The dragon's harem

The class quietly started as Arad took his seat and Matilda sat behind him. After introducing himself as Alomory Balatin, the teacher skipped the student's introduction in favor of starting the first class, stating that they would have enough to get to know each other in the next class.

On the board, he drew a box, and inside it wrote [System]

"The main blessing that the gods gave us is the system. Through its mystical power, we can gain more power by defeating monsters. A way to reward the hard workers protecting humanoids from monsters." He explained and turned toward the student. "Does anyone know the origin of the system here?"

A girl in the back lifted her hand, "I've heard it's a blessing not from the gods. But from a powerful god that rules over them. An overgod,"

"You're a cleric, I see," The teacher smiled, "You're close but not on the point."

He wrote [Overgod] on the board in its box above the system, and then drew an empty box between the two and linked everything. "There is still something in the middle. Can you guess what it is?"

"An angel?" A student replied, and the teacher pointed at him. "Correct, but it's good manner not to speak without permission in class." He then quickly turned toward the board and filled the empty box. [Arch-angel]

"The system is created and managed by the Overgod's first archon, the archangel Aria, also known as the collective consciousness in some writings." He then looked at the students, seeing some of them confused.

"What's the matter?"

"You said created by her? Wasn't it created by this Overgod?" A student asked.

The teacher shook his head, "The whole system, all the levels, skills, and ingrained magic and abilities. They are all parts of archangel Aria's power."

"Wait…" Arad lifted his hand.

"I'm sure I said something about speaking without permission, but keep on, it doesn't matter now." The teacher nodded.

"Are you saying that the system is a borrowed power, like that of warlocks? And that even if all those who attained the system had leveled to the max level, 1000Lv, banded together to fight her, they would lose?" Arad asked.

"Several gods stated in their scripture that Aria is second only to the Overgod, and Amaterasu, the most prominent goddess in their reaction said that Aria and the Overgod's relation is like Adam and Eve and that her fighting power could equal his." The teacher explained as best as the knowledge granted by the gods told.

Arad looked at the ceiling.

So the system's power is limited by her? No, she's the owner of all power granted through the system. That means the system will always lead a road that's controlled by her and the overgod…

I couldn't help but think, that even with how great an achievement it is to reach the maximum level. It's still normal, everyone has access to the system, and everyone can level up if they are willing and talented enough.

^What about the system's magic requirements?^

The teacher kept explaining, "That's the basic origin of the system. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking about the classes' relation with magic and abilities, but we have to take that slowly." He smiled, pulling a stack of papers from his back and distributing it to everyone with a simple spell.

As Arad read the papers, his eyes scanned through every word. It mostly recited what the teacher said with citations for scholars' books and scriptures of the gods that had the information on them, Nothing but a recap of the past minutes.

^It's going to get boring quickly if all teachers do this. Why would I need this to learn something that he already said?^ He looked at the teacher.

"Is this all it?" A student in the back asked, "We need more details. Most of the books mentioned here are too expensive to get,"

I slowly turned back, staring past the angry tiger girl at that student with a disappointed face. Why would he need to buy books? That teacher just explained it.

"You don't need to worry about that. You aren't going to get tested on this. It's basic knowledge." The teacher replied with a smile.

"Why are you looking at me? Turn back," Matilda growled at Arad, pointing forward.

Not wanting to deal with her again, Arad turned back with a tired face, staring at the board and waiting for the teacher to keep going.

^Now, this is annoying,^ Arad sighed. Matilda took her shoes off and started poking his lower back with her claws. But with her claws being unable to hurt him, she ended up only damaging his clothes like a house cat with unclipped claws.

"The system is a blessing that allows us humanoid to challenge the world's most powerful megafauna. Dragons, giants, titans, devils, dinosaurs, chimera, and all the monsters you can think of." The teacher lifted a finger up, igniting a small flame above his fingertip.

