"So this is Mystwood Academy? It's bigger than I thought."

Rusty craned his small head, taking in the vaulted ceilings and the intricate stonework surrounding the academy. After all the duels had ended, he had been carried back through the school and into the classroom they had come from. He finally had time to take in the sights and realized that this place was much larger than he had expected.

"Please be seated and remain silent."

Although he had spent some time in the world of humanoids, he had never been in such an establishment before. The city he lived in had no schools, and children stayed with their parents instead. Some, like the orphans he had taken in, learned only from him and from the world around them. Seeing an entire institution built for teaching was something completely new.

'I wish Alexander or Aburdon were here. I wonder if they ever went to a school when they were younger?'

His gaze shifted to the blackboard, where floating pieces of white chalk moved on their own. He could see the flow of mana connecting to the person known as the teacher, and he immediately recognized that this individual was above D-rank.

Still, he could not accurately judge their true combat ability, since summoners tended to focus on mana capacity more than anything else. The greater their mana reserves, the stronger the constructs they could create. However, Rusty had learned that those who focused only on one attribute often had weaknesses, and Gwen, his current summoner, was one of them.

"Here, Rusty. Why don't you stay here for now?"

She set him down on the desk by the window, and he moved closer to the edge. She had been holding him for the past hour and was out of breath. During the duels, she had needed to rest her arms, since even though he was small, his steel body made him heavier than she could comfortably manage. With such low physical strength, Rusty knew that if his summoner were ever attacked directly, the fight would be over in an instant.

"Here? Sure, but… are there any more opponents?"

"N-no. There is no one left to fight. You can relax for now. I don't think there will be any practical lessons today either."

Gwen replied with a small smile. She kept glancing at Rusty as if afraid he might disappear, but once everyone had taken their seats, the teacher called for silence and drew their attention to the board.

"Now that everyone is seated, I will remind those who are new here. This is B-Class, and you will be held to a higher standard from now on. Those who perform poorly on tests will be reprimanded. You will be given second chances, but if you fail again, you will be removed from this class and placed back in C-Class."

Rusty had heard about the ranking system between classes, which started at D and went up to A. The better the class, the harder it was for students to remain in it. Once a student reached a higher class, they had to maintain a certain grade average. If their score fell below the required threshold, they could be replaced by someone from a lower class. However, there also seemed to be other rules that were never spoken aloud.

"He says that, but if you are a higher noble, you don't need to try as hard. You should be in A-Class, Gwen."

"It's fine, Astrella. I don't really want to be there."

The two girls whispered to each other while the teacher spoke, which reminded Rusty of the situation back in Ferndale. Every institution had its own hierarchy that could not easily be broken. He had been victorious over Katherine Grandwell and her followers, yet Gwen still could not reach the same class that girl belonged to. Perhaps she was even being suppressed by them.

'The mission didn't say that I should get her into A-Class, so that shouldn't be it…'

Once the class began, Rusty and the other summons, such as Airy, were allowed some freedom of movement. The desk Gwen and Astrella shared was large enough for four people, so he had some room to move around. Even when he moved around, the teacher did not seem to care as long as he made no noise. He continued to look around as the lecture went on, but he still could not figure out what he was supposed to do.

'I don't really get what they are talking about, and that girl keeps looking at me…'

As the lecture continued, he could feel Aranea glance in his direction constantly. The teacher with the monocle eventually started teaching and drew some magic circles on the blackboard. Gwen and Astrella were taking notes but he didn't truly understand it. While he was versed in enchantments and could perform some magic, he had no knowledge about summoning techniques.

Gwen's quill scratched softly against the parchment as she tried to copy the spiraling diagram on the board. The teacher's voice echoed through the vaulted classroom, and Rusty tried to listen.

"Now, as you can see, the distinction between binding and link glyphs lies in the flow of secondary mana streams. A binding glyph restricts, while a link glyph stabilizes. Both, however, depend on the resonance between summoner and theri…"

Even though he listened carefully, the lecture still did not make much sense to him. Still, he paid attention. His own armor puppeteering skill was not the same as summoning, but perhaps some of this knowledge could help him improve it. It was not as if he had anything better to do. He was confined to this place, and the only one he could interact with was Airy. The fairy could not speak to him, but she kept pestering him, buzzing around his large head, and reminding him a little of Gleam.

"This should be enough for the first day."

The teacher spoke out, and the classroom grew louder.

"But remember, in two weeks you will have a joint exercise with the secondary B class, so be ready. Your competence will be tested."

As soon as the teacher mentioned this, the students began to whisper.

"Last time we didn't do too well…"

"Don't worry, we will win this time. We have the metal maiden with us now!"

"I think you're expecting too much from her…"

Rusty wasn't sure what they were talking about, so he asked Gwen to explain.

"The other B class? What's that?"

"Ah, there are two B classes, B1 and B2. We're in B1, but most people just combine them into one big B class."

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"Interesting… But why are there two classes with the same rank? What's the point?"

Rusty didn't really understand how the school system worked, so Gwen continued as they walked out of the room.

"It's complicated."

She said softly, her eyes darting toward another door at the far end of the corridor. From there, other students emerged, wearing the same robes and badges as them.

"The Academy sorts students by ability and status, but when too many qualify for a rank, they divide them. The A class is reserved for the best of the best, and it only has one group. Then come the B classes, two of them. After that, three C classes and four D classes."

Rusty thought about that for a moment and then spoke out.

"So it's like a pyramid. The higher you go, the fewer people stand against you."

Gwen chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, something like that. The number of students per class increases as you go down. The A class has the fewest students, while the D classes have the most. Their equipment is also of lower quality."

