Day 5: Friday
Lesson: Monster Combat Practice.
Status: Morning.

Tori's thoughts:

Monsters captured for training young students.

Death can occur if it is outside.
But inside the Arena, those inside it are blessed by its protection.
Mistakes and death can be prevented within it.

Unfortunately, pain is still reflected as such...
The worst experience a person can go through inside it.

Is the pain of being unable to die while experiencing a beating of your life.

Was Baster's description of it, when he told us about the scenario in the arena and monster combat practice.

Baster fought monsters without this protection.
I am deeply curious about how much they have changed and their ecology.

In the past, I had to wander the lands and explore secrets and hidden creatures that take children, young men and even women in the night. Sometimes they disappoint me that they are just bandits and nothing more than goblins.
But on extremely rare occasions.
Unknown and hidden creatures of unexpected threat appear that is capable of erasing a living being...
Predating on both monsters and humans.

But of course, the fact they tried to eat me ended up getting themselves getting eaten by a bigger fish.

It reminds me of the days where I walked in a village,
That turned out to be cursed by zombies of its former inhabitants.

Though right now...
I feel really tired.

Starting at a ridiculous 7:00 am all students of the academy are sent out to three groups of people.
Requiring at least three members each along with preparation such as gears and tools for the practice.

Not to mention the battle yesterday had taken a toll on my body.
Even if light magic can restore and heal a person.
I, unfortunately, I used it to keep up with an adult that is 6 years younger than me.

The toll in exchange for doing so is muscle pain.
I really don't feel like fighting a monster right now...

Although, Recently I found out from baster that Analise is actually a 2nd-year student of the school.
1st year and 2nd year are a mixed group for the duel exercise meanwhile 3rd and 4th years are the ones that are mixed.

Graduation is also odd...
After graduating the 1st year students can choose a profession.
Or remain here to obtain more experience.
Alchemy, Mechanist, Sorcerer, Knight and any other profession...

But Baster as he explained to us yesterday.

"This kingdom favors explorers and those who search for lost knowledge.
Most of the noble's past families are adventurers who have obtained great riches from the islands and made a name for themselves in the kingdom.

The machines and golems are said to have been obtained from them.
While others were created by incorporating the discoveries there.
Most of what you see right now is only temporary,
The suits are utterly useless outside this place and are simply teaching us a lesson.

The training arena and monster exercises are basically merely the surfaces of what we will face if when we start exploring...
And right now the world is searching for capable people who can tackle these islands."
Island exploration and investigation.

If what baster said was true about them turning into some kind of dungeon full of monsters.

Then... a lot of potentially dangerous things can happen inside it.
Being swarmed by monsters or attacked by unknown assailants right in the middle of it.
I recall a day where I met a bunch of adventurers while walking inside a dungeon,
but it turns out they were actually brigands that tried to capture and sell me off as a slave.

Of course, I didn't let them off easy and I ended up dragging their asses to the authority.

Not mention such places are often hideouts of a sinister organization that usually smuggles all kinds of objects or even people. Hopefully, the change in monsters has made it too dangerous for them to do such things again.

...

...

Our group is the three of us.

However...
The gazes of the student carry scornful expression towards us.
But seems to avoid showing it as fiercely as before...

As they kept a distance to avoid getting paired with us.

Meanwhile the suit and weapons we wore fit like a glove.
They were made meticulously even the blade of this weapon was light enough that I child like me can carry with ease...

Of course, such tools are returned after its use inside the arena and the training areas.
Some also requested to use their personal equipment but they need to be approved before being able to use them.

Any idiots that attempt to use them outside the arena will be liable for attempted murder and their family along with their house will be severely punished for crimes against the crown.

(Which is the reason why no one in the academy thus far has aimed for our lives yet...
Despite everyone carrying scary-looking weapons.)

But after using their gear in battle with the purple-haired scarred young lady with burns on her face. All I can simply say that it felt like it was shorter than normal...

Looks like they adjusted its weight to fit for my own use.
Oddly enough I recall them measuring my ability to lift things during the physical examination before enrolling.

My sister then said while gazing at the other student who was merely scowling and taking a distance from us.

