Frenrin read the rest of the book for the next hour or so. It wasn't that long in word count, but it was very detailed and informative. It had the layouts of the building, teachers and their habits; it even included some of the upperclassmen that Sven was familiar with.
Most importantly, it had details on the classes that Frenrin would take and a few other things, including what Sven's schedule was. Sven was actually a very diligent student; he was training almost the entire day. He would either be cultivating or training his body.
It was currently the afternoon; there wasn't really anything Frenrin had to do right now, or at least that he knew of. He only had to meet his teachers and the principal again later tonight.
At this time, in an inconspicuous room with dark marble walls, there were five people seated around a circular table. They all had serious expressions.
A fat man with sideburns, despite having no other facial hair or hair on his head, spoke. "What do we do about the 'Death' child? I'm assuming we aren't just letting him have a normal time at school."
Principal Alicia spoke up, "We will convince him to join the military before his schooling ends; this is incredibly important!"
As Alicia spoke with a firm stance, a familiar man spoke up in the right corner. "Make his schooling hell; that's the easiest way to make him join the military."
A young-looking girl interjected, "If we do that, wouldn't he resent the school? How would that make him want to enlist?"
"Obviously, it won't be the teachers; it will be the students that make his life hell. What better way is there to get revenge than to get a high position and abuse your power?"
Alicia spoke again. "Paul, that plan is simply too risky. We don't need to start with a double-edged sword before even seeing his opinions. We have almost ten years to convince him anyway."
The young girl smugly looked at Paul, which led Paul to make a motion of his hand slicing his neck. The girl immediately looked down at her feet with a frown.
A man with a tall, lanky build and white hair looked at Paul. "Stop scaring the new teacher."
The girl looked up at the man. "Thank you, Revan," she said with a smile and a slight blush.
The man returned the smile; meanwhile, Paul scoffed.
"What's your plan then, Alicia?"
"For the first year or so, we will be testing Frenrin, studying his habits, getting a grasp of his character, and putting him in situations where he has to make difficult decisions. That will be the plan."
The fat man spoke again, "What will we do if he passes or fails?"
Alicia joined her two hands together. "Assuming he passes, then we will simply be persuasive and not restrictive toward him. If he fails, then we will create a situation where the only positive choice will be enlisting. I will be more specific after he fails or passes."
"For now, I want all of you to be nice to Frenrin, greet him, and be respectful."
Alicia continued while staring at Paul. "Besides you," she said while looking at Paul.
Paul smiled in return.
"Can I leave now, Great Madam?" Paul said while smiling.
"Yes, you are all excused," Alicia said with a sigh.
After Alicia sent everyone away, she called Sven over from a corner of the room.
"You will be watching Frenrin very closely from now on," Alicia said with a smile.
"Understood," Sven said as he bowed.
Alicia then sent Sven away and sat back in her chair, thinking to herself, "This is my only chance..."
A few hours later, Sven arrived outside of Frenrin's room.
Sven knocked on the door, and a few moments later, Frenrin answered.
"It's time to meet the faculty," Sven said, then immediately turned and walked away.
"Uh, okay," Frenrin said, then walked at a slightly faster pace to catch up to Sven.
The two walked for about ten minutes before arriving. The academy was quite big, after all.
The doors were already opened, and the teachers were sitting around a large rectangular desk, with Alicia sitting in the middle facing Sven.
"Hello, Sven. Come, come sit down; there's only one chair left for you to choose."
Alicia said while motioning with her hand to sit down.
All of the teachers were sitting on the opposite side of Frenrin: the fat man, Paul, Alicia, Revan, and a young-looking girl.
Alicia spoke once more: "These will be your teachers for the next ten years. I'll introduce them one at a time: There's Revan; he's the teacher in charge of outdoor activities."
Revan stared at Frenrin with domineering eyes; Frenrin stared back with uninterested eyes.
She then motioned toward the bald man. "This is Don; he's in charge of the Alchemist Class."
Don cupped his hands together. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Frenrin nodded toward Don.
Alicia continued, "Next is Cici; she's the teacher in charge of 'Principles of Ren.'" Cici then waved at Frenrin while smiling. "Hi, Frenrin!" Frenrin nodded toward Cici.
"Last, and least, we have Paul. He's in charge of sparring and other similar things." Paul smiled. "Hey, kid." Frenrin doesn't respond to Paul.
Paul continued smiling, clearly not bothered.
Paul was about to continue but got cut off by Alicia. "Do you have any questions, Frenrin?"
Frenrin thought for a moment, then said, "No."
Alicia paused for a moment, then said, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about; teachers are meant to teach."