Rusty knew that his summoner had been in one of the D classes, but he had never seen the inside of the classroom. He imagined it to be a kind of social hierarchy, much like the city itself, where nobles stood at the top and beggars at the bottom.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing. Rusty was just curious about how the classes work."

"He was?"

Astrella leaned closer to him and raised an eyebrow.

"You said he's quite intelligent. I wonder if we could get him to talk. An intelligent summon like this is very rare."

Gwen smiled, clearly liking the idea, and as they walked, Rusty spoke up with an idea.

"That's possible if you give me a head."

His words puzzled his summoner.

"A head?Like a person's head?"

"Yes. If I place my helmet on a deceased head, I can possess it and speak through it."

"Uh…"

"A whole body will work too, but the head is the most important part!"

Gwen hesitated after hearing Rusty explain his possession ability. For a moment, it seemed that she was even considering it, but soon Astrella's voice snapped her out of it.

"Is something wrong?"

"N-no… Let's just go to the cafeteria."

"Ah, good idea!"

This was an entirely new world for Rusty, and whenever he heard a new word, he could not help but ask about it. Perhaps he had grown used to asking his guides for answers, or perhaps he was simply curious. Either way, Gwen was always quick to respond to his questions.

"Oh, it's like a big dining room where we can get food to eat."

"Oh, right, you humanoids need to eat."

Gwen chuckled at his comment and continued walking through a series of marble corridors. The atmosphere began to change as the sound of many students talking filled the air. Rusty remembered how Gleam usually perched on his shoulder, so he decided to let Gwen do the same. From that position, he could see better and began to observe everything around him.

"This place is much better than the C-class cafeteria. Look at the size of those tables and all the options!"

Astrella said with a hint of joy in her voice.

"Everything was made from wood in D-class. They even have silverware here."

It seemed this was the first time the two girls had visited the place, as they looked around with eyes full of excitement. To Rusty, it all seemed very different from the adventurers' guild or any restaurant he had seen before. The people working here appeared much more formal, and a large menu covered one of the walls. What fascinated him most was that the plates of food floated through the air, carried by nothing more than magical spells.

"Oh… what should we get?"

Astrella asked as she studied the menu on the wall. Each dish was numbered, and there were fifty options to choose from.

"I don't know… maybe something simple."

Gwen replied.

"Simple? This is not the time for that. We should order something grand! We finally made it into B-Class!"

Astrella declared, placing her hands on her hips with a triumphant grin. Her fairy companion, Airy, mimicked the pose beside her, puffing out her tiny chest as if she too had achieved something great.

Rusty sat perched on Gwen's shoulder like a metallic toy soldier, his miniature halberd resting across his lap. When he looked at Astrella and the fairy, he decided to imitate them. He pointed forward with his weapon, which was about the same size as one of the silver forks in the cafeteria.

"See? Even Rusty agrees!"

Astrella said with a laugh. Gwen sighed but smiled, defeated by their enthusiasm.

"All right, all right. Something grand then, but I'm not sure we'll have much credit left."

"Ah, I almost forgot about that."

Astrella and Gwen both seemed a bit saddened by something, so Rusty asked quickly.

"Credit left? What's that?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know. How about I explain while we wait?"

The two girls finally decided on their meal, and as they waited for the dishes to arrive, Gwen explained the credit system used at the academy. It was not particularly surprising. Students received a weekly allowance to spend on school facilities and could earn extra credit by achieving better grades.

"Now that we are third years, we will be able to go on quests to raise our credit score. How about we do that once we have some time?"

Astrella spoke to Gwendolin as the dishes filled with meat and roasted vegetables arrived. The mention of quests immediately caught Rusty's attention, and he wondered if this would help him finish his current mission faster.

"That's true, but we should be careful. I heard some people don't return from those. One of the void gates was unstable, and monsters of a higher rank appeared."

Gwen said in a worried tone. Her words only made Rusty more curious. He had expected to hear about dungeons, but instead, they were talking about something new: a void gate.

"That did happen."

Astrella replied, waving her fork as if to brush off the concern, although the unease in her eyes betrayed her.

"Rumors, most likely. You know how people exaggerate things. If it were really that dangerous, the instructors would have closed the gates."

"I hope you're right."

Gwen murmured, breaking a piece of bread in half. Rusty leaned forward against her shoulder and tapped his halberd lightly against her collar.

"What is a void gate? Is it like a dungeon?"

"Dungeon? Like a prison? No, it's nothing like that."

Gwen shook her head and corrected Rusty.

"Void gates are rifts or tears between our realm and the void dimension. Creatures from that realm gather in small pocket dimensions. If the monsters aren't defeated, the tear starts to grow, so the Academy sends us there for training and resource gathering."

"That sounds like a dungeon with extra steps. What happens if the tear grows too much?"

"Then the creatures invade the real realm and begin to cause chaos. It's a battle that never ends…"

For a moment, Gwen's expression turned distant, as if she were remembering something from the past.

"Ah, but don't worry. All the void gates are being managed. As long as the number of monsters is kept in check, they can't invade. You can also destroy a rift if you defeat the boss monster inside or even seal it from outside with the proper spell."

Rusty nodded at the explanation and found these tears quite interesting. Even though they weren't dungeons, these void dimensions sounded similar, especially since they both involved monsters.

'This world is more interesting than I thought. I wonder what's inside this void gate…'

He glanced around, taking in the familiar surroundings. This was his third time being here on a summoning mission, yet he still knew little about this place. It seemed he would be staying for a while, which made it a good opportunity to make progress. The Soul Forge granted him special summoning coins, and he knew that performing well would earn him more. Perhaps doing quests with Gwen would be the key, or maybe the upcoming joint class in two weeks. Either way, new battles were waiting for him soon.