『Looks like our fights showed them a bit of truth to their face.』

"Don't look now though, they still seem awfully bitter about it."

「I'm not quite fond of getting stared at like this,
 Are we going to be stuck in the center of attention like this? 」

"Don't worry about it...
This exercise prohibits any offensive attacks on any of the groups.
Along with the fact that there are watchers around the place.

They can also send out warnings if any of them did such a stupid thing."

I deeply sighed...

*Watchers: these are floating golem that seems to have recording magic on it.*

I leave it be and simply only see it as an annoyance if it starts to stalk us.
Fortunately, it seems to leave us alone when we enter female lavatories or other private places like our rooms.

So I forgave it since it provides a bit of order in the place.

The training area this time was wide with many passages with numbers on top of them.
There was name-calling of certain groups that were provided to the teachers.
A professor soon called out to Baster as he rushed to greet him.

He was handed a piece of paper with a single number.

『Number nine?』

We searched for the passage and found it.
A large number 9 clear to see with its yellow-colored paint.

But before we walked and entered the passage we were soon called out from behind.

"Talie!?"

We turned our head and saw Milim and...

"Oh, to think we had the most hated group as our partner. Lucky!"
The one said these words was Fenris.

But then Milim rushed to hug Talie.

She then said.

"You two fought quite splendidly...
I never imagined both of you to beats your opponents despite being so young!

Not to mention you two are smaller than your opponents that it seemed so awful and unfair fight for both of you."

Yup, that fight was ridiculously immoral.
Who the hell sends children like us to fight those older than us!
I wanted to complain to the principal of this school.

but it was already done...

Then the third person was behind them was an unknown girl who seemed meek.
She wore glasses that seemed quite big and were gazing at us while shaking...

"Come on now Nelly, don't be shy," Milim said as she pulled her towards us.

"A-a pleasure to meet you," she said while looking away from us.

Her gaze alone made us feel uncomfortable.
It's clear she felt uncomfortable with us.

Baster then came forward and said.
"Nelly of the Arkwright family, yes?"

She reacted to Baster and said.

"Yes!"  her reaction was stiff as she then asked.

Milim then asked.

"Baster, you know about the Arkwright family?"

"A bit, I heard you guys create the cannons of airships.
I'll be needing your hand in the future.

Let's get along..."

He reached her hand to have a handshake with her but...
She was completely reluctant that made the surrounding gloomy.
Milim sighed then said.

"Now, now...
Let's just go ahead,

Look...
The other student has already made their way inside."

As she said those words to break the awkwardness.
We made our way with a bit of distance with one another.

...

...

...

________________________________________________________________________________

Baster's Pov:

Nelly Arkwright.

One of the female characters in the story.
Type: SAFE!
She is also absurdly rich due to her family's history with mechs.

But she's really difficult to approach, once you break her social barriers.
She becomes extremely sweet in her choice of words.

You also can easily break her flags though, if you mess around too much.

A childhood friend of both the protagonists.

Right now my relationship should be zero at the moment...
Why am I trying to steal her away from the protagonist?
Screw him!, I got my life to think about.

There are plenty of fishes out there now!

After Tori and Talie completely ruined the beginning of the story where every character is supposed to have some malfunction in their brain to become psychopaths thanks to the incident.

Not to mention.
She's the character who upgrades the weapons and arms of the characters in the story.
Extremely gifted mechanic and loves tools...
Absolutely someone who is very reliable.

The only downside is her social awkwardness, but who cares about that!

Players in the game can call me *Scum!* all they want!
I want freedom from this stupid debt we currently have!

The next professor should be...

"What took you all so long!"

Castel Everheims.

Her brown silky hair and bed hair is clearly to be seen.
Stripped of her name due to an incident in her station.

Her drunken and aggressive behavior of her fellow knights sexually harassing her led to quite an uproar.

She was sent to teach students as a combat instructor in hopes for her to cool down as punishment.

Even after 3 years of not seeing it.

Those sizes on her chest still remained glued to my eyes as it jiggles and bounces like before...

Unfortunately, she doesn't look like a very aggressive soldier like before...
Because right now, her eyes have a dark color in them.
Signifying she recently got dumped again...

