Milvus looked around the room, searching for any prospective students who wanted to duel with Alwin—well, technically it was Niwla, but explaining their situation would be a waste of time.

Uchronia, too, threw her gaze across the rest of her classmates. She had already made it known that she wanted to duel them. Niwla knew why she hadn't approached them yet. Letting others have their turn meant that she would have more time to analyze and come up with countermeasures.

A commendable play.

Unfortunately for her, not a single one of their classmates wanted to do such a thing. Not especially after Alwin's shenanigans and how he had swiftly dispatched Bion—a fellow Tier 3 monster—in one fell swoop.

Not even Flintlock, the Powder Monkey with the Core Skill, Gun, arguably someone with the highest raw damage capability, didn't want to contest against them.

Neither was Tess, the Lotus Turtle. Her Core Skill was Impenetrable Shield. Though the name wasn't entirely accurate. Previously, Alwin had actually managed to damage her shield using multiple Yin-Yang Blasts changed together. Undoubtedly, when her Core Skill had been honed to its full potential, it would live up to its name of…

Unbreakable.

However, there was one monster with the highest potential to be the strongest one out of all of them, Gus. The monster who could eat anything and everything, yet squandered that gift on muffins.

That was a brief analysis of the monsters to be wary of, at least in terms of Core Skills.

Walking up to the other side of the classroom was Uchronia. Her Core Skill allowed her to temporarily bring in alternate reality versions of herself. It wasn't her Core Skill that was the issue; it was the pure vitriol she had for the system that spawned her. She would do everything in her power to break it down so that no other monster would have to go through what they were going through right now.

"So, Uchronia," Niwla said. "I see you have been busy."

He was referencing the new addition to her bio-ceramic pot that Alwin had spotted when they were first teleported back to class. It looked like chainmail; some sort of defensive gear, no doubt. And it was most likely something that she had forged during the break.

Just like how pill refining was a specialty that one could take up during their second year, so was forging. Uchronia, fueled by vengeance, desired to specialize in everything. She wanted to be proficient in everything, to be the best student ever, in order to claim the title of Valedictorian, a possible shortcut to her goal of Minister. A position required just to begin her plans of rewriting the system from the inside out.

"I have, Alwin. And I see you've been busy too. Is that a new Tier 3 form?"

"Yes, it is. I understand that you've been preparing to have a spar with me. Although I'm afraid your preparations were for naught, given that this was something far out of the scope of your calculations."

"Honestly? It was. I expected you to spend the entire vacation goofing off. Never would've thought you would do something like this."

"There are a lot of things that you don't know about me. Now, are you ready to test your mettle against me?"

"Of course. Because in a real battle, things rarely go the way you plan them."

"Good." Niwla spread his wings. "Come!"

While giving your enemy the chance to strike first was rarely the smartest move, Niwla did it only to set things up for the future. It would be trivial to defeat Uchronia in a single beat of his wings. The fact that she was a plant monster while he currently wielded the power of Ice only tipped the scales in his favor even more.

So why was he doing such a thing?

It was to give her experience. To help her face a battle that she was unprepared for, where the odds were stacked against her.

Why?

It was simple. With stronger monsters by his side, wiping off their enemy would be an inevitability. Once they were wiped out, he would have more than enough time to fulfil his desire of enriching himself with more knowledge about the mystic arts. And Uchronia was going to be one of the monsters that put an end to that effort, whether by his design, Milvus' design, or her own.

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Uchronia dashed forward, moving too fast for a Potted Sprout. She had silent casted Haste. The chainmail around her bio-ceramic pot clinked with every pitter-patter of her root legs against the floor.

Closing the distance. A smart play given her prior knowledge of how they specialized in ranged attacks—not like it would help against his Homing Ice Needles. That was why he wouldn't be using that spell, yet. Instead, Uchronia, in exchange for sparring against him, would get to be the guinea pig for his Species Skill, Brainfreeze.

A torrent of light blue gas diffused out of him. With a single flap of his powerful wings, he sent the gas straight toward the Potted Sprout.

Out of all the things he had anticipated, he could very well say that Uchronia's actions were finally well within those predictions.

From within the soil in her pot, a vial emerged. She uncorked it with her leaves, procuring a light blue pill. An Ice Resistance Pill that she had manufactured herself. Impressive for a self-taught student, but unless that pill could provide more than a 100% Ice Resistance, it might as well have been a piece of candy.

