"As your teacher, I must implore you to think long and hard about how you will approach this competition. This school tends to turn a blind eye to a lot of things. I will grant you this time to think amongst yourselves on how you will take on this quest."
What she said about the school turning a blind eye to a lot of things intrigued me. I found myself wondering how much they would actually allow. This interested me so much that I almost jumped out of my seat to ask, but someone else beat me to it.
"What do you mean by that, Ms. Monroe?" Amelia asked just as the teacher was getting ready to leave. "I've noticed the school hasn't given us any handbooks on how to act or any rules within the school."
Ms. Monroe gave a polite smile before answering. She was probably thinking about how perceptive Amelia was. I was too.
"The school trusts its students to act in a way befitting of society. Whatever is not permitted in the real world is not permitted here."
That hardly made sense. It was like she was goading us into testing the bounds of what was acceptable. Societies outside this school worked because you had people like law enforcement and heroes enforcing what was acceptable. In here, you had no one—nothing. I noticed they had cameras on every corner of the campus except in the bathrooms and in the dorm rooms.
"I think it's better to have clear rules on what is permitted here," Amelia insisted. I got the feeling she was slowly realizing the danger of this school and the pressure it put on her to keep everyone safe.
"Well, I'm deeply touched that you feel safe enough to share your thoughts with me."
She basically said nothing.
With that, Ms. Monroe picked up her bag and gave us a polite wave as she left the classroom.
Amelia was left standing speechless. I saw this coming from a mile away. The quirky teacher they all thought they got was nothing but incompetent. She needed to be held to a certain standard just like everyone else, whether by violence or other means.
When they all laughed off the fact that she came late, that was the moment she realized that she could walk all over them.
Realizing she was just standing there saying nothing, Amelia quickly regained her composure.
"So, umm, everyone… about the competition, since there are supposed to be three groups in total, it would be best if we had three capable leaders to lead each group. I'll be one of the leaders but I'll need two more capable individuals to volunteer."
She looked around the class, wanting, hoping that someone would volunteer themselves.
"I'll do it. I can be one of the leaders."
The person who volunteered was none other than Hikari.
"Thank you so much! Now we just need one more leader. Would anyone else like to volunteer?"
The class sat silent; no one else looked like they wanted to. The girls who were cheering her on before were now slouching in their chairs, as if she was handing out a death sentence. It wasn't until Hikari stepped up and volunteered someone that the silence finally broke.
"Kiki, you'll be our third" Hikari said, casually.
Kiki shot up from her chair, her eyes drifting back and forth around the class at everyone staring at her. She looked like a prey caught under spotlight.
"Umm… s-sure… Of course, I would love to volunteer!"
That was definitely not a question. She hadn't volunteered, she had been drafted.
She had no choice but to give in to everyone's expectations. That's the price you had to pay when you passed yourself off as competent—they'll expect you to cover for the weak.
Most of them were probably hoping that a hero in the top ten would volunteer, while the heroes in the top ten were probably on the fence about outing themselves. That, or they were in the group that was against Amelia.
Amelia seemed elated that they managed to find someone else to be a leader.
"Okay then, the three of us will all lead our own group."
It was a decent plan. During this competition, Amelia wouldn't be able to protect everyone since they would be separated into different groups. These three group leaders would now have to find two capable heroes each, from the class to accompany them inside the dungeon.
After this discussion, it was time for our first specialized class, 'System Theory.' Our teacher was a man who seemed to be in his late 40s. Unlike our homeroom teacher, he actually acted and sounded like a teacher.
"Good morning, class. My name is Neil Samuels, and I will be your teacher for the specialized subject 'System Theory'."
Specialized subjects were those not taught at a traditional high school. They focused on learning about being a hero, understanding systems, and combat, but there were also some other subjects that I didn't quite understand the purpose of.
"System Theory mostly deals with understanding the inner workings of personal systems and the best way to use your systems to the fullest extent possible," Mr. Samuels said. "Now, some of you may have some very common systems, while others have systems that are very rare or a system that might not have existed before you acquired it."
Amelia mentioned something similar before, about some systems being extremely niche.
"The best way for you to draw out the full potential of your system is to build a connection with its origins."
Origins? By that, I assume he meant…
"Gods. You need to build a connection with the higher being that granted you the gift of your systems."
Some of the students were visibly shocked by his words. Others weren't surprised at all.
"Wait, are you saying that gods exist?" one student asked.
"What kind of gods?" another student was quick to interject.
"A lot of the answers to your questions are found in the real treasure this school offers—dungeons. The real treasure this school offers you is the access to dungeons. There is no other way to gain strength but to fight for it. Your time here will only be fulfilling if you spend it inside of dungeons.
I figured that would be the case since it's the only way to unlock skills and upgrade your systems. Most systems were centered around monsters found inside dungeons, as if they were trying to incentivize you to kill them for whatever reason.
"Sometimes you will spend months inside of a dungeon, as a class. Some dungeons are only filled with monsters; while others are like other worlds with different people and different cultures you must learn to adapt to." he continued.
Huh? What was he talking about? Other worlds? Different people? For a second I thought he miss spoke, but then I thought back to the island and the ruins I found.
Those were definitely built by people. The murals even had drawings depicting people bowing down to one of these beasts. Maybe they were wiped out long before.
"You will be going on different excursions to other worlds, some lasting months or up to a year. There, you will meet people of different races and battle monsters that look like they came out of a fairy tale. That's the true job of a hero from the moment you were given a system."