Chapter Sixteen

The following day wasn't much to speak of unless we are talking about the meals that were served, and the only thing I could say about the food is that it satisfied places I didn't even know existed. For breakfast, they served something called bacon, pancakes, toast, and eggs. They gave it a fancy term like buffet or something; all I know is that it's rich people's food. They just left it up to you to serve yourself (big mistake), and it was the same with lunch and dinner. Gloin and I made it our mission to destroy that buffet.

Gloin was different from the other dwarves. The other dwarves still stayed together, so did the elves and humans. Gloin assumed that I would want to sit with the snotty rich shits, but heck no. Arthur, or Elfy as Gloin called him, sat with his fellow elves, apparently not feeling the roommate bond between us. Oh, right, about the roommate situation: the academy thought it would be a good idea to mix races, so each room in each house had an elf, a dwarf, and a human living together.

Speaking of houses, there were four houses. The first house was our house, Dark Claw. Our house emblem was the black eagle emblem on the school badge, which was now stitched on our gray blazers at the back and at the right breast pocket, about the blazers they were issued to us first thing in the morning. The next house was House Artemis, which had the yellow angel emblem, then House Mycane with the panther emblem, and finally, Lushire, the snake house. The dining hall looked amazing when it was filled with students. Also, only the first and second years wore their blazers; most of the other years didn't. The girls' uniform was the same as ours, except they had to wear a skirt that wasn't too tight and at the very least should reach the knees (spoiler alert: only a handful of girls followed these two rules).

I don't know how Gloin and I hit it off, but we did. I liked food; he loved it. I liked working out; he liked working out. And he didn't care about status, not that I told him I wasn't from a rich family. So, after lunch, all the students were given some forms showing the subjects being taught and which ones they should choose. There were compulsory subjects like Math, Alvarian, Biology, History, Combat, Mana Core Dynamics, and Geography. As for the optional ones, there were Elvish, Dwarvish, Mechanics and Machinery, Variance Magic, and Portal Integration.

We were supposed to pick at least two optional subjects, so it meant that I could pick more than two. It also stated that if you picked more than three, they would only record the two options that you passed. So I filled it out and submitted it to the student affairs office, which did take me a while to find.

"Aye, Raiden, which options did you pick?" Gloin asked me while we were in our room.

"Oh, I picked Dwarvish, Elvish, and Mechanics. You?"

"Damn, three subjects? Okay, smartass. I picked two: Elvish and Mechanics. Also, why did you pick two languages? Or is it that you want to expand your horizon on the ladies?" Gloin asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"I can't even flirt with humans, and you're talking about other races. I just want to know the languages. No special reason."

"Okay, but with your face and Elfy's over there, you don't need to flirt. Just flash a smile, and girls will be lining up for you. Now, Elfy, your turn. What subjects did you pick?"

Arthur was reading a book, and the moment he was asked, he shut it, placed it on his nightstand, and went to sleep, not bothering to acknowledge Gloin's question.

"Raiden, one of these days I'm going to kick that guy right in his little elf balls," Gloin said as he turned to me. I chuckled a little. The two of us talked for a while before we ended up sleeping too.

***

Today marked the beginning of the first years' classes. Raiden woke up while it was still dark out, and so did Arthur. Gloin was deep asleep, his left leg sticking out of the bed and his pillow with a drool-covered stain on it. Raiden made his bed, and after that, he did his normal workout routine as he always did, without strengthening himself with mana. His workouts usually ended with his entire body covered in sweat, and after he was done, he would head into the bathroom, uniform and towel in hand, and take a shower.

Of all the things that fascinated Raiden, the shower was the one thing that fascinated him the most. The concept of a shower itself was new for Raiden, but what was even newer was that the shower poured out warm, hot, and cold water. Raiden liked his showers warm, like most normal people, because hot water was, well, hot, and he had spent most of his life showering in cold water. There was no way he would go back to showering in cold water.

