Homeroom II

When Alexander locked his golden eyes, remarkably similar to his own, with Altair's, a headache seized him. Altair grasped his forehead and grimaced, fighting off the urge to throw up. He felt something inside of him surge and spread out, seeking to escape the confines of his body. Yet the feeling passed as soon as it came, allowing Altair to take a deep breath and raise his head.

Thankfully, the seizure, or whatever that was only lasted a few seconds and no one seemed to have noticed, everyone still focusing on Alexander. The boy in question seemed pleased with the attention, as the ever-present smirk on his face deepened slightly. He swiftly turned his attention away from Altair and back to Vera, who had been staring narrow-eyed the entire time.

"Mister Legendry, do you understand the situation you are in right now? Being a few minutes late on your first day is not that big a deal, but your blatant disrespect for your teacher and purposely distracting movements are a whole other issue. Give me one reason why I shouldn't punish you right now and bear in mind, I was looking to make an example of someone eventually anyways. Prove to me it shouldn't be you."

Their teachers' words caused everyone in the classroom to shift. Vera had just openly admitted she was looking for an excuse to punish one of her students today, making Altair narrow his eyes in annoyance.

'I hate authoritarian people like her. I can already tell, Vera Quadreign is the type that allows no dissent or objections in any matter. I get that to Class A, which would probably be filled with unique and eccentric personalities, the teacher must have their own unique personality. But knowing this won't make her any less sufferable.'

Faced with her face of silent and stern wrath, the victim simply combed his black hair back with one hand. The entire time, Alexander remained unflinching before her threats and his eyes held the same playful light they had when he walked in.

"I apologised already, didn't I Teach? Why are you acting like I stole your panties or something, it's just being a little late. But if you really want a reason to let me off, it's quite simple really."

With that, Alexander flicked his wrists, causing a piece of paper to appear in his hand from thin air. Clearly, the boy had a Space Ring somewhere on his person, but Alexander had so many trinkets on him it was impossible to say which one it was.

Vera took the paper and read it, her glacial expression slowly melting as she got further and further down the page. By the time she had reached the end, her face was the picture definition of the word "neutral". She handed it back to Alexander and pointed towards the rows of seats.

"I will let this go once, and only once, so take a seat young man. And be warned, that excuse will not be liable past today" she instructed, causing Alexander to nod his head casually and stroll up the aisles of chairs. He took a seat two across from Elizabeth, causing the young girl to lean away from him. The sight elicited a chuckle from Alexander as he crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat.

Once Alexander had settled, Miss Quadreign seemed eager to move on. She walked over to the board and picked up a marker, before writing out several words. The class watched her work silently, still reeling from Alexander's antics. Altair was slightly surprised Miss Quadreign had simply dropped the issue, itching to read what was on that piece of paper. He looked at Alexander from the corner of his eyes, flickering back and forth between him and the board.

Miss Quadreign finished writing and turned back to her class, clearing her throat before speaking. "As you may have realised by now, your Class is comprised of people from many different walks of life. As such, the Academy has gone to great measures to create an all-inclusive curriculum that every student can benefit from. Your first class in every subject will cover the basis, even if you already know them. As such, I ask that you keep any complaints you have to yourself."

The last part sounded rude, but no one objected. Seeing this, Miss Quadreign pointed towards the first line of words she had written on the board and began to read.

[Classifications of Skills, Ranks, etc.]

"As per my words, we are starting with the basics of the basics. Any Ascender capable of putting two and two together will also be able to understand this. The measurement of power in Orvonia are Ranks and Tiers primarily, then stuff like Skills and Techniques. Each one of them are classified by letters, such as A, B, C and so on. Techniques are slightly different however, as they operate on a Star system instead, such as 1-Star or 2-Star. However, the difference is solely on paper and each Star roughly equals their letter counterpart."

"First is Levels and Ranks. The former is gained through killing other things and absorbing a piece of their soul, thus growing your own. Everything starts at Level 1 and once they kill enough, they reach Level 100. At that point, they undergo a qualitive change in being and enter a new Tier. Upon reaching new Tier, one's Level is reset back to 1 and they must climb back up."

"Ranking is absorbing Mana and using it to grow your Core. Increasing your Core allows you to hold more Skills and gain more power, called EXP, from killing other creatures. Increasing your Core also directly raises your Mana Stat, the only Stat that can be raised as such. Most Ascenders focus of growing their Rank rather than Level at first, as the immediate benefits it provides are too good to pass up on."

"The main difference between the two come into play the higher you climb one ladder. Increasing your Level causing all Stats, except for Mana and Luck, to increase alongside you. Upon reaching a new Tier, your lifespan is increased too. Increasing your Rank allows for more Mana and Skills to be used, and is comparably easier to do. After all, you simply have to meditate for a while, as opposed to going out to kill something and risking your life, to increase your Rank. When it comes to battle between people of equal Tiers, the one with the higher Rank usually ends up winning."

