Faces appear once more, like every other dream I have had so far in this world. But this time the faces seem to be talking to each other in a meeting of sorts. Ignoring me completely. There were at least 11 of them. Finally, I focus my eyes on them, and their frames come into view. They are all human shaped, wearing distinct outfits, ranging from winter clothes to clothes that look like something Mika would wear.

  They are gathered around a long table. They seem to be having a good time. At the head of the table sat a wise looking old man long gray hair and a long gray beard. He seems to be lost in though at the table. Contrasting the party that surrounds him.

  While I watched the old man, he suddenly looked up from the table and locked eyes with me, everyone at the table stopped their conversation.

  “You have finally made it, Darian…” the old man spoke softly. Everyone around the table looked over towards me, all taking a good look at me. Before I could speak I would be pulled out of the dream, awaking to the birds chipping.

  It’s been three days since we spoke to Professor Gilbert. In that time, Leah and Mika set up payments to the school for food and housing for both me and Enrique. Mika paid for most of it, but Leah wanted to pay for the dorms herself. She said that she wanted to make sure we got the best housing.

  During this time, Enrique and I learned of Leah’s past with Phil and the college. Turns out her and Phil were both students of one of the lesser known transported. After that they became adventurers, before Phil settled down and became a teacher.

  Aside from long lectures from Leah, we spend most of the time in the last three days packing and planning for dorm life. Leah explained to us how the lower priced dorms are hellholes no freshman should be forced to live in. I agreed, as I wanted to live in a nice place for the next few years.

  Leah explained how she would come to the college every week or so to check up on me and Enrique and to drop of supplies and stuff we may need. Since we were full-time students, we are not allowed to have jobs. I think that rule is stupid, but them the rules I guess.

  After I woke up today, we ate breakfast and finished packing stuff into the wagon. Then me and Enrique said goodbye. Actually now that I think about it, Enrique has really gotten used to the cabin the past few days as well as getting closer with Frank and Leah.

  The ride to the college was filled with last minute lectures from Leah about what we are to do at the college. Mostly about staying out of trouble and not getting girls pregnant. As if my ugly self could even pull a woman, so I mostly ignored her lectures. Except for the ones about the staff, like how they act and operate around the school.

  Most of the professors she told me about seemed rather cool. A lot of them are mana inclined races like Elves, Demi-humans and some select demonic races. But she told me to watch myself around one of the alteration teachers, as she hated Leah’s teacher and all the other transported.

  When we got close to the city, I began to think about how many shows I watched they were just like the situation I find myself in. For some reason, it took me a while to really think about the situation I was in. I have honestly been just focused on getting through the days without losing my sanity.

  Maybe I could use some of my knowledge of these shows to my advantage-

  After what seemed like forever, we finally got to the gates of ReKeller city. They were somehow more busy than the first time we were here. So many people heading up to the college in wagons. So many different types of wagons. Most look like the average wagon on the Oregon trail, others were beaten up, I even saw one that was decked out in ivory and gold. That wagon is probably holding some cocky rich asshole.

  We finally got up the hill that the college sat on. The line was so damn long Enrique swore it was endless. The college was filled with way more people than it was when we came here to meet the professor. The majority of the people around had sick white uniforms on with purple colored undershirts.

  Once our wagon got into a staging area of sorts, a few staff members came over and instructed us to show them our papers. Leah did so, and they showed us where the high-end dorms were.

  The other dorms they lead us didn’t look too bad. They looked like middle class apartments. They lead us to the center courtyard of the campus, that is where we found 3 very fancy looking dorms.

  The buildings were white, with black wood as an accent. To the simple man’s eye, they were lovely. And I would agree with the simple man.

  Staff lead us to the fancy dorm with the name “Philomon’s Hall”, which they told us was the dorm we will be living in for our time at the college.

  “Alright twerps, I ain’t allowed in the dorms. Since only students and staff are permitted there. So you guys are on your own from now on. The staff will handle the cargo.” Explained Leah, turning around from the front of the wagon looking at me and Enrique.

  She then handed us two booklets, “There is a crap ton of information on those. Do not lose them, they are your ticket to being on time.”

  “Yeah yeah, I get it.” Says Enrique as he snatched one of the booklets from Leah’s hand. He then hopped out of the back of the wagon and went over to the staff to talk to them.

  I nicely grabbed the booklet from Leah, “Thank you so much Leah, for everything.”

  Leah looked at me with an odd look, “You are going to be seeing me in about an hour, save your thanks for them.”

  “What?” I asked her.

  “There will be a going away party for all the freshmen. You and Enrique are supposed to be there, as that is where the student council will give a grand ol’ speech about how you are the future generation and all that.” Leah explains to me.

