The teachers stared at the chimera as it disintegrated, and one of them sighed. “Tempo! It might be too late, but you pass. Welcome to the University of the Arts.”

“Really? I thought you said I failed?!” Tempo stared at them with a smile. “A change of heart?!”

“No, you killed the chimera so you pass.” Another teacher stared at him. “This whole test was made to see if you can survive the monster classes. There are multiple courses like that where you’ll be sent to the forest to observe or study monsters’ behavior, search for material, or test dangerous spells. We don’t want the students to die alone in the wilderness.”

“I see…” Arad stared at them.

“Mira and Aella didn’t test.” A teacher stared at him, “Make sure you protect them. We’ll, we’ll be sending you with them all the time, so get ready for extra lessons and classes.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Arad waved his hand. “I can handle it.”

“We’ll see about that. Beating one powerful monster is one thing, but exhaustion accumulated over time will take even the strongest warriors down.” He looked at Arad and Tempo, “Go to the dorms and rest well. Tomorrow will be your first class.”

“How should we know where to go tomorrow? We’re over eight hundred students. Will it be the first test, tracing magic to find our classes?!” Tempo stared at the teachers with sparkling eyes, but they shook their heads.

“No, the lists would get hung in the dorms tonight. You’ll be informed then.” The teacher replied as he turned toward the others, “We’ll go inspect the chains and find out why did it break. Such a dangerous failure can’t be allowed to happen again.”

****

That spelled the end of the selection tests, and all the students moved to the dorms located inside the university’s premises. The men’s and women’s dorms were separated by a massive wall, each looking like a small city block with several large buildings, a large open plaza, a market and open green land for sport, and a walled training ground. The residential area took over a third of the university’s land, making it seem like a small city cut in half.

Arad stood in front of the men’s dormitory entrance, looking around as did all the other students. “There are so many buildings… How could we find ours?” He mumbled.

“The buildings are numbered,” Gojo said, looking at a faraway building, “That one has my name on the list.”

“You can see that?!” A student gasped beside him.

Arad poked Gojo, ^Don’t do anything strange,^

Gojo smiled, “No, it’s written there.” He pointed to a wall full of papers. Those are lists, but instead of using our names, they use our registration order. I doubt they changed it since the university got built.”

“So they give us rooms in order.” Arad smiled, “That means…”

“Sadly, I’m alone, but you aren’t.” He smiled.

Gojo and Tempo were alone as they registered at different times, while Arad and the rest were one after the other as they registered at the same time.

“Two in each room.” Arad smiled. “Good thing we’re together.”

“Reminds me of the old days.” Jack giggled, “I hope this year will be fun.”

There were a total of twelve buildings in the men’s living area, and the women’s area had the same number of buildings. Gojo got a room in building number 1, and Tempo in building number 3. Arad, Jack, and Abel landed in the building 7.

“Our room is number 37 and Abel is next to us in room 38.” Arad looked around, “But I have to say, it’s nicer than I thought.”

The room was large, almost five meters in length and four in width, with two beds, cabinets, and large desks. The dorms were built so the morning sun always shone through the windows with one restroom between each two rooms and a large shared kitchen between each five rooms.

“Shall we get to sleep? I’d much rather if tomorrow came quickly. It’s been a while since I slept away from Lydia.” Jack dropped on the bed with a loud thud, staring at the window with a large smile on his face.

“You two used to fight all the time.” Arad sat on his bed, closed his eyes, and tried to sense the magic surrounding the building. “That bastard is quick…” He growled the moment he sensed a girl in Abel’s room. ^You’re a devil, not an incubus.^

“We still fight daily. A righteous paladin can never get along with a petty thief like me.” He sighed.

“But you two complement each other well in fights. Lydia is the main damage dealer and you’re her support.” Arad opened his eyes.

“Suicidal maniac, she charges without thinking. It’s why we always fight.” Jack growled.

“She doesn’t have powerful regeneration like Eris.” Arad looked at Jack, “Can’t she make something out of holy magic to help?”