"Alternate History!" she yelled.

Materializing next to her was another version of herself, one without the chainmail around her bio-ceramic pot. They nodded at each other before interlocking leaves. The original Uchronia, using the momentum from her charge, halted and spun in place. She released the alternate Uchronia, sending her barrelling through the light blue mist.

"Propel-leaf!" the alternate Uchronia shouted.

The leaves at the side of her sprout began to rotate around her plant bulb. As they did so, she winced. Such a move was damaging, essentially forcing her to damage her own body by contorting them in ways nature did not intend. The payoff was a gust of wind that dispersed the blue Brainfreeze mist.

Most of it.

She came into contact with a few remnant drops of the gas.

The Propel-leaf skill ceased, and the alternate Uchronia screamed in pain. She collapsed onto the floor, twitching and writhing in pain before disappearing.

As his Species Skill suggested, it gave someone a brainfreeze. Though not the flashiest, it certainly had its uses—just like his Withdrawal skill.

The original Uchronia clicked her tongue, continuing her charge.

Niwla simply watched on, wings behind his back, as she came closer. Skepticism and confusion were written all over her plant bulb. She was expecting another dose of gas. Or maybe for him to even take flight. Instead, he remained rooted to the ground, merely observing her.

Given what he knew about her, he could already predict her next move. Normally, she played the role of 'Support' within the squad. Though she did possess offensive moves, most notably her Species Skill, Great Thorned Leaf. With the addition of her Core Skill, there existed a version of her that specialized in offensive moves. Given the fact that she wasn't utilizing them meant that her Core Skill, while powerful, wasn't something that could be used without care. That left her with one final option. A ranged attack.

Uchronia hopped into the air. It looked like she had slipped on the ground and was falling, but she was merely aligning the shot. With her root feet pointed at him, she unleashed a Pot Shot.

The bio-ceramic pot slid off her roots, revealing her plant bulb in all of its natural glory. A simpleton would've panicked, especially with a ranged attack at such close range. Fortunately, he was far from a simpleton.

Though he would've enjoyed sparring with Uchronia more, it was better for her future development to finish this now.

"Withdrawal. Mix. Homing Ice Needles," he said.

A bundle of needles condensed right in front of him. They shot forward, flying towards the pot. The frontrunners injected themselves into the links of the chainmail, releasing Withdrawal gas to weaken the structural integrity of the gear. It shattered into a thousand small metallic chunks.

The remainder of his Ice Needles injected themselves into the tiny cracks within Uchronia's bio-ceramic pot. Even without the Withdrawal gas, it was enough to shatter the pot into numerous small pieces.

All of that happened within a second. The moment the needles had successfully breached their target, they released a target flood of Withdrawal gas. It pushed aside the shrapnel that was still flying towards him, making it seem that there was an invisible barrier that diverted the debris around him.

Uchronia paused. Small bits of her pot already starting to grow out of her bulb as she panted.

"So, Uchronia. Would you like to continue?"

"Another time. I know a lost when I see one," she said.

Niwla turned to Milvus, the triangle monster smiled and nodded his head.

"Would anyone else like to challenge, Alwin?"

Silence greeted him.

"If not, would anyone else like to spar?"

Even more silence met them. After that display, nobody wanted to spar anymore. It was understandable.

"Well, then, shall we start our first lesson of the new year?"

The floor beneath them opened up. Chairs and desks emerged from the ground, while the Training Dummies were swallowed back up in return.

Everyone took their seats. Almost everyone. There was an empty chair in one of the rows. It belonged to the one monster who hadn't been present the entire time. Brie, the Metal Ball, was forced to attend class right outside the door, lest she break the restraining order and get shocked.

The Mourning Bell had mostly recovered. Though he was still covered in vomit stains for reasons that could only be attributed to foolish pride.

"We have two things on the agenda today, class," Milvus said. "The first year of your accelerated studies was to bring you up to speed. Now that you're in your second year, you get to choose a specialization. Uchronia has already demonstrated two of the prospective specializations: Pill Refining and Forging. As for the rest, I will give a brief overview. And for the second item on the agenda, well, it's a surprise. So, are you ready, class?"

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