“Now, begin noting,” Elder Imilem said, her chalk surrounded by purple aura as it started writing by itself on the blackboard.

Some of the guards and most of the villagers were all confused at that command, but Elder Imilem patiently explained that what she had said so far had mostly been an overview of what she was going to teach them. Begin noting was a general signal that she would now begin dictating actual class notes, which her students would be tested on later.

Rieren already had her quill and parchment ready, holding its tip in the ink bottle to prevent it from drying. Soon enough, the Elder began defining terms and expanding them out into long paragraphs of information. There was a lot of writing to do.

She didn’t pay too much attention to the notes themselves. The information was mostly basic, things she knew all too well already. Instead, her mind trailed to this in-class test the Elder was about to set them.

It seemed unfair to quiz the newcomers to their class, namely the villagers. At least most of the guards had some basic education. Many of them had been recruited from those whom the Sect had taken in as disciples but had, for one reason or another, never amounted to much in terms of cultivation. Most hadn’t advanced beyond the Early-Adherent realm.

The villagers didn’t even have that. Thus, Rieren wondered what sort of test the Elder might set that would be equal to them all.

“I wasn’t expecting a history lesson along with the actual information,” Amalyse muttered.

Rieren was startled out of her thoughts to pay attention to what she was writing down. Amalyse was right. She had been scratching down how the apocalypse and the accompanying system had come into play in the previous timeline.

Of course, the very first paragraph insisted that they ought to be grateful that everyone had a system. There were many in the classroom who had not received it in their previous life. The gods, having attained the power to control the system’s bestowal, had been quite picky over who they granted it to.

Like much else of life’s unfairness, that had involved a great deal of favouritism, partiality, politics, backstabbing, and essentially what was known as corruption. Merit had only ever played a factor if that merit would be at the service of a deity. Power rewarding power, in a cycle of treading upon the weak, leaving the unfortunate to rot.

Despite the passage of decades, Rieren’s mouth still curled at the thought. Those divine pricks still wished for something similar, still intended to recreate that order of debased hierarchy. How they must hate the way she had levelled the playing field.

Their greatest tool to manipulate the Mortal realm. Now gone, thanks to Rieren.

Honestly, had she been in their shoes, she would have bent her energies on killing the offender even if there was nothing to seemingly be gained. So what if the gods had nothing to gain now that their precious system was available to everyone? Vengeance was a too-powerful goal in and of itself.

Rieren knew its lure all too well.

“There are a few different ways to distinguish different classes,” Elder Imilem said, complementing the notes with short explanations. “But the one we shall focus on, the one which we truly care about in our current circumstances, is the method of combat that each class allows.

“The two primary distinctions are ranged and melee classes. Those who deal damage from a distance, and those who must enter the enemy’s vicinity to fight. There are further classifications that can be found. Ranged classes may depend on bows or cast magic, while melee classes may focus on confronting opponents directly or focus on a stealthier approach.

“Besides those obvious types, there are also those classes that cannot be so easily categorized. For instance, support classes often do not focus on fighting at all, and summoner classes bring in others to fight in their stead.

“I mention these various categories less to quiz you upon your ability to retain information about all of them—though, this is something important to know—but more to inform you about the potential choices available to you. Ultimately, the decision of which kind of class you pick depends entirely on what purpose it will serve for you.”

The information was solid, in Rieren’s opinion. There was quite a bit of what she had discussed with Elder Olg in there, though a lot of the basics were already known by all the Elders from their experiences in the previous timeline. Some of them had received the system too, after all.

She paused. The Elders…

In the previous timeline, there was only one way to get the system. One had to find and ingest a certain item—a Founding Seed—which would bring about a system birth within oneself, thus granting them access to classes, skills, stats, and the like.

But finding the location of these Seeds usually involved making some sort of pact or sacrifice with a god. The Heavens refused to bless anyone with the required knowledge unless they could gain something from it. This, of course, led to the very corruption Rieren had detested.

However, there was a way to wrest such knowledge from others. Rieren had acquired a system for herself in that manner. The idea was simple—once someone received a god’s blessing and journeyed to where a Founding Seed could be found, all it took was following the blessed one to arrive at the same location.

