A whole month had passed after the final exams of the third years including Baek Yoosung—the first years and second years promoted without any testing necessary.
Among the first years promoted was Copying Club's new leader, Sae Jaehyun who after getting evaluated. Was now officially a BC-Rank hunter, not strong enough for a whole A-Rank. But not weak enough for normal B's.
What about Ji Won? He was the only other member of the Copying Club. An official BD-Ranker. A bit weaker than Sae Jaehyun but his potential for growth nothing to scoff at.
There was a whole new influx of students that wanted to join clubs—some clubs were abolished, like the Pyromancer Club, while new ones sprouted.
A teacher walked into a class. His presence gentle and warm. A small smile on his aged face. His short and clean gray hair was slicked back, matching the feel of his red polo shirt and cream colored trouser.
The circular black wooden benches were arranged neatly. Students sitting behind them on chairs that looked more like royal thrones than any run of the mill chairs.
The students were now wearing even more formal clothing. Now sporting a three piece suit.
It still included the long coat the academy was known for, but the colors were now different. Some wore all black, some mix and matched different color combinations but no one wore white.
The teacher's eyes skimmed across each of the students, giving them all a small nod of approval.
"Alright. You all are second year students now. All of you look good but the fact that we have given you all enough freedom to choose your colors—doesn't mean you can copy the white color scheme of the Club Leaders. Understood?"
Most of the students groaned—they had been told not to wear all white since that was a new 'tradition' of sorts, only Club Leaders could wear perfectly white clothing for some reason.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the school day as the teacher turned to the large black board that was behind him, almost as large as the wall.
He picked up a piece of chalk and floated up to the top left corner and started writing—the class dead silent.
"Lets begin shall we? Today's topic shall be the ranking system so note it down quickly since there will be a quiz tomorrow."
He silently wrote every rank, a total of 18 ranks written, ranging from the bottom at E-rank, labelled as 'Weak' to SS-Rank. 'The Peak' as written by the teacher.
"Class. The first thing I'll tell you is a small comparison we teach."
He reached for the drawer on his own desk and opened it—pulling out a tennis ball.
"See this? Its a normal tennis ball, I may or may not have stolen it from a tennis game but that's a story for another time."
The joke lightened the mood up a bit. Earning a small chuckle from students, the teacher letting out a huff before he wrapped his fingers around the ball and then—crushing it—the ball exploding near instantly.
"Anything that can execute at the least. 300 pounds of overall force—as in their punches and attacks. Are designated the E-rank spot. You can consider them the peak of what normal humans can do without a proper stat system."
A student all the way at the back raised his hand, he was wearing a hat so his features weren't that clear to the teacher's weak eyesight.
"You. Go ahead and ask."
The student leaned forward against his desk
A whole month had passed after the final exams of the third years including Baek Yoosung—the first years and second years promoted without any testing necessary.
Among the first years promoted—was Copying Club's new leader, Sae Jaehyun who after getting evaluated. Was now officially a BC-Rank hunter, not strong enough for a whole A-Rank. But not weak enough for normal B's.
What about Ji Won? He was the only other member of the Copying Club. An official BD-Ranker. A bit weaker than Sae Jaehyun but his potential for growth nothing to scoff at.
There was a whole new influx of students that wanted to join clubs—some clubs were abolished, like the Pyromancer Club, while new ones sprouted.
A teacher walked into a class. His presence gentle and warm. A small smile on his aged face. His short and clean gray hair was slicked back, matching the feel of his red polo shirt and cream colored trouser.
The circular black wooden benches were arranged neatly. Students sitting behind them on chairs that looked more like royal thrones than any run of the mill chairs.
The students were now wearing even more formal clothing. Now sporting a three piece suit.
It still included the long coat the academy was known for, but the colors were now different. Some wore all black, some mix and matched different color combinations but no one wore white.
The teacher's eyes skimmed across each of the students, giving them all a small nod of approval.
"Alright. You all are second year students now. All of you look good but the fact that we have given you all enough freedom to choose your colors—doesn't mean you can copy the white color scheme of the Club Leaders. Understood?"
Most of the students groaned—they had been told not to wear all white since that was a new 'tradition' of sorts, only Club Leaders could wear perfectly white clothing for some reason.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the school day as the teacher turned to the large black board that was behind him, almost as large as the wall.
