"Hello, students." The teacher greeted them with a smile as he stood behind the teacher's desk. "I am Terof. Your teacher for the Beasts class."
"As you may know, in my class, we will learn about the different kinds of beasts, their weaknesses, and..." Terof stopped midsentence as he noticed that none of the students paid attention to what he was saying.
The students, with a look of disbelief and shock, stared at Terof. They could not focus on what he was saying, especially not when they had so many questions in mind.
Terof smiled gently. "I see that you have some questions. Feel free to ask."
Instantly, a student raised his hand. "Teacher, what happened to your arm?"
"My arm? Hoho! That is a great story. I still remember it vividly." Terof spoke with a smile.
'He can still laugh?' All the students had the same question. 'How can he say it is a great story when he lost his arm?'
"I still remember it. I was on a green meadow, in the forest, playing with a kind, cute bear. I was feeding it meat, but unfortunately, the scent of the meat remained on my hand. So when I tried to pet it on the head, it accidentally bit my hand off." Terof said.
In his voice, there was not even a hint of regret or sadness for the loss of his arm. Quite the opposite, he was telling the story proudly. "Hohoho! I can still remember the face of the little bear after it bit my arm off. It had tears of regret in its eyes. It was clearly regretting it. And since it was too cute, I had no choice but to forgive it."
A student hesitantly raised his hand. "T-teacher, may I ask, what realm was the bear?"
"6-star warrior realm," Terof replied.
'That is not a fu.cking cute, little bear.' The students thought. 'That is a monster.'
"T-Teacher, what about your eye?" Another student asked.
"A little spider accidentally bit me. It turned out to be poisonous. Hahaha." Terof laughed after he finished his sentence.
'Who in their right mind would let a spider walk on their face?' The students thought. Their teacher was really a weirdo.
"Students, that is enough," Terof said. "Let's start the lesson."
"Teacher, don't we need to introduce ourselves first?" A student asked.
"There is no need," Terof replied with a smile. "As time passes, I will learn your names."
"Now, our first lesson is about the beasts themselves. Why they are so strong and their stages of growth."
"The first thing you need to remember is. Beasts, no matter in which realm, are far stronger than humans of the same realm.
The first reason for this is because the beasts have sturdier physiques. Of course, this is not the most important reason, as there are a lot of tiny beasts that are a lot stronger than humans. This reason only applies to the large beasts.
The most important reason why beasts are stronger than humans is because the beasts can harness and control the power of the elements."
Immediately after the teacher said this, Alden raised his hand. "Teacher, but teacher Linda can use the elements. And Chloe can use the ice element." Alden pointed at Chloe. This resulted in Chloe giving him a sharp look.
"What!?" Terof exclaimed in shock and disbelief.
He instantly disappeared and appeared beside Chloe. He examined her hands, back, and head. He was touching her all over, but Chloe could not even react. He was too fast.
Pam!
Chloe stomped her feet on the ground, and the temperature in the classroom instantly dropped by a few degrees.
"Teacher, please restrain yourself." She said.
"Incredible," Terof muttered. "Genius!" He exclaimed suddenly, giving the students a slight fright. He opened his arms and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes fluttering like stars in excitement. "Hahahahah!" He laughed hysterically. "Genius!"
"I think our teacher is not right in his mind," Neo whispered to Alden and Owen with a smile.
Being in a high realm, Terof's hearing was way better than anyone's in the classroom. He picked up Neo's whisper.
"Cough, cough!" Terof coughed, calming himself down. For a moment, he had forgotten that he was in the classroom.
He returned to the teacher's desk and continued his lesson like nothing had happened. "Throughout history, there have been several rare cases where humans could use the elements.
Those are miracles of nature, gifts from heaven.
Each person who could control the elements has become a great figure remembered by history." He looked at Chloe. "Child, you have a bright, limitless future."
"Now, let's continue our lesson," Terof said. "Next are the growth stages of the beasts.
There are three growth stages: Hatchling, Juvenile, and Adult.
The Hatchling stage is when the beast has just hatched. In this stage, the beast is in the 1-star warrior realm.
