6 AM
The sunlight was still hidden behind the clouds, making it feel like it was still afternoon.
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. Even though I was still a bit sleepy, I had to wake up early for school.
After all, this was an academy that trained heroes, so it was understandable that they were extremely strict about schedules and rules.
I needed to be in class by 6:45, so getting ready now was just right.
"But how the hell do I shower with this body?" I sighed and walked into the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror.
I have to admit one thing: every character in this game is beautiful in their own way.
Igor Snowy's face had that classic cold, handsome look. Even when I tried to make weird expressions, his good looks only made him look cute instead of ruining his handsomeness.
Damn, this guy is just an NPC who blocks the player's path, yet they invested so much in his appearance?
I brushed my teeth, washed my face, dried it, then swept my slightly wet hair back and put on my Ushanka hat.
"Whoa, I really look Russian! I bet this guy drinks vodka like it's water at home."
Thinking that, I used the toilet, took care of a few things, then left the bathroom. I took out my schedule to see what we were studying today.
"Contract Card Monsters, huh..."
This was the part of the game where players got to choose one of 18 monsters from different elements.
But that was a player's privilege. For NPCs, the monster they created would be based on their innate elemental affinity.
Yeah, for me it was 100% guaranteed to be an Ice-type monster. Almost impossible to change.
"Using an Ice-type monster... Ugh... How am I supposed to battle with this?"
Ice-types were like glass cannons but couldn't even do the cannon part well. Playing the game was already hard enough, let alone living it.
No, calm down, Igor. The issue isn't the element, it's how you use it.
After all, Ice-types had reached their peak thanks to defense buffs during winter weather, turning them from fragile glass cannons into sturdy walls.
"And since this game copies Pokémon's mechanics exactly, it wouldn't be surprising if it actually works. The problem is that creating weather or environment cards is really hard in the early game."
'Ugh, whatever. Time to go to class.' I currently had nothing in hand anyway, so there was nothing I could do.
I grabbed my books, opened the door, and looked around.
Yawn...
"Hm?" I looked to the side and saw a red-haired boy yawning widely before rubbing his eyes.
"Hm? Oh, it's you!" Lucas jumped in surprise, then happily greeted me.
...I'm rooming next to this tomato? Wow.
"Didn't expect you to be in the room right next to mine."
"Why do you say that like it's the worst thing ever?"
"I'm scared your loud mouth will break through the soundproofing."
"Huh??"
"Whatever, let's go to class."
And so Lucas and I left the dormitory together and headed toward the ancient-looking building.
Though the building looked quite small from the outside, once you stepped in it was incredibly spacious — magic, as expected.
"Our class is right next to Arthur's class. So it should be... here."
I opened the classroom door. Lucas and I were surprised to find no one else had arrived yet.
"...What time is it?" Lucas asked, confused.
"..."
I looked up and saw the clock hands pointing at 5 and halfway between.
"...5:30."
"...Holy hell, no wonder no one's here!"
"Keep your voice down."
Well, since we were already here, there was no point going back to the dorm. So the two of us sat down in our assigned seats.
"Hey Igor, what monster are you planning to create?" Lucas asked cheerfully, even though he was sitting quite far away.
"Planning? Don't you know that the monster we create is based on our own innate magic element?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? Really?"
"Otherwise why do you look so excited?"
"A dragon! Of course! Dragons are so cool!"
Yeah, I could understand. Every boy dreams of riding a dragon.
Creak...
Both of us turned toward the person who opened the classroom door. This time it was another familiar face.
Kaiser adjusted his glasses and noticed us.
"...What? No way? I'm actually slower than these two?" He looked incredulous, almost unable to accept it.
"Oi! Looks like the noble young master is slower than me, huh?" Lucas grinned, provoking him.
Kaiser narrowed his eyes at Lucas, then ignored him and walked to his seat.
"..." I watched him sit right next to me and take out a cloth to clean his glasses.
Seriously? This guy is also sitting at the front row, and even right next to me?
"What are you looking at?" Kaiser glanced at me.
"Umm... You look handsome even with glasses on."
"...I'm not interested in guys."
"...What am I supposed to say to that?"
Time passed, and the other students in our class gradually filled the seats until 6:45.
Then our homeroom teacher, Rook, walked to the teacher's desk, put his things down, and looked at the class.
"You all probably already know me, so I won't introduce myself much. This time I'll explain a bit about class schedules, breaks, dismissal times, and the currency system here."
"As you know, we study both morning and afternoon sessions. You must be in class by 6:45, and lessons start at 7 AM. Each period is 45 minutes, with a 5-minute break between periods to prepare for the next class. Usually you'll have 5 periods, so you'll be dismissed around 11:30 for lunch, rest, or personal activities. The afternoon session is the same — you must be present by 12:45, classes start at 1 PM, and you're dismissed around 5 PM."
This was the standard schedule of the academy. For me, an Asian student, I was already used to it.
The problem was the other students in class. Just hearing the schedule made most of them shocked, horrified, and demoralized.
