"So what is ?" Asked Elizabeth as she licked the remains of her meal.

  It was mostly the oily remains of pork in her bowl, it was tasty and she had to swat Rossie's hand a few times after lig her bowl, the girl had eateeak. She didn't deserve her remaining!

  "Well, the css should be in half an hour. We will be having..." Rossie started saying while going over a pamphlet she had in one of her pockets, did the girl print a pamphlet for their csses? "[System]'s Advanced Meics by John Williams."

  The heck was John Williams?

  "You don't know him? He was one of the first-year teachers." Rossie asked her, did it show on her face?

  But no...She only remembered a few teachers, mostly Agatha and the crazy old man, to be ho, the other teachers ated their names nor stayed around most of the time. She wasn't even sure if they had a school nurse...

  "He was the old man at the Arena." Rossie eborated, "Didn't you know him?"

  "The crazy old man?" Asked Elizabeth, she of course khe crazy old man, but wasn't he called Crazy Old Man?

  "...Yes Eli-Eli, the [Crazy Old Man] is called John Williams, he is one of our teachers." Rossie admonished her while shaking her head. What? He was crazy and he was an old man, what did she expect from her!?!?

  "Fineeee, but isn't he like. The [Skill] trainer? Why does he teach Advanced Meics?" Asked Elizabeth, he didn't remember him being that open about his [Skill], wasn't his skill something about a boot camp or something?

  She at the very least didn't remember him having anything on his [Status] that implied that he was better managing the [System], granted she remembered (Vaguely) that his subset skills were about training...

  A quick look into her mindscape library pulled his old status sheet (albeit somewhat blurred) and sure enough, at best, he had [Evaluation] and [Optimized Training]. But that was about it, his Unique Skill was [Boot Camp], that didn't seem to be right for a css like that.

  "Yes, his former skill wasn't that good of a teag material, but the [System] took his [Mana Manipution] and tur into some iing skills. You will see soon enough." Rossie cryptically said.

  What? Was she supposed to believe that someohat was only had muscles and a bad attitude had good mana manipution? She didn't think so...

  Granted her [Father] robably among the best in the world at mana manipution and his whole thing was muscles and stern looks...

  "Sure, let's go then, might as well get good seats." Elizabeth said while standing and grabbing both food trays, she didn't get far before anirl came rushing her and took the food trays for her to take back.

  "Not like we will get bad seats, they should have our sets ready." Rossie said ign the thief that stole her steak remains.

  She had wao lick the remaining of steak from that pte...

  "Eli-Eli?" Her Rossie said while tugging at her arm, "Everything okay?"

  But no, everything wasn't okay, she missed the i ki... I mean, she missed her steak remaining, "Yes...Everything is fine..."

  She would remember that girl, at the very least she had the decy of not lig Rossie's pte. But still, she would remember...

  "Let's go." And in that tone, Elizabeth grabbed the pink-haired arm and tugged at her to leave the cafeteria.

  She didn't hear the cumutive sigh everyone did as they left, not the rush of whispers among them, everyone seemed to want to speak about ohing or the other.

  But that would be a story for aime.

  The didn't have anyone on their seats, plenty of students were around of course, but no one had actually sat down. Most decided to speak with others while not sitting and standing around, giving plenty of margin to the seats.

  "Weird." Elizabeth didn't uand why, but maybe it was a thing?

  Perhaps the crazy old man didn't want them to sit and just assighe seats as he wished?

  "Let's grab a seat Eli-Eli, Professor Johs angry if he sees students standing when his css starts." Said Rossie while pointio the opes.

  All of them, she had an open spot to choose anywhere she liked, Rossie didn't seem to want to take a pick... She noticed how the other students around seemed to not want to look at her while she took stock of the situation. This was getting weird.

  "I mean, sure...How about we pick ter and middle then?" Elizabeth said while making sure to grab a spht in the middle of the room.

  They would o get past four or five seats to sit themselves in the middle of the auditorium this css was being given, each row having tes in them and with barely five rows of seats, it would mean both girls had plenty of people to take sneaks peaks on them.

  Whe herself and turo look around something iing happened, first of all. Most of the people around made a mad dash to grab a seat.

  Now, usually, her self-esteem would be quite raised if they wao sit near her, to either socialize or take discrete peeks at her. But in this case...She wasn't quite sure how to feel, for most of them almost fought to grab a spot oher sides of the rows. Starting from the bottom and topmost row's ers.

  And moving to the seat...A...Till they had a small circle with two to three opes around them. And some students standing with their backs against the walls.

