His foot sank into the water. Descending the stairs after Aveline, he noticed it wasn't that deep. The students, who decided to cannonball, were either holding their heads or rubbing their butts. Hajime stood next to Aveline, the water around her slowly turning colder and colder, clashing against the water being heated by his body temperature or possibly the pee from some students.
"Okay, class listen up." Professor Mayrose said, standing on a plywood chair, in the background stood the two teacher assistants.
"So the two goals for this lesson are as follows." she said as she held up one finger, "Drown your partner." she continued as she held up two fingers, "Use root magic to save them."
"Excuse me Professor, I think I misheard you." A blonde woman spoke, "Did you say drown?"
"Yes, I said drown. You will hold your partner underwater until they faint and proceed to save them. It is the next step up from trust falls. Needless to say the teacher assistants and I will keep an eye out and help in case of emergencies."
Professor Mayrose continued to answer the students' questions and calm them down before she proceeded to explain the technique of using root magic to suck out the water from any object.
Hajime was at a loss for words during her whole explanation. Rosevale Academy is the best institute in all four empires, which is why he expected it to be hard but this was taking it to the next level. They were taking hands-on learning to the extremes.
Back on earth, Hajime never attended pool parties or went to the beach; he wasn't fond of any body of water he could sink in. His father never taught him how to swim or rather he couldn't teach him. His mother, on the other hand, he'd rather drown than ask her for anything. He shook his head. Stopping all of the negative thoughts from making him nervous: Dying or permanent brain damage or waking up in another world.
"Okay first up are the Floral Attuned." Professor Mayrose said.
Hajime looked at Aveline, her emerald eyes looking straight back at him, her expressionless face not easing his worries, her body moving closer to him before standing behind him, her hands going into position, the left one on his nose while the right one on his lower back, urging him to lay flat in the water as his face was barely above water. His pulse started to race. His head started to feel dizzy. He was making himself vulnerable for no other reason than a trust exercise; He'd gladly risk his life for his loved ones but this was different.
Aveline cold hands started to slowly submerge him in the water. She could see the slight tremble in his lips and she could see how his face was turning white and she could see the beads of sweat forming on his once dry forehead.
"Trust me." she said.
She whispered those words yet Hajime heard them clearly. It was all he needed. Time passed by slowly for Hajime. His eyes were closed, counting down the seconds until his fight or flight reaction kicked in, thinking about how it'd feel to actually pass out. After a minute he started to feel the lack of oxygen. His reaction kicked in as Aveline held him underwater, his body desperately trying to breathe air, kicking and flailing around before finally becoming motionless. He fainted.
He stood inside a room he knew all too well, his room back on earth, his room where he was forced to stay in. He looked around and he recognized all of the objects in the room as if they hadn't been touched in ages. Sitting on his bed, he stared at the door in front of him. He heard a knock before the familiar voice followed.
"Hajime, what did I say about locking the door." she said, "Open it."
The doorknob rattled as whatever stood behind the door tried to open it. His heartbeat was racing, nearly exploding as he felt his adrenaline spiked. Was this a dream? Would his mother actually be behind that door or an entirely different being? His body moved on its own as it did many times before. Slowly approaching the door, his hand reaching for the handle, feeling a jolt of static electricity, he grabbed the doorknob.
"Don't"
Four distinct, unfamiliar yet familiar voices called out to him, buying him that one second he needed to wake up: for Aveline to bring him back.
The familiar smell of rain brought him back to reality. He saw a pair of eyes intently staring at him before drifting off to his chest, a blush creeping onto Aveline's face as she felt his bare chest.
She quickly shook her head.
"I had to." she said before removing her hands, revealing a tiny root exiting his chest.
Hajime felt nauseous at seeing the root move out of his skin but he decided to look at the positive. He was alive. His hands traveled to his chest examining the tiny hole it left behind, which was not bleeding. He sensed two holes.
Hajime looked at the woman standing next to him, the one who was avoiding his gaze.
"Aveline, care to explain why there are two holes in my chest?" he said, examining the rest of his body to see if there was any other holes in him.
"Well..." Aveline muttered, "It's not every day that I... it's not easy.." she sighed.
"Take your time."
"I might've lost my focus and accidentally created two roots." she said before clearing her throat, "You have a strong heartbeat. Very. Strong. Heartbeat."
"It's your own fault." she concluded before pulling her mask back on.
Very strong heartbeat, he thought.
'System explain please.'
[Host's race changed from human to Lith. A stronger heartbeat is normal]
'Should I be worried about anything else?'
[Increased fertility]
'Increased? I thought I was already the most fertile man alive'
[Host is correct but instead of 100% guaranteed pregnancy. A Lith is more likely to produce twice as many offspring as a regular human]
'Wait what?'
[Twins become quadruplets, Triplets become sextuplets...]
The System continued to list all of the ways Hajime can repopulate entire planets with a single sperm cell.
"Well done. We're going to take a 5-minute break before Floraliths will have their turn." Professor Mayrose said.