The pain that ran through Alex's head was the worst one so far. He dropped the artifact he was holding in his hand, and it shattered on the ground. His own body soon followed it, hitting that same ground. He could hear multiple people getting out of their chairs and rushing towards him as he lost consciousness.

  Alex felt a warmth spreading through his body as he awoke again. The warmth of an arm and the softness of a bed replaced the cold floor he had felt against his body before losing consciousness. As he opened his eyes again, he could see Fillonia hanging over him, worry splayed all over her face. Her mouth formed a soft smile as she saw his eyes open.

  "Thank Helene you're alright, Alex," the healer said, the soft green light coming from her hand fading out.

  "Good to see you're back with us, Mister Vansteen," Miss Philaxter was standing next to him alongside both Henry and Zeth.

  "You scared us there, Alex," the young Fairy added to the sentiment. Zeth said nothing; he just nodded to his brother's sentence.

  "How are you feeling?" Fillonia asked. She raised his back from her lap and gently placed it back down on the bed as she got out of it.

  "I think I'm alright," Alex said. His mind was still a bit hazy, and he looked around the room for the large Drake. "Where's Professor Moor?"

  "Oh, Lukyn had a class to teach. He wanted to stay, but Annaba nearly forced him out. Saying it might have raised suspicion if he didn't show up," the healer answered.

  "It would have. Better to be safe." Miss Philaxter defended her action. "Now, Mister Vansteen, did the initialization process finish? Was that what caused the collapse?"

  "Annaba, please, let him recover first," the healer scolded her cousin.

  "It's okay, Fillonia," Alex reassured the healer before turning to Miss Philaxter, "And not quite. There was another complication."

  "Complication?" Henry asked, his voice rising with worry.

  Alex sat up in the bed and leaned his back against the wall. Talking to them while lying down felt strange to him. The pain he had felt during the last message the voice gave was gone, so as far as he was concerned they could move back to the table. Though he was sure Fillonia would protest against that.

  "I didn't completely drain the artifact, did I?" Alex asked, looking at the librarian.

  "You did not. I assumed you didn't need its entirety to finish the initialization."

  "Well, the voice complained that the partial power source, as it has been calling the artifacts, was insufficient. It stopped at ninety-nine percent and told me a permanent power source would be needed." Alex explained, shifting a bit inside the bed. It was remarkably comfortable for how basic it looked. At his mention of partial and permanent power sources, both Henry and Miss Philaxter pulled out their notebooks again.

  "The Pearl?" Zeth asked the Elder.

  "I believe so, Mister Rixtor. Power Pearls have an internal mana reservoir that replenishes itself automatically, in contrast to the artifacts we have been using so far, which have to be recharged manually," the librarian answered, closing her notebook again.

  "Do I retrieve it from the vault?" The assassin shifted, ready to leave on the Elder's order.

  "No, not yet. That would only draw the attention of Miss Reel and her masters. The first class of a new year always gives the students a temporary Pearl for educational purposes, does it not?" Zeth, Fillonia and Henry all nodded in response to the question. "Then I propose we wait till after this class, see if that Pearl is sufficient to complete the initialization process. If it turns out it isn't, we can revisit the Pearl Mister Vansteen came with. Does that sound like a plan?"

  Everyone in the room agreed that that would be best. Now that he knew he was getting a Power Pearl during his first class, Alex was looking forward to it even more. It made him wonder. He had been at the academy for at least three days now. When were the classes going to start? He had enough people around him who knew the answer, so it couldn't hurt to ask.

  "When do classes start anyway? I've been here for a while now and have heard nothing about it yet."

  "Day after tomorrow, right?" Henry answered, looking towards Fillonia and Zeth for confirmation. Both teachers nodded to confirm. "I think most of the new first years will arrive either today or tomorrow. Your situation just made you extremely early."

  "Okay, and do I get a fixed schedule of classes or do I get to pick what classes I take?" Alex added. Now that they were discussing classes, he might as well get as much information as possible.

  "Someone will drop a fixed schedule at your room at the General Dorm tomorrow evening at the latest. They're still working out some of the scheduling," Fillonia answered. "That first schedule is meant to guide you through the different classes first-years can take and should span about two weeks, I believe. After that, you'll sit down with a counselor to form your own schedule based on your interests."

  "Yeah, after those first classes, it immediately became clear to me I was going to go the route of the Support discipline, so I formed my schedule around that. From what Aro and Cynthia told me, they had the opposite and knew they wanted nothing to do with Support classes," Henry said.

  The fact that he was going to be able to choose his own classes excited Alex. Paying attention to the classes during those first two weeks was crucial. It would help him determine what kind of classes he liked in this world. As Henry and Miss Philaxter discussed today's events, Alex's mind kept wandering to what kind of classes this place would have. Sure, he could just ask them, but where was the fun in that? He wanted to be surprised when his schedule finally came.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  After a while, Henry stood back up from his chair. After Fillonia cleared Alex, they had all moved back to the table, much to Alex's relief. He really didn't enjoy talking to others while lying in bed. It made him feel old, and the fact that his new body was younger than his mind didn't help.

  "I need to get to class," the young Fairy said, pushing away his chair.

  Fillonia added, getting up, "I should be on my way too. I still need to tend to the herb garden."

  With both of them going, Alex decided it was time he went as well. Zeth had left a while ago by now. He had no idea exactly when the assassin had left them, but at a certain moment Alex had just noticed Zeth wasn't staring at him anymore. So if both Henry and Fillonia left, that would leave him alone with Miss Philaxter. And while he liked the librarian, he didn't want to be subjected to the plethora of tests she was sure to come up with once Fillonia was gone.

