"Hey, here you are! I've been looking for you everywhere — is that your monster?" Novelle gasped.
"Yeah, she was hungry last night, so we went straight to the cafeteria. Oh, and did you remember saying that you won because you chose Electric and I chose Water?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"She can absorb electricity," I replied. "No way, that's cheating."
"You can check for yourself," I said, pointing at her MonsterDex. She uses her device to Mermaphin. The MonsterDex chimed. She gasped and couldn't believe what she had read.
"So, she is a water-fiend monster who can absorb electricity. That's not fair," she pouted.
"Hehe! I guess I won this time! Oh, aren't you going to have breakfast?"
"Yeah, wait here," she replied. Turning around and walking to get breakfast while pouting. "She's my friend. Her name is Novelle. I hope you two become close." I said. Mermaphin just looked at me while she stuffed her mouth with the food. I hope she understands what I said.
"Hey, is that your monster?"
I turned around and saw unfamiliar figures. It's a girl around my age with red hair wearing boyish clothes.
"Yes, she just hatched last night."
"Same here. Anyway, do you want to fight?"
"What? What did I do?"
"Huh? What are you yelling for? I'm asking for the monster's battles!"
"Rain, who is she? Is she your friend?" Novelle came with her food.
"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Cerise Veleska. You can call me Cerise. If you don't mind, I'm going to ask your boyfriend to do monster battles," she replied.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Novelle exclaimed. "But that sounds fun. Let me finish my breakfast first,"
"He is not. But yesterday the principal said—". "Anyway, did you have breakfast already?" Novelle cuts her off.
"Oh, I haven't eaten yet," she replied. Cerise rushed to get her breakfast, and they both sat down next to us.
We are both sitting down, trying to finish our breakfast. However, Cerise's straightforward personality keeps mentioning the principal's speech yesterday, which makes Novelle go red.
***
"So, here we are! Let's get started!" Cerise said, pulling her card out of the deck on her waist. The monster emerged from the card. It looks like a big iguana with yellow scales and thorns running from its back to its tail.
"You thought he was a reptile monster, didn't you?" Cerise said. "But, go ahead, use your MonsterDex."
Novelle and I are pointing our devices at her monster. It chimed, which responded with a cold, mechanical voice: "Galguana. Thorns on their spines that allow them to control their body temperature by absorbing or releasing heat. They hunt by burying themselves in the ground and letting their thorns penetrate their prey's feet, making it difficult for them to flee." The database appeared as it spoke.
[[Monster Data]]
Name : Galguana
Gender : Male
Type : Dragon
Attribute : Fire
Species : Fire Lizard Monster
Height : 0.6 m
Weight : 4.8 kg
Abilities : Absorb the Heat
Prior Form : -
Next Form : Galsaurus (Level 33)
[[Monster Stats]]
Level : 1
HP : 48
Attack : 44
Defence : 40
Sp. Attack : 71
Sp. Defence : 40
Speed : 77
"It says fire-dragon monster, you know mine is a water-fiend monster? Isn't it going to be a bit one-sided?" I asked.
"Heh! Like Novelle said, you're clueless sometimes," she smirked.
"It would be one-sided if it weren't a Dragon-type monster. Dragon-type monsters are well known for being at the top of the food chain," Novelle said. "You must be lucky to have it as your first monster!"
"Hehe, I know, right? Graduating from this academy would be much easier than it already is."
"But, what are you planning to level up to 33 within a year?" Novelle asked.
"Ah! I forgot about that. Well, worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. For today, let's battle!" Cerise said.
"Well, if I were her, I wouldn't know what to do either," Novelle murmured, "right?" Cerise shouted.
"So, how about you, rain? Do you know how to fight?" Novelle asked. "Well, all I have to do is take her out, and she does the rest, right?" I replied as it shocked her.
"No! Use your MonsterDex below your monster stat; there's a monster skill that your monster's already learned, and you can tell your monster what to do based on that," she said.
[[Monster Skil]]
[Electroreception]
Locate everything within 4 meters.
[Scratch]
Raked the foe with sharp claws, inflicting damage.
[Water Shot]
Shoot the foe with a water ball, inflicting damage.
"Wow, you're right! There are only three skills, and only two that can inflict damage."
"That's normal for a level 1 monster. Since you already have a grasp of it, let's begin the battle! I'll act as the referee, and the battle will end when one of them is unable to continue. "
"This will be the first battle for both of us, but I have seen many of my father's battles, so I have some understanding of what to expect. So, how about you go first?" Cerise said.
"All right, I accept your generosity then. Mermaphin! Came out!" I shouted. Throwing my arm that holds the card forward.
