttered, thinking that such a condition was negligible for him.
"Good good, you're now a member of our team!" Tangmo patted his shoulder happily. Luo'er's appellation pleased her. But facing the 1.7-meter-tall Luo'er, her movements looked amusing.
"This is Little Ke, Hu Daoke. Just call him Little Ke!" Tangmo patted the arm of Hu Daoke standing by her side and shared gleefully.
"Hello, you can call me Little Ke!" Hu Daoke grunted, but he didn't object to Tangmo's pet name for him.
"Hello... Little Ke..." Luo'er, looking at the intimidating Hu Daoke, thought the nickname just didn't sit right with the giant.
"You're so adorable, I'll call you Luo'er." Tangmo suggested.
"Okay..." He didn't mind the name change.
"Great! With that, our team is just about assembled!" Tangmo clapped her hands cheerily.
"Um… are there only us three in our team?" Luo'er asked cautiously, raising his hand.
Tangmo paused for a moment before she realized something and exclaimed, "Oops, I forgot to introduce you."