Table of Contents

Chapter 1: No Second Chances

Chapter 2: Into The Unknown
Chapter 3: The Early Bird
Chapter 4: Windspeed Hawk
Chapter 5: Rend
Chapter 6: Dropoff Site
Chapter 7: The Fields
Chapter 8: Walk Softly
Chapter 9: Room Choice
Chapter 10: No Mice
Chapter 11: First Classes
Chapter 12: Sparring With Rita
Chapter 13: Agility Training
Chapter 14: Updated Mission Statement
Chapter 15: Resources
Chapter 16: Growing Fast
Chapter 17: Proper Training Regimen
Chapter 18: Playing The Game
Chapter 19: Unarmed Combat Training
Chapter 20: Wind Stone
Chapter 21: Outside? No, Keep Working
Chapter 22: Situational Awareness
Chapter 23: Practically Trained In A Swamp
Chapter 24: Swamp
Chapter 25: Found
Chapter 26: A Bird In The Bush
Chapter 27: Best Study Spot
Chapter 28: The Maze
Chapter 29: Sleepless Nights
Chapter 30: Snacks
Chapter 31: Stress Induced Learning
Chapter 32: Efficient Nutrition
Chapter 33: Heavy Eating
Chapter 34: More Resources
Chapter 35: Efficient Casting
Chapter 36: Practice Makes Perfect
Chapter 37: New Claws
Chapter 38: Are We There Yet?
Chapter 39: Goblins
Chapter 40: Not A Day Trip?
Chapter 41: Low and Slow
Chapter 42 Well Rested
Chapter 43 From Above
Chapter 44 Night Fight
Chapter 45 Easy Pickings
Chapter 46 Don’t You Listen?
Chapter 47 Incoming Troops
Chapter 48 Special Forces Inbound
Chapter 49 Streets Swept
Chapter 50 Career Paths
Chapter 51 Safe And Sound
Chapter 52 Awakened Exams
Chapter 53 Mission Report
Chapter 54 Quality Kibble Is Needed?
Chapter 55 The Prince and the Overlord
Chapter 56 Shredded
Chapter 57 Golem
Chapter 58 Interrogated
Chapter 59 Contact and Contacts
Chapter 60 Orders From Above
Chapter 61 Colonel Valerie Boris
Chapter 62 Small Group Training
Chapter 63 Modification
Chapter 64 Get The Goods
Chapter 65 New Foods
Chapter 66 One Day Off Isn’t Enough
Chapter 67 Tank
Chapter 68 Cocktail Hour
Chapter 69 Pills and Pokes
Chapter 70 Big Hawk
Chapter 71 Lean and Cut
Chapter 72 Hawk’s Concerns
Chapter 73 Annoyed Rita
Chapter 74 All Day Long
Chapter 75 Early To Rise
Chapter 76 Hold Position
Chapter 77 Pet Suggestions
Chapter 78 Begin The Search
Chapter 79 Locusts
Chapter 80 Down By The River
Chapter 81 Bloodbath Spider
Chapter 82 Mistakes Were Made
Chapter 83 Thor
Chapter 84 Physical Recovery Begins
Chapter 85 Physical Examination
Chapter 86 Hyper Cerro
Chapter 87 Divulging Secrets
Chapter 88 Life Is About Balance
Chapter 89 Rae Meets Dana
Chapter 90 Not Morning People
Chapter 91 They Need Exercise
Chapter 92 Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Chapter 93 Ambush Practice
Chapter 94 Student Led Mission
Chapter 95 Off The Train
Chapter 96 White Robes
Chapter 97 Cleanup At Tree Three
Chapter 98 Tree Apes
Chapter 99 Moss Tea
Chapter 100 Crystal Chamber
Chapter 101 Forgotten Temple
Chapter 102 Willpower
Chapter 103 Setting Camp
Chapter 104 Mana Stairs
Chapter 105 Quality Over Quantity
Chapter 106 Fate Stairs
Chapter 107 Skill Master
Chapter 108 Rewards
Chapter 109 No Access
Chapter 110 Shiny Rocks and Big Ferns
Chapter 111 Go Around
Chapter 112 To The Tracks
Chapter 113 They Weren’t Alone
Chapter 114 Marked
Chapter 115 Drakes
Chapter 116 Recovered
Chapter 117 Questioned
Chapter 118 Satisfactory Answers
Chapter 119 Good Intentions And Bad Ideas
Chapter 120 Formal Dinner
Chapter 121 A Different Style
Chapter 122 Good With Animals
Chapter 123 Holy Rewards
Chapter 124 Bad Navigators
Chapter 125 Early Mornings
Chapter 126 How To Choose
Chapter 127 Fuel Stop
Chapter 128 Storm Rolls In
Chapter 129 Rainy Days
Chapter 130 To Remove The Blockage
Chapter 131 Free Flowing
Chapter 132 Night Watch Lizards
Chapter 133 Aftermath
Chapter 134 Corps Of Engineers
Chapter 135 Bridge
Chapter 136 Home Stretch
Chapter 137 Home Sweet Academy
Chapter 138 Barriers!
Chapter 139 Direction
Chapter 140 Rae’s Game
Chapter 141 Teaching Thor
Chapter 142 Earthquake
Chapter 143 Rae’s Taste In Attacks
Chapter 144 Lacerate
Chapter 145 Drake Scale Potion
Chapter 146 Trolling Is An Honored Profession
Chapter 147 Their Ways
Chapter 148 Bleed and Play
Chapter 149 Looking Good
Chapter 150 In The Mirror
Chapter 151 Testing Thor
Chapter 152 Rae’s Specialty
Chapter 153 Lottery Assignment
Chapter 154 Drop The Seniors First
Chapter 155 Everyone Out
Chapter 156 The Mackenzies
Chapter 157 Sharp Senses
Chapter 158 Rope Bridge
Chapter 159 Tree Fort
Chapter 160 Doug’s Cooking
Chapter 161 Morning Watch
Chapter 162 Clearance Sale
Chapter 163 Neighbours
Chapter 164 Odd Alliances
Chapter 165 Hawk Being Hawk
Chapter 166 Late Start
Chapter 167 Helpful Hawk
Chapter 168 Bestial Strength
Chapter 169 Ogre Cave
Chapter 170 New Fort
Chapter 171 Hill Giant Camp
Chapter 172 Clear The Woods
Chapter 173 Pulled The Adds
Chapter 174 Strategic Slacking
Chapter 175 Dana’s Trip
Chapter 176 Routine
Chapter 177 Phoenix Lotus
Chapter 178 Scared Them Off
Chapter 179 Retrieved
Chapter 180 Grease The Wheels
Chapter 181 Back To Church
Chapter 182 Bus Trip
Chapter 183 Candidates
Chapter 184 New Group
Chapter 185 Test Location
Chapter 186 Ascended Test
Chapter 187 Commanders Mackenzie
Chapter 188 Join A Patrol
Chapter 189 Forward Operations
Chapter 190 Why Am I Up Front?
Chapter 191 Spider Golems
Chapter 192 Found Her
Chapter 193 Green But Not Lizards
Chapter 194 Headcount
Chapter 195 Return To Base
Chapter 196 They're Not Even Looking
Chapter 197 Morning Formation
Chapter 198 Productivity
Chapter 199 The Value Of A Scout
Chapter 200 Guided Hunting Tour
Chapter 201 More Disciplined Troops
Chapter 202 Tribunal
Chapter 203 Caught Lacking
Chapter 204 Rae and Lotus
Chapter 205 Mental Space Limitations
Chapter 206 Good Stuff
Chapter 207 Suspiciously Good Loot
Chapter 208 System Stones
Chapter 209 Scapegoat
Chapter 210 The Capital City Cathedral
Chapter 211 What You Had In Mind
Chapter 212 Affinities
Chapter 213 Focus Training
Chapter 214 Hidden Treasures
Chapter 215 The World Dragon's Luck
Chapter 216 Luck Prevails
Chapter 217 Spend Some Reward Money
Chapter 218 University Educated
Chapter 219 Armored Golems
Chapter 220 Protection
Chapter 221 Mental Focus
Chapter 222 Lore
Chapter 223 With The Avatars
Chapter 224 You Can't Hide
Chapter 225 Official Request
Chapter 226 Armour
Chapter 227 Supplied
Chapter 228 Spellblades
Chapter 229 Prince Corbin
Chapter 230 Big Scaly Things
Chapter 231 Yeti Clans
Chapter 232 Swarmed
Chapter 233 Escape Encirclement
Chapter 234 Spaces Maximized
Chapter 235 Check The Cave
Chapter 236 Enchanted Caverns
Chapter 237 Round Two... Fight
Chapter 238 Rae The Invincible
Chapter 239 Skillz
Chapter 240 Do We Move On?
Chapter 241 On Repeat
Chapter 242 Three Hour Completion
Chapter 243 Corbin’s Wisdom
Chapter 244 Find A Way
Chapter 245 Enter The Dungeon
Chapter 246 Loot Now?
Chapter 247 Shaman Champion
Chapter 248 Stunned
Chapter 249 Naga Dungeon Complete
Chapter 250 Bonuses
Chapter 251 Commander Karl
Chapter 252 Government Officials
Chapter 253 Special Treatment
Chapter 254 Rita
Chapter 255 Bossy Bureaucrats
Chapter 256 Contracts
Chapter 257 Learn When To Say No
Chapter 258 And When To Say Maybe
Chapter 259 Cold Front
Chapter 260 Bear Chops
Chapter 261 Back In The Snow
Chapter 262 Hunting Frost Giants
Chapter 263 Taunt The Giants
Chapter 264 Thor's Loot Bags
Chapter 265 Commander Dalton
Chapter 266 Shadows In The Snow
Chapter 267 Artillery Lullaby
Chapter 268 The Line Retreats
Chapter 269 Border Jumping
Chapter 270 Left Behind
Chapter 271 Tori’s Choices
Chapter 272 Abundant Pork
Chapter 273 Runaways
Chapter 274 Missing Deliveries
Chapter 275 Ice Front
Chapter 276 Need For Speed
Chapter 277 Sneaky Yetis
Chapter 278 Yeti Uniforms
Chapter 279 Hawk Gets The Stragglers
Chapter 280 Loot Drop
Chapter 281 Hunt For the Relic
Chapter 282 Snowed In Valley
Chapter 283 Close Call
Chapter 284 The Good Cave
Chapter 285 Rest And Recovery
Chapter 286 Could There Be Others?
Chapter 287 Reunion Trip
Chapter 288 And Then There Were Ten
Chapter 289 Relic Hunting
Chapter 290 290
Chapter 291 Chain of Disasters
Chapter 292 In The Mountain
Chapter 293 Remi’s Dedication
Chapter 294 The Path More Travelled
Chapter 295 Totems and Spears
Chapter 296 Still The Same
Chapter 297 Inland Route
Chapter 298 Light Reinforcement Day
Chapter 299 They Ran Away
Chapter 300 A City Razed
Chapter 301 Survivors Found
Chapter 302 March of Ash
Chapter 303 All Nighter
Chapter 304 Orphans Delivered
Chapter 305 General Orland And Company
Chapter 306 Sent Back
Chapter 307 Through The Snow
Chapter 308 Clever Girl
Chapter 309 Duel
Chapter 310 Mad Dash
Chapter 311 Mess Hall
Chapter 312 Prognosis
Chapter 313 Evacuated
Chapter 314 Capital Checkup
Chapter 315 Roommates
Chapter 316 Light Sleeper
Chapter 317 Morning Visitors
Chapter 318 Gathering Friends
Chapter 319 New Advisors
Chapter 320 Break Rooms and Evaluations
Chapter 321 Morgana
Chapter 322 Career Path
Chapter 323 Suitable For The Role
Chapter 324 Drake's Verdict
Chapter 325 New Doctors and Understanding
Chapter 326 Let Off Some Steam
Chapter 327 Rehabilitated
Chapter 328 Cathedral Again?
Chapter 329 Empty Halls
Chapter 330 On The Road Again
Chapter 331 Who Needs Points?
Chapter 332 You Left Us Behind
Chapter 333 The Final Reinforcement
Chapter 334 Colonel Wilkes
Chapter 335 Envy The Fort
Chapter 336 Morning Combat Drills
Chapter 337 Whistle While You Work
Chapter 338 Pretty Rocs Obtained
Chapter 339 Ancient History
Chapter 340 What To Do
Chapter 341 This Feels Like... School
Chapter 342 Presents
Chapter 343 It's Art I Tell You
Chapter 344 Buff The Tank
Chapter 345 Berserk Terror
Chapter 346 Barbecue Party
Chapter 347 A Relaxed Afternoon
Chapter 348 Reporting In
Chapter 349 General Knowledge
Chapter 350 Twenty Questions
Chapter 351 But Is She?
Chapter 352 Remi's Habits
Chapter 353 Remi's Expressions
Chapter 354 The Giants' Search
Chapter 355 Brace For Impact
Chapter 356 Great Golden Lions
Chapter 357 Regroup
Chapter 358 Meat Aisle Stocked
Chapter 359 Rotate The Lines
Chapter 360 Rae's Treasures
Chapter 361 Break The Stalemate
Chapter 362 Crush Them
Chapter 363 Momentum
Chapter 364 Battered But Not Beaten
Chapter 365 Owlbears Speak Hawk
Chapter 366 Spare Gear
Chapter 367 Repair Party'
Chapter 368 House Guests
Chapter 369 Wayward Thoughts
Chapter 370 Calling Cards
Chapter 371 Rae's Priorities
Chapter 372 Blood Bath
Chapter 373 Poof Giant Spider
Chapter 374 Earth To Rae
Chapter 375 The Way Of The Monsters
Chapter 376 Flag Set
Chapter 377 Fighting Blind
Chapter 378 Are You Done Showing Off?
Chapter 379 First Advancement Trial
Chapter 380 Stage Two
Chapter 381 Epic Team Challenge
Chapter 382 Challenge Complete
Chapter 383 Group Accomplishment
Chapter 384 Royal Return
Chapter 385 Formalities
Chapter 386 Heroes Need Capes
Chapter 387 Do I Have To?
Chapter 388 Interview with Israel
Chapter 389 The Archmage
Chapter 390 Final Photos
Chapter 391 Photo Shoot
Chapter 392 Impress The Money Men
Chapter 393 Doug And Hawk Showdown
Chapter 394 Bags and Skills
Chapter 395 Dana's Training Day
Chapter 396 You Can Try
Chapter 397 Opinions
Chapter 398 Ogre Anomaly
Chapter 399 Meet In The Middle
Chapter 400 Anomaly Stable
Chapter 401 Cleanup Crew
Chapter 402 Artwork In The Wild
Chapter 403 Breakfast Of Champions
Chapter 404 Honest Jobs
Chapter 405 Points Of Reference
Chapter 406 Loot Goblins
Chapter 407 Thor The Eternal
Chapter 408 Reports To Write
Chapter 409 Dumplings
Chapter 410 And Cake
Chapter 411 Private Fort
Chapter 412 Birthday Morning
Chapter 413 Morning Run
Chapter 414 Cleared
Chapter 415 Cookies
Chapter 416 Honored Guests
Chapter 417 Overlord Upgraded
Chapter 418 More Fire
Chapter 419 Late Night Visitors
Chapter 420 Nice
Chapter 421 Overlord Kenichi
Chapter 422 Witry Mages
Chapter 423 High Traffic Area
Chapter 424 Newbon
Chapter 425 Donald The Monk
Chapter 426 Emergency At The Mines
Chapter 427 Anomaly Zone
Chapter 428 Long Walk
Chapter 429 Eastward Bound
Chapter 430 Bag Of Treats
Chapter 431 Last Leg
Chapter 432 Bunga City
Chapter 433 Blood Blade Gang Returned
Chapter 434 The Real MVP Of The Guild War
Chapter 435 Host City
Chapter 436 Darklight House
Chapter 437 City Management
Chapter 438 Elves Reunited
Chapter 439 Concerned Parties
Chapter 440 To Finish A Quest
Chapter 441 Quest Objective
Chapter 442 The Lives Of Elves
Chapter 443 Nice Scales Lady
Chapter 444 Lacking Common Sense
Chapter 445 Miviascan Wilderness
Chapter 446 Unconcerned Beast
Chapter 447 Cara
Chapter 448 Orcish Army
Chapter 449 Village Raid
Chapter 450 More Points
Chapter 451 Raid Successful
Chapter 452 Patient Hunters
Chapter 453 Ogre Overreached
Chapter 454 Bruse Temple
Chapter 455 Poke The Dragon
Chapter 456 Beast Temple Friends?
Chapter 457 Story Time
Chapter 458 Teaching Skills
Chapter 459 Found Him
Chapter 460 Making A Deal
Chapter 461 Team Reunited
Chapter 462 Sharing The Power
Chapter 463 Bishop Misty
Chapter 464 Separate Rooms
Chapter 465 Unfathomable Cheat
Chapter 466 But Not For Free
Chapter 467 Sparring
Chapter 468 Bodyguards
Chapter 469 Comparisons
Chapter 470 Maps and Geography
Chapter 471 Travel Plans
Chapter 472 Why That Order?
Chapter 473 Arriving in Hatbury
Chapter 474 Clear the Checkpoint
Chapter 475 Overnight Stop
Chapter 476 Pirates and Rogues
Chapter 477 Enemies At Your Back
Chapter 478 Leftovers\
Chapter 479 Retrieval Team
Chapter 480 Wilderness Detour
Chapter 481 Wrestling
Chapter 482 Dungeon
Chapter 483 Enraged
Chapter 484 Final Slime
Chapter 485 Too Loud
Chapter 486 Overnighter
Chapter 487 Last Leg
Chapter 488 Halsearing
Chapter 489 Market Stop
Chapter 490 Leave Town
Chapter 491 Traffic Jam
Chapter 492 Not All Friendly
Chapter 493 Tier 4 Skills
Chapter 494 Farmer's Breakfast
Chapter 495 Change In The Air
Chapter 496 Minotaurs and Trolls
Chapter 497 Combined Skills
Chapter 498 Oakhamping
Chapter 499 Factions
Chapter 500 Detour
Chapter 501 Eternal Troubles
Chapter 502 Sand Drakes
Chapter 503 Pulled the Adds
Chapter 504 Minotaur Steel
Chapter 505 Reasonable Monsters
Chapter 506 Fill The Gaps
Chapter 507 Dangers To The East
Chapter 508 Visualize Your Desires
Chapter 509 It Worked
Chapter 510 Sound of Violence
Chapter 511 Old Friends
Chapter 512 Clearance Section
Chapter 513 Moving Forward
Chapter 514 Check Your Inventory
Chapter 515 Advanced Skill Mastery
Chapter 516 Guard Patrol
Chapter 517 Bethoke City
Chapter 518 I Speak Orcish
Chapter 519 Present For The Chieftain
Chapter 520 Bethoke Fortress
Chapter 521 Appropriate Attire
Chapter 522 Lie Detector
Chapter 523 The Oracle
Chapter 524 Confusion
Chapter 525 Esoteric Reading
Chapter 526 Awkward Dinner
Chapter 527 Misunderstood Innovation
Chapter 528 Leave With Grace
Chapter 529 Road to Mitford
Chapter 530 Cyclops Spawn
Chapter 531 Guard The Farm
Chapter 532 Food Supplies
Chapter 533 Old Soldiers
Chapter 534 Dawn Reveals Destruction
Chapter 535 Council Planning
Chapter 536 Surprise Guest
Chapter 537 Not Huggable
Chapter 538 Night Two Begins
Chapter 539 Well Forged
Chapter 540 Unusual Allies
Chapter 541 Monarch Guards\
Chapter 542 Glorious Hawk Boy'
Chapter 543 Prudence
Chapter 544 Calm Their Nerves
Chapter 545 Archery Practice
Chapter 546 The Whole Gang Is Here
Chapter 547 Intervenor Status
Chapter 548 Run Away Home
Chapter 549 No More Wagon
Chapter 550 But Thor Likes Wagons
Chapter 551 Gift Returned
Chapter 552 Finding Friends
Chapter 553 Routing
Chapter 554 And He Shall Deliver
Chapter 555 Hawk The Human
Chapter 556 Poor Route Choice
Chapter 557 Travel Buddies
Chapter 558 Risen Ruins
Chapter 559 What Is It?
Chapter 560 Purple Orb
Chapter 561 Classy Karl
Chapter 562 Classy Everyone
Chapter 563 Rae Speaks
Chapter 564 Upgraded Clan
Chapter 565 Nacht
Chapter 566 Success Factors
Chapter 567 Baby Dragons
Chapter 568 Insulting Wagers
Chapter 569 Small Victories
Chapter 570 Sharing Toys
Chapter 571 They're Back!
Chapter 572 Called Back To The Chaos
Chapter 573 Fortify
Chapter 574 They Don't Give Up
Chapter 575 Poke Them With A Stick
Chapter 576 Now They Listen
Chapter 577 Tasty Snacks
Chapter 578 Duplicate Order
Chapter 579 Judgmental Trial
Chapter 580 Lotus Root Juice
Chapter 581 Relieved
Chapter 582 Too Slow To Escape
Chapter 583 Lost Temple
Chapter 584 Temple Trial
Chapter 585 Graska Mountain
Chapter 586 Temple Trials Complete
Chapter 587 Trial Time
Chapter 588 For Thor
Chapter 589 Runes Of Fate
Chapter 590 Time Distortion
Chapter 591 Back Home
Chapter 592 Pressed Conference
Chapter 593 Misunderstood Beasts
Chapter 594 Niall Needs To Know
Chapter 595 Flash Photos Are Evil
Chapter 596 Apartment
Chapter 597 Luxurious Living
Chapter 598 Still Roommates
Chapter 599 A Trying Morning
Chapter 600 Royal High Clerics
Chapter 601 The Perfect Gift
Chapter 602 Randomized Trial
Chapter 603 Times Are Changing
Chapter 604 The Answers You Seek
Chapter 605 Skittles Sacrifices
Chapter 606 Acolytes
Chapter 607 Feral Rogue
Chapter 608 Rae's Training Regimen
Chapter 609 Sybil
Chapter 610 Morning Prep Work
Chapter 611 Exfoliation
Chapter 612 Terror and Knowledge
Chapter 613 Mixed Training
Chapter 614 Humbled
Chapter 615 Just Can't Win
Chapter 616 Overlapping Plans
Chapter 617 Moor Cats
Chapter 618 Friendly Kittens
Chapter 619 Cerro Hatchlings
Chapter 620 Quest Complete
Chapter 621 Challengers
Chapter 622 Schoolyard Chaos
Chapter 623 Professor
Chapter 624 Training Cadets
Chapter 625 Ranger Training
Chapter 626 Group Bonding
Chapter 627 Sparring With Rae
Chapter 628 Training Needed
Chapter 629 Gut Laps
Chapter 630 Cerro Show
Chapter 631 General Drath
Chapter 632 Alternate Solutions
Chapter 633 Suspicious Slurpee
Chapter 634 Overlord Potion
Chapter 635 Runecrafted
Chapter 636 Cramped Hands
Chapter 637 Age Brings Wisdom
Chapter 638 Sharing is Caring
Chapter 639 Day Off
Chapter 640 Chaos Void
Chapter 641 Breach
Chapter 642 Gigantic Ambush
Chapter 643 Churned Earth
Chapter 644 Rescue The Overlord
Chapter 645 Lady Othello
Chapter 646 Large Group Hunting
Chapter 647 5 v Army
Chapter 648 Too Slow
Chapter 649 Multiple Targets
Chapter 650 Back To The Capital
Chapter 651 Bad Traffic
Chapter 652 North Side
Chapter 653 Coordinator
Chapter 654 Make It Rain
Chapter 655 Fight In The Rain
Chapter 656 Niall's Cleaning Routine
Chapter 657 Titanic Challenge
Chapter 658 Regroup
Chapter 659 Just A Little Skilled
Chapter 660 The Whole Gang Is Here
Chapter 661 Dealing With Reporters
Chapter 662 After Battle Snacks
Chapter 663 Capital History
Chapter 664 System Favouritism
Chapter 665 User Friendly Cheat Code
Chapter 666 Mark Of The Beast
Chapter 667 Dave's Not Here
Chapter 668 Epic Guard
Chapter 669 Equipped Guard
Chapter 670 Could That Be Why?
Chapter 671 Blue Days
Chapter 672 Reading Comprehension
Chapter 673 Efficient Study
Chapter 674 Dwarven Runes
Chapter 675 Bad Translation
Chapter 676 Reading Dwarf
Chapter 677 Cleanliness Is Paramount
Chapter 678 Runic Weaponry
Chapter 679 Quality Control
Chapter 680 Don't Leave Yet
Chapter 681 Sequential Learning
Chapter 682 Blind Test
Chapter 683 Runic Writing Styles
Chapter 684 Hammer!
Chapter 685 Commotion
Chapter 686 Shade Of The Lotus Tree
Chapter 687 Recruitment Day
Chapter 688 Long Winded Speeches
Chapter 689 Job Fair
Chapter 690 Project Planning
Chapter 691 Neko's Cat Cafe
Chapter 692 Cafe Funded
Chapter 693 Altruism
Chapter 694 Movie Night Interrupted
Chapter 695 Wenmouth Castle
Chapter 696 Rules and Customs
Chapter 697 Handoff
Chapter 698 Throne Room
Chapter 699 Bubbles
Chapter 700 Chat Log Love
Chapter 701 Sleep Schedules
Chapter 702 Day Job?
Chapter 703 The Lab
Chapter 704 Team Leaders
Chapter 705 Strength Test
Chapter 706 Limited Power Supply
Chapter 707 Just Karl Things
Chapter 708 Forgemaster Granite
Chapter 709 Archery
Chapter 710 Underestimated the Customer Base
Chapter 711 Only Five?
Chapter 712 Blue Acolytes In Training
Chapter 713 Hawk's Forge
Chapter 714 Berserker
Chapter 715 Custom Orders
Chapter 716 Infiltrators
Chapter 717 But Why No Acolytes?
Chapter 718 Waiting For The Inevitable
Chapter 719 Rae's Reputation
Chapter 720 Battle In The City Of Wenmouth
Chapter 721 Trapped
Chapter 722 Details Incoming
Chapter 723 Through The City
Chapter 724 Mana Storm
Chapter 725 Distinguished Guests
Chapter 726 Leaving The Lab
Chapter 727 A Blade For Othello
Chapter 728 Upgrades By Proximity
Chapter 729 Appropriate Gifts
Chapter 730 Plenty Of Beds
Chapter 731 Looking Good
Chapter 732 Coronation Begins
Chapter 733 Depths of Truth
Chapter 734 Path Of Exile
Chapter 735 Sent Away
Chapter 736 Laughing Dragon Inn
Chapter 737 Drinks With Demons
Chapter 738 His Better Nature
Chapter 739 A Charmed Life
Chapter 740 Better Part of Valor
Chapter 741 Fertility Stone
Chapter 742 Payment Received
Chapter 743 Funding Power
Chapter 744 Sweet Tooth
Chapter 745 Fashionable
Chapter 746 Royal Jeweler
Chapter 747 Rae Found Fashion
Chapter 748 Tavern Nightlife
Chapter 749 Drodh Dungeon
Chapter 750 Rampage In The Dungeon
Chapter 751 Sell The Trash
Chapter 752 Dungeon Induced Gains
Chapter 753 The Black Shade Slums
Chapter 754 Redwood Market Park
Chapter 755 Walking With Lotus
Chapter 756 Incoming Fleet
Chapter 757 Fleets Engaged
Chapter 758 Bomgon Fleet
Chapter 759 Duellist
Chapter 760 Cara Unleashed
Chapter 761 Durability Check
Chapter 762 Yard Sale?
Chapter 763 Cookout
Chapter 764 So That's The Problem
Chapter 765 City Planning
Chapter 766 Rebuilding The Sprawl
Chapter 767 Home Sweet Barracks
Chapter 768 Renovation Efforts
Chapter 769 Misty Rain
Chapter 770 Jones
Chapter 771 Moving In
Chapter 772 Hiring
Chapter 773 Wendy Jones
Chapter 774 Work Referrals
Chapter 775 Inventory Plan
Chapter 776 Remi's Business Savvy
Chapter 777 Open For Business
Chapter 778 Minimum Standards
Chapter 779 First Sales
Chapter 780 Wealth Unimaginable
Chapter 781 Custom Order
Chapter 782 Odd Customers
Chapter 783 Prompt Pickup
Chapter 784 Reputation
Chapter 785 Full Shift
Chapter 786 Fluffy Dana
Chapter 787 Shin's Armour
Chapter 788 And a Vampire
Chapter 789 Wands Complete
Chapter 790 Group Split
Chapter 791 Butterfly In Distress
Chapter 792 Glasswing Illusionary Butterfly
Chapter 793 Making A House A Home
Chapter 794 Home Library
Chapter 795 Truelight Host
Chapter 796 Gossip Spreads Fast
Chapter 797 Overlords and Butterflies
Chapter 798 Lotus Tree Altar
Chapter 799 Pack First
Chapter 800 Theatrical Performance
Chapter 801 Gargoyles
Chapter 802 Gargoyles Everywhere
Chapter 803 Ashbringer
Chapter 804 Bulk Sales
Chapter 805 Visitor Friendly
Chapter 806 Gifts and a Show
Chapter 807 Bone Bear
Chapter 808 Professional Students
Chapter 809 Misinformation Causes Delays
Chapter 810 Matriarch's Day
Chapter 811 Day Out
Chapter 812 Debutantes
Chapter 813 VIP
Chapter 814 Called Inside
Chapter 815 Restrictions
Chapter 816 Nursery
Chapter 817 Hiding Presents
Chapter 818 Fireworks
Chapter 819 Mara
Chapter 820 Solutions
Chapter 821 Huge Flying Fish
Chapter 822 Speed Run?
PREMIUM Chapter 823 Remi's Ocean Heart
PREMIUM Chapter 824 Overlord Remi Is Cheating
PREMIUM Chapter 825 Remi Showing Off
PREMIUM Chapter 826 Rae Emerges
PREMIUM Chapter 827 Random Crafting?
PREMIUM Chapter 828 Dana Mage Addition
PREMIUM Chapter 829 Auction Collection
PREMIUM Chapter 830 Monarchs
PREMIUM Chapter 831 So Much Cake
PREMIUM Chapter 832 House Party
PREMIUM Chapter 833 Hot Spots
PREMIUM Chapter 834 Stone Crushers
PREMIUM Chapter 835 Pinata Pork
PREMIUM Chapter 836 Illusionary Army
PREMIUM Chapter 837 Hunt Successful
PREMIUM Chapter 838 Proposal For Jones
PREMIUM Chapter 839 A Trip With Jones
PREMIUM Chapter 840 Portal Home
PREMIUM Chapter 841 Task Successful
PREMIUM Chapter 842 Wendy's Golems
Today was the day of the tenth annual elite recruitment drive, and every graduating
student at Lithium Mine Middle School was gathered in the gymnasium, waiting for the
elites to arrive with the medicine that would decide their fate.
The elites were the idols of the Golden Dragon nation, super humans with magical abilities
that were born from the Divine Injection that the students were going to receive today.
None of the children of the miners had ever seen one before, unless you counted the Mayor,
who gave speeches a few times a year, and the excitement of having them right here in
their school had been all that the students could talk about for months.
So, one could imagine the disappointment they felt when it was not some famous idol, but a
group of elites from the military that showed up to perform the injections. @@novelbin@@
But although these weren't the singers or movie stars that they all knew, it was no secret
that these military elites were saviours that protected their nation against hostile armies
and the ever present threat of magical beasts. The television in the café and the teachers at
the school both told them so.
While they had never seen an elite in person, they had seen magical beasts, and quite often.
There were earth mice hiding all over the mining town, and the farmers nearby had been
raising monstrous boars for generations.
But until very recently, it was only the power of technology and the holy magic of the
church's High Priests and Priestesses that could keep the wild beasts at bay.
However, when the more powerful monsters came, you hid, or you died.
That was the way of life for the humans of the Golden Dragon nation, and indeed, most of
the humans of the world.
Karl fidgeted in his seat as he waited for the nurse to come and administer the serum shot.
Today was the biggest day of a young student's life, the day that they would be
administered the Mana Awakening Serum, better known as the Divine Serum, and find out
if they would gain the sort of abilities that could change their lives, or if they would be stuck
as common workers in a lithium mining town for the rest of their lives.
This was also Karl's last day at the government run school before he either started working
full-time, or with any luck, left this decrepit mining town. If he was compatible with the
Serum, he would be off to the Golden Divine Academy tonight, and ready to train his new
skills as a defender of the Golden Dragon Nation.
They had already sat through an hour of speeches by the Principal, reminding them of their
duty to the nation, the glory of the Elites, and the importance of this chance that they were
given. After all, they were just the children of common mine workers, dirt floor poor and
unlikely to ever be anything else.
Karl closed his eyes as the nurse rolled the cart with an open briefcase on it next to him,
and then a violent pain shot up his arm and the world briefly went blank. Agony spread to
every cell in his body, like he was being torn apart from the inside, and blood clogged his
lungs, leaving him drowning while sitting in the metal folding chair of his school's
auditorium.

This was wrong, the shot was only supposed to hurt as the needle poked you, not like this.
As his consciousness faded, Karl realized that he was likely to be the one in a hundred, the
rare fatal reaction to the shot which sorted out the defenders of the nation from the
common people.
But after a few seconds, his breathing cleared, the pain began to fade and his eyes fluttered
open. A few seconds after that, Karl regained consciousness, with pain still coursing
through every cell of his body. The nurse's deep crimson eyes, a side effect of her own
Serum injection, were staring directly back at him, and a slight smile was on her face.
"There you are. I thought that we lost you there for a minute. It's a good sign, zero
casualties at this stop always means there is a powerful one in the bunch."
The woman moved back, and Karl took in the smartly pressed green military uniform,
pencil skirt and heels. It was all familiar, but all wrong. Did he lose some of his memories
after the injection? Or was there something wrong with his eyes? On second thought, there
was definitely something wrong with his eyes, the world was still a little blurry when he
didn't have someone to focus on.
He flinched as his head began to pound again and a new wave of pain wracked his body, but
the military woman with the strange red eyes seemed unconcerned as she stepped to a
chubby young girl near him and took a large needle full of a glowing golden liquid out of the
briefcase on her cart. Without a word of warning, she jabbed it into the girl's arm, and the
young girl directly fainted, then slowly recovered her composure.
A quick glance down at his hands showed Karl a familiar bronze tan, but the scars and
peeling skin from a childhood spent working in the mines after class were mostly gone,
replaced with a deep red mark that looked like three long claw marks running the length of
his forearm.
As he silently stared at the marks on his arm, they became more pronounced, and more
realistic, as if the flesh had just been torn open, but the skin was smooth and undamaged
under his fingers.
After a few minutes, the sound of frightened children fell silent, and Karl looked up at the
front of the room, where an officer in the formal military uniform was standing behind a
podium, waiting patiently for the process to end.
The red-eyed woman joined him, along with the six men in doctor's coats, before he began
to speak.
"Thank you all for your cooperation. This year's choosing trial has completed, and those of
you without the mark may return to your classes as usual.
But for the rest of you, congratulations. You have been chosen as the prodigies of the
Golden Dragon Nation's new generation. The Blessed ones who will lead us to victory over
our enemies, with the benefit of supernatural powers bestowed by the Divine Serum."
Soldiers poured into the room, twice as many as there were children, and Karl began to
panic. His mind still hadn't quite grasped the fact that he was one of the fortunate ones yet,
the children who were compatible with the artificially induced superpowers, the ones who
would become mages, mighty warriors who could split a mountain apart, or even legendary
healers that could even raise the dead.
At first, the children resisted the idea that they would be grabbed and taken away by
soldiers, especially the ones that had failed the choosing. The problem was that they
actually needed the help to walk after the injections. The situation was only making Karl
more confused, but he didn't dare ask what was going on with his body, in case they
determined that something had gone wrong with whatever the Serum did to the newly
awakened elites and disposed of him.
Or worse, sent him back to work in the mines.

According to the lessons that they had been taught in class, he should be a mighty hero by
now, not a below average sized teen boy wracked with pain and so weak that he couldn't
get out of his chair.
"You look a little disoriented, kid. Just let us carry you, and you'll be right as rain after a few
days sleep. Just don't forget to do the homework before we arrive." One of the soldiers who
stepped up beside Karl instructed.
That was how he found himself carried into a luxurious train car and placed in a private
room complete with its own desk and a call button on the wall that was marked with
"Room Service".
Unfortunately for his plan to understand why this process was so painful, the moment that
his head hit the pillow, Karl was asleep.
How long he was out, he had no idea, but when he finally awoke, there was a stack of
papers on the desk, along with a small textbook waiting for him to read it.
[So, you've awakened your powers] was the title of the book, and the cartoonish cover
made it clear that it was aimed at children.
Not that he was old, he would only be fourteen this year, but being the last in his class to hit
puberty, his body was much younger looking than average. All he had going for him was a
handsome face, and even that had gotten him beaten up a time or two.
But now that he had the Divine Serum on his side, everything would change.
Slowly, he opened the textbook to see what was inside.
[So, you've awakened your powers. Congratulations, and welcome to the upper echelon of
society, the elite five percent that have been found compatible with the awakening serum
that will soon activate the latent magical powers in your bloodline, passed down from the
time of our Nation's founding by the Immortal Golden Dragon itself.
Though you have all learned about it in class, there are a few things that you don't yet
know. First, your powers won't fully awaken until you use the first skill related to your
specialty. Just follow the guidelines in this text, and you will discover the primary
awakening method for your abilities.
Once you have finished that most basic task, you can begin the homework assignment.]
Karl read the first page three times before he flipped the page. Next up was a listing of
different marks that the awakened classes should have, and most of them seemed self-
explanatory. Ice shards, fire, blades, shields, paws, bows, and even an ornate fan were all
detailed with page numbers that would lead the students to their awakening methods.
But there was nothing that resembled claw marks.
So, instead he turned to the homework assignment, hoping for answers. But that was even
more useless, it was all about the student's abilities. How strong they were, the description,
activation times, speed, energy usage, side effects. In short, he couldn't fill it in at all.
All the marks seemed so obvious as to what sort of abilities they represented. Even the red
aura around a pair of axes was clearly a berserker in Karl's mind, but the claw marks didn't
make much sense.
There was a similar one with an animal paw that was some sort of druid shaman, but
nothing that was as simple, but confusing as his. Was he supposed to be a punching bag for
monsters? That didn't sound right at all, the book said that these marks represented
superpowers.
But after a few hours, there still wasn't any clear answer as to what he was supposed to do.
It was time to call for one of the soldiers and get some answers before the train reached its
destination.
While Karl was trying to find a way to awaken his powers, the guards were making the
rounds, checking which new students were already awake. Those with the most powerful
bodies always woke up first, but it had only been half a day of travel, and they weren't
expecting anything yet.
"Sir, there is one active room already. Room 12a, a boy named Karl, no family name
recorded." The patrol guard reported back to his commander in the front of the train.
"What is his class? Have we seen him activate any skills yet?" The General asked.
"Nothing yet. He appears to have a nonstandard Class marking, three claw marks." The
guard replied.
The General gestured for his assistants to go look for the details on this class, but even after
a few minutes had passed, there was still no news.
Other markings in their records were close, but nothing exactly like that one was found.
"Well, then he will have to awaken on his own. I hope that the boy has good luck or thick
skin, he's going to need it if he turns in a blank sheet for his assignment when he gets to the
Academy."

It wasn't unheard of for a student to get the mark but fail to awaken their powers
immediately, even if they followed the instructions. Some would have gotten a nonstandard
starting skill, and some were just worthless at using the power that had been given to them.
The General even recalled a case where a child had awakened the Mage class, but didn't
have enough mana to cast any spells until nearly the end of the first semester. In the end,
that student had proven to be a dismal failure, and had run away during a school outing to
live the life of a commoner without ever getting past the beginning of the first level of his
training.
That was the fate of many of the students who never learned to awaken their skills. Either
because they were completely unsuited to the abilities that they had received, or because
they had a marking that no guidance could be issued for, like the three claw marks boy in
room 12a.
The Divine Serum was a modern invention, created after extensive research of an
astonishing archaeological find at a holy site under an ancient World Dragon Cathedral had
detailed the inner workings of an ancient Divine Device known as the System Stones.
The device itself was broken, but an initially unidentifiable power within it remained. Using
the stones as a guide, and after decades of study, the Serum had been created to attune
humans to that power and give the Golden Dragon Nation a chance to overtake the military
might of their neighbours and change the fate of their citizens.
What did it matter if the Ocean People had water Magic to guard their ships against the
rockets and guns of the Golden Dragon fleet? Now, they had mages of their own. Even if the
untamed monsters of the Beast Lands attacked, they had warriors and guardians with
powerful skills that could cut down the most ferocious magical creatures with ease.
That was the strategic value of the Divine Serum, and the reason that every student who
was found to be compatible was taken in by the military and intensively trained in the
duties and responsibilities that came with being a protector of the nation.
Life wasn't all military training and duty, though. If it were, there was an absolute certainty
that the serum compatible and freshly empowered future guardians of the nation would
rebel against authority and either turn traitor or stage a coup. So, they were treated as the
legendary resources that they were, able to live in luxury all their lives on the condition
that their power was enough to justify their salary.

Once they could pass all the tests that the Golden Divine Academy placed before them, they
would even receive official titles from the church, and a collection of legal and social
benefits to match. Society had always belonged to the rich and powerful, but now the
phrase had taken on an entirely different meaning.
Karl was blissfully unaware of the topic of the observers' conversations, and while they
were discussing the likelihood that he might not be able to awaken his powers in time to
keep up with his classmates, Karl was preparing to ask the passing guards for advice.
"Sir? Pardon me, but my skill marking doesn't seem to be in the book. Could I be missing a
page?" He asked as the uniformed guard passed by again.
"Not in the book, eh? Tough luck there, son. The book only covers the common markings,
the ones that ninety percent of the new students get, but there are others possible. The
injections are a mysterious divine force, and sometimes they give out results that nobody
understands.
The best I can tell you is to try everything, and whatever feels right probably is. If you're
lucky, you'll awaken some powers before your classes start.
Between me and you, you want to awaken those powers before you get to the Academy, the
elite students are particular about the power rankings, and if you don't, you'll be starting
school from the very bottom."
"Thanks. But have you ever seen a marking like this?" Karl asked curiously.
The Guard rolled up his sleeve and showed off the picture of a bear paw, the mark of a
Druid, and according to the guide, a nature magic user with an affinity for animals.
"Since it's a little like mine, and seems to involve animals, perhaps try things related to
either animals, or unarmed combat. There isn't much you can do to attune with nature on a
busy train, but the windows open a little if you need some fresh air.
That's what I had to do, I couldn't awaken my powers without some attachment to nature.
In fact, I didn't awaken them on the train at all, they woke up as soon as I touched the trees
on the way to the Academy Gates." The guard explained.
"Thanks for the help." Karl called as the guard walked away. He didn't seem to be big on
talking, or perhaps he just didn't want to get Karl's hopes up. But the advice gave him
something to go on.@@novelbin@@
Karl flopped on his bed and looked out the window, to see if there was any sort of hint as to
what his powers were supposed to be. The guard had a point, and the claw marks definitely
had to refer to some sort of animal. Humans didn't leave marks like that.
So, the first thing that he tried was focusing on adding claws to his hands.
"Claw!"
"Nope, yelling out skill names isn't going to do it. How do the other classes activate their
skills?" Karl complained, unaware that the bored supervisors in the main car were
watching through hidden cameras and laughing at his antics.
[Page 2, Magic Classes
Open the box of casting assistants under your bed using the thumb of your left hand, and
extract the appropriate casting medium to begin attempting to activate your first spell.]
"This doesn't look like the sort of marking that a spell caster should have, next page."
[Page 3, Combat classes
Open the box of practice weapons under your bed with the index finger of your right hand
and choose the most appropriate weapon for your desired skills.]
That sounded more likely, so Karl knelt on the ground in front of the bed and unlocked the
upper drawer, where he found a collection of simple weapons, and even some more
obscure ones, like throwing knives, single-handed crossbows, and some sort of axe on a
chain that looked like it would be more dangerous to the user than anyone else.
He was, unfortunately, not yet among the physically gifted, so Karl picked a short sword
from among the weapons while he cursed being the last in his class to enjoy the full
benefits of puberty.
He had never actually held a sword before, but this one felt right, and Karl gave it a few
tentative swings before trying for a more meaningful strike toward the door.
[Pet Skills Not Available. You must record a pet.]
Karl blinked slowly as he worked to process the idea that had come to him as if implanted
in his mind.

It was a message directly into his thoughts, obviously from the effects of the marking, and
now he somewhat knew what he needed to do. But how did he record a pet? It couldn't be
as simple as just writing it down, could it? Or maybe he needed to do something to
memorize it?
But first he would have to find some sort of animal. This was a shiny new military train, not
the company houses at the mines, there weren't going to be any mice. If he had to touch the
animal for the skill to activate, this could be much more difficult than he had been
expecting.
The obvious choice would be to try writing something down, and to see if that worked.
Maybe there would be a book in the spell casting equipment.
The drawer of tools slid open, and Karl stared in amusement at the wide variety of strange
items held inside. He had absolutely zero clue about how these were supposed to be used.
Some of them didn't even look like they were anything special, like this silly snow globe
with no base.
What were they going to do with that? Sit and ponder their Orb?
Karl picked the surprisingly heavy glass ball up in his hand, and suddenly, it lit up with a
bright white light.
[Taming Space viewing is not available. Please Record A Pet.]
At first, the message that appeared in his thoughts made no sense, but after a few seconds
of focus, Karl could feel the change. In his mind, a vast emptiness was forming, giving him a
sense of eternal power beyond anything he had ever imagined.
"What about a Dragon? Can I have a Dragon?" Karl thought, trying to will one into existence
in the taming space.
Nothing. Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.
Karl was deep in thought when someone touching his arm brought his attention back to the
present.
"Did you have any luck?" The patrolling guard asked, looking at the two open drawers, and
the sword on the mattress.
"Yes and no. I get the feeling that the blade is the right choice, but I'm lacking something to
activate the skill. None of the other weapons I looked at are really appealing, though." Karl
sighed.
"Well, keep at it, you'll find something that works for you soon. If you've already got an
idea, you're ahead of the others. Most of them are still asleep."
"That's something, at least. Maybe I can figure this out before we get to the Academy after
all. I don't suppose there is a kitchen here? I always think better on a full stomach." Karl
asked hopefully.
The guard smiled and gestured down the hall. "You woke up before the main kitchen for
students was ready, but they won't complain if I lead you out of the room for a little
something. You'll learn soon that the food at the Golden Divine Academy is somewhat
special, compared to what you are used to.

The magical abilities that the elites use put a huge strain on the bodies of their users, and
they need the energy of magical plants and beasts to recover quickly.
Trust me, you're in for a treat this time."
They walked down the hall to another train car, past a half dozen rooms identical to the one
Karl was in where other students from his class were sleeping soundly, and into an empty
dining room, past which a kitchen could be seen. @@novelbin@@
"Just grab what you want and set it by the grill, I'll get to you in a minute." The cook called
from the freezer, not realizing that there was someone other than staff in the room.
Karl didn't mind though, it wasn't like this was some fancy restaurant, it was more of a
common area for the staff to serve themselves, with an actual cook on duty so that those
who shouldn't be allowed in a kitchen didn't starve.
Karl collected a pair of small steaks, a bowl of rice, a collection of assorted vegetables,
anything that looked and smelled good. Then he noticed a small pile of oversized white
eggs, and grabbed one to add it to the plate.
[Suitable Pet Target Found: hatching]
The egg directly vanished from his hand, leaving Karl staring at the food in confusion and
wondering just how long it would take for a monster egg to hatch in a magical void in his
mind. Would it even hatch? The thoughts said so, but they weren't giving him many details.
A small straw nest slowly appeared in his mind, with a single large white egg inside. Over
the course of the next few seconds, the Egg trembled, and then cracked open, shocking Karl
into taking a step backward, though the sight was in his mind.
He bumped into the guard, who thought he might be faint from hunger, and stabilized
himself.
"Sorry about that." Karl mumbled, while the guard gestured to the cook and led Karl to a
table.
"Don't worry about it. Everyone is a bit off for the first few days after they wake up.
Especially some of the magic classes, the power can really scramble their brains. Just focus
on solving those strange markings of yours, and you'll be fine in no time."
The cook looked their way from behind his grill. "Having a hard time with a nonstandard
marking? That's a rough one. What does it look like?"
"Three claw marks on the right forearm. Big ones as well, not one of those wimpy little
marks like the nerd classes get." The guard laughed.
The cook smiled and turned his hand toward Karl, who didn't understand what they meant.
They should be talking about a class marking, but with the dozens of visible tattoos, Karl
had no idea which one might be the one they were referring to.
The cook tapped a small stick tattoo, and Karl realized that it was a mage type Class
marking, a wand with sparkles at the end. It was on the top of his hand, and only a few
centimetres long. If he hadn't seen it in the book, he would have never noticed it at all.
"There is a theory that the size of the tattoo has some relationship to the talent of the
recipient, but I don't believe that's right at all. Unless it's not related to the mental
compatibility, but just the ability itself. Have you got any clues about yours?" The line cook
asked.
"I felt right with a short sword in my hand, and the marking seems to have something to do
with animals, so perhaps I'm a hunter of some sort, or a park ranger with bad luck." Karl
joked.
"Well, you'll find out once you get your first class skill to work. After that, you can just think
the word [Status] and get an impression of how your magical abilities are growing. At least,
that's how it is for Mages." The cook informed him.
While the cook got his meal ready, Karl closed his eyes and focused on what was happening
in the strange spot in his mind. The result wasn't words, but a somewhat detailed
impression of the status of the bird. He had to translate it himself, but the actual
information was pretty basic.
[Beast Space Activated] 1 occupant
[Pet Number 1]
[Name] Windspeed Hawk
[Rank] Common
[Connection] Low
[Skills]
[Claw] [Rend] [Super Vision]
Karl felt an indescribable power flow into his body as the status was completed, and a
second round of physical impressions came to him.
[Beast Master] Karl
[Rank] Common
[Bloodline] Human

[Skills]
[Beast Skill] Super Vision
[Beast Attack Skill] Rend
That didn't quite mesh with the knowledge that he had from the booklet. Wasn't he
supposed to get some sort of instinctive guideline on how to progress? Maybe a little
something about how he was doing in his training of the skills?
"How does the power rating of the system work? Is there some sort of level, or grade, or
something? How can we tell who has real power and who is like me, a newbie waiting on
his skills?" He asked the two older men.
Older being a relative term, as they likely weren't much more than twenty themselves, but
older than him and finished their time at the Academy.
"That's the fun part. You don't. Unless they directly tell you, or you have some special skill
to sense energy fluctuations like some of the mages, you just have to go with your gut
instinct or the public rankings.
The problem with the Rankings is that they're all subjective. You see, I'm a Wand Class
Mage. I can use the Fire Element. If I was an Orb Class Mage, I could use two Elements at
once, but that still doesn't tell you anything about my power.
The important part is that I never made it past level one in my spell book, I just don't have
the talent for it. But the Druid here, he describes his powers entirely differently."
The guard nodded. "I'm a level six mortal grade Druid. My grade has never changed, but I
can use much more powerful nature magic than when I was starting school, and I can even
transform into a bear.
Because everyone's internal measurements are so wildly different, we judge everyone on
the same scale as magical beasts. From Common to Mythical in Rank based on what they
can defeat in battle, or how effective their healing and support skills are compared to
beasts at the same level.
So, while the cook is still considered to be in the Common Grade, I have made it one rank up
to the Awakened Grade, and I can fight awakened Magical Beasts on my own. At least in
limited numbers I can. But I was near the bottom of my class, all the way through. My skills
are varied, I can heal, fight, transform into a bear, even help plants grow, but I can't do any
of them worth a damn, so I'm stuck at the Awakened Grade."
Karl nodded, understanding the concept if not the actual power level. Sometimes focusing
on too many things would lead to you never getting good at anything. There was a guy like
that in his neighbourhood, a jack of all trades. He could fix your car, your sink or your
fridge, but only the common issues. If it were really broken, he would refer you to someone
else.