"All right everyone, please place your hand into this device."

Once again, we were guided towards statues of golems inside a container as all of us place our hands on a biometric scanner.

Tori then asked with curiosity.

「I'm curious about the markings on the golems...
Is it possible to study it after class?」

"It's technically academy property.
But if you request one of the professors here responsible for its maintenance.

It is quite possible to borrow one to study."

Milim then asked Tori.

"Tori, is it possible you know something about the writings on the golem?"

「Partially,

It appears to be some kind of incomplete spell.
That seems to activate the moment our hand is placed on this strange scanning device.」

"It's called a hand-scanner!
Don't call it strange!" Nelly replied with annoyance.

「Sorry!, It just looks so odd to me.」

"How can you call it odd when everyone uses it every day!"

Tori flinches as she was swiftly lectured by Nelly who explains to her the magnificence of a hand-scanner.

 Meanwhile, Talie whispered to Baster.

『As you can see, her past-life didn't have such gadgetry like ours.』

"She reacts like an old lady who doesn't know high-tech tools. "

『Don't be too surprised, she actually is...』

Talie giggled as she walked ahead into the metal door where we were supposed to enter.

Baster gazes at Tori as he gave her a wry smile.
"Hah? how old exactly is she?" He pondered about this and followed...

...

...

...

As soon as the group entered the room.

It was wide and rectangular the scent of monsters and blood was clear to their noses.
Fenris was the first to complain.

"Why do we need to wake up this early for this stupid test?"

Our teacher who came with us then said.

"Because this stupid test is how all of you children will learn.

How extremely dangerous monsters truly are...
Not to mention waking up early is healthy and gives you time to prepare yourself to the fullest!"

She proudly said, but her dark colors on her eyes don't look very convincing.

"Since we have two kids that are completely abnormal in terms of ability.
Prepare yourself."

「Is it normal for you adults to call us abnormal?」

『Shouldn't you call us gifted instead?』

Talie and Tori retort.
She then smiled and rubbed both of their heads with her gentle hand.

"Exactly the reason I call you two abnormal.
I've read the data regarding the both of you.

You scared the teacher witless when you beat them in a battle of debate.
Not to mention you two caused mischief with your magic that even they couldn't understand.

Not to mention the fact both of you just conjured magic without the use of an ark-seal.

 To the extent...

 They were too troubled by both of your existence that they threw the both of you right in here because the rest of the kids the same age as you were getting impatient and reckless that they tried to use magic despite being taught how dangerous it is to do so at a young age!"

Milim then said.

"Wow, that's kind of amazing and scary."

Fenris simply smiled and said.

"It simply shows that the explanation about the incident a few years ago wasn't a complete lie."

Tori and Talie simply sighed.
One of them then thought.
[Our parents were pretty much happy but at the same time troubled by us getting an early transfer. Though, it can't be helped due to our current circumstance.]

Nelly and Baster simply listened as they observed.
It was undoubtedly a very troublesome situation which the twins had caused to push themselves to get enrolled in the main academy of the kingdom.

Castel then clapped her hands loudly together to catch their attention.

*Clap*

"Well then...
We should begin the first exercise.

As you can see there are only two groups here."

Baster then asked.

"Why are there only two?"

She sighed then said.

"Obviously, three retards that were supposed to be in class was unable to attend despite being registered.

Not to mention your family is fairly hated and will likely sow problems during the practice.
In order to avoid this, the academy have already selected certain students who aren't too troublesome or difficult to deal with..."

Nelly then asked with a troubled voice.

"Then why our group?"

Her gaze turns sharply towards her.

"Because you kids weren't too injured during the incident.
While one of you wasn't even in the incident." Her eyes turns sharply to Nelly.

Which she then had a troubled expression.
"Unlike the rest of the students who faced quite terrible scars.
We selectively had to choose the few who were eligible."

「Wow, this place sure is taking care of us...」Tori cheerfully said.

『Never imagined a day where teachers and professors are actually doing their job.』

Talie bluntly said.

But their expression swiftly sank as she swiftly said.