  The rest of the day and most of the next one were rather unremarkable. He was lying on his bed when his stomach growled. Since he had no morning check-ins with Miss Philaxter and Fillonia anymore, at least not until after his first class, he had spent yesterday and today doing all sorts of jobs from the Notice Board, even skipping lunch to do another job instead.

  One of them had been the library shelf restocking. Which he took on both days. He found it surprising that it was still there after his check-in the previous day. By the time he had left Miss Philaxter's private quarters, it was already close to noon.

  The other jobs were nothing special. They ranged from helping Mister Klynth in the supply store to delivering wood to the general dorm for the large fire pit. Alex had wondered how that fire had kept burning all this time, but even after delivering the wood, he still had no idea. He had to drop the wood off in a small room beside the kitchen and ask Tildia for payment for the job. Did someone just throw wood on the pile when nobody was watching?

  After all the jobs, Alex had accumulated just over forty Merit Credits, forty-one to be exact. While he had wished to get more. It was probably more than enough to get him through the first few days of classes while he got used to not having the entire day to himself anymore.

  His stomach growled again, and Alex got out of his bed. He walked over to the desk against his wall to grab a few credits from his pouch. Once his total credits had passed thirty, he had decided not to take the entire pouch with him wherever he went, and instead only take a few with him when he went out. While he doubted they would get stolen. He still didn't want to carry such a large amount on him. After all the hard work, he didn't want to lose them.

  Credits in hand, or rather pocket, he headed out the door and towards the large fire pit. Henry had been right in that most of the new students would show up yesterday evening or today. While the dorm was already busy before then, especially during breakfast and dinner, now was a whole other beast. Students of all heights and races ran through the dorm hallways as they settled in.

  Tildia had started setting up the tables in the courtyard earlier, just so there was more time to find a spot to eat. In fact, her golems were already setting up the tables when Alex left his room. Which was exactly what he was hoping for. Having skipped lunch, he was extremely hungry and just couldn't wait any longer. Despite him being early and the golems starting sooner, a few of the upperclassmen were already claiming spots. If he wanted a good spot, he would need to hurry.

  As Alex got to the bottom of the stairs, he spotted Henry coming down from nearby stairs. The young Fairy waved as he spotted Alex and walked over.

  "Hey Henry," Alex said, "Had hoped being early for dinner would give me a chance at a good spot, but it seems most seats are already taken."

  "Yeah, with the new students coming in, most of us upperclassmen either want to eat before or after them," Henry answered, "Since they still need to figure out how all of this works, the lines would be super long if everyone went at the same time."

  "That makes sense. If it weren't for Aro, I would probably be walking around like a headless chicken on the first day."

  "A headless chicken? What's a chicken? And why is it headless?" The young Fairy asked confused. It seemed they didn't have chickens in this world.

  "Oh, it's an expression from where I'm from. Chickens are a kind of bird we often eat. As for why it's headless, that's kind of hard to explain without sounding cruel."

  "I'm just pulling your leg. We have chickens here as well," Henry laughed. "So, should I get us some seats while you grab dinner?"

  "Really? I expected better from you, Henry," Alex laughed, "and sure, what do you want?"

  "I'll take a mareth burger. I know you like those as well, to make it easy for you."

  "Alright, two mareth burgers coming up."

  Henry handed a Merit Credit over to Alex to pay for his dinner and walked over to a nearby table that had four seats still empty. With an idea of where to search for Henry later, Alex headed towards the kitchen to order their dinner. The line was already getting pretty long. With a deep sigh, he joined the end of the line. Luckily, the line seemed to move pretty fast, and Alex wondered how many golems Tildia was using today. It surprised him how quickly had started to find things like golems and magical desk lights normal.

  By the time Alex reached the front of the line, he saw eight golems working in the kitchen. He had no idea how they all moved throughout the space without bumping into each other. Since Tildia had all summoned them, could they communicate telepathically with each other, or did they have no mind of their own and just followed Tildia's instructions? Another question he would need to figure out. Maybe one of his classes would explain it.

  Alex was looking forward to the classes. His schedule was supposed to be delivered to his room sometime today. Since it was already dinnertime, he wondered if it might be waiting for him once he finished eating.

  "What can I get for you, Alex?" Tildia asked, bringing him back from his musings.

  "Hey Tildia, two Mareth burgers please. One for me and one for Henry."

  "Alright, coming right up," the chef said, ordering two golems around with some hand gestures before calling the next student to order.

  Alex moved to the side while waiting for the burgers. With eight golems working in the kitchen, he didn't have to wait long before Tildia handed them to him. Since it was so busy, he didn't want to disturb her, so he thanked her and went to find Henry. By the time he had found the spot again, the other two empty seats the Fairy wasn't reserving were already occupied. Alex didn't recognize the two students sitting in them, so he ignored them and focused on Henry.

  "No Aro and Cynthia today?" he asked, nodding his head to the two previously empty seats. Handing one plate over to Henry, he carefully sat down with his own plate still in his hands.

  "No, they weren't hungry yet. Said they would eat after the rush of new students."

  Alex nodded, understanding the two other upperclassmen given how busy it was right now. The two of them talked extensively during their meal, trying not to mention his Otherborn status or Earth as much as possible. Though sometimes the conversation inevitably veered that way. Whenever they noticed they had, both of them looked to the surrounding students to check if they had been listening. Luckily, everyone around them seemed occupied with their own conversations.

  After dinner, Alex headed back to his room. The day had exhausted him. He plopped down on his bed, his eyes already hard to keep open. A sudden knock on his door jolted him back awake.