This is an amazing place. Esmeralda was still frozen in place, so stunned by what she now saw. This place was so busy, they were busy concocting potions and casting spells in the air. They hadn't even noticed Esmeralda's arrival just now. And the girl was sure that even if they did notice her they wouldn't care. No wonder Marilyn told her to just join in and study without the need to reprimand or greet the other students during class. They were so serious that they couldn't be bothered.
Esmeralda walked slowly while looking around to see how the students were studying. A child sitting by the window failed his experiment. His experiment exploded to release green smoke, making the boy's entire face turn green.
"Yuriel, you failed. Repeat on the basic preliminary steps chapter!" The master in front who was staring at the magic screen in front of him, gave orders to the boy he had just called Yuriel. The boy then cleaned his face with a cloth, then reset his learning back to the basic steps. This was already the third time he had failed and had to start all over again.
Esmeralda found an empty chair, she sat down and a magic screen opened up giving her a study guide. The girl's eyes widened, staring in amazement at such a sophisticated magic system. She saw a blue screen floating in front of her, with touchable guide text.
"Welcome student, I am your system companion!"
The magic screen then asked Esmeralda to register, so the girl pressed a few buttons on the screen and entered her name. The screen loaded for a few seconds, until a green check mark appeared indicating the registration process had been successful. The master, who was at the front, got a notification from his magic screen. As he opened it, he nodded and then raised his head to scan all the students in the class. His gaze stopped on Esmeralda, he then walked to the front of the desk, patted her hand twice, and all the students left their activities and now focused on the Master in front.
"It's already the third day of class, but I'd like to introduce a new student who entered today. Esmeralda... stand up!"
The girl whose name had just been called became awkward as all eyes turned towards her. She then stood up, swallowed her saliva and nervously began to introduce herself.
"H-hi. My name is Esmeralda, nice to meet you all."
The girl looked down after saying that, but the applause from the whole class made her look up again and wander around in confusion. Everyone there smiled, Esmeralda smiled too and she sat back in her seat happily.
"Alright Esme, you can follow the guidance given by the magic screen. You won't be left behind, because even though they have been studying for three days, there are still people who remain at the basic level." The master said. Esmeralda nodded, and the master returned to his desk and opened the magic screen, monitoring the progress of each student in the class.
Esmeralda opened her book, taking notes on the magic explanations on the screen. She was so focused, by the time the lesson was over she would be able to take the exam like the rest of her friends.
"Hey, this girl is so cute. Her body is more petite than the others. How old is she?"
Esmeralda's ears flicked, she felt like someone was talking about her but she wasn't sure so she just kept quiet.
"Wow, I want to pinch her cheeks so badly, can you?"
"Stop it, she'll be distracted, she's studying."
"But we're invisible!" The hazel-eyed man persisted with his desire, he then moved his hand to touch Esmeralda's cheek until the girl turned around and looked at them, making the four men surprised and stepped back.
"Shh... You're making so much noise, I'm studying so I can take the exam. Keep your voices down!" Esme said in a whisper while putting her index finger on her lips. The girl then looked away again and focused on the study on her magic screen.
"What is this? You can see us!" Their shocked surprise now spread around Esmeralda's desk. They were so excited, but unknowingly disturbed the girl who was focused on learning with their noise.
"Hey, look at me, can you really hear and see us?" The blue-eyed man got excited, he waved his hand in front of Esme's face who was focused on getting his attention.
"Sweet child, don't stay still. You've been caught seeing us, so don't pretend!" The gray-haired man also joined in the conversation and interrupted Esmeralda, and the brown-eyed man beside him even went up and sat at the girl's table. They kept babbling and doing everything to get the little girl's attention.
"So annoying! CAN'T YOU SHUT UP!" Esmeralda finally lost her temper and pounded the table while shouting angrily. The atmosphere suddenly turned silent. The four men backed away in shock, the eyes of all four of them still meeting Esmeralda's until the girl heard the question from the master in front,
"Esme, what's bothering you?" Asked the master.