"I think that I follow the idea. How powerful were the top students of your class?" He asked.
"Have you heard of the Archmage Mia, that new idol spell caster? She was in our class, and
she reached the Awakened Rank in the first year, by the end of the second, she could defeat
Ascended beasts with ease, and by the time we graduated, she was already a Commander
Grade Mage.
Then only a few years after that, she got some super secret resource from a mission, and it
pushed her to the Royal Rank. That's when everyone started calling her the Arch Mage, and
the fame started to get to her head. She doesn't answer our messages anymore, but we can
still proudly say we went to school with someone super famous."
Royal Grade monsters were a terrifying thought to Karl. Even one of them could level the
mining town he grew up in without breaking a sweat. The strongest fighting force in town
was likely the Mayor, a Commander Grade Warrior, and in Karl's opinion, he was getting
too old to be picking fights with monsters. Plus, the town didn't have any sort of armed
guard, other than the handful of police.
If it came to a fight, the old Mayor would definitely not have a good time proving he still
deserved his rank.
Karl sat in silence for a moment as he ate, then smiled at the two senior graduates in front
of him.
"I suppose that I should get back to my room and see what I can do about awakening some
sort of skill, then. If not, we will all be shut out of the class idol's phone list in the future."
The cook laughed. "I like the way you think, a bit of motivation goes a long way when
you're trying to find a reason to get through the most gruelling parts of your training."
Karl thought a lot about that as he walked back to his room. The hardest part of any task
was seeing it through to the end. It was easy at the start when you were motivated, but
somewhere in the middle it became a dreadfully dull grind, with no reward in sight and
very little progress to be made.
That was when you would lose sight of the goal and start to slack. If you were lucky, you
recovered from it, but if not, you would end up in trouble and behind schedule. Even the
Mine Foreman had said the same thing to the students when he came to talk to them on
career day.
Not that anyone truly listened to him, with the prospect of the divine injection coming up
only days later. But the others, the ones who returned to class afterwards, would be
thinking more about it every day.
Once the door to the room closed behind him, Karl stared out the window and tried a skill
for himself.
[Super Vision] grants the Beast Tamer the sight of the contracted Windspeed Hawk.
The forests in the distance were suddenly crystal clear in his eyes, and everything in his
peripheral vision became just as clear as what was right in front of him. A bit of movement
caught his eye, and Karl noticed a Quill beast moving through the grassland over a
kilometre away.
It was incredible, and the world was so much more vivid, with colours that he didn't even
have names for. As he recalled, not only could the Windspeed Hawk see into the Ultraviolet
and Infrared spectrums, but they were also accomplished nocturnal hunters, with excellent
night vision as well.
While [Rend] was the much cooler combat skill, [Super Vision] was incredibly
overpowered in Karl's estimation. Just being able to see where you were going at night
would give him a great advantage over other students in the practical tests.
Maybe the written tests as well. He could easily read other papers from across the room
without moving his head or looking straight at them. Cheating on a written exam would be
simple, if he weren't already certain that none of the other students from the Mines were
smart enough to cheat off.@@novelbin@@
With the issue of activating his very first powers settled, Karl could finally rest easy for a
few seconds. That was all it took for him to see the homework assignment on the table and
realize that there was still a lot for him to do before they reached the Academy.
'Alright, let's get this done in advance, and then I can relax.' His silent motivational speech
had very little effect, but Karl sat down with a pen and the homework assignment in front
of him.
Name, Karl. Age, Fourteen. Skill Name:
It only had one spot for a skill name, and that made him assume that it was normal for a
newly awakened student to only have one skill. But which should he put in there? Beast
Taming, Super Vision or Rend? This homework would be posted for the class, he was
certain, so he didn't want to give away the extent of his abilities to the other students and
become the target of other students' envy before he could defend himself.
Plus, the contracted pet might be a magical beast, the Windspeed Hawk, but it was still a
gosling, and wouldn't grow into its full power for months or even years. Wouldn't he just
become a new target of bullying if he showed everyone a baby bird as his power?
Super Vision seemed like it was much cooler and more useful, but it wasn't a combat skill,
and for the elite, combat strength was King. So, he went back to the bed and picked up the
short sword again, determined to make [Rend] work.

Activating the skill was incredibly easy, a single thought lit up the blade with a dull red
light, and when he swung it toward the portion of the wall that was marked [Testing Area],
a crescent arc of destructive power was thrown out and absorbed by the high-tech alloy.
Drawing the blade through the air when using Rend was like mixing thick dough, he could
barely move his arm, and the blade speed was slow, but the skill formed as the blade
moved, so with a bit more training, it should be faster to activate.
Rend would definitely make him friends in class. With a bit more effort, it could slice a wide
swathe through enemies, and allow him to target an entire group.
Karl hurried back over to the sheet and filled out the questions about his skill, including the
restriction on movement speed when using the attack, which limited how fast it could be
activated. If he thought about it, there might be a way around that if he was already moving
when he activated the skill.
Wasn't that how Hawks hunted? They didn't rely on strength, they came in at high speed
and took out their prey in a single strike. If he could determine how that skill was supposed
to be used, his combat power would increase drastically.
But other than the skill, the questionnaire also asked about the user. Any headaches,
feelings that you had forgotten something important, physical increases or decreases?
Karl tested himself, and other than the Super Vision, he had definitely also become a bit
more flexible. Not by a lot, but it was clearly noticeable. @@novelbin@@

In the end, he decided to leave that portion of the questionnaire marked with 'none'. If the
agility increase improved in the future, he could blame it on something else from his
training. After all, some of the elite were said to be true superhuman monsters, and some
were just as frail and human as always, but with mind-boggling supernatural powers.
One of the idols had even sprained an ankle after stumbling to go on stage for a meet and
greet event. That seemed like pretty conclusive proof that the injection's skill distribution
system did not distribute physical enhancements in a fair and equal manner.
Once he was satisfied that the answers would be enough for the Academy to rate him fairly
highly among his classmates, Karl carefully slid the paper into the envelope provided and
placed it in the tray by the door.
That was everything that he was expected to do until they arrived at the Academy, but he
couldn't help wanting to try out more and better ways to use the [Rend] skill.
What if he tried to be more like the Hawk? There should have been a clawed gauntlet
among the equipment there, as well as a trident. Both would replicate the three claws of the
mark on his arm, but the trident was a stabbing weapon, which didn't seem well suited to
how the skill worked.
He opened the drawer again and put back the sword before taking out a pair of gauntlets
with clawed tips on the fingers. As a weapon, they weren't too impressive, but they looked
like they would work with the skill that he had.
They were a bit big on his hand, as Karl was slightly smaller than average, but after a few
buckle adjustments, they fit well enough, and he tried the skill again. With his hand
extended out in front of him, the way a Hawk would when swooping down on prey, he
flexed his fingers, and four small streaks of red light tore through the air in front of him to
hit the wall.
Each of them was much less impressive than the one created by the sword, but the speed
was incredibly fast, and they would hit multiple areas on the target. Against lightly
armoured targets, that seemed like the better path. The more attack blades they had to
dodge or block, the better.
Each time he used the skill, it seemed to drain some of his energy, and after only a few more
swings, Karl could feel his arms getting weaker, and he had to sit down and catch his
breath. This was going to become an issue very quickly while doing combat training. He
had spent plenty of time in the gym, but he was trying to improve his physique, not build
his stamina and endurance.
But that was what the school was for, all he had to do was focus on his training, and it
would definitely work out in the end.
As Karl massaged his sore arms, the first of the other students were only just beginning to
wake up and begin reading the guidebook. It wasn't much of a head start, but the first
awakened elite of the batch was already determined.
"All new students, gather your preferred weapons, your school uniforms and wait for the
notification to disembark. We are now five minutes from the Golden Divine Academy." The
train's announcement declared just after breakfast on the morning of the second day after
Karl woke up.
He packed the snacks he had obtained in advance from the train's kitchen into the provided
backpack along with the spare uniforms and shoes, then put on the black metal clawed
gauntlets and hung the short sword from a scabbard at his hip.
There was no rule saying you couldn't prefer more than one weapon, and the guards hadn't
mentioned it when they saw him practising in the room that way, so it should be alright.
The cook and the guard had both mentioned the walk into the Academy on the first day
after he woke up, so the train wouldn't be stopping at the gates. This was probably some
sort of test, either to see how the students would solve a problem or get along or some
nonsense, Karl decided, but whatever the reason, he was packing a lunch.
As expected, the train came to a stop about a kilometre from the Academy, at the far end of
a grassy field with a few well-maintained hedgerows along the way.
"This is your stop. The last bit is up to you. I will see you all in the Academy tomorrow after
the train is cleaned and repaired." A slender man in a guard uniform announced.
The students mostly stood by their open doors with looks of confusion, but Karl walked out
into the hallway and stepped down from the train to take his first breath of the clean
country air.
Without all the dust from the mines, it smelled strangely like trees and flowers here, and he
could feel the power of the Academy in the distance, like a tingle in his bones, warning him
that it was something abnormal, something magical.

The first student out was like a beacon to the others, and slowly the new students started
to leave the train, mostly still exhausted from practising their new skills and a lack of sleep,
but the sun was directly overhead in the sky, and sleeping under the scorching morning sun
wasn't going to be easy.
The slender man in the guard uniform stepped in front of them again once everyone was off
the train, and raised his voice to address the crowd.
"Welcome, everyone, to Golden Divine Academy. As a special welcoming gift to all of our
new students, we have prepared the traditional walk across the grounds to the front gates
for you. Every year, the new arrivals make this trip, entering the gates as Awakened elites
to begin their new lives.
Now it is your turn. But be warned, the grasslands look empty, but that isn't always the
truth."
He wasn't lying. Karl could see that the train tracks circled the Academy at a distance of
roughly a kilometre, passing through these grasslands, a large portion of forest, and even
through a swampy bog around a river.
They must drop every group off at a different point, so they could watch them come into
the academy. It seemed like a strange tradition, but when he looked out over the field using
[Super Vision] he could tell that there was a huge population of Earth Rats, a Common
Grade magical beast with incredible digging skills, and the ability to throw small stones
using magic.
They were mostly harmless, and Karl had dealt with them using a slingshot as a kid, but in
large numbers, they could be a real menace.
In this case, it was likely to be a nuisance, just an 'amusing' prank by the seniors to watch
the new kids get pelted with rocks as they ran to school.
[Mice, hungry.] A voice sounded in Karl's mind, coming from the space where his
Windspeed Hawk was kept.

It was incredibly insistent, and eager to taste the mice, so Karl stepped forward into the
field to see what they would do to the students who tried to pass. He might have hunted
them before, but that was with a slingshot and in the house where they couldn't use the
earth to escape.
Getting a clean kill shot here would be much more trouble, but he was fairly certain that he
could do it with the speed of the [Rend] attacks. He just had to time them right.
Karl stepped forward into the grassland battlefield, against an unknown number of the
weakest magical creatures, armed with a single untested combat skill and a baby bird as a
pet. Not exactly the most glorious of first battles as an elite, but it would have to do.
The response to his invasion of their territory was immediate, and the ten centimetre long
earth mice began to hurl small rocks at Karl, highlighting their position, and making the
starving Hawk in his Beast Taming Space go insane with desire.
A flick of his fingers, and four sharp red energy arcs flew out into the battlefield, taking out
one of the mice before it even knew there was a danger, and then the other hand took a
second.
Super vision really was a remarkable skill for both eyesight and hand - eye coordination.
His second attack hit a mouse as it was attempting to go underground to evade, and then
his third reached its target as it tried to run.
Karl jogged forward and picked up the bodies, then moved them into the taming space for
the Hawk to eat before continuing on toward the Academy under greatly reduced levels of
attack from the earth mice, who had sensed the presence of a predator in their midst and
began to target the other students.
Only a few brave ones would still throw rocks at Karl from a distance, all of which were
easily swatted away with the armoured glove.
"That glove is such a cheat code here in the open field." A dark-haired girl with a wand in
her hand complained from directly behind his back.
"You're a mage, a real magic user. Just blast them if they throw rocks at you." Karl
reminded her after seeing the magical casting device.
"And pass out again in the middle of a field? I'm not sure if you're aware, but magic is hard.
I can only cast like two or maybe three spells before I collapse from exhaustion." The girl
complained.
That was what had happened to Karl the first day as well. But once he got a bit more used
to it, the consumption seemed not to be as bad. @@novelbin@@
"Just stay behind me then, and undo your coat so you can hide your head. Earth Mice aren't
smart, and they won't target your face if they can't see it."
The other students quickly saw the tactic that Karl and the mage had come up with and
began forming groups. From what Karl could tell, almost all of the newly empowered
students were some sort of magical warrior class, and carrying various melee weapons.
Not many of them had chosen shields, but those who did have shields took the lead in a
group to push forward, while the ones with ranged skills fell in behind, encircling the
mages and others who got no physical attribute enhancement.
Two more classmates fell in behind the mage, following the example of hiding their faces,
though they didn't know why they were doing it.
The sight frightened the weak-minded Earth Mice. One scary guy with claws leading three
headless humanoid monsters was terrifying to the small creatures, and they began to flee
instead of attacking Karl on his way forward.
That let him set a brisk pace through the field, and put the field full of mice behind him
right until they made it to the first hedgerow, where they took a short breather for
everyone to recover some stamina.
"Magic uses far too much energy. How long does it take you guys to recover after using
your skills?" One of the boys in the back row, a warrior class with a large axe, asked.
"I can use mine three or four times, as long as I don't go all out. But then I'm tired, and I
need to eat or rest. I haven't tried to time it yet." Karl replied.
The mage nodded her head. "I'm the same. Two spells, and I'm at my limit and I need a
breather. But if I sit down for fifteen minutes or so, I can cast another. I saved my magic this
time, so I can at least use one and keep going, or I can cast both in an emergency, but then
I'll slow the team down."

The boy with an axe frowned. "I can only use mine once, and then I'm done. But I'm a
woodcutter's son, and I can swing the axe for hours if I don't use the skill."
"That's good enough. So far, it's just been Earth Mice, and only an idiot would chase them
with an axe. But if there is something bigger and slower up ahead, you can go ahead and
fight it without using that skill. Did the injection make you stronger? It was one of the
questions on the homework, so it must be a thing." Karl suggested.
"Yeah, a lot stronger." He agreed.
The other warrior smiled. "I'm not so strong, but I was alright to start with. Unfortunately,
my first skill is defensive, see the shield in my marking? The silly thing is, I have no aptitude
with a shield. I tried everything with the one in the storage box, but nothing worked.
However, if I use a two-handed sword, I can activate the skill no problem, and keep it active
all the time.
The only problem is that I can't swing the sword fast enough to block those rocks the way
that you do with your gloves."
Karl nodded. "So, we've got a super strength axe man, a durable swordsman, a mage and
me with my claws. That's not bad, and it looks like the teachers wanted us to group up to
fight our way through to the gates.
Not that it's been a tough fight so far, more of a practical joke by the seniors, but be
prepared for something like Water Moles or Quill Beasts in the next field."
After a short breather, they moved forward in the same formation, but without the coats
pulled up over their heads. If there was something more dangerous than Earth Mice in this
field, they wanted to see it coming, and not find out when it reached them.
Karl's [Super Vision] scanned the field, but currently it appeared to be empty and easy to
pass. Likely, whatever lived here was just sleeping or going about its daily business,
unaware that something was about to invade its home turf.

"Do you think that we should move through the trees? That would bring us to the academy
without crossing the field, we just need to go to the side a little." The mage suggested.
Karl scanned the treeline and shook his head.
"There are at least two iron tusk boars in those trees. I can see the torn tree bark at
different heights. It might be a different species, but those marks are pretty distinctive." He
quietly informed the others.
They were a long way from home, so it might be an entirely different species of boar, but if
the tusk markings were similar on the trees to the ones he knew from home, then the
animal likely was as well.
"Then onward, valiant scapegoats of the freshman class. Let's amuse our seniors and get
ourselves inside that gate before it gets dark." The woodcutter's son laughed.
They moved forward at a fast walk, not wanting to make too much noise or vibration
underground that might disturb the beasts living there, but not wanting to waste time and
let the others behind them catch up either.
None of the other groups had entered this field yet. Most were resting, some were still
struggling with either a lack of courage or the mice, and some had decided to go the long
way around, under the assumption that the direct route was a trap.
That group probably wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean that the other routes were any
better.
They were halfway across the field when the next group moved forward, jogging to catch
up to the leaders, and the field erupted with activity. @@novelbin@@
Vines sprung up out of the ground around the feet of the new group, trapping their ankles
and pulling them down onto the soft dirt, while loose vines whipped at their faces.
It was some sort of plant monster, what sort, Karl had no idea, but the loud footsteps had
awoken it.
"Keep moving gently, it hasn't attacked us yet, it's just active in our area. Keep moving and
we will get out without much trouble. Don't attack unless you're actually trapped, and don't
step on the vines." Karl instructed.
"You're the boss. But if we end up stuck in the middle of the field, I'm totally blaming you."
The Mage whispered with a rueful smirk on her face, fully expecting the worst.
Soft steps got them almost to the end of the field before a sudden twitch of a vine put it
right under their sword fighter's foot, and not only did he stomp on the vine, he tripped,
and his blade sliced a dozen of them clean in half.
"Get him up and let's run. The vine monster will not be happy about that." Karl shouted,
before beginning to dash toward the relative safety of the hedgerow.
The woodcutter hauled the other boy to his feet, and the four of them took off running,
hoping to make it to the edge of the field. Entangling vines grabbed at Karl's legs, but fast
steps kept them from finding a good hold, and he was nearly out of the vines' range before
he was pulled to a stop.
Coming up from behind him, the young mage used Karl's immobile figure as a springboard,
running across his back as Karl was getting up and leaping toward safety, only to be caught
in midair and dragged flat to the ground with a puff of dirt and a pained groan.
"Good plan, poor execution." The swordsman laughed from behind them as he hacked his
way through the vines.
Karl sliced himself free with [Rend] and then did the same for the mage, who frantically
scrambled for safety in the trees.
The last to reach safety was the woodcutter, but he was also the most lucky, as he had
experience with entangling vines in the woods, and knew how to smack them with the back
of his axe to keep them from grabbing his ankles.
"Sorry, it takes too long to explain the trick, or I would have told you all." He mumbled as he
reached the trees a few seconds behind the others.

"It's all good. We each have our own knowledge base to work on, and there was no time for
some long lecture in the middle of the field." Karl agreed.
The Mage seemed like she was about to say something, but then reconsidered. There were
only a few seconds between the stumble and the escape, there really was no time to
explain.
All that was left now was a section of freshly mowed grass, with a single cobblestone path
that led to the gates. If they could make it through that, they were safe. Well, relatively safe.
From what they knew of the elites, the culture favoured the strong, and they were not yet
the strong. But they were all well suited to their class, and in time they might be.
"Stay off the grass. I learned that from my mum's workplace. Fancy people hate when you
walk on their grass." The mage mumbled as they got ready to move.
"Good point. I was looking forward to soft grass under my feet after growing up in the
mines, but using the path just seems right." Karl agreed.
These other three hadn't gotten on at his stop, but they should at least understand the
concept of the mines. There were ten other middle schools in the nearby towns, so even if,
like Karl, they had never travelled, they had at least seen the mountains over the mines in
the distance.
Triumphantly, they walked down the path, with the swordsman doing his best to hide a
slight limp and the mage brushing the dirt off the front of her uniform to look a little less
like she had been rolling in the field for fun.
They reached the gate, where a pair of teachers were waiting to greet them with a large bag
full of textbooks and a table full of drinks.
"Welcome to the Golden Divine Academy, students Karl, Dana, James and Kruger. You are
the first to make it to the gate today, and therefore the first to get to pick your rooms in the
dormitory. The map is on the table, and you may pick any room on the second floor that is
not currently marked as occupied."

They rushed over to collect a drink, and then gathered around the map.
"This layout makes no sense." Kruger, the axe wielder, mumbled.
"All the rooms are random. Look at this one, it's tiny, but with a huge empty balcony, who
would pick that?" Dana, the dark-haired mage, agreed.
But a long, narrow room caught her eye. There was supposed to be a training target at the
end which she could fire spells at from a distance, which would be great for practice.
"I want the balcony room." Karl shrugged, then picked up a token from the table and placed
it on the map. @@novelbin@@
"Right, you have a wide area attack skill. If you want to practice, you need more space. I'll
take the training room here, with the Murphy bed that folds against the wall." Dana
explained, picking her space.
The other two went for the largest pair of dorms, with a training dummy in the main room
and a separate bedroom. Each of the rooms was a bit special in its own way, but Karl
noticed that there was one selectable option that seemed quite inferior. Someone could
actually pick the supply closet as their dorm, it was marked as an option, and might be left
to the last person to complete the trials.
The Windspeed Hawk in Karl's taming space looked out through his eyes and squawked in
appreciation of the choice. The big balcony was one of the few rooms that had proper
outdoor access. In fact, it blocked a half dozen other rooms' access to the outside, unless
they had a window that opened onto the balcony.
It was perfect for the bird, and once it digested these delicious Earth Mice, the tiny monster
was convinced that it would have the energy to grow enough that it could fly around
outside. Baby monsters didn't stay helpless for long, even in this situation, where it was
being nourished by a human beast tamer and not its mother.
[Are there more mice?] It asked hopefully.
It was strange to hear the bird's thoughts as words in his head, but unfortunately, Karl
didn't have anything else for the beast right now.
[Just wait until dinner and I will get you as much meat as you can eat.]
[I hope they serve mice.]
"Interesting choices. I can see the others, but why did you pick the balcony? The room itself
is barely a bedroom." The teacher in charge of reception asked Karl.
"I can always set something up on the balcony, but mostly it's for training. I have an area
attack skill that I can't train indoors easily. But the room is fine, it's bigger than mine at
home, and it's got both a bed and a desk, with its own shower and water closet."
The others quickly double-checked to make sure they had picked rooms with their own
facilities and sighed in relief. Not only did the rooms they picked have a full bath, they also
had a small kitchenette with a fridge and hot plate for cooking in the room while they were
studying.
"In that case, I will give you all your keys, and wish you well in your studies."
The teacher's smile told them all that they had probably screwed up somehow, but they
had no idea what they should have done differently in that situation. Unless the juice was
poisoned, they had just picked the rooms that seemed the most appropriate for their class.
Or the biggest ones, in the estimation of James and Kruger.
They took a few steps, and students from the senior classes, wearing badges with White,
Black and Bronze symbols on them, fell in beside the group.
White for Common Grade, Black for Awakened, and Bronze for Ascended, according to the
text on the badges. The badges on the new students' uniforms were all white, so Karl hadn't
noticed until now that they represented anything but the Academy.
"Welcome to the Academy. We will show you to your rooms. It's always fun to see the
newbies' first experience of the dorms, you see. It's a completely magical building, so
whatever you were expecting, just put that out of your mind right now." The student with
the bronze badge, the strongest of the three, explained.
They didn't say much more until they got to the main doors of the dorm.
"On the right is the cafeteria, open from four in the morning until midnight. On the left are
the laundry facilities, they're a drop-off service, just give them the basket, and they'll
launder it and bring it back to your room. This isn't a hotel, there are no maids, but the
cleaning supplies are right here.
Don't forget to keep your room clean, everyone gets punished if too many students fail the
dorm inspections.
That way is the supply room, you can go visit him later, when you have academy credits, to
get essential supplies and things you want for your room or your studies.
Now, there is no elevator, but there are three staircases. The main ones are the best, as
they're five metres wide, and you don't get jammed up with cross traffic.

Your year is lucky, you got rooms on the second floor, mine is up on the fourth floor, and
these two are on the fifth floor. It's a long walk down to get to class, but I heard that the
rooms are nicer at the top than they are on the lower floors."
The boy's smirk told Karl that he was definitely pranking them. Either there was an
elevator, or the rooms were all strange, no matter where you went.
The three older students put their hands on the shoulders of the newbies and led them up
to the second floor with a smile.
"You two are right here, since you picked the square internal rooms." The leader of the
senior students informed them, gesturing to the doors on either side of the stairs.
That was a factor that they might have forgotten to consider. Being right next to the stairs
could be loud. But the hallways were decorated with thick red carpets, hanging tapestries
on the walls, and plenty of decorations that should prevent echoes.
The two warriors opened their doors, and looked at the bare rooms.
Stone walls with multiple scorch marks, cut marks and absolutely zero furniture in the
main room greeted them. They stepped inside in shock, and found that the bedroom had a
simple single bed in it, unmade, but with quality linens and a comforter emblazoned with
the school's crest folded at the foot.
The main room had a stone golem standing in the middle, the training dummy that the
diagram had informed them the room included, and the older students whistled in
appreciation.
"Now that's a nice bonus. They left you the training dummies from the last senior class.
Those are Commander Class, you'll never break them in the first two years, maybe not at
all. I think it's a good tradeoff for the initial cleaning you'll have to do." The student with the
black badge laughed.
Karl gave them a suspicious look. "Are these just as the students left them, or is there some
system to it?"
The others just smirked and shrugged. "Why don't we let the others get settled in and see
where you and the mage are staying?"
Dana sighed and gestured down the hallway. "If I remember the map right, I'm that way.
Room 17, the long training one."
The student with the bronze badge nodded in appreciation.
"I'm also a mage, so I picked the same room on my floor. Let's see what you got."

They opened the door and looked at an incredibly long hallway. Far longer than the actual
dimensions of the building should allow.
But at the entrance was a small bedroom, restroom and a kitchenette along the wall,
followed by the vast stone expanse of the training hallway. It was spotlessly clean, and
there was a single potion sitting on the table with a welcome note from the last occupant.
"Congratulations, you got a decent senior. Check out your welcoming gift, we will get Karl
here settled into his room."
The balcony room was just around the corner, and at first, Karl almost missed it. The
supply closet room was right next to his, so the doors were narrow and very close together,
but the older students knew which one it was.
"Right here. Let's see what it's like. The balcony on our floor is empty, we didn't have as
many students as you guys do, so some of them aren't in use."
The door swung open to show a very plain room past a short hallway with a bathroom on
the left. The main room was just a metal desk and a large bed, trimmed in black leather,
with drawers underneath. The walls were painted dark grey, giving the room a very odd
feeling, but the curtains were the academy logo gold ones that presumably came with the
room. @@novelbin@@
"Well, this must have been the kitchen witch's room. Creepy goth girl. You can repaint once
you get some credits to buy the supplies. Good luck with that." The Gold badged student
sighed, obviously disappointed that there wasn't anything special about the place.
But they had forgotten the most important part. Once they left and the door closed behind
them, Karl opened the curtains to the balcony and stepped outside, only to find himself in
the middle of a greenhouse.
There were plants everywhere, blocking his view, and Karl smiled. He had never had plants
in the house before, his parents couldn't even keep flowers alive. But the Windspeed Hawk
was overjoyed at the potted trees, flowers, and vines that were scattered all over the
balcony.
Karl didn't recall seeing this from the entryway, and he should have, as they passed right
under it on their way in. However, the more he walked, the more Karl realized that the
balcony was not normal. It was at least three times the size that it should be, and nearly
filled with plants, until he got to the far end and found a gazebo with a hammock, a curved
bench, and a small table that contained a well-worn notebook.
[Care and keeping of the balcony. Abridged version.]
Karl smiled at the title and flipped the notebook open.
[While I don't know if you will appreciate the legacy of the greenhouse, you will find that it
is effortless to care for, and every plant here has a purpose. You see, they are all edible.
Most of them are for humans, to help your growth, but I have personally added a few
important ones of my own.
This is the catnip plant, the feline type magical beasts love it, and you can use it to keep
them from reporting you when you sneak out at night. This one is the Honey Berry, which
is popular with bear type monsters. If you smear the pulp of this plant on the shoes of other
students, it will attract the giant grizzlies to them in the woods.
Be sure to wash your hands before following.
The final one is only edible in a limited quantity, the clear mind fruit. Use it before the
major exams to help you focus. But keep in mind that it only works a few times, so use it
sparingly.]
The rest of the book was just a watering schedule for the plants, and a note that the magic
of the balcony would take care of the rest.
'So, the last resident planted a fruit to help her cheat on exams, one to sabotage other
students in the woods, and catnip to bribe the security so she could sneak out at night. This
senior was definitely an interesting person.' Karl decided.
[There are still no mice.] The baby Windspeed Hawk complained.
He was right, even with super vision, which could see into the infrared spectrum and would
pick out urine trails of rodents, there was no sign of mice. That should probably have been
expected of a magical dorm, but it was a great tragedy in the mind of the bird.
[Alright, buddy, we will go to the cafeteria and find some meat.]
Karl headed for the main floor again, and made his way to the buffet of the Cafeteria.
"New student? I don't know you." The old woman behind the counter asked.
"Yes, ma'am. My name is Karl."
"Polite, that's not bad. Alright, grab what you like, but only the white plates are allowed to
be taken back to the rooms, and must be returned during your next meal. Eat all you like,
magic affects all you kids differently, no need to be shy about your appetite."
[MEAT!] The Hawk shouted happily in his mind, drawing his attention to a pile of raw fish
set along one side of the long counter. It looked like a grocery section, where you could pick
out your own ingredients to take to your room, while the first half of the counter was
prepared dishes.
"Then, pardon my hunger." Karl replied, and took a pair of white plates to fill for their
dinner.
Pasta and meatballs with cream sauce, roasted pork, some sort of vegetable that gave off an
incredible feeling of energy, and then an entire plate of raw meat for the Hawk.
"Well, that's one of the more interesting plates, for sure. But if you're in a room with a
kitchen, you can cook it as you like. In the future, you can just ask the cook to prepare it if
there's a special way you like your food." She explained.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

Karl retreated to his room while the Hawk pleaded pitifully to be fed. If this was how
adorably needy all baby birds were, no wonder their mothers would go to the extremes of
even chewing food for them. Fortunately, the Windspeed Hawk had an extremely sharp
metallic beak and could bite through bone with ease, even as a newborn.
The meat chunks were all boneless, which the bird found disappointingly lacking in crunch,
but the meat was all monster meat, high in nutrients and energy, and its body was growing
at a visible rate under the pile of nourishment.
It somehow managed to chew through five times its body weight in ten minutes, and it was
still pleading for the meatballs on Karl's plate as he finished his meal.
[Fine, one meatball. But after that, you need to wait for dinner.]
[When is that? I'm starving.] The bird complained, then burped loudly and fell asleep.
That certainly didn't seem like starvation to Karl.
By the time that it woke up, the Windspeed Hawk had grown to the size of a sparrow, and
was happily flying around Karl's mental space, an exuberant distraction as he cleaned the
balcony of leaves, which were set aside to be sorted for drying, and then watered the
plants.
Everything here should be a magical resource of the most basic level, so even the leaves
would likely be worth something if they were properly dried and preserved. The problem
was that he wasn't sure if this garden was sanctioned by the school, or if they would view
all the resources here as looted school property.
[Is it dinner yet? We should get crunchy food this time.] Hawk suggested.
[Sure, let's go down and see how everyone else is doing after I finish writing a letter.]
The bird was confused by the concept of a letter, but Karl wanted to write home to his
parents to let them know that he was alright and settling in well at the Academy. The
students wouldn't be home until the end of the school year, but he didn't recall any rule
saying that they couldn't send a letter or a text message.
Not that either Karl or his parents could afford a cell phone, but that wasn't the point.
Maybe he would get them one once he was finished training and started to get the elite
stipend. If it was enough, he could probably even move them out of the mines and let them
retire.

It only took a few minutes to finish the letter home, and Karl put it in the box by his door,
which could be accessed from either the inside or the outside. That was where he had
received and left the paperwork on the train, and it was where letters were picked up if you
had to send them at home, so it should be the same here, Karl assumed.
The dining hall was packed with new students, mostly in rather rough shape, with torn
clothes, covered in mud and grass stains, and a few sporting visible injuries.
Karl joined the line to grab dinner, then took a second plate, scooped an entire roast
chicken on it, and transferred it to the beast taming space while nobody was watching him.
Then he took another, added a collection of cheeses and snacks to it, and brought it to an
empty table.
"You were the gauntlet guy from the first group, aren't you? I didn't get a good look at your
face earlier." A girl with blonde hair and a heavily bruised face asked as he sat at the table
next to hers.
"Yeah, might I ask, what happened? Everyone looks like they were beaten half to death."
Karl asked.
"We were. I went with a group that understood going together for safety against the Earth
Mice, and our lead warrior chased them off with a skill, but when we got to the second field,
the plant monster was already going insane.
So, we thought it would be safer to go around, and we decided to try the treeline to the
right." She paused and gently touched her face, then flinched. @@novelbin@@
"The one with the monstrous boars?" Karl asked.
"Oh, you already know?"
Karl nodded. "That's why we went through the field. I saw the marks of the boars on the
trees, and recognized them from outside the mining town where I grew up."
The girl laughed. "It's me, Jasmine. I guess you really didn't recognize me with my face like
this."
That explained why she didn't introduce herself when she started speaking, he should have
already known her. Karl looked her over again. He was absolutely certain that when they
left, the Jasmine that he knew had not been a blonde, and that she had been at least twenty
kilos heavier than she was now.
"You look different. It must be the hair." Karl mumbled, not wanting to insult his classmate
by mentioning what she used to look like.
Maybe it was puberty, but he should have noticed a change like that, he was sure of it.
There were a few other familiar, but also not familiar, faces in the crowd. It was like
everyone was a bit different than he remembered, and most of them had improved in the
best of ways.
Come to think of it, he didn't remember sitting quite so tall at the table, and his uniform
pants didn't quite reach his shoes anymore. That wasn't right, they definitely did this
morning when he got off the train.
Maybe his Academy experience wasn't going to be a bad one after all. A little more height
and he would catch up to his classmates.
The next morning was the official start of their training, but there were no scheduled
classes. Instead, everyone woke up to announcements that they should wait in their rooms
for the teacher in charge of their group to come inform them of their new routine.
That sounded like a much more relaxed class atmosphere than any school he had heard of
before, and Karl became a little more jealous of the elite lifestyle. Perhaps he would even
get lucky and have a kind and gentle teacher who didn't shout at students for wrong
answers, or believe that laps around the school were the cure for inattention.
At breakfast, he gathered another roasted chicken for Hawk, along with a collection of raw
meat, but the beast's consumption had temporarily slowed as the bird had grown
overnight.
They weren't a large predator by the standards of monstrous beasts, just a deadly one due
to their eyesight and attack power. As they grew to maturity, most of them would perfect
the knowledge of the [Rend] skill, allowing them to take down much larger prey with a
single strike.
That might not sound too impressive, given that the full-grown bird only weighed a few
kilograms, but when the proficiency reached a high enough level, a monster could actually
ambush and kill monsters a Rank above its own, using the power of the mastered skill.
It wasn't a feat that many beasts could accomplish, and it was entirely a result of the
Windspeed Hawk's incredible rate of skill growth.
It was well after noon before the teacher showed up to talk to him, and Karl was getting
bored with just standing around in the garden and waiting. He had practised his [Rend]
skill until he wore himself out, trying to improve his accuracy and activation speed, and
then had a short nap, but he wasn't really sure where to go from here, and none of the
information in the bag of textbooks he had received told him anything on that topic.
The sharp knock at the door woke him up, and Karl rushed over to open the door for the
sharp - featured female soldier that was waiting outside.
"Good afternoon, Karl. I am your combat skills Professor, you may call me Sergeant Rita. In
addition to teaching you martial arts and essential skills for the elites, I will be your
personal guidance professor. The Academy has determined that your class is too different
from other warriors for the standard class schedule to be useful outside the daily battle
training courses, so we will be working together for the time being.

Did you have the space here to take lessons, or would you like to move to a classroom?"
He had almost gotten his wish. Rita certainly wasn't ugly, but her nature was about as far
from kind and gentle as was possible, and laps around the academy didn't seem like they
would be outside her list of preferred teaching methods.
"There is a spot on the patio that should be suitable. Please come in, Sergeant."
The gazebo seemed like the best learning space, and with the weirdness of magical training
golems, staircases that only went to your floor and everything else in this dormitory, Karl
couldn't see how the plants left to him by the senior would be an issue.
Sergeant Rita followed him into the unit, then onto the balcony with an intrigued look. But
it was not the number of plants that shocked her.
"Are these all freshly watered?" She asked.
"There was a watering guide included with the room. Most only need it once a week, and I
didn't know when they were watered last, so I did it the day that I moved in. They seemed
fairly dry, but everything is still in good condition." Karl replied with a shrug as he walked
to the Gazebo.
"This is a nice unit, very outdoorsy. I'm not sure if it will rain on the patio, with the magic
that's in effect, but other than that, you lucked out.
Now, I need to know everything that you know about your powers so that we can start a
proper training plan. How are the physical improvements, how has the power of your skill
adjusted with a single day's practice, and are there any other hints as to what you can do
with it?
I won't lie to you, the classes that can send a golem or magical construct into battle for
them are in much higher demand than any of the others except the mages who can use
unique spells. But with a ranged attack from the start, you're not in a terrible spot." The
Sergeant informed him very sincerely.
Her honesty startled Karl, and it felt like she genuinely had his best interests in mind as a
guidance counselor. Hiding too many things from her wouldn't do him any good, so Karl
decided that it would be best to just put everything out in the open for her to understand.

Maybe she would know how to help him and Hawk grow.
Karl focused and brought out Hawk from his Beast Taming space. "We should start from
here. This is Hawk, and my skill awakened him from an egg in the kitchen. It allows him to
live somewhat comfortably in a space inside my mind, and our thoughts are linked.
Once I contracted with him, I gained the ability to use [Rend], the same attack skill that all
Windspeed Hawks have, and my senses gained an incredible improvement."
Sergeant Rita stared at the tiny bird for a few seconds, trying to process the information
that she had received.
"So, your ability lets you contract with monsters and what? Use their abilities? While that
sounds pretty cool, it's still a high-risk path to fight against other monsters." She asked.
"Well, I guess that's true, but we both know what the other is thinking, so with a bit of
training I shouldn't have to fight alone. I'll have Hawk with me." Karl offered.
Sergeant Rita smiled. "How about we see if we can't find you another Beast Cub? If you can
get something that's a better fighter than the Windspeed Hawk, you might have a real
chance to become one of the more powerful elites."
Hawk squawked in indignation at the suggestion that he would be replaced right after
being born.
[Does this woman have no shame? Looking down on the Windspeed Hawk. Fully grown, I
am sure that I can make it to the Commander Rank, and she's just an Ascendant warrior.
Give it a month, and I'll bet I could beat her up.] @@novelbin@@
Hawk's mental communication was accompanied by audible screeching when he was
outside like this, and the Sergeant smirked at the irate fledgling.
"What is he saying?" She asked.
"He says that when he grows up he will be a Commander, and you'll still be Ascendant."
Karl gave her the abridged version.
The Sergeant glared at Karl, who raised his hands in defeat. "You asked, and he said it, I'm
just the translator here."
"So, it really is intelligent enough for coherent thought at that stage. Interesting. I know it's
the first day, but we should go to the training grounds to see what you two can do when
working together."
Sergeant Rita led Karl down to the main floor and out across the grounds to a large open
coliseum.
"This will be our venue for the day. You'll love it, at least when it's empty. With nobody
here, you can send your Hawk as far out as you want, and we can spar with the training
gear. Don't worry too much, it's capable of withstanding the attacks of Commander Rank
magical beasts, we won't be in any danger from the practice." She explained.
The coliseum was actually a football stadium that was converted to an arena when the
facility was repurposed as the Divine Golden Academy a decade ago after the injections
were developed.
It was huge and open, with more than enough room to fight, and plated with a powerful
magical barrier and armoured plating to keep the battles from affecting the crowd.
"Call out your bird, you two can make the first move." Sergeant Rita suggested as they
walked to the middle of the battlefield.
[Hawk, fly up high, and attack from the side, she will be expecting you to go behind her.]
Karl instructed as he checked his gauntlets and drew his sword.
As soon as he released it from the mental space, the Hawk flew up fifty metres in the air
and began to circle, waiting for its master to be ready.
[Go.] Karl instructed as he slashed forward with the blade, activating [Rend] halfway
through to create a small arc of power that Rita blocked with ease using one of the two
daggers that had appeared in her hands.

Then she dodged to the side as the attack from Hawk streaked towards her, and parried
again as a flick of Karl's fingers sent more rending energy her way.
Then she counterattacked, surging with energy and rushing toward Karl. He had no actual
combat experience, but a sword was bigger than a dagger, so he sidestepped and swung his
blade, which she easily parried, but while she was distracted, Hawk's next attack hit her in
the back of the neck, leaving a bright red welt.
[What do we do? Her neck doesn't break when I attack it?] Hawk asked in a panic.
[Just keep attacking. She's stronger than us, but she is going to teach us how to fight.]
Karl frantically blocked the daggers with his gauntlet, but he could see that she was holding
back, pushing him to see his physical limits.
"That bird's accuracy is deadly, I can see how you would have confidence against a
Common Grade monster with a companion like that. If I were one of your classmates, I
would likely be in the infirmary right now after that strike to the neck." The Sergeant
congratulated them.
She had underestimated how fast that bird was, and hadn't realized that it had time to
come in for another dive-bombing run so soon.
Rita turned to keep them both in her line of sight as the bird continued to circle overhead,
then launched a flurry of attacks that knocked Karl to the ground just in time for her to
block Hawk's attacks.
"Alright, I know where your weaknesses are now. The first thing that we need to train is
your fighting skills. While the bird is equivalent to a repeated sneak attack, low output but
incredibly difficult to dodge, you will have to face the wrath of your enemies until you can
find a second pet or a group mate to take their attention."

That made a lot of sense. In a way, he was still a warrior class, just a pet warrior, who could
fight alongside a magical beast. Learning an entire combat system wasn't going to be easy,
but at this point, his life literally depended on it after graduation, unless he gave up on the
dreams of becoming famous and powerful in exchange for doing some cushy job for the
ultra-wealthy and somehow never get the reserve force call to battle.
But if he did that, he wouldn't be much different than where he had started, he'd just be at
the bottom of a much fancier pile. Even most of the music and television idols among the
elite were known to go and fight to improve their strength or deal with attacks.
@@novelbin@@
They just did it with assistants and cameras following, so the world would know how
awesome they were, not like some bureaucrat or lawyer who got sent to an attack that
didn't even make the news to fight alone against a rampaging monster.
"Alright, what do we start with? Sword fighting? Martial arts? Some sort of secret magical
body training art?" He asked.
Sergeant Rita laughed. "First, we start with basic physical conditioning. Your body is
adjusting quickly to the mana injection, and it triggers an awakening in place of your
natural growth. That's why we give the shots at the end of middle school, so that all the
recipients are still in the rapid growth phase and can adapt more easily to the changes.
As your body adjusts, you should be able to move from a Common Physique to an
Awakened Physique fairly quickly, and then you will be able to actually fight at an
acceptable pace, closer in speed to the movements of your Hawk."
Karl sighed. He knew it, there were definitely going to be laps around the academy.
"Follow me to the gym. There will be a bunch of agility type fighters there now, so your
standards should be suitable for the equipment that is out. I will lead you through a basic
routine today, and then we will set your baseline for improvement.
Within the next month, I expect that you will be able to make the minimum Awakened
Standard, but you have until the end of the semester before the official tests are done."
"So, most students take that long to make it to awakened?" Karl asked. That didn't sound so
bad.
"No, many of them will make the minimum standard within the next few weeks. The true
Geniuses will be getting close to Ascended by the end of the first Semester, and make it
there either late in the year or at the beginning of the second year."
Just like that, Karl's dreams of easy days as an elite were crushed.
When they got to the gym, the attendant issued Karl a workout uniform consisting of
sneakers, shorts and a shirt in the Academy's white and gold colour scheme, and sent him
to the locker rooms to shower and change.
That was their policy, shower before and after using the equipment. Apparently, new
students didn't wash enough on their own, and they needed to shower when they arrived.
Or perhaps, like he was that day, they were expected to be sweaty already.
It didn't take long to get ready, but Sergeant Rita was already there, changed into a black
tank top and a different pair of green cargo pants with clean boots. Did they think that she
might be mistaken as a student if she didn't wear green? Or perhaps it was a military rule.
Karl had heard that the elite soldiers weren't officially military, but their own branch of the
government. However, they didn't come to the mines, there was no reason for them to be
there, so he had never actually seen one before the injection day. @@novelbin@@
The agility type warriors, as Sergeant Rita called this class, turned out to be almost entirely
female. That made Karl wonder deeply about what sort of bias the mana injection had for
the skills that it awakened in people, or what that said about his current physique.
He might not be the most macho man ever, but being subtly told that you currently have
the physique of a fourteen-year-old girl was hard on the ego.
Then he looked through the glass wall and saw the strength type warriors from the senior
classes training, and the class was full of musclebound meatheads with arms the size of his
torso.
Maybe he was in the right place.
"Alright, first up, upper body strength. That skill of yours puts a lot of resistance on your
body, and you need to be able to power through it, but without building up so much bulk
that you can't evade anymore." Rita began.
What followed was two hours in hell. By the time that Karl limped back to the showers, he
was sweaty, exhausted and ready to fall asleep right where he was. He was about to
collapse when Hawk pushed a piece of cold roast chicken out of the space for him to eat as
a form of emergency energy, or a survival ration, Windspeed Hawk style.
A very deeply missed survival ration, even though the bird still had a quarter of a roast
chicken and plenty of raw meat left.
Once he was changed, Karl made his way back to the dorms for the afternoon, and straight
to the cafeteria for some much-needed sugar and caffeine. If this was going to be the daily
routine, he was going to have to start eating much heavier meals than usual.

Somehow, despite feeling like death, he still managed to look like he was in better shape
than the next few groups to arrive. They were holding each other upright, and mostly
bruised, cut, scorched or dripping with some sort of mystery liquid.
"What happened to you?" Karl asked the mage sitting at the next table, startling him so
much he almost fell out of his chair.
"Skills training. All day long, the magic classes undergo skills and theory training. I have
one spell, Lightning Bolt, and they had me drink supplements over and over to cast it thirty
times today until it stopped hitting me and everyone around me." He complained, clearly in
agony, and so tired he was about to pass out.
"What about you?" The other mage at the table, a girl with charred sections on her uniform,
asked.
"I had a combat class with the instructor, then two hours of fitness routine with the agility
type fighters. I think my legs have started to turn into pudding already." Karl sighed.
"Two-hour fitness routine? What did you do to the instructor to deserve that? Even the
newbie warriors only get a thirty-minute intensive weight training session and a thirty-
minute cardio session along with their weapons training." The girl asked.
"No idea. I think that she's got high hopes for me, though, because she's already talking
about forging me into an Awakened body this month."
The mages winced. "We need to get our mana levels up to awakened levels before the end
of semester exams, but that's way harder than it sounds, and we need to meditate
whenever we're off, but you can't do it when you can't focus, and we're all too sore today."
"Well, almost all of us. I think that she might be fine, that woman is a demon." The boy Karl
had spoken to first complained, gesturing toward a woman covered in slime at the next
table.
"Slime girl?" Karl asked.
"Don't let it fool you, she's a water mage, and her first spell is [Refreshing Water Slime]. It
helps her recover stamina and mana, so she's been wearing it like that all day."
That was almost a cheat ability. From what these two said, the mages trained their aptitude
by maintaining and controlling their spells, and hers refreshed her stamina and magic
while she wore it, so she could do it all the time without getting exhausted. She would
almost certainly grow quickly.
That was the sort of luck that a true protagonist should have, Karl decided.

