There were five main classes taught in this Cathedral, specifically in the Academy section, anyway.
Survival, Combat, Geography, Beastiary, and History.
Sacril skipped the history classes, as he imagined it would be quite useless for him to know anything about what the first people did, instead of focusing on making a plan for himself to survive.
He also had only attended the introduction class of the Bestiary, as it explained the different classes of monsters he would encounter, and he didn't see much point in reviewing dozens of different types of creatures he might encounter when he may encounter none of them.
Geography was much the same, but it took a while for him to learn all the areas in the first layer, which he would be transported to, so he attended that class for a while longer than the others.
That left the two he felt were most important, Survival, and combat.
Each day, he would attend a large lecture hall with around one hundred other students. This was the survival course, where he learned the differing rules and methods to come back from the first layer alive.
So far, he had picked up several different methods to cook food that is common in the first layer, as well as how to spot certain monsters that could be eaten.
The most important thing he had learned, however, was the classes of monsters one could encounter on the first layer.
The nine-layered world seemed to function on a fundamental rule of getting stronger and ascending the layers; creatures above a certain strength could not exist on layer one.
The only creatures on this first layer, in fact, were known as imps.
Of course, an imp is not a term for one species of monster, but a wide variety of possible monsters; in short, it was just a classification for the weakest tier of monsters in the nine layers.
That being said, to a newly awakened, they were a huge threat, and the layers didn't just prevent higher-tier monsters from existing on the first layer; it also prevented any returned humans from coming back to it, automatically ascending them to layer two if they were to go back.
This effectively evened the playing field between beast and man.
Sort of...
Among imps, there were ones closer to ascending, consequently being much stronger.
In fact, there were five 'minor' tiers of imps that resided in the first layer.
Dormant, Awakened, Ancient, ascended, and cursed
Dormants were essentially the newborns of the class, being weaker than even newly awakened, speaking of those awakened, as the name would imply, an awakened imp is indeed equivalent to an awakened human.
The next two tiers offered smaller increases in power, the ancients being monsters who had survived many years in the harsh environment and as such, rose to a more dominant position in the brutal landscape of the first layer.
Ascended are much the same; however, they have the unique ability to lead entire groups of monsters, working as a sort of leader.
And cursed, the most feared tier of monster across all the layers humanity had explored.
Cursed don't obey one rule in specific; they can be leaders, lone wolves, or even beings hostile to both humans and other monsters.
However, their combat power is unmatched, sometimes even reaching the heights of the next tier of power, meaning a cursed imp could potentially kill a returned human.
Needless to say, the only imps it was recommended for an awakened to take on were the dormant and Awakened variety; it was made quite clear to even stay away from any ancient creatures one might encounter.
Of course, to even have a hope of fighting even the weakest monster, one must hone one's skills, mind, and body.
Which is where the combat lessons came in.
Sacril and the other students had received instructions for the past week and would participate in drills and hypothetical scenarios. They were all told mock combat would come later, and that for now the important thing was to learn the basics.
This included useful stances, techniques, and methods of using terrain to one's advantage, among other things.
As opposed to simply trying to better the students at one-on-one combat, it was more akin to teaching them guerrilla warfare.
He had found that since his transformation, he was picking up the combat information relatively quickly; the class also worked on general fitness and improving one's physical prowess as an awakened, including a meal program which he ate every breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Since training every day and eating well, his frame had become slightly less scrawny and more lean and muscular, but it seemed he still had a fast metabolism, so he did not put on an insane amount of muscle.
That being said, he could still taste the food, and it was indeed better than anything he had had in years.
Breakfast consisted of eggs, toast, and a choice of meat from sausages to roast beef or bacon.
Lunch had a massive menu, which he was currently attempting to fully explore.
and dinner offered many exquisite meals and even a dessert of your choice at the end.
On top of this, the food was excellently prepared and had certainly been one of the highlights of his stay in the academy so far.
The academy itself was only one section of the cathedral; the returned and above, who worked day jobs like keeping the peace or monitoring the awakened's activities, lived in a separate section, and any special individuals or people stronger than returned lived in the massive marble tower at the center of the building.
The building was indeed massive, being at least a square kilometer in total ground which was covered.
He could only marvel that it had been constructed inside the even more massive third city, which was by far the smallest and worst-maintained city of them all.
He was happy he could finally think of little things like that; it never came to mind back when he was dumpster diving daily.
But alas, a day finally came when he stood in with the group of other students in the combat course.
The teacher panned eagle eyes over the crowd. He was a strict teacher, as one would expect for a course of this nature, and would always do this to make sure everyone paid him attention.
"Well, it has been a while now, hasn't it? I suppose you lot are ready."
He closed his eyes for a moment before suddenly opening them.
"The first mock battle will take place Tonight into tomorrow, the choice of the event is..."
Everyone waited in tense silence.
"Capture the Actualization."