  “Ah, alright.” I said, hopping out of the back of the wagon. I looked around to find Enrique, and I spot him already speaking to some women as the staff takes our cargo to the rooms.

  I walked over to him, “Who are these people?” I asked Enrique, inserting myself into the conversation.

  Enrique turned to me with a big grin, “This is Quinton and Violet.” He pointed at the two women.

  Both of them gave a slight bow to me, I watched Enrique’s eyes following their chests as they did such. “Good to meet you guys, my name is Darian, but everyone calls me Shrugs.” I introduced myself, I offered my hand to shake.

  The one named Violet looked down at my hand with confusion, “Why are you holding out your hand?” she asked me.

  I thought to myself for a moment. The greetings here must be different from our worlds. So I quickly made up something, “Sorry, where I come from we shake hands as a greeting.”

  “Ew, I don’t want to touch your dirty hands!” said Violet as she slapped my hand down. Both her and Quinton turned and walked away from us.

  Enrique’s jaw dropped and looked my dead in the eyes. As soon as Enrique got his thoughts together he began to yell at me, “YOU IDIOT! OF COURSE THEY WON’T TOUCH YOU!”

  I sighed and looked over at the fleeing women, Quinton looking back over at me with curiosity. I guess I didn’t fumble the bag entirely. I then turned around and shrugged, “Oh well. If they aren’t worth the time, there a waste of time.” I said looking towards the staff who were finishing up the unloading job.

  Leah has now disappeared from the wagon entirely, probably went off to see old professors or something. I turned back around to see Enrique has completely abandoned me, walking off to go speak to another group of women.

  I sighed and looked around for something to do. I see groups of people talking with each other, I see loners like me just standing around without anyone. There was one rather large group nearing the middle of the courtyard, probably filled with the most popular students.

  I see a group of three people approach them large group. A tall brown haired human, a blonde elf and a girl that looks rather familiar. The girl in question has short white hair, pointy ears and bright blue eyes. I could have sworn I’ve seen her before. But my memory fails me at the moment and I lose interest in the group.

  I follow one of the staff members who were unloading the cargo to my dorm, which was on the highest floor of Philomon’s Hall. The fourth floor.

  After climbing the stairs, I started to feel bad for the staff members who were carrying all of my items to my room. I get to the top of the stairs, where I was met with a hall clad in ivory, gold, fancy woods, and painting. Something I have never seen in my life. I kept following the staff into my room. Dorm Six, Floor Four. The room was located the farthest from the stairs.

  I reach the doorway, where I bumped into the one of the staff members who had just dropped off a box in my dorm. He had a hat on that fell to the ground. I reached down and picked up the hat and gave it to the man. He gave me a scowl I have never seen on a person, it was wicked.

  I moved aside so that he could pass me and I entered the dorm.

  The main room was big. Magic runes attached to the wall creating a dim lit room. I assume that I could adjust them at will once I could actually use runes. The first room to the left of the door was a decently sized bathroom, and crossed from it was a closet. And going forward from the door lead to the main room, which had a very large bed pushed up against the wall of the closet, with a window to the left of it. On the far wall there was a window with lavish curtains, which under sat a big desk made up of some sturdy looking wood. The room itself had fancy ebony walls painted with plum purple designs. The floor was made up of the same black wood that lined the rest of the dorms.

  This, THIS was way more than I was expecting. It even had a bookshelf already full of books. The first thing I did in this room was plop on the large bed. The bed was soft like a cloud, with sheets that matched the wall’s design. I couldn’t have picked a cooled comb of colors for my sick ass room.

  After laying on my bed for a while, watching the staff finish up their job. I decided once they leave I will put on the uniform that was tucked into one of the boxes.

  The staff left as soon as they finished moving all the boxes, I started to look for the box labeled clothes. I opened it and at the top of the box my uniform was neatly tucked away in the box.

  After that I took out my uniform. White suit with a purple under shirt. The pants were plain white dress pants.

  I went over to the mirror in the corner of the room and I stripped down. I looked at myself for a moment. My face was unshaven and my goatee was unkept. I pinched the chub around my hairy stomach, then I looked down at my well-defined legs. I think being in this world has led me to lose a few pounds in just a few days, which I am glad since at home I didn’t do much to lose the fat.

  I quickly put on the uniform, it fits nicely. Not too loose, not to tight. It was just right. I looked at myself in the mirror, I thought it looked pretty good. I turned around to see how my backside looked. It looks great as well.

  I smiled into the mirror before going looking for a box full of the toiletries. It didn’t take long for me to find some soap, shaving cream and a straight razor, which I used to shave and fix up my shaggy hair into something more nice.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  After that I went back over to the mirror to check myself out once more. I looked better, but my acne is now the thing that bothered me the most. At this time I didn’t have much time, so I just ignored it and left my dorm.