[Slimes suck, you can't even eat them, they just squish.]
Hawk had a point, not only was he an excellent combat assistant, he was also edible.
The students slowly made their way to their rooms, and Karl let Hawk sleep off his
overindulgence while he lay in bed, too tired to sleep, but too sore to do anything else. He
wasn't sure when that changed to blissful slumber, but he was very aware of his alarm
going off the next morning, alerting him that he had fifteen minutes before Sergeant Rita
arrived.
Karl took a quick shower and changed into his uniform before the Sergeant was at his door,
impatiently knocking and holding a breakfast try in her other hand.
"You're running late, so I brought food. Let's go to the gazebo so you can eat while you
study." She instructed.
Once they sat down, Sergeant Rita took out a small stone, and set it on the table.
"What do you think of this?" She asked.
Karl looked it over. It wasn't an egg, it was just a rock of some sort. He even poked it, first
with the handle of his spoon, and then with his finger. No response.
"It's definitely a rock." He replied.
"Interesting. So the psychic stone has no response to you, but you can communicate with
your bird." Rita noted.
"Now, try this one."
Again, Karl put his hand on the stone, tried to make it do something, but it was just a rock.
Then another, and another. But when she put a small golden coin on the table, an ancient
monetary instrument from the Golden Dragon Nation they lived in, Karl immediately felt an
affinity for the object, and when he touched the dragon on the coin, a sense of power filled
him.
"So, that's the answer. That coin was blessed at the Dragon God Shrine during the last
Dragon Festival. It appears that your powers resonate with the dragon energy. Since that's
the case, I want to try something else."
Rita took out a small vial filled with shimmering red liquid.
[Oh, I want it. Ask the evil lady to give me that.] Hawk demanded.
[You should be glad that she can't hear you.]
"Hawk thinks that will be useful to him if he can have it. What is it?" Karl asked.
"It's mana infused monster blood. It's the most basic of Common Grade resources for
physical cultivation type elites. Drinking mana infused monster blood strengthens the body
and can induce mutations. Without a proper method to handle and guide the process, it is
often fatal, but for a monster or magical beast, it should be perfectly fine." She explained,
with amusement sparkling in her eyes.
For a moment there, she almost seemed like a happy young woman, but then her serious
face was back as she gestured toward the table.
"Call him out so that I can see the process. If it works, the Academy will get you more
resources for the bird until it can grow into a proper combat unit. According to this
morning's briefing, leadership feels that trying to turn you into a frontline fighter with just
one Rending attack is pointless, and the senior professors think that we might have more
luck training the Hawk, with you as its backup and leader in a support or scouting role."
She explained.
Karl sighed. "Day two and I've already been sidelined?"
Rita gave an honest laugh at his disappointment. "All the mages are being cultivated in this
direction as well. It is a measure to reduce casualties. The more people that we can have
fighting behind golems, summons, barriers, and in your case, monsters, the better we can
resist the Magical Beasts, and the more success we will have against the armies of the other
nations.

They know that we have the advantage, and this relative peace won't last for much longer.
If you don't want to be cannon fodder, you need to act quickly to gain strength. So,
strengthen the bird, and when you feel that you are strong enough to take on another pet,
let me know and the Academy will find something suitable for you."
That was a sharp change from yesterday's regimen of focusing on building his physical
strength as fast as possible, but if they didn't know any more about his powers than he did,
there wasn't actually much they could teach him, other than methods that had worked for
others with different powers.
But Hawk was already out on the table, and happily lapping up the mana infused monster
blood while radiating an amount of power that was far beyond what anyone would expect
of a Common Grade beast.
After a few seconds, the effect seemed to fade, but the former swallow - sized hawk was
now much larger, and while it was still a Common Grade monster, it was getting much
closer to fully grown and awakened level power.
Then, something truly strange happened. Karl felt energy flowing from Hawk to him,
clearing his mind, sharpening his eyesight, and leaving his muscles feeling fresh and strong.
He had no way of subtly testing it, but Karl was almost completely certain that his physical
strength had suddenly increased as Hawk grew.
Most of the people he had seen these last few days were changing rapidly after the mana
injection, so it might just be that, but the fact that it happened so suddenly after Hawk was
given the monster blood seemed incredibly suspicious.
Karl cleared his throat and looked at the empty vial on the table. "So, I resonate with
Dragon energy, and Hawk likes monster blood. That second part isn't exactly a surprise for
a Hawk, but do you think that there is a known technique that will let us grow stronger
more quickly?"
"Well, we are limited in Dragon type energy, there just isn't a lot of it floating around, but
there might be another way. Carnivorous magical beasts grow stronger by killing and
eating, absorbing the life force of other beasts. I think that moving the two of you to the
practical courses as soon as you can finish basic skills and survival lessons would be for the
best.
We can't just send you out of the Academy without getting you trained enough to defend
yourself, the public would riot if they found out that one of the elite had died during
training. The mana injections are great for us, we get the superpowers of all sorts, but to
the average people, they are the promise of a safer future, without the nightmares of
impending monster invasions or being left helpless during a war."
Karl rolled his eyes as she got into the official propaganda. While she wasn't exactly wrong,
most of the students here would never fight in any war. Heck, half of them would never
develop a skill that was actually useful during a war. No matter how cool a sword skill was,
artillery still existed. Unless your sword could deal with an air strike, it was not suitable for
use during a real war.
But some of them really could deal with artillery using sword techniques.
The Mages were a different story. But also, if his beast got powerful enough, or he managed
to bond with a particularly powerful monster, he could also become a deadly fighting force.
The hide of a powerful magical beast could stop bullets, and many types of beasts could
breathe fire, call down lightning, or even slice apart armoured vehicles with their claws.
He was already headed down that last road, with [Rend], and if he could get it past the
Awakened level of the power scale and into the Ascended levels, there was no reason that
he couldn't tear through an armoured vehicle on his own.
"But for now, that's mostly hypothetical. We're not at war with anyone, and the magical
beasts are being held at bay throughout the Golden Dragon Nation." Karl replied.
"For now. Just trust me, Karl, you want to get in as much combat training as you can, and I
will apply for improved resources for Hawk. I know that birds are usually fine with
whatever sort of meat you feed them, but if we want to force it to grow faster, it will take a
detailed plan." Rita informed him. @@novelbin@@
Karl thought about that. A Windspeed Hawk was full-grown at four months old. But at that
point, they were only low Awakened Level beasts with a Common Grade physique. It would
take time and hunting stronger beasts if they wanted to grow past that strength level.
Without some sort of reference or plan, he could be stuck at a very low level in his second
year.
Rita started to take textbooks out of her bag, but a very different set of books than Karl had
been issued his first day here. These were all about magical beasts, their diets, traits,
abilities, and other factors that might be relevant to Hawk.
"I will leave these for you, and come back tomorrow morning. What I want you to do today
is come up with a care and feeding guide for the bird, and justify it with the information
from the books. If it's good, and it follows the information that we have in a logical way, I
think that I can get you some more resources.
At the very least, I can get some more of the mana infused monster blood. We stock quite a
bit of that for the warriors and other classes who need an instant physical power boost."
She informed Karl with a smile.
Rita left Karl alone with the stack of books on monster data, which were all written from
the perspective of a Hunter. At best, they noted what the beast's usual diet was and where
it could be found, but that was much different than a guide to help him properly raise them,
much less one to raise them faster than usual to compete against wild beasts and magic
users.
Fortunately, he only needed a care and feeding guide for Hawk to complete the homework,
which was a perfectly reasonable level of workload for the day. Plus, he had a cheat.
"Hey Hawk, what sort of things do you think would make you stronger? Something that you
could eat, or keep near you to grow extra fast." Karl asked the happy bird, who had settled
down in the space inside his mind to rest.
[I like meat. And the red juice from the evil lady, and those blue fruits over there. Can I eat
those?]

"Give me a second while I see what they are and what they're for." Karl replied, before
opening up the notebook for the balcony greenhouse.
[{Mountain Gooseberries} Tasty treats for both humans and animals. Used to make
monster bait. No nutritional value that I know of, but the smell will attract all sorts of
monsters.
This berry contains a high mana content, suitable for creating mana potions of the weakest
variety. Even in concentrated form, it is not as strong as a normal mana recovery potion.]
Karl read the description twice and then went to pick three of the berries.
"You can have this many, one time a day. If you eat too many, you will get sick." He warned
Hawk.
Really, he just didn't want the Hawk pigging out on junk food when he had a whole pile of
meat in the taming space.
The Hawk took the berries, looked at them with longing, then spread them all over the raw
meat and began to tear it apart with renewed vigor.
Karl added a note to the papers for his homework. [Windspeed Hawks will use the
Mountain Gooseberry as seasoning on their preferred raw meat diet.]
Once the Hawk had finished eating for a moment and lay down to let the influx of mana and
nutrients settle into its body, Karl started with the questions.
"Why do you call Sergeant Rita the evil woman?" He asked.
[Every time I see her, she wants me to work, but there is never food. What else could she be
except evil?]
That made a lot of sense. The baby Hawk was still a magical beast, and his stomach was a
primary driving force for his behaviour. Whatever bond they had forged made Hawk
friendly to Karl, but that consideration didn't extend to anyone else around him.
"Alright then, where is the most comfortable spot to rest?" Karl asked.
[Right here, maybe the branches of that tea tree. Those ones smell good, and they hide your
scent from prey. Tea trees are good trees.]
All afternoon, Karl quizzed the bird and wrote out a report with the answers. Then he
started to go through the textbooks, looking for supplements that might help monsters, or
even elites with [Rend] type skills.
The first group didn't have much research on it, but the second one was pretty common. All
sorts of warrior classes had a rending attack after a bit of training, and it was among the
skill techniques that the Golden Divine Academy taught its warriors.
Naturally, they had supplements that were designed to increase the ability of the warriors
to explode with inner power. The question was if they would be effective on Hawk. Neither
of them could tell from looking at the description, so Karl began to flip through the
standard textbooks until he found the alchemy text.
That one was more productive. Once they had the list of potential potions and treatments,
Karl just had to check the ingredients and see if it was something that Hawk might like.
Most of them were all herbal based, but once he got to the Strength Potion, he found
something promising. It was made from monster blood, infused with the dust of a
gemstone that gave off strong magical energy. The two together gave the human imbiber a
long duration burst of energy.
That stone was the promising part. He didn't really need something that would give Hawk a
burst of strength, it was a bird, not a gorilla, but the stone that it was made of radiated
power that might help him grow more quickly.
After that, Karl kept searching, but only found one other resource, a Wind Magic stone of
the same sort. That one wasn't a natural resource, it was created by Mages as a mana
storage device. Hawk loved to absorb mana, and since it was air magic, Karl had some
hopes that it would be able to work with that stone to improve its own abilities.
That was four potential resources. High-energy monster meat with berries for seasoning,
the infused blood, the strength stone and the wind stones. If he could get all four of them,
he might even be able to get Hawk through to Awakened strength in the next few
weeks.@@novelbin@@
The next morning, Rita returned to collect Karl's homework before breakfast, and then
came back with a small bag for their class work.
"Alright, I got you what I could to see if the resources actually help a pet beast grow faster
than the average. This isn't going to be a short process, the Windspeed Hawk is going to
need the whole semester to make it to Awakened naturally, so if you can do better than
that, you should get good marks on your training.
We will still work on your martial arts skills, though. If you get targeted by the opponents
in a mock battle, you need to be able to defend yourself, and you do have at least one attack
method of a magical variety." She informed Karl with a smile.
"Well, at least I'm not expected to run and hide while someone beats up Hawk. What did
you manage to find us?"
Rita dumped the contents of the bag on the table, and Hawk went crazy in Karl's mind.
There were two strengthening stones, an entire litre of infused monster blood, and six blue
wind stones that were giving off an incredible aura of power.
"The Wind Stones were made by the headmaster personally. He was part of the first batch
of successfully injected elites, and he is now an Overlord Grade Mage. He says that if the
Wind Stones really can be a cultivation resource for the Windspeed Hawk, he will gladly
make you more, and look into ways to awaken more elites in the same direction." Rita
explained.
[I take it back, evil lady is actually nice lady.] Hawk screeched as it stared at the buffet in
front of it.
Karl ignored the bird's antics in his mind, and placed one of the strength stones in a small
dish full of monster blood. The energy seemed to seep from the stone to the 'soup', but Karl
wasn't sure what to do with the wind stones.
"You can't crush the wind stones, it will break the spell. But if he just sleeps beside them, or
wears one as a pendant, the mana should help. Assuming he can use it, anyhow. That's how
the new air magic users do it."

Karl called Hawk out, and the bird immediately went to the soup, and licked the entire bowl
clean before turning its head to the Wind Stones.
Each was no bigger than the diamond on a wedding ring, but the energy contained inside
was immense. Sleeping next to them shouldn't be a problem, and Karl could even make a
little pouch to carry them around Hawk's neck.
But the bird immediately ate one, and swirling winds began to build around the balcony,
tearing leaves from trees and nearly knocking over planters for the smaller varieties,
before Karl pulled Hawk into his mental space.
[What are you doing?] He demanded of the tiny bird that was now radiating magical power.
[It's food. Amazing powerful food. What else would I do with it if not eat it?]
Inside the space, winds whipped, and power flowed constantly from Hawk to Karl,
strengthening his body as if he were the magical beast. But from the outside, from Rita's
perspective, everything was calm, and Karl was meditating or distracted by his thoughts,
with no sign of external stimulus.
All she could do was patiently wait until an hour later, when Karl finally opened his eyes
and gave an exhausted sigh.
"The Wind Stones are indeed an excellent resource for Hawk. Come on out and let her see
you, my friend."
The Windspeed Hawk appeared on the table, looking exactly as it always did, with cream
feathers covered in mottled brown patterns that matched the common trees of the forest.
But now it was much larger, as long as Karl's forearm, as a nearly full-grown Windspeed
Hawk should be.
It was also giving off the aura of an Awakened Grade monster.

"Well, we can say for certain that feeding a Wind Stone to a Windspeed Hawk will cause an
immediate growth breakthrough, and it will progress from fledgling to a young adult state
within a few hours. He's also starving again, and he has eaten everything I stored, so I'll
pour him some more blood into the dish." Karl offered as an explanation.
"It really worked. There actually is a way to cultivate tamed monsters. How do you feel? Is
it a strain on your body? Did you gain anything from the process, perhaps more mana, or a
new power?" Rita asked, ready to take notes for the Academy.
"I feel stronger, but I don't know how to check my mana levels. Is there a device for that?"
Karl asked.
"No, the mages know instinctively, but I'm not a mage. We can bring you to one later, and
they can give us a reading for the records. But meanwhile, you can try to use your abilities
and see how long it takes for you to get tired." @@novelbin@@
Karl ran off to the closet in his small room to get the gauntlets, and came back out. A quick
flex of his arms gave him a sense of great power, and once he got to the railing, he found
that the resistance of the [Rend] spell on his actions was negligible. He had more than
enough strength to move his arm normally, and the four thick arcs streaked through the air
and out over the Academy courtyard.
"Impressive. That is definitely at the Awakened Rank in power, but how many times can
you do it? If there is no stamina, the Academy will classify it as a Common Class burst
ability on your part, where it is an Awakened Ability for the Hawk." Rita explained.
Three more at full power was enough to leave Karl panting, but he had an idea.
"Give me a few minutes to recover, and I think that I can do better."
A short break, and a bit more to eat, had Karl back up to full strength, while Rita quietly
made notes about his recovery speed.
Karl tried again at half strength, and the drain on his energy was negligible. The feedback
from Hawk was enough that Karl felt he could do this for hours, but instead he did it a
dozen more times, alternating hands and directions of the cuts, as if he was shadow-boxing
with [Rend] as the strikes.
"Fifteen minutes at half output. That's still Common Grade strength, but on the strong side
of it, and it looks like you are improving as the Hawk improves. Once he is stronger, you
should really become an Awakened Level fighter, or rather Beast Tamer, with the
advantage of an Awakened Level beast to help you."
"Not bad for the first week, right? If you leave those resources here, I think that we can do
better by the end of the month. We might even have enough strength to fight with some of
the second year students by the time the exams come around."
Rita laughed at Karl's enthusiasm. "You had better make time in your day for combat
training then, or even with Hawk, you'll get beaten to a pulp."
She had a point. This whole Beast Taming thing would be a lot easier if he had a giant rhino
or something scary in front of him.
Hawk went straight for the Wind Stones again, once nobody was paying attention, and
grabbed another. But this time, it didn't integrate into his body in the same sudden rush.
Instead, there was a steady flow of Wind Magic from the stone to the bird, and its body
seemed to be adapting to the excess energy at a much slower rate.
"Does it only work that well once? That was a pretty high-level resource, compared to
Hawk, so perhaps it damages the body when it is used in such an abrupt manner." Rita
suggested, while flipping her short black hair out of her eyes.
"That's possible, I can't really tell and Hawk doesn't understand either, he just wants the
stones. I will ration them out for him, so he gets a new one when the old one is absorbed."
Karl agreed.
That would be a while, as after he ate the second stone, Hawk was begging to be let back
into the mental space to sleep off its overindulgence.
"Food Coma." Karl explained, when Rita gave the disappearing bird a confused look.
She sighed and shook her head. "That's not part of a proper training regimen. But today, we
can forgive it, since he had such a large breakthrough. I approve of your diet plan, and the
infused blood will be brought to you regularly, along with a new strength stone, in a few
weeks. Hopefully, this one lasts because that's as fast as we can get another.
@@novelbin@@
It looks like your abilities are very fast-growing, but equally resource intensive. Perhaps if
you grew naturally at the rate of the contracted beast, you could do it with only food
resources, but from what we know of the wild magical beasts, they also need to eat some
rare objects, or absorb strange energies to reach the higher ranks naturally."
What Karl really needed was a way to improve the Hawk so it could beat other monsters at
its level, and not just keep growing. They were likely to have to face beast packs and
invasions in the future, and one monster on their side against ten on the other would mean
very little to their chances of winning.
Being able to work together was a nice start, but not enough to be considered a truly
powerful sort of existence on his own.

Hawk snorted in amusement in his mind. [What other Hawk of my level is so good with its
magic or so majestic in flight?]
[I know you're the best, but I'm trying to think of ways to make us even better.] Karl
countered.
Hawk went quiet as he thought about it. Hawks only needed one skill, the ability to kill their
prey, but he supposed that more ways to kill his food wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe
if he watched other birds do it, he could find ways to do it better?
The Windspeed Hawk wasn't sure that was even possible, but it wanted to make Karl
happy, so it was willing to try to use [Rend] in new ways.
"Can we go down to the training areas? I think that the more we see actual combat while
we're training, the easier it will be to come up with ways to make ourselves better." Karl
suggested.
Hawk wasn't going to be coming out for a while, so he might as well train himself while he
had the chance.
Rita led him out of the dorms and out into the field on the opposite side from his balcony.
There was a large training area there, with stone squares in the open field, and a large
group of students were training unarmed combat techniques there.
They were all second year students, and very good at what they were doing, but just
watching them gave Karl ideas on how he and Hawk could work together to overcome
them.
"We're going to try something different today. Since you have a ranged skill of sorts, I want
to start you on defensive basics. If you're fighting from a distance without magical armour
skills like the mages learn, then you need to have a way to block.
Today, we will practice blocking incoming attacks with your claws. The more you practice,
the better you will get. Think of it like learning to play catch. Just hit the incoming attack
with your own."
Somehow, that friendly description sounded extremely sinister to Karl, especially when she
led him away from the unarmed combat field and toward a huge bunker.

"There are mages at your level training here, stronger Common Class students that are
close to breaking through to Awakened. They might have a bit more stamina than you do,
since they've been practising longer, but it takes less to deflect the attacks than to form
them.
Now, at first, they will be firing down the training hall above your head. Don't worry, they
shouldn't miss the target entirely at their level. Just do your best to deflect them off target."
The mages nearby glared at Sergeant Rita as she said those words. Who was she to come in
here and interfere with their training? They were already at the bottom of their class, but
now she was bringing in some newbie hotshot just to mess with them?
"Alright. Seniors, I apologize for the inconvenience." Karl apologized as he felt the glares
directed his way.
"It is training for the mages as well. It's one thing to just hit a target, but in the real world,
targets will defend themselves. Being able to work around the defence to land a solid hit is
also a necessary skill." Rita added.
In the end, she was a teacher, and they didn't have any say about her intentions for their
training, but the thought that this was a real-world exercise, while they had been mostly
abandoned to their own devices as the weakest of the elites, was somewhat reassuring.
Rita led Karl to the other end of the training grounds, where a dozen targets were lined up.
"Alright everyone, here is the goal. You just need to land hits on the targets, the same as
always, but this time, Karl here will be doing his best to deflect those shots and keep them
from landing. With a dozen of you and one of him, it shouldn't be hard, but he needs the
stamina training to help stabilize his foundation.
Have fun, and don't be afraid to push yourselves to find new ways to get to the target."
They started casting as soon as she finished speaking, and Karl frantically began to cast
rending blades at low output, letting them crash into the various spells. Some were
deflected, some were only slowed, and some pushed through on their own with only a
slight loss of power.
It all depended on the element and the power of the spell as to what happened. Fire and
water were the hardest to deflect, they just passed over with a loss of power, where ice,
earth and other solid objects could be easily knocked off course.
The next time, he only used one rending claw per attack to save mana, but increased the
power of each as he swatted aside and nullified the attacks.
Karl panted with exertion and sighed. That was a mistake, the power needed was an
exponential increase compared to the increased output. It was better to hit a target with
multiple small attacks than one big attack.
The Mages were actually beginning to enjoy themselves, as they realized that he wasn't
some wonder genius sent here to humiliate him, and that he was a newbie working on his
mana control, just like they had been all last year.
With everyone limited in stamina and magical power, there were constant breaks, which
also became part of the game that was played between Karl and the mages. He would sit
down to recover, but still swat at attacks if someone got lazy and an attack was particularly
weak or slow moving.
In the eyes of the supervisor, the lone teacher assigned to watch over the dozen mages in
this class, it was the best motivation that they had seen in months. None of these students
were good at self motivating, and their abilities weren't strong enough to get them a
personal instructor, even one at the low level that Sergeant Rita had reached.
To his trained gaze, the warrior with the Rending Claws was likely to overtake her in power
by the end of his first semester, while she had taken three years to make it to the middle of
Ascended Rank combat power.
Sergeant Rita was no genius when she had to learn magical powers, but she was a great
martial artist, and from what he could see, a superb teacher. Not only had she motivated
her own student, it was motivating his as well.
Karl and the others trained together until lunch, after which the mages would be moving to
theoretical training to help them learn new spells, and Karl would be moving on to either
close combat training or theory classes on how to care for a magical beast and research
assignments on the chances of increasing its power more than its species would normally
allow.
"Come with us for lunch. It looks like you awakened a pretty cool combat ability right from
the start with the ranged claw attacks. Most warriors are boring until they're at least
reaching the end of the Awakened Rank, and they can start to hit targets more than two
metres away from them." One of the mages informed Karl.

She was a tall and buxom blonde, but with the growth spurt that he had undergone the last
few days, she was only a little taller than he was now, and Karl had hopes that he would
reach an acceptable height before he had enough classes with others that his reputation as
a shorty would precede him. At the very least, everyone seemed to respect his abilities.
None of them seemed to notice that Karl covered an entire plate of raw meat in a drizzle of
mana infused monster blood, or that it simply vanished into thin air, they were all more
eager to discuss the ways that they had thought of to use their spells to get around his
defences.
"I think that if we increase the speed and fire them as double balls instead of a single, we
can get at least one through to the target." One of the mages was suggesting.
@@novelbin@@
"Better if you send them a few metres apart, so that the other claws don't hit. Or better, at
slightly different speeds, that will make it harder to guess when they will arrive." Another
mage sighed. His specialty was ice, and he had a terrible time getting the ice shards to hit
the target when they were so easily knocked off course.
"This is a different cafeteria than I'm used to, where are we?" Karl asked.
"Oh, this is the cafeteria in the mage district. There is another in the warrior training area
as well, for students who were a long way from the dorm cafeteria at lunch. The foods at
each are totally different because they are specialized for the different groups.
The warrior one has more nutrition-based options, designed to build muscle, while ours is
more mana rich. The one at the dorm is a mix of everything, but mostly it's used by the
students who study in their dorms all morning, the noncombat elites." The tall blonde
explained.
"That's good to know. I have to train everything, but today, I definitely need the extra mana.
I'm Karl, by the way."

"Molly." The blonde replied.

"Formerly known as Gertrude Dingwall." One of the boys teased.
"But now I'm Molly. It's on my ID card." The blonde replied in an annoyed tone.
"You don't have to put your real name on the sheet, you see. She asked if she could change
it when she was on the train, and the guard said they'd call her anything she wrote there.
Legend has it that some prankster a few years ago was known as Tater Salad for an entire
year before he could get his card changed." One of the other mages informed Karl with a
giggle.
Hawk sighed in contentment as he feasted on the upgraded lunch package, courtesy of the
red sauce that the not so evil lady had left for him, and Karl sat and joked with the mages
for an hour before Sergeant Rita came to inform him of his next training task.
"We will see you all tomorrow morning, but for the afternoon Karl has actual combat
training to do. He might have a ranged attack magic, but the Academy has determined that
he is still a warrior class."
The mages made praying motions, wishing Karl the best of luck on surviving warrior
training as well as ranged casting practice in a single day, then slowly made their way to
theory classes with a renewed motivation to learn new spells that would get past his
defence.
Karl had been getting better all morning, but they all had thoughts on how to evade his
defensive abilities.
As they walked out across the grounds, Rita smiled at Karl's concerned look.
"Relax, it won't be so bad. We're going to the first year unarmed combat classes. It's just
basic martial arts, and most of them have very little skill. Your physique is miles beyond
most of the other newbies, so you shouldn't have too many problems adapting.
Plus, I brought you one more resource that I scooped from the Mage Class instructor. It's a
memory drop, a condensed focusing spell that makes it easier to memorize things. It's not
powerful magic, but it's incredible for studying. The Mages get them as a reward when they
do well on tests."
"Ah, Rita, welcome. It's good to see you back here as a teacher instead of a student. Who is
this that you've brought with you?" The instructor, a small but muscular man in his late
forties, asked.
Chances are he wasn't part of the elite, he was too old to have been chosen even a decade
ago, but if he was a martial arts expert, he would be the perfect person to be training new
recruits. They wouldn't be stronger than he was, and they knew basically nothing, unless
they happened to have some special training at home, with the hope that they would be in
the lucky five percent that managed to gain an affinity to mana from the injection.
That was a fairly big risk to take, but some would surely have done it, just in case.
"This is Karl, he's an agility type warrior with a ranged magical attack that utilizes the
claws on the gauntlets. It has proven quite versatile, and since it's a gauntlet type weapon,
he should fit in fairly well in your unarmed combat classes as well." Rita explained.
"Well, that sounds like it's a properly versatile skill set. Alright, let's see what you can
already do, and what you still need to learn." The instructor agreed.
Karl laughed and Rita smirked. They both knew that he knew nothing, but with the
enhancement that he had been getting from Hawk, at least he might not embarrass himself.
The instructor noticed his uneasy look and smiled. "Don't worry too much, it's unarmed
combat. Just leave your gauntlets over there, and we can spar a little. If you're a complete
newbie, just do what feels right, and that will tell me what way is best to help you develop."
[Yeah, swoop down from above and break his neck.] Hawk added.
[Not helpful, I can't fly.]

[Then jump or something. I don't know.] Hawk pouted.

Karl set his gauntlets off to the side and took a combat stance that he had learned from Rita
on the first day. At least he now knew how to throw a punch without hurting himself, but
they would have to see how the actual match went.
The instructor threw a sudden punch, and Karl swatted it aside as Rita had told him, then
counterattacked with a punch of his own, which the instructor simply sidestepped to evade.
For a man who couldn't be an elite, he was insanely agile, and Karl's follow-up punch also
missed, making him think that Rita had been taking it even easier on him than he had first
suspected.
The instructor's knee caught Karl in the midsection, forcing him back, but he swung his leg
out in a sweep, trying to knock the instructor over.
He misjudged the range, but being down low let him block the next knee, and tackle the
instructor, who was only a little taller than Karl was.
That turned out to be the wrong move, as the man caught him, and then suddenly Karl was
spinning through the air to land on his back. Dust puffed up around him as the wind left his
lungs and Karl gasped, but rolled to his feet.
"Not bad, kid. I've got a good idea of how you like to fight now, so we will put you with the
mixed martial arts group. Those stand up fighters do well against soldiers, but it looks like
you will be better in bar brawls and nastier fights against monsters.
It might seem counterintuitive, but with your speed and power, a punch to the head will
stun many Common monsters, and grappling skills can be adapted to keep their claws away
from you.
It's not an offensive art, you have your ranged attacks for that, but if they get past that, I
think we can teach you to defend yourself."

Somehow, punching a magical beast in the face seemed like an awful idea, but if the option
came down to that or being bitten, he supposed it wasn't all that bad.
"Rita, come over here and give us a hand. Your student needs to learn the basics of the
style, and we've already got an even number of students."
Sergeant Rita looked like she had been prepared to sit this class out, but when she was
called, she didn't resist. Not many of these new students would be Karl's match anyhow,
and it would just be bullying for him to spar with the ones who didn't receive a large initial
physical boost.
Once again, Karl found himself headed back to the cafeteria for dinner, totally exhausted,
sore in every muscle and barely able to walk. But the memory water was working, and he
could recall each of the fifty techniques that he had been shown that day with perfect
clarity, along with the proper way to use them.
After a few more weeks of training, so his body remembered it as well, he might even be
able to consider himself a trained amateur fighter.
Karl sat down alone at a table, but he was soon joined by other members of the unarmed
combat class.
"Man, you won the lottery with that awakening, didn't you? It's the first week, but you're
already so fast, and you even got a personal trainer." One of the boys from the mixed
martial arts group greeted him. @@novelbin@@
Karl laughed. "I got a personal trainer because my marking is different from any of the
others, and they had no idea what sort of skill I was going to get. So, I was tossed a personal
trainer, and we're just guessing our way through it. Most of you guys should have gotten
the grappler or monk marks, right? The open hand or the staff over the fist?"
The small group at the table nodded. "Yeah, the initial skills are crap, but at least it was easy
to awaken. All you need to do is punch something, and I managed that before I even got out
of bed. I gave a fist pump in joy and hit the shelf, and that was enough to awaken my mark."
"Plus, we get a load of extra stamina. Even if we can't get to the most powerful ranks, we
can at least grow up to be popular with the ladies." One of the other boys laughed.
"It's better than nothing. But sitting around all day talking about magic symbols like the
mages sounds like much more fun than working my butt off learning martial arts and body
strengthening skills."
One of the other students laughed. "Your head hurts trying to do basic math, you'd never
survive as a mage."
"It has to be easier than getting beat up every day. I'm a lover, not a fighter." The boy
complained.
"We all know you've never done that either, so you might as well learn to fight."
While Karl lay in bed, wondering how he was going to deal with the mage class in the
morning, Hawk was busily finishing absorbing the wind gem that he had been given. With
the level difference between the Hawk and the stone, it should be giving him all sorts of
benefits, but after the first stone, which brought him to the Awakened Level, there wasn't
much change.
His mana levels were steadily growing, which was pulling Karl up with him, but nothing as
shocking as the first stone.
It was with great regret that the generous offer of resources was wasted that Karl fell
asleep, only to be awakened before dawn as a surge of magic flowed through his body.
[Skill Gained: Wind Shield] @@novelbin@@
The absorption of the stone had granted Hawk a new skill, though the new spell was
unavailable to Karl, at least for now.
"Now that's more like it. Another spell for you, and that is one that a normal Windspeed
Hawk wouldn't manage to learn. Congratulations." Karl cheered for the bird, who was
already settling back down to sleep.
It had managed to comprehend better magic with the help of the stone, and now it had no
intention of being awake while it wasn't hungry. Unfortunately for Karl, he wasn't so lucky,
and the excitement kept him awake for hours, letting him get back to sleep just before the
alarm went off to get ready for breakfast.
"You're looking chipper this morning. Aren't you sore?" One of the boys from the combat
training class asked.
"I recover pretty quickly. It's all just a matter of eating enough to keep up with your needs."
Karl laughed as he pointed to the plate in front of him.
After the breakthrough yesterday, his appetite had grown much larger, and again this
morning, his clothes were a size too small. Before he went for training, he was going to
have to go to the supply room and get new uniforms that actually fit.

Karl made his way to the laundry room, where the sign said they could apply for new
uniforms, and was greeted by a very large woman in a raincoat.
"What do you need then? A bit early in the day for laundry, it won't be ready until later, and
I'll put it in your room." She announced.
"Actually, I need uniforms that fit. I've been growing like crazy since I arrived, and neither
of the ones I was given fits anymore, I can't even do up my shoes, I'm standing on the heel."
Karl replied.
"Ah, right then. I'll get you sorted out. Just bring the others down to me later."
The laundry woman came back a few seconds later with two uniforms in fresh plastic bags
and a pair of boots, plus a pair of shoes and sandals.
"If you turn out to be one of those giants, then you might need the sandals later. Just try to
keep things in good condition, so I can issue them to the other students once they're all
washed. Once you're settled through the growth phase, you should be fine."
Karl returned to his room to change, and then went down to meet Rita for their morning
visit with the mages.
[Hey Hawk, which one do you think is more mana efficient, Rend, or Wind Shield?] He
asked.
[Rend, of course. But Wind Shield can block big things, and water balls. Stupid water balls.]
Hawk replied.
Karl wasn't sure what the water had done to him, the bird had been sleeping most of the
morning yesterday, but there was a chance that the young bird was just moody and needed
more attention.
"Why don't you come out and sit on my shoulder for the morning? We can block water balls
together." Karl suggested, and Hawk was instantly out, sitting on the shoulder of his coat
while impatiently rocking, waiting for them to get to work.

"I take it Hawk is going to join us for the day?" Rita asked.
"He was feeling a bit caged in, waiting to be able to do something other than sleep and wait.
I think it will be good training for him as well, and there are plenty of spells for him to
block. Don't worry, he knows to block the spells, not to attack the casters."
Rita laughed as she led them to the training grounds, where the mages were already
assembled and waiting.
"You have a pet bird? That is just awesome. Will he be watching? That's a male Windspeed
Hawk, right?" One of the girls from the mage class asked.
"He is. His name is Hawk, and he will be helping me out today with the blocking duties."
Karl agreed.
The mages looked extra excited. They were wondering what a magical beast would do to
block their attacks, but they didn't want to go find a wild one to find out firsthand. This was
much safer, and they would be able to learn if the Hawk's logic on what should be blocked
was different from what a human's would be.
The barrage began again, but with faster attacks, variable speed attacks, and multiple
castings to try to get around Karl's defences. As soon as the fight started, Hawk leapt up
into the air and circled behind the targets so that he could attack downward, the way that
he was used to, and began targeting the water balls.
Nobody else noticed at first, as there were only a couple of water mages, but they were
quite certain that the bird had something against them.
"Hey, did that Hawk just cast a Wind Shield? I swear that it used a barrier spell when my
water balls split to go around the rending blades." The water mage complained.
"It's a Windspeed Hawk. Since when do they have a barrier ability?" One of the other mages
laughed, and then saw his fireball simply dissipate against an invisible shield.
"Dammit, they do have a Wind Shield. Alright, I've got a counter for that." The Fire Mage
raged, while the other mages laughed and the Hawk screeched happily.
His next attack was three fireballs, split in speed so they wouldn't be easily blocked.
Hawk spread his toes and swung his foot, sending a trio of rending blades out to intercept.
They hit all three fireballs at once, and the other mages cheered.
"Man, he's good. No wonder people tell horror stories about trying to get away from bird
type monsters."
After the skills training with the mages finished, and they had all managed to drag
themselves to lunch, exhausted but satisfied with their progression, Karl began to mentally
prepare himself for the afternoon skills training.
Hawk was happily resting on the table with a chunk of roasted meat, but Karl could tell that
the bird's mind had already wandered to the monster blood treated delicacies that had
been stored in the taming space for him to snack on all afternoon while his leader learned
how to fight.
"Do you think that they will let you go out with the newbie training patrols? I know that
you're training alone, and on a different learning program than everyone else in the first
year class, but we also heard the teacher talking today about how they might black badge
you soon, and then you'll be able to lead a group into the woods.
The actual classes always have wilderness assignments, but they can't go without an
awakened or stronger team leader, so most of the first years have to beg for favours from
the upperclassmen, or wait until the teachers organize an outing." One of the girls asked.
She was also a black badged awakened mage, but looked older than many others in the
misfit mages class, so she might be in her third year, not her second.
"I will have to ask Sergeant Rita about it. I didn't know that the others had to leave the
academy grounds to do things in their first year, so it's all news to me. Other than the
combat training class, where I don't actually spar with many of the other students because
I'm physically strong and untrained, you guys are the only student interaction that I have."
Karl explained.
"Oh, that makes sense. This early in the year, you wouldn't be doing much of anything but
learning the basics. It's mostly the alchemists, druids, garden witches and such that have to
go outside into nature to train. Their skill set requires it." The mage agreed.
@@novelbin@@
"Yeah, and the more esoteric mages often don't leave the library for more than an hour or
two a day for their entire time at the academy. They just learn as much as they can about
spells, and then never actually use them for anything. I should have worked harder to be
one of them, it would be less exhausting." One of the boys added.
"If you can, you definitely want to go outside, though. There are all sorts of good things out
there, especially for a meat lover like Hawk, and you'll get extra credit for leading the
group, which you can spend at the supply room."

Sergeant Rita's voice came from behind Karl. "Are you lot trying to steal away my student?
He's got a long way to go before he's ready to go out into the wilderness unaccompanied."
The Mages laughed and everyone pointed at the bird on the table.
"Did you know that the Windspeed Hawk can use [Wind Barrier]? With that and Rend, it's
already tougher than most of us. Plus, it's a magical beast, and there's still a whole Karl to
go with it." One of the mages explained.
Rita gave the mages a stern look that said she wasn't going to be changing her mind on Karl
going on wilderness outings, no matter whether he got the black badge or not.
"Your plates are empty, and Hawk has finished basking in the attention, so pack him away
and get to the training class. We will be testing your memory today." Rita ordered, then left
Karl to clean up and follow behind her.
"Looks like the mention of going outside got her upset. I'll see you all tomorrow." Karl
laughed as he transferred Hawk back into the Taming Space.
He could do that from a distance, but he wasn't sure just how far it worked from, as he
hadn't tried it from more than across the room. That was another skill that he would have
to practice with Hawk eventually, once their bond and bodies were strong enough that they
could operate individually and didn't have to rely on each other for everything.
Well, maybe they wouldn't wait on the bodies to get stronger, Windspeed Hawks were
better known for their skills than their durability, but the sentiment was the same.
Karl jogged down to the training area, where Sergeant Rita was waiting for him with a few
older students, and the regular class was just beginning to assemble in the locker room to
get changed.
"Give me two minutes and I will be back out." He called as he saw the Sergeant already
changed and waiting.
"Bare feet and shorts, shirt optional." One of the older students called back.

That was the normal sort of training outfit for the mixed martial arts class, so Karl didn't
think much of it as he got ready and came back out.
"Not bad, still young but a good bit of muscle mass, lean and solid." One of the older
students noted when Karl returned without a shirt. It would just get in the way while
sparring, so he was carrying it with his towel and water bottle, both sourced from the
shelves in the changing room along with the training outfit.
Rita looked over Karl and the training group. "Alright, first we will start with a quick
sparring session to see how much of your training you actually managed to remember. I
remember giving you some resources that will help you retain knowledge, so I have high
expectations."
Karl couldn't tell how strong these students were supposed to be when everyone was in
training outfits, but the boy he was paired up with was only a little larger than he was, and
slightly more heavily muscled.
None of the students in this training class were pure bodybuilder physiques, it would
interfere with their flexibility. That didn't mean much when there were supernatural
abilities involved. Many of the Warrior Classes got strong physical enhancements as they
practised, as good or better than the feedback that Karl got from Hawk.
"This will be a three-minute round. Now, start." Rita announced.
His opponent darted out a jab to test Karl's reaction speed, which he blocked while moving
forward for a knee strike. Being smaller, it was to his advantage to get as close as he could,
where the other boy's reach advantage didn't mean anything.
He had learned that yesterday while getting beaten up by Rita.
He only knew a few strikes, punches, knees and elbows, along with a few blocks, but
hopefully, it would be enough to get him through the next three minutes.
The older boy aimed a strike at Karl's head, which he ducked under and punched toward
the stomach.
This opponent was fast, nearly as fast as Rita, and he danced out of the way instead of
blocking, which allowed him to move out of Karl's punching range. It put Karl on the
defensive as the boy counterattacked, but either he was weaker than Rita or he was holding
back, and he didn't manage to land a solid hit for the next minute as Karl threw a few kicks
and tried to get back in close again.
It wasn't working, the boy had figured out the trick to keeping Karl away with knee strikes,
and the two were at an impasse when the round ended.
"Not bad. But neither of you could land a hit to save your lives." Rita admonished them.
"He's short, and stupidly fast. If you want someone who can beat him up in a sparring
match, ask the Monk Classes, not me." The boy complained.
After two hours and a dozen opponents, Rita finally stopped calling more people to the
ring.
"Alright, I have the combat data that I need. It looks like Karl here has a pretty good
memory and instinct for someone who has clearly never won a fight before in his life.
That's good enough for us to get started on the next round of instruction." She announced.
"The next round? What exactly are we going to have to do next? I'm already struggling to
win a fight here unarmed, I'm not sure that throwing more knowledge at me is going to
help." Karl asked.
Rita laughed at Karl's concern. "No, we're not going to force you to learn even more in the
next few days. Instead, what we will be doing is tying everything that you have learned into
one practical lesson and then grinding it into your brain until it is impossible for you to
forget it.
You need to be able to block attacks while fighting, and work with Hawk at the same time.
Like a Mage that has been tasked with both offence and defence, you'll be working
overtime, and you need to build your situational awareness."
Karl nodded like he understood, but Rita saw right through his subterfuge.
"What I mean is that you must be aware of where all threats are at all times, or either you
or Hawk could get yourselves into a lot of trouble. You're not indestructible, and enemies
will try to lay traps for you.

That means you can't let the Hawk act freely on instinct, they will know what to expect
from that. You have to guide him while also protecting yourself and maintaining a solid
offence so that you can fight your way out of trouble if it finds you." Rita explained.
"Well, that sounds like a lot of work, so it must be important. How am I going to do that?"
Karl asked. @@novelbin@@
"Practical skills training class. You will have accuracy and speed training with the mages in
the morning, martial arts training in the afternoon, and then an entire day of practical skills
training every week.
Now, tomorrow is normally the odd day for most students, where they take their elective
subjects instead of their core training. For you, that means practical skills. Then the day
after is an off day, so catch up on rest and healing, and you'll be back with the mages on
Monday morning."
At least there was still an off day.
"Now, you can call it an early day and go get something to eat. Tomorrow will be a long one,
and the first time is always the hardest. But trust me, this class will be important for you,
especially if you start collecting more Monsters on your side." Rita added, then walked
away.
Karl wanted to argue that he could do perfectly well like the mages that he worked with,
just doing theory for half the day and practical skills for the other half, but that didn't seem
to be an option now that he had been singled out as having a unique skill.
The fact that he was currently one of the strongest freshmen briefly entered his mind, but
as Karl hadn't actually interacted much with the other new students, his skills could only be
compared to the second year students, where even the misfits of the class could probably
take him in a fight.

It didn't feel all that impressive as a title.

When he showered, changed and finally got back to the student cafeteria for an early meal,
there were a lot more students than usual hanging around, chatting and laughing. These
were the other freshmen that Karl didn't usually see, who were still undergoing mostly
theoretical training for the noncombat skills that they had awakened.
Unlike the scorched, frozen and bruised freshmen who would show up later, these looked
surprisingly cheerful, though Karl could see that whatever they were doing was wearing
them out, and they were mentally exhausted.
"Oh, it's the first through the field. Why don't you come and join us?" One of the girls asked
as Karl stepped into line behind her.
"It looks like I already have a reputation." Karl laughed as more people turned to look at
him.
A boy a few places in front of him nodded. "They use your group as the example of what
sort of courage and caution we are supposed to have. You all managed to make it all the
way without any issues, other than the ones caused by other groups that weren't as good.
The teachers want to make sure that we all know it too, and the others from your group,
Dana, James, and Kruger are already living the celebrity life in class. Well, mostly James and
Kruger, since Dana disappeared into the Library to do her mage training on the first day
and doesn't really come out much."
The girl who had greeted Karl laughed. "That's because she wants to find a way to reduce
the casting cost of her magic until she can use it for a whole fight. I told her that it's not
realistic, mages are burst damage sorts, blast it hard and hope it dies, but she's bent on
being able to fight for longer without switching to area effects, which don't work well in a
group."
Karl shrugged. "We've all got our own style, I guess. But being able to work in a group is
important as well. I heard that later in the year everyone gets a chance to go out on
missions for extra credit, and that is normally done in a larger group with one of the
seniors."
The students in line all nodded eagerly as the girl replied. "We're looking forward to it. The
extra credit isn't about marks in class, it can get you all sorts of special privileges. Well, it
can get us all sorts, but I heard that you already have an assigned tutor and customized
classes, so you don't need to worry about the two biggest ones that everyone wants."
"It's not all sunshine and rainbows. A full-time tutor means full-time customized classes on
their schedule, not yours. I would love to be able to slack off." Karl laughed.
The students around him snorted in amusement. "Even without them, the teachers are
right on top of anyone who tries to slack. It's like they know the instant that you're not
working as hard as you could be, and they're trained to jump on you and make you catch
up. The pure amount of homework that we all got the first few days because we treated
class like school was insane."
The next morning Karl was waiting at the training grounds just as Sergeant Rita had
instructed, when a large group of first year students arrived together, and a handful of
senior students with black badges came walking in with casual smiles on their faces.
"Looks like we've got a new addition. Which group are you here to join?" One of the black
badged students asked.
"No idea. Sergeant Rita just ordered me to be here." Karl replied with a shrug.
The students all gave him an assessing look, trying to guess what his skill and power level
was at, but even with his recent growth spurt, he just looked like a handsome teen boy, not
yet old enough to be called a young man.
Then the teachers arrived, two mages and Sergeant Rita, who had a bundle in her arms as
she walked over to Karl.
"Flip your coat inside out. You will be the flag carrier for team five. Here is your actual flag
for the mission, wear it as a cape, and I wish you luck. As I said, the first day is always the
hardest." She informed him with a smile.
"OH? We get a rookie for today's training?" One of the senior students asked.
The larger of the two mages, an old man who must have been a natural mage and not one of
the injected elites, cleared his throat and everyone fell silent.
"Most of you know the rules. Odd numbered teams are on defence, protect your flags as
well as you can. The flag carriers are your team leaders. Even numbered teams are on
offence, your senior will lead the team.
This is a group training exercise, as you alone won't be able to face down every threat that
comes your way during training. Sergeant Rita will hand out the tokens at random, while
the seniors know their numbers already. Senior Geoffrey is out on a mission, so Karl will be
taking his place for the next few weeks."

Rita walked through the groups of first year students and passed out tokens, which
everyone pulled from a bag, then the students grouped up based on the token they drew.
The fact that it was completely random, and that they wouldn't have any guarantees of a
decent grouping, was already giving Karl a headache, but it looked like the others were well
aware of the situation, and they were already making plans for how they would work with
what they had.
That was the point of the lesson. When there was an emergency call, whoever was close to
the emergency answered. You didn't get to pick and choose a front guard, healer and
mages, you just fought with what you had, and there was no extra time to figure it out.
Karl's group was Dana, the mage girl who was behind him on the first day, along with seven
large boys that all had shields and hammers or spears.
"Oh, come on." One of the other students groaned as they saw the group forming.
"How did group five end up with every defender in the entire class?" One of the mages
agreed.
His group was five mages and three boys with short swords and daggers. If they were
attacking, it wouldn't be too terrible, but they were group three, and they would have to
defend a flag without anyone who could take an attack head on.
The flag carrier for group four laughed and pointed at his group. Eight first year mage girls,
which left a grand total of two girls not on his team. Dana, and a warrior in group two.
But, they had picked the numbers out of a bag, so if there was any trickery going on, it was
not easy to detect.
"It looks like today's game will be an interesting one. Sometimes the luck of the draw
means that you have to improvise. While group five has the shields, they don't have a lot of
mobility, and they only have one spell caster. It's not impossible to overtake them and
capture the flag, you just have to get creative."
Karl draped the black flag with the golden Academy logo on it over his shoulders as a cape
and tied it off, then joined his group to see what they could do.