"But I'm fairly sure they are just studying the new aspiring students who made one hell of a mess in their school to be advance in grades so quickly...

 Hoping to learn and compare it to the other students."

But then the voice from the megaphone inside the room echoed.

"CASTEL!
Stop idling and tell them already!"

Our professor sighed.

"Fine, Fine...
I was enjoying our talk with them."

She shrugged and showed the very manner a teacher shouldn't show to her students.

"Listen, kids.
 
Since there are only two groups of you.
I'll be keeping watch here and only act when you need me."

The moment she said that baster then went pale and asked.

"Don't tell me..."

She nods to him.

"Yup, both of your groups will now face monsters like the others except only less of you."

As she said those words the room shuddered as mechanical sounds of clanging noise of something moving around them.

"Ah, it began.
Do your best!"

A large wall of the furthers room in front of them soon opened.
As a group of monsters came out of it.

Baster was the first to examine it...

Hill wolves.

Size is about 180-230cm.

Teeth that can tear a person's limb apart.
It's favored for its fur and the monster core from its skull is basically a good material.
Aside from that its meat is pretty good.

*Growl* his stomach rumbled as he saw it.

「Did you even eat breakfast?」Tori asked.

"No, I wasn't able to...
I woke up too late and rushed here.

I got hungry again when I saw them."

『That means they must be tasty? Right...』
Talie had a wide smile thinking about it eating it.

Among the group, only Talie was able to properly wake up and sleep without any achings.
She ended her fight swiftly and elusively without straining herself too much.
She was showed no signs of fatigue or a burden on her mind.

She then whispered something into Tori's ear as she nods with a gleeful smile.
While the wolves were fast approaching towards us she then said...

『I'll be going first then.』

"Hey wait!" I tried to stop her but it was all too late.
She rushed towards the wolves and in a few moments drew her weapon as she made contact.
Her arms were small yet she moved with finesse.

The first wolves lunge towards her as we all went pale.
 she skillfully avoided its fangs and claw as she slid underneath it.

With a complex movement, she sliced its body from below with both of her claw.

The second wolf that was below rushed to bite her, but...
Her own shadow pushed her to the air avoiding it as she flew.

The third wolf was on the prowl, as it leaped from her side ready to take a bite of her.

*Bang* 2x

The sound of gunfire from Baster's rifle along with Milims turret as both shot the wolf in mid-air before it reached her...

She smoothly landed on the ground with a smug look on her face.

『Tada~』

"Tada my FOOT!
Are you crazy!

You nearly got yourself killed."

『I already knew, you two wouldn't let me down.』

Nelly then asked.

"Uhh...
Is she fine?"

Our eyes turn to her and saw Tori who was on the ground sleeping, she had a large pillow out as she rested her body on it with a calming joy on her face.

"Oi!
Why are you sleeping in the middle of your sister nearly getting munched on!"

「Unn...
Let me sleep a few more minutes...」

"You are already in your suit!
Where the heck did you pull out this large pillow!

Why won't you just use revitalize instead to recover yourself from this!"

He pulled Tori up but she was apathetic about it.
In her retort.

「Revitalize can restore stamina and fatigue but its merely temporary.
Not to mention the fact my body right now is aching all over, from yesterday's fight.

Along with the fact that it will also give me a migraine because I couldn't sleep properly yesterday. 」

I then realized it...

"Is this the reason why I feel completely shit when I come home and start going to sleep?"

「Exactly.」

"Why didn't you tell me!?"

「You were working so hard, the least we can do is restore it with my deluxe tea.」

"Why didn't you drink that instead!"

「I got sick of the repeating herbs, I constantly use.
It's already been 3 years and its the same old tea I make.

I wanted something new but I can't buy it!
Not until we fix this stupid pirate problem we have!」She said in her frustration and retort.

Uwah...
So that's why she's being so down today...
Looks like the toll of being in a poor family is starting to hit her.

Not to mention, I never expected her fight would put a toll on her body.
I was expecting she can use magic and *snap* all her problems go away.

Meanwhile, Fenris was...

"Hey, guys this is easier than I thought!"