After that, all Rieren had needed was to kill the arrogant idiot and take the Seed for herself.

This plan worked well for a lot of people who had no intention of making terrible pacts with terrible gods. It was how many in Lionshard Sect had obtained the system in the first place.

Of course, such “blasphemy” had consequences. If Rieren was being honest, that process of obtaining the system was one of the chief reasons behind the Sect’s eventual destruction. But the important point was that, while most in the Sect had followed Rieren’s method, there were some who had ended up on the gods’ side.

Some who might still be on the gods’ side.

There were both Elders and disciples who had defected before and during the conflict. Rieren had yet to see them, but with everyone else recalling events of the past timelines, she had to wonder if the Sect had taken any steps against them. She’d have to find out.

Rieren had difficulty focusing on the lesson when she was well aware of most of the content being covered. Some of the knowledge might be new to some people here, but she knew far more than what Imilem taught them.

The variations in classes? She had faced first-hand just how many there could be, all of them quite different from each other and dependent on rules that other classes would abhor.

The correct way to place stats? Entirely dependent on the class’s function. A melee-based class like hers would require focusing greatly on Body, then on Mind, and Spirit would only properly come into play when she opened her Domain. Ranged classes would need a greater focus on Mind or Spirit, depending on what sort of damage they dealt.

Not that the other, seemingly useless stats could be ignored, of course. The system required at least a modicum of balance. It was a careful act of prioritizing the needed stats while keeping up the others to a decent level.

Rieren actually caught herself writing notes about skills and perks that the Elder had not been saying. Well, Amalyse did.

“What in the world do you mean by Domain-enhanced skills?” she asked quietly when the Elder had turned to peruse a page on her desk, a chalk floating with the Elder’s blue-and-purple light and drawing a diagram for them on the blackboard. “Is it like where I can combine my Domain with my skills?”

“Sometimes,” Rieren replied under her breath. “Depending on the skills you have, your Domain will provide additional effect.”

“And all I’d have to do is summon the Domain in the first place? No need for any extra techniques.

“Yes, exactly.”

It was a little sad to realize Amalyse hadn’t lived long enough to discover all the intricacies of the system that Rieren had gone on to learn. She had received a system later on as the various conflicts Lionshard Sect had become embroiled in had grown, but it hadn’t lasted long. Her death at Essalina’s hands had followed quickly.

That was when Rieren realized she had gotten ahead of herself.

Eventually, Elder Imilem called a halt to the class. It was time for their little test.

“Please take a single sheet from the stack on my table.” She pointed at the pile of pages on her desk. “Once you are ready, you are to explain in a single page on how you and your chosen class can tackle a Blightmane Lykan. Your objective is to explain how you can survive an encounter with by yourself. Every other decision, such as setting and so on, is up to you.”

Rieren’s eyes narrowed. What was Elder Imilem playing at here? It would have made more sense if she had tasked them with a monster that was more well-known. But Blightmanes had only appeared about a week or two before the Sect’s ultimate destruction, when the majority of its inhabitants were already dead.

When Elder Imilem herself couldn’t have witnessed them.

But some of them had, including Rieren. She had faced and killed them, had the necessary experience to answer this question with ease, and there were a handful of others in the room who could say the same. Not most of them, though. Certainly not the bulk of the disciples, and almost none of the villagers and guards.

If Elder Imilem had sought to level the playing field entirely, she would have set them a monster that none of them had ever faced before, under reasonable assumptions. It could be that she thought Blightmanes were such an Abyssal, but that seemed unlikely. Elder Imilem was usually very well-informed on such matters.

No, she was likely seeking something else here. Something that was perhaps seeking something from those who had faced the creature before.

Which… Rieren didn’t feel right about revealing. Not the initial answer that popped into her head, at least. She had to think for a moment to recall the exact circumstances between the first appearance of the Blightmanes and the Sect’s eventual end. Had she and the others figured out all the particulars of how to defeat those creatures by then? No, not yet…

As such, even if Rieren had gone on to face and kill many of them, she hadn’t done so before the Sect’s death. That was the only truth she could reveal, the only thing that was safe to reveal.