"You will have two minutes to prepare, then we will move everyone to their starting
positions." The older mage announced, while the other mage started to lay out a mat on the
ground that had all sorts of fancy symbols drawn on it.
"Alright, what can everyone use for skills? With so many mages it will be difficult to just
turtle, they will target me pretty quickly." Karl asked.
"The joys of being the new guy. They'll all be gunning for you because you're the only
leader who doesn't know what he's doing. I'm assuming that you've been training for this
since we got here, but the other leaders are all in the second and third year. As far as skills
go, I can create fog, or magic missiles." Dana explained, then swept her dark curls back from
her face to tie them in a ponytail.
"We're all common warriors, and we've all got the same two skills. [Slash] and [Guard]. It's
a thing that apparently happens every year because Guard is the most common skill, and
slash is easy to teach." One of the warriors explained.
"Alright, what does [Guard] do exactly? At your level, that is. I'm not worried about how the
Dragon Bulwark uses his in the movies." Karl replied.
The students laughed at the thought that they might eventually manage to use the Guard
skill at the Overlord level to create a barrier that could extend a whole city block.
"It covers an octagon about three metres across. It will take a couple of spells for the others
to knock down, but if the attacking team leaders target one of us, we're pretty much
screwed." The boy explained.
Karl nodded. "I expected as much. Does everyone remember the gladiator movies? The
triple line formation and the turtle shell? When we're attacked, form up to create an
overlapping wall with your shields, and only when we're in trouble, use Guard to block
them out. @@novelbin@@
Staying close together will make us harder to find, as long as we're not in an open field,
while Dana and I will have to be the offence unless they charge us."
Dana sighed. "You know, magic missile uses a lot of mana, I can't do it much. The fog is
easier though, I'm pretty good at the fog."
"Is there natural fog where we're going?" Karl asked.
The others all shook their heads.
"Then save it until we're under attack. I don't want them to find us because of the fog itself.
How fast does it cast?"
Dana frowned. "About ten metres radius per minute, slowing as it expands. If we want to
use it effectively, it will take time."
[Time is up. Everyone, prepare to transport.] The mage shouted.
Suddenly, they were standing knee-deep in swamp water, with a slight mist on the surface,
and thick trees all around them.
"Dana, begin the fog spell. Everyone else, crouch down in the water near that stand of
trees." Karl whispered.
Nobody was happy about being neck deep in swamp water. It smelled of rot and something
even more foul, but they obeyed Karl's order and hid in a circular formation, with Karl and
Dana in the middle.
Karl released Hawk and let the bird stand on his shoulder for a moment.
"Hawk, go scout the area for attackers, they're the groups with nobody wearing a black
cloak like mine. Don't let them see you, and come back within five minutes." He whispered,
speaking out loud so that the others could understand what his plan was.
"You have a pet bird?" Dana asked.
"I do. It's part of my class skills. But it's also a real bird, so I don't want him hurt." Karl
explained.
"The bird scouts the area, to let us know when someone is likely to find us so that we're not
ambushed. The fog hides our exact location, even if they can figure out right away that it is
unnatural. Being in the water makes us difficult to target, and gives us the chance to launch
the first strike." One of the warriors deduced.
"Exactly. Dana, don't make the fog as thick at the edges, make it get thicker as you approach
the trees behind us. If they are targeting by the centre of the fog, I want them to miss us by
at least a few metres. If we're lucky, they'll find each other first, and we can face weakened
groups." Karl added.

Dana softly chuckled as she worked. "This is such a dick move. What's next? Tearing vines
from the trees to hide under?"
Karl didn't even have to say anything, the warriors immediately got to work pulling some
vines free. Not tearing them from the island, but pulling them up so that they could sit a
blanket of vines over the group and pretend they were part of the island.
The fog cloud was growing quickly, but the groups were spread out over a square kilometre
of swamp, and they weren't alone. There were Common Grade monsters here as well,
bullfrogs and beetles, who made a lot of noise and distracted the groups that were trying to
search for the defenders.
A few minutes in, Hawk swooped down from the sky, landing on the vines that had been
pulled over Karl's head, and then disappeared into his Taming Space.
[I'm full. I'm going to nap now.] He announced.
[Did you eat bullfrogs instead of working?] Karl asked.
[I worked. Nobody is coming this way. Two of the other coat people are close together, and
the others are all going that way.] The bird replied as it settled into the nest.
"Hawk says that the other two defender groups started close together, and everyone else is
headed that way. So, it's three on two on the other side of the area. They likely won't come
looking for us until that fight is over. Is there anything that we can do to help Dana keep up
her energy and expand that fog?" Karl whispered.
"Nothing. It's not too draining though, I just need to keep focusing on it. By the time that
they come looking for us, it will be big, but if they don't lose people, they will be able to just
walk in a line and find us."
The warriors shrugged. That was actually fine by them. The ranged attackers wouldn't be
able to see the fight from more than a few metres away, and they were close combat
fighters anyhow. Being found at the last moment was just what they wanted.

[Hawk, go rest up in the trees. Keep an eye out for the other groups while you rest, since
you can't keep your appetite under control between meals.] Karl instructed.
[Fine, I will go watch.]
The bird was going to need some sort of discipline training soon, Karl decided, but he had
no idea how to train an intelligent monster, or what would even work to keep the food
motivated creature working hard and not gorging itself at the first opportunity.
The fact that it had managed to hunt a Common Grade creature without any issues and
return unharmed was a good sign that the Windspeed Hawk's power was growing quickly,
though. Much faster than was normal for the species, and Karl was quite certain that it had
to do with their bond.
There was far too much that he didn't know about this power, but as Hawk settled into the
tree and began diligently watching the ongoing battles with his keen vision and relaying the
play by play back to Karl, he began to understand a little more.
Hawk did what he wanted and whined constantly for more food, as was the way of all baby
birds, but when Karl actually gave him an order, the bird obeyed. It was just that Karl didn't
give enough orders, or enough details, so Hawk could take full advantage to twist them in
the way that he wanted.
Like the first mission, to scout and return. He did exactly that, and probably didn't miss
much during the seconds that it took to ambush the bullfrog. Then he promptly tried to
take a nap because it wasn't forbidden, and that was what a hawk naturally wanted to do
after eating.
When they were training with the mages, Hawk never acted up, but Karl was giving him
instructions every few seconds to keep him in place to block the sections that he couldn't
cover himself. Without the open-ended orders, the problem didn't exist.
[The fight on the other side is almost over. The old one has taken away most of the people,
but there are four young people headed south now. They're not coming this way yet, but
they're looking for something.] Hawk informed him.
"Hawk says that the others are headed south after their battle. Only four are left, and
they're following the edge of the designated area." Karl whispered to the others.
"Only four?" One of the warriors behind Karl asked.
"Yeah, I'm not sure which four yet. I will try to get details, but for now, I have an idea." Karl
added.
The rest of the group eagerly waited for anything that didn't involve crouching in a fetid
swamp to become the new plan. @@novelbin@@
"We will keep up the fog expansion from the same point, but we are moving. They know
where the extent of the combat zone is, so we are going to hide and wait for them to search
the fog, then return and let the time elapse. Defending the flag doesn't have to mean
fighting at all, we can frustrate them to death."
From a comfortable chair in a small hut on the edge of the Academy Grounds, the old mage
watched the scene in the training grounds in a crystal ball. @@novelbin@@
"That new leader is sneaky. I like the way that he thinks, but he might be too afraid of
combat." He noted.
Sergeant Rita snorted and shook her head.
"No, he's just avoiding any extra work. See the Hawk he's got up in the trees? The two of
them can communicate. He's playing cat and mouse with the other team because he knows
there is a timer, and they won't double back on an area they've just searched.
If they don't catch the trick, the time is going to run out with his people just sitting in the
swamp." She explained.
The younger mage nodded. "His task was to protect the flag for the duration of the match,
not eliminate the attackers. It is a valid strategy. It reminds me of when we collected that
Grimoire from the Thalian Temple, and then just sat on the beach for a week drinking
margaritas until the search teams moved on."
The older mage laughed softly at the memory. Their world had a rich history of magic to go
along with the dangers of the magical beasts that lived in it, but as cultures shifted, the
magically adept had gathered into their own enclaves, and left large parts of the world to
rely on developing technology to survive.
When they did survive, that was. Many of the magical societies in the ancient past had
believed that the human population shouldn't exceed a few million for the entire planet, in
order to keep the game preserves and rare species that they used as hunting grounds and
reagents for their spells intact.
So, when those left behind with no magic and insufficient weapons were eliminated, they
didn't take any action to prevent the disasters.

That bit got glossed over in the history books, described as a failure of allied nations, rather
than magic users banding together to the exclusion of everyone else, but that was mostly
because the few powerful magic users who stayed in places like the Golden Dragon Nation
were instrumental to helping the civilization survive while they developed enough
technology to stand on their own.
Karl led his team south through the swamp, hiding behind trees as the attackers moved
through the fog, and then waited as Hawk relayed their efforts to double-check the area, as
the foggy area in the swamp was not only suspicious, it was the perfect hiding place for a
group of warriors who didn't want to engage in ranged combat.
Among the four attackers, there were two group leaders, who were both warriors with
ranged attacks, and two first year mages. It was a well-balanced group of survivors, but
they were outnumbered by the defenders and couldn't afford to be caught from behind if
they missed someone.
"They've moved. I don't sense any life here larger than a bird." One of the leaders
whispered.
"If your skill says so, then we can keep going. But I think that they will return once they
believe that we are gone, so let's circle back." The other agreed.
The mages weren't particularly happy about wading through swamp water all morning, but
they got extra credit for just being part of the special training program, a reward for top-
performing students, so they weren't going to complain and risk getting switched out.
The attacking group headed north to check for the hiding spot of the last defenders, and
Karl prepared to give the order to move again.
"There are only fifteen minutes left." One of the warriors whispered.
"In that case, we wait right here. Hawk says they're going north, so they're not likely to find
us at all."
The group silently waited as the attackers moved north, then with ten minutes left in the
match, they turned back south, moving more quickly and searching for the last defenders.

"They're coming back. Hawk says they're almost to the fog now." Karl relayed as their scout
explained the change.
They were deep in the fog when one of the two leaders noticed the disturbed roots and
groaned in frustration.
"They hid here at the start, but they must have heard us coming and moved. They're not
north or east, this is almost at the western edge, so they have to be south." He whispered to
his team.
"So, we search for them in the fog again?" One of the Mages asked.
"No, they should be outside of it, the fog hasn't spread that far. Just don't let them ambush
us because they might have split up to set a trap instead of being in a tight formation."
The attack group moved cautiously, but they were moving directly toward the spot where
Karl had hidden the defenders.
Unlike the first spot in the swamp, they were not in the water here, they were lying among
the thick foliage on relatively dry ground, counting on Hawk's warning to prevent them
from being caught in a disadvantageous position.
[Hawk, once the fight begins, you attack with Rend from above, but keep your distance.
They can attack back, and I don't want you getting hit.]
Then Karl whispered to his team. "Once we spot them, everyone to their feet, turtle
formation. Dana, prepare your attack spell, and I will as well. Go for the leaders first, they're
the real threat. We will leave the mages to Hawk, since they likely can't take a hit."
The warriors smirked. They hadn't seen Karl in action yet, but he had to have something
going for him if he had been picked as a substitute team leader for the day.
The attackers came into sight, and the defence group rose to their feet, forming up and
lifting their shields.
"They're in a full circle formation. It looks like they're on to your tricks." One of the
warriors quietly joked.
The other had managed to master a movement technique that would allow him to move
with incredible speed for a few seconds, so he could attack from unexpected angles.
Karl, of course, had no idea. He had set the turtle shell in case the mages had tricks up their
sleeves so that the team could create a full dome of protection with [Guard].
"Now." Both team leaders ordered at the same time, and [Guard] barriers went up at the
same time that two blinding sword lights tore across the intervening gap, and six red
streaks came down from the sky toward the mages' backs.
Karl slashed an uppercut toward the attackers, sending his own [Rend] attack into the
incoming sword light. The collision dissipated the claws, but dimmed the light of the sword
attacks, before the second [Rend] stopped them entirely.
The warriors on Karl's team smiled in victory as Hawk's attacks took down both of the
mages, activating the defensive charm on their uniforms and sending them out of the battle.
"Sonofabitch, what just happened?" One of the attackers shouted, unaware that they had
been ambushed.
They looked around frantically, unsure of where the next attack would come from. Hawk
was still in the trees behind them, unwilling to fly out and make himself a target if he didn't
have to. It distracted them for just long enough that Karl could launch two more attacks of
his own, forcing them to defend, while Dana prepared her Magic Missiles.
She took longer than most to cast them, but when she did, her strength was much better
than average. The attacking team leaders couldn't do anything about the magical
projectiles, as their blades were already out of position from trying to parry Karl's [Rend].
They took the hits, absorbing them with their enhanced physiques, then jumped sideways
to dodge the next attack by Hawk.
"That's just low. How did you trick the monsters into being on your side." The boys
complained, while Karl's team laughed.
"Didn't they warn you? Karl has a pet Hawk, it's the talk of the first year dorms." Dana
joked.
Their banter was interrupted as they were all surrounded by glowing magic, and moved to
the staging area where they had started the battle.

"The match is over. I let you chat for a moment, but the victory goes to defence team five."
The older mage announced.
"How did we lose?" The attackers demanded.
"You might not have noticed, but there were more than two sets of Rending Claws in the air
when you evaded. You jumped right into the second set, and my defensive magic absorbed
it for you, so it didn't flay your backs open.
You, Karl, was it? How long will it take for your Hawk to get back here?" The mage added.
Karl focused on his taming space, and Hawk appeared, disgruntled about having been left
behind. The training area was part of the circle around the academy though, so he had only
been a kilometre away, and could have been back in a matter of minutes.
"If I didn't call him, only a few minutes. We were only transported a kilometre or so. That is
an incredible spell, by the way." Karl replied.
The younger mage smiled at Karl's enthusiasm. "It is a magical item that came from an
ancient ruins. The ability to transport more than one student at a time allows for a much
more immersive experience, but the protective magic is entirely the providence of the
Senior Professor."
"Well, we should get you all washed off. It's not often that a team decides to actually hide in
the swamp, normally they choose a more stand-up fight on the dry land. But I must say, that
ambush was masterful. They didn't even realize that they were under attack until the
mages were already eliminated." Sergeant Rita added.
"Yes, while the laundry team might not appreciate your ingenuity, the execution was
flawless. I think that the young Sergeant has made a wise recommendation, adding a
scouting and ambush specialist to the team leaders. Simply having warriors and mages who
knew each other's style was a bit dull." The old mage agreed.
Sergeant Rita nodded. "Alright, everyone, get cleaned up. The bonus will be added to your
student cards before you're back to your rooms. Good work everyone, it's been a long time
since we had so many winners and such a challenging fight."
Karl's team walked a little more proudly as they returned to the base. The extra credits
could get them some cool stuff for their rooms, little luxuries, or even more special
treatment in the Academy.

This group didn't really need that, they were already recognized as worthy of the extra
training, but they were quite intrigued as to how the Academy had known that Karl was
going to be so outstanding right from the start.
It had to be that Rending Claw skill. That was deadly, and he could block the attacks of two
Awakened Rank team leaders at once, without exhausting himself. The fact that there was
also Hawk, who could do the same, was just an unfair advantage in the minds of the other
students.
What sort of class gave you a combo set right from the start?
But if they got to be on his team again, there was a good chance that they would get the
extra bonus at least once more this semester. So far, all of their battles had ended in a
phyrric victory, with the attackers only having a few remaining students when the fight
was over.
The bonus wasn't cumulative, each winning student got the same, unless the teachers
decided that they didn't do well enough to deserve it. So having all nine of them get the
bonus was a huge victory for their pockets.
"How about we meet at the study hall after we shower? There are some good places to
relax and study for the afternoon, if you'd like to join us." One of the warriors asked.
Dana smiled at Karl. "What theory classes do you have? I haven't seen you in any of the
magic ones, so it must be a physical attack skill that you use."
Karl tried putting on his best innocent face, but the others caught it immediately.
"You don't have any theory classes handing out homework, do you? Are you in all practical
classes?" Dana demanded, with jealousy showing on her face.
"I have skill interception training in the morning, martial arts in the afternoon, and then
Sergeant Rita assigns me lessons as she sees fit. It's not really a class, just a bit of study on
things I should know, like monster anatomy." Karl explained.
One of the boys laughed. "Well, you've got it better than Dana. She's got theoretical magic
and practical skills in the morning across from our classroom, then she's in modern dance
and cosmetology all afternoon."
Dana blushed, while Karl gave the cute mage an assessing look. She wasn't the sort of
stunning beauty that would grow into a supermodel, but even covered in mud, he couldn't
deny that she was the sort of adorable that you just wanted to hug on sight. How he had
missed it the first day, he had no idea. Perhaps it was one of the side effects of the Divine
Injection, like his extra height.
There was only one reason that she would have to take dance and cosmetology so early in
her first year. They wanted to train her to be an Idol, whether she had previously wanted to
or not.
"Just be glad it's not you. Those teachers have a lifetime of shattered dreams that they want
to live through the students, it's hell." Dana muttered. @@novelbin@@
"I'm not sure that I'd look good in eyeshadow and lipstick. But I will join you in the search
for a good study spot. I've got a bunch of books waiting for me to read them." Karl agreed.
Once he was finally freshly showered, and the filthy uniform was sent to the laundry room,
Karl headed down to the designated meeting spot, where he found only Dana waiting.
"It looks like the other two cancelled on us. Their combat teacher met them on the way
down, and he took them for some additional training after he heard that they were getting
so good with [Guard] skills." She explained.
"Well, then there will be more room for us to study. What do you have to work on today?"
Karl asked.
"Mana theory. It's one of the big ones for the mage type classes, both to grow our own mana
pool and to reduce the casting cost of the spells that we know. At first, we're really
inefficient, but it gets better all the time. The idea is that as we get better, most mages will
get some insight into new spells or skills, it's just part of the mage class.
Then we can use that to expand our spell book without having to learn the spells in class,
which is way faster, and the ones you get from insight tend to grow faster and more
powerful, which will help rank up." She explained.
"That actually sounds like a lot of work. Mostly, I just need to practice my fighting skills and
my physical abilities so that I can keep up with my growth. At least, that is it for now. They
don't know anything about the class marking that I got, so unless I get an insight like the
mages do, I will only have the one skill, but it grows more powerful as Hawk does.

My body does as well. The stronger he grows, the stronger I grow." Karl replied with a
smile.
"Well, that's both a tough break and a huge win. You get stronger just by existing and
training your pet. No intense study needed. But only having one skill would be a bit limiting
eventually."
They walked in silence for a few seconds, then Dana pointed to a pathway that led into a
garden.
"That's where we're going. There are a bunch of gazebos with tables there, and we can do
our study. Once I get a few more credits, I am totally getting one of the Academy laptops, or
a tablet. It will be so much easier than handwriting these notes all the time.
I don't think that I've used a pen that much since I was in elementary school, but the mages
on the teaching staff are all ancient, and they think that Tomes are the way to go. Just book
after book of handwritten knowledge."
Karl laughed. The majority of electronic devices had only come about in the last twenty or
thirty years, so anyone who was over sixty tended to favour pen and paper, and some of the
mages from the old tradition, before the Divine Injection, were hundreds of years old.
They were not going to change their ways any time soon, even if printing pages made for
much more legible tomes, and diagrams that everyone could clearly read. Part of the
mystery was trying to sort out the bad handwriting, secret codes and shorthand of the
author, it kept magic inaccessible through the ages so it wouldn't be misused.

Now that there was such a huge influx of elites, with a dozen or more new mages every
year, that mystery was being lost, but the old mages were in their golden age, teaching
spells and skills they thought might never be passed down to people who would be viewed
as heroes, not potential traitors to the magical nations, or wealth hoarders.
Like anyone else with power that the nation needed, many mages had only ever been loyal
to themselves, demanding exorbitant fees and living in luxury. They weren't viewed
horribly, but more like the oligarchs of the tech revolution, as detached by their wealth and
power, and not entirely trustworthy if you weren't on their social level.
"Actually, having a laptop sounds wonderful, but I don't know how to type. I came from the
mines, and my family couldn't afford a computer, so I never used one before. I know most
of the kids from the city use them all the time, but not us."
Dana smiled and nodded. "I forgot that you grew up there. My family ran a clothing shop in
the city, so we needed computers for everything. Taking orders, tracking inventory."
That was just one of the many downsides to living in a rural mining town. Infrastructure
spending didn't make it to them, except for the railroad improvements that got the coal and
metals to town. The twin mines were a core asset of the nation. One was a massive coal
seam that ran the power plants, the other extended the other direction across a fault line,
and held a load of precious metals.
It was everything that a growing nation could need, but it belonged to the government, and
none of that wealth made it back to the people actually doing the mining.
Dana led them to a small gazebo tucked into an alcove in the hedge maze, and when they
sat down, the enchanted bushes grew around the small building, blocking them from
passing students and giving them privacy to study.
"This is wonderful, and it smells so good." Karl sighed, thinking of both the coal dust at
home and the filth of the swamp.
"Yeah, lilacs are my favourite to begin with, so it's difficult to beat this place." Dana agreed
with a smile as she set out her textbooks across from him.
Karl set out his current study guide on common monsters around the Academy. This was
the book that all the student groups who got to go out on expeditions were required to
memorize, and Sergeant Rita had demanded that Karl learn it as well, even though she had
no intention of letting him leave the Academy grounds so soon. @@novelbin@@
What she wanted him to learn was all the abilities of the monsters so that he could
formulate a plan for his own growth. Once he had that, Karl assumed she would make good
on her promise to find him another monster cub to try to add to his collection, one more
durable than Hawk.
Studying monsters was fun, but between the smell of lilacs and whatever shampoo Dana
had used, Karl was finding it difficult to focus. Hawk didn't care at all, as he found his nest
more comfortable than the lilac bushes were likely to be, but Dana smelled wonderful, and
her presence in this private gazebo had Karl more flustered than he would care to admit.
But, he did his best not to be a creep and work on his studies, carefully making notes about
each of the monsters in the area that might be somewhat worthwhile, while memorizing
the others, in case he ran into them in the future.
The more that he knew, the more likely that the Sergeant was to relent on her stance of
keeping him here for training instead of letting him go outside.
Not that the Academy wasn't beautiful or well-equipped, but Karl had rarely been outside
the mining town while he was growing up, and he had seen many kilometres of wilderness
on their way here. Just getting to see it with a group would be an adventure, like the
camping trip that his father promised on that mythical 'day off' that he never got.
The two studied silently for hours, until the sky started to change colours as sunset
approached.
"Well, that's our cue to go back inside. If we don't get going soon, it will be dark before we
get to dinner, and they don't light any of the academy grounds except the paths between
buildings." Dana sighed, annoyed to have to stop her work.
"You seemed really into your studies." Karl noted.
"Yeah, the other two are good combat partners, but lousy study partners. They don't take
anything seriously, and they never stop talking. Just being able to sit and study is a pleasant
change." She agreed.

As soon as they packed their things and stood, the bush around the gazebo opened again,
allowing them access to the maze, but the moment that they stepped out, the world got
incredibly dark, as if the sun had already set an hour ago, and the gazebo had been
providing its own light.
"Crap, I can't see anything." Dana muttered.
"I think it's just because we're behind the bushes and in a cloud's shadow, once we're back
outside it should be better. But I can see just fine, so if you take my hand, we should be able
to make it out." Karl suggested.
Dana's hand bumped his arm, then slid down to clutch at his fingers, and Karl realized just
how dark it probably was to anyone else. None of the colours that he could see were ones
he had names for, but the light was coming from the grass under their feet. It must be a
form of bioluminescence that was outside the normal human range of sight, which meant
that the darkness here was likely unnatural.
They hadn't mistaken the time, someone had cast a darkness spell on the maze.
@@novelbin@@
Dana's hand was surprisingly soft and warm in his as Karl led the way back down the path,
and her breathing was becoming more frantic as she nearly stumbled in the grass.
"Don't worry, I've got you. Just relax and follow my steps." Karl whispered.
Dana moved to his side, so Karl wrapped his arm around her shoulders, not letting go of
her hand as they made the last few corners to exit the maze.
Their spot hadn't been far in, with little chance of getting lost in the maze itself, but the
walk had still been quite the pleasant memory.

Dana sighed with relief when they made it back into the fading evening light, but she didn't
move to step away from Karl until they heard someone softly laughing nearby, behind one
of the trees.
"Congratulations, you are the first ones out of the Maze of Romance. And such a cute young
couple as well." The person behind the tree laughed.
"Maze of Romance?" Dana asked softly.
"Didn't you know? This is the Academy's most famous make out spot, thanks to the hidden
bushes. We cast a darkness spell over them whenever we get bored to see who comes out
as a couple, who leaves their partner behind, and who thinks that darkness blocks sounds
and takes things one step further." The senior classmate explained.
Dana blushed, but Karl had a brilliant idea. He leaned over to whisper in her ear. "If
everyone believes that we're coming here to make out, nobody will bother our studies. We
can be here all night and nobody will try to stop us."
For a second, she actually fell for the trick, then she looked up at Karl and her cheeks
blushed a little darker as she realized what he was actually suggesting. The two of them,
alone in the Academy's top spot for couples. It would be a scandal among the mage class
students, and the boys of the warrior classes next to them would certainly whine about her
and Karl being together, meaning that the other boys didn't have a chance.
But she didn't want any of them, and Karl seemed content to let her actually study, at least
most of the night.
Dana pushed the thoughts of what they might do during the times they weren't studying
and nodded her agreement with his plan.
"Tomorrow is an off day, we can come after breakfast to study." She whispered back.
"In that case, I will pack a lunch."
The two of them turned to leave, just as the sound of two people arguing came from near
the exit of the maze. Whatever couple was coming out next was not happy with each other,
but neither Karl nor Dana was interested in other students' drama tonight.
They didn't even notice that they were still holding hands until Dana turned toward her
unit in the dormitory, and was briefly pulled back by her grip.
"Sorry, I forgot. I will see you in the morning." She stammered, then ran down the hall to
her room.
Karl was nearly too excited to sleep that night, and he was at breakfast first thing in the
morning, just after the sun came up, and he decided that it must be somewhat acceptable to
leave his room. But he wasn't the only one that was excited about their first day off since
arriving at the Academy, and the common areas were already packed with students
planning what they were going to do for the day.
The consensus was that they should explore every bit of the grounds today so that they
could find all the best spots for the next time that they had a bit of time off, but that would
put a serious damper on his plans for a calm day of studying with Dana.
She joined him while he was eating, looking just as tired as he felt after a sleepless night.
"Good morning. It looks like we misjudged the best spot to study today." Dana greeted him
as she sat down with a bowl of oatmeal and a beverage that was so incredibly bright green
that Karl was certain it must be toxic.
She softly giggled at the concerned look on his face, then sipped the drink.
"It's an energy drink, they keep them in the fridge over there for students who spend too
much time awake studying. It's not as bad as it looks." She explained.
Karl nodded reluctantly. They had them at the corner store at home, but he'd never seen
one that colour before. The miners liked the ones that were mixed with coffee or juice,
depending which side of their shift they were on.

Karl tapped his mug. "I will stick with coffee, thanks. But if it's going to be far too loud to
study in the garden, why don't we go to the patio in my room? It's plenty large enough, and
there is a spell that isolates it from the rest of the campus. It's perfectly silent, and there is a
good table out there."
"That actually sounds really pleasant. My room is incredibly loud, you can hear the
explosions from the students on three sides practising, and I swear if it was any worse you
could hear them breathing."
Neither of them noticed the many envious glances they were getting as they left the
cafeteria, or the flurry of conversation surrounding whether they had known each other
before they arrived at the Academy, or if they had met for the first time on the way in.
With all the studying that they needed to do during the first few weeks here, gossip was all
that they had time for to distract themselves. The students were taken straight from school
to the Academy, so they had none of their old belongings with them except what they had
at class.
Some of the students from the larger towns had brought packed school backpacks full of
memories, and they had to cram it all into the Academy issued backpack when they left the
train, but Karl hadn't actually owned anything worth keeping.
The only real restriction that the elites advised in advance was not to bring clothing, as the
chosen students would be required to be in uniform at the Academy, and outfits would be
provided for special events.
There was a single picture up on the wall, and the upgraded furniture in the room when
Karl moved in, so at least his room wasn't as bare as some of them were, but it was the
patio greenhouse that he was hoping would impress Dana the most. @@novelbin@@
She stopped off quickly to get her books from her room, and followed Karl into his suite,
staring in surprise at the dark colours and padded leather bed frame.
"Well, this is, uhm, unique. I take it that there is room to study on the patio?" She asked.

"Plenty. After you." Karl replied with a smile, and pulled the curtains open.
Dana's eyes lit up as she saw the plants outside, and she rushed out onto the balcony to
take a look.
"Hey, this is a moon berry tree, and one of the fruits is ripe." She gasped as she stopped
under a tree with small fruits that were slowly turning from green to white.
"Oh yeah, I meant to look that up and pick it when it was ready. Do you know that fruit?"
Karl asked.
"Moon berries are supposed to be super healthy and good for the brain. I saw them one
time being brought to a fancy restaurant downtown." She replied.
"Then go ahead and pick it, we can split it as a snack." Karl agreed.
She reverently pulled the fruit down, and followed Karl down the path through the trees
and bushes to the gazebo with the table.
"These gazebos are really popular here, aren't they? It's the same style as the maze." She
noted.
"The chairs are comfortable, though, so I can see why they picked it. The greenhouse, as
they call the garden out here, has been passed down between residents of the balcony
suites. I didn't bring any of this, I just water it and pick up the leaves for drying, since most
of the magical plant leaves are good for something."
Dana looked out over the school grounds and smiled. "It really is absolutely silent here. I
can see the students walking under us, but I don't hear a thing. This is a fantastic study
spot."
Karl smiled and opened his tactics textbook, the next in the stack of lessons that Sergeant
Rita had left for him to do in his out of class time. This one would have been useful to have
read before yesterday, which made him wonder if he was actually slacking too much on his
studies.
She hadn't set any sort of due date for anything, and she wasn't giving him tests, so he
hadn't thought about it. But perhaps she was, and the training lessons were the tests. Karl
felt like a bit of an idiot for not having at least read the titles of all the books he was given. If
he had known what they were, he could have read the ones that seemed most likely to be
needed for the next day in advance.
Dana cut the Moon Berry fruit into pieces, and they snacked as they studied the morning
away, feeling instantly refreshed every time they ate another piece. The tree only had a
dozen or so fruits, so it wouldn't be possible to eat them every day, but one every off day to
wipe away the stress and fatigue of the week didn't sound bad at all.
The tactical manual was incredibly boring to read, and Karl was a quick study with the help
of a refreshed mind and Hawk's input on the best ways to hunt prey, so his mind began to
wander. There were so many different plants here, and while he had looked through the
journal, he didn't memorize the use of all of them, especially the ones that didn't have any
fruit on them at the moment.
So, he switched books, reading through the details of the journal on the greenhouse
instead, and discovering that there were a lot more fruits like the Moon Berry, but most
importantly, there were a variety of teas, tonics and potions that could be made with the
various plants, though some required a particular magical affinity. @@novelbin@@
The previous resident had been what the seniors called a witch, and she had been quite
adept at brewing potions, but Karl had very little experience with that. His kitchen at home
wasn't big enough for more than one person to work in at a time, so he hadn't ever tried to
usurp his mother's position making breakfast, and two of his meals a day were provided by
the school and the mine, respectively. Precooked and ready to eat.
That was one of the advantages of working a short shift in the mine yard after school, you
got a guaranteed hot meal, and it would be portioned for a hardworking adult.
As he searched through the textbook, he noticed that Dana was getting increasingly excited,
and beginning to glow slightly with some sort of magical effect.

She had already learned one spell other than her initial magic since she arrived at the
Academy, and it looked like she was about to grasp another.
He didn't actually know how fast spells were usually learned, but from the chatter in the
common areas and cafeteria, it sounded like most of the students were still working on
their initial spell, trying to master it before moving on.
But according to the cook and the guard on the train, everyone had different capabilities, so
maybe Dana was one of the fastest learners? The cook made it sound like he had never
managed to get through even the basics of the spells he could have learned, due to a lack of
aptitude, but she seemed to be the opposite.
The easiest way would be to just ask.
"You're really moving through the spells, onto a third one already." Karl remarked.
Dana looked up and smiled. "I've got an excellent memory, and while my power isn't as
strong as some of the others, I am excellent at new magic. I had my first spell under control
before we even left the train, but casting it twice was all I could do. Now, I can get a third
casting in, or I can channel the fog slowly, but Gil, the strongest in our class, can cast five
magic arrows at a time, and do it repeatedly. His power is insane, but he's still having
trouble controlling the direction and stability of the arrows."
"So, the early advancement is more about what you're talented in? I can see how having
lots of power but no control would become a problem rather quickly in class. But having
too little power, like the cook on the train, means that anything else doesn't really matter.
They must have high hopes for you if they're setting you up to be a public figure, though."
Karl suggested.

Dana rolled her eyes. "The dance instructor said that it's because I'm a fast learner. You
don't need to be really powerful to be famous, you need to be versatile. As long as I can
make it to the upper end of Awakened before I graduate it should be fine, but Ascended
would be best, according to the choreography teacher."
Karl chuckled and Dana raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you think that they're training
you for? Not many get a dedicated tutor, and you've got a whole dedicated class schedule.
They're obviously grooming you for something special."
He shrugged. "The first thing that they told me on the train was that it would be better to
have a golem to fight for me, and that's how they want to guide the combat mages who can
learn it. So, they're probably hoping that I will join the military or the government to do
monster control.
I don't really have a skill set that is good for much except combat or scouting, so that's most
likely the only thing that they could think to do with me, and it's a unique class, so I don't
even fit into the regular courses."
Dana thought about it for a while. "Hawk learned another skill after you got him, right? I
heard from the second year mages that he can use Wind Barrier. Maybe you can teach him
to use more skills, or you can learn to use more monster skills. That might make you more
versatile.
If you could do something like using the ability of the Ascended version of that cooling aloe
plant, you could heal wounds. That would make you into a top medic all on its own."
Karl looked at the plant. "That thing can heal wounds?"
Dana shook her head. "No, that one can treat rashes, sunburn and numb pain a little. It's
really useful, but it's a common grade magical resource. They sell it at the drugstore, and in
the supply room downstairs. There is a higher quality version of it, which can reach the
Ascended Grade, and that one can actually cure all sorts of wounds, but not illnesses or
disease. I saw it in a nature drama."
Karl's family didn't own a television, so he only ever watched what was on in public, and
that was rarely a nature documentary. He had taken a few classes on magical botany, but
they were pretty basic, and didn't really cover much on medicinal plants, they were more
concerned with the ones that might kill you if you happened across them in the wilderness.
"Well, I don't know much about raising them, but maybe it's worth looking into how to
improve the aloe plant up another Rank so that it can treat more wounds. There are plenty
of special plants here, but the guide that came with the greenhouse said that they're almost
all edible ones, snacks for the residents." Karl explained.
Snacks that might help their abilities grow, but still snacks.
They managed to study smoothly until mid-afternoon, when they were both too hungry for
more research, and they headed down for an early dinner.
"I should practice my stamina training and then meditate for the evening to improve my
mana, but can I come visit again?" Dana asked with a gentle smile.
"I would love to have you over anytime." Karl agreed.
Studying was much more pleasant with her around, and she knew the strangest things. It
was good to have a friend here at the Academy, and the more that he learned about the way
that Mages advanced, the more ideas Karl got about how he could expand his own skills.
Meditation sounded like it might be worth something as a technique. The crystal ball in the
train car said that it could look into his beast space, so there should be some connection
between that and the method to improve it. If everything was driven by the monster inside,
it would be totally contrary to the other elites, whose whole goal was self strengthening in
some way.
[What do you think, Hawk? Is meditation the way to improve the space you're in?] Karl
asked.
[Dunno. But if it can be bigger, with trees, and mice, that would be good. Don't forget the
mice.]
Karl was not about to put mice in the space alive, as he was worried it would bond them to
him, and he would end up with a tortured Earth Mouse as a companion, right until Hawk
killed it. That would be unfortunate, to say the least.
So, when he returned to the garden after lunch, he lay down in the hammock in the shade of
the pair of coconut trees, and closed his eyes to focus on the beast space.

At first, nothing seemed to happen as he tried to envision a pine tree for Hawk to rest in.
The space was just there and empty, but Karl could feel that it had the potential to be more,
he just didn't know how.
The next thing he tried was focusing energy into the space, like when he wanted to use
[Rend]. Adding energy while meditating might improve the space somehow, the energy had
to go somewhere. Or so he assumed.
It felt like that was doing something, but even after an hour, the changes weren't visible.
[It feels better in here. Keep doing that.] Hawk encouraged.
That led to Karl channelling energy and meditating on the image of the tree that he wanted
to create for Hawk to live in.
During hour two, there was a sprig of a tree growing from the ground near the nest, a single
pine branch in the darkness. It really was working, just not instantly as he had hoped.
At the end of the night, the tree was almost as tall as he was, but Karl was feeling refreshed
and empowered, as if the improvement had granted him some extra energy. That would be
easy enough to test, today was a class day again, and his first lesson was in skill control
with the mages.
The weekend seemed to have done them all a world of good, and they were all looking
much more fresh and ready to practice today than they had been the last time he saw them
on Friday.
"Welcome back everyone. We have an extra defender with us today. Along with Karl and
Hawk, we will have Tori from the graduating class here to help motivate you all." The
teacher announced with a smirk.
Tori was a tall blonde girl around eighteen years old, the graduation age for the Academy,
Ascended Rank, according to her bronze badge, so she would be stronger than any of the
students in this class individually, and wore her hair in fancy ringlets, along with the short
pleated uniform skirt that was somewhat rare among the students, as almost everyone
preferred the pants.

She looked like the sort of girl that should be extremely popular in school, but from the
looks on the faces of the students here, either she was one of the "Mean Girls" or she was
hated for some other reason. @@novelbin@@
Of course, it could be because they struggled in their classes that made them resentful. But
she was graduating as an Ascended Mage, so she wasn't some super prodigy that made
everyone feel inferior about their skills.
"Now, are we all ready? Excellent. Begin when you are ready."
Karl called Hawk, who flew up into the air, while Tori began to form small blue spheres,
one after another, which floated around her in a circle. It was fascinating to watch, she just
formed them in her hand, then let go, and they hovered around her, slowly orbiting.
Then the attacks began, and Karl realized why everyone in this class disliked her.
The orbs released small bolts of magic that intercepted the spells and knocked them off
course, or in the case of the weaker mages, nullified them entirely.
But the orbs didn't dissipate, they kept slowly sending out more attacks, and the number of
them increased as she worked to form more spheres.
Karl quickly noticed that they did very little to the fire and water mage attacks, but the
solid attacks and the magic missiles had a terrible time trying to stay on course after she
intercepted them.
The water attacks were fine, Hawk had a personal vendetta against them for flowing
around his [Rend] and that left Karl to deal with the Fire mages.
After a dozen spheres, Tori stopped making more, and had to focus on just maintaining the
spell. It would only be a matter of time before she was exhausted, or the spells needed to be
refreshed, but currently, a solid three quarters of the attacks made by the class were being
intercepted.
Karl was working on pacing himself as well. He didn't need to overpower the spells to block
them, [Rend] tended to split apart attacks and destabilize them even at lower power
outputs. That allowed him to use far less than full power and still accomplish the blocks.
With Super vision and a bit of practice, he was getting very good at defending against
attacks, but Hawk was improving even more quickly. The small bird was making a mockery
of the water mages' attempts to land a hit, and they were starting to get creative in how
they used their magic.
Finally, one of the Mages managed to turn his water bullet into a collection of small
raindrops, which hit the target like a shotgun after the [Rend] attack only took out a third
of them.
The mage had mastered a new spell entirely on his own out of pure frustration.
After lunch was combat training, the physically taxing counterpart to the mental workout
that the morning's skill training was. Karl was certain that if they kept this up for much
longer, he would be completely exhausted and just operating on autopilot within a few
weeks, but Sergeant Rita didn't seem too concerned.
"Isn't it a bit much to have high intensity classes all day long? It's only four in the afternoon,
and I'm so sore that I can barely move." He complained once the training was done for the
day.
"Fortunately, you have the garden on your balcony to help refresh you until your body
adapts. Give it a few weeks and this will be completely natural to you." Rita insisted.
"Is that even how it works?"
The Sergeant sighed at his whining and helped Karl to his feet. "That is precisely how it
works, and the harder that you push yourself during the first few weeks, the faster you will
adapt to the training schedule. Short-term suffering for long-term gains."
Karl sighed. He couldn't actually prove her wrong, but he had a sneaking suspicion that as
he got stronger the training would get harder, so he would never actually get to adapt to
the training level.
"Alright, I'll go meditate and get some dinner then. It seems to help with the mental space
where Hawk stays." Karl reluctantly agreed.

The Sergeant didn't argue with him any further, she just took out her notepad to write
down her observations about his practice, and the remark about meditation helping. Karl
knew that it would likely make it into his routine now that she knew, but it was for the best,
as he was going to need it to keep the Windspeed Hawk happy in his living space.
Compared to that, the extra effects of growth were just a bonus, as the Hawk was very vocal
in his mind when it needed or wanted something, so letting it get bored would be a disaster
for his mental health.
The cafeteria food seemed to be a bit different today. He had ordered the pasta special with
a side salad, but the meal tasted a bit different than he remembered, and the energy
content was definitely higher. Only a few bites in, Karl was feeling like someone had
electrocuted him and energy was pouring into his body.
He finished the meal, and was going to go for a jog to burn off some energy, but it seemed
like it would be more worthwhile to meditate and try to integrate some of this energy into
the taming space. Hawk was the main source of his power and advancement, so the more
that he could do to help the beast grow, the better off he would be by the time that he
graduated.
But Karl was beginning to understand why some classes never managed to advance or even
unlock their skills. If he hadn't picked up that egg and found compatibility, would he have
ever guessed that petting monsters was the answer? Probably not. You would have to be an
idiot to try, and the Academy certainly wouldn't have given him the opportunity to touch a
living monster, just on the off chance that it worked, and he didn't get killed.
Once he settled down in the hammock, his preferred meditation spot, and began to focus
the extra energy in his body toward the upgrades for Hawk, he found that the excess was
transferred very quickly, and in only an hour he found himself hungry again.
He could meditate as usual, but the tree was growing quickly in that mental space, and
there were some blades of grass around it now. If he just kept loading up on energy, he
could probably do much better now than he had before.
What had changed wasn't clear, but he could ask the kitchen staff if the menu changed. It
might just be meat from a different monster that was more compatible with him. If that was
all that it took, he could request it all the time.

The kitchen worker looked at him a bit strangely when he returned so soon after a heavy
meal, and Karl gave her an apologetic shrug.
"It seems that with the breakthrough in my abilities over the weekend, I've got some
catching up to do. Even an hour of practice leaves me starving, so I hope you don't mind if I
stock up on food to go." Karl explained as he began to load plates.
"Just tell me what you need, and I will bring it up in the service elevator." The older woman
informed him with a smile.
"Did you change the recipe of the pasta special? It seemed different than I remember." He
replied.
"Nope, same ingredient batch as last week, we didn't get anything in for that dish. Did you
want to try a selection and see what works for you? I know that some of the classes get a
taste for new things as they train.
The Berserkers in particular like extra spicy foods, and the more powerful they get, the
spicier they want it."
"That sounds like a great idea. If you can give me a bit of each of the specials to start, I will
pick the ones that seem best." Karl agreed.
She began to load a plate with a little bit of everything, and Karl took it back to an empty
table, where he began to work through them one at a time. The effect was the same as the
pasta, his body was just absorbing much more energy from the food than it had been
before, and the excess was building up for him to channel into Hawk's surroundings.
Karl smiled at the cafeteria lady as he returned his empty plate.
"I think that the pasta and the meatloaf are the two best specials of the day, but whatever
changed in my body, they're all better for my training efficiency."
"How much do you need for the evening?" She asked, lining up plates on her counter.
@@novelbin@@
"Two each should be enough for the night. I'll come early in the morning so that I can have
a heavy breakfast as well."
The food arrived outside the room at the same time that Karl did, on a small cart pushed by
one of the staff members. They had covered the loaded plates with foil to keep the heat in,
but Karl could smell it following him down the hall, and Hawk was getting increasingly
excited about the idea of both more food and an improvement in his living conditions.
"Thank you for that. I will return everything in the morning." Karl informed the kitchen
staff worker.
"Just set the cart in the hall with your dishes, and we will come pick it up when we clean the
halls." The worker explained.
Then she walked back to the elevator, and Karl took everything inside so he could focus on
eating and meditation. The food smelled delicious, and even the first serving, which had
filled his body with energy to be burned off, wasn't enough to actually sate the hunger.
Once he was settled into a comfortable meditation position in the middle of the bed, Karl
began to focus on the improvements to the Taming Space.
The excess energy was pouring freely from him into the space, causing the tree to grow,
and the patch of grass underneath to slowly, but steadily, expand.
Once that burst of energy was gone, Karl paused to pick a plate from the pile. The obvious
choice would be the pasta dish, as he knew for sure that it was a good one, and he had it
devoured in a matter of minutes, while briefly wondering how much he was going to regret
his over indulgence in the morning.

The energy flowed into him just as smoothly as it had the first time, and Karl poured it all
into the taming space, then repeated the process with the meatloaf special.
As he finished transferring the energy from that one into the space, a feeling of fullness, like
he wouldn't be able to transfer much more energy, appeared in his mind. That was a good
sign that this was not some bottomless pit where he was throwing energy with no end in
sight, but the space itself was far from complete. @@novelbin@@
As the space began to resist more transfer, Karl carefully moved the nest up into the tree,
so Hawk could have a more natural spot to sleep, and looked at the small grass patch at the
bottom. At this rate, it would take months to even fill the rest of the space with grass, much
less add a sky and everything else it would need to feel like its own little world.
But the feeling of power in his body was being influenced by the abundance of energy both
in his body, leftover from the meal, and from the beast space itself. Maybe he could get
Sergeant Rita to test his strength next weekend, after he had more time to adjust. He might
really have made it to the Awakened standard, and not just based on the attack power of
[Rend].
Now that the beast space was fully sated for the moment, Karl focused on seeing what he
could do with the leftover energy. First on the list, since it was food-based, was to try giving
the excess directly to Hawk.
The bird's body happily accepted the power, but Karl couldn't tell if it was making any
appreciable difference. It made Hawk happy, though, so it really wasn't a loss. They were
partners now, and a happy partner was never a bad thing.
For the rest of the night, Karl focused on using all the energy that he could muster to
empower Hawk, who had finally reached the end of his growth phase, and had started to
increase only in power, but not in size.
Karl managed to finish the remaining two meals at breakfast, as Hawk was feeling hungry
again, and wanted the filtered energy in addition to its meat and the daily allowance of
berries to flavour his food. With the amount that Hawk ate, Karl felt like he might have
restricted the consumption of junk food too much. It made a good seasoning for Hawk's
meals, and it didn't hurt his appetite, so there was no real reason not to let him use them all
the time.

On the way back to the room from the patio to wait for Sergeant Rita, Karl went and picked
another three Mountain Gooseberries.
[Now that you're fully grown, you can have more of the berries. They won't make you
stronger, but I know that they taste good.] Karl informed the overjoyed Windspeed Hawk.
[Mmm, good stuff. I will put them on everything.] Hawk agreed.
That gave Karl an idea. The meat that Hawk was eating was just plain meat. Normally, the
discount cuts that his mother bought would marinate in a sauce overnight. If he squished
the gooseberries into a bowl of water and threw the meat in with them, it would coat
everything, just like Hawk wanted, without running them out of berries.
He would set that up tonight, so Hawk's meals would be ready for tomorrow.
A knock at the door let him know that it was time to get to work, and when he opened it, he
noticed that Rita was giving a curious look at the cart full of empty dishes.
"Something changed in my appetite yesterday. It seems to be back to normal now, but I was
just ravenous, and my body was taking in all the energy that it could get." Karl explained.
"That's relatively normal. It usually happens to warriors when their body advances a Rank
and needs to adapt to a new power standard. I suspect that you actually made it to the
Awakened Rank in body last night, or Hawk did, and the energy needed to come from you.
One of those two answers is most likely the correct one. How is his growth coming?" Rita
replied.
"He looks fully grown for a Windspeed Hawk. He was growing quickly again last night
while I was feeding energy into him and the space in my mind, but then it seemed to settle."
Karl called Hawk out onto the bed, and Rita crouched to get a better look at the proudly
preening Hawk.
"He looks more mature now. The softer feathers are gone, and the pin feathers are larger
and stronger than the last time I saw him. Your skill is brilliant. One week to bring a
Windspeed Hawk to maturity. Even if your ability was just to train combat birds, I can
guarantee that the Academy would still rate it as a top-notch success."
Karl smiled at the Sergeant. "If it's a great success, that means there will be more resources,
right? We're still finishing the ones you gave us, but now that Hawk has reached full
maturity, his growth is slowing to a crawl, and it's going to take more than just my efforts
to keep him growing at this sort of rate."
Sergeant Rita laughed. "If you can keep growing at that rate, what would the rest of the
elites call themselves? I think it's natural that you would have to slow down at some point
and consolidate your powers, but if you can keep feeding Hawk extra energy, he should
progress toward the Ascended Rank from Awakening in a relatively short time.
I will find you what resources I can, though I'm not sure what the Hawk can use now that
we've tried the two that seemed the most beneficial to it."
"Well, if there is an upgraded version of the strength stone, or some more powerful infused
blood, that would be great. I don't know if the air stone will do much. He's still digesting the
second one he ate, and the first was so powerful that it caused a huge breakthrough. But if
there are other air type resources, maybe they will help him as well?
Every time that he improves, my body improves as well, I just need to train my skills and
stamina to keep up, so resources for Hawk seem to be the most effective way for me to
grow." Karl suggested.

