Chapter 18: First Day of School
After the three finished eating breakfast, Katherine finally brought them out of the house and into their classroom.
"It should be class 204... Where is it?" Katherine murmured as she checked the acceptance letter.
"I think it's that one," Sophia said, pointing toward the classroom at the end of the hall.
"Oh, you're right... You guys go inside the classroom with this letter and give it to the teacher, okay?"
All three of the kids nodded in agreement as they put the letter into their pockets.
But before they could wave goodbye, Katherine vanished in the blink of an eye.
"I still can't believe I'm going to be in the same class as Mary..." Alex murmured as he looked over to his eight-year-old sister Mary.
"Well, age isn't considered. They only care about the mage level... I really hope we aren't going to be put in a class full of children."
Sophia replied that she felt a little embarrassed as well, being in the same class as both of them despite being four years older than Mary.
"Hey, everyone is a child at some point. You guys aren't even adults yet," Mary said with a slightly irritated voice.
"Yeah, yeah..."
Before Sophia could knock on the door, it suddenly opened, revealing a very familiar person right before their eyes.
It was Amelia, wearing almost the same outfit as Katherine except with a knee skirt rather than a long skirt.
"Welcome! You guys must be the new students... Don't call me auntie. You three hear me?"
The last part was only heard by the three kids as Amelia's voice appeared in their heads.
"Let's have you introduce yourself to the class. I'll be taking the letters, thank you."
As the three kids stepped inside the classroom, Amelia quickly brought them over to the front before opening the letter one by one.
"Sophia, do you want to go first? Just say something about yourself, like your favorite food." Amelia asked softly.
Sophia slowly stepped up to the front of the blackboard, taking a deep breath before getting ready to speak.
"Hello, my name is Sophia. This is my first year in school, so I apologize in advance if I accidentally offend anyone."
An awkward silence appeared in the room, but Sophia continued.
"My favorite food is chocolate pudding and chocolate cake. I hope to be able to befriend everyone. Thank you."
Sophia stepped back down to the side next to Amelia, letting Alex go up next.
"My name is Alex. I don't really have a favorite food, but I hate chocolate."
With Alex finishing it with a single sentence, it was finally Mary's turn.
She got a little nervous standing in front of everyone, but she pumped herself up, not wanting to be looked down on by the other two.
"My name is Mary, and my favorite food is chips. Thank you."
Mary's introduction confused a lot of people in the classroom, as they didn't expect to be thanked randomly out of nowhere.
But still, the introduction was finally over as Amelia assigned Sophia and Mary to sit next to two other students in the center-left of the classroom.
Meanwhile, Alex was assigned to be directly in the middle, next to a fully grown man who didn't look like a member of this class at all.
"Ahem, my name is Amelia Reid, but you guys can call me Miss Amelia..."
Amelia writes her name on the board before turning back to the student in the classroom.
"I'm actually just your substitute teacher for the week since Miss Amy got sick during the weekend.
I don't know how far you guys have gotten, so I'm just going to test everyone's learning capability with the beginner's test."
As Amelia began, everyone in the classroom also began to take their textbooks out of their backpack.
"Please do not open your textbook yet... Except for the three new students, you may read the book for now."
---
Class time flew by quickly as everyone in the classroom was being picked to answer teacher Amelia's question.
The three kids were silently reading the textbook to play catch-up with their peers.
Most of the knowledges were things that they already knew, such as basic information like how mana worked and mage levels from one to ten.
But it also had things that Katherine never taught them, like being able to increase mana by meditation.
Besides the textbook, the three also learned a lot from their classmates' answers to the questions that Amelia gave.
Seeing different elements of spells being cast directly in the classroom by their peers made them even more willing to learn.
Soon, the clock hit twelve as Amelia had been teaching for three hours nonstop.
"It looks like you all have a firm grasp of the basics. In the afternoon, I'll seek more advanced knowledge.
If any of you need to talk to me, I'll be at the teacher's cafeteria. You all are dismissed."
The moment Amelia stepped out of the room, the entire class burst into chatter, and some were already heading out to eat lunch.
Alex quickly took the chance to speak to his seating mate, who had been silent, writing in a notebook without being picked a single time.
"Hey man, my name is Alex. Can I ask what your name is?"
"My name is Justin... You're wondering why I'm in this classroom, right?"
Alex awkwardly scratched his head as Justin spoke out exactly what he was thinking about in his head.
"I'm a level one mage, just like you all... I had been in this school for over ten years now." Justin explained.
After a short silence, Justin went back to writing in his notebook. But Alex was even more intrigued by his situation now.
"Sorry if this sounds a little offensive, but how are you still at level one?" Alex curiously asked.
"I was just not born with the talent. But I believe I can overcome it with hard work to become a level two mage one day."
Hearing Justin's optimism and dedication to his dream, Alex felt bad for him and was inspired by him at the same time.
"I hope your hard work pays off one day... What are you writing in your notebook?"
"Just a device that manipulates magic."
After looking at the strange device in Justin's notebook for a while, Alex could tell it was certainly some sort of magical device.
But with zero knowledge of magical crafting, Alex silently watched it until Sophia and Mary came over with a group of people.
"Alex, you want to go eat with us?" Sophia asked.
"Sure. See you later, Justin."
Justin didn't reply or look back at Alex, but he did wave back before Alex left the classroom.
---
As Alex followed Sophia with their new friends towards the student cafeteria, he was a little surprised at how good Sophia's social skills were.
She perfectly blended in with the classmates she had just met, chattering with each of them nonstop the whole way through.
It was almost as if she had known them for years and had just met again after a long vacation as they shared their life.
Sophia even turned her groups of new friends to absorb Mary into their friend group before they sat down at the cafeteria.
"Hey Alex, do you want to introduce yourself?" Sophia curiously asked as he had been silently observing the whole time.
"Hello. I'm Alex."
Seeing four different girls staring at him, Alex felt a little pressured to end it there.
"You're Sophia's little brother, right? How old are you again?" One of the older-looking girls curiously asked.
"I'm ten, turning eleven in a few months."
Alex replied as he nervously clicked on the standard lunch menu. But all four of the girls kept staring at his face.
Suddenly, one of them leaned over and hugged Alex in her arms.
"Alex, you're so cute! You're so much better than my stinky brother!" The girl excitedly said out loud.
"Um, thank you?" Alex replied in confusion as Sophia separated them away from each other.
"Ahem, you guys should probably introduce yourself to my brother. He doesn't even know your guy's name yet."
The four girls looked at each other for a second, then one of the older girls stepped up first.
"Hey Alex, my name is Evelyn. I'm thirteen. My dad also works as a teacher here."
Alex nodded as he took a short glance at her much more developed body a few times before turning to the second person.
"Hi, I'm Luna. I'm twelve years old, and I'm Evelyn's younger sister."
Although Luna wasn't as physically mature as Evelyn, Alex was a little scared of her as she was the one who hugged him out of nowhere.
After the two finished introducing, Alex turned his attention to the third girl, who had extremely pale skin.
"Um, my name is Chloe. I'm twenty years old——"
Seeing Alex looking a little shocked, Chloe quickly chanted something that shocked him even more.
Her pointy ears, green eyes, and blond hair made him fall in awe, unable to believe the beauty before his eyes up close.
"I-I'm actually an elf... so that's why I'm much older than you guys. Mom said I'm only ten years old in human years."
As Chloe finished talking, her pointy ears, blond hair, and green eyes disappeared as she chanted a spell again to hide it.
"Of course, Chloe has to take all the spotlight... Ahem, my name is Camille. I'm eleven years old, and as you can see, I'm a bunny girl."