Chapter 267: First Day at Academy

Ning walked out of his room sometime in the morning. Although they didn't have windows to tell the time, there were clock artifacts that were given to each teacher. 

'First day, huh?' he thought to himself nervously. Although he had been a teacher before, it was to teach illiterate villagers how to read, write and farm.

He didn't know how that experience translated to teaching actual students that had knowledge and questions. Especially now that the system's AI was gone, he was worried he wouldn't find answers as quickly to difficult questions the students might end up asking. 

'Whatever, I will do something about it when I get there,' he thought and walked along the corridor. He was currently inside the mountain itself. The people from the Five  Professions Academy had carved the inside of the mountain to make a large residential space for teachers as well as places with other facilities in the academy.

The massive spirit vine underneath the surface of the mountain, as well as the different formations and artifacts inside the mountain, made it completely habitable. 

Ning came out of one of the 5 different massive doorways to the underground with a leaf carving on top of it. He walked over to the staff room and greeted those that he met. 

"Ah, Teacher Ning, you're here too," Ryuger Pillet, one of the 2 people that passed along with him, said. 

"You are quite early too, Teacher Ryuger," Ning said. The last 3 days that he was free, he had spent it socializing with the different teachers. 

Ryuger walked up to the board and placed his palm on it. Suddenly, a few words appeared on it that mentioned his name, his room number, his subject, and his topic for the day. 

Ryuger was going to teach normal alchemy from what Ning could read. 

Ning walked up and placed his hands as well. As soon as he placed his hands, small information appeared in his mind that asked for his subject and topic. 

Ning wrote 'Alchemy' for the subject. And as for the topic, he wrote 'Anything the students would want to read' he wrote. He believed that letting the students have the freedom of choice would make them want to come into his room. 

"Alright, I'm going to my class, Teacher Ning. Since today is the first day, I don't think I will get any. You shouldn't be dejected if you don't either," Ryuger said. 

"Haha, don't worry Teacher Ryuger. I have no expectations of getting any new students until my lecture in 5 days," Ning said. With that, the two of them separated and went to their own classes. 

Students would start coming in less than 15 minutes, and once they saw the schedule for the day, they would choose themselves what they wanted to learn. 

Alex waited and finally, the classes started. He had no hope of any students coming to him, so he decided to simply give up for the day and just try to cultivate. 

He closed his eyes and the Qi started coming towards him. They soon formed a vortex as they entered him. 

"Hello?" a timid voice sounded from quite close to him. 

Ning was fully focused on cultivation, so he didn't see the young girl peek through the door. 

"Come in," Ning said and quickly stopped cultivation. He had a look of surprise for a second but quickly got rid of it from his face. 

'Was I wrong in thinking that there wouldn't be students on the first day? Maybe there are students that come to the new teachers to boost their confidence. Although, this one doesn't seem like it,' Ning thought.

The young girl had a petite body with slightly reddish hair. She came to the front of the room and was seated on the desk at the massive table. She wore a red robe, just like him right now, belonging to the Alchemy Wing. 

Ning looked at the young girl who looked really nervous as she shot her eyes towards him from time to time while also looking at the door from time to time. 

'Is she waiting for someone?' Ning wondered. 

"Umm…" she finally gathered enough courage to speak. "You should come down from up there," she told to Ning who was sitting up on the podium. 

"I should get down?" Ning asked in confusion. 

"Yes, quick. Teacher Boel might come at any second now," the girl said. 

"Umm… Why would Teacher Boel be coming here?" Ning asked with confusions compounding on him. 

"… because this is his class?" the girl answered as if it was obvious. 

Ning didn't know whether to laugh or feel bad.

"Um, what's your name?" Ning asked. 

"… it's Reya," the girl said. 

"Ok, here's the thing, Reya. This is not teacher Boel's class. This is my class; I am a new teacher in the academy; you can call me Teacher Ning," Ning said as he showed her a teacher badge that he had in his storage. 

The girl's face changed emotions from confusion to worry to anger to dejection. 

"Oh no, I messed up," the girl said to herself with both of her hands on her head. 

"Did you come to the wrong room by mistake? You can still go back, no?" Ning asked. 

"Not now. The classes have already begun and Teacher Boel is strict. He doesn't let in anyone that is late," the girl was on the verge of crying. "Urgh, those girls pranked me on such an important day," she said dejectedly. 

"Um, did you not come here by mistake?" Ning asked. 

"No. I was running late today, so I asked them about the schedule today. They said this was the room belonging to Teacher Boel from today on," she said. 

"Urghh! There were so many questions I wanted to ask him today. Now I don't know if he will host a question and answer class anytime soon," the girl said with a sad face. 

Ning listened to her with a bit of amusement and said. "While I may not be Teacher Boel, I am a teacher of this academy too. And luckily for you, at least your friends were kind enough on your prank to send you to me who is doing a Question-Answer class today."