"Next is Techniques, which are classified by Stars rather than letters like Stats. A 1-Star Technique is roughly equal to an F-Rank Skill, but this is not always guarantee. There are several differences between a Skill and a Technique, which I shall get into later. For now, let's move on to Skills. A Skill is a special power Ascenders can use which come from your Core. The higher your Core, the more Skills you can use. Do note however, some Skills require a specific Tier as well as a specific Core to use properly. "

"The main differences between Skills and Techniques lies in their usage. To use a Skill, you must have the required Core and sometimes, a certain Tier. A Skill continuously uses Mana to be maintained, but the output can be freely adjusted by the user. Furthermore, an Ascender can use any Skill, even if it doesn't align with their Affinity. Doing so reduces the potency of the Skill, but it is still useful."

"A Technique, on the other hand, only requires an initial amount of Mana to start up but cannot be adjusted past its initial power. A Technique also required the user to have the right Affinity to be used, making them more niche than Skills. They are also cheaper in terms of Mana cost however, and last a relatively long time. Therefore, Techniques are mainly used by those with a weak Core or Mana Stat in order to compensate."

"To reiterate, a C-Rank Skill is roughly equal to a 4-Star Technique. Now, how exactly do Stats measure up in real life? This is a bit uncertain and a topic for debate well into the 3rd Era. In the end, it was decided that an F-Rank Strength equates to the strength of an average teenager. E-rank is your average adult, while D-Rank allows you to compete with most athletes. Ascenders only enter the realm of the supernatural once their Stats enter C-Rank. At that point, lifting trees and boulders is possible."

"B-Rank allows you to tear through steel with your bare hands, while A-Rank enables an Ascender to create craters with their blows. For S-rank and above...well, there's no point talking about that for now. Also, keep in mind that while the increase in mostly linear for the first two triplets, jumping up a triplet ensures a qualities change."

"For those that don't understand, the difference between F and E, or E and D isn't that big. Yet C-Rank is roughly five times as strong D-Rank. It gets crazy upon reaching the next triplet. An S-rank could tear apart 10 A-Ranks, while an SS-Rank could beat 15 S-Rankers. Past A-Rank, each jump is an insurmountable chasm compared to the own below it."

Miss Quadreign topped speaking here, surveying her students. Most seemed to already know everything she just covered, though slight surprise was visible when she explained just how big the gaps in the S-Rank range are. Her eyes sharpened like an eagles as she payed closer attention to each student, secretly noting their attitude. Even if they already knew this stuff, how much they othered to listen anyways dictated her opinion of them.

Ophelia and Nephelae were watching her casually, while Altair and Elizabeth were scribbling notes. Gordan, Zeze and Nezra watched on impassively. Alexander had his eyes closed the entire time with his arms behind his head, and one could swear he had fallen asleep. Yet the moment her eyes landed on him, his own shot open before slowly closing again.

Miss Quadreign stood forward from the board and waited until Elizabeth and Altair finished taking notes. Once they did so, she spoke. "Does anyone have any question they would like to ask?"

Immediately after she spoke, Elizabeth's hand shot up. "Teacher, how many Levels warrant an increase in Stats?" she asked excitedly.

Miss Quadreign nodded approvingly at her question. "Very good Elizabeth. The exact connection between Levels and Stats is hard to grasp. Generally speaking, a Mortal Tier will have an average of E for their Stats, while someone like a Master would have D on average. Yet there are exceptions, with multiple cases in history of a Master or Grandmaster possessing C, B and even a Stat at A. If one has multiple booster Skills, you can increase your Stats beyond what your Tier would generally allow, but this trick isn't absolute."

Altair mulled over his teacher's words as he jotted down her answer. 'So a Mortal of Orvonia is roughly as strong as a "normal" Human in the Main Universe...while the likes of Masters could be considered top athletes. Makes sense I guess, since you would be a "master" at sports to possess such strength. While a Grandmaster surpasses basic Humanity and achieves something greater.'

But the Altair frowned as he realised something. 'Wait a minutes System, show me my Stats.'

====================<<♉︎♉︎ >>==========================

Strength: D-

Speed: E+

Defence: E+

Vitality: E+

Intelligence: A

Mana: D

Luck: S

Charm: B-

Techniques: ∅

Bloodline(s): Atrazark-Zephylte, Hyppiliote-Nyx,

=======================<<♉︎♉︎ >>=======================

Upon seeing his Stats, Altair was blown back. Now that he actually knew what each Stat represented in real life, he realised how overpowered he was. 'System, why are my base Stats comparable to Masters despite he fact I'm a Mortal and a child?'

[Two reason Host. First, Host is a Magi and thus has a much better foundation than others. When the scientific community of Orvonia developed such a ranking system, they used the average Commoner as the base. It is common for Nobles and Magi such as yourself to have much higher Stats starting out. And on that note, have you ever actually tried punching something Host?]

Altair's next words froze in his mouth. Now that the System mentioned it, he had never bothered to test himself. He briefly wondered if he could punch a tree in half since his Strength was D-, before the next words of his teacher brought him back to attention.