  "So Eli-Eli, what do you think they will teach us?" Rossie asked, was she oblivious to this?

  "I mean, you are the ohat took more csses of both of us. You tell me." Elizabeth answered, she wasn't sure what to think about this, nor if she should ask Rossie.

  She didn't seem angry about it, and to be ho, she was mostly curious about it, since most of the people around seemed to want to igh girls, then it meant that they wouldn't bother her if she got some snuggles... Right?

  "There see, the old man isn't even here, why did we rush then?" Or not, as the voice of Akira sounded as he kicked open the door and walked in.

  For a fra of a sed all sound around stopped as all the students turo see him aared ba defiance. For mere instants as his eyes shoh a strange light as he saw them.

  Then he swaggered his way to the row above them and sat himself there, she could feel his stare raining down on them, but Elizabeth refused to aowledge it.

  "Greetings." Rena for her part at least greeted them both.

  "Hello." So Elizabeth answered in kind and then turned her attention back to Rossie, who seemed to be scowling.

  The Pink-haired girl however erased said scowl as soon as she noticed Elizabeth looking at her, "Well, the sylbus said that they had been studying about skills iions with mana. And that today it would be a css on [Titles]."

  Titles?

  She had a few of those yes...Actually, she did o che that, her [Active] slot en and while she had some around, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to move them to that spot.

  "M css." Elizabeth didn't have enough time to dwell on that as the voice of the crazed old man came through the door aopped for a few moments to look at the css, "What the heck is this?"

  And said as such, she heard some movement around and noticed that their little circle of open spots had closed more, a few students taking one spot closer to them using Akria and Rena as some sort of break.

  But still, they had at least o open around them, oo each side and one below them. The crazy old man looked first at Rossie then at Elizabeth, settling on the blonde, "Care to expin Miss Starbright?" And just asked her.

  The heck was she supposed to say?

  "Don't know what you mean teacher, this is my first day at school si year, and st year I wasn't even in this css." Elizabeth answered.

  "Miss Singh?" The crazy old man asked her Rossie after.

  The pink-haired girl turned her attention from her to the teacher and alsed at him, "They are free to sit wherever they want or not. Didn't you say so the first day?" Her Rossie answered the man, then looked at those that didn't sit hem, "Or in this case, they are free to not sit in these spots. We didn't say anything to them, nor do we have things on these seats."

  She smelled something afoul on this, did her lovely, cute, and i Rossie do something to the students around? All the evidence pointed out that they seemed to...fear her Rossie.

  Granted, she knew Rossie was capable of doing bad things, she had enough text clues in the memories of the former Elizabeth and from her own memories of the st days. But she could fix Rossie!

  So she would o fix her reputation first, at least Elizabeth said that to herself. "I wouldn't mind them sitting near me," Elizabeth said a Rossie tense in her chair at her side. "I do appreciate them giving us some space though. I feel somewhat custrophobic with too many people around, but I deal with that for csses."

  And said the st part trying to give them an option to stay away, but making a statement that she wouldn't mind them sitting near.

  "See? I told you Eliza wouldn't mind us sitting near her." Akira said behind her.

  "Akira, the teacher is speaking with Elizabeth." Rena said in a lower tone.

  "So what? Not like I'm wrong here." Akira huffed and she heard the sound of something falling, did Akira stand up behind them?

  Why?

  "Not that it matters I guess...If you wanna stay standing so be it." The crazy old man said, wasn't he going to fix this situation? There were... Like four students standing!

  "Now, [Titles] what are they?" The crazy old man asked, he seemed to be speaking to himself as he moved on before anyone answered, "They are a way for the [System] to categorize what we achieve, usually granting us advantages for our success or making sure we repeat said achievements."

  Elizabeth started taking notes of this, si seemed like the obvious thing to do as he would soon enough expin some things that may refer to her, "They e in different forms, [Active] titles, and those who give effely while [Slotted]." And so the crazy old man started writing on the whiteboard.

  "[Passive] Titles, those whose effect are always on. No matter if they aren't showing up or not." He wrote a feles there such as her [Iron-Willed] title and the [Survivor] title that Rossie thought she would earn.

  "And finally [Special] Titles, those that are a bination of both." And in that final slot he wrote an iing example.

  [Member of The ars].

  "A good example of a [Special] title is those the members of the [ars] have, they usually have their moniker as an active [Title] and [Member of The ars] who also grants an effect around." The Crazed old man said while adding a list of names uhat example.

