4 Meet the Monsters

"Class, rise and greet"

Upon the class rep's order, all the students rose from their seat and bowed to the teacher at the podium. The teacher bowed his head slightly in return.

"You may be seated. Today is the day we will start our preparations for the upcoming Monster Battle Competition. You all have only two weeks left before the tournament begins, so today was set to be the deadline for you to bring your monsters, show them to the class"

The class sat down and listened attentively.

"Of course, you may think that it is better not to reveal your monster to your potential opponents at this stage. There is a merit in surprising your opponent on the day of the combat. However, there are three reasons for why we are doing this now. One, I need to see all your summoned monsters in advance to ensure that they are eligible to take part in this competition. We are broadly open to allowing all kinds of monsters, but since you guys are still students we need to avoid a situation where someone has accidentally summoned a monster that he cannot control"

There were some sneers around the classroom as some kids were glancing at each other as if to say 'he's talking about you'.

"Two, this competition is to see how well you can tame, grow and maximise the ability of your monster. The greater Magi you are, the stronger monster you may summon. However, an average monster in the hands of a great Magi will outperform a great monster in the hands of an average Magi. There is some element of luck and fate involved in the summoning process, but the true ability of a Magi to successfully raise a monster will always overcome the odds in the long run. The competition will be purely based on the final results of combats, but bear in mind that all of us teachers will be keeping close eye on your performance in this respect. You may win with the strongest monster summoned but show little growth over the course of few weeks, or you may have summoned a weak monster but demonstrate great aptitude in growing his ability in a short span of time. While the final reward will be for the ultimate winner, IF we see that you failed to qualify in the end but showed how well you've raised your monster, we could spare you from being expelled"

More self-conscious weaklings of the class were glad to hear this and felt determined to do their best.

"Three, and finally, there are monsters that cannot be tamed. This is a little different from a Magi summoning a monster that he cannot control correctly. For example, certain species of deranged monsters simply cannot be tamed even by the greatest Magi. If this happened to you, it is not your fault and we would not want you to be penalised for it. For such an exceptional case - and only in this case - we will let you summon another monster to partake in the competition"

I was standing behind Mira listening carefully to what the teacher was saying. I couldn't see her face from behind, but having spent some time with her now I knew for sure that she had a creepy smirk on her face.

"So I will reiterate the purpose of this monster introduction. We will verify that the monster you summoned is eligible, and we will measure its current status to have a reference point to judge its growth later. Be assured - you do not need to reveal the true name of your monster or his special abilities here. I will measure its power with the magic measurement stone which will only show its grade and nothing more. So ladies and gentlemen, please keep it simple"

So it begins. The 'people' of this world looked and acted exactly same as humans that I know, so I don't know where they get this idea that the humans of my time are some kind of different species of monsters and detached from them. So I was quite curious what other real monsters that are not human would look like, but also naturally nervous at what kind of scary creatures I would see and potentially fight against.

A boy sitting at the front row stood up and walked to the front of the class, and as the teacher gestured the boy to commence he raised his open palm facing the ground down and then up as if to pull some invisible thing out of the ground - and voila, something just creeped out of what I now know to be a concealment magic.

"Hey guys. This is my monster. He looks majestic doesn't he? Look at that lovely orange colour and black stripes on his skin. And mind you - his teeth are a bit sharp too"

With that, the creature that was obviously a tiger from my world roared, shaking the whole classroom. Jesus Christ. There is no way I'm going to even try to fight a tiger!

Then the second boy came up and did the same discard concealment command to show his monster.

"Ha! What a coincidence! I have something that looks almost the same, but bigger and more ferocious - and it has the longer thing than what yours got dude, just like you and I"

Ok so the kids in this world are still the same. And for fuck's sake that looks like a Saber Toothed Tiger. It makes sense. If they can summon me, or another creature from my time in the world, there's no reason they can't summon a 'monster' from any other era. I glanced at the teacher as he was looking at the saber toothed tiger through a transparent gem stone and he seemed to unconsciously nod that this was stronger than a normal tiger of the previous boy.

"Since we are doing mine is bigger than yours contest, I won't say much and just show you mine" - came the third boy.

:BOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOT!:

What the hell that's an elephant. Is this going to be a fucking zoo fight or something?!

"See? Bigger teeth, longer and thicker trunk. Case closed"

"Yeah and he's flabby like you too", quipped another boy which sent the class into laughter and the teacher had to interject.

"Guys - let's keep it civil. No more monkey business. Next!"

A fourth boy who was quite short and looked timid came out to the front but looked very nervous and fidgety. He was clearly hesitating showing his monster.

"What is it Mooko?"

"Sir.. I brought an actual monkey I believe.."

LOL.

"It's okay. Just show it to the class"

The teacher sighed through his face palm, but what the fuck?! This wasn't a monkey, it was a King fucking Kong struggling with slouching as its head was banging against what is already a very high ceiling in this castle like Academy's class room. The whole class wowed and wooed.

"Sir.. I have restricted its size for now as we are indoors.. Is this really okay..?"

"Bravo! I see what you did there. Well done Mooko, this puts the end to all the previous monkey business. You may return to your seat."

The boy looked relieved but the previous three boys did not. The timid one then returned to his seat.

So it went on and on. After some animals, I also saw some pretty freaky 'real' mosnters in all sorts of their permutations. Some I recognised from the mythology of my time, such as creatures that looked like dragons, chimeras, cockatrice, unicorn (what the fuck, how is unicorn even a monster), a bicorn(wait, if bicorn is a monster then it's only fair to call unicorn one as well isn't it), etc, etc. There was not a single one I could see how I can defeat in straight up fight. Some things I might be able to if I could summon correct counters, but I would have to do some extensive testing between now and the competition start to see what I can summon and use.

Then finally, it was Mira's turn.

"Fufufu. I, Minakong Ilennis Rasparan Ayenne of Kakwaszavoot Clan will present you with an honour of the most fearsome mons -"

"Mira, please keep it simple"

:Sigh:

"Ahem.. Okay, here it is - a Human, the greatest demon of them all!"

With that my concealment went away and I found myself awkwardly standing in front of these kids as the class went completely silent.

"Hi. My name is Faro. Nice to meet you all"

"YOU FOOOOOOL! Do not reveal your name!!", Mira shot back but I just shrugged

"Wait.. Mira.. Did you just say he's a Human?"

"Yes, Sir."

"But he looks just like us!", someone prosteted.

"Are you… Mr. Faro.. Really a Human?" - even the teacher had a shaky voice he seemed to find hard to conceal.

"Yes I am, good Sir. Don't worry, it's not like I'm bringing an apocalypse", maybe I attempt at making a light hearted joke?

:Collective Gasp:

"He said it!"

Welp.

This

has turned into a difficult situation.

:Ding!:

Misunderstanding +1

Cast Fear +1

Interim Summary:

Misunderstanding +3

Cast Fear +1

Identify Magic -1

Fashion Taste -1