For the rest of class, Instructor Jenny had told us the story of how she and an eccentric alchemist fought the dragon. She even had another presentation prepared, depicting how she used an ability similar to sword aura in order to slash its reverse scale. Surprisingly, her story was also quite informative. She had talked about how monsters generally have weak points other than their attribute strengths and weaknesses, and that with a little bit of observation, one can defeat a monster even with a disadvantage.

  Since that was our last class for the day though, once class had ended, everyone went their separate ways. I personally needed a break from socializing as well, so I split off from Red, Seth, and Saya and went to the virtual reality training room alone.

  'Oh... there's a notice?'

  In front of the entrance to the training room, there was a notice posted on the wall.

  'Due to the popularity of the VR training room, students are allowed no more than 6 hours per week inside of the capsule.'

  True to the notice's words, almost all of the capsules inside of the room were being used. However, there were still a few empty ones, and so I chose one of those and stepped inside.

  I opened my eyes to a familiar white matrix and quickly read through the instructions shown on the blue screen about the different functions I could use while training. I then closed the instructions, which prompted another blue screen with options to customize the terrain and climate to appear.

  'This is sweet! Finally, I can do something that's always been on my mind since the ranking exam!'

  The terrain transformed around me, and I was soon standing on top of the giant hill. I laid down on the ground, and began using my momentum to start rolling. I was quickly being pulled by the force of gravity however, and I soon lost control of my momentum.

  'Wait... I don't like this... this is too fast...'

  I could think rationally, but my body was absolutely panicking on the inside. It was extremely uncomfortable, and as I slowed to a stop, I vowed to never roll on a steep hill ever again.

  'Anyways, I came here to train, not to play.'

  I opened up the blue menu again via the virtual wristband and looked at the different training guides it provided. I eventually found the one I was looking for, the "ability quantity" training guide, and opened it up.

  'Increasing the quantity of your ability is like stretching a muscle. Increase the amount you are using gradually, to the point where it is uncomfortable, but not painful. Maintain use for five minutes, before resting for three minutes. Repeat two more times to complete one set.

  Over the course of a few days to a few weeks, your body will get comfortable with the amount of ability you are using, and you may increase the quantity again. Please note that unlike physical exhaustion, the virtual world is unable to relieve ability exhaustion, so be careful not to overdo it, as that may lead to ability fatigue. If you feel any sort of sharp pain in your body, stop immediately.'

  'Alright, I can normally use a dagger's worth of dark energy, so let's try increasing it to a short sword's worth.'

  I formed a dark energy dagger in my hand and gradually increased it to a short sword's worth. The inside of my body began aching like crazy, and it felt as if the very fibers of my being were getting stretched out. I struggled to breathe, and my body began to shake like crazy. I felt like I was definitely overexerting myself, but I forced myself to continue. My mind wouldn't let me give up.

  Eventually, five slow minutes had passed, and I laid on the ground exhausted.

  'This is hard... but I'll last. I'll make myself last for at least 4 more sets.'

  ? ? ?

  I slowly opened my eyes and faced a vaguely familiar ceiling. However, I was fairly comfortable where I was, so I remained still.

  '...Wait a minute. I've been in this exact situation before, haven't I?'

  I forced myself to sit up and noticed the nurse approaching me, confirming my suspicions once again.

  "...It's the second day, and this is the second time you've been here, isn't it?"

  "...Sorry."

  I awkwardly apologized and turned my head away from her.

  "It's alright, it's a relief that you simply passed out from overexertion rather than death this time, so no aftereffects should occur. However, you won't be able to use your ability for a day or so. Your friend was really relieved, he'd been looking for you for a while."

  "Ah-"

  I instinctively checked my phone, as Red and I had exchanged numbers in the morning. As I predicted, there were a series of texts from Red from a few hours ago that were growing progressively more concerned about my well-being. Now that I was awake though, I sent a simple reply back with an emoticon smile before putting my phone away.

  'I can't believe it's already almost midnight... my sleep schedule is going to be destroyed. Well, at least I made my training goal for today.'

  Somewhat resigned to my fate, I said my thanks before returning to my dorm and changing into some casual clothes. Since I wasn't able to go back to sleep for now, nor was I able to train my ability due to ability fatigue, I decided to go out and explore the city near Evergreen Academy for the first time with the help of the internet instead.

  'Right... it was called Ocean City. Apparently, it was built by alumni of Evergreen Academy along with some other supporters, making the construction quick.'

  When I had first arrived to Evergreen Academy, I hadn't realized just how big Ocean City was. That was because I'd taken a taxi straight after I got off of the subway. But now that I was wandering around like this, I realized just how much bigger this city was compared to the city I was from, Cloud City.

  'Let's go to the shopping district, I think it'll be fun to get gifts for my younger siblings.'

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  As I called and rode a taxi to the shopping district, I set a budget of $150 in my mind. Although I had plenty of money from working part-time for two years in highschool, I still had the habit of spending a little frugally. Plus, I needed to be able to carry all the stuff I bought back to my dorm anyways, so I didn't want to buy too much.

  I left the taxi and entered the 24/7 Mall, a tall shopping building that was always open. Each floor was selling different things, such as clothing, food, and sports equipment. Despite it being midnight, it was still quite crowded inside of the building, so I pushed my way through the crowds and entered one of the many elevators there. After a bit of waiting, I was able to arrive at my destination on the third floor.

  Immediately, I could see large plushies being prominently displayed. In another area, there were multiple doll houses and dolls for sale. Other children's toys like slinkys and spinning tops were also visible. In other words, the store was basically a paradise for children.