After he was done, he dried himself off, brushed his teeth, and wore his uniform. When he opened his door, he found Arthur waiting for his turn, and as soon as he walked out, Arthur walked in. The sun was rising, and the rays managed to get inside their room. Gloin pulled his blanket over his face as the rays reached his face. Raiden watched the dwarf sleeping peacefully. He slowly walked over and leaned over his head.

"WAKE UP!" Raiden shouted right in his ear.

Gloin woke up with a startle, but as he was sleeping in a weird position, he fell right off his bed with a slight thud. Raiden wasn't sure if he hit his head or his back; the only thing he knew was that.

"Yeah, that fall definitely knocked all the sleep out of you," Raiden said as he smiled.

"You are an asshole; you know that, right?" Gloin said as he glared at Raiden from the floor.

"Come on, dude, it's our first class."

"And?"

"Well, we have to eat breakfast a little bit early."

"Yeah, and?" Gloin asked, clearly still pissed about his lost sleep.

"And I heard our history teacher is a woman," Raiden said.

"Is she hot?"

"Yeah," he lied. Truth was, Raiden wasn't sure.

"I've heard enough," Gloin said as he got up, rolled his blanket into a ball, and tossed it on his bed. He then stretched himself a bit before walking over to the bathroom door and started banging on it as loudly as he could with his fist.

"Open up! Some of us need to use the bathroom too! You can braid your hair later, princess. Get out."

Raiden did what anyone would do: not help out and enjoy the show. He sat down on Gloin's messy bed while Gloin kept shouting at Arthur to get out because he didn't want to be late. To Raiden's surprise, Arthur did open the door, but his hair was still wet, and he was only wearing his pants, which meant he was shirtless. Arthur made eye contact with Gloin, and in a split second, Arthur rushed over, grabbed Gloin by the neck, and pinned him straight to the wall next to Raiden, making Raiden jump to his feet. With Gloin's height and Arthur's height, this encounter ended up making Gloin's feet dangle in the air.

"Annoy me one more time, and I'll pull the air right out of your lungs," Arthur said in a low tone.

"Sorry, princess, we just met. I can't have you pinning me to the wall yet," Gloin said with a smile. He grabbed the wrist of the hand that was strangling him. He hit Arthur's elbow with his forearm, making him move closer, and then he blew through his mouth, but instead of air, flames came out, making Arthur drop him.

Raiden expected Arthur's face to be burnt, but as Arthur moved back, he could see the flame following a circular motion around Arthur's head before it disappeared, leaving his face completely unburnt, except for a few strands of hair that had turned black. Arthur raised his hand, making a torrent of wind engulf his hand, and so did Gloin, except his hand had flames. As they were about to make a move on each other, Raiden jumped in the middle of them, making them stop.

"Guys, it's sort of against the rules to fight using elements. Also, I'm pretty sure no professor would see fighting over a bathroom as a good reason," Raiden said.

"Damn, but I was really looking forward to making Elfy less handsome," Gloin shot back, clearly trying to aggravate Arthur more. But Arthur dropped his hand and walked back into the bathroom.

"Damn asshole really strangled me, but aside from that, you let that guy pin me to the wall?" Gloin said in a slightly accusatory tone as he rubbed his neck.

"Motherfucker, you two got elements; I don't," Raiden said in a slightly yelling voice.

"Wait, for real?"

"Yeah."

"Raiden, not gonna lie, but you need to fix that fast, or it will be hard surviving in this school."

He didn't need to tell him twice. From the moment Raiden woke up, he was already circulating mana around his body and absorbing mana into his core. He felt like if he did this continuously for a week or two, he would upgrade his core by that time. But until then, he should keep his mouth shut if he knew what was good for him, since he was in a school where someone could fry him, drown him, or bury him if he

was, well, himself.

Arthur got out of the bathroom fully dressed in his uniform. His appearance snapped Raiden out of his thoughts. As always, the elf didn't spare them a look as he got out.

"Well, now that he is out, let's get ready to meet Professor Hotness," Gloin said as he walked into the bathroom.

"You mean the history professor?"

"Yeah, yeah, same thing," he said as he shut the door behind him