He picked up a piece of chalk and floated up to the top left corner and started writing—the class dead silent.
"Lets begin shall we? Today's topic shall be the ranking system so note it down quickly since there will be a quiz tomorrow."
He silently wrote every rank, a total of 18 ranks written, ranging from the bottom at E-rank, labelled as 'Weak' to SS-Rank. 'The Peak' as written by the teacher.
"Class. The first thing I'll tell you is a small comparison we teach."
He reached for the drawer on his own desk and opened it—pulling out a tennis ball.
"See this? Its a normal tennis ball, I may or may not have stolen it from a tennis game but that's a story for another time."
The joke lightened the mood up a bit. Earning a small chuckle from students, the teacher letting out a huff before he wrapped his fingers around the ball and then—crushing it—the ball exploding near instantly.
"Anything that can execute at the least. 300 pounds of overall force—as in their punches and attacks. Are designated the E-rank spot. You can consider them the peak of what normal humans can do without a proper stat system."
A student all the way at the back raised his arm into the air. Quite lazily.
He was wearing a baseball hat, one that definitely didn't match with his uniform but it was doing its job of covering up his features really well.
"Sir. What's the different between a B-Rank, and BD, or a BA-Rank."
The teacher gathered the destroyed pieces of the tennis ball before calmly throwing them away—a small smile on his face.
"Good question. A normal B-rank, can at the least destroy a small suburban home, a BD or BA-Rank might be able to destroy an average sized home. But—monsters are different, they lack the natural part of the brain we humans have called limiters."
He rummaged through the drawers once more—pulling out a plastic brain model and near the front of the brain was a purple spot which the teacher pointed at.
"The limiter is something that works along with the central nervous system and the prefrontal cortex to inhibit us from using one hundred percent of our mana and muscles. Monsters lack this so they are stronger, so a B-rank monster might be equal to a BC-rank hunter. That's why we have strategy my boy. We're just hairless monkeys."
The teachers in-depth explanation was interrupted as the large brown wooden door burst open—the golden handle falling off from its place as none other than Sae Jaehyun and Ji Won walked in. Dirt and blood on their faces.
"Sorry Sir Mal-chin. The club was assigned a C-rank one had just spawned out of nowhere in Busan. We left a day ago but it took an extra hour to clear it."
Sae Jaehyun said casually—like it was as easy as getting groceries from the store. His eyes skimmed across the class. His long white coat was spotless and so was his black shirt and trousers.
His ponytail long gone, now his hair much more neat and styled in a comb-over—to copy Dae Youngjae most likely
Standing behind him in a brown suit was Ji Won, his hair much longer and his height and build much more stronger, his hair split across the middle—most likely made to be so by Sae Jaehyun.
"Yeah, sorry Sir Mal-chin.. We promise not to be late.. I think."
His presence wasn't like it was before. Before it was like a boy trying to figure things out—now? It was a seasoned fighter who had seen it all burn and now wanted to build it once more.
Deung Mal-chin sighed softly, leaning back against his chair as he crossed his arms over his chest—a bit annoyed yet still. He understood the students.
"Well. I guess the class was about to be dismissed anyway. Just scribble down the ranking system on the blackboard."
The duo breathed a small sigh of relief since not only was Deung Mal-chin the nicest teacher—he was probably the best teacher around and they would never do anything to upset him.
They both gave him a small bow before walking over to the back, Ji Won giving a small glare to the students sitting on their desks—the students immediately scurrying away.
"Weirdos.."
Sae Jaehyun muttered as he sat down besides Ji Won. Leaning back and relaxing into his chair as they focused all of their attention on Deung Mal-chin.
The teacher took a deep breath, putting the plastic brain back into his desk.
"Kids these days.. I'd get whipped for being even a second late to class.. But I guess I can beat them up.."
He shook his head—almost as if to stop that spontaneous idea. He ran a hand through his hair, calming himself down before speaking up. His voice loud and clear.
"Just one more announcement before I leave, The new Clubs are as follows. The Summoner Club, The Assassin Club, The Enchanter Club, and lastly The Archer Club. Send in your applications to either the new clubs, or the old ones which you already know."