Josh, naturally knowing what was going on in Clay's head, gave him a silent thumbs up to motivate him.
"You got this Clay, me and Steve will head to our class now, good luck." Josh patted Clay's back to comfort him.
A loud sigh escaped from Clay.
With reluctant steps, Clay proceeded to make his way to the classroom.
There were already a few students flocking towards the classroom, which didn't really help ease his nerves.
Clay tried his best to head to the classroom in the least attention-grabbing time frame.
If he tried entering the classroom when there were still too few people inside, he would garner some unneeded attention.
If he tried entering late when there were he would be the last few people to enter, he would also garner attention.
And he didn't want attention.
Attention leads to interest, and interest leads to being approached by people.
And Clay doesn't like talking to unfamiliar people.
So the only real choice Clay had to avoid unwanted situations, was to enter the classroom when there were still other new people entering.
However he can't just enter randomly, no, he had to use someone in front of him as a 'shield' to divert all the attention, then proceed to enter the classroom quietly while the 'shield' takes the hit.
And that moment of opportunity slowly drew near.
Looking around, Clay saw that the number of people heading towards the classroom were dwindling, he had to move fast.
Brisk walking behind someone about to enter the classroom, Clay made himself look as small and as unnoticeable as he can.
However, everything Clay had planned for had been for naught.
It turns out, no one was really paying attention to anyone else, the reason for that being the classroom itself.
Everyone was busy admiring the spacious room that looked like you could fit dozens of elephants inside.
The classroom had a stage up at front, presumably for the professors and the instructors. And in front of the stage were rows of seats and tables connected as one, there were rows upon rows of seats and tables, and each row rested on a higher point than the previous one.
Some students had already chosen their seats at the front, while others chose to sit further behind.
Clay looked around for a spot to sit at that would garner the least amount of attention.
'How about there? Hmm, no, that wouldn't work. Oh! There, that works!'
Clay decided on the middle-lower row, it was far enough away from the lower rows that people won't disturb him, and close enough to other people that he wouldn't be noticed easily.
It was the perfect spot.
So, fearing that someone might get there first, Clay hastily made his way towards his destination.
Clay immediately sat down once he got to his spot, he then crossed his arms, placed them on the table, and buried his head in his arms pretending to rest.
His next plan was to stay still until the one of the professors would show up.
Doing any sudden movements might bring attention to himself, Clay thought.
When in reality, most people are just having a conversation with their friends or making new ones that they didn't really give much attention to Clay even if they saw him 'resting'.
A few people sat in the same row as Clay, but they didn't really pay attention to him as well.
It didn't take long before a professor finally showed up.
"Alright, Quiet down everybody." The instructor spoke in a loud authoritative voice.
The entire classroom immediately quieted down in response.
Seeing this, the instructor nodded.
"Today is our first day, so we shall begin with our introductions."
"Let's start with me, my name is Tilda Fillemore, you may refer to me as Professor Tilda. I teach wilderness survival, and I was also previously an A-Rank adventurer so I believe I am more than qualified to do so."
Professor Tilda was a tall beautiful woman that looked like she was not a day over 20. She wore loosely fitting casual-formal clothes that only served to amplify her wild charm.
"Now, let me explain the rules and other important things for this subject..."
Professor Tilda explained the rules of the wilderness survival class, which Clay made sure to remember and ingrain in his memory.
It was now much easier to retain information due to his high intelligence stat, it almost feels like cheating how he was able to recall almost anything he wanted from his memory.
Once Professor Tilda finished with her rules and important things to keep note of, she proceeded with the first lecture.
"For our first lesson, we will be tackling safe and unsafe things to eat in the wilderness. Although it may be boring, pay attention, this might come in handy one day if you should find yourself in a situation where you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no food and no SC to help you out..."
...
..
.
".... And that would be all for today's lesson, everyone is dismissed, be sure to come back in an hour for your next class." Professor Tilda packed up her things as she dismissed the class.
Almost every students' ears perked up when they heard the word 'dismissed'.
Her lecture lasted a whole two hours without any breaks.
Even if Clay could memorize almost everything, that didn't mean he couldn't feel tired—no, in fact, he had to focus throughout the whole lecture so that his memory wouldn't have any gaps when he tries to recall.
And thinking that he had to do that for the other classes as well?
Yeah, no.
Clay only realized it when he was already too deep in the lecture to not memorize everything, he had thought that the lecture would only last 30 minutes to an hour but no, it lasted a whole 2 hours, much to Clay's distress.
However, once Clay heard the word 'dismissed' coming out from Professor Tilda's mouth, his back practically snapped up straight, his eyes reigniting with life, and his body rejuvenated.
Clay got up and planned to head to the cafeteria, he needed a meal after all that.