  As I opened my door I hear two people arguing, two boys. “Bro, we need to be heading down soon, the student council is going to give their speech any time. And I sure do not want to miss seeing the president.”

  “Why are you so into the president? She seems like such an arrogant woman. Full of herself even.” his friend replies to him.

  “Don’t call her arrogant. I hear she’s a great woman.” The man attempted to defend the president.

  “Sure.” replied his friend, who looked over at me and waved me over, “Come here, what do you think of the president?” he asked me.

  I came over to the two boys, “I don’t know. This is my first year here, so I don’t really know anyone.” I explained myself.

  “Come on man, you must at least know of the president.” exclaimed the boy who was trying to defend the president.

  “Shut up, Jonah. If he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. You shouldn’t try to lead him into agreeing with you.” said the friend.

  “You’re lucky to even speak to women, Marley.” Jonah spat those words at his friend.

  “Shut up!” Marley shouted at Jonah. I found this as a good time to leave and let them handle themselves.

  I left the two and walked down the stairs to the first floor, where I met Enrique. Who was waiting for me. “Hey, are you ready?” He says before looking over at me, “Damn, are you trying to impress someone?” asked Enrique as soon as he saw me.

  Enrique himself has also decided to fix himself up. He now has a fully shaven face and his hair long curly hair is fixed up into a tight bun. “You don’t look half bad yourself.” I said going into to dap him up.

  The dap was crisp and clean, but not too loud. Enrique flicked his head towards the door, “Lets head to the party.”

  He led the way out of the dorm. We walked over to the center of the courtyard, where everyone was gathered. The group was massive, probably the entire student body was there. Enrique and I made our way to the front of the group, where a podium was being set up by staff.

  “I haven’t seen this many people ever since graduation.” I commented.

  “Yeah I know. I still find it hard to believe we walked the stage that day.” He added.

  I nodded in agreement, “Are you still missing the pen?” I asked him

  “Hell yeah…” he paused “But this world is better than any kind of weed.” he added. After a moment he asked me a question, “How are you not losing it without the pen?”

  “I wasn’t as into it as you and Oliver were, I kinda didn’t care as much as you did.” I replied honestly.

  After I added that we saw the staff complete set up on the podium, and the same three people I saw earlier walk up onto the stage. A female elf, a human man and that girl with white hair. I now know that they are the student council that everyone has been talking about.

  The crowd went quiet as soon as they got onto the podium. The elf was the first to walk up to the podium, activating an unseen rune. The rune produced a magic circle in front of the mouth of the woman.

  She cleared her throat, the magic amplifying her noise. This cleared up any and all conversation that may have been still going on.

  “1,150 years ago, this land was just a simple hill in the middle of a small town. A small town that had just given this world a fantastic gift, the first hero, Watkins.” she took a breath.

  “Watkins was a scholar through-n-through. He established this school 50 years after he first appeared and ended the Great Schism. His goal was to teach generations about magic and combat studies and further the progress of our world.”

  I stopped listening to the speech around that time, being distracted by the two other members of the student council who were present. The human man was standing proud, his hair flowing like a lions mane. His smirk told me all I needed to know about this guy. He was overconfident and probably had a huge ego.

  Then I looked over at the other member, the girl with white hair and pointy ears. She looked like an elf, but she seemed a bit different compared to the blonde one. Her demeanor was different from the mans, that being a bit more timid. Her eyes darted around the crowd, sizing up everyone. She fidgeted with her blouse.

  I took a better look at her, trying to figure out why she seems so familiar. Then it hit me. Back in the mountain village, when Enrique got me the hat and before that at the lunch spot. It’s her, the grandchild of the hat vendor.

  Before I could think more about her, Enrique nudged me and pointed to the guy. “Doesn’t he seem off to you?” He asked.

  I brushed his comment off and went back to paying attention to the speech, which the elf is now introducing the student council.

  “I am Layla Sylith, current president of the student council. To my right is Adrian Colins, the vice president. To my left is Reia Naoki, the secretary. There are a few more members that are not present, so they will be introduced when they are attending.”

  Yeah, he does look like a Adrian. I thought to myself as I looked over at the guy, who looks to be in pure bliss at the mention of his name. Then I looked over at Reia, who got herself together and looks to be doing fine now.

  “My goal as the student council president, is to improve dining and boarding for all the students by the end of the year. My platform remains the same since my election last year.” Layla kept going on and on about how the student council is going to improve the school in all sorts of ways.

  After listening to the rest of the speech from Layla, the trio got off the podium and everyone left the area to the building that was holding the party. Enrique and I followed the crowd to a rather large ballroom.

