"Hello! Juniors please follow meeee!" a small fairy shouted amongst the crowds but none of the slimes heard the voice, no one except Cori. Thanks to his fine hearing (attributable to his young age?), he could picked up a wide range of frequencies. The fairy's voice was probably in the 23,000 to 35,000 hertz. Cori looked in the direction of the voice and saw a thumbnail-sized creature with transparent butterfly wings in pyjamas. He approached it and asked "Are you a fairy?". "Yes! I'm Ryan your senior. Please follow me!" the fairy replied in excitement, fluttering his wings happily."Mata ne!" Cori said in haste before the fairy flew off, "Is it any different if I follow a different senior?" Ryan the fairy became slightly worried that Cori might join the other seniors instead, "No, but since you are the first in my queue so you will have the privilege of being the first to be tested for your aptitude! We have to go now, all the other seniors are already leaving!" "Alrighty!" Cori replied.
A few other slimes saw Cori talking to the fairy and begun to gather behind him. "Excuse me, is that fairy a senior?" a yellow slime asked Cori. Before Cori could reply, Ryan interjected, "Of course I am a senior!" But his words fall on deaf ears. "Eh? What did he say?" the yellow slime asked in her mellow voice. "He said he's a senior." Cori said as a matter of fact. "Ah, I couldn't tell because he was not wearing the uniform. My name is Pujja Loosestrife nice to meet you." The yellow slime introduced herself. Ryan flew in front of Pujja and pointed to his badge on his tiny chest, "See! This badge proved I am a senior. And it's not because I wanted to wear only pyjamas, it was because they don't have the uniform in my size!" Cori related the message to Pujja, "I think he wants you to look at his badge. Apparently, the school don't have uniforms in fairy sizes." Pujja squinted her big doe-like eyes to make out the words on the badge "Prefect Ryan" she read in her soft mellow voice. Realising that the fairy in front of her was indeed part of the school council she immediately apologised, "Sorry, Senior Ryan. Can you please show us the way?"
Pleased, the fairy flew around Cori and trying to analyse him, "Weird... how come you can hear me but the others can't? I never had such a problem before. Well, let's go now, I will put up signs so tell the others to follow the sign." As usual, Cori complied since he was the only one who could hear the fairy and hence the responsibility was on him to do as told.
The fairy left a trail of dotted green lights and arrows for the juniors to follow. A few other slimes joined them noticing that their crowd was the smallest, and also because Cori glimmered like a beacon signalling to others to join. The trainees followed the fairy across a river with tropical ferns and into a tori gate. Beyond the gate was a crystal pyramid. "Isn't this the Louvre?" Cori thought. "It's literally plagiarism!" Plagiarism was a very serious matter on Earth, but Cori give them the benefit of doubt. After all, there were rumours that the pyramids on Earth were actually built by aliens and it might be true from the looks of it now.
As they descended into the building, Cori noticed that the crystals were vibrating and emitting bright white lights. The whole crystal pyramid was emitting a soft glow. The walls were made of roman concrete, and the floors were paved with decorative mosaic tiles. Walking through the hallway, Ryan pointed out the various rooms for training and Cori relayed the information to the other slimes. Ryan, "Cori, let the others know that we will be having lunch in the concert hall later to thank everyone for the making the way here." Cori told the others and a small excitement ensued. "Ooh I hope there's some roasts." Pujja said to Cori. "Ya, and would be nice if there is some milk tea too!" Cori replied. "Milk tea?" Pujja asked with a perplexed expression. "Tea meant tea, why would someone mix milk and tea together? How is it nice? Cori had a weird taste, or is it because he's a royalty" Pujja thought and decided to not push her luck and withheld her curiosity.
Upon reaching the concert hall, tables and cushions were neatly arranged facing the podium. Beside each table was a bag with necessary items for training. Each table had fruits, buns, puff pastries and a cup of honey milk. Ryan ushered the slimes into their seats in the second row.
A chubby old man with white beard and rosy cheeks decked in a pineapple Hawaiian shirt and elephant pants stood at the podium. Everyone grew excited at the sight of the popular authoritative figure. The jolly figurehead pressed his belly against the podium and amplified his voice, "Good afternoon everyone, welcome to Monster Training School. As you all know, I'm Santa. One of the headmaster of the world renowned Monster Training School. Each of you fought hard and earned the rights to be here. For those who did not make it, you can be sure that they will be trying again next year. For the freshers who are new, welcome. For the seniors, enjoy your last year in school. I will now leave the speech to the rest of the trainers."
"Is that Santa Claus?" Cori asked Pujja. Ryan thought Cori was speaking to him so he began sharing his experience with jest, "Yes! The one and only Santa! I still remember receiving my first glitter candy from him as a baby during winter." Pujja replied at the same time, "Yes! I saw him when I was 10 months old. My parents said he only brings gifts for nice babies and I tried to be on my best behaviour the whole time! And I got what I wished for, a platinum gold coin! Now my family no longer worry about money." "So what did you get?" both Ryan and Pujja asked at the same time. Cori now realised that he was not just rich, but rich rich. At the same time, he was probably the youngest slime in the academy. "I'm only 30 days old, so I was not able to get anything from him." Cori said laughing awkwardly. Both Ryan and Pujja was stumped, 30 days old! He must be the youngest prodigy ever! No wonder they never heard of him, the other slimes were at least 100 to 300 days old and were ranked in the top 10. Ryan, "I'm so sorry bro." Pujja, "Don't worry, maybe your children will get their chance to." Cori,"....."