I jerked upright in my chair and quickly looked around. Classroom. Right. The student behind me was nudging my shoulder with a grin.

"Finally alive," he whispered.

Damn. I actually fell asleep during class.

A few students nearby were trying not to laugh, while others openly stared at me. Honestly, I couldn’t even blame them. Back on Earth, I needed sleeping pills just to close my eyes for a few hours. Now I was apparently capable of dozing off in the middle of a lecture.

The meeting with the Queen must’ve drained the life out of me.

At the front of the room, Mrs. Vance sat behind her desk with one leg crossed over the other, silver hair cascading neatly over her shoulders as she watched me with visible annoyance.

The classroom itself had gone quiet. Awkward... yikes.

"I’m sorry, Ma’am," I said quickly. "I didn’t mean to fall asleep."

"At least you apologized," Mrs. Vance replied. "Now then, where were we?"

Jayden Mi immediately raised his hand from two rows behind me and Mrs. Vance pointed toward him.

Jayden stood up dramatically and cleared his throat.

"May I go to the bathroom, Ma’am?"

A few students burst into laughter.

Woo...

Peak comedy.

Mrs. Vance stared at him with complete disappointment. "Do you want me to throw you out of the window, Mr. Mi?"

"N-No, Ma’am."

"Then sit down and stop wasting my time."

Jayden dropped back into his seat while grinning like an idiot. Mrs. Vance sighed and rubbed her temple.

"Honestly," she muttered. "I know you’re all F-Class, but surely you can focus for longer than ten minutes."

A student near the back raised his hand lazily.

"Mrs. Vance, we can’t go lower than F-Class anyway, right?"

"You can’t," she replied. "But if your exam scores stay low enough, you’ll simply fail to advance to second year."

The room quieted a little after that.

She continued speaking while leaning back in her chair.

"And before anyone asks, no, you cannot just quit. Academy attendance is mandatory by royal law. Until you graduate, you are all stuck here."

A collective groan spread across the room.

"Now," she said while looking around, "can someone remind me where we stopped before Mr. Walker’s snoring interrupted the lesson?"

A girl near the front raised her hand immediately.

"The rare blessings of the Nine Gods, Ma’am."

Mrs. Vance snapped her fingers and pointed toward her.

"Correct. Five points for you, Ela."

"Thank you, Ma’am," Ela replied with a smile.

Ela looked exactly like the kind of student who reminded teachers about homework. Her braided hair was perfectly neat, her large glasses nearly slipping down her nose, and her skirt reached lower than the standard uniform length most girls wore.

Then there were the boots. Huge things. Seriously, they looked heavy enough to kick down doors.

The students behind me immediately started whispering among themselves. "Nerd."

"Teacher’s pet."

Ela ignored them completely.

Mrs. Vance stood from her desk and slowly walked toward the front of the classroom.

"Now," she continued, "rare blessings. Most of you likely don’t possess one, considering your current placement."

Nobody responded.

"For example, Orenthis, God of Death." She crossed her arms while speaking. "Those blessed by him possess the rare ability to perceive lingering souls."

Null... yeah. That explained a lot.

"Souls not claimed by the gods remain attached to the one responsible for their deaths," Mrs. Vance explained. "They linger endlessly."

So Null could literally see them? That sounded horrifying.

I raised my hand slightly. "Can they tell whether those souls were... good or bad people?"

Mrs. Vance nodded.

"They can. Though morality changes nothing. Whether kind or cruel, the souls remain attached all the same."

Another student leaned forward curiously. "So they stick to whoever killed them?"

"That is the simplified explanation, yes."

Mrs. Vance leaned back against her desk and crossed her arms again.

"Myrrakai, Goddess of Nature," she continued. "Her blessed are capable of sensing the condition of plant life. They can tell when something is diseased, dying, or flourishing."

She gestured lightly with one hand.

"That is why many royal gardeners and healers are Myrrakai-blessed. Their affinity makes them exceptionally valuable."

Mrs. Vance looked out the window for a moment, watching the gray clouds drifting slowly above the academy grounds. Then she turned back toward the classroom and exhaled softly, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face.

"Alright, break time," she announced, clapping her hands once. "Ace, the headmaster was calling for you. You should head up."

"Yes, ma’am," I replied.

The students immediately started moving around the classroom the second the lesson ended. Chairs scraped against the floor, books snapped shut, and conversations picked up all at once. Mrs. Vance gathered her papers calmly while a few students approached her desk with questions. Others rushed toward the door like they had been waiting for freedom their entire lives.

I stayed seated for another second, rubbing my eyes.

God, I was tired.

Maybe it was because of the late nights lately. Maybe because my brain was constantly busy with the system, the queens, the bullshit politics, and now whatever fresh insanity Mr. Marble wanted from me. Either way, my body felt heavy.

Mrs. Vance eventually stepped out into the hallway with a stack of books in her arms while the class slowly emptied around me.

"Damn, another call from Mr. Marble?" I muttered.

What now? Was he going to introduce me to another king or queen because I happened to be Ambly-blessed? Meeting the Queen herself still didn’t feel real. The more I learned about Ambly, the more confused I became. Just how important was she in this world? Every answer only created more questions.

Not wanting to keep the headmaster waiting, I finally pushed myself up from the desk and headed out into the hallway.

The academy was louder during breaks. Students moved between classes in groups, some talking loudly, others arguing over assignments or sparring results. A few glanced at me while passing by. That still hadn’t gotten normal yet. Though, something was in the air that I wasn’t able to quite put my finger on. Like... something was wrong.

I climbed the stairs toward the upper floor, hands in my pockets.

When I reached Mr. Marble’s office, I noticed the door was already open. "Hm?"

I slowed down and peeked inside.

Empty.

The office chair sat pushed back slightly, papers scattered across the desk like usual, but Mr. Marble himself was nowhere to be seen.

I frowned. "Just where is he?"

"Impossible."

"Are they seriously doing it?"

"No way..."

"Them?"

The sudden murmuring downstairs caught my attention immediately.