The noise level in the auditorium skyrocketed as almost all of the students started talking to one another and getting up to head out of the room.

  That included John and I too. “What did you think? Pretty cool, huh? I still can’t believe we are going to get to hunt real monsters this year. I thought for sure we were going to have to wait a year or two before that.” John said, his eyes wide with excitement.

  “I am surprised too. I can’t say I am feeling ‘excited’ about being thrown in front of monsters, but maybe that will change once we have a little more practical experience from the instructors. Let’s start heading to the cafeteria though, I am starving and we can talk more there.” I said.

  We didn’t know where the cafeteria was, but I did remember seeing it on the map. Instead of looking at one of the slates again in the hallway, we just followed the herd of students, figuring they were probably going to the same place. It was energizing to see everyone in their uniforms and chatting with each other. All of us were embarking on the same journey and I couldn’t wait to see what friends we would make and where John and I would fit into the mix.

  The herd of students eventually ended up on the other side of the building on the Eastern side almost opposite of where the auditorium was and entered a room with large double doors that had several long wooden tables with around twenty chairs on either side. The ceiling here was tall and the room felt very open. There was a large bay window near the ceiling that let in lots of natural light with chandeliers of Mana lamps hanging over each table. Many of the tables were already filling up and there was a queue of students lined up along a counter that had wooden trays at the front with plates and silverware you grabbed. As you worked your way down the line, there were a few staff members behind the counter that had various foods you could have them dish up onto your plate. It looked like some sort of mashed potatoes, rice, carrots, broccoli, chicken, and beef were on the menu today. Some kids asked for everything, while some just had rice and vegetables. It looked like you could ask for whatever combination that you wanted.

  When it came time for John and I’s turn I gestured to my plate and asked one of the cafeteria workers, “how does this work with meals? You can just get whatever you want?”

  “Sure can honey, we offer breakfast from 6am-8am, lunch from 11am-1pm and dinner from 5pm-7pm. As long as you come during those hours, you can eat your fill, but if I see you wasting food, I might not give you as much as you’d like.” She said with a wink.

  “Then I’ll take everything.” I said, my eyes probably bigger than my stomach, but I was hungry.

  “Same, please!” John said and our plates were so full, food was falling off onto the tray. There were cups and a faucet for water at the end of the line, but our trays were so heavy, we found two empty seats to put our food down before heading back up to grab water cups.

  The food was incredible. I couldn’t decide if I liked the beef or chicken better, it was all so good.

  “If this is how they’re feeding us, I think we’ll be just fine” I said and John nodded, but didn’t have any words yet, as he was still shoveling the food in his mouth. Once I had finished my plate, I was stuffed, but John went to get seconds.

  Sitting back down we overheard a couple kids at the table next to us say, “Did you hear? While it is normal to have a few nobles at the academy, this year one of the princesses is here too.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Really? That’s exciting, I wonder what that will be like having royalty in our classes?” the other said.

  “Did you hear them John? A princess at the academy, how about that? I guess I kind of figured the royal family would have their own school or tutors or something.” I said and John shrugged and said, “If every twelve year old is required to attend, I guess that means everyone. That is actually kind of cool that the kingdom’s royal family is not excluded from it. I do wonder what kind of ability the princess has…” John looked pensive and we were silent for a bit just looking around at all of the other kids. There was a pretty big divide between the first, second and third year students. While the older students were noticeably ‘older’, the uniforms of each had a gold line on their right shoulder with the first years’ having one line, the second years’ having two and the third years’ having three. The second and third year uniforms also had a slash or an X on their left shoulders. I guess we’ll probably find out when classes start.

  John and I headed back to the second floor on the west side of the building where the boys dormitory was to settle into our rooms and get to bed early for tomorrow. Even though it was hardly 1:00pm, I was exhausted and wanted to be ready for whatever they had planned for us. Checking the slate, I went to CLASSES and saw that it had said:

  Evaluations - Central Training Grounds 9am - Mandatory.

  “Well John, it looks like tomorrow will be interesting. Let’s get some rest. I am going to try and get up around 7am to have time to shower and get some breakfast. I’ll knock on your door if you aren’t up then.”

  “Sounds good Jude, see ya tomorrow.” John said as he headed to his room and I headed to mine.

  I still had all of my things sitting on the bed from earlier, so I put away the clothes from my pack and from Bartley into the little closet and then set my notebook and writing utensils on the desk. I hung up my uniform and kept on the undershirt, but put a pair of shorts on for sleeping. I still had a pile of dirty clothes sitting on the floor, so I threw them into the corner for now until I figured out the laundry situation. I remembered to brush my teeth, so I grabbed the toothbrush and headed to the bathroom and when I got back to my room, I laid down on my bed and before I even pulled the blankets over me, I was asleep.

  It was still dark out when I woke up, which wasn’t a big surprise with how early I went to bed. I felt relatively refreshed, but I figured a shower wouldn’t hurt to wash the sleepiness away. I grabbed a towel and checked the slate on the way out and saw that it was 6:30am. “Pretty good sleep then, not bad at all.” Once I was in the shower, I cranked the water as hot as I could tolerate and just relaxed. I still did not have an answer to the question of how long will the water stay hot with a little influx of Mana because it didn’t ever get cold. I felt like I was in there for a while, but checking the slate on my way back to the room, it was 6:50am, so the water would stay hot for at least twenty minutes. “I wonder if there is a way to track the time on my Interface…” I thought as I brought the Interface up and accessed the slate at the same time, “If I watch the time change while looking through my Interface, would it sync up?” I waited and watched until the time clicked up a minute to 6:51am. Right then, as I willed the Interface to show the time, it did!

  I did not think that would work! That is so helpful. “I wonder if there are other things like this we can use our Interfaces to show. I’ll have to ask one of the instructors when we get our classes.” I thought before going back to my room and getting dressed. After putting on my uniform, I sat on my bed marveling at the clock on my Interface for longer than I’d like to admit. I also looked at my attributes. “In these first levels I gain, I wonder how noticeable it will be when the attributes increase with them. I don’t feel like I really noticed too much after the Integration Ceremony, but there was also a lot going on and so many changes all at once.” After sitting there for another 20 minutes, I looked at the clock and it was already 7:30am.

  “Oh no!” I said, “I forgot to wake up John.”