Especially Lucas. The guy who was so excited earlier now looked like a melted slime.
Except for a few like Kaiser and Alvin, almost everyone hated the exhausting-sounding schedule.
"If you've listened without complaints, we'll move on to the next topic: currency."
"Money here is different from the outside world. We use something called Credits. Credits can be earned by attending a full period without leaving, raising your hand to answer correctly, and participating in activities."
"Let me give an example. Tryo, stand up."
"M-Me?!"
"You fell asleep in class. Minus 5 credits."
"Huh?!"
"Go check your student card."
Tryo quickly took out the student card from his pocket and saw his credits had gone to -5.
"The number of credits also represents how serious you are about studying here. So even if you spend all your credits to buy things, the credits you earn while studying here will still be recorded in your academic record as an evaluation of your conduct and academic ability."
"M-Meaning..."
"Yeah. If you reach -100 credits, you'll have to repeat the year."
"..."
I hadn't even done anything and I was already falling behind everyone else!
Seeing Tryo's regretful and pained expression, Rook spoke again.
"But this is the first lesson, so I won't punish you. Tryo, +5 credits."
Immediately, the -5 on Tryo's card returned to 0.
"THANK YOU, TEACHER!!!" Tryo cried.
"Then don't sleep in next time. Sit down."
Watching Tryo sit down while being teased by nearby students, I took out my own student card to check.
My information was quite complete, and there was magic that would make the card return to its owner if lost.
Of course, activating that would deduct credits for carelessness.
Those things weren't too important to me. What mattered was what was below.
There were 9 square slots under the information section labeled 'Badges'.
Yes, you heard right. The Pokémon gym badge system also existed here.
Well, here the gym leaders were called Guardians.
Guardians was a title given to students considered strong and skilled enough to challenge regular teachers — people strong enough to follow in the footsteps of heroes.
Unfortunately, as a new student, I didn't yet have the right to challenge upperclassmen.
But once I could challenge them and defeat all 7 Guardians, I would face the strongest people in the academy (second only to the Principal).
The Elite Four had been changed to 4 Heroes.
The Champion had been changed to The Sage.
The Heroes were usually people strong enough to become true heroes, or were already heroes. They could be current students, alumni, or teachers.
As for The Sage... this was the highest title a hero could achieve. Currently, only two people held this title.
One was Principle Mirlen, the strongest mage in humanity. The other was Juris, the greatest warrior in humanity.
The reason there were two was quite funny. Mirlen wanted someone to succeed him as The Sage, but no one was strong enough to defeat him. Those stronger than him had all passed away. So he specially appointed Juris, who was strong enough to become the average Sage.
But to follow the rules, he still kept the title himself. Thus, there were two Sages: one managing the academy, and one handling problems across the entire world.
In a way, Mirlen was legally slacking off, while Juris was forced to work 24/7 everywhere. No wonder Juris always complained and wanted to kill Mirlen whenever he got the chance.
"Any questions?" Rook looked at the students. Seeing no one wanted to speak, he glanced at the clock.
"Good. The first 15 minutes are over. Let's start the lesson."
He then held up a blank card.
"This blank card is the outer shell used to contain what you want to put inside — monsters, magic, traps, and many other things."
"This will be today's main topic, an introductory lesson on..."
His expression became more serious.
"Creating monsters."
The moment they heard that, everyone perked up, eyes glued to him.
As expected, this was the most attractive part of the subject.
"Unlike normal monster creation, starter monsters are very special because they represent the user's true nature, their element, everything about them. That's why creating them is very different from normal monsters."
He patted the small monkey on his shoulder.
"Therefore, although strength isn't its strong point, it has higher intelligence than normal monsters."
'...For real? So this silly-looking monkey actually represents his true nature?' everyone thought.
"Take out your textbooks. I'll teach you the theory first, then we'll do practical work."
And so time passed. Everyone who had been excited earlier completely melted under the endless amount of knowledge.
'Hell nah, is this really material for 6th graders?' I twitched my right eye. The knowledge was at university level. Luckily I had experience so I could keep up, but for these 11-year-old kids, it must have been terrifying.
I glanced at Kaiser beside me. He didn't complain at all, his face still focused on the board.
Lucas had already fallen asleep, drool soaking his notebook.
Alice's face remained calm, but smoke was practically rising from her head.
Alvin scratched his head. He was clearly concentrating but struggling to keep up.
Some students tried hard to understand, while others looked like dead fish.
Time continued passing until the end of the first period.
Ding dong~
"First period is over," Rook said, looking at the clock.
"Finally..." The students sighed in relief, joy and relaxation showing on their faces.
"But there's still a lot of material left, and we only have 5 minutes. So we'll continue."
"WHAT?!"
Yeah, Rook tortured the students all the way until the third period.
By the fourth period, he finally closed the book and looked at the nearly fainting students.