Frenrin responded, "There's nothing for me to ask. Sven's book was very informative."
A few teachers glanced over at Sven standing in a corner, then turned back to Frenrin.
Cici asked with a frown, "You don't even have any questions about your element?"
Frenrin shrugged. "Not currently."
The reason Frenrin had no questions was obviously because he could just ask Garmr, someone who has the Death element and has lived much longer than anyone here.
Cici was clearly disappointed, which made Don annoyed due to the fact that he had very strong feelings for Cici. Despite the age gap, the beauty gap, the talent gap, the cultivation gap, and the rank gap, he did have one advantage: money! Don is incredibly wealthy; he not only comes from a noble family, but he is also a very experienced alchemist.
But even then, Don did not say anything. This was because he was surrounded by his peers, but also due to Frenrin himself.
Cici continued to try and connect with Frenrin; she wanted to get close to him—not because she wanted to utilize or manipulate Frenrin, but because she thought Frenrin was cute in a puppy sort of way.
"So, Frenrin, where did you come from?"
"I came from a small village. Now that I think about it, I don't even know the name of it."
This was because Frenrin pretty much never left his family's property or interacted with anybody besides his parents.
Cici continued while smiling, "I've always wanted to go out in the country, but I haven't had time for it, sadly."
Frenrin didn't respond, so Cici continued. "How's your family, then? I'm sure they're worried, si—"
As Cici was talking, Paul suddenly laughed incredibly loudly. "Hahahaha!"
Cici got annoyed and sat up, then pointed at Paul. "What's so funny?"
Paul continued to laugh. "Haha, it's an inside joke."
Paul then looked over at Frenrin, and Cici followed along with his eyes; they both saw Frenrin looking down with a big frown on his face.
Cici's face then distorted into a frown, and as she tried to apologize to Frenrin, Paul spoke up once again.
"You're such a spoiled brat. You actually thought that his parents would see him as a person after they knew he had the 'Death' element?"
Cici wanted to retort, but Frenrin's face got darker, confirming what Paul said.
Cici's face turned red. "I'm really, really sorry, Frenrin. I didn't know your parents were so stupid as to not see your potential..."
Frenrin's face contorted from being sad to one filled with rage. "Don't... call my parents stupid."
Cici's face then went pale; she felt as if everything she said was the worst possible choice.
Cici then apologized once again and walked away with tears in her eyes, hastening her pace when Paul started to laugh again.
Revan and Don both wanted to intervene for different reasons. Don wanted to check on Cici, and Revan wanted to shut Paul up. They both looked over at Alicia, and with a look from her, they continued to sit in silence.
Paul eventually stopped laughing after a while.
Alicia then spoke to Frenrin. "I'm sorry about Paul and Cici... Cici is kind; she's just... a bit naive."
Paul snorted. "Naive? More like retarded."
Alicia held back every bone in her body to not immediately attack Paul. She knew she wouldn't win, but she wasn't afraid of Paul either.
Don didn't have to hold back; he was a coward. He wouldn't go against anything Paul did unless he was trying to kill Cici.
It's understandable, though; Paul could kill Don incredibly easily. Paul's cultivation, rank, weapons, and physical strength were much higher. In terms of strength among the teachers, Paul and Revan retrospectively shared the number one spot, with Alicia being second, Cici in third, and Don dead last by a large margin.
After Alicia calmed her mind, she continued. "I'm sorry for how this meeting turned out, Frenrin, but every teacher here is incredibly competent, even if it doesn't show..." She said while staring at Paul, not even attempting to hide it. Paul smiled back in response to her gaze.
Frenrin spoke with a downcast expression. "Can I go now, please?"
Alicia sighed in her head. "Yes, you may leave now, Frenrin."
Paul walked to the door, then bowed before leaving; Sven followed in pursuit.
Alicia immediately spoke to Paul. "You have to be the worst person possible to work with..."
Paul smiled and then walked away while laughing.
Don waited until Paul was far enough away for them not to hear him. "Why do we have Paul as a teacher? He's not exactly the teaching type..."
Alicia massaged her forehead. "There's nobody better than him when it comes to personal combat," she said while sighing.
Don obviously knew that wasn't the full truth. Sure, Paul was exceptional at combat, but he was clearly a terrible person to have as a teacher.
Alicia then ended the conversation and told everyone else to dismiss.
Meanwhile, Frenrin walked back to his room while Sven followed him from behind.
"Are you just going to follow me?" Frenrin said with an annoyed expression.
"Yes," Sven responded blankly.
Frenrin didn't respond and continued to walk back to his room with a dark expression.
Eventually, Frenrin returned and shut the door behind him without saying goodbye to Sven.