He said with a smiling face, there was blood all over his body as he managed to take down the second wolf.

Milim gave herself a facepalm.

"What's wrong?" he tilted his head.

But then some kind of large screen showed this:

First Wave result: Success.

Talie: 1
Milim: 0.5
Baster : 0.5
Nelly: 1
Fenris: 0
Tori: 0

Our professor who was observing us from the sidelines then said.

"Well...
That was chaotic.

Most groups usually panic when they first face the monsters.
But you guys seem like you were panicking over your comrades rather than the monsters themselves."

She gave a wry smile in response.

Indeed...
Tori slept in the middle of the test, Talie charged in.
Milim and I in a panics while pulling out our weapon during Talie's reckless charge and took a shot the wolf that was about to take a piece of her in mid-air.
While Fenris took down the second wolf that slipped away from talie on his own somehow...
Oh, wait did he? why are his points zero!?

[Truthfully, none of us.
Have an idea how he did that...]

Nelly, on the other hand, had smoke coming from her weapon.
It was a large handheld cannon firmly attached to the side of her back.

Baster then asked.

"Did you fire your cannon?"

She nods then gazed at Fenris with a troubled expression.
Milim and Baster can garner a guess on how Fenris got himself all bloody.
Fenris gave a stupid grin while Nelly deeply sighed with a worried look.

Baster then thought.

[Now that I think about it...
Her weapon of choice is the arcane cannon.

Her turns are usually slow in the game but she is basically the most accurate character in the game.

Does her stats mean that she must have predicted where the second wolf was going to aim then prepped her weapon? If so, that's kind of amazing on how fast she did so in such subtlety during the chaos.]

But as we breathed a sigh of relief the room began to move and noise around started to flood around the place again.

The Castel then said.

"Either way since all of you seemed fine, They are preparing for the next round."

Baster then cried out.

"HEY WAIT!, At least let us have a short break and cook a few pieces of the meat for a meal!"

She retorts.

"Didn't you eat break-" as she was about to complain she realized the monsters around them.

*Hill wolves their meat is a delicacy.*

"No... I concur, let's eat first..." she suddenly had a change of heart.

With her assistance, she sliced some edible wolf meat and used their blades as heating pans.
While using Nelly's cannon as a source of heat and fire.

"Is it really fine to use your weapon like this?"

Nelly replies.
"Don't worry, my weapon was outfitted to be able to cook stuff...
Sometimes I use its cooking function to kill a few giant worms stuck in the mech's body."

[Wow, extremely multi-purposed weapon.]

The sound from a megaphone in the room echoed.

"Oi! Lady Castel, shouldn't you be properly sending off to their next wave?"

She pulled out a device and responded.

"Give us a short break, they swiftly dealt with the first wave and their stomach is empty.
It would be troublesome if I let them fight in an empty stomach."

She then took a bite on the food as she tasted its juicy meaty tenderness.
All of us took a wry smile on how a teacher could act so calm in the middle of a gloomy room they were in.

"My, these meat are quite delectable..." as she continued to chew while speaking to them.

The rest of us took meat from the large beasts and cooked em as it sizzled.
The room had an air-vent so to rid of the monster stench it should do the same with the meaty smell.

The fire was stronger than average so it slightly burned them in exchange but didn't change the taste.

"Guuuunuuuu!" an angry voice came from the megaphone.

Once again the place started to chime.
And the door opens for the monster to enter.

Our professor sighed and said.

"Seriously, What a spoiled sport."

She then cheerfully asked us.

"Did everyone got a good bite?"

Everyone was chewing a large piece of meat from the wolves.

As we all said. "Yes!"

...

...

...

Wave #2. (Liquid monsters known as slimes)

In the game durability is a much more threatening thing to lose than anything else.
Monsters such as slimes can cause your weapons to become unusable throughout the map.

Unless someone in the group has a Tool-kit and mechanic trait.
It's basically impossible to get through the area.

Thankfully slimes only spawn in marshes and wetland areas.
Also, these creatures aren't the erotica ones where they only melt clothes.

It basically burns human flesh as well.

Fortunately, our suit should provide us with protection from its liquid effects.

