Theo sat weakly in his seat.
His skin was deadly pale, like a person who just witnessed something horrifying... or had gone through something horrifying.
His mind was unsurprisingly clear, continuously repeating the memories of last night, tormenting him mentally.
[Moments Ago]
Majority of the class were already in their seats at [8:18 am] but the teacher remained absent so they took the time to know who they didn't or play with their phones.
More students poured into the class and soon, every seat was filled except one.
At [8:27 am], the students started to notice the abnormality of the situation and soon enough, the teacher walked in.
Elizabeth Von Rechrent, dressed in a long white robe with an insignia of Wail Academy on it, her short brown hair hung near her neck, complementing her bright yellow eyes.
Theo walked in behind her, dressed in a new set of uniform but without his nose mask.
Many watched in silence, a talkative few already communicating.
Theo meekly slid into the empty seat at the front feeling rattled out, like he wasn't in the right skin anymore.
"Greeting, class! It's a fine morning for introductions isn't it?" Elizabeth spoke in an upbeat voice but was met with a boring silence and many pairs of eyes.
"I guess not." Elizabeth retained a small smile on her face as she turned around to the chalkboard with a smile on her face.
She continued, "I'm at least ninety-nine percent sure everyone here knows my name if the haven't already forgotten it so I'll skip straight to our scheme."
Theo brought a notebook kept neatly under his desk and a black pen stored at the books spine.
He pressed his hand against it's hard cover and tried to write, only to find his hand shaking slightly and the pen nearly slipping out of his grasp.
He looked upwards, to the back, meeting a sea of eyes before turning back awkwardly.
'I'm never going to fit in, am I?'
Pulling himself together, he managed to write, albeit, at a barely okay pace.
He wanted it to be his imagination, all of it, but it just couldn't be.
Reality didn't work that way.
"And so that's it!" Elizabeth turned back to the class, seeing majority still writing what was on the board.
Her gaze moved around before finally settling on Theo.
Even from the brief distance, she could see the way his hand kept fidgeting and he couldn't keep his back straight.
Listening in, his heartbeat had surely surpassed a hundred beats per minute.
Her gaze moved again, settling on Lunar's figure at an inconspicuous spot in the class, close to a window.
Her gaze moved again.
She silently noted all the special cases among the files of students brought to her table.
Eventually, everyone had stopped writing and were once again staring at her. Her smile didn't vanish and her eyes turned again, settling on a commoner kid who sat at the front.
"Everyone done? Alrighty, you there."
She pointed to the commoner she was staring at.
"M-me?" The kid was startled and despaired as every one hundred and one eyes were laid on his figure at this moment.
"Yes, you. You all, except some special cases, have just graduated from middle school recently but I expect us to still have the basic common knowledge about cultivation, correct?"
The commoner nodded quickly, his mind racing over every single knowledge he knew.
If he missed this question, more people would look down on him.
He couldn't miss it!
"What does cultivation mean to you?"
The boy grinned inwardly, this was his time to shine!
A question with a million arguable possibilities and a low chance of missing!
"Cultivation to mee..." He gulped, his voice had come out quite different from what he had expected. "...It's accumulation of chakra in order to grow more powerful."
He stood straight, awaiting the green light from the teacher.
Someone from behind him snorted and a few chuckled up the aisle.
"You're stopped halfway, I presume that's the extent of your knowledge?" The teacher replied, her tone somewhat flat this time.
He was about to argue but then someone behind him burst into laughter and he sat awkwardly.
'Great, just great!'
Elizabeth continued.
"That was an evaluation, it seems I'll need to start from the very beginning seeing how poor your knowledge is..."
A lot of nobles groaned, they already had this knowledge and relearning because of some ignorant livestock would be a pain.
Theo placed his head on his desk, he had no knowledge too but he remained silent, feeling a bit more better than before.
Miss Elizabeth cleaned off the scheme of the term and wrote three words on the board.
'Cultivation' at the top with 'Affinities' and 'Chakra gates' below it.
She drew two lines, connecting 'Affinities' and 'Chakra gates' to the word above.
She started the lesson.
"We cultivate the essence called 'Chakra', sometimes called Lifeforce, sometimes called ZhenQi.
Within an awakened organ called the dantian, we store and amass more chakra by breaking down gates.
It's a topic for next week and can you three at the back put down the phones please?"
Three nobles huddled together at the back shuddered at that moment as Elizabeth's expression flipped.
They hurriedly hid the phones and held their notebooks with renewed faith.
"Thank you." Elizabeth smiled.
Theo silently made a note to never cross her, he wrote it at the back page of his notebook.
"On the other side, we have affinities. Anyone and everyone have their own affinities.
Affinity to water, affinity to wind, affinity to flash, affinity to cups, affinity to ceramic, it's a big world out there!" She smiled brightly.
"I myself have an affinity to training." Elizabeth paused for a second, noting the looks of disdain she received from ignorant students.
"You have all come here to find out what affinities you possess, how to use them correctly, how to survive with them..."
She paused again.
"And most importantly, how to not die while trying."