  'Oh wow, there's so many amazing toys here! I'll have to get some plushies and RC cars, maybe even a few building blocks- no, calm down Gene. Self control.'

  Forcefully suppressing my inner child, I first went over to the plushie section and took a look at what was there. There were animal plushies, plushies of popular characters, and even plushies of some famous hunters. The one that caught my eye though was a giant plushie teddy bear. It was ridiculously sized, to the point where it was even slightly bigger than myself.

  '...It's too cumbersome, unfortunately. But wait, isn't there a hunter artifact shop in here too? Maybe I can get a spatial ring there.'

  With a new goal in mind, I temporarily left the toy shop and headed to the hunter artifact store. It was located at the top floor of the mall, so I had to wait a long while on the elevator this time.

  When I got there, security was very tight. It made sense though, since hunter artifacts were special objects made with abilities. I saw people in armored suits all around the store, and two men standing at the entrance nodded at me to acknowledge my presence. Slightly intimidated, I walked inside until I found what I was looking for.

  "Spatial ring, storage space roughly the size of a fridge... it's... $1500..."

  After I held a funeral for 1/10 of my savings and signed the receipt in blood, I returned back to the toy store with my shiny new spatial ring.

  '...At least it's a pretty obsidian color.'

  I wouldn't be able to use my spatial ring until after I bought the items though, so I waited on the giant teddy bear for now. Instead, I decided to walk around some of the other sections.

  In the doll section, there were many famous figures made into dolls. Popular idols, hunters, and singers were among the most prevalent. There was also big sets of doll clothes and accessories, along with a few dollhouses. The kids already had a dollhouse though, so I opted to get some Evergreen Academy themed doll clothes and a few hunter dolls instead.

  At the arts and crafts section, there were popsicle sticks, construction paper, and all sorts of other materials that could be used to make stuff. I decided against anything that was too messy, but I did grab those materials plus some markers and crayons.

  In the car section, there were various toy cars with different colors and stripes on them. Furthermore, there were a few trucks and buses to keep things interesting. The best cars there though were the RC cars, so I grabbed a couple of those along with a few of the hand sized toy cars.

  Along with all of those items, I also grabbed a few smaller things that caught my eye, like building blocks, plastic guns, and not too loud toy instruments. By the end of my expenditure, everything totaled just under $150, keeping with my budget.

  'The ring... well, it can be considered a future investment.'

  With slightly mixed emotions about my shopping spree, I bought and put everything in my spatial ring before returning to Evergreen Academy.

  ? ? ?

  It was the next morning, and I had woken up like a zombie. That is, if opening your eyes after keeping them closed for a few hours could be called waking up.

  Red had noticed my condition and the ring on my index finger, and I told him about my midnight shopping spree when he asked during breakfast.

  "Are you crazy?!"

  Hearing that from Red made me feel slightly ashamed, but more than that I was just too tired. I let out a soft sigh as I picked at the fruit salad Red had made for me.

  "First of all, you shouldn't go out as soon as you wake up from fainting. Secondly, you should've at least waited till today to go out at midnight since there's no school tomorrow. And lastly, you should've brought me with you!"

  "Sorry, sorry..."

  I popped another kiwi slice into my mouth as I listened to Red's lecture, although I couldn't help but feel that it was going in a slightly strange direction. Regardless, he soon dragged me out of our dorm room before suddenly stopping in his tracks.

  "Oh, there's mail!"

  All of the dorm rooms had mailboxes next to the doors, meaning that all of the students could recieve mail. This time, it appeared that our schedules were in the mail.

  Not including homeroom, the schedules only had three classes on them for each day; one morning class and two afternoon classes, with lunch separating them in between. There was a lot of flexible free time built in between classes too, allowing students to study class material or catch a break and relax.

  "Comparing schedules... aw, it looks like the only class we share is gym."

  "Well, don't feel too bad. We'll see enough of each other anyways since we're roommates."

  "Haha, good point! And I'll also be able to hangout with you between classes!"

  "...That's a maybe."

  After looking at our schedules, we entered the freshmen's lecture hall, where we saw Seth and Saya wave us over to their seats in the back middle.

  "Red! Gene! What's going- erm... Gene, your face looks a little..."

  "Dead inside? Yeah, I know."

  I sat down next to Seth and resisted the urge to put my head on my desk to sleep.

  'Funny how I've been trying to sleep for the past few hours but as soon as I need to be awake I'm ready to pass out.'

  "Hey, let's all compare schedules!"

  Red's enthusiasm brought me out of my thoughts as everyone pulled out their schedules to compare. Surprisingly enough though, Seth and Saya's schedules were exactly the same.

  "What kind of luck is that?"

  "It's the school's consideration for us."

  "Oh..."

  Red and I didn't ask any further questions before continuing to look at all of the schedules. There was some overlap between them, but unfortunately there was no class that had all of us in it at the same time.

  I could hear sighs of disappointment from Seth and Red, but before we had time to dwell on this further, homeroom had begun. Instructor Barrett approached the podium as per usual and began speaking to us.

  "Good morning everyone. Today's homeroom will be pretty short, as there's only two announcements to make. Firstly, you should've received your schedule in your dorm room mailbox today. If you have not, or if there's any issues with your schedule, please go visit the counselor's office.

  And secondly, there has been a gate expedition arranged for everyone next Friday. More details will be explained to you next week, but I figured it would be a good idea to let you all know in advance so that you can plan ahead. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Otherwise, you may be dismissed."

  True to his word, homeroom was very short today. I considered staying and chatting with the others, but I was too exhausted to do so. Instead, I decided to head towards my next class a bit early.