After more than an hour of teaching about dungeons, the first class period finally ended. Teacher May left the classroom and was to return after twenty minutes.
These twenty minutes were also a form of free period for the students and they could do whatever they wanted until their teacher returned.
Not wanting to sit around and do nothing, Ivan decided to take a walk down the hallway and back just to stretch his legs. Some of the students also came out as well to play around, these included students from other classes who had just finished their first class. This caused the hallway to not be as quiet as Ivan had hoped but he didn't really mind.
While walking, Ivan heard someone calling him from behind. This surprised him. Weren't the other students avoiding him, who was then calling him in such a busy hallway?
Turning around, Ivan saw a student pushing his way past the others while rapidly approaching him.
It was Carter. Ivan raised an eyebrow, Carter didn't return to his lodge after Teacher May sent him out of her class. But what did he want with Ivan?
Ivan didn't ignore the other party and waited for them to catch up. Only after Carter arrived beside him did he speak.
"What is it?" He asked.
Carter wore an embarrassed smile while rubbing his palms together.
"Hehe, brother Ivan. I just wanted to apologise for what happened yesterday, I really didn't mean it. I was in a bad mood and even blamed you after bumping into you, it was truly foolish of me.
I've thought about it since then and wanted to apologise but haven't gotten the chance yet, I hope you don't hold a grudge against me." Carter said everything in one breath.
Ivan glanced at the boy, forcing himself not to break out with a grin. How could he not tell what the other party was thinking?
All of this was because he had learned of Ivan's identity. The Castellan family was stronger than the Norman family, and could easily cause problems for the other party. Carter was obviously trying to prevent that from happening because the blame would land on him after the matter was investigated.
"Fine, I'll let it go this time," Ivan said and turned to leave. He had more important things to worry about and didn't have time to care about getting back at Carter.
A bright smile formed on Carter's face after hearing Ivan's response and he bowed several times.
"Thank you, thank you so much!"
He didn't chase after Ivan and quickly fled as well. From now on, he promised himself to watch who he messed with in the academy; he would investigate them before making trouble!
Meanwhile, after walking for a bit, Ivan returned to his classroom.
There was still quite some time until Teacher May returned and most of the students were outside, causing the classroom to be quiet.
With nothing else to do, Ivan closed his eyes and started gathering mana from the air.
Time passed slowly, and students were starting to return. Everyone who entered the classroom stared at Ivan. His eyes were closed and the air was strange.
All of them were still at the first stage of the Level 1 warrior rank so their sensitivity to the mana around them was very poor, they couldn't feel what Ivan was doing.
To them, it looked like he was sleeping while sitting.
"Hey, is that Ivan really from the Castellan family?"
"I didn't believe so at first but you can see that the teacher didn't say anything, he's definitely not lying."
"Wow, the Castellan family is one of the first-rated noble families, second only to the emperor's family. It's such a pity that he awakened a weapon class instead of magic."
"Right? The Castellan family is known for their talent in magic, it's such a shame. With how handsome he is, it would have been better if he were a mage or a Magus."
"Pff, he didn't just awaken as a weapon user but as a useless Paladin, his family must be furious. Looks like being a part of a big family can't save you from being trash."
"Hey, keep it down, what if he hears you?!"
The students whispered to one another in low voices. Most of the girls in the class felt it was a pity that he didn't awaken according to the reputation of his family while the guys mocked him.
Probably jealous that the girls were feeling bad for him.
Ivan could hear everything that they were saying but chose not to react, they were just kids and their words didn't affect him; he focused on absorbing the mana around him.
His mana core hadn't changed from how it looked after his last time in the mana chamber in his home. Improving without resources was truly difficult!
Some time later, Teacher May finally returned to the classroom.
Immediately she stepped in, her gaze swept in Ivan's direction. Although Ivan had stopped absorbing mana the moment he realized the teacher was back, May was a Level 4 warrior so she had still noticed the change in the surrounding mana and its cause.
'Absorbing mana even in the classroom, seems like he isn't feeling miserable for himself after not awakening according to his family's custom and is still working hard.' May thought, Ivan's evaluation in her mind silently improved.
Shifting away her gaze, she walked in front of the class telling the students to take out a different textbook.
"Our next class will be on beasts," she informed them.
Seconds later, the class started. There were two types of beasts. The ones found inside dungeons, and the ones found in the real world.
There were clear differences between these two. Beasts found inside dungeons were known as common beasts or monsters, while beasts found in the real world were known as magic beasts.
Just like humans, beasts were capable of growing stronger and their ranking was much simpler than humans. They didn't have sub stages and just got stronger the longer they lived, fed, or by the amount of mana they absorbed.
Beasts were graded from grade 1 to 5. Grade 1 is as strong as Level 1 warriors while Grade 5 is as strong as Level 5 warriors.
This system was the same for magic beasts.
Another difference between them was that not all beasts inside a dungeon had mana cores. Their strength could increase without them needing to form mana cores.
Some of them had but their numbers were few, about 2 out of one hundred beasts.
Inside a dungeon, beasts that had successfully formed a mana core were referred to as monsters and were eligible to become dungeon bosses.
The grade of the monster would determine the quality of the mana core. The stronger it was, the more mana its mana core would contain, and the more value it had.
As for magic beasts which were found in the real world. All of them possessed mana cores and just like the monsters, the quality of their mana core depended on the grade of the magic beast.
Time quickly passed and the class soon ended, it was finally time for the practical class!