The First Day

     Making his way to school, Matthew made sure to be on the lookout for his bullies. He didn't want to have a run in with them while he was still slightly sore from his first refinement session.  It seemed that he had worried for nothing though, as he made it to school and class without incident.  Putting his things away and making his way to class F-8. This was the class he had been assigned due to his current status. There only about six other students in the class with him.

     The first thing that greeted him when he walked through the door was a few stares that held a look of pity.

     'If only they knew that I'll be able to surpass them all if this regimen of mine succeeds.' Was what he thought quickly finding a seat.

     "Good morning class.  I'll be your teacher." Said a rather robust looking gentleman as he walked in.

     He was positively ripped and his clothes seemed to barely be able to contain his hulking form.  He was easily six and a half feet tall, bronze colored skin and dark hair without a trace of grey.

     "This class, as all of you might not be aware, is for students that have poor stats or strange status'.  It is my goal to do my utmost to help you improve in knowledge and physical traits to balance out your stats and assist with the learning of skills.  Today is just a general introduction and I'll also be handing out your textbooks." Mr. Falls said as he wrote his name on the board.

     Following his short speech, he handed out three books. The first read Introduction to Mana, and it's contents gave the history of mana and its uses.  The second was Anatomy of Mana, it told of how mana affected the body as well as the uses of what mana could do inside the body.  The last book was a book of skills without a title. It detailed how to learn certain skills through the use of mana and even skills that didn't require mana to learn such as enhanced memory.

     "Now that that is out of the way. My class set up is mostly free study with one lesson a week. The rest of the time will be physical training or Q&A.  You may ask me any questions that you may have and I'll do my best to answer them or find you then answer.  Any questions so far?"  Mr. Falls said

     The room reminded silent since the vast majority of the students were rather bleak about their futures.

     While Mr. Falls had been speaking, Matthew had been skimming the skills book that might be useful to him. He came across two almost right off the bat. The first was called enhanced reading which could allow him read through material very quickly and the second was enhanced memory which could give him the ability to memorize large quantities of information quickly. The later version of these skills would be helpful in the future and he wanted to use these as a foundation to that end.

     'It seems I might have ask our teacher if I want to find out why my body now contains mana even though my core can't hold any.  If he doesn't know then these skills will come in hand when I have to comb the library for the answers I'm looking for.' Matthew thought.

     The rest of the class past with them all getting familiar with each other and then being dismissed for the day. Matthew didn't want to ask his question right away as he wasn't ready to be grilled by his teacher on how he had come by all of the techniques he was currently using. With that done, he proceeded to make his way home. It was time for him to push through into the major grade and another refinement.