20 Second Meeting

It didn't take long for the professor to arrive. She was a tall woman, standing a little over six feet, but her frame was twig thin. I could only describe her as lanky, but even that would be a bit of an understatement. She looked anorexic. Her hair was in a short bob cut and her face was elongated with a hawk beak for a nose. It feels petty, but she was undoubtedly Ugly with a capital 'U'.

She was wearing terribly thick glasses and her eyes were hidden from view. Instead of a dress or petticoat she wore a miniskirt. Her top was a thick beige sweater with bangles and jewelry hanging off it. Her shoes were heels and they added at least three inches to her height, and her makeup was so thick it looked like you could peel it off.

She looked like the trashiest hooker I've ever seen. I'm not sure that words can do her appearance justice. Was this entire school populated with clowns? I wanted to just go back to my room and sleep after seeing her, but my perseverance stopped me. I looked around and it seems I wasn't the only one a little taken aback by our professor's appearance. I couldn't help but wonder why such a person was allowed to teach in the first place.

"Hello class. My name is Emilia Watterson. I am a skill holder and the only space-time magic user in the entire Gransus Kingdom," Said the woman as she took a slight bow. Her glasses almost fell off her face due to the movement, but she caught them in time.

"Before we start lessons it's important that I learn where all of you stand. So I'd like those of you who specialize in defensive or statistical buff skills to line up over here," she said as she pointed to the side, "I'd like those of you who specialize in offensive magic to line up here, and I'd like those of you with 'other' specializations to line up behind this training dummy."

All ten of us grumbled a bit as we sorted ourselves out. I, naturally, went to the offensive magic line. I have a few skills that aren't offensive in nature, but for the most part all of my abilities are designed to tear opponents apart. Lily and the gangster-looking Sell went to the 'other' line. Surprisingly, the girl called Mel came to the offensive line with me. I had expected someone with her timid nature to have a skill more suited for defense.

The professor walked in front of us and darkness began to shroud around her. A black window popped up next to her.

"This, is a window to Training Room 3. You will go into the training room one at a time and showcase your skill. If you have more than one, you will show your most powerful. When you're inside the Training Room I can observe everything and measure your mana outputs. There is also," said the professor as she paused and stared at me, "No risk whatsoever to anyone. This Training Room was built by the Founder. It's in an entirely separate dimension. So please, even you Calliope, use this opportunity. Use your strongest skill with the highest mana output you can manage."

While I didn't like being called out, it was obvious this was something Endyrion set up. He wants to know just how bullshit strong my level is. There's probably nothing to measure my strength with under normal means. He is probably looking for a way to quantify my power. To be honest, I am interested in this too now. I have never used a skill stronger than Expert since coming to this world. There are two ranks over Expert: Master and the hidden class Deity. Just how strong is a deity ranked spell? I could see the damage markers a Deity spell could cause back when I played SHO, but I really want to know just how powerful that damage is when translated to reality.

The first person to go into the 'window' was the girl Mel. The professor arbitrarily decided to do the offensive line first as we had the flashiest and most interesting abilities.

Mel stood in a field of darkness. We could watch her through the 'window', but it wasn't really a window. It was a projection, and it worked like a camera. It was a remote viewing, so there was no risk of the 'window' being a structural compromise in the Training Room dimension.

The girl Mel channeled her mana for a moment, and then she shoved out her palm. A stream of water appeared out of nowhere and began coiling around her body. The water formed into the visage of a dragon before firing off into the distance where it exploded in a cloud of steam.

"Ah. Her skill measured 500 kel," said the professor. I'm assuming kel is similar to the Joule of my previous world. Mel's water dragon was an Adept rank spell. I recognized it from my game days. If an Adept rank measures 500, I wonder what the other ranks will measure at?

"Next up, Calliope."

It's my turn. Mel walked out of the black opening in space and I walked past her into it.

"Okay, Calliope, this is a good opportunity for you. I have opened a window for several other people to watch as well, including the headmaster and the King of the country. A few other high nobles will also be watching. They will all get my reading too. Please, show us your most powerful skill," said the professor. Her voice seemed to just echo out of nowhere in the room.

The room itself was a black cube the side of three football fields in every direction. It was oddly easy to see, despite the lack of light or light sources. It also had a strange echo in it.