Hawk was definitely a fan of that plan. He didn't mind if Karl got strong, they were a team,
but if the plan was to make him the most powerful Windspeed Hawk, then it was definitely
a good idea.
Their next stop was back at their usual training grounds, and Hawk was looking forward to
being able to show up the mages of the class with his new skills. Now that he was fully
grown, and his power was getting better, he could block many more shots to protect the
targets.
Karl could tell that it wasn't actually about the target, it was more about Hawk wanting to
show off his skills and get praised, or cursed, by the mages. Both were fine in Hawk's mind,
as long as they were recognizing his might. That was the important part in the Hawk's
mind, reminding them all that he was the predator here, and all the mice were his.
"I swear that Hawk is picking on us. It gets better by the day, just to remind us all that we're
beneath it." One of the mages announced, sweaty and exhausted at the end of the class.
"It's a Windspeed Hawk, do you really think that it has some innate grudge against mages?"
One of the others scoffed.
Everyone turned to look at the Water Mages, whose fluid attacks drove the bird
particularly crazy, and then back at the questioner. @@novelbin@@
"I mean in general. It's pretty obvious that the Hawk has a hatred for water attacks. But I
doubt that he hates mages in general."

Karl smiled. If only they knew that Hawk really did see himself as innately better than
humans, who couldn't fly, could barely see, and didn't even hunt their own meals.
The fact that Hawk himself didn't hunt his own food was a matter of luxurious living in its
mind, so that didn't count. At least, to him, it didn't.
Instead of returning to rest, Hawk decided to circle in the sky for the afternoon while Karl
trained his martial arts skills. His great hope was that he would finally find something that
was able to be hunted in this Academy. Unfortunately, there were no rodents, no pests,
nothing at all wandering around the grounds. The spells that the mages had put on the
Academy, and the constant use of powers had long since scared everything away from the
academy itself, and he didn't have permission to go out in to the fields around the grounds
to hunt for a snack.
Karl's words had been "Be where I can see you" and that didn't extend out into the fields on
the far side of the wall. If Karl had told him to stay where the others could see him, Hawk
might have just given up and gone back to rest inside.
But while the hunting didn't work out as he had hoped, Hawk did find a few good things.
There was a nice tree along the side of the strength training grounds, where he could rest
his wings in the shade. There was a carving on one of the buildings that almost looked like
him, there was an old lady who kept taking pictures of him, and finally, the truck docks.
Once he could figure out how those things worked, he would be in for a treat. Even from up
in the sky, he could tell that the buildings behind the docks were just packed full of good
stuff.
Karl mostly ignored Hawk's adventures, and only occasionally reminded him not to make
trouble for anyone, or take food from strangers. Not everyone would know that he was
Karl's Hawk, so some might try to poison or attack him like he was a wild monster.
Sergeant Rita had another book full of information for them to study, this time on Monster
Biology, in hopes that they would stumble across something that might help Hawk continue
to grow at an accelerated rate.
Every Elite wanted to be famous, powerful, or both. That was the whole point of the
training regimen here. So, her job as a private instructor was to do what she could to help
Karl keep advancing and live up to the potential that the senior staff believed he had when
they observed him on the train.
If the final result was intense early growth, leading to stagnation and a growth plateau, that
just meant that they didn't understand the next step in his training. But the next time that
they saw a class like this one, they could use his experience as a baseline and start growing
the new elite from there.
Karl sat on the balcony of his room with a stack of textbooks, trying to determine if there
would be some surefire way to help Hawk advance from the Awakened stage to Ascended
without a large delay.
From what he knew of the Windspeed Hawk, their progression usually came from
improved skills with [Rend] along with an increased ability power level. The mana infused
monster blood should help with the second part, and they were doing daily training, which
no wild Hawk would ever have a reason to do.
Mostly because they hunted for food, not for sport, so they wouldn't use their skills a
hundred times a day. That gave them some sort of advantage over the wild growth rate, but
there had to be more that he could do than just grind their skills over and over.
Hawk had already learned the [Wind Barrier] from the Headmaster's Wind Beads, so the
Windspeed Hawk could absolutely learn new things from mystic resources, he just had to
get his hands on them.
A knock on his door distracted him from his confusion, and Karl went to open the door,
finding Dana with a smile and a bag full of books, plus a small plate of food.
"I brought a gift for Hawk. Someone told me that they had them around their house in the
farmlands, and the Hawks really liked these, so I asked the kitchen to find one." She greeted
him.
That caught Hawk's attention, and he flew in from the other room to land on her shoulder
and check out the plate.
It was a small animal, skinned, but intact and raw, but to the Windspeed Hawk, the smell
was divine.
"It's an Iron Jaw Mole. They're farmland pests, as they dig huge holes for their nests.
They've got great jaw strength, as you would expect, but that's it. Unfortunately for them,
they're even weaker than the Earth Mice in the fields outside the Academy, and they've got
no ranged attacking power at all."

The trio walked back to the patio and Dana set the plate on the table, where it was
immediately attacked by Hawk.
"Mind your manners, I don't need you getting blood splatter on the textbooks." Karl
reminded him.
In response, the Hawk pushed the plate to the far side of the table, but didn't slow his pace,
happily tearing the small animal to bits.
"What are you working on today?" Karl asked as Dana set out a pair of notebooks, but no
reference text.
"Mana control. According to the teacher, I still use too much for every spell, and that
inefficiency is why I'm having trouble with multiple spells and my channelling speed. For
now, they've asked me to just focus on Magic Missiles and Fog, and not to expand my spell
repertoire yet, or I will ingrain bad habits into new spells.
So, I want to get my efficiency increased as quickly as I can." Dana explained.
Hawk looked up with interest. That topic sounded like it would be useful to him too. He
could kill more water balls that way, and taunt the mages. Taunting mages was way more
fun than Hawk had expected it to be, especially when they weren't allowed to attack him
directly. @@novelbin@@
"That sounds like good advice. I need to find a way to keep Hawk progressing now that he's
reaching full growth. All this good food and the handful of special items they could find that
were suitable for Hawks have brought him up to full-grown in record time, but he is going
to hit his natural bottleneck soon, and then it's up to training whether we can make the
leap from Awakened to Ascended before the first semester is over."
They studied in silence for a few minutes while Hawk finished eating, and then the bird
flew up into the trees and brought them back a singe pear, perfectly ripened.
Karl remembered this one from the guidebook. It was supposed to help refresh the body
and remove stress. A common enough effect for magical plants, but useful when studying.
Karl cut it into thin slices, and Hawk took one small bite before ruffling its feathers and
turning away.

The pear smelled incredible, but it was too sweet, not at all to Hawk's liking. The humans
could have it.
Karl laughed at the Hawk's disappointed look and cut the pear into slices for them to snack
on. Then, Hawk stepped across the table and directly onto Dana's notepad.
"What are you doing, little man? Have we ignored you too much?" She asked, and stroked
his head gently.
Hawk preened at the attention, then shook himself and focused.
He raised one claw, and created a [Rend] blade in front of him, then decreased the intensity
to almost nothing, before bringing it back up again. Then down until it was almost invisible.
[Tell her about the waste.] Hawk demanded.
"He wants you to understand that the harder you push yourself, the more mana you waste.
Try what he's doing with your Magic Missiles, and I think you'll see, hold it in place and
keep decreasing the power. The mana cost drops exponentially." Karl explained.
Dana looked skeptical, but she did what he asked. The first few Missiles nearly fired out
across the Academy Grounds, as she had never before tried to hold them in place, but after
a few minutes, she could hold and guide them where she wanted as she slowly reduced the
power from the default full activation to barely a glow of light.
"How did you know to do that?" She asked as she mimicked Hawk's cycle through the
power range.
"It's instinctive for Hawk, and he taught me. By the logic of a Windspeed Hawk, you should
hunt with just enough power to take out your prey, so you don't waste more energy than
you get back." Karl explained.
"So that's it. This is a huge breakthrough. I can see where I was going wrong, I was just
focusing on the spell activation sequence, and letting it go. I thought that I was doing well
by controlling the direction, but if I focus on the mana flow, I can do so much more with it.
There are likely so many things that we can learn from magical creatures that we have
never thought of ourselves. The teacher's directions aren't even this detailed, and I've
never seen another student actually reduce the power of their spells. They just increase
their endurance and cast everything at full power every time, but with better control as
they grow."
Karl thought about that for a moment and shook his head.
"No, the senior students have learned to control and split the power as well. I guess they
just thought that it would be too difficult for a new mage? But it makes casting spells way
easier. Even if you do it at half power, you should be able to cast at least five missiles for
every one that you could before."
Dana and Hawk spent the rest of the evening practising their skill control together, while
Karl focused on finding more about the growth cycles and power increase triggers of
various magical beast species.
There were so many, but Karl was certain that if he worked on it, he could find some sort of
pattern to the triggers. It should be either something to do with their skills, their body's
alignment to an element or some sort of environmental factor. He didn't believe that it was
completely random and that it was all up to luck, with study, they should be able to trigger
the advancements deliberately.
The meditation and movement of energy to Hawk was certainly going to help, though he
couldn't tell how much. But every meal since the advancement had given him a surge of
energy, as he was absorbing the nutrients and embedded mana much more efficiently than
a regular human would.
That should be something normal for the Elites, as the kitchens did deliberately prepare
that sort of meal for every student, so the real difference should be that he could share the
excess with Hawk, instead of wasting it.
Once it started to get dark, Dana finished making notes on what she had learned, and then
returned to her room for the night, while Karl prepared to eat one more late night meal and
meditate on transferring that extra energy to Hawk to help him grow.

The only problem was that they would have to wait until there was a noticeable change to
find out if these methods were working, and even then, they wouldn't necessarily know for
certain which of the methods were the ones that had the largest impact.
There was no exact measuring method, which was why they had just loosely grouped
monsters into categories based on their power rankings, but that also meant that near the
boundaries of those rankings there could be some uncertainty, unless the body or power
went through a notable change.
For example, when a Devil Cat went through the process of moving from awakened to
Ascended, it grew a second tail. That was a pretty simple and surefire way to tell. Many
birds would gain a distinctive pattern on their feathers as they grew more powerful, and
most mammals would increase in size in a sudden growth spurt.
Windspeed Hawks didn't go through most of that, they kept their appearance, except for
the claws. Once a Windspeed Hawk reached the Ascended level, their claws would turn
from a dull black, to a translucent obsidian, and that claw material was an exceptional
resource for elites learning similar skills. It could be ground up and mixed with monster
blood in the same way as the strength stones, and drinking it would increase skill
understanding.
[Haha, yeah, make them eat my claw clippings. They grow back quickly.] Hawk giggled in
Karl's mind, equating the broken claw parts to human toenail clippings. Just a shed waste
product that it no longer cared about.
[Well, if we can help you grow to that level, we can help the others out then. We will show
them how far ahead you are, just by being yourself.] Karl joked, stroking the bird's ego for a
moment before he began to meditate.
In the morning, they both felt refreshed and a bit better than they had the day before, so
that became their routine. Mornings with the mages, afternoons of martial arts training,
and then evenings of book studies, while Karl worked on learning all that he could about
magical beasts and the triggers that could cause them to advance, while Hawk worked with
Dana on their mana control. @@novelbin@@
His rate of growth was incredible, and while he had an advantage to begin with, thanks to
his species, Hawk was rapidly outgrowing anything that could have been expected of a
juvenile Windspeed Hawk.
Normally, they wouldn't need to use the [Rend] attack more than a handful of times in a
day, as it was primarily for hunting, and occasionally for self-defence. But by the end of the
week, he could keep it up for hours at a time.
Dana was also progressing at a crazy pace with his help, and she now had full control over
her magic missiles. It was quite impressive to see her hold them in place, or move them
around the room with her mind. The process still drained her much faster than she would
prefer, but it was a vast improvement on the first day that she started working with Hawk,
when she didn't understand at all how she was supposed to control the mana flows.
So, it was with greatly improved confidence that they headed for the meeting spot for the
next practical skills meeting.
The same group of fifty-four students were gathered in the field, waiting for the teachers to
arrive, and Karl took his spot next to the other team leaders.
Sergeant Rita arrived a few minutes later with the two mages, driving one of the Academy's
cargo buggies filled with gear.
"We have something new and fun for everyone today. These are the new experimental
products from the weapons development department at the Golden Dragon National
Research University. What you all are going to do today is go on a little field trip. The
danger will be a bit higher than usual, as you will be leaving the Academy Grounds entirely,
and not just going to the outskirts, but the University has asked us to test whether these
new weapons with their fancy technology can actually improve the user's strength by a
whole rank." Sergeant Rita announced.
The mages were more than a little skeptical, as their powers were based on mana flow and
control, which were both internal factors, they didn't use weapons in the same way that the
warriors did. If it was just for the warrior classes, it would be a great safety measure for
Elites in general, but not specifically for them.
However, when they took the tarp off the cart, there was a box with everyone's name on it.
The University really had come up with something for everyone, and the students began to
become excited to see what it could do.
Karl made his way to the stack of boxes, where Sergeant Rita was organizing everyone into
a single file line to get through the stack more efficiently. She handed him a large box, and
he stepped aside, trying to decipher how to open a box with no visible latches.
The answer turned out to be a fingerprint scanner in the middle of one side, hidden
beneath the paint. To students who grew up in the city, it was obvious, but the small towns
didn't have any need for such high-tech security in their daily lives, they just taped the
boxes closed and called it secure.
Inside the box was a new set of gauntlets, similar to the ones that he already had, at least in
external appearance, but they were lighter than the training units, and the claws on the
fingers seemed to be made from some sort of actual monster claw, instead of alloy.
What sort of difference that was supposed to make to his [Rend] attack was a mystery, but
there might be something else hidden under the nondescript black metal upper glove that
covered his arm nearly to the elbow which would help with mana channelling, or serve as
some sort of amplifier for his skills.
The only way to know was to test them, so Karl stepped away from the crowd, where the
warriors were happily beginning to wave their new swords around, and gave them a flex to
send a claw attack into the air.
The power activation feels much more natural, even than when he is doing it barehanded.
The gauntlets weren't strictly necessary for the skill, unlike a sword skill. He had
fingernails of his own that would do the job, but with these new gauntlets on his hands, the
power seemed to flow to the monster claws and form much more smoothly than he could
manage on his own.

It didn't feel like it was more powerful than usual, and the energy he put in was the same,
but his recovery felt like it was faster than usual, as if the weapon was returning some of
the expended energy to him.
With these gauntlets, Karl was certain that he could fight all morning with ease, and not
have to take nearly as many breaks during the defensive training with the mages. It would
certainly drive his classmates insane to have that many more skills coming up to block their
attacks, but they were getting better anyhow, so it could be good for them.
It only took a few minutes to get all the weapons handed out, and for chaos to spread
through the field where they had gathered. There were sword attacks and spells flying all
around, a large stone golem standing to one side, and the ground was trembling from
someone's magic.
It was insanity, but the teachers were content to wait until the students had all begun to
calm down before they said anything else.
"Alright, calm down, everyone. You know what's coming next. But this time there is a twist.
This week, we will be putting you in pairs. There are two of each number in the bag, pick
one paper and find your partner for today's exercise. You will all be working individually in
a large region, so don't expect backup if there are issues." Sergeant Rita explained, while
the two mages looked excessively pleased with their ingenuity.
The device that the University had made for the mages varied from person to person, but
mostly, they were in the form of a small rectangular frame full of crystals and tubes that
could be hung from the user's belt.
Aesthetically, they were a strange choice, but better than the hooded coat with the wires
running all down the inside that one of the mages was wearing.
Dana had one of the boxes, a flatter one that was a little larger than a paperback novel.

That gave Karl a great idea. If they were allowed to keep these prototypes, he could suggest
putting a regular book cover over some of them so that they blended in with the academy's
usual apparel a bit better. That should also protect them from damage and dirt, which
clearly wasn't a concern for the design team working on magician enhancing tools.
"Sergeant Rita, what are these gauntlets made of? Do you know?" Karl asked as she
approached him with the bag of numbers.
"Just various monster parts combined, as far as I know. It's supposed to be something
about combining the aspects of magical beasts to create magic items." She replied with a
shrug.
Karl took a number from the bag, and waited for the rest of the students to choose.
He had drawn number seventeen, but the look on the teachers' faces said that simply
shouting your number to find your partner would not be tolerated. Or at least not before
the numbers were all passed out. So, Karl decided to wander and check numbers with the
others who had received their cards.
He was at the edge of the group to begin with, and his path simply followed the Sergeant
through the crowd. The others were doing the same, but in an organized manner. They
were beginning to line up based on the number of their paper, with number one moving
over toward where Karl had been standing in the beginning.
Karl caught on quickly and moved to roughly where he thought pair seventeen should be,
and found himself standing next to Dana, who was holding a card identical to his.
"Well, that makes it easier. We already know each other's basic skills, and they should work
well together. You take the lead, Hawk scouts, and I will deal damage from the back." She
informed him with a smile.
"That works for me. How is your new tool? Is that mass of stuff really better than what you
were using earlier?" Karl asked. @@novelbin@@
"It seems to be, but we will find out once we actually have to use them. The box is a
focusing device, and you use it when you're casting the spell to intensify the effects. It's a
bit difficult to use properly at first, but with some practice, it should increase my magic
power by quite a bit." Dana replied.
"Now, we just need to find out what we're going to test it on."
Once everyone was sorted, the Mages began their spell casting again in preparation to
transport the group somewhere. This version seemed far more complex than the first time
that Karl had seen it, and the effort was visibly draining on the two mages. That must mean
they were going quite a bit further than the outskirts of the Academy, which had been a
simple and effortless spell for just the elder teacher.
But they appeared in the target location just as smoothly as they had the first time, and Karl
found himself standing next to Dana in a ruined warehouse, still stocked with bags of dry
goods and one slowly leaking barrel of honey that had attracted a huge number of bees.
"We should move before we anger them. I don't fancy being stung by bees today." Karl
whispered as Dana took in their surroundings.
Hawk was eager to get out and see what was going on, but until they knew what sort of
danger level they were facing, Karl didn't want to send him up blindly.
Dana gestured toward a large hole in the wall that seemed to lead out to a main road, and
the duo began to move, making their way out into a ruined village.
"This just happened. I can still smell fresh blood and gunpowder." Karl whispered.
Both smells were unpleasantly familiar after a childhood of helping at the mines, and with
his enhanced senses, courtesy of Hawk, he could pick them out much more clearly than
ever.
"What do you mean?" Dana replied softly.

"This village was attacked in the last day or two. That's probably why we are here, to help
clean out the monsters that have tried to move in. I will send up Hawk now, so we know
what we're up against, and then we can come up with a plan.
It's a good thing that you have been working on your mana control because I think that
you're going to need Magic Missile far more than the fog today."
This would be a brutal crash course for the first year students, even if they were the
handpicked best of the batch. They had only been at the Academy for a few weeks, and they
were mostly working with one or two abilities that were still at the Common Grade.
That should mean that the threat level here wasn't too high, but if it were just Common
Grade monsters, the townsfolk should have been able to chase them off. Perhaps the
response hadn't come quickly enough and the elites had dealt with the stronger monsters
too late, leaving just the dangerous local wildlife for the students to clean out.
[There are angry pigs. We're killing them, right? Then eat them?] Hawk reported.
[Tell me exactly where they are in relation to me, and how many. I also need to know how
strong each is, or how many of them are Awakened or higher.] Karl replied, training the
Hawk how he wanted the scouting reports to be structured.
[Nine pigs, all injured. One with awakened power. Two hundred metres in my direction
from the building. Oh, there are more monsters south. If you go that way, there are six
Goblins, none awakened. They're lazy, making a campfire.]
[You know the routine, work first and then eat. Lead us to the Goblins and keep an eye out
for more monsters. The book said that Goblins travel in large bands, so there are likely
more of them around.] Karl replied.
"There are some wild pigs that Hawk wants to eat, but there are Goblins on the south side
of town. That would explain why things went so badly here. Even if they're weak, they're
smarter than most wild magical beasts, and they come in large numbers.
We are going to have to clear out the six that are left here first, and then we can look for
more stragglers and anything else."

Anything else, meaning survivors, but it would be uncouth to say that out loud so early into
their mission. @@novelbin@@
Dana nodded grimly, not really ready to see a true monster in person and in the wild with
just one other student beside her, but she knew that this was the training mission, and they
had been sent here specifically to take care of this threat.
Hawk circled the town, looking for movement and anything else that the other two might
find. Work first, and then eat, so the faster he helped them get all the work done, the better.
That meant that he couldn't miss any of the targets.
[I found more Goblins. In a house, four doors up from you and across the street. I can see
two of them from my perch.]
Karl relayed the message to Dana in a whisper, and then kept walking.
"What are you doing?" She hissed.
"If they know that we have seen them, they will call for assistance instead of trying to
ambush. Hawk has his eyes on them, he won't let them actually ambush us, just stay close
to me and when they rush, you cast Magic Missile." Karl whispered back as he walked.
Karl crossed the street, watching the building that Hawk had marked with his enhanced
peripheral vision without turning his head. The Goblins didn't have great eyesight, so they
would assume that if he wasn't looking at them, he hadn't seen them, and sure enough, as
soon as he passed, they charged out with a battle cry.
It was just three wounded Common Grade Goblins, and two of them fell to Hawk's [Rend]
before either Karl or Dana could respond. Karl took the last with a flex of his fingers, and
the town fell silent again.
[Hawk, keep searching, that cry might have alerted the others.] Karl directed.
The Hawk flew away, and Dana gave it a look of admiration.
"He's got great reflexes." She muttered.
"He's definitely a good friend to have on a day like this. He's gone to scout for more Goblins,
in case something heard and responded to that battle cry."
Karl kept them moving south toward the edge of town, even when he felt the occasional
pull of exertion, as Hawk took out lone Goblins that had been hiding in town. He was not
happy about the situation, as they smelled terrible and were inedible to him, but there was
the promise of Iron Tusk boars in the distance as soon as he found and eliminated them all.
"They really prepared a brutal test for us today. Hawk has found five more wandering
Goblins so far, and we're still not to the larger pack of six. Take out whichever ones you
want when we arrive. Your spell is slower to cast than Rend, so I will let you lead off the
attack, and then I will keep them from getting to us.
How are you doing on the multiple missiles' effort?" Karl asked.
"I can still only control two at a time, but once I get the spell started, it should be much
faster to send the next volley. Are there any awakened rank Goblins in the pack?" She
replied.
"According to Hawk, they're all Common grade followers, there is no sign of a stronger
leader. The Elite who came here first likely dealt with the stronger foes and then left the
rest, or they ran and came back." Karl replied. @@novelbin@@
Karl caught a glimpse of flames in the distance, on the outskirts of town, and put a finger to
his lips to signal silence from here forward. The goblin camp was loud, preparing for
something, and they didn't even have a guard out when Karl led the way to the edge of the
clearing where they had set up. Once they were close, he crouched, getting low to the
ground so that his uniform didn't stand out quite as badly, and did his best to move silently.
It was clear that there had once been many more Goblins here, but presently only six
remained, easy prey for the two Elites.

Dana focused and put a pair of Magic Missiles into the back of two of the goblins near the
fire pit, while Karl took out the one closer to them. Then he aimed for the one who reacted
the fastest, and another who was trying to run.
Dana got the last of them in the back, and Karl rose to his feet to go make sure they were
really dead. There would be nothing worse than having what they thought was a defeated
enemy come from behind and ambush them, but as he made his way through the camp,
Karl immediately began to regret moving in for a closer look.
He had forgotten what Goblins eat, which was mostly the flesh of the villagers they
slaughtered, and the stench was overpowering. But after motioning for Dana to stay put for
the moment and watch for reinforcements, he checked all the bodies, giving them all a
quick stab with a pilfered goblin sword before moving back to their hiding spot.
"They're finished. Let's move back into town and take care of the rest of the targets, then
we can kill the pigs and have some lunch before waiting to see what else we are supposed
to be doing here. I think that this should be it, but I was expecting a bit more guidance." He
explained.
"So was I. When they said that there wouldn't be much of a chance that we would be
meeting the other students, I didn't think that they meant we wouldn't even be in the same
town. What does Hawk say about the situation?" Dana replied.
[Nothing else is moving. I even went up high, and there was nothing else around but the
pigs. I even stopped at the houses, and there was no sound of heartbeats or movement
inside. Does that mean that we're done, and we can have lunch now?] Hawk replied,
hopefully.
[Meet us before we go deal with the pigs. There is an awakened one there, and it might not
be safe for you to go alone. Who knows what sort of ability he might have.]
The wild Iron tusk Boars were happily rooting through the town's garbage pile when Karl
arrived, with Dana right behind him and the Hawk circling overhead.
The largest of them was Hawk's target for lunch. It was newly into the Awakened rank, and
gave off a sense of power that Dana recognized long before Karl did.

"It has magic. I'm not sure what, but it can use some sort of magical spell." She whispered.
"Alright then, we ambush it. All three of us at once will attack the largest boar, and then we
will deal with the others. How is your stamina holding up? Have you rested long enough
since the fight with the Goblins?"
Dana nodded. "I held back, so the expenditure wasn't nearly as high. I am ready to fight."
She moved to Karl's left, then climbed up on top of a small stone shed and lay on her
stomach to get a good angle of attack. That should keep the boars away from her for a
moment, until they could knock down the wall, but she wasn't so high that she would get
hurt jumping down.
[Hawk, your dinner is served. Attack the big one when Dana does, with as much as it takes
to kill it. I will deal with the others.]
Dana fired a pair of Magic Missiles into the Awakened boar, and six streaks of [Rend] came
down to meet them, converging on its neck as the beast reared back to block the missiles
with its tusks.
Then Karl attacked, throwing Rend attacks into the closest two boars and moving forward
to attract the attention of the remaining three. They were all close to Awakened in power,
and their hides were beginning to toughen, but it wasn't enough to keep his attacks from
penetrating.
Then Hawk arrived, sending out two more attacks into the back of the charging boars,
while Dana targeted the last survivor, a greedy one who hadn't stopped eating as soon as
the others had.
"Well, that was anticlimactic. I thought that it was going to be a much harder fight." Dana
noted.
"Don't jinx it, we are still not back at the Academy. But I will cut up these boars so that
Hawk can get a fresh lunch, and we will bring them back with us."
How he was planning to do that was a mystery to Dana, but after Karl pulled a textbook
from his coat for reference before beginning to butcher the pigs, she assumed that he had
some actual plan.
Then, the first of them disappeared, just vanished in front of her eyes, and Karl moved on to
the next.
"What the heck was that? Where did they go?" Dana gasped as an entire hundred kilo boar
vanished for the second time.
"There is a mental space granted by my powers. That's where Hawk stays when he's not
out playing. I can store things in there, like meat, and it doesn't go bad. There is only one
small issue that I've found. Only food can go in there. I tried to put my textbooks in, and it
wouldn't work. But meat can go in and out no problem." Karl explained.
"What a strange restriction. But it is for your pet, right? So perhaps it's only things that are
good for the pet that can go in and out. Why don't you try with a resource that you know he
can't use later and see what happens?" Dana suggested.
"That is brilliant. Perhaps the magic of the beast space will help me learn what will be best
for Hawk. Trying to find a way to help him advance more quickly is my current topic of
study, other than the basic training." Karl explained.
"Glad I could help. But shouldn't someone have shown up by now? It's getting close to
lunch, and these practice missions usually only last an hour."
Karl shrugged. "Well, technically, they've got us all day. So, I suppose it's not a big deal if we
have lunch here at the nearest house. No, scratch that, I heard from Hawk what is inside,
let's just eat out here."

Karl used his sword to cut some sliced pork to grill over a fire, using branches as skewers,
while Dana prepared a fire.
"Give me just a second. I know the spell to create a small flame, I just haven't mastered it
yet. We don't have to make fire the hard way, or go rummaging through houses looking for
a fire starter." She explained. @@novelbin@@
The village had been ransacked by Goblins, so whatever they found inside the houses was
not going to be pleasant. Dana was aware of the stories about Goblin atrocities, but she
really was not intending to find out first hand what it looked like up close.
It took three tries before she managed to get sparks to form and the dry branches to light,
but after that, the fire started to burn quite well, and the duo waited for the heat to build so
that they could begin to roast the meat.
"Do you think that this could be some sort of surprise survival test? Tomorrow is the day
off, and we don't have classes for another day and a half, so there wouldn't be any delay to
our learning if they had us stay here to hunt for an overnight trip." Karl suggested.
"I hope not. I don't know about you, but I didn't bring any sort of camping equipment."
Dana joked.
There was a whole town behind them, but without any sign of survivors, and no visible
battleground, being able to search the town itself for supplies was questionable. There was
no telling how much was left in town, and how much had been taken with the ones who
fled.

"Well, if nobody comes for us by dinner, we will have to go looking for supplies to get
through the evening. I don't know if we want to stay in town, as the ruined town will draw
more monsters searching for food."
"That is a good idea. We should get settled in as if we were waiting for a conventional
pickup after a mission. That seems like the best option, since this class is intended to
prepare us for rescues and missions after we graduate." Dana suggested.
The three of them settled in around the fire, waiting out the time until the meat was
cooked, and deliberately ignoring the fact that there was a ruined and abandoned village
right behind them. They would have to face the fact that numerous people likely lost their
lives here in the recent past, but for now, they would focus on their lunch and the
possibility that they didn't get all the monsters that were nearby.
But two hours later, after they had finished eating, and Hawk had searched the town twice
over, going into every open house to make sure that there were no survivors or other
hidden monsters, but there was nothing. In fact, there were very few bodies at all, though
there was quite a bit of blood in some of the houses, according to Hawk.
"Should we go back to where we started, in the middle of town? Perhaps there is some sign
there that will let us know what we're supposed to be doing. I feel like we should have
gotten some message by now, and that maybe we weren't supposed to be sent to an empty
town.
I mean, think about it. We're both technically still Common Grade, though I am already at
Awakened in peak power. They shouldn't have sent us out into the unknown unsupervised
for too long, it would make more sense if we were here to deal with the Iron tusk Boars.
Maybe there was supposed to be someone here to meet us, but they were gone before we
arrived because of the Goblin attack."
"So, you think that someone was supposed to let them know that we were finished? That
makes some sense, since it is sanctioned by the Academy. Perhaps we could find something
that would let us contact them? I mean, even a cell phone would do the job, and there
should be a working landline in some of the buildings." Dana suggested.
Karl got to his feet, and sent Hawk back up to scout the town, in case there was anything
coming for them, while they walked back to the town square. It was an eerie feeling, now
that there was nothing around and moving. No birds, rodents, nothing at all. The town was
just completely silent.
But there were lights on, so it hadn't been completely destroyed, just left uninhabited.
Just as when they arrived, the centre of town was empty, but now, Karl wasn't looking for
monsters, but signs that someone knew they were coming and might have left behind a
message for them.
The first thing that Karl noticed about the centre of town was how clean it was. There was
no sign of battle here, no indication that there had been a last stand to defend this place. So,
logically, the majority of the inhabitants must have simply left, or fought to the end in
another part of town.
Reluctantly, Karl checked the large stone building nearby, whose doors were left open to
the elements, and found that while the interior was a bit messy, there was no sign of a
battle here either. So, either they left in advance, or the attack happened at night when
nobody was at work.
If the battle did take place at night and made it past the perimeter security that every
village should have, it would make sense that there was very little to see in the streets. The
Goblins would have invaded homes, and by the time that the alarm was raised, most of the
town would have been killed in their sleep.
The government building still had power to the computers, so Karl whistled to catch Dana's
attention and gestured for her to come inside.
"Do you know how to work this? I've never seen that operating system before." He asked.
"Oh, no problem. We used the same one at school. It's even still logged in. I wonder why
their computers don't have a time-out feature when you're gone too long?" She asked.
She tapped a few keys and then clicked on the home button and smiled.

"It looks like they did leave us a message. There is a text file in the middle of the home
screen."
[Dearest explorers and salvage teams. The residents of this village intend to return within
thirty days of the posting of this notice, making the town's property ineligible for salvage. A
surprise Goblin attack with the threat of ongoing invasions forced us to evacuate to safe
point Alpha, as designated on the government maps for this location, and once the region is
deemed safe and the Elites have finished their work, we will return.
Mayor Dingwall.]
"That's dated this morning. We were likely already gathered for the morning briefing when
this was posted, but I think that a lot of the blood we saw was a fair bit older than that."
Karl noted.
Dana thought about the timing of the message and its implications, and then looked back
outside.
"They said that it was likely there would be continued attacks. We only found a handful of
stragglers, plus whatever Goblins Hawk killed inside the houses. That doesn't really
constitute an ongoing threat, does it? I think that tonight they are likely to come back again,
looking for survivors and loot."
"I think that you're right. They are going to come back, not just the small scouting squad
that they left here, but a whole Goblin tribe looking for supplies. The book I read on
monster biology says that they don't like being outside during the day if they can avoid it,
so it will probably be after dark. @@novelbin@@
That gives us about seven hours before they might start to arrive, assuming they attack
with the twilight. But what can we do to fortify and prepare for them?
This building is solid stone, with a stone roof, so it's not too bad. We could lock all the
shutters and wait here, or we could barricade this place and return to it after we hunt
Goblins in the town.
They won't be expecting someone to be hunting them while they're scavenging for food."
Karl suggested.
"The problem with that is I can't see in the dark. Maybe you can, but I definitely can't. I
would be working blind, and I'm not a close combat fighter, so I can't really stay behind
alone with my skills." Dana reminded him.
"Why don't you create a huge fog bank that hides the entire town? It will make the Goblins
easier to hunt one at a time, so I can send Hawk to ambush any of them he finds out in the
open, and then we can fight whichever ones manage to make it here.
They won't realize their companions are under attack right away if they can't see them, and
the shouting won't lead them straight to us, so we can fight them in smaller groups.
Unless there is a better building here in town, but it looks like the rest of them are mostly
made of wood, and I wouldn't trust that the Goblins won't burn them down to get us out if
they're desperate."
"Alright, that plan works. I will start building the fog now, since it lasts until I want it to
dispel. Once it hides the whole village, we should be a little more safe. How well can Hawk
see through the fog?" Dana asked.
"Keep it closer to the ground and it's fine. If you can see for ten metres in the fog, that
means that if it ends at ten metres in the air, Hawk can see through it just fine. Even five
metres off the ground should be enough to blind the Goblins and still leave them visible
from the air."
It was a devastating advantage to attacking from above, and the Goblins wouldn't be
expecting a monster attack on their raiding party. Not many monsters would attack
Goblins, as they weren't edible. They would only attack if their territory was invaded, or the
Goblins made the mistake of getting greedy and targeting them.
"We should prepare a fire as well. Lanterns, something that will allow us to light the room
so that we can see properly around the entrance once the fighting starts. The power might
go out at any time if they're attacking, Goblins are pretty smart, so some torches would be a
good idea." Dana added.
"There is an auto repair shop just down the street. I will get a bunch of oil and rags, then tie
them around branches. That will work for torches to light the area, but I will look for an oil
lantern as well. I'm not sure that they will have one here, but they were pretty common in
the mines."
The mechanic's shop was just down the block, and Karl approached as silently as possible,
in case there were still goblins inside. Hawk said that he hadn't found any, but he was also
under orders to either stay high in the air or out of sight so that he wouldn't get attacked
before the real battle started.
The building was an old cinder block building, darkened with years of soot all around the
three bay doors, with a small office to one side. What he needed would likely be in the shop
itself, but he also wanted to find a proper lighter and some food that wasn't just roast meat.
There should be a vending machine inside, and if anyone came back to see it broken, they
would just assume it was the Goblins, since they trashed everywhere else in town. But
strangely, the glass doors were intact, the windows unbroken, and the shop itself seemed
undamaged.
That could be an issue if it was all locked up, but when Karl tried the side door to the actual
shop, it opened smoothly, revealing a dimly lit set of three bays, each with a car parked in
them.
Karl went to the first, and found a cigarette lighter in the cupholder, which went to his
pocket, then he noticed a grease barrel on a two - wheeled dolly.

That was perfect. It would burn slowly, it stuck to the rags for torches if the power went
out, and there was a whole drum of it here on wheels. Karl loaded a large bag full of rags on
the grease barrel, then went through the door to the front of the shop, where the distinctive
smell of a workshop faded, and a pungent odour of herbs prevailed.
Maybe that had something to do with why this place wasn't trashed? It was worth a shot,
and Karl quickly found the source of the smell, bags of herbs soaked in fuel, giving off a
rather obnoxious odour.
There were spares in the front office, ready to be assembled, so Karl grabbed two and a
small can of fuel to activate them. Then he made his way to the vending machine, which
was unlocked and open, seemingly prepared for the likelihood that someone would be here
before they returned. So, he grabbed a few bags of snacks and stuffed them in his coat, just
in case they were here all night.
"Hey, is anyone here? We're elites from the Academy, here to deal with the monster issue."
Karl called, just in case someone was hiding in this well protected shop.
There was no answer, and the room was deathly silent, so Karl returned to his work. He
needed at least a few long sticks for the torches, and those should be found in the parts
department. Any long metal or wooden rod would do, and as luck had it, they stocked cargo
bars for securing freight inside trucks. Two metres long, made of light metal and easy to
disassemble to shorten them up a little.
They would make great torch bases, so Karl grabbed four and brought them to the grease
bin along with the scent buckets. There was a large length of chain nearby as well, so Karl
added that to his pile of goodies and headed back out the way that he came in, carefully
closing the side door so it didn't make a loud noise.
Dana's fog was already spreading out from the government building, covering most of a city
block and pouring down the streets. Given a few more hours of work, and she would
certainly have the whole town covered, making Hawk's work easier this evening.

"I've got what we need. Snacks, torch materials, and even a couple of bags of herbs that
should get soaked in fuel to keep monsters away. The shop was completely untouched, so
I'm pretty sure that they work. We can set them up in the entryway to the building and see
if they keep the Goblins away for the night." Karl explained.
"Perfect. Once I finish with the fog, I will need some sleep, so if you want to rest now, I will
wait for Hawk's signal that something is coming. It's going to be a long night." Dana
reminded him.
"Good point. Hawk's warning should wake me up, but if it doesn't just poke me or
something. I'll rest on the couch at the back of the lobby, out of sight of the doors, in case
something passes by."
He had left the door open a crack, the same as they had found it, and there were only a few
lights on in the lobby, but there was still a chance that a monster passing by the door would
notice them.
"Wait, first put the herb bags where you think they need to be. It will be too late to mask
our scent if we do it later in the evening." She reminded him with a grim look.
Karl was still hoping for the best, that there wouldn't be anything coming back tonight, but
Dana was prepared for the worst, and that was a full goblin tribe arriving to clean out the
town tonight, and finding them holed up in this one stone building.
The bags were quick to prepare, and the scent rapidly filled the lobby, making Dana's nose
twitch in irritation at the pungent odour. But if it kept monsters away from their resting
spot, it was a good thing, and they might actually be able to rest until Hawk gave them the
signal that something was coming.
He was resting in the Beast Space right now, preparing for his night of activities, but he
would come out once Dana was finished with the fog, or the evening approached. Some
foods could only be hunted at night, and the Windspeed Hawks, as a species, had a great
sense of when the transitions would be, as that was the point when the nocturnal animals
would be active, but groggy and not quite as alert as usual.
But he didn't get to sleep that long. Dana woke them both up around six in the evening, an
hour before sunset, to let them know that the fog was finished, and it extended out past the
edge of town. Now, she was going to rest until the attack started, while Karl and Hawk
could take over. @@novelbin@@
[You know what to do. Head up into the sky and make sure that nothing is going to sneak
up on us. Let me know if you see anything moving out there.]
The hawk took off into the afternoon sky, making a larger loop around the town to see if
there was anything approaching, while watching for anything that might take the
opportunity of the fog to move about.
He was pretty sure that he hadn't missed anything during the day, but there were always
ways to hide from him, so maybe like a mouse in a hole there were hiding monsters in the
town just waiting to come out.
He had gone ten kilometres out, moving in a spiral pattern as he circled the town, when he
found what they were waiting for.
[I found it. A whole bunch of Goblins are headed to the town now. They're just putting out
their fires and starting to move. Do you want me to follow them?] He asked.
Karl frowned. That was close to the worst-case scenario that they had imagined when they
prepared for the evening.
[Keep tabs on them, but make sure that is the only thing coming our way. We can likely deal
with a pack of Goblins, but if there is something stronger than a Common Monster, we
could be in trouble.] He replied.
Karl had an impression of where Hawk was in relation to himself, so he knew that that
Goblins weren't too close to the town yet, and he had some time before they arrived, but
not enough that he could count on making any real fortifications.
What he should do was call the Academy and make sure that this was part of the plan. Since
they didn't know if the teachers were aware the town was empty when they were sent, it
would be best to make sure. All he had to do was find the academy's phone number
somewhere. Assuming that it was even listed.

Contacting the Elites wasn't something that a regular person could just do casually, so the
number might not be easily available even with the computer here in the lobby. They
should have most of an hour before the Goblins reached the town, so he would wake Dana
up in half an hour to get freshened up and have something to eat before the fighting started.
[The Goblins are splitting up. They will be going all over town, but not in a big pack.] Hawk
did his best to explain the situation as the Goblins got closer to the town's low wall.
[Alright, you can start working once they are in the fog and separated. Just don't get hurt. I
will wake Dana now.] Karl replied.
He gently shook the mage awake and gestured toward the break room in the back of the
lobby.
"There are washrooms back there, if you want to get clean and grab a drink before the fight
starts." He whispered.
"How long do we have?"
Karl listened to Hawk's running updates and did his best to calculate.
"I would say about five minutes until they're actually in town, and fifteen or twenty before
they reach this side of town. They're about to reach the outer fog now, and they have
slowed to a slow walk as they search."
Dana disappeared into the back room and came back a few minutes later with a lunch box
in each hand.
"They're still good. Or at least they smell like it. They were in the break room fridge, but I'm
sure that whoever's lunch this was will forgive us."

"Do you know the Academy phone number, or how to find it? We should probably call them
to make sure this is part of the plan." Karl suggested as he finished the container of leftover
spaghetti and the two sandwiches. Whoever brought this had a serious appetite.
"I can try finding it, but I'm not sure that it's a public number. Let me know if anything is
getting close." Dana agreed.
She sat at the computer to search for the Academy's contact information, and Karl moved to
watch the outside of the building on the monitor at the other desk. There were only a few
security cameras, but they circled the building, and there was an extra one at the entrance.
@@novelbin@@
"Wait, we forgot to check the other doors. Give me one minute and I will make sure that
none of the side doors are unlocked." Karl hissed as he realized that they had missed an
important step in securing their base.
There was only one other exterior door, a fire exit at the back of the lobby, but when Karl
reached it, he realized that it wasn't and couldn't be locked. But he had some supplies, so
there was a chance to barricade the door.
He went back to the front and got one of the cargo securement bars and the length of chain
he had taken from the auto repair shop. The bar could be set across the hallway, and the
chain looped around it and through the handle on the door. The hooks on either end of the
chain would hold it in place, and the handle looked solid enough, bolted through the thick
metal fire door.
Karl didn't know for sure how strong a Goblin was, but there was no chance that he would
be able to pull that door open, even if he had someone along to help him.
It took a few tries to get the bar in the right spot across the hallway walls, but once he had
the chain pulled tight, the door was very secure, and they no longer had to worry too much
about anything sneaking in behind them.
[They're in the fog. I will start to eliminate the Goblins now.] Hawk reported.
"They're in town. Hawk is starting to work now, but we've got a bit before they reach this
side of the city. They're probably going to try to loot the houses as they go, so it might take
quite a while before they reach us." Karl whispered.
[They're not all stopping. A bunch of them are running further into town through the fog.
They could be near you soon. Do I scout or do I hunt?] Hawk asked.
"They're not doing a methodical search, they're spreading all over town and coming our
way. Get ready."
[Try to give us a warning when anything gets close to us, but hunt as much as you can.]
Karl checked the placement of the scent bags in the lobby, making sure they were going to
fill the room to deter goblins, then put another one out in the back near the lunchroom, in
case they had to retreat. Making it harder for the Goblins to pick up their scent would make
it easier to ambush them, and the more that they could kill before the tribe realized
anything was wrong, the better.
[They are coming right for you. Maybe they can smell you?] Hawk asked a few minutes
later as he watched the Goblins headed directly for the middle of town, next to the
government building where Karl and Dana were hiding.
[Thanks. We're on it.] @@novelbin@@
"Dana, climb up on that desk and open the window above you. You can fire magic missiles
from there, right? That should give you a better angle on the Goblins that are coming for the
town square. I am going to step outside and close the door behind me, so I can attack them
properly." Karl whispered.
Dana didn't approve of that plan, but if they were going to fight the Goblins, it was better if
someone drew their attention away from her. If Karl was inside the building, he couldn't do
it. But if he was outside and her scent was blocked from the Goblins while she attacked, it
could work well enough for them to clear out most of them with little risk.
The real danger would be that they would get tired from the exertion of multiple spell
castings. They would be restraining their powers, so the exponential mana cost as you
approached your limits wasn't as much of a hindrance, but there were still limitations on
how much they could do.

Even Hawk couldn't hunt all night long without a break, that wasn't in his nature at all.
What Dana needed to focus on was making the magic arrows more like actual arrows.
Normally, they were glowing spears of magic. But she didn't want them to glow tonight and
give away her position.
The first Goblins came as a pair, skulking through the streets searching for something that
they would never find, as Karl's [Rend] tore them both apart at the same time. Their bodies
fell into a bush along the side of the road, next to the building that they thought would hide
their presence, and Karl returned to waiting.
The smell of Goblin blood would certainly bring others to him, which was precisely what
Karl wanted at the moment. They were all spread out across the town, so they wouldn't
arrive in a group, but if they arrived a few at a time, they would be no match for him and
Dana.
Given his physique, even if he were just to fight them, Karl was fairly certain that he could
take one or two Goblins at a time without using skills, but there was a serious risk that he
would be wounded, and neither of them knew any healing skills.
Karl heard the rustle of a branch, when there was no wind in this fog, and turned to find
another trio of Goblins trying to sneak up on him. A streak of faint light hit one in the back,
punching a hole through its chest, before Karl tore the other two apart with [Rend].
Even at a quarter power, which put virtually no strain on his body or energy, the four
streaks of light shredded the Goblins with ease. They might be strong for their size, but
they were soft, and their hide was no match for his attacks.

In the sky above, Hawk had realized the same thing. He used only the bare minimum of
power to take out his targets all over town, saving as much as he could for later. Karl
always gave him a reward for doing a good job, and it had to be an excellent reward if he
managed to keep up the battle until all the Goblins were gone.
Unlike Karl, who simply fought where he was, Hawk had started his battle on the
downwind side of the town. That way, the scent of Goblin blood would be blown back
across the areas he had already cleared, instead of wafting over the village, as Karl's kills
were doing.
Not that the Goblins were all that concerned. Most of them were still focused on loading
large bags of stuff from houses, and Hawk just had to wait to kill them until they came back
out. But as they moved through the houses and didn't hear their fellow tribesmen anymore,
they were becoming concerned, and that was causing more of them to move toward the
smell of blood.
[You have more incoming. They can smell your fight.] Hawk warned as he took out both a
Goblin and an Earth Mouse at the same time.
Karl probably hadn't banned him from eating his kills. At least Hawk didn't remember him
doing it, so he happily ate the mouse before looking for more Goblins. It was a good night.
There was work, but there were also mice, and a promise of rewards later. Maybe he could
even convince Karl to give him a whole vial of that blood juice that was so good for his
strength.
Dana tapped on the windowsill to get Karl's attention and pointed through the fog to where
a group of four Goblins was trying to sneak up on them. It was a terrible effort, as their
eyesight was not good, and through the fog, Karl could see much further than they could.
What they were going by was the smell of blood, but there was none on him, or in the
building where Dana was hiding, so they were on the wrong side of the square, out in the
open when Dana's spell took two of them out before they even noticed they were in danger.
Karl was about to attack when instinct told him to move, and he sidestepped while turning,
barely avoiding being hit by a flying dart fired from a Goblin blowgun.
Using his full strength, [Rend] killed the creature and three of its companions at the same
time, slicing them into pieces that fell into the grass.
Dana took out the other Goblins across the park, and Karl gave her a thumbs up in
approval.
He would have to be extra careful of those darts, in case they had some sort of poison on
them. They didn't look like they would kill if they didn't, and that made them his largest
concern in the increasing darkness.
The darkness was also a benefit to Karl, as he could hear the Goblins running into various
things around town, where the lights in the houses had been broken or turned off. They
might have a sneaky dart gun, but if they couldn't see him, then it wouldn't really matter
what sort of weapons they had, they wouldn't be able to hit him.
With that in mind, Karl shifted into the shadows of an alcove and waited for more Goblins
to be attracted by the noise and the smell of blood.
He could hear Hawk hunting in the distance, the short shrieks of Goblins as they were
assaulted from above, cut off before they could get a full word out, but Hawk's narration
said that he was still high in the sky, using the dark to his advantage while attacking down
into the fog.
The Goblin tribe didn't stand a chance tonight, and they were so easy for him to kill that
Hawk was barely trying, just using multiples of very low powered attacks to eliminate the
pests without tiring himself. Bird type monsters were the reason that Goblins lived in
caves, and they had no real way to deal with an irate bird whose territory they had invaded.
They could only wait for it to swoop, or run and hide until it calmed down.
Another pair of magic missiles from Dana took out two more Goblins on the edge of the
central square, while Karl saw another scurry into the corner by a set of stairs.
It had seen its comrades fall, but couldn't see the attacker, so it was hiding and waiting for
its chance. He couldn't afford to let it warn the others, so Karl crept up to the stairs and
then tossed himself into the air using the railing so he could see down at the hiding Goblin.