A Mermaphin emerges from the card and stands steadily, unsheathing its claws. In front of us; Galguana stands there with four feet, its scales gleaming like a pile of golden treasure in a cave.
"Mermaphin, use Scratch!" I commanded.
"Merma!" she cried. Running toward the Galguana. Preparing its unseething claw, ready to scratch its scales.
"Galguana, use Smoke!" she countered.
A dark gas clouded around the Mermaphin. It stopped her from approaching the Galguana. She just stood there, confused.
"Mermaphin, use Electroreception!"
A tiny spark ran through its skin. Mermaphin stood there, sensing the micro-vibrations in the dark mist and locating the Galguana's position in a split second. Mermaphin ran through the fog to reach the located Galguana and tried to attack it with Scratch, leaving it in shock.
Galguana was in shock and failed to avoid the attack. Mermaphin's claw hit Galguana, leaving its yellow scales to drip red blood. The Galguana moves backwards to avoid being hit once more.
"Mermaphin, don't give him a rest, Scratch one more."
Mermaphin rushed to an unresting Galguana once more. Closing the distance, Mermaphin is trying to strike with its claws toward Galguana's skull.
"Now! Use Tail Whip!"
Galguana flips quickly and uses its long tail to whip Mermaphin as soon as it gets close. The Tail Whip hit Mermaphin really hard and was thrown to the side. Mermaphin lay down, struggling to stand up, but Galguana charged up.
"Finish it, use Fire Shot."
"Mermaphin, you can do it!" I shuddered, seeing Mermaphin trembling, standing on two feet. "Use Water Shot!"
The air began to hum. Both monsters focus their energy on creating fire and water from nothing, forming them into balls in their mouths, drawing power from the very atmosphere. When they shot at the same time, the two forces collided in the center of the arena, creating a thick steam. For a moment, everyone went silent.
As the steam cleared, Mermaphin and I were shocked by the missing Galguana. By the time we realised there was a huge hole where Galguana's last standing, it was too late to notice the trembling below Mermaphin until Galguana suddenly emerged from below and rammed into her.
Mermaphin flew backwards and slammed into the ground, lying there with its eyes closed. Galguana watched from afar, shaking its head to clean off the dirt.
"Mermaphin unable to fight!" Novelle called, "Galguana wins."
I run toward Mermaphin, who has been lying there. "Are you okay, Mermaphin?"
"Nice battle out there, Rain," Novelle said. "She probably just fainted. It'll be fine as long as we see a healer soon."
"Nice battle, Rain. We should see the healer soon," Cerise said, walking toward us, showing her card, "My Galguana needs to heal too, since you made it bleed."
"Where do you think we can meet the healer?" I asked.
"I never permit the first-year student to have a battle before the first practical class," a voice came out from the dark corridor. A man emerged from the corridor, sweeping his long black coat aside. "Would you like to explain why it happened?" Mr Levi asked.
"Hi, Mr Levi, we're just having a battle," Novelle replied.
"They are 1-level monsters; they are weak. Irresponsible summoners could lead them to their death."
"But, we are not. They are still alive, Mermaphin just fainted, Galguana is just bleeding, they aren't dead," Cerise said.
"There are rules to be followed, breaking one is irresponsible, Ms Veleska." Mr Levi said, silencing the three of us.
"For now, go to the healer's room on the second floor. After that, I want the three of you to write about how summoners battle. I want it today before the school is over," Mr Levi said.
"Today!!! You want us to write at lunch?" Cerise said as she grabbed her head with both hands.
"That's called punishment, Ms Veleska. How about you two? Did you understand your assignment?"
"Yes sir!" Novelle and I said at the same time.
"Good, now move before the class starts."
I put Mermaphin back in the card, and we rushed toward a healer's room before Mr Levi's class was about to start.
[[Galguana grew up to Level 2]]
***
Without realizing it before, Cerise goes to the same class as Novelle and me, and she is sitting next to Novelle. All of us were sitting there waiting for Mr Levi to finish checking class attendance.
"It seems everybody is here already. Let's start with the morning class. What do you know about monster classification?"
"Monster classification happens so that we can understand the monster more easily. There are monster attributes and monster types."
"Each monster has one attribute that can tell you its strong point or its weakness. There are 9 in total: fire, water, nature, electric, ice, earth, wind, dark, and light."
"Fire weak against water and earth; water weak against nature and electric; nature weak against fire and ice; electric weak against earth; ice weak against fire and earth; earth weak against water and nature; wind has no weakness; dark and light are weak to each other.
"Monster types are determined by their biological and physical abilities, which can tell you how dangerous they are."