She looked around, noticing some troubled glances here and there. If those were the thoughts running in her mind, what about the others?

“Now, some preliminary information, first,” Elder Imilem continued. “Blightmanes are D-Grade Abyssals. We will speak more of those monsters in later classes, but suffice it to say, they are incredibly powerful monsters you will unlikely be able to deal with until you at least reach level 10. They are fast, strong, and have skin that is nigh on impenetrable.

“Besides that, there are no restrictions to your choice of class, if you haven’t picked one already. You must simply provide the Credits needed to purchase said class along with the rest of your answer, and please do not state and untrue amount. We have our ways to find out the truth of the matter. Now, begin. You have until the hourglass empties.”

All their eyes were pulled to the cat-sized hourglass on the Elder’s desk which, with a burst of purple energy, rotated around so that the sand was now falling into the empty lower chamber. Long experience had taught Rieren that it would take around fifteen minutes for the top chamber to empty. More than enough for her to finish writing her answer.

Rieren’s answer wasn’t difficult to formulate. It wasn’t thoughtless either, of course. Her current class would draw too much attention, considering Divine Bladereaver was the kind of class possessed by gods.

Nevertheless, the class she had started off with in her previous life had granted her skills similar to the ones she possessed already, and those could theoretically deal with Blightmane Lykans. Those monsters tended to be extremely aggressive. Forget attacking and killing, it was all most who faced them for the first time could do to avoid their blows and stay alive.

But even in the chaos they tended to create, there were openings an adept fighter could take advantage of. They had a weak spot, a location near their belly that wasn’t as impenetrable as the rest of the creature. It was there one had to strike to kill a Blightmane.

Rieren couldn’t reveal all of that information, however. She had learned them later in her life, when it was safe to pretend she was dead. However, she could extrapolate.

All she had to do was write down her experiences with the Sect, and it might have been more ideal. Not too difficult to do since she had freedom to choose her setting, though that was a bit of a trap too. It was best not to let her imagination wander. Instead, Rieren chose a steep side of Lionshard mountain and ensured she could simply send the monster plummeting to its death.

But as easy as she found it to write her one-paragraph response, it seemed much of the rest of the class wasn’t finding it as effortless.

The tip of Amalyse’s quill had nearly poked a hole through her page. Nidelin was looking more and more stressed as her response grew longer and longer. A couple of boys, Folend and Rollo, were sharing their answers when they thought the Elder wasn’t looking. Behind the disciples, most of the guards and villagers were desperately trying to think of an answer.

Considering the difficulties being faced all around, Rieren found herself drawn to those who weren’t having any trouble. Serace just finished writing and set down his quill as her eyes found him. Nearby, Auri was sitting patiently with her answer upturned on her desk. Same with the pale girl, Silk, and the antler-headed boy she couldn’t recall the name of.

Of them, only the antler-headed boy wasn’t one Rieren remembered having survived to the bitter end of the Sect. The other three had likely pulled from the same experiences Rieren had, while still living as Sect disciples.

What had the antler-headed boy pulled from, though, to have come up with an answer so easily? A few other disciples Rieren didn’t recognize straight away were similarly calm.

Interesting. Maybe Elder Imilem wasn’t really trying to give them a taste of what sort of testing her class would consist of. Perhaps, in truth, she was trying to ascertain the true extent of the knowledge her students possessed, and from there, determine at least something of their exact history.

Perhaps she was trying to catch those who had survived the fall of Lionshard Sect.

Rieren hastily read over and revised her answer to be more in line with what would be reasonable. It already was, but now she was starting to feel a smidge paranoid she had left some clue or other.

“Stop.” Elder Imilem’s voice gonged out like a bell. “Your time is over.”

Rieren set aside her quill and decided to breathe normally. She made sure she wasn’t among the first to place her answer on the Elder’s desk.

“That was troubling,” Amalyse said under her breath. “Though not for you.”