At that moment Esmeralda immediately choked up, the girl realized that her voice was too loud just now. At that moment the class atmosphere became awkward, dozens of eyes now simultaneously looked at Esmeralda, then the girl tried to explain until a fat boy preceded her to speak,
"Did I fart too loudly earlier? Sorry, I have a stomachache." Yuriel said, holding his stomach with an unpleasant expression.
Esmeralda immediately shook her head, she pointed to the side of her desk then confidently said,
"They've been bothering me since earlier!" Esmeralda said but it didn't ease everyone's confused look,
"Esme, that's just empty air. Are you referring to Joseph and Raline sitting next to you?" The master's question confused Esmeralda as she quickly looked to the side and did not find the four people there.
"Not us, master. We've been busy doing exams!" They said quickly.
Just as Esmeralda was confused, the girl began to whisper in her heart,
"Where are those four silly men in armor?"
"Those are..." At that moment Esmeralda immediately fell silent due to embarrassment, the girl then began to retreat until her feet hit the chair legs, feeling guilty she could only look down, then bent her body slightly.
"I'm sorry, I seem to have a lot on my mind!" She said feeling guilty.
The girl then looked up to see the response of her friends and the master in front, instantly she breathed a sigh of relief when they just smiled in understanding then returned to their previous activities.
"Alright, take your seats and continue your lesson!" Master ordered.
Esmeralda nodded, then slowly began to sit down while occasionally looking around.
"Where did they go?" she asked herself, then shook her head and tried to refocus on the lesson.
Academy Cafeteria
This lunch time the queue was quite long, but Esmeralda was still able to be patient because the queue was fast enough that she didn't have to take too long to get her lunch. Actually, ten minutes before lunchtime, her stomach was already rumbling.
"Oh my god, my stomach is finally relieved after going back and forth to the bathroom since earlier." A man who was slightly chubby and three centimeters shorter than Esmeralda suddenly appeared and started queuing behind the girl. The boy adjusted the position of his round glasses, then seeing Esmeralda who was a classmate, he started babbling conversation to the girl.
"You're the new kid, huh? I'm the guy sitting by the window across from your seat. My name is Yuriel." Esmeralda didn't really care and just smiled reluctantly, her head aching as her stomach rumbled. She wasn't in the mood to say anything until her stomach was filled with food.
"I remember your name, Esmeralda, right? Your name is quite unique, I've never heard of a name like yours in this kingdom of Alion or its surroundings. Unlike my name, it is so common that I feel sick of it. In my hometown alone, there are fifty people named Yuriel, and in this academy there are fifteen people with similar names. Sometimes I'm mistaken for someone else because of the same name. It's annoying, isn't it?"
The queue resumed and Esmeralda came to the front. Yuriel tilted her body to the side and continued to babble at Esmeralda, but the girl didn't really care because all she cared about was the mushroom chicken that was being poured onto her plate by the flying dwarves. It was her turn!
"Wow, you eat so much. I've only eaten a little and I'm already fat. But you're still so skinny, you really make me jealous~" Yuriel kept babbling after Esmeralda until the girl found an empty chair and immediately sat down to eat her food.
The girl was so excited that she hurriedly picked up the spoon to eat, but Yuriel, who had been following her, was still babbling even when she reached the dining table.
"I've failed the magic level exam four times, I need to study again. Master Redric says I have pretty good talent, I just need to put in more effort." Yuriel said, now ignoring his food.
Esmeralda did not respond to Yuriel's story, she just focused on eating because right now the most important thing was to eat.
"You know, if we pass this test, we can move on to the next level. The next level is the Eagle Class, the lessons will be even more exciting because we will go explore the Crystal forest and learn to ride a broomstick." This time the intonation of her voice was more cheerful, she looked up with a smile, imagining herself riding a broomstick through every part of the amazing Crystal forest.
"Ehem, alright, I know. But you should eat your food because lunch break is coming to an end." Esmeralda reminded.
"Oh yeah, you're right! I might faint later if I don't eat." Yuriel said stopping talking, starting to hurriedly eat his food with gusto.
At that time Esmeralda had already finished half of her food, she began to be pensive and think about Yuriel's explanation just now.
"If I can level up, I can walk through the crystal forest and maybe find my way home." She thought to herself.