The height shocked him. Karl wasn't really used to the additional strength of his body, and
he had thrown himself nearly three metres in the air, but it gave him a good view of the
target, and his [Rend] took it out with ease.
Then Karl caught the edge of the roof beside him to slow his fall, and carefully dropped to
the ground, limiting the noise he made on the sidewalk.
The soft thump didn't seem like it would carry far, and Karl returned to the shadows in
front of the government building to wait for more Goblins to approach. Their eyesight
might be terrible, but their hearing and sense of smell weren't, so they had to know
something was up by now.
The stench of Goblin blood was all that Karl could smell, and he didn't even have any on
him.
Then, the sound of bare feet slapping on the concrete as they ran in his direction caught
Karl's attention. There was a larger group coming for them, and as they reached the square,
they started to shout, calling for reinforcements as they searched for the culprit.
Karl stepped out into the street and cut down two of the closest Goblins from a block away,
where they were barely visible through the fog, even to his eyes. Dana hadn't started firing
magic missiles yet, so she probably couldn't see them, but the Goblins understood which
direction they were under attack from and turned to run toward Karl, waving rusty blades
and clubs as they screamed.
Swinging his arm in a wide arc, Karl sent out a three-metre wide quartet of attacks which
scattered the Goblins, with some leaping to the side, some dropping to the ground, and an
unfortunate few being torn to shreds.
That made them stationary targets as the first Magic Missiles hit them, and Karl picked off a
few more with smaller attacks that would be harder to see in the dark.

More bare feet were running toward them in the fog, and a shrill screech of Hawk hunting
came from overhead as he followed his targets back toward Karl.
It took a moment to activate Rend, and Karl couldn't do it as fast as Hawk could, but for a
moment, the Goblins were held at bay, creating a mess of bodies in the middle of town, and
covering the blood in black blood that stunk of rot and metal.
Then, the Goblins were too close for Karl to keep them away with Rend, and he decided to
switch tactics. He drew his blade and chopped at the closest one, breaking its arm and
knocking its crude wooden shield aside before the blade cut deep into its neck.
Dana focused on the Goblins closest to him, keeping them from surrounding or bypassing
Karl and heading for her, while Hawk worked his way in from the back.
It was impossible to tell how many were left in the fog as Karl traded blows with three
more Goblins, trying to get an attack in without leaving himself open. They were
surprisingly strong for their size, but not strong enough to be called Awakened Monsters,
as they were learning as they failed to stop Karl's counterattack.
A wave of sword light in the form of [Rend] sliced through the Goblins in front of him,
giving Karl some breathing space, but the larger attacks were hard on his stamina, and he
wouldn't be able to do that too many more times.
Instead, he retreated toward the government building, using smaller Rend attacks as he
went, and the Goblin pack began to falter.
"I can't keep this up." Dana warned from the window above him as Karl reached the door to
the building. @@novelbin@@
"That's fine, you don't need to. Lock the window and take a break, I will defend the
doorway while Hawk works outside. I think he has a bit more in him." Karl wheezed,
winded from the exertion of fighting a larger Goblin pack.
[I have been going easy on them, small attacks is all it takes, and they're too dumb to fight
back.] Hawk gloated.
[Just keep it up and get rid of the rest. Don't let them find a way into this building.]
Chapter 46 Don't You Listen?
Hawk circled the square, targeting the Goblins who tried to leave the area in other
directions, while seeing Karl standing in the doorway of the building, under the lights, drew
more of them forward.
Dana slumped as she climbed down from her perch on the windowsill, and went to sit in
one of the chairs in the break room to recover and get some energy back.
The snacks weren't much when you were used to roasted monster meat, but there was
some of that left as well, and the break room was well supplied with energy drinks and a
free coffee maker.
The Goblins were hesitant at first to approach Karl, after seeing him kill so many of their
own, but mostly they were waiting for more numbers. Numbers were strength to Goblins,
and once they had enough, their courage was unbreakable.
Karl leisurely cast Rend at the best targets, forcing them to keep moving or become lumps
of meat, while Hawk gave him steady updates.
[We are down to less than ten of them now. Most are in the square, but there are some on
the other side of town who are running away.] Hawk informed Karl after five minutes of
the cat and mouse game with the hiding Goblins.
[Don't let them get out of town. If we're going to make the area safe for the locals to return,
we can't have them sending survivors back to wherever they came from. I will keep fighting
these while you're gone.]
Karl sensed Hawk turning to find the cowards, and looked for a clean shot at the remaining
attackers near the building. They were trying to sneak up on him, staying in the bushes
around the other buildings, but that wasn't hard for Karl to pick out. What he didn't want to
do was to attack too fast and tire himself out before they made a large push toward the
door.
Hawk said that there were less than ten, and with the one he had just killed in the rose
bushes, that should be less than six, but he didn't know how many were still hiding
somewhere nearby and how many the Hawk had found running away.
The bird was too distracted with his hunt to give updates, but there was nothing moving
near Karl right now.

So, he waited, and then waited some more, until finally, one of the Goblins came sneaking
around the corner of the building, and tried to jump him. Karl didn't even turn his head as
he flicked his finger and sent a blade of energy to cut the creature's head off, dropping it on
the steps with a thud.
Hawk finished his work and began to circle the town, looking for more targets, but there
were none to be found. Everything in town was either dead or in hiding, which meant that
all that remained was for the local police force or militia to do door to door searches and
clear all the houses before the residents went back in.
Hawk landed on the roof, and Karl opened the window for him, so he could come inside
when he was ready.
"I'm going to close the door and rest for a bit. Hawk, keep a lookout at the front of the
building so nothing surprises us. Dana will switch with you in an hour or two." Karl
informed the bird, making sure that Dana could hear his side of the conversation.
They both needed the rest, and though they wouldn't be getting much sleep today, just
relaxing and meditating would help a lot. That's precisely what Karl had planned. Some
roasted Monster Meat to get the energy flowing through his body, and then meditation to
refill his and Hawk's energy storage.
With a bit of luck, they would feel refreshed again in a few hours, and they would be ready
to face the next day, after calling someone to come find them.
For the next hour, Karl rested and meditated, regaining most of the energy that he had
burned through, while Dana did the same, then they both got up to check in with Hawk and
make sure that nothing had been happening around town.
[Make one more flyover of the place and if there isn't anything changed from last time, you
can return to the beast space and sleep for the rest of the night. I think that we've gotten
through most of the threat now, and I will take care of getting us back to the Academy in
the morning.] Karl informed his feathered partner. @@novelbin@@
Hawk flew off, making his rounds over the town, while Dana went to search the computers
in the office to find a useful phone number and Karl guarded the door.
"I've got something. There is a government emergency line here, direct dial red phone. Do
you want to make the call, or should I?" She asked.
"You can make the call. Let them know that we're students sent out on a mission, the town
appears to be clear, and that we could use a ride back to the Academy."
Karl listened to the one-sided conversation and tried not to laugh as Dana struggled to get
anyone to believe her.

"No, we are students from the Academy sent here to clear the Monster infestation.
Of course, I know the town has been overrun, and it was evacuated, that's why we're here.
We are elites from the Academy.
Yes. No.
Let me try this again. Sergeant Rita and Professor Mills sent us here on a mission, using a
transport spell. We have finished clearing out the Goblin tribe, and we need a ride back.
Just contact the Academy, don't make me take this to your supervisor.
Oh, he's right there, is he? Put him on the phone.
This is the Awakened Rank Mage Dana, assigned with the Awakened Rank Warrior Karl, to
do monster control of this town. The Goblin tribe has been eliminated, and we need you to
contact the Academy to pick us up, our phone was damaged.
Yes, over fifty Goblins were found and killed, the entire tribe is dead, unless there are some
that left the area entirely. There are no more signs of Goblins here.
Yes, I understand very well what making a false report and impersonating an Elite could
mean. But as I'm not doing either, please send for an Academy transport.
Fine, sending for a military police unit works just as well. I will remain on the line until they
arrive."
At that point, Karl couldn't hold it any more, and he began quietly laughing, using his arm to
stifle the noise.
Not for long, though. The sound of helicopters in the air alerted Hawk to incoming visitors
only a few minutes later.
[Return to the Beast Space, I don't want any misunderstandings. They're all idiots, and
they're not listening to Dana.] Karl instructed.
[At least it will be light soon, so they won't be dumb and blind.] Hawk replied.
Dana sighed over the phone and dissipated the fog so that the helicopter could see to land.
"Yes, I know there is an unnatural fog here. I created it and I am dissipating it now. They
will be able to land in under a minute." She was explaining over the phone.
"I will send Karl out to flag them down with a torch, that should be pretty recognizable,
right?
Yes, we prepared for a power outage, should the monsters be smart enough to cut the main
power.
You're not all that bright either, but you're right here on the phone with me, aren't you?
Don't underestimate the monsters."
Karl laughed as he grabbed a pole and tied a rag around it, then dunked it in the grease and
lit it up. The torch created a bright flame with thick black smoke as the excess grease
burned, but it was impossible to miss in the rapidly thinning fog.
The helicopter didn't land, it just dropped a group of ropes, and a team of men in black
uniforms with rifles in hand dropped into the town square and formed a defensive ring.
They seemed a bit too paranoid by Karl's estimation, they should have been informed that
the threat was already gone, but they seemed to take their jobs very seriously.
"Academy warrior Karl?" The team leader shouted over the noise of the helicopter.

"That's me. The helicopter can land over there, we already cleared the town, so there
shouldn't be any more Goblins here." Karl shouted back.
Instead of landing, the helicopter moved to a higher altitude and away from the landing
zone, flying in a circle around the town, presumably looking for more threats.
"Let's get you to safety. Where is the mage?" The team leader asked.
"Inside. But as I've told you, it's already safe. Look around you, there are no more living
Goblins." Karl repeated.
The team leader hustled him back inside, but most of the team remained outside the
building, searching the square, which was covered in dead Goblins from an evening of
battle.
"I need you to put your index finger on the scanner for me." The team leader insisted, and
Karl complied, scanning his identity the same way he had a thousand times before, clocking
in and out of the mines for his after school shifts. @@novelbin@@
[Identity verified. Golden Divine Academy Elite student, Karl. Awakened ranking
assessment under review pending formal exam.]
The man looked between his identity scanner and Karl, then at Dana and back again with a
surprised expression.
"See, we told the guy on the phone what was happening, but it looks like nobody actually
believed it. You are welcome to explore the town, though. It will still need to be swept to
make sure that there isn't anything hiding in the houses that we didn't detect, and someone
will have to clean up all the Goblin bodies in the streets. I'm reasonably sure that's not part
of our job description." Karl explained.
"There are more coming. We were scrambled in advance from the base when we got the
report that there were some kids pretending to be elites in the town, but they were already
scheduled to be dispatched here to clear the village and find the Goblins.

It should be two hundred men, so they can scour a town this size on their own. Now that
we have determined that you two are who you say you are, is there any coffee?" The team
leader replied.
"Right here. There is a free coffee maker in the lunchroom. We weren't sent with overnight
supplies, so we owe a couple of people for a lunch, but other than that, everything in the
building is still mostly intact." Karl informed him with a smile.
"Oh, that's an easy fix. You don't have them yet, as you're still students, but once you
graduate you'll get a code generator app for your phones. Just write out the redemption
code for anything that you need to use in the line of service, and they can apply for
reimbursement from the government. I will put in for it today, it will make their overall
damage claim easier to process with one preapproval code in place."
The team leader grabbed a couple of napkins from the counter, and wrote down a string of
numbers and letters on each of them before stuffing them into the empty lunchboxes. Then
Dana put them back in the fridge where they found them, and the rest of the team started
to enter the building.
"Sir, the area is clear. No sign of life anywhere in the area. We will secure the building now."
One of the soldiers informed them in an extra serious tone.
"You can relax, they're real elites from the Academy, not kids playing pretend where they
shouldn't be. I'm not sure why we didn't get the message, but when they say that they killed
off the Goblins, I believe them." The team leader informed his men, who began removing
their face masks and lining up at the coffee machine.
"Best news I've heard all day. I can't believe we got chased out of bed at five in the morning
because some pencil pusher didn't know what to do with Academy Elites who don't have
an authorization code yet." One of the men grumbled.
The team leader set his mug down and nodded in agreement.
"You have to understand, they're minimum wage assistants. The ones who answer the
phone, that is. They live off the minimum subsidy for Elites, and answer the phones at the
call centre for elites and government officials, but they're not Elites themselves. They don't
have much else, so they like to go on a power trip at work.
Just give them your student ID number the next time they ask, and it will automatically
transfer you to one of us. Their job is to deal with local bureaucrats requesting assistance,
but when we call, they're just the receptionist.
I'm assuming that the two of you are starting your final year, preparing to go into the
military?" The team leader asked.
"Actually, we're in our first year, and they were preparing her to become an Idol. We are
both in the practical skills special class, since we're a bit ahead of most, and they sent us
here for training without any explanation.
I would assume that they thought that there was still someone here to greet us, since the
town was evacuated only a few hours before our arrival, but it is what it is. The situation is
dealt with now."
The special forces team all turned to look at Dana with smirks on their faces.
"Oh, they're preparing for the next Archmage are they? An Idol's career is notoriously
short, and her attitude is shit, so they're going to have to replace her sooner than expected.
Don't get me wrong, her power is top-notch, and she will be one of the top Elites for a long
time, but as an Idol, you can't be that horrible to your fans forever." One of the special
forces team members laughed.
"Does everyone just know everyone, then?" Dana asked as the soldiers laughed.
"Well, there is only one Academy for the Elite students, you see. Other than the Team
Leader, who is a bit older, we're all about the same age, so we were in school together. Once
you're through the first year of crammed classes, you'll find that there is a lot of time to
socialize and get to know each other.
The most popular people in school become famous outside school as well, and there are
only a hundred or so of us per year who graduate at Ascended or higher. You're both
reaching Awakened in your first year, so you're almost guaranteed to be part of that group,
and you will know a lot of soon-to-be famous people, that's just how it is as an Elite."
That made sense. Only one Rank above Ascended was Commander, and they were the sort
of powerful people that everyone in their hometown would know by name. Either because
they became politicians, or because they were so fantastically wealthy that they owned half
the town.
The Lithium Mines had a Commander Rank warrior who took the experimental treatments
during development of the Serum as the Mayor, but most towns only had a few elites
stationed there for security. Between the government stipend for powerful elites and their
connections, it wasn't hard for them to get wealthy in only a few years and live in luxury
wherever they had been stationed.

Other than the two that were on duty at the door, the rest of the special forces team
gathered to 'secure' the two young elites and drink coffee while they waited for the main
force of the army to arrive.
"Did you find anything stronger than a Common monster here?" The team leader asked as
he got up to pour another cup.
"Just one Irontusk Boar that was clearly awakened. If there was a leader among the Goblins
that wasn't at the Common Rank, I didn't notice. They're a bit difficult to tell apart in the
dark, especially with the fog, but I don't recall any of them surviving a direct hit." Karl
replied.
"Why did you choose to cover the town in fog anyhow? Wouldn't that just make your job
harder?" One of the special forces team members asked.
"Not really. It makes it harder for the Goblins to see where they're going, so they're
attacking blindly until they're almost on us. But I've got a Hawk as part of my Class skills,
and he's great at hunting in the fog. You see, if it stays close to the ground, he can see down
into it, while they are looking forward and unable to see much." Karl explained.
"Oh, so it is like the Druids that have an animal companion instead of a beast form?" One of
the others asked.
"Sort of. It's a Windspeed Hawk, and he's just made Awakened Rank."
"An actual magical beast, not just a Hawk? Now we're talking. That would explain your
confidence in hunting in the dark. Those things are a menace." The man grumbled,
remembering a time when his team was attacked by one.
They all sat and waited until the team's radios announced that the trucks were reaching the
town limits, and the army was spreading out to do a full search of the town.

"Well, that's the end to happy fun time. They will want us all on standby in case they find
something. They've got rifles, but they're not Elites, so they will call for us if they find
anything more than a lone injured Goblin." The team leader explained.
Then he led them all out into the open area in front of the building, what Karl had deemed
to be the town square, which he now realized was actually used as an open air market, but
all the stalls had been packed away until its next open day.
Today was Sunday, the usual off day for most labourers, so it would have likely been
opened, if there were anyone left in town. But the empty space had made it much easier to
fight last night, and eliminated most of the good hiding spots for the Goblins to sneak up on
them. @@novelbin@@
[More Goblin corpses here. Requesting sanitary cleanup.]
[Goblin cleanup at sixth and main as well.]
[And at seventh and main.]
Karl smirked as the reports of bodies strewn all over town came in, and the special forces
team tried not to laugh.
"You really did just set a Windspeed Hawk loose in the fog, didn't you? There are dozens of
them here, which makes sense for two elites fighting together, but there are random bodies
all over town, one at a time. You would have to be pretty sneaky to get them like that
without alerting the others." The team leader commended them.
"It was an excellent tactic. With Dana's fog, not only didn't they see Hawk, they didn't see
the bodies of their tribesmen either, so they just kept doing what they were doing until he
had time to get to them."
A few minutes later, the Command Vehicle, an armoured sedan car, reached the centre of
town, and promptly ran over a goblin corpse, spreading the stinking blood all over the
undercarriage.
"I hope they don't want us to get in that. The smell is going to linger for days." Dana
muttered.
"Don't worry about that, you will be returning with us to the Academy. I already sent for
approval from your teachers." The team leader whispered.
A sharply dressed officer in his formal uniform stepped from the sedan car with a grimace
on his face for the smell of dead Goblin that his driver had just run over.
"Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you both on your debut mission. I am Base Commander
Colonel Ryan, in charge of the purge of the town today." He greeted them, sounding much
more enthusiastic and less professional than either Karl or Dana had expected.
"Greetings, Colonel Ryan, but this isn't our debut mission, this was a training mission from
the Academy, we're not up for graduation this year." Dana replied with a sweet smile that
seemed to relax the officer even more.
"Not a debut mission? Well then, I guess there is no need to plead for tickets to your
inaugural event. But to have sent just the two of you for an incident of this magnitude is
incredible. To think that a pair of Elites in training could be this powerful." He gushed.
Karl didn't miss how the Special Forces team all rolled their eyes at his flattery, but with
the enhanced peripheral vision, he didn't have to turn his head to see them clearly, so the
man didn't notice that Karl's attention wasn't on him.
"I have two hundred men scanning the town now in pairs. They shouldn't take long to do a
door-to-door sweep and search every home, then we can return to the base to wait for one
of the older Elites to come pick you up." The Base Commander informed them.
"Sorry, Colonel. There are already arrangements in place to bring them back with our team.
We will be extracting them to the Academy as soon as we have verified that the mission is
complete, and the town is safe for residents to return to.

Unfortunately, there will be no time for photo shoots or any publicity events this time, but
I'm sure you understand. Security is paramount for the Academy, after all."
That was when Karl realized what the Colonel was after. He was trying to make friends
among the younger elites, networking to expand his connections in the future. It was
probably part of his job as a base commander to be in the know about everything that was
happening at higher levels, but it was a bit strange for both Karl and Dana for someone
with that sort of influence to have an interest in them.
With so many soldiers moving through the town, it almost felt like things were getting back
to normal. There were people in the streets, hurrying about their business, workers with
wheelbarrows cleaning up, even a fire truck had been pressed into service to clean the
streets of Goblin blood, as the stench was becoming unbearable in the sun.
But in the minds of the common soldiers, it only reinforced how terrifying the Elites were.
These two were still students, and already they were tearing through entire Goblin Tribes
that would have taken their whole unit to safely deal with. Everywhere they went, there
were more Goblin bodies, and even Karl hadn't bothered counting how many of them Hawk
had dealt with since they arrived here.
All that really mattered was the number that were still alive, and when they could be
finished with this assignment and go home to a proper meal.
In the distance, at the town's garbage dump, a filthy fire was sending thick black smoke into
the air as the soldiers used diesel fuel to ignite the bodies of the Goblins, purging them so
they wouldn't spread disease through the area, and eliminating the worst of the evidence
that monsters had actually overrun the town.
From what Karl could hear on the radio in the Base Commander's car, they were instructed
to clean up as much as possible so that the residents would feel safer when they returned,
as if the disaster had been mostly prevented, not dealt with after the fact.
It was one of the small political niceties that helped the people feel confident that they were
being looked after, and in this case, it could have been much worse. If they had waited for
the army, the Goblins would have looted the majority of the houses and caused massive
amounts of property damage during the overnight hours.

The Special Forces team leader observed the progress with satisfaction. "They will send a
cleaning crew through in the afternoon, as it appears that the town really has been
cleansed, but the soldiers will remain for most of the week, just in case. We can start getting
ready to head back. Was there anything else that you wanted to make a note of before we
leave?"
"Yes, these herb packs, I want to either know what is in them, or bring one with me to
analyze at the Academy. They seem to be an effective monster repellant, and it kept the
Goblins from trying to go straight for us in the government building." Karl noted.
The team leader opened the bag in question, sniffed, and then nodded. "I have the recipe
for this. It's a pretty common pest deterrent, but the herbs for it only grow in a few areas of
the country, this being one of them. I didn't know that it would work for Goblins, but it
works very well on insect type monsters, as well as regular bugs."
The local mosquito repellant deterred Goblins? Perhaps it just masked the scent of humans
so that they didn't realize the area was inhabited. But if it worked, it worked, and Karl gave
the team leader a thumbs up to signal that he would want that recipe later.
"Excellent. Then we are off to the Academy. Base Commander, we will return this evening
with a full report for you." The team leader announced.
"Thank you, Major. I will look forward to the detailed exploits of these two outstanding
trainees."
The helicopter returned as they were speaking, and landed on the roof of the building,
which was accessible through an internal stairwell that was marked "Smoking Area".
"You look more excited now than you did when we arrived." One of the team members
noted.
"I've never been in a helicopter before." Dana and Karl replied in unison, then burst into
laughter at their synchronized thoughts. @@novelbin@@
"Well, we can change that. Hop in and fasten your harness. The Academy won't forgive us if
you get injured on the ride home." The team leader informed them with amusement clear
in his expression.
"Yes, sir!"
The helicopter lifted off and turned toward the east, flying high over the treetops, and
roughly following a river.
"It's beautiful from up here." Dana spoke into the microphone, nearly drowned out by the
noise of the helicopter.
"It's like nothing you'll get to see on the ground. You two did good down there. I don't know
what the Academy originally sent you to do, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't for the Goblins. I
checked while we waited, and the other teams of students all went to take out a handful of
magical beasts and then called for a ride home the first afternoon." The team leader
informed them, now that there were no more curious ears around to overhear them.
"I thought that might be it. There was a group of wild Irontusk Boars near the town. That
was a nice light start to the day, and at first, we thought that might have been it, but then
we realized that all the houses were empty, and they hadn't just brought everyone inside to
wait." Karl agreed.
"So, you just started to scout the town for Goblins and then killed them all until we showed
up?" One of the other special forces soldiers asked.
"We thought that we might have underestimated the teachers, so we cleared out all the
Goblins and then called in on the hotline in the government building, but they didn't believe
us and threatened to send the military police.

That ended up being you, and they asked that we stay on the phone until you arrived so
they didn't have to put out a search warrant for us." Dana laughed.
The soldier rolled his eyes in amusement. "They're a bunch of idiots. I'm sure the boss went
over proper protocol already, but calling them is usually a last resort. Getting in contact
with a military unit or the Academy directly will make your lives a lot easier.
Do you think that they're going to give you a promotion after this? I see you've still got the
first year Common Grade badges on, but there's no way that either of you is still Common
Grade. We saw the fog and the bodies, that is definitely beyond the skills of two Common
trainees."
"We will see. If they do, it will be great. You know how it is at the Academy, power gets
respect. So, if we can get them to give us the black badges, we will at least be able to show
off to our fellow first year students." Karl agreed.
The special forces team laughed at their own memories of school. They were also among
the first to advance, so they knew very well that there were plenty of social benefits that
couldn't really be quantified about being the first with the black badges.
Then later, when you moved up to the Bronze Ascended badge, usually in your second year,
you were among the real powerhouses. With the body enhancements of the warrior
classes, Ascended Rank brought about huge changes to their physique, and it was at that
point when they could be called truly superhuman.
Karl could already jump up onto the roof of a single story house, but that was still plausible,
by Elite standards. When you could throw someoneover the house, then you were getting
into the feats associated with the Ascended.
"We're not far from the Academy now. It will be about another half an hour before we
arrive, but you should prepare yourself for a lot of questions from the students. It is the off
day today, and you're returning in a special forces helicopter. I wouldn't call that subtle, so
your friends will want to know what you were up to." The pilot laughed as he gestured to a
spot in the distance that should be the Academy.
The helicopter wasn't flying particularly fast, and the side doors were open, allowing the
team members to let their legs dangle out the side while they were held in by a safety
lanyard. Normally, that would be concerning, but Karl had seen them rappel down ropes
from that same position, so it couldn't be too dangerous, no matter what it looked like.
As they got closer to the Academy, they could see all the students out in the yard relaxing
and studying, and Karl could see all the heads turn as they noticed the sound of an
incoming helicopter. It wasn't the sort of noise that you would hear every day, so it
attracted a lot of attention, especially when it started to set down on the helipad next to the
main building.
The doors were open, so everyone could make out the two white and gold student
uniforms among the dark green special forces outfits, and the innate need to know all the
school's gossip kicked in.
"The teachers should be out here soon. They want a statement from you on what happened
during the mission, so I wouldn't count on keeping your day off." The Pilot informed them
as the rotors began to slow to an idle. @@novelbin@@
"Yeah, I was afraid that would happen. But hey, if you guys put in the good word for us,
maybe we can get those black badges right away." Karl joked.
The men at the door unhooked themselves and stepped down to offer a hand to Karl and
Dana as they exited the aircraft, while Sergeant Rita and two teachers that Karl didn't
recognize were jogging across the field toward the helipad.
"It looks like we're in for it right away. Sergeant Rita is my personal tutor." Karl informed
the team member beside him.
"She's not all bad. But if I recall, she really loved her physical fitness, so as her student, it
might be difficult to see." The man joked.
"She is pretty good, honestly. But I've got a class that nobody has seen before, so she's
always pushing for every bit of new information. This report will be a long one." Karl
explained.
Dana seemed to recognize the other two teachers, so they must be from the mage classes,
and they were gesturing for everyone to come meet them, not just Karl and Dana.
"Karl, Dana, it is good to see you back in one piece. The mages said that they were
monitoring your vital signs, and you weren't heavily injured, but we got the message that
the town was overrun after we sent you. Tell me, what happened after you got there?"
Sergeant Rita demanded the moment that they were far enough from the helicopter to
speak somewhat normally.
"We found a pack of wild boars on the edge of town, so we hunted them and packed them
up for meat, then we went to take care of the Goblins that were around town and the group
that they left on patrol.
That part was easy, as it was almost all Common Grade monsters. @@novelbin@@
We had Hawk clear the ones he found looting in the town, and then we went to the
government building to see if they had left us a message or something. It's not like we're
sent anywhere at random, so they should have known that we were coming.
But we didn't find anything, so we assumed the mission wasn't over, and we set up a fog
trap for the Goblins that would return that night. We managed to eliminate the entire
Goblin Tribe by morning, and then we called these fine gentlemen for a ride home."
The Special Forces team leader smiled and nodded along, then gave Karl a gesture of
approval.
"Short, succinct, but covering all the major steps of the plan. I approve, excellent summary."
The soldier chuckled.

"I will expect a full report by tomorrow morning. But before that, we all need to have a
meeting. It appears that the Base Commander has some fine things to say about you all, and
it has raised some questions here at the Academy." Sergeant Rita informed them.
"And that is my cue to retreat. Have a good afternoon, Cadets." The Special Forces leader
laughed.
"Oh, no. You're coming with us. We need a full report from your team on what they found
when they got to the town, body counts, the state of the students' combat readiness, and
anything else that the mages come up with. Since the students claimed to be Awakened
Rank when they reported to the phone operator, we need to determine if they lied to a
government official."
The soldiers smirked at her assertive manner, as the Sergeant didn't actually outrank them,
she was just the messenger passing on the bad news that they would not be returning
home so easily.
"Well, we've got just the thing for the testing, then. We have an entire Special Forces team
of trained officers at the Commander Rank who are willing to test the two students right
now if necessary.
I believe that not even the stuffiest of bureaucrats will question our judgment if we can
show the results." He replied.
With that much of a power gap and their level of experience, it wouldn't be a problem for
them to somewhat accurately gauge the performance of the attacks made by Karl and Dana,
but this particular team had their own estimation method.
"I will have Lieutenant Keyes set up a series of barriers, each one at ten percent increments
of his total power. There is no doubt that he is in the middle of the Commander Rank, but
there is a big jump between Ascended and Commander, the power nearly doubles.

If they can make it to fifty percent of his barrier at full capacity, I would say for certain they
can put out Ascended level damage. If they can make it to twenty-five percent, it should be
at least Awakened level damage.
That's straightforward enough, and then we can just have them repeat it to prove they have
the stamina for a fight. I don't think that will be an issue either, after seeing that they could
cover an entire town in magical fog and kill Goblins all night long."
The teachers from the Mage department were much happier than expected with that plan.
They were around the same power level, and they would have used the same general
testing method, but having an official examination done by the army would remove all
questions about bias in the testing.
They were the instructors of the students in question, after all. If someone thought that
they had passed too easily, it could hurt the teachers' reputations.
Sergeant Rita pointed to a building at the side of the compound. "Let's do this in the
practice gym. It's set up with all sorts of protective walls so nothing gets damaged, and we
don't have the whole school as an audience."
Karl shrugged, not concerned one way or the other. He knew that he could pass this test.
But Dana was happy to get out of the public eye, just in case the teachers were not
convinced that her magic missile was up to the standard for an Awakened Mage.
She had been holding back quite a bit all night long, but the Goblins were pretty soft
targets, and they were easy to kill even with a third of her total power.
Getting away from the crowd just wasn't going to happen, Karl realized once they made it
into the gym. There were viewing boxes up on the second and third floors, and with the
scene that they had made, arriving with soldiers and going straight to the gym with a group
of teachers, they had gathered numerous curious students that were anxious to find out
what was going on.
Normally, only the senior classes would be off campus at this point in the year, so seeing
two new students coming back from somewhere was gossip worthy all by itself. Seeing
them coming back like this, and getting a full welcoming committee from the school that
wasn't the disciplinary committee, was even more juicy of a story.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" The mage known as Keyes asked as he set up a row of
glowing squares along one side of the room.
Karl stepped forward. "I will go first. I will do it alone first, then with Hawk, since we're a
team, but the testing is supposed to measure the elite."
Keyes nodded toward the barrier squares that he had set up, and two of the other team
members set up cameras, while the teachers took out a set of sensors.
"These measure energy disturbances. They will give us a pretty good idea of how much
power you are using on each attack. We would like you to use all your power on each
strike, even if you know that it will break the barrier. There is a sensor dummy behind that,
made of armoured plate, and it will measure the residual impact if your attack isn't
dissipated." The teacher explained.
"That should be simple enough. I will send a full strength Rend at each of them, and we will
see what the barriers say." Karl agreed.
As soon as he stopped speaking, Karl sent the first attack at the barrier that should be ten
percent of the mage's total power. The barrier shattered without any hesitation, and the
plating behind the barrier lit up with the impact.
"Not bad. Keep up the pace, and then we will have you continue your attacks on the barrier
that you can't break to test your endurance." The teacher reminded him.
The second attack likewise shattered the barrier without issue, but the third left the Rend
attack visibly dimmed.
The fourth barrier seemed for an instant like it was going to hold, but it also flickered and
collapsed, nullifying the attack the same way that Karl had been nullifying attacks against
the school's mages during practice for the last two weeks.
After seeing that, Karl knew that a simple Rend was not going to take out the next barrier,
no matter what he tried to do, and the teacher wouldn't call multiple concurrent attacks a
win for actual attack power. So, he held the Rend on the claws of his new gauntlets, and
slashed at the barrier with his hand.

The brute force did what the ability alone could not, and the fifth barrier cracked, but held
together for two attacks, and only collapsed when Karl hit it a third time.
Karl coated the claws on both gauntlets and fiercely attacked the sixth barrier, leaving claw
marks on the magical shield that quickly reformed to a smooth surface. For ten minutes,
Karl beat on the magical barrier with no sign of it collapsing, then he stepped back to catch
his breath.
"That's what I've got." He informed the professors and the gathered Special Forces team.
The Special Forces team leader nodded in satisfaction before speaking. "Impressive,
combining the skill with a physical attack noticeably increased the total damage output,
and you've still got your pet in reserve. There is no doubt that you are at the Awakened
level. Being able to reliably break the third barrier until you are exhausted would be
enough for that.
If you could have gotten through the fifth in a single attack every time, we would call it the
minimum for Ascended, but you're not quite there yet, even with the physical and magical
combined. We allow the warriors to enchant their swords, so the methodology is sound.
You have our certification that you are indeed an Awakened Rank Elite."
The teachers and Sergeant Rita conferred for a moment, and then the longer haired of the
two nondescript teachers cleared his throat.
"The teaching staff is in agreement. You are promoted to the Awakened Rank." He declared.
"Student Dana, please step forward to begin your test." Sergeant Rita requested as the
Special Forces mage recast the spells.
The team leader leaned over to whisper to Karl as Dana mentally prepared. "The reason it
has to be one attack is that if there was an actual mage on the other side of that barrier,
they would be reinforcing it constantly to keep their defences up. If you can't break it in
one shot, you can't hurt the mage."

That made a lot of sense. The Commander Rank mage on the Special Forces team had just
put the barriers there, he wasn't doing anything to upkeep them. But a magical beast with a
barrier ability wouldn't let you just keep attacking without even trying to defend itself.
Unfortunately for Dana, Magic Missile wasn't well suited to this test, or to combatting
creatures with magical barriers. It was more of a multi target, dispersed damage type of
ability.
But it could be condensed to fire all the mana she could gather into a single spell. It would
be best if she held back a bit until she knew what she needed to break the barrier, though.
Unlike Karl, who had an easy time using multiple Rend attacks, her magic drained her
stamina rapidly at full output.
But she focused her Magic Missile into a single full power bolt and shattered the first two
barriers in rapid succession, then the third, which nearly nullified her missile, but which
shattered smoothly enough that the teachers gave a satisfied nod.
"You can split it into multiple missiles, and we will still count it as one casting. We
understand the limiting nature of the spell." The professor encouraged her.
So, the fourth was a barrage of five missiles, the last two of which made it through the
broken barrier, but the fifth remained solidly intact, only glowing briefly the same way that
the sixth had for Karl. She tried multiple attacks, long sustained barrages, heavy single
attacks, but nothing worked.
The fifth barrier simply wouldn't break for her. @@novelbin@@
"That's good. We have seen enough to know that you can sustain Awakened Rank magical
output. Congratulations, Student Dana, you have been promoted to the standing of
Awakened Rank Mage."
Cheers went up all over the waiting rooms, as the two first year students were officially
promoted, and the teachers handed over the black embroidered student badges to go on
their jackets.
"You're not free yet. I still want those reports done, and that means you too, Mister I'm
Special Forces now and too cool to call my family on the holidays." Sergeant Rita added,
looking at one of the team members with a hard glare.
The entire team burst into laughter at that, and Karl marvelled at the twist of fate that must
have been for their relatives. Having two successful awakenings in the same family was
incredibly rare, from what Karl knew. But then it could just be that there weren't many big
families in the mining town, so it just hadn't happened to anyone he knew.
It was quite possible that certain families had much more luck than the average in
awakening their talents. The so-called blessed families, as the Nobility referred to
themselves, but for a compatibility with the serum, and not their relation to Royalty.
Sergeant Rita led them all out of the gymnasium and into a classroom, where the computers
had already been brought to the screen for an official mission report.
"I want everything, the General insists on no less than a thousand words, and then you can
leave." She announced, and closed the door behind her, leaving Karl and Dana with the
bemused special forces team inside.
"So, that's the infamous cousin that you're so afraid of, is it? You know that you're stronger
than she is now, and higher ranked, she can't bully you." The team leader joked.
"What does strength have to do with anything? That woman holds a grudge like no other."
The man muttered, making his team members smirk.
They had obviously been over this before, though they hadn't met her in person, and the air
of friendly camaraderie set Karl and Dana at ease as they sat down to begin their reports.
The tapping of keys filled the air as everyone got to work, ignoring the previous
conversation in favour of getting the unpleasant part of their day out of the way as fast as
possible. The warriors had a clear advantage here, Karl included, in that their bodies were
enhanced, so even if they were not the greatest typists, their hands were so fast that they
could still easily type out the entire report as fast as they could frame it in their minds.
The reports from the Special Forces team were more detailed and structured, as they had
done them a hundred times before, but Karl and Dana did their best to not forget anything
that they had done or seen after they had arrived in that town.
"You two got quite the first mission, didn't you? I can't think of the last time I talked to
someone who got to do something as amazing as a pair mission against an entire Goblin
Tribe for their first time out." The team leader announced once he was finished his writing.

"Unless you count Jenny, but I think that we all know her story isn't quite as verifiable as
this one." One of the others added with a short burst of laughter. @@novelbin@@
Karl looked up in interest as they joked, and the team leader filled him in.
"She was a student a few years younger than us at the Academy. She was with a four-
person team, looking for herbs in the forest for her first mission. According to her, she
ended up meeting with a mystery man that she said was one of the local elites, who was in
the woods for the same reason.
Long story short, she was pregnant when she returned to the Academy. She only found out
two months later, when she started getting morning sickness." He explained.
Karl avoided the mental math that told him there was something wrong with that age gap,
but since he didn't know exactly how old Jenny or the Elite in question were, he decided to
keep silent. For all he knew, it could have been a cover story for a relationship with
someone else entirely.
Dana looked up from her work. "Jenny Starpepper? She's from my hometown."
The team leader nodded. "That's the one. Have you met her kid? I heard he's adorable."
Dana shook her head. "Calling him cute is being extremely kind to him. He's just going into
elementary school now, and they have to put mittens on him to keep him from clawing at
people. The word around town is that his father was a Berserker, and the rage skill got
passed along to their kid, who can't turn it off.
But that's mostly just gossip. She's married to one of the bankers now, and their younger
two really are adorable."

They all quickly finished their reports and chatted while they waited for Sergeant Rita to
return. They could have gone looking for her, or simply left, in the case of the Special Forces
team, but when they got back to base they would have to work again, to do the report for
their own Commander, who would expect something other than a copied and pasted
version of this report, and they were in no hurry to do that now that they were comfortable
here.
"Can we meet your Hawk? You've been talking about him, but I haven't seen him since we
arrived. Is he flying outside somewhere?" The team leader asked.
"Actually, my class created a separate space for him. Hawk, come out and say hello." Karl
replied.
The bird appeared in the air in front of him, then settled onto the top of one of the monitors
and warily stared at the new people.
Dana gave him a slice of jerky from her pocket, and Hawk's mood immediately improved.
He would gladly meet more people if there was food involved.
One of the team members nodded his head and whistled in appreciation. "Awakened Rank
Windspeed Hawk, Male, and my ability says he's under a month old, but that's far too young
for him to be fully grown."
Karl nodded. "My skills helped him grow much faster than usual. I hatched him on the train
on the way here, so that's as old as he is. We're just hoping that I can keep him growing at
this rate so that he can become a true Elite among magical beasts."
The soldier nodded. "Well, it's not impossible with a bit of energy and some resources. All
beasts grow based on what they eat. It's not a precise science, but what I do know, as a
Hunter, is that they will instinctively search out stronger creatures or plants to eat, and if
they don't get them, their growth will either stagnate or they will get weak from starvation.
The more powerful the beast, the more powerful the food source must be. That's why there
are a limited number of truly powerful beasts, there simply isn't enough food for more of
them in most regions."
"Oh? That's a useful class skill." Karl noted.
"Yeah, my talent is to know where and how to hunt things that I have seen before. I can see
the Hawk, so I know where one would usually find them, as well as some of their habits,
and I built up the rest of the knowledge through observation and practice." He shrugged.
"Well, it's still useful to me. I was going to request some higher ranked foods for him, to try
to force progression. I started absorbing nutrients much more efficiently a few days ago, so
it should be good for both of us." Karl suggested.
"Just don't overdo it. If the difference is too great, you won't be able to absorb anything. It
would be like going back to your first few days, before your body adapted, when you
couldn't absorb proper nutrition from the foods."
Karl considered the information that the Special Forces team had presented him with. If it
was true that the quality of the diet limited a monster's growth, it made perfect sense that
most Windspeed Hawks never made it past the Awakened Rank.
Their favourite food was the Earth Mouse, a Common Grade monster. Eating that every day
would give them a steady source of nutrition, but of a limited quality. If they were going to
advance further, they would need higher quality food, but their usual hunting targets
couldn't provide that.
They were capable of hunting larger targets, but larger bodies would bring scavengers and
other predators, which would interfere with their usual hunting grounds and force them to
move.
So, they would end up trapped in a vicious cycle where they could only rarely eat higher
quality meals, and they would slowly grow to Awakened Rank as they got older.
Hawk was certain that he would make it to the Commander Rank, just like these Special
Forces men, but that was largely wishful thinking on his part, and unless Karl could provide
the diet he needed, it wasn't realistic in the time they had at the Academy, much less in the
short term to overtake Sergeant Rita like Hawk wanted to.
But the Academy should be able to provide him with at least that much assistance. If the
food in the cafeteria was Common Grade monster meat, then just increasing it one rank
should bring about a new growth spurt for the Hawk. @@novelbin@@

That would be the first thing that he requested, other than more of the mana infused blood
with the strength stones in it. Hawk loved that stuff, like Karl had loved ketchup on chicken
nuggets when he was little.
Though, the bird's actual dietary requirements had slowed a lot since it hit maturity. Now,
it was relying more heavily on the energy provided by Karl, and not eating multiple times
its own body weight in a day. Hawk was still a little glutton, but when the total amount was
under a kilo of meat a day, it was much more reasonable.
At the rate that they were going, the Awakened Rank boar meat would last Hawk for
months, and it seemed that the meat left in the space would not spoil. Or at least it didn't
spoil as quickly as it would in a refrigerator.
"Since we're here at the computers, we should send a letter home. I can send it to the
mayor, and he will print it for my parents, since they don't have a phone or a computer."
Karl suggested.
"You know that almost everything about your life is currently confidential, right? They will
censor any information that outsiders are not supposed to have, like the location or layout
of the Academy, plus any details of your training." The team leader reminded him.
"That's fine. Just a little update to let my parents know that all is well is enough. I know that
some of the other students are more eager to get away from home, but I was just eager to
get away from the mines." Karl laughed.
The shortest of the team members reached over to pat him on the head. "That is
understandable. I came from an island fishing village. There are no options there but the
fishing boats or the cannery, you work on one or in the other. The day I left was the
happiest day of my life, but I still send a little something to my parents now and then."
The others nodded in agreement.

"There are money transfer limits, but we can still send them enough to be doing well. My
dad is an accountant in the capital, and he still loves his job, but he's one of the most boring
people I know. My mom always tries to convince him to agree to going somewhere fancy
for dinner when I visit, but he likes roast beef and potatoes so much he'd have them for
every meal." One of the others laughed.
Dana smiled as she wrote a short letter home, not directly referring to her rank or class, but
letting her parents know that she was doing well, and that the Academy was treating her
well, with a beautiful room.
She omitted the part about it being so loud that she preferred to study on Karl's balcony,
but her parents would take that the wrong way, no matter where she was.
Karl kept his nice and simple, telling them that he had finally gotten a proper growth spurt
to catch up to the height of his classmates, and that he was making friends and meeting
plenty of new people.
The soldiers thought that was hilarious, given the circumstances, but it was the sort of
letter that could be sent home entirely unredacted. Most would want to include details of
their training or their rooms, which would be scrubbed by the Academy staff before the
message was sent.
While they both knew that they wouldn't be getting a letter back any time soon, as the
Academy wanted them to focus on their studies, not the life they had left behind, it was still
comforting to know that their parents didn't have to worry about them.
Karl looked over his letter with satisfaction, then hit send and clicked the button that
confirmed the message would be viewed by Academy staff before being sent to an outside
address, even if it was a government email address in his hometown.
"Alright, that should take care of the important parts. Now I just need to talk to the Kitchen
to work up a new diet plan for Hawk and I can start on the next phase of my studies." He
informed the others, then sighed in relief.
The team leader gave him a comforting pat on the back. "That is always the fun part. We
were the third year of Serum injections, so when we were here, nobody knew anything
about how to keep progressing. They hadn't even had any graduates yet the first year that
we were here.
But it's all about going with what feels right. For the mages, it's mostly focus and practice,
for the hunters, druids and rangers, being at one with nature is a major part of their
growth. I think for Karl here, it will be mostly about keeping Hawk growing.
The official position is that the Serum is the future, but we've learned something interesting
in the last few years. The Classes can be passed on. Some of them can be taught to older
people who never got the injection but have potential, and others can be inherited by
children. I don't think that it will be long before they start looking for ways to optimize the
serum to give the best classes to those with the most potential."
Dana gave them an excited look. "You think that is possible? I mean, if they could make a
whole corps of Golem Mages, it would be huge for both the army and for major
construction projects. I heard that was what they wanted to try to teach us all, just to see if
we could learn the spell."
"More than just that. I think that they want to find an option that can be taught to people
who aren't compatible with the Serum. I know there have been some attempts to teach
sword skills to students who don't have the compatibility with the serum.
They've been a failure so far, the same as trying to teach them magic, but that could just be
a lack of mana. Who knows, maybe they will happen upon something good, but that's in the
future, and you two are too young to be worrying about your children's future." The team
leader laughed.
Their laughter was cut short when Sergeant Rita returned with the Headmaster of the
Academy, as well as the old mage who worked the transportation magic and two men in
expensive looking suits.
"It is good to see everyone in such high spirits. We were just in a meeting about the incident
when your reports came through the system, so these fine gentlemen came to speak to you
all before they left." The Headmaster informed them politely.
If the headmaster was sucking up to them, these two had to be someone important, but
Karl had no idea who they might be. There were too many important people in the world,
from Elites to government officials and even Royalty.
"Royal Prince Axel, Overlord Drake, it is a pleasure to meet you in person."?The Special
Forces team leader announced, while everyone else gave a hasty bow for the Royal.
Karl did his best to follow along, but he had no idea if he was doing the formal bow
properly. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing that came up in class as a kid.
The burlier of the two men, with his long black hair in a tidy braid, smiled back at them. "No
need to stand on formality. We're here on business, not in our official roles. I wanted to see
the promising newbies, and to hear firsthand how they feel about seeing the real threat to
the nation."

That must be Overlord Drake, as Hawk felt the man's power and warned Karl that he was
dangerous.
"Overlord Drake, it's an honour. I must say, seeing Goblins for the first time was more
disgusting than anything. They smell terrible, especially when they're dead." Karl replied.
Dana nodded her vigorous agreement, and the two men smiled back at them.
"That wasn't quite the response I was expecting. Weren't you terrified to have come across
real monsters?" The Overlord Rank warrior asked.
"I don't think that it even occurred to us. The first group we found was only the six of them,
and we were confident enough of taking them out, so by the time things got dangerous, we
were already past the initial shock." Karl replied.
Dana nodded her head and added. "Goblins are horrifying creatures, but they're so filthy
and disgusting that it kind of overpowers any sense of fear, you know?"
The Prince, with a slight smile on his delicate features, shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't
know. I have seen many things since I graduated, but I have never met a Goblin in real life. I
am told that the smell of them is somewhat revolting."
[Why does he look like he's in charge? The big guy is way stronger than he is.] Hawk asked
Karl, unclear about the human hierarchy.
[His family rules this whole area, so he gets respect as a future leader, not for the personal
power he has now.] Karl replied mentally.
[Oh, like the cub of a big predator. I understand.]
That was close enough for Hawk to guess where everyone's proper spot in the rankings
was. It was critical in his mind to know what was prey, what was not, and what looked like
prey but could bring a very dangerous threat your way if you tried to eat it.