I can only shrug at how strange it all is. This is the first time I'll ever use a deity ranked skill. To be honest I'm a bit afraid. Of the two I can use, Heaven's Downfall seems the only option at this point in time. Rock the World can't really be used without being on the actual 'world'. I don't know how it'd react with this dimension, but I'd rather not break it if I can help it.

I begin loading my mana up. The consumption for a Deity ranked skill is beyond anything else I've ever seen. I can feel a full third of my mana pool drain away from me. This truly is a terrifying feeling. I've never depleted my mana bar this much no matter how many times I experimented. My body was filled with a strange mixture of exhaustion and satisfaction.

My eyes began to glow as I invoked the skill.

"Heaven's Downfall."

I said the name out loud as a massive field of energy began swirling around me. Electric sparks began shooting off in every direction from the ambient power. I held my hands up and a cyclone began to form. A cyclone of pure mana.

Then the skill fired. A blast so powerful it felt like my body would break apart from the kick alone spread out in front of me. The explosion was so bright it dwarfed out the sun.

"Oh my God!" Cried the professor's voice, but I could barely make it out through the deafening roar of my skill.

I wasn't sure what was happening anymore. Prolific cracks began to form along the walls of the room. An incredible brightness shone from behind them. The world felt like it was falling apart.

Then everything shattered. I found myself standing in front of a palace. A man sitting at a table was sipping tea. He looked at me and smiled.

"Yo, it's been a while!" He called. I recognized his voice immediately. "So you managed to literally shatter a pocket dimension, huh? Normal people would be scattered throughout spacetime if they did that, you know. You're lucky you're one of The Tempered. Anyone else would be lost forever."

It was Nox. It was the Fae that transported me into this world in the first place. I was looking directly at him, but for some reason I couldn't recognize any of his features. It was like he was blurred out.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Right now you're in the free space beyond dimensions. Only those with terribly powerful souls can survive here. You won't survive much longer, though, so I have to send you back to your world."

"Wait, I have questions I need to ask you!"

"We can talk later. Don't worry, child, we'll meet again. I can hardly let a toy like you get away. It's such a shame, though. I had finally managed to recover a bit of my power after sending you to that world in the first place and now I need to use it to send you back to that world again! You're quite a hassle! Oh, and quit being mean to RED. He's trying his best, you know. It's not easy to be suddenly shoved in a little girl's head."

I tried to say something, but the scene in front of me vanished instantly. I felt myself spinning and tumbling. Fantastic visions of planets and stars passed in front of my eyes.

Then I was back. I was standing in the middle of the open field in front of the class and my professor. All of them were paler than ghosts.

"You… How? That blast recorded over 700 billion kel. You shattered the training dimension… It's gone. One of our school's prized training dimensions is gone."

The professor's knees were shaking. Her expression was terrified as she looked at me.

"Endyrion wasn't joking… Ha. Hahahaha."

Her laughing voice felt wrong. It was unsettling.

"Endyrion is wrong. I'm not one of the Fae," I said, not breaking eye contact with the professor. "I was sent here by one of them, but I am not one of them."

The professor, upon hearing my words, started to calm down. I could see her thinking about my words, though.

"How did you survive? You shattered the pocket dimension. No one can survive something like that."

"I was rescued by the Fae who sent me here. He used up the last of his power to do so, saying I was too interesting to be lost to that fate," I said.

A dangerous glint flashed in the professor's eye. She recovered her composure and stood tall again.

"I'm sorry, class, but I need to go talk with the headmaster and report what's happened here. Calliope, that skill you used… You must never use it again. You shattered a pocket dimension with power to spare. I don't know whether it's strong enough to damage the main dimension, but there's no reason to risk it. For now, class is cancelled."

With that said, the professor started sprinting towards the main hall to Endyrion's office. How she could run in those heels still astounded me. I looked around for a moment, and all the other students were looking at me like I was an alien… I might technically be an alien. I'm not really sure.

"Sorry for scaring you," I said in far too chipper of a tone. I even gave them a smile. I think one of the boys had crapped himself.

"Calliope… What rank of skill was that?" Asked Lily, breaking the silence.

"That skill is called Heaven's Downfall, and it's a Deity Rank Skill."

"Mother of God. That… Skill could wipe a city off the map with ease," said the gangster girl Sell. "You really do deserve the title of boss."

At that I could only laugh. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I felt better now than I had for my last month here. I was in a good mood. I couldn't explain it.

"My name's not boss. Please, just call me Calliope."