  The Beast Master

  The Traveler

  The Tinkerer

  The Mother of Shadows

  The Elementalist

  The Monk

  The Prophet

  The Sniper

  The Warlock

  Most of those names she knew of course, they were the friends of her [Parents], so of course she "THE HELL IS DOING EA THERE?!?" couldn't help herself but scream while standing and pointing with her hand at one of the names as soon as she saw [The Mother of Shadows] in there. She had heard from Rossie that [Ea] was w [Uhe [ars] as a [Hero], not that [SHE WAS A ARS HERO]!

  And that was [Eda] all right, wasn't that the [Title] Ea had?

  "Miss Starbright, we will not tolerate snder nor outbursts here in css. And while I have no idea how you mao cat the gossip about [The Mother of Shadows] being the famed supervilin [Ea - The Mother of Monsters], there will be no snder here." The crazy old man said, but even so!

  "But..." Elizabeth couldn't trol herself, this wasn't right!

  SHE WAS EA!

  "No buts, when [Shadow Pact] retired he left his spot to this fine woman. The other members of the [ars] accepted her on their side, and besides, [Tainted] no longer are a problem to society. Something I would think you would appreciate, because a year ago you would have qualified as a [Taioo." The crazy old man said.

  He wasn't doing woo lose that title.

  "Eli-Eli..." And Rossie at her side seemed worried for her too.

  "...Fine. Not like I do anything with that." Elizabeth grumbled while sitting down and crossing her arms in front of her.

  "Appreciate your vote of fidehe Crazy old man said with mirth in his tone.

  "As I was saying, [The ars] have at least two titles guarao them, one for their mohat made them into powerhouses. And another for their allegiao the group, it is suspected that the sed one grants them some degree of power or familiarity with their peers. As usually high power individuals have a hard time w with others." Said the crazy old man, while writing other names on the side.

  Elizabeth wasn't paying attention to those names, she just was w how the hell did [Ea] turn out as a [Hero] of all things. And why had [Shadow Pact] left the group.

  She...should feel good about [Ea] being there, she had helped her wheaint] was fring, even if in the end it amouo nothing... Also, she had the st message from [Chloe] to deliver, so knowing where to find her made things better.

  But still, her feelings couldn't settle, "Miss Starbright? Please rein your [Skill] or I will do it for you." Said the voice of the crazy old man.

  What?

  "Eli-Eli is still rec [Teacher], please be patient with her." She heard the voice of Rossie at her side filled with venom.

  Her Skill?

  She turned around a as all the shadows around in the room, she could feel them all, even those uher people, had she expanded her shadows? When?

  "Oh sorry about that, thinking of something..." Said Elizabeth while sending a mental and and releasing the trol over the shadows. She immediately felt as the extra mass of shadows sink within her [Shadow Haven].

  Leaving the bare minimum projected by the lights in the . "Sure...Now how do we know what [Title] someone has?" Asked the crazed old man, she had missed most of the css already thanks to [Ea]. "Miss Starbright?"

  And she wasn't feeling that well to be ho either "raise] ant to find out info about?" So she answered without thinking.

  "Correct, we use whatever version of the [Identify], [Appraisal], [Evaluation] or whatever [Infosec] skill we have. " Answered the crazy old man.

  Not that the question was that hard, "Now try to get information from anyone. So long the other party isn't above you i] you should be able to get most of the informatiora points to the ohat mao pierce my [Privacy] ao my [Status] t." And immediately afterward the whole css devolved into a screaming match.

  She could hear variations of most of the skills being thrown around a her defenses waver with each attempt thrown her way.

  "What does he mean by [Weight]?" Elizabeth asked Rossie at the side.

  "The amount of [Status Points] we have is what determines our [Weight], the rarer and the bigger amount of points we get the harder it is to pee the defense created by [Privacy]." Answered the voice of the red-haired girl behind her.

  "So the more points someone has the easier they have guarding their [Status]." Finished her lovely Rossie with a frown on her cute face.

  She would o speak seriously with Rossie, if she frowhat often she would end up with wrinkles on her face!

  "Thank you Rena," Elizabeth turned around to thank the red-haired girl, it was still weird to see the girl being...like this.

  "No problem, you feel like Akira. I don't mind helping you, it is my [duty] to help Akira. And if you are like him, then I [must help you] too." Answered Rena as if nothing.

  That...Wasn't right, but she had too many things right now to worry about, she just made another mental o rush her development of her former [Summon Minion] skill. She o stie of those shadons to Rena.

  But if that was the case... A quick mental math calcution put her current status as a level 24 in the world pre-system. The current world made it so not everyone earhe full 14 points, some earnihan others.