"Was there anything that we could do to help the two most promising students of this class
grow?" The Prince asked the Headmaster, preparing to leave now that he had made his
determination of the character of the people they had been speaking about.
"Well, Dana is a standard mage, her first spell was Magic Missile, the same as yours, so
anything that you can tell her about your own advancement might help. Or perhaps the
Royal Library has a useful spell that might assist her? But Karl is a unique Class. He has a
deadly pet Windspeed Hawk that imparts power to him as it grows. That could be more
difficult, your Highness." The Headmaster replied.
"What spells do you know now?" Prince Axel asked Dana.
"Magic Missile and Fog Bank."
The Prince thought about it for a moment and then held out a hand behind him, then
realized that he hadn't brought his assistant into the room.
"If you have some time, I will give you a spell tome. It's a talent hand behind him, then
realized that he hadn't brought his assistant into the room.
that I learned when I strengthened my inscription skills. In theory, if you are compatible
with them, you can read it and immediately learn a new spell to a proficient level." He
explained.
"I have all the time in the world, Your Highness." Dana chuckled.
"Right, first year student. You won't be going far, or at least you won't be gone long if you
are. I will have my assistants deliver the spare one I brought to your room later."
Drake reached into the inner pocket of his coat and held out a small red book. "It looks like
this, but likely thicker than this one. This is the attack skill that we have been trying to
teach all our warriors. It's a wide area attack skill, great for clearing groups of monsters.
Perhaps Karl would like to try?"
Karl looked at the cover of the book, which was just blank red leather. @@novelbin@@
"What is it called?" He asked.
"Rend. It's not a difficult one, but it is powerful, thanks to the bleeding effect that it has on
targets that survive the initial hit, and we are hoping that all the warriors can learn it by the
end of their second year." Drake replied.
Karl sighed and shook his head. "Rend is the basic skill of the Windspeed Hawk. It is
currently the only skill that I do know."
"In that case, I think that I might have something good for you. After Rend, there is an
advanced version of the skill known as Shred. They're similar in function, but Shred is
much more deadly at the same rank and leaves jagged wounds that make it difficult to stop
the bleeding if they lack magical healing.
I will get someone to bring you a skill book to see if you can learn it, or teach it to your
Hawk. If either one of you knows it, you shouldn't have too many problems fighting above
your level as an Awakened warrior." Overlord Drake announced.
[Better than Rend? Is he being silly? Rend is the greatest skill in the world.] Hawk
complained.
[It's an improved Rend used by more powerful creatures. Trust him, it's a good thing.] Karl
replied.
Then he bowed politely to the powerful warrior. "I would appreciate any help we can get. I
don't know what the limits of this class are, but if we can learn some more powerful attack
magic, it would be incredible."
The Headmaster reached into a bag hanging from his side and pulled out a book that looked
the same as the one for Rend, but with a bit of silver trim on it.
"I have a spare copy with me, just send the new one to my office and I will give this one to
Student Karl." The Headmaster suggested.
"That is much easier. My assistant should still be waiting there, and he has one with him. It
looks like the lull is over, if these two are anything to go by. It has been a few years since
any really outstanding students began their training, and we were beginning to worry that
it was only luck that brought us a flood of geniuses in the first few years." Overlord Drake
announced.

The Headmaster handed over the book, which was warm and soft in Karl's hand, and
everyone stared at him expectantly. @@novelbin@@
"Go ahead, try to open it and see what happens." The Headmaster insisted.
Karl gently flipped open the manuscript, and a flood of power flowed into his body.
[Skill Learned: Shred]
[Pet Skill Learned: Shred]
Hawk popped out of the Beast Space and landed on Karl's shoulder to show off, making
sure that everyone could see the blood-red feathers streaked through the cream colour of
his legs.
"Wow, I was not expecting that. But where did the book go?" Karl asked.
"It vanishes if someone who can instantly learn the skill uses it. I have to tell you, that was a
shock to the Inscriptionist teams when they first learned of that little bit of information.
They cried for a week when they found out that the books they were making would just
vanish to strengthen others, since they couldn't use them themselves." Drake laughed.
"So, there are limitations?" Karl asked.

The Prince nodded. "Very strict ones, though we don't really understand why. Certain
books can exclusively be used by those with certain types of mark, but it varies from skill to
skill, and even ones that are similar might not work for the same person. But when there is
one that works like this, it saves so much time, and the user will be able to activate the skill
at full force, the same as they could for their first skill, with none of the failures or half -
power activations in the learning phase."
Dana was beginning to get excited about the prospect. "And the Elites that have an affinity
for Inscription can just make these? That is incredibly powerful, even if they're not a
combat class."
The Prince shook his head. "They need an original copy to work from. The only ones they
can make are ones that we have managed to find an original working copy for, or that were
created with the help of an Elite that has mastered the skill well enough to teach others.
The total number of spells that we have tomes for right now can be counted on my fingers,
But Rend, Shred, and Golem are the ones that we focus the most on, since they are all
advanced skills, and are harder for Elites to learn on their own.
Things like Guard and Slash we don't need to use a book for, you can just teach the warriors
the skills."
Dana nodded in understanding, and the Prince got a curious look on his face before he took
out another book from his pocket.
"How about you try this one? It's not one that I can use, and our Marks are the same, but I
haven't actually had anyone else try it since it was copied out." He suggested, passing her
the book.
Dana focused, and flipped the cover open, showing an intricately detailed set of notes and
diagrams.
"That's what I thought would happen. It's a Vine Whip spell that we found in some ancient
Ruins. We gave the Headmaster a copy for the Library here as well, but we haven't found
any class but the Druids, the ones with the animal paw mark, that can actually use it."
Karl examined the book, trimmed with the same silver the Shred tome was before
speaking. "That makes sense. The one working as a guard on the train said that his powers
didn't activate until he touched a tree, so their bonds to nature would make them the
perfect candidate to use a vine spell. If there are others that are animal related, I might be
able to use them, while the mages should be able to use ones that are related to their first
spell, right? I'm not sure what the mages limits are, but from what I have seen, everyone
has their own niche."
The Prince nodded. "Exactly. We all have our niche, but nobody knows exactly how to tell
what the limits are. If there was some way to accurately define the powers of the Elites, or
tell what skills they would be able to use without having an identical class mark test the
ability as a reference, it would save us so much time and effort. Too many of us have wasted
months trying to learn a new ability that was simply impossible for our Class."
He was going to continue, but a knock on the door interrupted them, and a group of men in
servant uniforms stepped inside.
"Your Highness, there is an urgent matter at the Capital, we need to go." The first man to
enter announced.
"That is fine. Pass this young mage a copy of the Golem spell so we can see if she can use it.
Then we can leave."
Dana accepted the Golem spell book and hesitantly stroked the cover, hoping that she
would be able to use this one the way that Karl did [Shred].
After a moment of hesitation, she flipped open the cover, and the book vanished. Prince
Axel and the other mages didn't look surprised, but Dana was nearly vibrating with joy as
she learned the spell, improving her repertoire to three spells in total.
"Now cast it, and we can see how it turns out. Each mage has a different Golem, based on
their proficiencies, and it's the best way to tell the forward path for them." Prince Axel
explained.
Dana cast the Golem, which came out looking more like an ancient statue, white marble and
distinctly lacking clothes, other than a loincloth. As soon as she saw it, she blushed bright
red, and she was about to dismiss it, but the teacher stopped her.
"It will come back the same way every time. But a stone Golem is a good one, second only to
the Iron Golems in versatility. Most of the students get a clay, wood or sand Golem, which
aren't as strong, though the sand Golem is quite difficult to damage.
The clear visualization of the human form is actually a sign of superior mana control, which
improves its agility, and it should be as physically strong as a monster at your Rank, so it
won't be weak in battle." The professor explained.

"Once you learn the [Mage Armour] spell, you can dress it in proper clothing." The Prince
whispered in a teasing tone.
Karl examined it for a few seconds, wondering why it looked so familiar, even though he
had seen numerous golem spells cast by students since he arrived, and one of the other
team leaders in the Saturday group had a large mud Golem among his spells.
Then his mind went to the training Golems in the rooms that the other two members of his
team on the first day chose. That was where he had seen this sort of detailed Golem before,
but those were both armoured, and not in some sort of semi nudist classical art style.
The teacher smiled at Dana's embarrassment, but his satisfaction was immense. Not only
had two of their first year students made it to Awakened Rank this week, but the senior
Elites saw fit to grant both of them and the school some new abilities to teach the students.
Nothing was going to bring him down off that high today.
"How well can a stone statue stand up against a magical attack, though?" Dana asked, as she
had never personally fought against one before.
"The stone is magical as well. Though it looks like a simple statue, hacking at it with a
regular sword will do nothing, and hitting it with an Awakened Rank spell will only do
minor damage most of the time." The professor explained.
"It appears that I no longer have the advantage in numbers or in power." Karl joked as
Hawk gave the statue an evil glare.
Every Hawk knew that stones were hard, and it probably wouldn't break easily if he
attacked it, so the big stone guy was a threat to his position as top pet. It was just a good
thing that it couldn't fly, so it was unable to steal his scouting spot.
Sergeant Rita patted Karl on the shoulder as she consoled him. "Just wait. Once we find a
suitable target pet, we will try getting you to bond with another monster. But the advantage
that you have in growth rate is definitely way above most of your classmates."
Drake, the burly Overlord Rank Elite that arrived with the Prince, smiled at Hawk and then
sighed.
"I always liked birds. I will make sure that the Academy gets approved to try feeding him
some special resources to see if he can either learn some new skills or advance faster. If
nothing else, we can at least spare him some of the Ascended and Commander Rank
monster blood to mix with the strength stones.
That concoction should keep him growing at a steady pace for a little while, until his body
has reached the limits of its natural potential. The labs have tested that already, and it
works on almost all monsters." The big Elite explained.
"I would appreciate it. The faster he grows, the faster I grow, which helps both of us keep
going. I think that once he has reached Commander Rank, it might be difficult, but Hawk
has confidence that he can make it there with just a little help." Karl replied.
@@novelbin@@
Drake nodded in satisfaction. "Good, keep up that confidence, it's key to become strong.
Once you lose confidence, you start becoming more cowardly. Once you start down that
path, it's difficult to turn around, and you have to spend time undoing the mental damage
you did to yourself."
So the aura of dominance that all the stronger Elites gave off wasn't just the arrogance of
the strong, but a mental trick to keep themselves from falling off the path to greater
strength? That was not going to be an easy attitude to emulate, but keeping a certain level
of confidence shouldn't be too difficult.
The Prince's assistants were tapping their wrists, indicating that he needed to hurry up, so
Karl and Dana both bowed politely and looked toward the door, hoping to excuse
themselves from any more formalities now that they had gotten all the benefits without
upsetting anyone.
"Yes, we should all get back to our business. Don't forget to dismiss the Golem, they're not
allowed in the hallways." Prince Axel agreed, then gestured for his assistants to hand over
the information that they had brought him and walked out of the room.
Sergeant Rita smiled at the students as the senior officials left. "Well, I must say that went
better than any of us could have hoped for. If you're done socializing with the soldiers, you
should get something to eat and then meditate or practice to consolidate your gains. New
spells and skills can be tricky the first few times even if you have used a Skill Book to learn
them, so don't overestimate yourselves."
The Special Forces team leader chuckled. "Not that we would know, none of them were
publicly available when we were in the Academy."
Karl and Dana headed back for the main floor of the dorms, where there should be dinner
served right now, and silently hoped that the other students had not noticed who got out of
the helicopter.
That hope was in vain, as the moment that they entered the cafeteria they were surrounded
by other students that they trained with, including all the others from the special training
class.
"Alright, spill. What happened to you two that you came back a day late in an army
helicopter? That is badass, by the way, but our mission barely took an hour." One of the
other first year students asked, while the girl beside him nodded. @@novelbin@@
"Well, you see, it was just a minor lack of communication. The town we were sent to, with
the intention of having us eliminate a group of Irontusk Boars headed by an Awakened
Rank beast, had been overrun by Goblins an hour before we left. It was too late for the
Academy to see the update, so we were delivered to an empty town with no idea what we
were supposed to do.
We just killed every monster that we could find and waited for someone to come get us.
They didn't seem to be in a hurry to do that, so we called in the morning when we were
sure that the Goblins were all dead." Karl explained.
"And how does that relate to you both having Awakened Rank black badges now?" One of
the other students asked.
"The Special Forces team that came to get us vouched for us, and they let us do the test
when we got back instead of waiting until the end of the semester or having to beg a
professor. We both passed, so we got the badges right away." Dana informed him with a
smug smile.

"That's just not fair. If we had been the ones to get sent there, we could have been the first
to get our badges." One of the other students complained.
"We nearly got killed by a single Shadow Cat, and it hadn't quite reached Awakened yet. If
we had to face off against a whole tribe of Goblins, we would be missing persons right
now." His partner reminded him.
"It wasn't that bad." The boy defended himself.
"Other than the seventy stitches, the broken hand and the loss of your sword?" One of the
other students asked.
"It was just a little mistake, the cat caught me by surprise."
The students laughed as Karl and Dana made their way to the counter to grab a meal, and
quickly rearranged their seating pattern so that the two of them would be placed in the
corner, where everyone could see and talk to them.
"It looks like you two are famous today, so you might as well enjoy your time in the
limelight. Now, tell us more about the fight with the Goblins." One of the students insisted.
By the time that they were done, it had been nearly two hours of giving every minute detail
of their overnight adventure, and Karl was becoming increasingly certain that they had
narrated the details of each action that they had taken more than once.
If Hawk could talk, they might have dragged it out for another hour, since the students
wanted a blow-by-blow recounting of the entire fight on a level that not even Sergeant
Rita's official reporting required. But it felt good to be popular for the moment, and with
the Black Badges, they would be entitled to some extra credits from the school every week
to upgrade their rooms and lifestyle.
Dana's first thought was to get some soundproofing for her bedroom so that she didn't
have to hear the neighbours training at every hour of the day, but Karl was stumped.
They were going to bring him resources for Hawk free of charge, and he wasn't sure what
he needed. Plus, his room was perfect the way that it came. Sure, he could redecorate, but
that wasn't really necessary, and they had to be in uniform on campus, so even if he was a
fashionista it wouldn't matter. He could get some more notebooks, and maybe a tablet so
he could digitize all his information, but that was about it.
When they finally escaped the cafeteria to head to their dorms, the sounds of explosive
attacks were echoing through the hallways. The noise was coming from the two doors on
either side of the stairs, where the large square rooms for warrior training were.
Dana sighed in resignation at not being able to sleep, but Karl had a better idea.
"There is a hammock on the balcony if you'd like. It's quiet, and the only one likely to wake
you up out there is Hawk, unless it starts raining. I don't know if the spell around the
greenhouse balcony actually stops rain, since it hasn't happened since we arrived." Karl
offered.
As soon as he said it, Karl realized that he should likely get an award for the most awkward
way to invite a girl to spend the night in your room ever, but she clearly needed the sleep,
and even when they got to his door, he could still hear the first year students frantically
training on their day off.
The news that two of the students had made it to Awakened Rank had spread like wildfire,
and everyone who thought they had a chance to be next was working hard, as well as those
who were a long way from the goal, who realized that they might be the first to be shunted
to the slow progression courses.
Nobody wanted that.
It was a necessary part of the Academy's curriculum, and they weren't really the slow
classes, they were the regular classes, but as time went on, the top third of the class would
be moved up to special training, leaving the others behind.
Karl was among that group for all of his training, while Dana was already there in the
Saturday classes, with a good chance that she would be gaining a personal tutor in the next
few days. They were already way ahead, and only gaining more ground on the rest of the
class as they got the sort of special treatment that the true Elites enjoyed.
But while the special treatment that the most powerful got was enviable, the fact that they
seemed to be together as a couple was enough to provoke jealousy in the hearts of many
students.
Karl woke up the next morning to the sound of laughter, and stomping feet. It wasn't a
combination that he associated with his room, which was normally silent, and for a
moment, he was completely disoriented.
"Hawk, he's not a perch, I am trying to train the golem to fight." Dana's voice laughed.
The sense of confusion faded, and Karl hurried to get dressed before heading out to the
balcony, where a nearly naked statue was doing some sort of Kung Fu, while Hawk sat on
its head and chirped directions that neither the Golem nor Dana could understand.
"He says that the foot is too high, and it makes you vulnerable to leg sweeps." Karl informed
the mage as he stepped outside to meet them.
"Oh, good morning. I hope you don't mind, I used the shower first. The plants are all
watered as well, and I think that hammock is enchanted. I might not have slept for long, but
I haven't felt this refreshed in a long time.
I was meditating, but Hawk was bored, so we started to water the plants, and then I
thought I should try out my new spell. The Golem is good at smashing, but I think if it's used
by someone who actually knows martial arts, it will get better.
The Golem responds to mental commands, but I know almost nothing about combat in that
sense, so all I can tell it to do is basic attacks." She rambled as she adjusted the Golem's
movements, so its steps weren't as high.

"If it works that way, you'll have to get the teachers to let you sit in on some of the fighting
classes I attend. I use clawed gauntlets to fight, so it's almost the same as martial arts, even
when I'm armed." Karl suggested.
"Or you can help me teach the golem. Once I understand the basics, it should be enough to
get started." Dana suggested, with a determined look at her summon.
"Alright, let's start with the three basic combat stances, and then we can move to the
guarding positions, since he already understands the basics of punch and kick from the
spell."
Dana led the Golem to mimic Karl as he moved, and the Golem caught on incredibly quickly.
They weren't intelligent in a true sense, but the spell allowed the Golem to be slightly
adaptive, and the more it fought, the better it would do the next time that it was
summoned.
The understanding was mostly the mages, but either the System or the spell itself enabled
it to retain skills it had gained when dismissed and resummoned.
After about ten minutes, Karl and the Golem began to shadow box, holding back their
powers so that they didn't actually injure each other, though they both had Awakened Rank
physiques, at least in theory.
Karl hadn't had to test that yet, but he hadn't been injured during training since the day
that his absorption of energy from food had improved, despite taking just as many hits in
training.
However, kicks from sparring partners and a full power punch from a stone fist would be
an entirely different experience, he assumed.
"Alright, now that I've had a morning workout, I need to shower, and then we should go get
some breakfast before classes start. Will I see you again after class?" Karl asked.

"I'll be back after dinner to study. I suspect that we're both going to be busy today, with all
that happened this weekend." Dana agreed.
She was completely right. By four in the afternoon, Karl was completely exhausted from the
upgraded training regimen, and Sergeant Rita still had more plans for his day.
"Now that you have been promoted to the rank of Awakened, you are considered
somewhat of a proper Elite, though you are still in school. Normally, this class comes up in
the second semester, but we need to start going over the duties and responsibilities that
come with the position of an Awakened Elite, and the chances that you could be called to
assist with attacks whenever you are off campus.
Well, theoretically you could be called to them when you are on campus as well, but there
are plenty of senior students to go through before it would be your turn, as we award
credits for outside duties, and there is a waiting list." Rita explained. @@novelbin@@
"Wait, there is a waiting list for the emergency responses around the Academy?" Karl
asked.
"That's the part that caught your attention? Yes, the senior students all want to have them
to pad their resumes, and for the extra resources that they can get. Especially if they're
graduating at Awakened or barely into Ascended Rank.
But right now, it is important that you know the basics, like how to send a message to Elite
Operations, the emergency contact numbers, and a few other things that would have
helped you out on your last trip.
I'm sure you're aware that the phone call could have gone more smoothly if you knew to
give them your Student ID number as an introduction, so you would be transferred to
someone with a functional brain, but you could also have contacted the Elite Force
stationed at the airbase directly and saved some time.
Also, there were other Elites in the area that you could have called on if things went wrong,
they just didn't respond because the Mayor sent the signal that they had all evacuated
safely. With the civilians gone, the military could take their time."
While the Sergeant's explanation made a lot of sense, as it was undoubtedly safer to hunt
for the Goblins in the daylight, it would have made more sense to do the whole job the first
day and not wait until the second day to deal with the rest of the Goblin infestation, after
the homes had been looted overnight.
But, Karl assumed that this wasn't the only thing that they had to do, so he wouldn't hold it
against the soldiers for showing up when they were ordered to.
"Alright, let's see that data. I will start memorizing it before dinner, then keep working on it
after class until I have it all down." Karl replied, resigned to the overload of data that was
coming his way.
The information turned out to not be all that bad. He had a few dozen items and protocols
to memorize, but once he had seen them, they were mostly common-sense items, and they
wouldn't be difficult to remember at all.
He wrote down the emergency call numbers and essential protocols for meeting Elites with
high positions on a cue card, and took it down to have the supply room laminate it on his
way to dinner, but other than that, there wasn't much that he couldn't remember on the
first day.
"The top of the class has finally graced us with his presence. How does it feel to be the most
elite of the first years?" One of the second year mages from his morning skills training
joked when Karl entered the cafeteria.
"I'm not sure, you will have to ask Hawk." Karl joked as the worker passed him the daily
special, a fried noodle dish with large chunks of monster meat in it. @@novelbin@@
"That's probably true, his skills are insane. I heard that they're going to move up your
studies again, does that mean you're not going to get to practice with us in the mornings
anymore?" The blonde boy asked.
"I don't think they are planning to take me out of that training so soon. I heard from
Sergeant Rita that they will change my close combat training partners, but they were
already preparing to do that. Part of my abilities seems to be faster learning speed, so I'm
doing really well in the mixed martial arts class, but I still can't block magical attacks fast
enough or in large enough numbers that the morning class needs to change."

Karl's reply made the other mages in the room laugh. If one Elite could block all the attacks
from two dozen of them, did they really deserve to be assigned the same rank? Even if he
could block half of them, it was already an unfair advantage at the same peak power level.
But the nature of his skill, that the Rend could separate into multiple parts with a single
cast, made it much easier to hit multiple targets, and the mages had to admit that both Karl
and Hawk had impeccable aim.
Again that evening, when Karl went up to his room after dinner, the hallways echoed with
the sound of students furiously practising, and he knew that Dana would be waiting for him
to let her in. He didn't even have to wait after knocking on her door, she answered
instantly, as if she had been standing right behind it, and had her school backpack at the
ready, packed with her books and a change of uniform for the morning.
"I asked about a soundproofing measure for the room, but it's not cheap. We would need to
take on at least one more mission at the same level as the last one to afford it." She
apologized as she closed the door behind her.
Karl winced at the sound of echoing attacks from the neighbouring rooms. "It's still a good
place to practise, and once the others calm down it shouldn't be too bad. I can see why all
the senior students like to spend time outside, though. Even here in the hallways it's loud,
so in their rooms it must be terrible."
On the far side of campus, in a meeting room facing a wall of security camera feeds, the
school administrators watched the two young students walk into the second floor
greenhouse room.
"Are you certain that this won't lead to a premature pregnancy? I feel like we should
separate them, for the good of their planned career paths." An older woman insisted.
"Despite the appearances, they're two pure souls. I think that even if they were sharing the
same bed, we wouldn't have to worry too much about it. Besides, there are prophylactics
available for free, and we can have their individual counsellors recommend long-term birth
control injections for both of them." The Headmaster replied with a shrug.

"They're advancing much faster than the others, despite not having the strongest starts,
should we put a camera in the greenhouse room to see what sort of training they're doing?"
One of the other board members suggested.
The Headmaster made an annoyed sound and shook his head. "Feel free to ask them, but I
will not allow cameras in the students' dorm rooms. There are standards here, and I won't
bend on that one."
Every one of the Elites had some secrets of their own, and when they were exposed, they
could expose weaknesses of their Class and abilities, which could put the Elite in danger
from the human sort of enemies.
It was better that the students could keep those weaknesses to themselves, the Headmaster
had decided when he was appointed, and for ten years, it had been working very well for
everyone.
"Which one should be reassigned, or are we going to separate them into career training
paths as planned?" The leader of the Elite Career Training Oversight Board asked.
"The Beast Master is going to become a strategic asset if he can bond more than one pet. I
say that we allow them a bit more flexibility than the other class leaders. Let them practice
together, a solid bond between the two will help reduce his reluctance to go along with the
testing later." The board's lead researcher suggested.
The first old woman to speak gave a derisive snort. "You think that having a friend is going
to make him more likely to go along with your plans to throw him into danger and study
the growth rate and reactions of the bonded monsters? I know that young men can be
hormonal, but he's not an idiot, he will just run away from any real threats, and you'll never
get your data."
"And if we send the cute idol girl with him?" The researcher asked.
"Absolutely not. I have over seven thousand hours of work already planned for her,
including three albums, hundreds of public appearances, and an advertising campaign for
whatever the cause de jour is in five years after she has graduated." The Celebrity
Development Officer of the board insisted.
The lone military officer in the room just rolled her eyes. "She's a mage, and a powerful one
if she keeps growing at this rate. Just like the Archmage, there is no reason that she can't
have actual missions rolled into whatever song and dance nonsense you had planned
because of her cute face. You are going to have to adjust your expectations. If she makes it
to Commander Rank before she graduates, she will have too much authority for you to
pressure her into showbiz anyhow."
Karl and Dana had no idea of the extent that the Elders were making plans for their future.
Instead of worrying about those sorts of things, they were busy studying, and trying to find
ways to grow their powers more efficiently.
The fine control work that Dana had been doing with Hawk had helped her immensely, and
Karl's growth rate didn't seem to be slowing at all, even though they hadn't gotten any new
resources yet after his advancement.
It was almost as if his powers were just reaching maturity, and like his body had in the first
two weeks here, they were beginning to enter the growth phase, where he would start to
truly blossom and show off the real potential of his unique class. @@novelbin@@
While Dana worked on training the Golem to operate as their frontline combatant, Karl
worked on constantly improving the mental living conditions for Hawk. It felt like the more
that he improved the space, the faster Hawk was growing, and even after a few days of
work, he was certain that he could see the change in the bird.
It wasn't getting larger, but the power was improving, and the lustre of Hawk's feathers
was improving, as if his health was getting better, despite there being nothing wrong with
him to begin with.
The minute changes in monsters as they advanced was a field with very little study done on
it, as the leadership felt that being able to identify the general power rankings of the
monsters was more important than guessing the exact progression rate of wild beasts. So,
Karl was only able to guess by what he was seeing, and if he was right, then after only a few
more months, Hawk would likely make it to the Ascended Rank, and his claws would begin
to darken and turn glossy.
That growth level was feeding back to Karl, and his body was getting stronger every time
he woke up in the morning, but more importantly to him, as a former late bloomer, it was
not just getting taller, but he was getting toned.

Not in a burly and muscular sense, more of a professional athlete, lean muscle mass way.
The three of them, Karl, Hawk and Dana, kept up that same routine all week, with their
regular classes all day and a new addition, the "Social Adaptation" lessons, as Sergeant Rita
called them, where they learned all sorts of small things about interacting with other Elites
outside the Academy, as well as some geography and important figures that were not well
known to the general population.
A regular elite wouldn't be calling on someone like the President without a very good
reason, but there were dozens of powerful and reclusive Elites and older magic users that
were important enough that they should receive an invitation to everything, even if you
knew that they would never show up to your event.
Ironically, the Headmaster was on that list of people who should be notified of and invited
to all major social events, even though it was common knowledge that he rarely left the
Academy. Not inviting him would be seen as rude, and his staff would be left in the dark
about the event when others asked him about unexpected events that might have
happened at it.
Finally, it was time for the special class to assemble again for their weekly training, but
when Karl and Dana arrived at the grounds, they found a pair of new faces among the
crowd, and a new professor waiting there as well.
The older mage in charge of the class raised a hand to get everyone's attention, and the
group fell silent, eager to find out what was going on.
"Today, we introduce two new promising students, Jenna and Brittany. Both are first year
mages with exceptional growth rates, and I hope that you all get along."
The teacher paused, and the team leaders realized that the numbers no longer worked.
There were six teams of nine. Plus two didn't leave them with even team numbers. That
meant someone was probably leaving for special training or a mission again.

"Yes, as you have guessed, two of our students will be shifted to another specialized class.
The government's Bureau of Elite Development has determined that they will be guiding
these two toward smaller group missions, and therefore their days will be better spent
with another professor." The old mage informed, them with a heavy dose of annoyance in
his voice.
These were his students, and he didn't like the bureaucratic meddling any more than
anyone else did. He just didn't have the political power to stop them from doing it in this
case.
"Karl and Dana will be training for individual and small group missions, and I wanted them
to have a chance to say their farewells to the whole group before they go off with their new
professor, Colonel Valerie Braless."
"Boris. My name is Valerie Boris." The woman snarled at him, looking like every student's
worst nightmare.
Her uniform was so heavily starched and pressed that even standing here in the heat and
wind, there was no sign of the creases relaxing, and with the sides of her head shaved
under her cap and the gold lensed aviator glasses she wore, she gave off an air of
unwavering uprightness and adherence to military regulations that no teenager would
possibly enjoy. She was probably still under thirty years old and a powerful Elite from the
first batch or the initial testing, but her appearance made it challenging to tell her exact age.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Colonel Boris." Karl and Dana replied in unison, causing the
woman to turn and look down her nose at them.
"You may call me Professor Valerie." She replied curtly.
"Understood, Professor."
Even Sergeant Rita was distinctly not looking at the woman, keeping her eyes forward
toward the rest of the class, as if she was signalling that the two of them had nothing to do
with one another, and that her duties were to the advanced group training class.
The Colonel looked around the field one last time, appearing dissatisfied with something
that she saw, then gestured for Karl and Dana to follow her as she turned and walked away
without another word.
[I owe not so evil woman an apology. This one looks much more evil, I bet she doesn't even
believe in snacks.] Hawk muttered in Karl's mind as they walked.
Professor Valerie led Karl and Dana out of the field and behind the gymnasium building,
where she had a military sedan car parked, with a driver waiting for them.
"Climb on in, time is wasting, and I am under orders to have you back here before dark."
She instructed as she settled herself into the front passenger seat.
It was obviously a sanctioned trip, as she had just been introduced as their instructor, but it
seemed odd to both of them that they would be taken off school grounds on the first day by
their new Professor for small group combat, or whatever she intended to teach them.
No words were spoken until they were out of sight of the Academy grounds, and then the
Professor turned back to look at the students in the back seat.
"What we will be learning is not for the ears of the general population of the Academy, or
for the busybodies watching the security footage. As you were informed earlier, I am from
the Bureau of Elite Development, a division of the National Security Agency, and I will be
teaching you the essentials of how to operate as a pair.
It is not guaranteed that you two will be working together after graduation, but the Bureau
sees promise in you both, and we intend to guide your growth. There are certain things that
the Academy can't or won't do for you, but I am under no such restrictions.
Have you both managed to get a grasp of the new abilities that you were taught over the
weekend?" She asked.
"We have." Dana replied, somewhat stiffly.

"Excellent. Today we are going to introduce you both to some real experts. Sergeant Rita
isn't bad, but she coddles the students too much in the first and second years." The Colonel
insisted. @@novelbin@@
Karl considered rebuking the woman, as the Sergeant was an excellent teacher and she had
put in significant effort to help him get this far, but it was probably wiser not to anger the
Colonel and get Rita into trouble with her superior through no fault of her own.
The car stopped at a warehouse ten minutes away from the Academy, on the outskirts of a
small town. The door opened, and the driver parked off to the side, next to a military bus.
"Follow me, and meet the rest of the teams." Valerie informed them, then straightened her
uniform with a gust of wind magic and strode away.
"You get used to her." The driver whispered as Karl and Dana were getting out of the
vehicle, and the smile on his face helped assure them that this wouldn't be as terrible as
they had been fearing.
The Colonel led them into a side room where ten other pairs of Elites were gathered. A few
of the pairs were clearly soldiers, but most were in civilian clothing.
"Welcome back, Colonel." They greeted her in unison, all giving sharp salutes that made
Karl and Dana feel out of place in a room full of professionals.
"At ease everyone. Meet the new students, Karl and Dana. According to the Academy Board,
Dana is slated for an abbreviated career as an entertainer, followed by an extended career
using that fame for messaging, while Karl is designated as a test subject for his unique class.
Someone at the top sees promise in it, and they want to exploit it."
The two students stood there stunned at the blunt revelation that their entire lives were
actually being planned in that level of detail only weeks after they had started at the
Academy. It was disconcerting to say the least, but from the responses of the others here, it
was either not unusual, or it was not going to pan out the way that the board wanted it to.

"So, they've come to us for what? An introduction to Elite Society? Or did you have other
plans?" One of the men in civilian clothing asked.
"For small group combat training. They both made it to Awakened Rank already, and there
is a good chance that both of them will hit Commander Rank before they graduate." Colonel
Valerie explained.
"Oh, so we're going to pull rank and drop them out of their life plan? Now that does sound
fun." One of the women in military uniform laughed, and nudged the man standing beside
her.
"You know they're looking at us like we're working for Central Intelligence, right?" The
partner replied with a huge smile on his face that made him look much less frightening.
"Oh, yes. Introductions are in order. Everyone here is an investigator for the Bureau of Elite
Development. We not only guide promising young Elites, we also ensure that the others are
living up to their duties, and solve problems when an Elite reaches a bottleneck in their
growth.
The Department normally operates in pairs, so that information won't be lost if an
investigator is compromised. That means they are the perfect people to teach you paired
combat skills.
They will also cover a number of other subjects during the semester that we will be
working here, and if I determine that more intensive study is needed, one of your regularly
scheduled days may be shifted to this training centre." The Colonel informed them.
The woman standing next to Dana wrapped a friendly arm around the girl's shoulders and
smiled. "Relax, she might be a bit intense, but I'm certain that you will have much more fun
here than you did in that regular training class."
Dana giggled, and the woman gave her a questioning look before Valerie spoke again.
"I am not certain that we can guarantee such a high level of enjoyment. Did you know that
their last mission turned into the elimination of a Goblin Tribe that was looting an
abandoned town? Compared to that, I fear that our training sessions might be a bit dull.
But we do have some advantages that the other Professors do not. For example, Nala is an
Inscriptionist. Once you have mastered the spells that you are working on, she will be able
to make you copies of new skills to be directly learned.
Also, I have arranged for an outing in the near future to look for infant monsters with high
potentials to compliment Karl's Windspeed Hawk. The Bureau of Elite Development is
intensely interested in the possibility that you might be able to contract more than one
monster and gain additional powers from the process."
The odd collection of Elites that were called here from the Bureau of Elite Development
seemed like a cheerful bunch to Karl, and even more so after they were given no real
restrictions on how to deal with the two new recruits.
They were all used to working in pairs, which was so they had someone to watch their back
as much as it was intended to prevent corruption, as the Colonel had suggested, so giving
them a warrior and mage combo was perfect for their preferred fighting style.
"I think that what we should start with is actually more of a skills' development than
tactics. Normally, we would work with students about to graduate, so they would have a
half dozen skills in their repertoire, but I am assuming that you two both only have one
each." One of the warriors in civilian clothing suggested.
"I have two now, thanks to Overlord Drake, and Prince Axel gave Dana a Golem spell book.
Plus, she knows Fog in addition to her base magic missile already." Karl explained.
The man looked impressed, and turned to the ginger haired female soldier beside him. "It
looks like they really are on the path to fame, they're meeting all the right people already."
"Don't mind Josh, he's jealous that you got to meet the Prince. You can call me Anise, and I
will be helping you with your adaptation skills. One of the most important things you can
do with your abilities is learning new ways to use them.
The more creative you can be with them, the more useful even the basic skills will become.
For example, the Fog spell. It's not considered one of the more powerful spells, but did you
know that you can condense it in just a ring to create a solid visual barrier?

That alone will give you a huge advantage in combat, as you can block off the view of your
enemies while you escape. If you block a spot in an alley, it becomes much easier to run into
a building without being followed. Anything pursuing you will have to guess what building
you went into. Or you can cast it over the outside of a moving vehicle and make them
crash." She explained.
Dana was shocked by that last suggestion.
"Do the elites get into conflicts with other people a lot?" She asked. @@novelbin@@
"We do. Most of the Elites are a different story, but the teams here don't just guide the other
Elites toward more power, but away from taking the wrong paths in life. Sometimes we will
be sent to deal with Elites gone rogue, drunkards and abusers.
But the same techniques can be used against intelligent monsters. For example, the Mythril
Tiger. They're smarter than most people you will meet, and if you want to lose them once
they're following you, it will take a lot of effort.
The full-grown ones are on the strong side of Commander Rank, and even two on one, it
can be difficult for Elites at the same rank to take them out unless they're caught in the
open." Anise agreed.
Karl didn't quite understand the crossover between this conversation and his own skills.
Rend and Shred seemed pretty simple, but the versatility of Fog seemed to be pretty high if
you could use it to blind the target. That would take some real practice, but as long as it was
possible, then there shouldn't be a problem for Dana to figure it out.
The mages took Dana off to one side of the room to explain whatever they wanted to do
first, while the other half of the group gathered around Karl.

"Alright, we're going to try something different. Have you ever attempted to just hold Rend
on your hands?" One of the men asked.
"Yeah, that's not a problem. I can hold it in place on the gauntlets for as long as I need." Karl
agreed, and coated his hands in the Rend attack, lighting up the claws of the Gauntlet with
faint violet light.
"Nice, you understand the basic concept that we're going for then. What you want to do is
learn to set it in place somewhere, and not have it move. Think of it like a string, or a snare
being placed." The soldier suggested.
Karl conferred with Hawk, who thought that it should be possible, but if they wanted it to
stay on an object that wasn't attached to their own body, they would have to see it.
"Alright, I think I can do it." Karl agreed, and then focused on creating a Rend attack that
crossed the space between two pillars, using them as anchors to keep it in place, the same
way that he wrapped it around his gloves to enhance the claws.
"Oh, that is superb. Well done. Now, to see if it actually works or just looks like it does."
He tossed a metal bar against the thin beam of light, and it cleanly cut in half, clattering to
the ground in two pieces.
Karl gasped in shock. "That's brutal. I can see how that would be an incredibly dangerous
way to use this ability. The only problem is that if I don't watch it to keep it in place, it
won't stay. Rend doesn't want to be stationary, and Shred is even more violent, I doubt that
I could keep that one stable at all."
"That's fine. The more practical uses of this skill modification training are to create snares
and trip lines for passing monsters and to stop them from following you. If you can learn to
do multiple stationary traps, you can block a path well enough that a pursuer won't be able
to just step or jump over, and you will have time to either regroup or get away."
"Alright, that is good enough for me. Not dying is always priority one." Karl agreed.
"I take it you came from the woods, where there are a lot of monsters?" One of the civilian
dressed women asked.
"Nope, the mines, where we're always worried about the roof collapsing on us a kilometre
underground." Karl replied with a chuckle. "So, not dying is priority one. Getting the job
done is priority two."
The rest of the day was spent on improving the new ways that the teams had come up with
to use the Rend skill. Mostly Karl worked on his control to keep a strand of it stationary, but
they also worked on disguising the skill, as some monsters would recognize the Rend
ability and have a trick to deal with it.
For example, some beasts with tusks could take the Rend directly and let it break against
the tusk, doing little damage to their body. But if you made it look like a different skill, for
example having the rend form not as a streak of energy but as a disc or a spear, it would
confuse them, and they might not be able to deal with it.
Dana had done something similar during the fight, by dimming the light from her magic
missiles. The small alterations to a spell could make just enough of a difference to get you
through a tight spot or to get an edge on your competitors.
"Alright, everyone, you've had your fun. We will meet back here again next week at the
same time." Colonel Valerie announced at precisely four in the afternoon, the usual ending
time for classes.
The Saturday classes were usually a bit more flexible with their timings, but Karl was fairly
certain that her personality didn't allow her to run overtime without prior written
authorization. If she was off schedule, she was definitely the sort of person that would be
bothered by it.
"See you two next week. Don't forget to practice, if they give you some leisure time. We will
be making up a lesson plan for you." One of the mages laughed.
The Colonel hurried the students back to the car while the others changed tasks to planning
for something, obviously in a rush to get them back to the Academy on schedule.
The drive was a quiet one as Karl and Dana both focused on the things that they had been
learning for the day. Learning new ways to use skills was entirely different from just
learning the skill. Instead of just gaining knowledge, you had to work to change the way
that you thought about, imagined and solidified the spell. It was a different way of using the
knowledge that you knew, a way that ran contrary to how you had been thinking about
your skills.
It was more of a test of mental flexibility and creativity than anything else, and for Karl, it
was draining in a way that normal training was not. Eventually, he was certain that he
would get used to it, but today he was oddly exhausted and glad that tomorrow didn't have
any plans but staying in to relax and practice.

When they were back on school grounds, the Colonel put back on her 'Professor Valerie'
friendly facade and her expressionless professionalism turned to a polite smile that was
somehow still completely devoid of emotion.
"So, what did you think of the first day of special training? Was it everything that you had
hoped for?" She asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror of the car.
"It was certainly something unexpected, that's for sure. I never thought about trying to use
my skills that way, but it is going to make a huge difference the next time I come up against
monsters like that Goblin Tribe." Karl replied.
Hawk was in full agreement. Rend was his ability, he should be best with it, but they had
weird human ideas on how to make it work that would be great for harvesting meat.
Especially pigs. Pigs were stupid, and he could make them stampede in rage, so they would
trip over the Rend wire, or get their tusks stuck on it, and he could attack their soft and
juicy underside.
[Hawk, go have a snack. Your food daydreams are distracting.] Karl reminded his partner.
Hawk wasn't wrong, though. Plenty of creatures could be made to charge in rage, and they
wouldn't be looking closely enough to notice the thin string before they ran into it. They
would be too focused on what he was doing, and the trap could be set in advance.
Dana turned toward her noisy room with a soft smile on her face. "Let's see how the
neighbours like me now. I've got some great ideas on how to make the Golem and Magic
Missile work together, so I will be practising them late into the night."
Karl laughed at her comment. The booming noise of the neighbours practising their attack
abilities could still be sporadically heard, they hadn't given up on their goal of being the
next to reach Awakened Rank yet, but the stomping of a Stone Golem would be horrendous
where the Magic Missiles were normally silent.
"I think that I will focus on trying to improve the actual power of my abilities. Stretching
the attack out the way they want puts a lot of drain on my mental abilities, so I need to
work on them first and control second." Karl replied as she waved goodnight.
But before he turned in, Karl realized that he did actually have some Academy credits after
their away mission, and he didn't need to change his room, so he could spend them on
some resources for Hawk.

He headed back downstairs to the supply room and waited for the clerk to answer the bell.
"Welcome back. I saw you headed off campus this morning, so I didn't expect to see you
today. What can I do for you, possibly a uniform repair?" The man asked.
"Nope, my uniforms are fine. We were just doing some offsite training, not a mission. What
I need is an Awakened or Ascended Rank strength stone, and some Ascended Rank monster
blood if you've got it." Karl replied.
"Ah, the strengthening mixture. Be careful using too strong of a potion when you've just
broken through. It's best to mix a little bit into a shot of water and see how that works out
for you." The clerk warned him.
"Thanks, I will be sure to portion it out slowly if you've got the good stuff." Karl agreed.
The man opened the computer to some sort of inventory screen, and entered Karl's
identification by scanning his badge, then frowned.
"You're still a bit short on credits. I can get you an Ascended Rank stone, but no blood, or
both at Awakened with the credits you have."
Karl nodded. He had expected that a simple mission wouldn't get him too far, even if it was
the most common of items.
"I will take the Ascended Rank stone, and I will mix it with the blood I saved from the
mission. I still have a fair bit of Awakened Rank boar blood." Karl agreed.
He actually had the whole boar, so he would be able to get half a litre or more of the blood
out of it, enough to last Hawk for weeks at the proportion it should be mixed with the
crushed stone.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Do you want that stone ground fine or coarse? I'm
assuming you aren't going to try to eat the thing intact." The clerk asked.
"Ground as fine as possible. It mixes better that way." Karl agreed.
"And there you are. Good luck with your training."
As soon as the transaction was done, the man disappeared into the back room, leaving Karl
holding a small bag of powder, like some illicit drug transaction.@@novelbin@@
Karl placed the powder in his beast space and mentally formed a bowl to pour boar blood
into. Hawk was already prepared, and happily drained the beast, then slowly swirled the
concoction with his claws until he had the desired consistency and an even distribution.
A quick lick of the claws to clean them brought a happy trill, then he began to dip the boar
meat in the bowl like he had seen Karl do with chicken at dinner.
Karl ignored the bird's antics and sat on his bed to meditate the afternoon away, continuing
right through until morning as Hawk adjusted to the change in food and the feedback
strengthened Karl's body and mind.
[It looks like we might not have to slow down, buddy.] Karl informed Hawk when his alarm
went off for breakfast.
[I told you, we will be stronger than that Sergeant in no time.] Hawk agreed.
That was the first time that Karl recalled the bird calling her by Rank instead of just "Evil
Lady" or "Not so Evil Lady". Hawk was getting smarter, he was certain, and he was
beginning to remember names for people.

Fortunately for the both of them, today was the weekly day off, and they didn't have any
major plans, other than continuing their basic training and meditation schedule.
But a lack of plans didn't mean they weren't going to do anything. First thing in the
morning, before Karl had even gotten up to go to breakfast, the supply staff was at his door
with a delivery of upgraded food products for Hawk, various meats, sausages with infused
resources of some kind, and a pungent ointment that the label said should be applied to the
claws to help them maintain their flexibility and not become brittle.
That gave them plenty of work to do after Karl had finished eating, as Hawk was a fairly
picky eater when the food product was not meat. The sausages had been created with
humans in mind, so Karl would eat them himself if necessary, but some of the order seemed
to be completely plant-based.
It looked like meat cubes, but when Hawk poked them, they were just wiggly and soft,
definitely not meat. Karl thought that they might be tofu of some sort, created with a
magical plant to help strengthen the body, but Hawk resolutely refused to eat them.
The spicy sausages were an instant hit, and Hawk didn't care that they had visible herbs in
them. The cheese sausages as well. He made a mess of himself as he tore apart the juicy
cooked meat tubes, but Hawk was instantly in love with the flavour of cheese.
Karl made careful notes of the response to each food product, as well as Hawk's estimation
of the absorbed energy content and any reactions that his body had to the food.
Only one caused an unusual reaction. The spicy sausages that Hawk loved gave him a
stimulant boost and made him hyper, a fact that Karl noticed, but Hawk did not. They might
be some sort of drug to the Windspeed Hawk, but his thoughts were as clear as always, just
faster and more easily distracted.

Once Hawk had a sample of everything, Karl tried the rejects, and found that while they
were edible, none of them were going to make his favourite foods list. They were all easy to
digest, which was a small blessing, and Karl spent most of an hour meditating to burn
through the energy before he got up to water the plants and check for any ripe fruits or
flowers that should be harvested.
He still had to use the manual for that, as most of them were only just beginning to change
from when he had arrived, but a few were more prolific. The berry bushes in particular
seemed to be constantly flowering and growing more fruit as they were picked, and the tea
trees constantly dropped leaves that needed to be dried.
That took him nearly to lunch, but he had a small collection of fruits in the beast space now,
in addition to the berries that Hawk liked to season his meat with.
'I should go do something today.' Karl mused to himself as he finished eating again and
meditated away the excess energy to improve the beast space.
It was really beginning to take shape, and he had most of a clearing worth of grass forming
around the single tree already. Next he was going to create a small bush. Hawk liked to fly
around the balcony and dodge the branches, so a bit more scenery would be good for him,
Karl thought.
[How about a lake? A bit of water would be good, so I can practice my diving for fish.] Hawk
suggested.
That shouldn't be too hard, just like the grass, he only had to focus on adding the lake bed
to the nothingness of the space.
[Don't you think that it's getting larger in there? I swear that it used to be much more
crowded, and you didn't have as much room to fly around.] Karl asked as he began to work
on the lake.
[I agree. I used to have to make small circles around the tree, but now I can fly for a few
minutes before I have to turn around. Do you think that this place will get bigger as we get
stronger? I could have a whole world to myself once we get powerful enough.] Hawk
suggested.
Maybe that was the goal? The space was getting more powerful and larger with effort, and
naturally, it would become an impressive home for the Windspeed Hawk, but asking for a
whole world was on a whole other level. Awakened level was only going to take him to a
kilometre or so in diameter at this rate, and the density of the world inside the space
seemed to be improving in a linear way, while the size had made a jump at some point that
Karl hadn't noticed until now.
That would be another item to add to his mental list of things to track.@@novelbin@@
Chapter 66 One Day Off Isn't Enough
Dana came over after lunch, intending to study and meditate in the silence of the balcony.
But Hawk had other ideas. He had far too much energy after his change in diet, and he
needed to burn some off, so he wanted to play.
By play, he meant practising their skill control together, since his and Karl's were too
similar to be entertaining.
So, she studied new ideas and techniques between rounds, while Karl focused on
expanding the 'lake' to the size of a pond from a puddle. He worked on that until mid-
afternoon, when the urge to go do something crept up on him again.
"We should see if there are other things to do on the day off. They have to have some sort of
entertainment that isn't working." Karl suggested.
"There are movie rooms, the games lounge, and a few other facilities that we haven't
explored yet. Or we could go to the pool." Dana suggested.
The pool was technically a training area for aquatic specialists, but on the rest day, it was
simply a leisure spot for everyone to hang out, swim and relax. The problem was that it
meant there would be a crowd of people around, and neither of them were really the social
butterfly sort.
Being the first to Awakened Rank in the first year would draw a lot of attention, and they
were hoping to let the furor die down for a few more days before they went out to mingle
with people who didn't have anything better to do than ask questions about their training
regimen.
"How about the movie lounge? Just sit and watch a movie and eat popcorn." Karl offered.
"That sounds excellent. But even better is the fact that nobody will crowd us and ask loads
of questions because there is a movie playing." Dana replied, nodding in satisfaction.