"Leveling up is simple enough, kill monsters until you level up with your current class. Those who have money can hire mercenaries to help hunt for them in a party, but that's extremely inefficient. Thus, the best way is to put on the effort to train and defeat monsters." He looked across the class.

"As most people start from the bottom, your first lesson would be 0-tier magic. It's simple spells that cost no mana and are effective against weak monsters like goblins and mutated small beasts."

He started walking toward the door, "To the firing range. I'll be teaching you some basic elemental spells that would help you in future courses, especially those that require you to clear missions."

****

Standing outside in the firing range, Arad looked around to see it was a massive empty dry patch of land twice the size of the arena with several targets at the other side.

"0-tier spells don't consume mana, that's a wrong statement." The teacher looked at the students. "They consume mana, it's just that they only need the one in the air. But that doesn't mean you can't cast them with your own mana if the air lacks it."

Arad stared at him. "That means we can't cast them in mana-

less areas unless with learn how to use our mana for them?"

"Mana-less areas? If you're getting into such a place, you'd better be able to cast 9-tier spells, what do you want of 0-tier spell to do there?" He smiled.

Matilda burst laughing, "Are you stupid, the teacher is right. 0-tier spells won't help you there, or is that all you can cast."

Arad turned toward her, "A spell that doesn't consume mana could always be helpful." Since those spells consume the air's mana, that means if I start one and then cancel the cast, the mana would return to the air. That might seem useless, but if I'm stuck in a mana-less area with, let's say Aella. I can start 0-

tier spells with my own mana and then cancel them to fill the air with mana for her to regenerate her own. This could also help me to overcharge an area with mana without needing special equipment.

Arad wasn't the one to guess that, Doma was adding details and re-explaining what the teacher said in Arad's head, and giving him tips on how to abuse it. Some high-level spells and refined versions of them still need the mana density in the air to be high enough for them to be cast, so repeatedly casting 0-tier spells and canceling them was a way for experienced wizards to change the mana density to their advantage. An example would be the ninth-tier spell [Meteor Fall]

"The first spell you're going to learn is this." The teacher cut Matilda's laughter as he opened his palm, conjuring a small orb of bright light. "The spell is called [Light] It'll help you study at night."

Some of the students immediately cast the spell, including Matilda, while some stayed there, looking at the teacher confused. "Those who don't know the spell, it works by simply spinning the mana in the air in circles and agitating it to create light."

Arad conjured the small orb of light above his finger and stared at it. "Would this be helpful?" He wondered, as he already had a great dark vision.

"You didn't cast it until the teacher told us how. By any chance, did you not know how to cast a basic spell? Or are you so rich that you never needed it?" Matilda laughed at him, but Arad wasn't listening to her at all.

"Yeah! This would be a great weapon," Arad smiled, and the teacher stared at him confused. "What kind of weapon?"

Arad turned to Matilda with a smile, waving her hand for her to come close. "Come here, look, look." He called her like a cat.

"I'm not a cat!" She growled, approaching nonetheless. "What is it? A normal light spell."

"Flashbang!"

In a split second, the light above Arad's finger burst into a brilliant flash, blinding Matilda as she fell back, covering her eyes and growing. "GRWAAA! MY EYES! Why did you do that to me!"

"You claws earlier," Arad replied, looking at the teacher with a smile. "Thanks, this will be a great weapon at night."

The teacher stared at him, sweating as he remembered how he took down the bear and tiger in the entrance exam. This one isn't like the other students, his way of thinking is fundamentally different. They want to learn, survive, and live a great life, Arad is seeking weapons through knowledge.

"Aron was your name? You're a great one." The teacher smiled, "You remind me of a certain student, Alcott was his name. The first thing he said when we gave him a pen to write with, was that it looks like a good weapon to stab someone with."

He approached Arad, "I'm looking forward to seeing how you fare. It's a rare talent that you hold."

"Ay! Nobody going to say anything for me!" Matilda growled at them.