  Quickly, Enrique and I met up with Leah, who was sitting with professor Gilbert. I overhear a bit of the conversation that they were having.

  “Yeah, we’re separating. She’s leaving town Saturday to go and live with her parents in the capital.” the professor tells Leah.

  “I never would have guessed that you of all people would get a divorce.” Leah sarcastically says.

  “Shut up, you will never know the love that me and her had for each other.” Professor Gilbert defends himself.

  “Like I would want to know your kind of love.” Leah says, eating a fork of the cake she had.

  Enrique and I sat down at the table they were sitting at, “How’s the dorms?” asked Leah.

  “Their really nice, I like them.” I waved over a waiter.

  “Me too, it’s a huge upgrade compared to that shitty cabin” Enrique comments, grabbing a glass from the waiter I waved over.

  “That ‘shitty cabin’ kept you alive for like at least a week, I don’t want to hear it.” said Leah as she took another bite of her cake.

  “I’d rather be dead then live in the cabin again.” He says as he drank from the glass. Slowly swallowed the liquid. Then looked over at me with a blissful look, “This taste like crap.” he says as he took another sip from the glass.

  “Anyway twerps. You guys are going to be living on your own from now on, and you will need to buy things yourself. So me and Mika put together a bit of coin to keep you guys alive.” she says as she picks up a box from under her chair and places it onto the table.

  “There are about 350 standard gold coins in here. It should pay for all your needs this year. Only rules I have for them, it don’t waste your money on stupid bets and don’t spend it on useless items.” she slides the box over to me and Enrique.

  “Split it up how you want.” She adds.

  Enrique and I look into the box, the shine of the gold reflecting into Enrique’s eyes. “Thanks” Enrique says as I look through the gold.

  “Your welcome. Its nice taking care of you guys, you add a lot to mine and Frank’s life.” She says, “College is going to be a hard yet very fun time for you guys, so I expect you guys to be trying your best in your classes. If you don’t, I will take back the gold.” she begins to lecture us.

  “And another thing, you guys may come across state agents in the area. Please don’t bother them unless you have a fair reason. I don’t want to come and bail you guys out from some jail like I did with the hospital.”

  “Yeah, Yeah. We get it.” Enrique says as he slides to box of gold over to himself to go through.

  Leah looks out the window, seeing how dark it is getting. “I believe that the final speech is going to be taking place soon, then we’ll be dismissed. That is when we will say goodbye.”

  I nodded. “Now aren’t you forgetting something, Phil?” Asked Leah.

  “Oh yeah. Right.” He pulled a ring out from his pocket, “The item I told you about for you negative mana.” He slid the ring across the table.

  I grabbed it and slipped it onto my finger. A light was produce when I put it on, and everyone at the table looked at it the ring. “Woah” Enrique says.

  I waited a moment to see if anything would change. But no, nothing has changed. And everyone at the table is quiet, waiting for me to say something. So I spoke, “Is something supposed to feel different?” I asked.

  “Uh- I don’t actually know. The textbooks just said to wear that stone, and it would grant a null the ability to use normal mana.” Professor Gilbert says.

  I sighed and placed my hand into my lap, “I guess we’ll just have to wait for me to learn actually mana.”

  Leah giggles at the interaction between me and Phil.

  After a while we hear a loud clink of a glass, and a man standing up from the central long table. The man wore a mask that covered his whole face. “Is he still wearing that mask?” Leah whispered to Phil, who shushed her.

  “Greetings all! It is so nice to see your faces here tonight. I am Dean Roy Hellborg, the current and longest serving Dean in the schools' history. And I am here to welcome all the new students to ReKeller.” The man began his speech.

  “I know most of you may be tired from moving into your dorms, but this speech is one to listen to.” The Deans voice sounded old and passionate. He had whimsical feel to his voice, as if he came straight out of a novel.

  “I will keep this speech short as I do not like wasting my student’s time.” He cleared his throat before going on, “Over a thousand years this school has been at the highest echelon of mana and combat education. Starting at the very beginning with hero Watkins and his disciple, our school has produced some of the greatest talents this world has ever seen. Including the hero that this country is named after, Araki Faceless.”

  “We (the staff) aim to keep the quality of talent going for many more years to come, so this year we are offering a special program for those who think of themselves as above the rest. The cream of the crop you may say. This program called RK Masters program seeks to give grants and special privileges to those few who can meet our standards. Details on this program has been written down on the booklet all of you have been given.” He paused for a moment.

  Enrique pulled on my sleeve, “I’m going to the bathroom, come with me.” he whispered.

  That was code for Enrique wanting to get out of class. He got up and left for the bathroom, I waited a minute, and then I followed him into the bathroom.