Time passed relatively quickly as Kaiden listened to the conversations of others, and eventually, they reached Room 11.

A few were already there, with some walking in after them.

"Everyone listen up, class is starting, so let's begin with some basic information,"

Professor Williams announced.

"Who knows when one receives a so-called Quest from the Hologram? Or, as we modernly call it, the system."

Some students raised their hands, and a boy was chosen to answer.

"The system assigns a Quest when one is in a life-threatening situation,"

Professor Williams corrected him as he pushed his dark brown hair back.

"Close, in life-threatening situations, yes, but only with a certain probability, which is unpredictable due to its irregularity. However, there are also secret Quests that have existed since the beginning but haven't been undertaken or completed yet. If one accomplishes it, it's divided into three parts: a reward that fully levels up the XP to the next level, a significant reduction in karma points, and enhancement of a specific area, be it from the main or secondary branch of your ability."

After a brief pause and scanning through the rows, he asked about the abilities, not individually but in terms of diversity and whether they overlapped, copied, or were even the same.

A girl who volunteered was chosen to answer.

"There are different abilities, many are individual and almost unique, although there are overlaps. Most abilities, however, are similar, like many having water or fire attributes. Truly unique ones, which exist only once and thus have almost no overlap, are rare. A very well-known one would be the Angel's regeneration possessed by Fera Reich or the Eye of Curse by Tom Frost."

William acknowledged her response,

"You're correct, but there are also monsters with abilities; in fact, almost every monster has them, as they originate from the world with the resource of our powers. Thus, they are classified similarly to us in levels and ranks. The system, if you encounter cryptids, will provide you with the most important information about them."

"What are the most important pieces of information the system can provide us with, while we're at it?"

Another girl was called upon.

"Firstly, we can see our own body image, read our vital signs, and see a full-body image showing any injuries. Then, there's GPS, as well as notifications and chats we can have." "

Fundamentally, those are the most important things, well done. But let's talk about our combat equipment now. There are the normal Awakened, who only fight with handheld weapons like swords and their abilities, and those who fight in huge or somewhat smaller but still large robot-like creatures. These also deviate in ranks, as some are stronger and some weaker. Most use them because they have no ability, but many also use them with their ability because these robots greatly enhance their abilities,"

Professor Williams explained.

The first part of the theory lesson was solely about holograms of the Awakened and their equipment.

With the transition, the professor discussed the important topics that could be discussed, namely the weaknesses of cryptids and how to approach them differently.

"There are different kinds, be it glabostrones or nebuxes, the overarching term being cryptids. If this, however, has a fire affinity, we call it fexus. They may sound like strange technical terms, but they help you learn, as the system operates through these words. The system would say if a fexus had volcanic eruptions as an ability, FexusVE, followed by a random rank, as they also differ in this aspect. Basically, it's just memorization, you poor souls. But in any case, they also have specific weaknesses, like this FexusVE having a weakness against water or ice attributes,"

the professor continued.

He delved more into the types of cryptids and their weaknesses in abilities, but also their physical weaknesses.

It felt like ages, but Kaiden eagerly listened, as missing information could lead to his death.

When the professor seemed to finish after a slightly longer pause, Kaiden wondered about the time.

[7:00 PM]

Kaiden realized that the system would respond to his thoughts.

'How convenient, but what are we going to do for another hour?'

The professor looked around at the somewhat bored rows and shouted briefly to wake everyone up.

"For the remaining hour, we will train your mentality, which is just as important as your combat knowledge, ability, and everything else you need to know. Because without it, you'll go crazy and won't be able to make logical and cool decisions. What are we going to do to train this, you ask? Simply meditate."

The professor took a deep breath and said,

"What I just did, you'll do it over a certain period, inhale and exhale as strongly as you can. Every 5 minutes, you'll then completely exhale your breath and, without inhaling again, hold it on the exhale. We'll start now!"

Deep, slow, and loud inhales and exhales could be heard throughout the room.

Until the professor finally signaled.

Loud exhales were heard.

'How long has it been since we last inhaled?'

[7:09 PM]

[7:10 PM]

"You can inhale again."

Greedy inhalations were heard, and Kaiden breathed deeply, even deeper than before, not because he found it very difficult, but because he wanted to get the maximum out of it.

Again, 5 minutes passed, followed by breath-holding on the exhale.

Kaiden wondered again how long it had been and what time it was.

[7:23 PM]

Kaiden found it difficult for almost a minute, but it still wasn't over?

'But I have to!'

[7:25 PM]

Relieved deep inhalations were heard, though the breathing afterward was no longer in harmony but in rather fast rhythms.

But one thing was certain, in 5 minutes, it would be much longer, as it had increased.

"Everyone exhale again!"

'Was it already 5 minutes?!'

And the torment began again.

The first few minutes passed relaxing with simple silence in the room, but with each minute, more and more red faces emerged.

"There are still 10 minutes left!"

'10 minutes?! Some have already given up and inhaled,'

the faces becoming even redder.

Necks tensed, veins visible.

"Only 5 minutes left!"

Most were already out, breathing deeply in and out, improving their facial masks, but in Kaiden's case, his face was no longer red but rather pale.

'Just 3 minutes left!'

Yet Kaiden didn't want to give up either;

he fought and fought on, moving forward looking onto a point in the room.

But Kaiden's eyes became heavier, as did his head.

"Just one more minute!"

Kaiden's eyes filled less and less with light, becoming darker, as did his neck, which carried his head.

Plump.

Just before the professor could say it was over, Kaiden passed out and lay motionless, only his chest moving deeply on his seat.

8 out of 24 managed to endure, and as Mary saw Kaiden collapse on his seat, she and some others carried him to their room.

Nicely tucked in, they said Kaiden could shower first thing in the morning for it.

And so, time passed until the next welcome ceremony…