"These are monster-type pyramids that everyone knows." Mr Levi said as he showed us the diagram behind him.
"From the low-rank there are: plant, rock, insect, pyro, aqua, and undead. For the second-rank there are: beast, beast-warrior, winged-beast, reptile, fish, and machine. For the third-rank there are: dinosaur, fiend, and fairy. For the top-rank there is only a dragon."
"But, this thing doesn't matter in the hands of a great summoner, for example, the current GrandSummoner beat the previous GrandSummoner using beast monsters against fiend monsters."
Mr Levi continued his teaching until the bell rang, and he kept telling us why monster types don't really do much, it's the summoner's duty to raise them stronger.
When Mr Levi leaves the classroom, the students get up. Novelle, Cerise, and I go straight to the library to write our assignment.
To get to the library we should get out of the building and turn to the east. There's a library next to the academy building.
Different from the academy building, the library interior feels vast with a brown color of wood in the floor planks, walls, and furniture like tables, chairs, and bookcases.
We split up looking for a book that will help us with our assignment and share with each other, trying to finish the assignment before lunch time is over.
Time flies fast when you're having fun, they said. The three of us tried to finish as quickly as possible, but the bell rang in the library, and there was nothing we could do but cry in silence.
***
"Let's start our afternoon class, I'm going to talk about leveling up the monster." Mr Levi started his lecture.
"Monsters could level up once they accumulated a certain amount of experience points gained through battles. You could earn experience points easily by making your opponent faint or kill, especially if it's a wild monster.
"Winning against a stronger monster yields double experience points, while defeating a weaker one results in halved experience," Mr. Levi's speech was interrupted when someone raised their hand in front of him.
"Mr Levi, do you know how to gain experience points faster?" Cerise asked.
"I believe I understand your concerns, Ms. Veleska. Your first monster is a dragon that needs to be leveled up significantly before it can evolve within a year. Unfortunately, there's no quick method other than battling frequently." Everybody whispered that it could be heard after the teacher mentioned her monster.
"But don't worry—there's a city dungeon beneath the city. After you get your practical class on battle, you could spend your weekend gaining some experience points there."
Mr Levi continued his teaching with some students asking him to make the class seem lively, and my growling stomach made the class seem longer than usual.
When the bell rang, it meant class was over. Cerise, Novelle, and I gave our writing assignment to Mr Levi before he left. Mr Levi gave us our last nagging before he truly left.
His nagging and our unbearing empty stomach lead us walking to the cafeteria like an undead.
The cafeteria gave us a hot bowl of soup with a loaf, some berries as a side dish and a hot cup of cocoa. They also gave Cerise and I a pack of food for our monster to eat at the dorm.
"It looks like Galguana leveled up after that battle," Cerise said as she stuffed her mouth with a loaf while checking her MonsterDex.
"Finish your food first before talking," Novelle said.
"Geez, relax, why do you look so mad though? You sound like my mother."
"Because it's your fault we couldn't eat at lunch time, my stomach growling all the time. I don't want to be in that situation again."
"But you're okay with that, that means it's not entirely my fault."
"Still your fault though."
"Thats not fair."
"Both of you calm down, the three of us agree to having a battle, that is everybody's fault, so no more pointing," I called. Both of them calm down and start enjoying their food once again.
"Looking back Mermaphin didn't gain any experience points from that battle," I said. Trying to cool down the tension between them.
"Obviously," Novelle said.
"Mermaphin lost that battle and fainted," Cerise said.
"Haha," I laughed.
"Talking about faints, after we brought them to the healer's room, the healer used magic to heal them, right? Doesn't Mr Levi say people's mana decreased over generations, is it?"
"He is indeed saying something like that. But, researchers said that people's mana decreased but not entirely gone, people could still practice magic to get more mana," Novelle said.
"Wow, you know what researchers said," I said.
"That's what you become if you have a principal grandfather," Cerise said.
"Thanks, I'll take that as compliment," Novelle said
"It is a compliment."
"Thanks," Novelle murmured. Her red cheeks can't hide her embarrassment.
I can't stop smiling at this kind of moment when Cerise's straightforward personality, unaware of what she said, makes Novelle embarrassed.
"Anyway, I can't wait for your egg to hatch," I said.
"Oh! I also wonder about that. What do you choose?" Cerise asked.
"She chose electric," I replied.
"Trying to beat Rain by choosing electric," Cerise said.
"That's the plan but Mermaphin can absorb electricity, it's not fair," Novelle pouted.
Cerise and I looked at each other and laughed at Novelle pretty hard, making her a little mad at us.
***