  The crazy old man had been level 26 before, if he earned less points...Then she should have enough [Weight] to pierce his defenses...

  She would enjoy this "[Appraisal]!" Elizabeth intoned while fog the mana in her eyes and direg her skill toward the smug-looking bastard.

  "KUH!" A as if she had crashed into a wall, a very sturdy wall.

  "And this css, is another example to the list, if you aren't sure about the level of someoake caution for the mana backsh, if the [Weight] is too big then it may hurt like that." The crazy old man said while looking at her.

  "No problem here teacher, I help Elizabeth myself." And then she felt the soothing mana of her lovely Rossie flooding her body. The headache she didn't know was f running away immediately.

  "Okay then, move along css. Unless someone else wants tain?" Asked the crazy old man looking in her dire... Did he waain? Or not, Elizabeth noticed his eyes were looking somewhat above her.

  Had Akira tried the same thing?

  "Hmph, as if I o know the [Status] of a [mere npc]." Said the [Hero] above her.

  Yikes.

  Still, it wasn't like she hadn't earned anything from that scuffle, "I got your title teacher, or should I say [Drill Sergeant from Hell]?" Elizabeth said and everyone around turra quiet.

  As if waiting for firmation.

  "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Only to find the crazed old man ughing like...well, like what he was, a crazy old man. "Good, very good Miss Starbright. I don't know how you mao pierce my defenses ahat. I will need you to share the results of your [Appraisal] to firm, and to see if you got anything else."

  Status

  Name: John Williams

  Title: Drill Sergeant from Hell

  Alias: Drill Sergeant from Hell

  Level: 26

  Health: 100%

  Mana:100%

  Stamina: 100%

  Stress: 0%

  She of course obliged and with a motion of her hahe result from her [Appraisal] skill, as of how she mahat?

  She wasn't sure, "Not sure, maybe I got lucky and mao slip some mana around? I did leveled a few times my [Mana Manipution] from this." Elizabeth answered while looking at her new notification.

  Notice:Proficy towards the level achieved!

  Mana Manipution 7>10Appraisal 1>5

  It robably because she already khe tents to some extent, but she of course wouldn't ahat. Not like anyone would believe her.

  But still, it was good to get some extra levels on her skills, they would e in handy when she o deal with [Ea].

  "Mister Williams? We o speak with one of your students." And then something brought her out of her musings.

  The voice of a female she wished to never hear again.

  "Miss Dawnstrike? Sure, the css is almost over anyway." Said the crazy old man while looking at Selen, she was still dressed in the same style of uniform as before.

  Shouldn't she have graduated already? Why was she still here?

  "It will not take too long." Selen said while bowing to the crazy old man, afterwards, she eyed those standing on the bad then Akira & Rena, moving to her lovely Rossie.

  Of course Elizabeth moved herself a little forward to try and guard her girlfriend, only for Seleo focus on her. "Elizabeth Starbright, the student cil president will have a word with you." And said as much.

  Elizabeth felt the mana of Rossie tense and a hand grab at her, she turned around and saw worry in the eyes of her girlfriend.

  "Alone," Selen said, and she was almost 100% sure the girl said it gusto.

  "Of course," Elizabeth answered and then turo look at her girlfriend, "I will go and see what they want, it shouldn't take too long. you get the dinner ready?"

  "...I will kill everyone in this god-forsaken campus if you do anything to Elizabeth." Rossie said with pure hatred in her voice while looking at Selen.

  "ROSSIE!" Elizabeth quickly said while c the pink-haired girl's mouth with her hand, "Hahahahahah, she gets the fu jokes."

  No one was ughing with her...A few even looked paler than before, "Of course. She does gets the fu ideas in that little pink-colored head." Besides Selen that is, who was smiling quite happily as her body seemed to want to start shining.

  "Rossie, no mass murder." Elizabeth turned around and looked into the puppy eyes of the pink-haired girl. "Say it with me, no mass murder."

  "...Fine...But if you aren't at home before 10 PM I will start preparing." The pink-haired girl said while grumbling.

  "That should be fine," Selen said on the side, "Let's go, lest your...friend starts getting excuses to do something she will regret ter."

  "The soohe better," Elizabeth said while standing, "See you ter Rossie."

  Now, what could he student cil from her?

  She had vague memories of that [Status] s, but for some reason, she couldn't remember the [Title] she had. And Selen seemed to remember her, if the way she was looking at her was something to go by.

  It shouldn't be something important, right?

  Right?