The Juvenile stage. The juvenile stage is divided into three substages: Early Juvenile, Intermediate Juvenile, and Late Juvenile. The early Juvenile stage is when the beast is in the 2-star warrior realm or the 3-star warrior realm.
The Intermediate Juvenile is when the beast is in the 4-star warrior realm. And Late Juvenile is when the beast is in the 5-star warrior realm.
Adult stage, the beast is in the 6-star warrior realm or above." Terof explained.
"Teacher," Alden raised his hand again. "How do we know if the beast has potential for cultivation? How do we know to which stage it can reach?"
"That's a good question." Terof nodded. "The truth is, we don't. Just as we can not measure our potential, we can not measure the potential of the beasts.
However, I can tell you my theory. My theory is that the beasts have infinite potential." As Terof announced this, he immediately received a reaction from the students.
Most of the students gasped in shock, with some of them angrily muttering to themselves.
They were all angry at Terof. The beasts almost destroyed humanity, and now Terof was praising them.
"Students, listen to me," Terof said. He did not expect this reaction. "The reason I say beasts have infinite potential is that they have a lifespan hundreds of times longer than us humans. So if they cultivate all their life, naturally they would be able to reach a very high realm."
"You might not like what I just said because of our deep enmity, but it is the truth.
The beasts destroyed and killed a lot of us humans, but we also killed a lot of beasts. Our enmity is deep. But still, my dream is that one day, we will be able to live in peace with the beasts."
"Teacher, how can we live in peace with mindless beasts driven by pure instinct?!" A student retaliated.
"That's right!"
"Teacher, if the beasts had not attacked us, we would not have bothered with them."
The students soon became brave and retaliated against Terof. However, at this, Terof only smiled.
"You are still too young to understand." He muttered, shaking his head.
Ringggg!
The bell rang, indicating the end of the class.
"Your third class today will be with me again. So we will see each other again," Terof said and left the classroom.
Just as Terof left, chatter immediately spread among the students. Many criticized him for his looks, and a few criticized him because of his wish for peace with the beasts.
Friendship between humans and beasts? It was impossible and wishful thinking.
"He has wild ideas, and he seems crazy, but I like him..." Neo said to Owen and Alden. "To have the idea for friendship between humans and beasts, he must really like the beasts."
Swoosh!
The door suddenly slid open, and in the classroom entered a bald man at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) high. He was large and very muscular, with a large scar across his bald head. The blue uniform he wore looked like it would rip apart because of how large his muscles were.
However, his uniform was different from Alden's. The letter E on his chest was not a deep blue color, but it was red.
A few seconds after the man entered, three students entered as well. The noses of the three students were purple.
Alden did not know those three students, nor did any other students from class 1-A know them. It was their first time seeing them.
However, Neo instantly recognized them. The three students who entered after the bald man were Liam and his two friends.
"Here they are," Neo said, smiling. There was not even a hint of fear in his voice.
"Neo, what do you mean..." Alden did not finish his question as it clicked in his mind. His whole body shook. 'They came for revenge. They are the students Neo offended.'
"Who of you is Neo?!" The bald-headed man asked in a deep voice.
Neo stood up. "It's me." He said confidently. With his hands in his pockets, he walked up to the bald-headed man.
He stood before the bald man, looking up directly in his eyes.
"I am Finn." Finn raised his hand and pointed his thumb finger at his chest. "Liam's cousin. Second year."
Neo smirked. "So? You came for a beating as well?"
"I told you you will regret beating me!" Liam, who stood next to Finn, shouted, accusingly pointing at Neo with his index finger.
"Shut up!" Finn roared angrily.
Like a scaredy cat with its tail between its legs, Liam backed down.
"You have taken good care of my cousin and his friends." Finn pointed at Liam's purple nose.
"They sought it, they got it." Neo shrugged his shoulders.
Finn went silent and stared into Neo's eyes.
Alden, on the other hand, still sat on his seat, his legs trembling. He wanted to stand up and stand next to Neo, but his legs could not support him to stand up.
'Inspect.'
His eyes widened.