Sadly...
In our current training that's not the case.

"Talie! get away from them!"

Uwah, too late...
She aimed for the core and destroyed them.
But at the cost of her weapon breaking it wasn't peculiarly a good trade because there were more of them.

To make matters worse her position was on the very front row where they spit out parts of themselves like bullets.

『Since its broken, I can improvise right?』

A strange thing happened the moment she said those words.

Her arm blade that is now broken was now coated in an eerie shadowy color as its edge was returned even sharper than ever.

At the same time,
She shielded herself in a dark shell that burned away their slimes.

Along with that in quick movement, she then counter-attacked and slashed at the slimes with increased length and range of her weapon.

Cutting them while she remained a distance from the slime.

Nelly then mumbled out while we were backing her up from behind.

"That's elemental imbuing...
And she can alter its size and length as well.

Wasn't she the girl who was said to be able to use magic at the age of 9?
But this is just beyond what normal people can do..."

As for Tori...

She borrowed my sword and shield then sat on the other side where there was still space left for the monsters to go around us.

However...
The slimes are utterly afraid of her for some strange reason.
They aren't even showing any signs of advancing nor attacking as they moved and slid towards us instead!

They were just idle there while Fenris shoots them as they avoid his attacks,
completely on stand-by.

"If you think, Talie is amazing.
Tori's presence alone is scaring them.

What the heck is going on over there!?"

Tori then yawned and waved her hand towards us while sitting on her pillow.
We were too busy fighting as we simply glanced at her side.

Talie, on the other hand, shouted to us.

『I'll explain everything to you later!
Right now, everyone please, focus!』

...

...

...

Wave #2: Success.

Result of slimes defeated:

Talie:  6.5
Nelly: 7.5
Tori: 0
Baster: 6.5
Milim: 5.5
Fenris: 4

Their professor as she reads it.
She was completely speechless.

An hour has passed...

Talie was exhausted as she said.

『No more, my arm is going to fall off...』

Baster and Milim had to swap with her as he borrowed Nelly's gear.
Castel at this moment came closer to us and said.

"You..." she pointed at Tori.

"At least move and or do something!" she shouted in annoyance.

But Tori simply scratcher her head in response.
After talking with her co-worker who manages the training area they were in.
She soon said to her.

"I requested a monster for you to deal with...
Everyone can get out and watch from the screen."

「EEEH!?
But I scared them away from one side of this room,
To keep them away from overwhelming us!」

"All I saw was you sleeping and the monsters being afraid of you!
How the heck am I suppose to report your results!"

「Ugggh....」She groaned.

"Uhhh...
Is it really fine for her to do this alone."

 Milim was a bit worried about her as she was going to perform it alone.

Talie swiftly said.
『Don't worry about her too much.
She's pretty capable since she beat that noble lass, right?.』

She nods in response but still had a bit of worry as everyone soon left the room.

"As she said, I requested to give her something easy like a single hill wolf.
After all, her presence that is capable of scaring monsters is interesting enough to write in the report."

Everyone gazed at the screen with a worried expression.
But as the gears of the outside, the room began to make a rough noise of mechanical noises again.

A door opened for the monster to enter where she stood as everyone paled.

『Oi, are you guys joking?』

"Isn't that-"

"Oi! isn't that's a Chimera!"

It was larger than a vehicle air-ship.
It's about 1000cm in length and size.

Its tail was a snake and its front was the head of a lion paired with its paws.
But it carried wings on its back it along with legs of a bird.

Their professor flinches as she rushed towards a nearby device and punched in buttons and shouted on a phone.

"Oi! I said only a wolf!
Not a chimera!

Open the room, I'm taking it down myself!"

A voice on the speaker of the training room then said to us in a panic state.

"We are incredibly sorry, Lady Castel!

But it looks like there was a mistake!
Someone meddled with the controls of the training rooms!
Give us at least 5 minutes."

Tori was gazing at it as she had a troubled expression.
Its prodigious size alone is enough to make a large man piss their pants.

But for Tori...

She simply sighed and said in frustration.

「Give me a break!」

As she slowly backed away and gazed towards the cameras with a really annoyed expression.