'Every year is the same, huh? Living in comfort for too long, then when serious studying starts they almost pass out. Is this the consequence of too long a peace?' Rook thought with a sigh.
But at least there were a few students who caught his eye.
Kaiser Orpit Dragton. The boy had remained serious the entire time. Every time Rook asked a question, he raised his hand. Every correct answer earned him +5 credits. He had already earned 20 credits just from answering, plus 40 for perfect attendance. He currently had the highest credit count in class.
'And the student sitting next to him.'
Igor Snowy.
The boy looked quite listless and lazy.
If it weren't for his notebook being filled with notes, Rook would have thought he was like the other students.
Although he didn't raise his hand, every time Rook called on him, he answered correctly.
Finally, there was the female student Mint Elexis. She wore round glasses, had tired-looking eyes, and slightly messy hair.
A typical mage — a future overworked, underpaid office slave. Poor girl.
Needless to say, she raised her hand almost as much as Kaiser and was very eager to learn, though a bit timid.
Overall, these three students looked very promising.
"Alright everyone, the dry theory must have tired you out, right?"
Hearing that, all the students lifted their heads, their expressions much better than before.
"Now it's time for practice. Put away your books."
***
Starter Monster.
Its nature is a monster that represents its user, and also a sign of what kind of monsters the user will use in the future.
For example, Rook's starter monster was a baby monkey with Normal and Fighting types. It represented Rook's true self — very serious on the outside, but quite ordinary on the inside.
He liked eating delicious food, sleeping enough, exercising every morning, and chatting with others — things normal people do.
That was why the baby monkey had the Normal type.
These monsters weren't particularly strong. In fact, they were quite weak. In exchange, they had high enough intelligence to understand complex commands.
However, their intelligence only went that far. They couldn't make complex decisions and always obeyed their master.
Therefore, they were perfect as Mascots. They cost almost no mana to summon and were very obedient. What could be better?
When Rook distributed blank cards and materials to all students, he reminded them of the steps.
The materials for creating a starter monster were fewer than for normal monsters, but there was one special item.
Special Magic Core.
The Magic Core was the most important thing when creating a monster. It was the heart of the monster and what gave it life.
There were 3 types of cores:
- Normal Magic Core → gave the monster a random shape or element (basically gacha).
- Elemental Magic Core → allowed you to choose the element you wanted.
- Special Magic Core → completely different. It would create the monster most suited to you based on your own being. There was no randomness here because it was tied to fate.
And this was the essential item for creating a starter monster.
'In the game, players get to choose one of 18 preset starter monsters to summon. No matter which one you pick, it's still much stronger than the starters of NPCs,' I thought as I watched everyone around me working on their monsters.
Chalk for drawing, magic powder, magic core. These were the three materials always required to create a monster.
To do it, you needed some knowledge of alchemy to draw the alchemical circle. Teacher Rook had taught this quite thoroughly in the previous three periods.
You couldn't be off by even a little. You couldn't use too much or too little magic powder. Everything had to be perfect, and you had to channel exactly the right amount of mana, or it would explode.
In general, once you got used to it, creating monsters or other cards would no longer be a problem.
"Grr..." Kaiser, who was usually very serious, now looked impatient.
He was trying to draw the alchemical circle on the card, then slowly sprinkling the magic powder.
Looking at the others, they were all struggling and frustrated. He glanced at his own card and thought.
Boom!
"Hm?" Everyone turned to look and saw one student with a blackened face and an afro hairstyle.
Oh, it was Lucas. He had failed.
Everyone laughed while Lucas scratched his head in embarrassment.
Then a few more explosions came from other students, and the laughter stopped.
I watched for a while before starting.
To be honest, making every step perfect had never been a problem for me, because I had studied geometry!
I hate geometry...
I slowly drew the alchemical circle, sprinkled the powder, then placed the special magic core inside.
Then I gradually channeled mana into it. My eyes glowed.
Vuuu vuuu...
A cold aura spread throughout the classroom. Kaiser's eyes widened as he looked over. Teacher Rook stopped in his tracks and stared.
"Ui! Why is it so cold?!"
"Has winter come already?!"
'This boy's body...' Rook narrowed his eyes, watching Igor continuously emit an terrifyingly strong cold aura.
Right after that, the crystal pendant on his necklace glowed, and Igor's body pulled all the cold back inside.
Then the card glowed, absorbing all the materials and slowly transforming.
I grabbed the card and looked at the monster inside.
Fluffy Snowflake
Lv 1
Type: Ice
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Fairy
Passive: Thick Cotton
Skill: Cold Wind
"Just as expected, definitely Ice-type..."
Then I jumped when I realized everyone was staring at me.
"W-What?"
Rook walked over and looked at me.
"Do you know how many seconds it took from when you started until you finished?"
"...Huh? Seconds?"
"Yeah, not minutes — seconds."
"...10 seconds?"
"Haha, quite confident. Unfortunately, no."
Rook smiled for the first time and put his hand on my shoulder.
"8 seconds."
"...That's not that big a difference, is it?"