"Ah! The Stairways of Knowledge. Of course, you are going to be curious about that. Well, good news for you. You can visit anytime you want," Professor Hoffman spoke with a bright smile as he raised his both hands and continued,

"Ever since all of you beat the rest of the world to enter this Academy, you have the privilege to use everything that this Academy has to offer.. Only if you have the power to handle it, that is."

There was a strange smile and a sense of burning sensation in his eyes as he looked at the students of his class. I looked around to see the same burning gaze in everyone's eyes. They were motivated and their spirits were fired up.

'A Charm Magic that boost morale, huh?' I thought as I looked at Professor Hoffman, who was using a skill to make the students more motivated to test themselves with that Stairway of Knowledge.

"So, Professor, can we visit that place now?" One of the students from the front seat, Imran Leer, was his name, spoke as he raised his hand with an enthusiastic smile and the Professor smiled as he observed him before speaking,"do all of you want to visit that place on the first day?"

Hearing his words, everyone from the class nodded enthusiastically before he himself nodded in satisfaction and soon he began moving outside the class as he spoke,"then follow me. Let's go there and see what you are made up of."historical

Soon, all of us moved towards the nearest metro station and took the metro directly to the core of the Academy. Our class was located at the junction of the inner circle and the core, so it wasn't that far from here.

About 20 minutes later, we reached the place and a magnificently huge tree was visible in front of us. The tree was wide and tall, with its roots spreading at least 2 or 3 kilometres in diameter with its top lying at least about 10 kilometres up in the air.

There was a stairway that looked like a stairway for giants and not humans, and well considering, this place was built by a Giant, so one can't really complain about it either. Yeah, the guy up there on the top floor is a Giant.. in fact, he was a True Giant, unlike the mixed bloods that are spread all around the Planet Vermillion.

Each step was about 8-10 metres high and long, and one had to climb one step rather than walk over it. Though, with the mana and strength one possesses in this Academy, the average populace can easily walk over the steps as if it's nothing.

After walking for another few moments, I saw a few familiar faces at a distance and I understood what was going on here.

There were students from the other classes here as well and they looked just as excited as the ones from our class as well. All the 5 batches were here and obviously they were here to climb the tree on their first day.

It wasn't just our classes but the senior classes, 2nd years and 3rd years were here as well. Most probably came here for scouting students. I saw Dalton at a distance and he was scanning around hurriedly among all the classes as if he was trying to search for someone.

We reached the other classes where I saw Eliza talking with Bernette and Cristine just standing there, looking around as if she were feeling bored.

There was Lucy scaring a few kids of her class who were trying to approach her and at a distance I found Elizabeth and Annabeth standing there with sparks burning between them as usual.

My eyes turned around, only to find Dalton approaching me with a relieved sigh. Professor Hoffman was about to say something but before he could even begin, Dalton came and spoke,"I will be taking this guy for now."

And grabbed my hand and took me away from the group under the narrowed gaze of Professor Hoffman. It made everyone look at me with a confused look before they went back to their own work.

"Ummm.. what exactly are you trying here?" I asked with a confused look, but Dalton didn't stop for the next few seconds before we approached a woman who looked like she came here to observe this year's batch as well.

Watching me reaching there, the woman looked up at me from top to bottom before making a confused expression,"are you sure he is the guy?"

Dalton nodded before awkwardly smiling and speaking,"he might look weak and pathetic, but he is the real deal."

'Oi! At least don't trash talk me on my front,' I glared at him but he smiled a bit apologetically before speaking,"Aidan, this is Professor Lynn. She is in charge of handling all monster related activity. In fact, she is the head of all the Professors who are related with anything related to monsters."

With these words, it became clear what Dalton was trying to say. It was about that deal that he proposed to me last time. I think it was related to finding out a way to break the shell of that monster that the Academy killed sometime ago.

"Well, we can deal with that a bit later. Let's see this year's batch's potential, shall we? We need more people for the Vanguard as well," Professor Lynn spoke as she ignored me before observing the people slowly entering the Stairway of Knowledge.

'If I remember correctly, Professor Lynn was actually a half Elf, who was hiding her identity. Normally a half Elf or Elf shouldn't be able to cross the forest barrier to come in contact with the humans.. Is there anything that I did not know of? Hmmm.. interesting,' I thought before I heard,

"Well, I will be going to the fourth floor and watching everything from there. You guys can stay here till I come back."

And she vanished from there.

Dalton was left dumbfounded before he looked at me and spoke,"ah! Aidan.. I apologise for her way of action.. Normally you need Professor Lynn's permission to touch or even see a monster that the Academy has, and I thought this would be the best way to make the process faster and smoother but looks like.."

"Hmmm.. it's okay. Let's meet her up there then," I said, not minding much of her action. Though Dalton turned a bit confused before he asked,"what do you mean by that? She might have already reached the second floor by now.. and scratch that, can you even make it up there?"

At which I only smiled in return..