It was day three of being here at the College of Advancement and it was unrelenting brutality. My brain felt like it was turning into putty. I didn’t mind working hard, but I had come to a deep and profound realization.

Why would my mother, the most intense woman, allow me to study here? I should have asked that question years ago. Now I realized that this place was unrelenting. I had seen two students have nervous breakdowns and get escorted away. And that was just in my small corner of the College.

I had no doubt the actual number of nervous breakdowns was much higher than just two students. No one cared for them or offered any sympathy for them. They were failures and everyone was focused on gaining levels. No wonder why graduates who hadn’t gone the full seven years were respected. Just making it one day was exhausting, going all seven years would soul crushing. I was surprised there wasn’t a study resistance skill with how hard the College expected everyone to work.

Friends would only distract you. Even the cafeteria was dead silent except for the sound of eating. No one had casual conversations. The Assistant Professors and Professors clearly had life in their bodies, but this place sucked that life out of the students. I was coming to understand why my tutors didn’t like talking about their time at this place.

There was nothing to talk about except studying and working to improve one’s skills. I didn’t think it was possible to get physically exhausted from studying, but the College of Advancement proved me wrong. Even getting 9 hours of sleep every night, there was just a heavy exhaustion that had settled over me.

I had checked with Healer Melon, but he smiled at me and explained the reason. “You are pushing your soul. Before the soul fruits made things easier. But the weariness you are currently experiencing is due to rapid level gain. That is why higher stats make things easier. Other students have a harder time, at least some of them.”

I learned more when I spoke with Melody about how I was struggling. Even with my high Mind stat, this place was a struggle. The problem was that my stats were low. I had 349 stats. At 20 points per stat level that put me at an equivalent of level 17.45. The problem was that most of these students had been power leveled to level 40 to get the most out of their time at the College of Advancement. For those who were truly rich or capable they would be level 60.

That meant having double or triple my stat points. While each level only gave 10 free stat points, for Legends it was expected to have around 20 stat points per level. The other students were elites. While they might not have gotten stuffed with soul fruits and mega elixirs, they would get power leveled and other advantages.

The College targeted individuals with 800 stat points at level 40. Everything was normalized for these individuals. I was only getting ahead because of supporting skills, but my stats were far behind, which was why I was getting worn down so quickly. The spirit was willing, but the body and mind were weak. Read complete version only at novel•fire.net

I had to run to my Monster Processing Skills class which started Wednesday right after Dwarven Language. I made it just in time as the five minute travel time between classes ended. There were only around 170 students in this class with the front seats all taken, I had to sit at the back of the very large room. There were tables with five chairs at each large table. The front of the classroom was a stage with the image of the stage made much bigger on a large visual behind the stage so everyone could easily see the top of the stage.

“I am Professor Grendel Bonecarver,” the Professor said as he strode out and looked over the class. “The College breeds specific monsters for Alchemical use. The ingredients harvested from monsters are used in potions and crafting due their Mana infused nature.

“This is different than a monster with an unnatural core that has fused with a part of their body. Those kinds of monsters are much rarer and require specialized techniques we will not cover in this basic class. Every monster is worth a lot of money. But the challenge is extracting that money.

“The reason most adventurers don’t bother is the weight. And by the time one can afford a spatial storage of some kind, it isn’t worth their time. But the demand remains as high as ever for properly harvested and preserved monster parts.

“You will each form a group of five with the students next to you. I will demonstrate proper harvesting techniques on one monster then one member of your group will proceed to copy what I have done. Your teammates can provide advice, but they will not help. You will switch each monster to a new team member and keep the same groups throughout the semester.” I looked over at my teammates and we all sized each other up. They didn’t seem like anything special, just more physically inclined and slightly older than first years.

“My assistants will walk around and assess your progress. First up is a classic. Large Burrowing Worms. You can cut one in half and two will grow from the pieces.” An Assistant Professor rolled out a large worm on a cart and it was moved onto the table on the stage. Everyone watched the large screen as the Professor got to work.

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“Slice quickly, yet firmly. Their outer skin is tough. It is a level 15 monster down in the dungeon. The tools are provided at each table. They will be cleaned after every class by all of you along with the table.” I paid close attention. While I had encountered worm monsters before, my mother wasn’t that big about harvesting monster parts.

“Unfortunately, there is no core, and the monster is weaker having been born up here on the surface. But the rest of the anatomy is the same. Most worm monsters have a cavity they use to digest stuff. The acid can be carefully extracted and saved. Quite useful for etching, even if it is a small amount. We test the acid strength with these strips of metal. You can cross store acid from different types of monsters as long as it the same strength and you have a container that is rated for that kind of acid.

