After the successful workout session, Moros made his way back to the class with a smile as far and wide as humanly possible. The wonders of school, he truly had been missing out on it for years.
Malissa did not like it one bit that he was still as hyper and energetic as before. She informed her best friend that she needed her tool back for the breathing exercises.
But seeing it drenched in his saliva, sopping wet she came to conclude that it was more sanitary to continue spending the rest of her life without it in her wardrobe
Moros and Malissa and the rest of the gang of class 5 arrived at their classroom. Most of them dreaded the time to come yet again.
This time an overly energetic middle-aged woman wearing a floral skirt and a colourful button top arrived at the class. Greeting the class with so much enthusiasm that she might as well be puking rainbows.
Introduced as Misses Miller, she first congratulated Malissa on the bold fashion statement, causing her to want to dig a hole to the core of Elysium and die there.
There was something about middle-aged woman complimenting her bikini top that made her crave death.
"Children, let us learn about special creatures today. You might think they are useless, but the Balla monster was a most interesting subtype of monsters!"
The topic of this lecture caused the crowd to groan and bemoan for close to a full minute.
Hearing the name of something he was an expert in, Moros began to listen even more attentively. He loved to learn more things about these little shits that he had murdered for a living.
"Now, please open your textbook at page 245."
Everyone grabbed their textbook, titled "The Etymology of Monsters" and flicked through the pages. Only Moros wondered another thing: what was a textbook?
Giving a questioning gaze to Malissa, she gave him the biggest side eye yet again and slid her table closer to him, so that they could share hers.
After turning to page 245 a 3-dimensional graphic of a Balla monster popped up, causing Moirai to jump back in fear.
How did this work of the devil do that?
A blue, translucent jello, around 10 centimetres tall and wide, bouncing merrily around without any care in the world. That was the Balla, he knew…how did they create such a lifelike creature?
Moros shot Malissa with yet another questioning gaze, his eyes saying "Magic can do that?"
To which Malissa rolled her eyes yet again. "Yes, magic can do that," she replied as silently as she possibly could.
"Ballas are wonderful monsters that bear an immunity to magic. Can anyone tell me what theories have been brought up as to why that is the case?"
He was shocked, did people actually think about such a thing?
These things were stupid and useless, why would the people here learn about them? Was it not just a rich and talented people thing? Why else should they be bothered learning something this useless?
All of a sudden, a few people lifted their right pointer fingers to the sky.
What kind of symbolism could this act stand for? Moros was intrigued by the gesture, though he did find it a strange reaction to a question raised by their teacher.
Said teacher selected one of the individuals, who had lifted their fingers.
"Yes, Alex?"
"It is speculated that Ballas are a relict of an old form of monster, stemming from another world, equal to ours. Their immunity to magic is surmised as an adaptation to better survive in this climate of mana abundance," Alex monologues with a voice as monotone as possible.
Moros' worldview had been shattered, the useless things he had killed all the time, had such an interesting backstory? Why had no one ever told him about it?
What else had he been missing out on?
"Very well done Alex, a perfect answer as usual." Her praise did not go unnoticed as Alex gave a look of superiority to the crowd.
Another hand shot up and Misses Miller told them to voice their concern.
"It states here that Ballas are known for their individualistic tendencies? Why are these monsters not grouping up?"
Moros scoffed at the question, he never had killed one and it shows. These creatures did not work in groups, because their only concern was eating earwigs and growing bigger and stronger.
There could possibly be no other reasoning as to why they acted the way they did.
"What a fascinating question. Ballas are often interpreted as solitary creatures, because grouping would lead to rivalries between the tribes of Ballas. Others speculate that Ballas can not see other creatures, they only follow the small of mana sources to devour them."
The explanation from his teacher destroyed his worldview yet again. They could not see? Now, that explained so much about what a Balla did and why they did not eat each other.
They were just too dumb and too blind to actually evolve on their own, into a Balla-Balla.
Malissa looked at her shocked buddy and could not help but sigh yet again. He would be the only human in history to be that excited learning more about Ballas. She felt it was endearing to look at him learning more.
Yet she kinda wished he would be sleeping at this very moment, that way she would not feel this drained by all the things she had to explain to him.
Could he not have decided to change his life around at literally any other day in their life?
Life was stressful enough as is, she did not need to have her best buddy create more of it. Of course, she did not fully mind it, she just was not used to him being this energetic in life.
And Ballas being the topic of discussion at this very day, was the cherry on top of the cake she was showing in the back.
After what felt like hours to her, the lesson was finally over. Moros threw her a smile that she had never seen on his face before. How he could be this happy at something so trivial, she could never understand him.
Moros on the other hand, could not contain the happiness that was wallowing up in him.
Today he was learning so much, he learned more about Ballas, about his power, the secret breathing technique and so much more. However, the day had not even yet ended.
What more would he learn? He could hardly wait for the next lesson to come and rock his world yet again.
A school truly was a great place for anyone involved.
Yet, with the ringing of the bell, something unexpected occurred. All the depressed and worn-out students suddenly sprang out of their seats and stormed out of the door.
With desire in their eyes, they ran through the halls and down the set of stairs.
Moros followed them, hellbent on figuring out where these people ran with such hunger in their eyes.
They arrived at a strange place. Its walls were white and a wall of trays awaited the horde of teenagers. They stood in a row, waiting for something to occur...waiting for something to still that hunger of theirs.
Malissa casually walked beside Moros and explained.
"This is the cafeteria, this is where everyone gets their food," her voice nearly drowned out by the chattering youths and their discussions.
Moros eyed keenly, the food given to the horde looked like a grey sludge, a mass of unappealing, inedible objects. Clearly, they must be training their resistance to poisons by willingly injecting themselves with this "food."
The respect Moros felt for his fellow students shot through the roof. Truly to these patriots, every day was training day.
There was still much he had to learn from them
Mustering his courage, he stood and waited in line, copying what all the other kids did before their turn started to endure the training session.
After receiving his share of the grey Ballas-looking mass, he gritted his teeth and injected the poisonous mass down his throat. He felt the poison acting the moment, he inserted the food.
The food really thought hard to break out through his mouth again, but Moros was strong and he had an iron will. He managed to eat a Balla once, this much food would never be a problem to him.
With his established battle cry he resumed wolfing down on his plate, leaving the food no choice but to enter his belly.
He announced his victory over the food with a satisfied, long burping, which showed his dominance over the poisonous training tool.
A realisation dawned upon him and Malissa also came to this conclusion at the same time.
Had he chewed the food and swallowed the food with her bikini top still being in his mouth? She dared not think about what he had just done and refused to ask for it back today or ever.
Regardless of whether it was in his stomach or not, regardless of what end it would come out, she could never wear the top again…
Otherwise the image would be burned into her mind and always come back to haunt her for the rest of her life.
And yet, the school day had not ended…