?Mr. Roy picks up therger hourss and turns it upside-down. The sand slowly fell from the top ss to the bottom. Little by little, the bottom grew, while the top shrunk. Marco could not help but eye the hourss for a few seconds before moving his eyes to the ckboard.


    She appeared to have grabbed a piece of chalk and started to write down all 26 letters of the alphabet. It was separated into 6 invisible columns, along with 4 full rows and 1 other row that took the final two letters. The letters themselves were simr and worked like the English alphabet, but there were a few differences with the way they are drawn.


    B is a 3, O has a dot in the middle, R has a half A attached on the left side, and S has a 45° line attaching the top end to the bottom end. There are some other alterations to it, but these are the most noticeable.


    Mrs. Roy then takes out a stick from her leather handbag. It had a leather handle with a pointy tip. She ced used it to select the first letter of the alphabet and turned to the ss with a smile.


    pαndα,noν?1,сoМ "Alright ss, repeat after me." she went on to pronounce the letter. Everyone, including Marco, followed. She repeated a few times and then moved on to the next letter.


    They all repeated the letter, over and over again. She then moved on to the next letter and have them repeat that for 2 minutes. Mrs. Roy then came back to the previous letter and got the students to speak it once again.


    The students manage to sessfully repeat it, which made Mrs. Roy smile. She checks the hourss once a few times to see whether it was finished. Once it was, she flips it again and continues with the ss.


    She manages to teach them how to pronounce the first row of letters. The students, with great sess, manage to recognize it somewhat urately. By the time they were done with the third row, the hourss was finished once again. This time, she flipped the smaller hourss on its head and continued with the ss.


    After grabbing a piece of cloth, she erases the first row of letters and writes one of them randomly. She first writes 3 and picks one student to read them out loud. She then erases the letter and moves on to another one. Once a student answers, Mrs. Roy does not correct them however, just keeps in mind who said what.


    She continues to do this until the smaller hourss finishes. Only then, she repeats the words out loud once again, allowing the students to correct themselves once again. Once she is done with the lecturing, she ces her stick down on the table.


    "Alright students, we have sessfully finished our first 25-minute period. You will all get a 5-minute break to talk to each other and rest. Just make sure you don''t leave the ssroom unless you need to. Just make sure to inform me beforehand." she said.


    The school uses a technique called Pomodoro Technique. You do work for 25 minutes and then get a 5-minute break. This keeps the students in shape and gives them enough rest to keep their productivity high, allowing for faster learning. Howard himself was the one to advise the teachers of the method.


    With that, Mrs. Roy sits down and grabs a book out of her bag. With her eyes on the pages, she starts to read them. Marco turned to Vice, the 15-year-old he was talking to earlier. They started to talk once again, picking up where they left off.


    "Anyways, like I was saying, have you ever gone on a boat?" Vice asked.


    "No... I have not. I was a farmer boy," Marco replied in a rather shameful tone. Vice chuckled at his response.


    "Well, I am going to give you heads up, you might get seasick, and have a possible chance of scurvy."


    "Scurvy?"


    "Yea. It''s this disease that runs amok sailors who had been out for too long. It is why they always have us drink that lemon juice. They say it prevents us from contracting it." Vice advised Marco, knowing it would save his life.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Alright, thanks for that. I didn''t even know. Hey, how do you know about that?" Marco asked.


    "I knew it through my uncle. He runs this boat that deals trade from this city to the smaller ones surrounding it," Vice informed Marco with pride.


    "Damn. Can Ie one day?" he asked.


    "Oh. Sure! If he allows it that is. I will ask him." Vice replied. Marco smiled internally, happy that he found someone he can rte to. Meanwhile, Mrs.Roy looks up at the hourss. The ss bits of sand traverse through the sand and into the bottom.


    She ce her book down, got up from her seat, and pped her hands, gaining the attention of all the students.


    "Alright ss, our short break is up. We shall begin our lessons once again. Sit down." she said. Marco and Vice felt a little sad. The 5 minutes felt so short, shorter than before. Time usually warps in ordance with one''s emotions and age.


    The ss went through 3 more periods before the interval arrived, with 25 minutes of studying each, following a 5-minute break. After the 4th period, the entire school was given a 30-minute interval, where people can eat and socialize.


    Marco, being usually alone at home, asked Vice to apany him to get some lunch. A request to which Vice agreed. They two walked out of the people, along with some other students, and walked on the streets to get some food.


    "Say Vice, you have been here right?" Marco asked. Vice scoffed, replying.


    "I live here dumb-dumb."


    "Right. Do you know any ce where we can eat?" he asked.


    "Oh yes! Certainly! The question is though, do you have enough money?"


    "Got 36 pieces of copper. Is that enough?" Marco asked. He was a little worried that he did not bring enough money with him. But Vice, however, smiled at him.


    "That''s enough for a full-course luxury meal! Come. I will take you to a ce I know."


    "Where is it?"


    "It''s a bakery. They have these amazing pastries, cookies, and bread, you got to try them. I rmend you try the fish pastry, fresh out of the oven. You will love it, I promise," Vice imed. With his im, Marco had high hopes for this ce.