“Don’t mix different acid strengths. And don’t use a container that isn’t rated for that kind of acid. That is how you have a bad time. Containers have a small margin of error, but not enough for an entirely new ranking. Harvesting goes by value. The acid is the most valuable substance from this type of monster. Then the outer skin. It is great for tier 1 equipment and minor repairs,” the Professor explained and began cutting the skin away.

None of the students got sick. They were probably used to the gore from the dungeon. This was the kind of class that students took who planned to become adventurers. I was taking this to increase my skill and I had an open time slot at the right time.

During the 2 hour class, we went through five monsters. The harvested materials were taken away by staff members for the Alchemy classes. I was the last to go in my group and I got a Terror Hawk. There was fear juice in an organ in its neck that was extracted and could be used for certain Alchemical products. The feathers were useful for pillows. Lots of organs and meat were labeled as low level trash and discarded.

The College would burn the waste so other animals didn’t eat it and become poisoned by the Mana present in the flesh. While large portions of the monsters were used, not every part had a use. Muscles, bone, and organs were often discarded, with only specific organs harvested.

It was nice to have a hands on class compared to the pure book learning of my other classes. I already had a solid foundation in Monster Processing Skills, but the class was much more methodical and detailed than the lessons I had received in the dungeon.

When class was over I had to rush off to Dwarven Etiquette and then Dwarven History right afterwards. Then there was an hour break to rest my mind a bit and eat some dinner before I had to go to auxiliary class for Geometry. I had the auxiliary class for Algebra the day before.

It was more book learning with book of problems I had to solve. I got a textbook to learn from a textbook of problems. There were a total of five textbooks. I was coming to realize that the College kept the best training methods and books for themselves, while releasing more compact versions for sale.

If someone could afford a full set of books, they could afford to attend the College. The College only published compact textbooks, not the methodical learning they had in place inside their walls. That meant I covered familiar material, just more in depth.

I couldn’t easily skip ahead either, but it did make learning much easier. The idea of the College was to methodically advance a skill through a series of discrete steps, creating a repeatable methodology to mastering a skill. Wherever possible the human element and individual instruction was removed.

The entire process was just a series of steps. It was humbling the more I realized how far this place had come in terms of advancing skills. I could easily see that after another millennia of accumulation, there would be more standardized skills and higher tier skills. Perhaps the College would outsource lower tier skills while only teaching the higher tier skills.

I did my best to get through the Geometry problems, but trying to calculate angles and logical relationships between various shapes and angles, left my brain feeling like mush once more. At least tomorrow afternoon, I had an auxiliary class in Focused Running.

Thursday was rough and by the time I got to my auxillary class of Focused Running, I didn’t want to think too hard about anything. It ended up being quite similar to Focused Meditation. I had to run around a large track. After each lap, an Assistant Professor would give some pointers on how I should adjust my running, breathing, and everything else to better perfect the skill for one minute. To get more advice, I had to run around the track again.

There was an available textbook I could look through as well, but the Assistant Professor let me know, it was hard for individuals to spot their own flaws while running. That was why someone was stationed here to give pointed advice to the students that wanted to work on the skill.

“Another fun day?” Healer Melon asked me as I dragged myself back into my room.

“I feel like death,” I muttered. “At least no auxiliary class tomorrow afternoon.” I collapsed onto a sofa, face down, not wanting to move in the slightest.

“Focused Running couldn’t have been that bad?” he asked.

“I had to keep myself aware of my body and precise movement. It was mentally exhausting. My brain is ready to quit,” I said.

“Well, you must be gaining lots of skill levels.”

“I can feel them increasing, but this is as bad as the dungeon with my mother.”

“I won’t comment about that,” Healer Melon said.

“How is the egg?” I asked. I could feel that it was comfortable through the connection I had with it.

“It is an egg, just sitting where you left it. No change. It isn’t going anywhere,” he replied.

“Good. Just worried it might not hatch,” I replied.

“Just keep giving it Mana every night and morning like you have been and it will be fine. Monsters need Mana. And since it is yours, the bond will only improve between the two of you,” Healer Melon said something I had already been told.

“No idea when it will hatch?” I asked.

“Monster eggs are rare. And a Winged Serpent even rarer. I couldn’t say.” Eggs were technically natural treasures of the dungeon. Since they could be used to get a pet.

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