Zane, Evans, and Tom Nguyen walked together in class, while James left before them since he refused to eat breakfast with the three of them. As soon as he stepped inside, Zane felt as if he had returned to the MIT lecture hall: two rows of seats for the students, a small group of stairs dividing the classroom, a small desk for the professor, and a long row of blackboards with chalk writing.
After taking a moment to remove these thoughts from his mind, Zane headed to his seat in the first row, directly facing the professor. When he received the email about his class schedule, he was also notified of his seating number. However, to his surprise, Tom and Evans were sitting next to him, both on his left and right.
The three looked at each other, their eyes conveyed the same thought: this was intentional. It was already rare that they were all in the same class as roommates, but to sit next to each other, this was no mere coincidence. Their last names differed, so these seats were not selected in alphabetical order.
Zane nodded to them but did not comment on the situation. Instead, he focused on his environment. This room was large enough to hold about a thousand students. Looking over, Zane casually scrutinized the professor. He was a middle-aged white human with a stern face, black hair with a few white sideburns, and a black magical robe bearing a three-star pin.
It was hard to determine this man's personality, but his stern expression was not a good sign. Moving his eyes, Zane focused on the three blackboards at the center of the hall and instantly thought, "Why is this man using an old-fashioned blackboard?" It was 2016, meaning schools hadn't used blackboards and chalk for decades. As a third-circle Mage, magic should have been an option, or at the very least, he could have used an interactive smart board.
"Maybe it's a quirk, just like how Elvira enjoyed wearing Earth clothes," Zane thought before focusing on the contents written on the board. Everything was in Gremorian, and it was mostly all the magic specializations that Zane was aware of, with a few he had never heard of before.
Zane moved his eyes from the central blackboard to the one on the right. This one was even stranger, as it contained only four geometric shapes: a circle, a square, a triangle, and a rectangle. With this setup, Zane immediately had a sense of what this class would be about. The board on the left was empty, so Zane remained quiet until everyone arrived.
…
Professor Richie Burbank calmly watched all the students as they walked into the room. And when he saw Zane's group, his eyes paused on them for a while. These three were the main stars: all S-Class talent, and one of them was on the High Potential List. In some ways, the tower cares more about the progress of these three more than anyone else. Although it's unfair, that was the truth.
Of course, they were not the only ones. Ten other students had A-Class Talent, and a dozen more had B-Class. Although they were not the focus, the tower still valued them immensely. So, Professor Burbank will also keep an eye on them. B-Class talents still have a decent chance of becoming Grand Mages.
Professor Burbank calmly waited behind his desk, and at exactly 10 AM, the classroom door closed. A student was running late and missed the door by a small margin. He knocked on the door and probably asked for permission to enter, but no sound came from his mouth. The sound was so well isolated that some of the students in the back rows didn't even notice him.
The professor calmly stood and walked to the center of the classroom. "Hello, new mages. I'm Professor Richie Burbank, a 3-circle Mage. Welcome to Introduction to Magic."
After this short introduction, Professor Burbank did not ask the students to introduce themselves; in fact, he did not waste any time. He snapped his finger, and a stack of books flew out from a bag hanging on his waist. "Everybody, come pick one, starting from you in the first seat." The professor pointed to a blonde woman sitting in the same row as Zane, and she calmly stood to retrieve the book with the same title as the class. Under the professor's stern look, the process ended in less than 10 minutes.
"Earth's situation is unique, so this class is designed to teach you years of foundational knowledge in just one semester, so you'd better buckle up because we have much to learn," Professor Burbank announced. He then waved his hand, and a holographic screen appeared on the only side of the blackboard, with no writing. The screen displayed a list from one to twenty. In the first spot, Zane's name appeared with the number 30 next to it. Tom Nguyen was in the second spot with the number 10, Evans was in the third spot with the number 10, and all the remaining spots — up to the 17th place — were full of other people's names with the number 10.
"Before I began the course, let me explain a few things to you," Professor Burbank stated. "First, my class follows a point system. Everything you do can result in points: an excellent paper, a good grade on a test, asking a good question, answering a question, etc. These points can be used to exchange items with me — just like currency — but only the ones in the top 20."
A few students suddenly raised their hands.
"Wait until I'm done, and then you can ask questions," Professor Burbank motioned for them to quiet down. As these students controlled themselves, the professor opened a screen from his soul crest for a few seconds, and soon afterward, all the students felt a slight tug in their non-dominant hand, which was the sign they had received an email.
"I have just emailed you the items you can exchange using your class points. You have 30 seconds to check."
Zane immediately checked his soul crest and quickly checked the email's contents. His eyes narrowed. The list contained everything: magic crystals, potions, spell models, personal tutoring by the professor, coupons redeemable in the plaza, free classes, and many other things. Zane even saw things such as teleportation waivers.
"This is a great way to motivate students while also secretly sponsoring the capable ones. However, the way to gain points seemed too arbitrary," Zane thought. He would have preferred a strict rule or rubric on how to get points. However, from the brief description Professor Burbank gave, it seems most of the power was in his hands, which leaves too much room for personal bias.
Professor Burbank nodded in satisfaction after seeing the greed and ambition in those people's eyes. This system was designed to motivate them to do their best; it's also a way to prevent the wealthy recruits from having too many advantages. Resources are crucial to Mages, and with enough of them, even a pig can become a 3-ring Mage. Although that's harsh to say, it's the truth. However, Mages who are raised by forcefully consuming a large amount of resources are trash, and the tower does not want them.
"Students who are not in the top 20 can check their points in their profile," Professor Burbank continued as soon as the 30 seconds passed. "Now, you can raise your hands if you have any questions. Yes, Mr. Harmon, what's your question?"
"How come 17 students already have 10 points?"
"Those students are the ones who were diligent enough to head to the library or the training ground on the very first day of orientation," Professor Burbank calmly stated.
"Just for that?" Mr. Harmon instinctively asked.
"Many of you don't seem to understand the severity of your situation," Professor Burbank said, his stern face even more solemn than before. "You are in a race for your life, for the safety of the people you love, for the world you live in, for your entire civilization. If you do not have the mindset to do everything possible — to take every opportunity to improve — you might as well give up now and allow yourself to die in one of the dimension shifts.
"Dying swiftly might be better than becoming nourishment for Demon Lord Shakurri, or even worse, having your soul defiled and becoming a Demon Spawn."
The classroom was eerily silent, with even the sounds of breathing being instinctively suppressed. Many students had pale faces. Maybe it was because of Professor Burbank's serious expression, but the severity of the situation seemed to finally hit many of them.
"Any more questions?" the professor asked, his powerful voice cutting the silence and tension faster than a sharp knife passing through butter.
"I-I have one."
"Ms. Bailey, go ahead."
"Why did the person called Zane Skylar have 30 points?"
"That's a good question. Well, not only did he visit the library and spend hours of training on his first day, but he also discovered mental channeling on his own," Professor Burbank calmly responded while secretly giving Zane a nod of approval.
"Mental Channeling?
"You don't need to worry about that for now since we will learn about it during our course, but understand that it's something impressive," Professor Burbank replied, not explaining in detail. "Any more questions about this topic? This is the last opportunity?" A few more students raised their hands, and he answered them one by one.
"Very well, we can now move on to another topic: your dissertation paper."