“Holy magic starts and ends with faith, the blind trust in your god. The deeper the connection and trust, the stronger power you can pull.” Jack pulled a lockpicking kit from his pocket, “Just as I trust my tools, she trusts Amaterasu. And the goddess never failed her,” He smiled, pulling a lockpick from the tool kit.

“If I drop this, it’ll hit the ground.” He looked at Arad. “Lydia explained it like this to me. If it serves a good purpose, and you trust a god enough. It’ll never hit the ground.”

“She asked me to drop it and then dived in to catch it. No matter the odds, trust and jump in.”

“That’s why she’s scary,” Arad replied, “She won’t care if I was the one facing her, she’ll swing her sword without hesitation.”

“But, maintaining such output requires a strong body and an iron will to plow through the pain and damage. She’s a tank, a warrior, and a divine blaster.” Jack giggled, “But she has a trump card.”

“I already knew about it. The spark she got from hell after Alony’s fight. She didn’t tell me, so you better keep quiet.” Arad looked at him. “I thought she was keeping it a secret between you and her,”

“She indeed is.” Jack smiled, tossing his tools back in their bag. “She said it’s unbefitting of a paladin to have such a vile power.”

“Stop telling me about it. She doesn’t want to,” Arad stood, “I’ll go out to explore the nearby city and forest. You rest,”

“Don’t need to tell me, boss.”

“It’s been a while since you called me that.”

“We’re still a party. Have a fun time.” Jack lay on the bed as Arad flew out the window.

On the other side of the dorm, Gojo stared at the ceiling, ^So brother is out exploring,^ He then looked at the slime in his hand, ^So, what should I do with you?^

“You aren’t throwing that thing out?” The other student with him in the room growled, “You can’t keep monsters inside.”

“It’s a slime, calm down. A cat is more dangerous,” Gojo replied with a smile. “And isn’t it cute?”He shook the jiggly blue blob.

“That’s it. I’m leaving.” He stood, growling as he headed toward the door and picked up his bags.

“Where will you go? The streets?” Gojo replied with a passive face.

“The last student in the dorm is alone and wants someone with him. I rather stay there than live with a monster here.” He walked out, smacking the door closed.

Gojo sighed, looking at the slime. “What a rude human, scared of you. Even though I’m here,”

This slime is small and weak, all of his stats are in the single digits.

******

Name:****

Race: Ooze.

HP: 6 MP: 7 SP: 3

Strength: 1 Agility: 1 Constitution: 1

Magic: 1 Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 1

****

Skills:

Digest Acid Splash

Resistances:

Slashing from non-magic weapons

Piercing from non-magic weapons

Weakness:

Bludgeoning damage

******

^Impressive! The spell actually works, I guess all that time spent playing with appraisal crystal was worth it.^ I couldn’t help but giggle. I’ve been working on a spell to replace the appraisal crystal, but every time I tried to apprise someone, it failed. It might be limited to extremely weak creatures or has another limit that I don’t know of.

“More experiments needed. I guess this what school is for, learning and experimenting.” Gojo smiled, “Or at least I hope so.”

The slime wiggled in place.

“You think so as well?” This creature actually responds. It might not be able to speak, but the fact it understands my words like most monsters is impressive.

At that moment, something came to mind. I’ve almost forgotten about him since I left him to dry, it’s bad to waste food.

“Say, little one.” I put the slime down, staring at its glistening surface. “I wonder, what would happen if I fed it to you.”

The slive rolled around in confusion, but I immediately stood up. I locked the door and stood in the middle of the room, carrying the slime in my hand.

“Let’s go,”

Dimension Gate A black hole opened in the air, leading into the infinite void of the abyss.

“Hello, you still standing there.”

Demogorgan’s body remained motionless, his soul still hadn’t recovered from the beating I gave him months ago.

I looked a the slime with glowing blue eyes.

“I’ll chew him for you. I wonder, would eating a demon lord make you one as well?” The slime wiggled in my hand, anxious about the future.

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.