Rieren shrugged, unwilling to voice her true thoughts in such a public location. “I remember facing them within the Sect, actually.”

“Oh!”

She recounted some of her experiences while Elder Imilem quickly looked through the pile of tests. It didn’t take long. By the time Rieren was only halfway through the tale of her first encounter with a Blightmane, the Elder stood up to pull in all their attention.

“I have read through your various responses,” she said, looking over them all with a slight smile. She brandished a page that had nothing but a single line written on it. “Avalien Deltorow, will you kindly step up and give me your hand?”

Rieren and the others turned, with no small amount of surprise, to see the young guardsman stand shakily and take hesitant steps up to the Elder. She placed the Moongold orb in his outstretched palm, commended him on his answer, and then bid them all farewell. Apparently, the hour they were supposed to spend there was up.

Avalien stared dumbstruck at the orb, before finally smiling and hurrying away. Surprised as Rieren was, she was thankful that he didn’t try to meet her gaze.

“Elder,” Rollo said, leaving no room for doubt that he too had spotted that Avalien’s page had just one line. “If you will excuse my impertinence, but may I ask what the best answer was?”

The Elder pleasantly took her seat behind her desk. “It was simply the seventh rule of cultivation as stated by Assorcius.”

Rieren, along with most of the rest of the class, simply stared at the Elder. On their right, Serace burst out laughing.

It seemed the correct answer was to not answer at all.

“This will not be the case for all your exams and assignments, however,” Elder Imilem warned them. “I may have rewarded unconventional thought this time, but I shan’t be giving credit to blank pages hereafter. The essence of the matter, if you will, is that you must apply the logic, concepts, and thought processes we shall be discussing henceforth.

“Some of you did that already today. Well done. For others, you will have another chance to rethink your approach in the next assignment I will be setting you.”

There was a minute muttering at the back of the classroom, but it all quickly silenced when the Elder threw a withering glare. Rieren understood it, though. The Sect certainly didn’t let the disciples rest for long. If the villagers thought it would be easy, they really would need to rethink their approach.

“I understand quite a few of you have already selected your classes.” Her eyes lingered on the guards and some of the villager before swivelling back to the disciples. “But many of you haven’t. For the latter, your assignment for the week shall be to determine which class and skill you pick and where you allocate your stats, writing a report for all your choices. You will judged based on your reasoning behind your choices.

“For those who have already picked your class, you are to state why you made the choices that you did. Or, if you wish to change, what would your switch to and the reasons behind doing so. For now, you are dismissed.”

That signalled the end of class. They started getting ready to depart the classroom, Rieren putting away her quill, ink bottle, and her parchment. But before anyone left, the Elder called upon their attention with a little cough.

There were four little marblelike balls between each of the fingers of her right hand. “Your essays will be graded. The four best ones shall each receive an Elderblood pill. As some of you know, this will allow you to channel and condense enough Essence to progress through a stage of your Adherent realm. A little incentive for you to put some work into your assignment.”

Rieren pursed her lips as she turned to leave. She could see the attempt at fairness that the Sect was trying to establish. The Elder’s reward was based on the reasoning behind their choices, something that no one truly required a great deal of prior education to excel in.

That said, most of the disciples had already spent a lifetime learning how best it was to cultivate. That sort of thinking applied to classes as well. Many of the guards and all the villagers would not have the same kind of thoughts coming to them naturally.

For now. The Elder had mentioned there being a separate class for those who had never cultivated before. Perhaps that would even the odds some more.

But much of Rieren’s thoughts were upon the pile of answers on Elder Imilem’s desk. Some of them had to contain some interesting nuggets of truth. It would be next to impossible for Rieren herself to get a hold of them, but she did have an Elder whose assistance she could call upon.

And that might lead her to find the dangers Essalina had warned her about.

With their first class over, Rieren followed Amalyse out through the door. Now, it was time for their physical cultivation instruction, a class that Rieren looked forward to. After all, it would grant her enemies the perfect opportunity to strike at her without worry.

In other words, it could be one of Rieren’s best chance to find out who exactly was working for the gods.