So, that was how they found themselves side by side in a dark room, eating junk food and
trying not to laugh as a group of girls ahead of them in the small theatre gushed about how
handsome the star of the action movie they had picked was.
According to the boy they had seen leaving when they came in, it was just starting again, for
the third time that day because the girls had put it on repeat and nobody was brave enough
to argue with them when it was actually a good movie.
After the movie, they took dinner to go, and ate on the balcony as they watched the sunset.
Karl couldn't help but feel that they might have just been on what would pass for a proper
date, but by the time that he worked up the courage to say anything about it, Dana had
fallen asleep in her chair while meditating.
Karl moved her to the hammock where she usually slept and placed her bag on the table
where it would be easy to find, then turned in for the evening and forgot all about the stress
of Academy life for a night.
After waking up late and rushing to get showered and fed before class, morning training
still managed to go even more smoothly than usual with the innovative ways that they had
come up with to modify Rend. Instead of a simple claw streak, Karl focused on expanding
and stretching them as they flew, and then cut a second pattern perpendicular to the first,
creating a square grid of Rending attacks that took out a whole swathe of spells at once.
It wasn't perfect, as some managed to fly through the pattern, but with a minimal energy
cost, he could block five or six out of twenty spells in a volley.
"Is that even the same ability anymore? I mean, it looks the same at the start, but that's all
they have in common." One of the mages complained.
"It is. It's just an extended reach version of the attack. If you notice, it's shorter range as
well, as I can't stop it expanding once it has started, so it destabilizes if it flies too far, unlike
the original." Karl explained.
"So, it's similar to the process that led to creating the Water Shotgun, except not as extreme
of a modification. I like it." One of the other mages replied with a gesture of approval.
Even the teacher thought it was impressive, and horribly difficult to evade if it was thrown
at you that way. The best that anyone could do was to block it, there would be no evasion.
That would be a nightmare for the Rogues and the agile monsters, who weren't well known
for their ability to take a hit. @@novelbin@@

"Alright, that's it for today. See you all here tomorrow." The instructor shouted seconds
before the bell rang, giving the mages time to finish one last spell.
Karl and the mages relaxed through lunch as Hawk preened and showed off his new red
feathers, the change from learning a second skill. Everyone had seen them all morning long,
but they hadn't had a chance to really admire them with the Hawk flying around above
them.
"You know, I have never seen a Windspeed Hawk with feathers like that. I've got my tablet
with me, and the photo analysis doesn't even recognize it. It says that it's a mutation and
not a strength progression for the species." One of the mages explained.
One of the others gave an excited look, eager for all types of new information. "So, you think
that Hawk is on a whole new path forward now that he's learned another skill? Usually,
monsters that reach maturity in the Common and Awakened Ranks will have one skill at
the most, and they rarely learn another. Since learning that Shred skill changed his
feathers, I think it might have been part of what he needed to break through the racial
limits for a Windspeed Hawk.
At least, it certainly doesn't look like it was a detrimental change, and Shred is supposed to
be much more powerful."
Karl nodded. "Hawk thinks the same thing, that he will be able to advance quickly. With my
help and maybe another skill as he gets toward the top of Ascended Rank, I think that he
can make Commander way before I graduate."
The mages sighed. None of them in that class would be making Commander before
graduation. In fact, it was unlikely that more than a handful in their year would show that
sort of potential, but Karl was already looking past the Awakened Rank and into Ascended
when they had barely started their first semester.
Common Grade? What was that, he had barely even touched on it before he had left it
behind. That alone was enough to let his training partners know that he was abnormal in
the growth department.
They finished lunch and went their separate ways, leaving Karl to face a grumpy Sergeant
Rita all by himself when he reached the training grounds for the martial arts class.
"Did you enjoy your new training regimen with the Bureau of Elite Development? A bit
more exciting than the usual group training in the field?" She asked, and Karl realized that
she wasn't upset at anything that he could control, she was mad that her authority as his
development guidance counsellor and personal tutor had been usurped by people from
higher up the government food chain.
"It was definitely different. They focus on working in pairs instead of in a bigger team, so
the whole mindset is different. Really, doing both would probably be better, but there are
only so many days in the week." Karl replied carefully, not wanting to volunteer to give up
his leisure time.
"I am glad that you think so. Now, with your official advancement, we are changing your
training partners to someone more durable. Meet Tank, he is the berserker combat
instructor, and you will be helping him demonstrate the ways for unarmed and agility
fighters to deal with berserkers today."
Karl decided that Rita was definitely taking out her frustrations on him. That guy was huge.
"Good afternoon class, I hope that you all ate well, but not too well. Rich foods will make
you sluggish." The Elite known as Tank greeted them.
"As you heard, my name is Tank, and I am a part-time teacher here at the Academy, as for
most of the year I am out hunting monsters. Today's lesson will be a simple one, like the
Berserker fighting style is simple.
Now, you may think that simple means easy to defeat, but you couldn't be further from the
truth. I have heard that our volunteer for the day is quite durable, and he has an assistant.
Karl, please call for your Windspeed Hawk, and I will begin the demonstration."
Karl stepped up to the giant Berserker, and the teacher dropped into a combat stance.
"First, go with your instinct, and guide your Hawk to assist you. It will help the others see
how the usual tactics against a martial artist won't work on a Berserker." Professor Tank
instructed.
Karl immediately threw a net of crossed [Rend] attacks, and stepped to the side, intending
to kick the knee out from under the teacher, while Hawk went for the obvious attack to the
back of his armoured head. @@novelbin@@
They had learned that the neck was well defended in the training outfits, and this man was
likely too powerful for the attack to work, but if [Shred] hit the back of his helmet it might
leave him dizzy.
The execution was flawless. Shred hit his helmet a split second before Karl's foot hit the
teacher's knee, but that's where everything went wrong. The hit to the head triggered the
Berserker's [Rage] and Karl's foot simply bounced off the huge man's leg.
Then, faster than Karl could react to even begin to dodge, one massive meaty hand had
backhanded his chest, sending him flying.

Professor Tank smiled at the class, while Sergeant Rita helped Karl to his feet. He was in a
daze, disoriented from bouncing across the ground.
"That, young students, is called [Unstoppable]. The reason I showed you that first is
because it's an ability that can be synthesized with magical drugs, so those of you who are
in the army might run across it among other nation's soldiers in the future.
Unstoppable is a basic skill of the Berserkers, most start with it. You cannot knock them
over without immensely overpowering them, any part of their body is equal to their entire
mass. Also, while the attack to the back of the head from the Windspeed Hawk, Shred, I
believe it used, will trigger Berserker Rage, which increases their power and movement
speed multiple times.
Now, the Common Grade Berserker Students in your year aren't all that scary yet. But they
will be.
Instead of what you would normally do, which is taking them down with a throw or leg
sweep to put them off balance and make them stationary targets for abuse, you want to aim
for vital areas, soft spots and nerve clusters. That will slow the Berserker down until the
damage piles up enough that Rage wears off, and they start feeling the pain." He explained
to the class.
Karl frowned. "So, basically, we dodge and avoid getting turned into paste until repeated
attacks start showing their effects, but no leg sweeps and avoid hits to the head?"
Tank nodded happily, like a child receiving a present. "Just like that. Also, avoid the face
and the crotch. Not because the attack won't work, but because it tends to cause an
instinctual bump in the rage effect, and you might get hurt during training."
The other students laughed. Of all the bad ideas they had generated so far, punching a man
three times their size in the dick was one of the fastest to be dismissed. The hits to the face
were only second to be dismissed because half of them couldn't reach his face without
jumping.
Karl prepared to continue, then asked one last important question. "Does the Berserker
class make them huge, or are you just naturally that size?"
"It makes them more muscular, but the height is all natural. I'm not even the tallest of my
brothers." Tank gloated.

Were they from some species that Karl didn't know? The people at the mines were shorter
than average, as it was a benefit to be smaller in the narrow shafts, so the larger families
had moved on generations ago to find more suitable work. But Karl was reasonably certain
that humans weren't supposed to grow more than two metres tall, much less two and a
quarter.
Karl tried again, ducking under the professor's guard to land a kidney punch, while Hawk
went for his lower back and then the backs of his knees.
Karl had to tumble to the side to dodge the counterattack, but Tank was holding back on
the speed that he had shown earlier when enraged by the hit to the head, and Karl managed
to land a solid hit to the sternum before a kick sent him flying again, but this time he was
able to twist enough to land on one knee and slide to an ungraceful stop.
"Don't underestimate a Berserker's strength. Karl here is Awakened, with the physique of
an agility type magical beast, but even with that advantage a Berserker at his Rank could
shatter ribs with a solid hit.
While they will usually wield weapons, that doesn't mean that their melee abilities are any
less damaging than your own classes. Especially when they are in solid armour." Tank
explained as Karl circled him, looking for an opening.
Tank threw an attack, and Karl blocked it with Rend. That gave him an idea. He had ranged
attack powers, but he wasn't fast enough to get away from the professor to use them.
However, he could wield them as a shield, as well as the way he had been using them as
short ranged attacks.
The Professor threw another punch, which Karl knocked up over his head, just as Hawk hit
the elbow and completely redirected the strike. Tank was Unstoppable, but those attacks
would have either cut through or thrown someone his size to the ground with the amount
of power that the duo had put into them.
The deflected arm left his side open to attack, and Karl quickly sliced three times, while
Hawk distracted the Berserker by attacking his chest and stomach, soft areas that he had to
block with the one hand that was in position.
"That's much better. I didn't think you had it in you, but that Rend really packs a punch."
Tank announced with a smile.
"Now, in the advanced armour, those attacks didn't cause me anything more than a bruise
which will heal in seconds, but against an attacker at your Rank, even wearing Awakened
Rank armour, that last combo might well have taken an arm off before slicing open his side
and making his insides become his outsides." The berserker finished.
"But most of us don't have slicing skills like Rend." One of the students complained.
"You're a Monk, right? Bring your weapon and come up here. Karl, you can take a breather
while I demonstrate how to fight a berserker using pressure points."
The whole class gave the boy sympathetic looks for becoming the next volunteer, but Tank
wasn't planning to wait at all, and was impatiently gesturing for the boy to come forward.
Right, Berserkers didn't feel pain. So although he had bruises from the attacks, he didn't
feel them.
Karl watched carefully and Hawk rested in the Beast Space as the fights continued, with the
huge professor giving each of the students a chance to try against him. Karl had been the
only one who really stood a chance, as the rest had all been training only against their own
styles or had specialized in grappling and submission techniques, which wouldn't work on
Tank.
But you didn't get to pick and choose your targets in a fight. There was a threat, and you
had to deal with it, so this sort of training would be incredibly valuable to them later. Karl
knew that there were many species of giant humanoid monsters as well. Orcs, Trolls, Ogres,
Owlbears and many more.
This sort of training would work on them as well, with only a little modification.
It was hard for Karl to imagine what a troll or ogre might look like in person, but after
seeing Tank, it became a bit easier. Ogres were supposed to be close to three metres tall, so
they would tower over the Berserker the same way that he did over the agility warriors in
this class.
That was a terrifying thought, but they also wouldn't be in armour, so there was a chance
that Rend would actually cut them apart as it was intended to, as long as they weren't too
much more powerful than he was.
As the day progressed, Professor Tank showed off a dozen different fighting styles, and the
students began to wonder if he had taken this job just because he was a battle junkie and
there weren't constant threats at a level where he would be sent out.
Fighting the students gave him a chance to let off some steam, even if he couldn't go all out.
But there were other students here as well, and some of the stronger Ascended Rank
seniors from the other training group of the class were enough to actually make him work
for his victories, not like Karl and the first year class, who he just toyed with.
The Mixed Martial Arts instructor raised his hand to get everyone's attention. "Alright,
that's it for the day. Professor Tank will be working with a different class tomorrow, but
don't forget the lessons you learned today. Integrate them into your fighting style, and
prepare for his return later this week."
That would be easy enough. None of them were likely to forget this day any time soon.

Karl headed back toward the dorm rooms to begin the studies that he had been assigned on
monster biology, intending to spend the evening focusing on finding ways to make Hawk
stronger.
But when he rounded the corner, he found Colonel Valerie standing at the door to the
dormitory waiting for him with her trademark frown on her face.
"Student Karl, follow me. We have numerous things to do today before dinner." She
announced as she started walking.
Karl sighed while Hawk gloated and dug into the pile of meat in the Beast Space. The new
Strength Stones with the Awakened Rank Boar blood were doing great things for him, but
Karl had to rely on the feedback and work while Hawk ate.
The Colonel led him toward the next building and into a private classroom, where one of
the pairs from the last training day were waiting. It was a warrior and mage pair, like him
and Dana. They had a large selection of pills, loaded needles and food products set out on
the table waiting for him, making Karl pause at the door in concern.
"Are we not concerned about interactions between multiple treatments?" Karl asked.
"Not particularly. All of these are known to work together occasionally, and we are not sure
how many, if any, of them will actually work on you." The Colonel replied with a shrug.
"You know that deadpan voice is why everyone thinks that you're a heartless bitch, right?"
The other woman in the room asked, forcing Karl to nearly swallow his tongue to avoid
laughing.
That definitely wouldn't go over well with the uncompromising Colonel, but despite her
hard glare at her subordinate, she did relent a little and explain her idea.
"These treatments aren't as nefarious as they look. Each of them is carefully chosen to
enhance an aspect that you have already shown an aptitude beyond the normal in. The pills
are mental stimulants more commonly used on psychics and visualization type mages. The
injections are all magical equivalents of steroids, and the foods are specially prepared
combinations of materials that are intended to trigger skill understanding breakthroughs."

The other two in the room nodded in satisfaction, as if that was enough of an explanation
for Karl to just accept that he was going to take over a dozen treatments all in one sitting,
possibly with a short break in between for everyone to take notes.
"Alright, where do we start?" Karl asked reluctantly.
"With the mental improvement. From what we have deduced based on your reports, you
meditate to improve the conditions and power stored in the mental space that Hawk
inhabits, correct? So improving that mental ability should help both of you. Compared to a
physical enhancement which only treats you, it is clearly the better option."
The lone man in the room nodded in agreement. "These are all well-known and tested
treatments. Both of us have taken them already without side effects, though they didn't do
much for me other than increase the speed that I learned new skills."
The speed with which he learned to improve his skills was a huge part of Karl's combat
power, so this could actually be a big break for him, Karl decided as he picked up the first
little paper with a single glowing green pill on it.
"That is a Dragonite pill. It's made with the empowered bones of long dead dragons that
have crystallized. It is mostly for mages, as it gives a notable improvement in mana growth,
but it also has incredible effects on intellect and mental strength." Colonel Valerie noted as
the other two moved to their laptop computers to take notes.
Karl popped the pill in his mouth and was about to wash it down with water, but the pill
dissolved, and his mind seemed to be flooded with golden light. Power seemed to be
flowing into him at an incredible rate, and the world within the Beast Space began to grow
at a visible pace.
"Well, it definitely worked. It's like a golden light in my mind, and I can see the
improvement in the Beast Space already." Karl explained, so the others would know what
was happening.
"Excellent. Give it a few minutes to settle and we will move on." @@novelbin@@
Hawk trilled happily as he flew around in the space, absorbing the energy until the feeling
of the space returned to close to its original state.
"Now that it has settled and Hawk absorbed a lot of the excess energy, it feels like the
improvement is noticeable, but not as strong as it felt at first." Karl added.
"So, it helps the Hawk as well? That is impressive. We will prepare another dose later, so
that you both get the full effect." Valerie noted.
"Perhaps we should double the dose of everything that we have spares for?" The female
mage suggested.
"That is a valid theory. If Karl and Hawk share everything, we are actually dosing both of
them, so the increased dosage could be necessary for some of these treatments to work
properly." The warrior noted, running his fingers through his short brown hair.
The Colonel took out a briefcase from a safe in the room and set out another whole array of
pills, except for the one Karl had already taken.
"Dragonite is a restricted substance, and difficult to get. We don't have a second dose, and
it's not something that the Academy usually has access to." She explained, then gestured for
Karl to continue.
Karl took the next two pills, and a warm feeling washed over him while his thoughts
seemed to become a bit more clear. It wasn't a big change, and everyone seemed
disappointed, but Valerie gestured for Karl to move on to the next.
[That one smells good.] Hawk noted as Karl picked up the pills.
[Let's hope it works. I have no idea what it is supposed to do.]
The pills dissolved the same as the Dragonite pill had, and suddenly the proper method for
activating his skills became clear in Karl's mind. How to make them more efficient, more
powerful, faster to activate. Everything about the two skills became clear, and then the
whisper of a third skill entered his mind as Hawk gained new insights into [Wind Shield].
Karl couldn't use it yet, but as Hawk's understanding improved, the feedback coming from
Hawk's advancement was giving him glimpses of the method.
"That one is incredible. I understand my skills so much more clearly now, and even Hawk is
having a breakthrough in understanding, despite his knowledge level already being
incredibly high, as Rend is an innate skill to his species." Karl explained.
"Wonderful. That pill can be hit-and-miss. Some people don't understand much, while
others make great strides. We will keep a note in your file so more will be available once
you have learned more skills." The Colonel replied.
The next pill vanished with a swirl of energy into the air around him, as if his body was
forcefully rejecting the pill.

"Well, that was different. Something about that one is incompatible with him, despite the
effect being nearly the same as the second one you took." The mage commented as her
fingers flashed over the keys, making a note of the strange energy phenomenon.
"You don't think that it's a matter of saturation, do you? Like when you eat too much and
can't eat more?" Karl asked.
The other three shook their heads.
"No, we typically give this entire course at once, either the strength or mental
improvement, and that has never happened before." The Colonel replied.
The next few mental improvement pills were absorbed without fanfare, or any immediately
noticeable effects. That was disappointing, but the last pill in the line looked more like a
gemstone, and Hawk was getting excited just looking at it.
"This is a crystallized Mana Drop from a higher ranking beast. Normally, it is for increasing
mana pools in the mages, but it should also be useful for your Hawk, so we brought it with
us." She added.
Karl took the object in his hand and Hawk immediately stole it, pulling it into the Beast
Space where he tucked it in his nest.
[You know, I'm supposed to eat that.] Karl reminded him.
[It will be better here. I can slowly absorb all of it this way, instead of you getting a stone in
your stomach.]
"Hawk says that it's better to slowly absorb it in the Beast Space to help his growth. I can
feel the energy flowing into him, but it could take some time before the effects are obvious
enough for me to tell what it is doing." Karl explained.
"Well, that's fine. We have a bit of time while we move onto the potions. I hope you're not
afraid of needles because about half of these are injected, while the half without needles are
taken orally, but the plunger type baster reduces waste on the walls of the container."
Valerie explained.

"Well, I'm not the biggest fan, but if it's all for the sake of rapid growth, I'm not going to
argue." Karl replied.
The mage smirked. "Make a note: Subject's mental state has improved his understanding.
He now understands in advance that expletive laced inside thoughts are the key to
interacting with the Colonel."
Colonel Valerie glared at her, but Karl realized that the two were actually good friends, in
some strange way.
The man loaded the needles into a mechanical injector, and gestured towards Karl's chest.
"You need to take your shirt off. We will inject them into the upper arm. The other optimal
spot is the buttocks, but it's a bit forward to ask you to drop your pants without warning."
He joked. @@novelbin@@
Karl removed his jacket and the simple white uniform shirt and set them over the chair
beside him.
"Alright, this will hurt. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it. Just mentally prepare yourself,
and we will wait for the injection to settle before we move on to the next."
Karl nodded and turned his head away before a pain shot up his arm and across his chest,
feeling like his body had been set on fire.
"Here, drink this, you will need it." The mage's voice was a distant whisper, but she poured
the drink into Karl's mouth as he clenched his eyes closed to keep the painful light out of
his eyes as his body burned.
The drink seemed to contain some sort of energy, and the burning of his body faded as it
absorbed the power. Then, the power began to flow back into his mind, and Hawk suddenly
shot up in size, going from Hawk sized to larger than a turkey or a condor in a matter of
seconds.
Hawk was a gangly and malnourished giant, but he was slowly filling out as the bird
frantically tried to fill its ravenous belly.
"Hold up, something in that one made Hawk grow uncontrollably. He's huge and starving,
but there is food for him in the space. Give it a few minutes before we do anything else."
Karl explained, still holding his eyes closed, though he was unable to meditate with the
pain.
"Alright, notify us when Hawk has stabilized, and we will give you the second dose."
Colonel Valerie agreed.
Hawk panicked a little at that news, but Karl had already known that the Colonel wouldn't
give up on a treatment that was producing results so easily.
It took half an hour before Hawk was settled, and the kitchen had already delivered a
special order of monster meat for him to eat during the second dose by the time that the
pain in Karl's body faded.
"Just keep your eyes closed. The food bowl is beside your hand, just move it into the space
for Hawk. Your body has stabilized along with his, but there is one more dose of that to go."
Colonel Valerie insisted.
[You ready to be a giant Hawk?] Karl laughed, while the bird trilled happily at the influx of
Ascended Monster meat the kitchen had brought him. Not all of it was his preferred
flavours, but at the moment Hawk didn't care what animals it had come from, as long as
there was a lot of it, and it was all energy rich to make up for the energy that he was
lacking.
It only took a few more minutes for the bird to demolish the food shipment and decide that
he was ready for another round of the special treatments.
Karl nodded to signal that he was prepared to continue, and the pain spread through his
body from the left side this time, overwhelming his mind, but the effect on Hawk wasn't as
extreme. He didn't grow any more, but his body filled out with powerful muscle. Now he
looked like a proper Hawk again, but larger.
He finished the meat bowl and flew up around the space in joy, then cried in despair as he
realized that his nest was too small for his new body.
Karl worked to change the shape as quickly as he could under the circumstances, while
Hawk made sure not to lose his precious new stone before he settled down into the tree.
Satisfaction flowed from his mind as power flowed in from the stone in the nest, and then
the space itself seemed to change.
It was growing, but it reached a plateau where Karl had expected the quality to improve.
Only that wasn't what happened. The space seemed to split, and the growth went to a
second space, separate and barren, the way that Hawk's had been when he first bonded
with Karl.
[Do you think that spot is made for someone else? Like, we have improved the size of your
resting spot enough that it's time to improve a home for a new friend?] Karl asked his
feathered partner.
[I think so. I can't go into it, so it's not a separate bedroom for me.] Hawk replied, annoyed
that not all the growth was going to his space. There was still room to fly, but he was much
bigger now, so shouldn't the room to fly have expanded proportionately?
"What happened?" The warrior asked after a few minutes of Karl trying to stabilize both his
mind and the new beast space.

"The mental space seems to have reached a plateau. The injection increased the size along
with Hawk, but then it stopped, and split into a small second space. The quality didn't
improve, I will have to do that myself with meditation, or more of the first set of pills, but
this is a whole other space. I think that I might actually have the ability to add a second pet
now." Karl explained.
Karl opened his eyes and noticed the smiles on the faces of the three Bureau of Elite
Development workers. Their gamble had paid off, and if Karl could now add a second beast,
his effective power would multiply.
The second thing that he noticed was that the table was empty, with two used multiple
injectors and two empty shot glasses on it. He had assumed that he was two out of twelve
injections into the process, but they had injected them six at a time, and the second shot
was the second dose of everything.
"No wonder that hurt. It was like my body was on fire, but the second time faded much
faster, and Hawk didn't have an explosive growth spurt, instead he filled out to proper
Windspeed Hawk proportions, but over a metre tall, and with a wingspan that looks like a
little over three metres." Karl explained.
Colonel Valerie gestured impatiently, and Karl called Hawk out to stand on the empty table
behind him.
The mage whistled in appreciation, and Hawk preened, accidentally puncturing the steel
desk with his claws.
"Well, the claws haven't gone translucent, so he's likely not at Ascended Rank yet, but he is
a huge pretty boy." She cooed, then stood up to go pet Hawk's head.
"It's definitely a mutation again, like when he learned Shred, but this time it was physical
growth. There is no record of this happening to a Windspeed Hawk before, but then I doubt
that anyone would have been crazy enough to give a wild one that same sort of treatment
just to see what happened." The warrior noted.
"Interesting. Hawk, could you please claw at this barrier for me?" The mage asked.
"Wait, the room is too small for him to fly around and attack the barrier, and it won't hold
up to an Awakened Rank Rend attack if he succeeds." The warrior stopped her.
@@novelbin@@
"Right, sorry. We can do actual improvement testing tomorrow after the regular classes.
I'm not sure if you noticed, since time passes differently when you're absorbing that much
energy or in pain, but it's been over two hours already, and it is almost dinner time." The
mage agreed.
"Just enough time to finish up as planned." Colonel Valerie agreed with a gesture for the
food on the tray.

Hawk delicately sniffed at them and then shook his head.

[There is no meat, I'm going to rest.] He announced, then vanished back into the Beast
Space.
"He says there is no meat, so he's not interested." Karl explained as he examined the
various dense squares and puddings.
"Each of them should help with the understanding of a skill. The rest of the squares were
passed out to the relevant classes today with promising results, so go ahead and try them
one at a time and let us know if anything happens." The Colonel agreed, looking a bit less
severe for a moment.
The results really must have been good if the head of the Elite Development Department
had a soft spot when they were mentioned.
Karl bit into the first one, which tasted a bit like burning rubber smelled, then waited
before shaking his head. If anything happened, he couldn't tell.
One after another, he went through them until he got to the one that smelled like freshly
welded steel. As soon as he bit into it, he could feel the energy, but then the flavour became
familiar and a glimpse of insight on how [Slash] was an introductory and inferior version of
[Rend] filled his mind, giving him ideas on how to use lower power attacks with more
energy efficiency.
"That one is Slash. I see it as an inferior Rend, but I think that I could use it, or something
like it, using Rend as the base skill and then stripping away most of the benefits to use a
more energy-efficient attack." Karl explained.
The warrior looked vaguely offended, while his partner chuckled.
"Well, that's one way to look at it, I suppose. If you use Rend as the basis and strip away the
bleeding effect to have just the sword light, it would create something like slash." He
eventually agreed.
"Now, let's see what else you can get out of this pile."
A few more were eaten with no real changes, but the last one tasted like stone dust, and
Karl sensed the familiar feeling of a Golem, but the energy was so foreign to him that his
body immediately rejected it.
"I think that should have given me insight into the Golem spell, but my body just rejected it
straight away. The taste was familiar, like the magic of the spell activating, but my body
isn't compatible with that." Karl explained.
"Interesting. All of these should taste like regular food, but none of them seem to have
tasted like that to you. Perhaps it's a result of your bond with Hawk, who is more sensitive
to all sorts of magical abilities and threats? I will put it in the report with a note to
investigate." The mage informed them.
"That concludes the day's special programming. We will bring you a fresh uniform, then
you can return to your room."
Karl looked down at his body, and noticed that while he was only a little more bulky, he
was absolutely shredded. There wasn't an ounce of visible fat on his upper body, and he
could feel the itchy feeling of a beard coming in on his face.
That was a new experience for him, as he never really grew more than a bit of a scraggly
moustache before, but this felt like a full beard.
Karl judged his body, then his uniform, and put the shirt and jacket back on. They were a bit
strained in the arms and chest, but they still closed.
"Oh, I see where this is going. Undo the top two buttons, and you'll get all the ladies with
that physique." The mage joked.
Colonel Valerie gave a faint smile, then shook her head. "That fitment is not within academy
regulations. We will get you a fresh uniform and a razor before you leave this room.
Daniel will help you shave if you haven't done it before, and I will take Alice to guard the
door to prevent any curious eyes from seeing you before you are ready."
The uniform was brought in, and the two women left the room, while the warrior gave him
an assessing look. "We should cut your hair as well. It got really shaggy with the rapid
growth. Don't worry, I've got practice and I will keep you looking good for that little mage
girl."

The sly wink that Daniel gave him made Karl blush, but the warrior was all business as he
took out the electric shaver from an Academy bag and dug a set of clippers and scissors
from his own kit.
It was a shorter process than Karl had expected, as the hand speed of an Elite was so much
higher than his mother, who usually cut his hair. In fifteen minutes, he was dressed, the
waste hair was in the trash and everything was cleaned to Daniel's satisfaction.
"Well, that's the best I can do, the rest is up to you. Good luck with the romance." The
warrior laughed as he gave Karl one last twirl to make sure his haircut was perfect.
"Thanks. Honestly, this is overwhelming, everything is changing so fast that I don't even
wear out clothes any more before they are discarded for a new size. Heck, I didn't even
have that set long enough to launder them before outgrowing them." Karl laughed.
"You should be settled now. Well, close to it. The first advancement or two are the largest
changes, now you've just got to grow into your body. You're powerfully built, but it's still
immature. Give it a few more years of regular training, and all that fancy muscle will
become much harder, and you will be able to apply it more effectively.
Old man strength is a real thing with the Elites." Daniel laughed.
"It's a real thing with the miners as well. Some of them are much stronger than they look."
Karl agreed with a smile on his face at the memory of an old man from the third shift
showing up a supervisor from the city who couldn't get a rusted gate open.
@@novelbin@@
They left the room, and the three adults split off with a short nod toward Karl, who headed
straight for the dining room.
It was filled with excited voices of students who had gained something from the day's
treats, and the ones who had special training for the day because there wasn't a special
advancement food for their skills. The first year mages in particular were freaking out, as
four of them had mastered Golem in one class, while the rest of them were on the way to
learning the spell. It was a huge moment for the mage trainees, and they had earned the
right to gloat for one day.

The warrior classes mostly worked on improving basic skills with the food, and Karl
wondered if Dana had gotten special treatment as well, as she already knew the Golem
spell. She might have gotten the same food buff that the others did, to elevate her skill with
the spell, but she had been in the special training with him on Saturday.
Then she came into the room, accompanied by one of the women from the Elite
Development Department, who looked concerned that she would collapse.
"Are you alright?" Karl asked, walking over to take over the assistance needed to keep Dana
on her feet.
"Yeah, we did a bunch of mental enhancement training, and it left her a bit dizzy. Not all the
treatments went as expected." The older mage explained with a meaningful look at Karl.
That look meant 'don't discuss this in public' so Karl nodded and helped Dana through the
line to get dinner, which the soldier Dana came in with carried to their table before sitting
down to join them.
"It looks like the special training was much kinder on you. I expected you to be in worse
shape." The woman commented.
"The last few lessons helped a lot and allowed me to focus. Not all of them worked, some of
them were completely ineffective, but enough of them worked that the Colonel almost
smiled." Karl replied.
The woman smiled. "Well, now that is a new one. She doesn't do that much. In fact, we all
thought she had her sense of humour surgically removed when she got her oak leaves."
That was a reference to the rank insignia for the Lieutenant Colonel, one military rank
below where Colonel Valerie was now.
"Jill, be nice. You know she will chew you out the way that she did Dave if she hears you."
Dana whispered.
"She's too busy berating him to come back this fast. But I will see you soon. Probably
tomorrow to get the updated notes on how you're doing. Karl, it is good to meet you. I will
be taking over as Dana's personal tutor, so we will be seeing each other every morning."
The petite blonde informed Karl with a smirk that made Dana blush.
It took a moment to register, then Karl was blushing as well. The mage knew that Dana
usually slept in his room, and not knowing how Karl's room was laid out, had made the
logical leap to the fact that rooms normally only had one bed in them.
72 Hawk's Concerns @@novelbin@@
Karl didn't let that little bit of judgment change his plans for the evening, though. Hawk
wanted to show off to Dana now that he was so much bigger, and she wanted to get a
decent night's sleep while the other students were going even more crazy with their
training regimen.
They had all gotten a bump in power and skills today and that had renewed their flagging
faith that they would be able to progress to Awakened before the end of semester exams
when the ranks would all be reviewed.
As soon as they were back on the balcony, Hawk popped out of his space and landed on the
table, being careful not to damage it with his claws. "Holy crap, is that Hawk? What
happened to you, buddy? You're massive." Dana gasped before pulling the bird into a hug.
"One of the treatments caused an extreme growth reaction. It took him a lot of food to
recover, and he's still working on filling in the muscles, but he's definitely an impressive
beast now." Karl explained.
"Well, now he's going to need a lot more food, but I'm sure that the Academy can keep his
belly full." Dana laughed.
That would be another issue after he graduated, Karl realized. The Elites got a stipend, but
he would be spending a massive amount on food if he couldn't regularly hunt for powerful
monsters to keep Hawk fed.
Then there would likely be a second monster as well, since the Beast Space had split. That
meant two ravenous beasts looking for sustenance, and it would have to be suitable to their
rank, which would not be easy once they were much more powerful. It wasn't like any
grocery store actually had Overlord Rank meat in stock, or even Commander Rank for that
matter. Once you got past Ascended Rank, the monsters became incredibly dangerous to
even larger towns, so their population was controlled in the inhabited regions, meaning
that Karl would have to go looking for them if his energy wasn't enough to sustain his team.
Hawk squawked happily as he tried to explain the new things that he had learned, so Karl
translated for him, while the bird had a deep conversation with the mage. "I also got plenty
of gains, though not in quite the same way. Look at this." Dana announced, then cast the
Golem spell, which created two copies of the stone Golem, both as impressive as the first
had been.

"One of the treatments gave me the insight to multicast spells that I know. So, two Golems,
or six magic missiles. It doesn't do much for Fog unless I want to make two layers, but it's
really powerful, even if it is a bit hard on mana.
I have more of it now, and I recover much faster as well. Those pills were a miracle." She
sighed.
"We went through a round of pills as well, then there were injections of physical
enhancement potions. The idea was that I needed the mental abilities for Hawk's space, and
the strength to actually fight. There might be a second beast coming soon as well, but I'm
not sure when the Academy is going to set that up. I will be holding out for something good,
a beast that can fight and get along with Hawk." Karl informed her.
"That shouldn't be too hard. Hawk is easy to get along with."
The bird flapped his wings in annoyance, and Dana began to laugh. "Oh, I see the problem,
you don't want to share, is that it?"
Hawk nodded and took a piece of meat out of the Beast Space. He threw it in the air and
swallowed it whole, trying to explain the issue to Dana in a way she would understand.
"Oh, they might try to steal your food. Yes, that would be annoying." She agreed.
They both sat and meditated for a few hours before turning in for the night. They knew that
they would be getting up early, but when the knock sounded at the door promptly as the
sun came up, neither of them was ready.
Karl slid his pants on and answered the door, finding Jill and Rita both waiting outside.

"Give me a few minutes to freshen up and eat, then I will be ready. Isn't it a bit early?" He
asked.
"It is. But we have a big day again today, and this is Dana's first day with Jill as her personal
tutor. She is here, right?" Rita asked.
"Yeah, in the hammock on the balcony, probably still sleeping, since the area is soundproof.
Jill can go wake her up, but be careful, Hawk and a Golem or two are likely both active in
there." Jill laughed. She was a Commander Rank mage, she wasn't particularly concerned
about the Golem, but Hawk could be an issue if he didn't want to let her near Dana. She
couldn't afford to hurt the bird, but even with a magical shield protecting her, it would be
challenging to get around an angry Hawk.
She came out a few minutes later, laughing and cursing with her hair all messed up.
"Did you know that Hawk is completely miserable if you wake him up? But what did they
do to him? That bird is massive." She asked.
Sergeant Rita gave Karl a curious look. She had gotten the brief summary from Daniel and
Alice, but they had been on their way out and hadn't filled in the official report yet.
"One of the treatments made him grow." Karl explained as Hawk waddled into the room,
barely able to fit through the patio door unless he tucked his wings tight to his body.
"Are we sure that's even still a Windspeed Hawk? I doubt that there is a mouse that could
feed his appetite any more, he will be hunting deer and wolves soon enough." Rita asked.
Hawk panicked for a moment, then remembered something that he had seen Karl reading.
[There are the Giant Swamp Rats, the size of dogs. They are a kind of mice.] He suggested,
hopefully.
"Hawk says Giant Swamp Rats still count." Karl relayed, while the women laughed.
The Giant Swamp Rats were an Awakened Rank monster, so he could hunt them already,
but Rita was more excited to see if his power had grown proportionally to his body. If
either his stamina or raw power had levelled up by a significant amount, he would be a
menace in combat at the Awakened Rank. If it were both, he would be pushing the limits of
what could be called an Awakened Monster.
Sergeant Rita led Karl to the morning training, where there was a new face waiting for
them. Alice, the mage who had been in the room for Karl's treatments yesterday, was
sitting in a chair by the door, and waved happily as Karl walked in.
Rita frowned as she realized who the woman was, then turned away, as if by ignoring her,
the woman would go away. But Alice didn't make any move to get up, she just sat by the
door as Karl took his position and called Hawk out.
"Goddess, what did you do to Hawk? He looks like he wants to eat us." One of the mages
gasped.
"It's not a big deal, a treatment just made him grow to a giant size. He's only a little stronger
than he was." Karl replied.
While that was reassuring, the fact that there was a giant monster in the sky above them
was enough to intimidate all the students at least a little bit. It was an instinctive reaction to
a large flying predator that could possibly carry away a full-grown person.
It wasn't likely, his actual body was only a little over a metre long, but with the wide wings
and long tail feathers, he looked much more imposing in flight.
Their first few spells were a bit hesitant, but once they realized that Hawk was blocking
them the same as always, they began to get back into the swing of things, and worked to
overcome his increased number of attacks, which were travelling at a higher speed today
than they remembered.
The mental improvements that both Karl and Hawk had gained were helping with both the
targeting speed and the ability to rapidly form and send the Rend attacks at the target.
Karl heard Rita's voice as she talked to Alice and split a bit of his attention from the attacks.

"Don't you think this is a bit too easy? I mean, they're not even attacking the defenders, just
the targets near them." Alice was asking.
"It is the safest way. We can't afford the sort of fatal incident that happened a few years ago.
Even if you put a barrier on them, there is still too much of a risk." Rita replied.
"They're not going to break my barrier, and it would be better for the two of them if they
had to actually avoid and block attacks, instead of this bodyguard scenario where the
attackers are only concerned with the target behind them." Alice replied.
"Are you the tutor, or am I?"
Rita was definitely mad now, and Karl was tempted to continue listening as they lowered
their voices to argue, but that would take too much of his attention from the task at hand.
The class paused at the half hour mark for their usual five-minute breather, and Karl
grabbed a water bottle for himself and Hawk, squeezing it to spray water into the open
mouth of the oversized bird, since he couldn't easily drink out of a bowl without making a
mess.
"Alright, everyone back at it. But we are going to change things up a bit this time. Your skills
are improving, so you will be aiming at moving targets. That means not only will you have
to hit a moving target, but Karl and Hawk will have to defend moving targets." The
professor in charge of the class instructed.
Karl couldn't tell if that meant that Rita or Alice had won their argument, but it would make
the class more interesting. It was also going to be a real challenge for some of the students
who had struggled with their aim at the start of the year.
They were better at hitting stationary targets, but Karl would have to make sure that he
didn't get himself hit. He had the Academy's training armour, a long coat and helmet, but
that was only a limited level of protection that should keep him from being seriously
injured if he took a direct strike from one of these spells.
But then, they were mostly on the low side of Awakened, and his body was getting much
stronger, so perhaps they wouldn't actually be too damaging through the coat. When he hit
Tank with full force spells, it barely bruised him, but he was two ranks above Karl and
Hawk.

The mages in the class were using limited power to extend their stamina, a quarter or less
of their ability. That seemed safe enough.
The spells began to fly toward the targets, which were now much closer to the ground, and
Karl moved to make interception easier. His presence between the mages and the moving
targets frustrated many of the students, as even if Karl didn't successfully intercept the
spells, they couldn't hit the target with him in the way. @@novelbin@@
But now that they were coming toward him instead of over his head, the attacks were
easier to target and block. The vertical axis was nearly removed as a factor, and attacking
straight forward would hit many more spells if he used a wide arc or the net technique of
overlapping Rend attacks.
But that also put the mages in the line of fire, so he had to be careful about his range so that
the abilities dissipated before they reached the attackers.
They weren't wearing armour, and asking the teacher to constantly intercept his
counterattacks would probably put the older mage in a bad mood.
"Now, that's much better. See how much more combat effective this is?" Alice was asking
Rita, letting Karl know that she had won that round of their exchange, at least for the most
part.
The mages were still attacking targets behind him, but they were at least throwing spells in
his direction, as the mage from the Bureau of Elite Development had wanted.
Karl tore a wide arc in the air, using full power, and stopped a dozen spells at once before
the four streaks were finally dissipated and the air between the two groups was clear.
"Dammit, they really increased the difficulty level, didn't they? We're all attacking at the
same height, so he can burn energy to intercept us all at once." One of the mages realized.
"But that burns his stamina as well, so he won't be able to do it all the time. He's just
blocking the ones that are most likely to hit himself or the target. Everyone who messed up
their aim might have a chance if you can bring it back on target once you're past him." One
of the others commented.
But they had forgotten that Hawk was in the sky above them, attacking downward, so he
could still hit the attacks that tried to correct their trajectory when they were past Karl.
"I told you that they had real promise. You didn't need to get involved so quickly." Karl
heard Rita mutter as the class was ending, while Alice smiled back at her.
The two Elites were like oil and water. They both wanted the same thing, but they had very
different ideas about how it should be done, and they simply seemed incompatible with
each other. No matter what the goal was, Karl could see that they would have a hard time
getting along.
After the break for lunch, with both Rita and Alice eating in tense silence at his table and
scaring the other students away, it was time to go to the Mixed Martial Arts class for his
physical training.
Tank was back again, ready to continue his lesson, while Daniel, Alice's partner, was sitting
on a blanket at the edge of the training ground, waiting for the others to arrive.
"Come on over and get comfortable. Good to see you again, Rita." He greeted them, then
waved at Karl and gestured for him to join the class as usual.
Karl wasn't the only one who could tell that Rita was annoyed at this point, but there
wasn't much that she could do. There was no rule stating that the people from the
government couldn't come sit and watch the class, and they weren't interfering with
anything but Rita's development plans, which was within their operational authority, Karl
assumed.
"Karl, you will be training with Tank today, while everyone else trains what they learned.
Sorry about your luck, but you're the odd one out, and Sergeant Rita is busy at the
moment." The professor informed him with a smirk.
Sergeant Rita would much rather be training than 'busy', Karl was sure. But Tank turned
out to be an excellent combat instructor, with a profound understanding of both martial
arts and armed combat.
Today, the big man had a wooden training sword in his hands, while Karl wore the training
gauntlets that he had obtained from the train.

"Those should be good enough to block, but be aware that my strength is far above yours,
so you don't want to try to overpower my attacks, just deflect them so you can
counterattack.
If you can do it with your abilities, that's even better, just keep the power level down so
that you don't chop through the training weapon. After some time, you will be used to the
sparring limitations, but it is best to err on the side of caution for now." Tank explained.
"Alright. Are we having Hawk rest for the afternoon?" Karl asked. @@novelbin@@
"For today, yes. He got his training in the morning, and a growing beast needs a lot of food
and sleep. But he will be watching, so you can consider this a theory lesson for him. For
now, the two of you can fight together, but once his power level goes up, it is unlikely that
your body will be able to keep up. Not many classes can claim the physique of even the
more fragile Magical Beasts." He explained.
"So my job in the future is what? To train the beasts about combat and let them go at it?"
Karl asked as they exchanged blows.
"Dunno, that's above my pay grade. But I would assume that for a class that focuses on
monsters, making them stronger and teaching them all the things that they wouldn't
naturally know will be a big part of your job.
How many Windspeed Hawks are familiar with Martial Arts? How many of them even
understand the intricacies of various magic spells? It might not seem like much, but your
Hawk already has a massive advantage over other beasts."
Tank emphasized the word 'beasts' with a chop of his sword that Karl barely deflected as
he spun out of the way. It was easier to start an attack from the side or the back of the
Berserker, as he would be facing Karl before it was finished, and the extra time would allow
Karl to prepare a defence that would allow him to keep moving.

Hawk was impressed with the huge man's understanding of animals. As a Windspeed
Hawk, there were numerous things that he didn't know at birth. Normal Hawks would have
to survive their first learning experience to begin to understand things like mage attacks,
but he had gotten to practice dealing with them every morning.
Plus, the Berserker Man advocated for naps and food, so he was definitely wise.
By the time that they finished, Karl was exhausted, and even Tank had broken a sweat,
which impressed the other students far more than Karl thought that it should. Sure, he was
a monster in combat, but he was also still vaguely human, so a three-hour training session
of that intensity was sure to work him at least a little.
Karl might not be as powerful, but he was fast enough to keep the Berserker moving, a
technique that Tank advocated for, as most of the berserker type opponents would have a
time limit. Enraged magical beasts usually burned through their energy reserves at an
incredible rate, so if you could hold out for five or ten minutes, they would exhaust
themselves.
Even most of the drug induced berserker states wouldn't last more than half an hour before
the user would crash and be left in a far worse state than when they started. For that
reason, they would go all out while they could. They knew that they had to win within the
time limit, and they would get desperate as it got close.
So, the agility type fighters could string them along and wear them out, then finish them off
once they crashed. Cardio was incredibly important for agility fighters, who couldn't
always finish a fight with a single strike.
"Alright, that's it for the day. See you all tomorrow." The instructor called, and the group
began to disperse back to the showers, or to their rooms to shower and change there.
Karl was one who preferred to shower and change immediately, which left Rita and the
pair from the Bureau of Elite Development waiting for him to come back out of the crowded
locker room in the small building beside the training field.
"Do they always hold this class outdoors?" Daniel asked.
Rita nodded. "Unless the weather is bad. The grass is softer than the gym floor, and the
mats aren't a realistic footing scenario. Most of their fights will be outdoors, so it's better to
train in the field than on the hardwood."
"Understandable. Alright, I think that we learned what we needed today. I will see you both
tomorrow." Daniel agreed, then waved as he left, with Rita glowering at his back.
It looked like being up at the crack of dawn was going to become a regular thing, Karl
decided, as Sergeant Rita and Jill were at his door first thing the next morning. Rita had a
book with her on monster biology, but this one was different. It focused on the innate skills
of various monster skills, instead of just giving an overview of the species.
It was written from the perspective of a researcher who was trying to develop more ways
to strengthen the skills of the elites with similar abilities, and for Karl, it was much easier to
understand than the vague descriptions in most of the other textbooks.
"By the end of the week the Bureau of Elite Development will probably have a plan to bring
you before other juvenile monsters, either newborn or still in eggs, for the avian and reptile
species.
I don't know what they will find you, or if they'll even give you options other than the ones
they prepared, but now that they're convinced that you can bond a second pet, they are
determined to try. What you need to do is understand the skills that they have so that you
can build a proper team out of your tamed monsters.
You can focus on a specific skill set, like stealth and scouting, or a generalized combat team
that can take on most threats, but you don't have much time to make the decision before
the next step happens." She explained.

They were seated at a table in the cafeteria, which was still almost empty so early in the
morning, but that gave him nearly two hours to go over the various species in the book
before he needed to get to his first class.
"These Tortoises, exactly how large do they get? I think that the text is incorrect." Karl
asked.
Rita looked at the book and shook her head. "No, that's right. They grow between eighteen
and twenty-five metres long. They're a saltwater species, but they can happily live nearly
anywhere.
If all your pets grow as fast as Hawk, I wouldn't recommend that option if you are given it.
There aren't many situations where you will have room for a twenty-metre-long turtle. It's
too wide to even fit down most city streets without damaging the buildings on either side."
The thought made Karl laugh. A massive roadblock of armoured shell, just blocking an
entire roadway to prevent a target from fleeing.
Then there was the Demon Croc. Technically, they were an alligator, but at an equally
impressive twenty-five metres long and able to run at over a hundred kilometres an hour in
short spurts, Karl imagined that the shape of its snout was the least of anyone's concerns
when meeting it.
Then there was the Red Gold Panda. At a maximum height of twenty centimetres high, it
was adorable, but its innate skill was Vampirism. If it bit you, it could drain a human of
blood in a matter of seconds.

"If we knew what they were going to bring, it would really help." Karl sighed as the time
ran out, and it was time to go to morning accuracy training.
"Best to be prepared for anything. The more you know about monster skills, the better that
you will be able to plan for the skills that the ones they do present can use." Sergeant Rita
replied with a shrug.
Rita's mood only got worse as Daniel and Alice came to watch the training all day long. By
the time that the day was finished, she was visibly annoyed, but the other two seemed to be
enjoying the show, and they were happy to give training hints to the other students who
were training near Karl and Tank.
Originally, Karl had assumed it was the fact that they were here from the Government that
had annoyed Rita, but some of it seemed to be personal. They obviously knew each other
from before this week, and were close enough in age that they should have been in the
Academy together.
The number of Elites was small enough that it was a bit like a small town, everyone knew
everyone in their age group. It was a strange thought, as Karl had always viewed the Elites
as a sort of untouchable existence that was above the common people like the mine
workers, but now that he was here, it had a similar vibe to the mining town, but with a
different sort of hard work and less of the black lung.
The daily training became predictable, with Tank increasing the difficulty every time that
Karl thought he was getting better, while the evenings of that week all went the same. Eat,
train, then Dana would come over in the later evening so she could actually sleep, as her
neighbours had realized that she was torturing them back with the Golem which didn't
have to be summoned all the time.
But what they didn't know was that while the Golem had been practising his line dancing
until the small hours of the morning, Dana had been asleep on the balcony of Karl's room.
Her daily training had also intensified now that she had Jill as her personal tutor, and she
was so exhausted that she had to be literally carried out of bed some days to get ready after
Karl had left with Sergeant Rita.
Unlike Karl, who just hurt everywhere from physical training, her mind was completely
frazzled from the requirements of her mana expansion training, leaving her feeling sleep-
deprived even in the middle of the afternoon. @@novelbin@@
Perhaps that was what the Colonel had meant when she said that Sergeant Rita went easy
on him. He hurt everywhere, even in places he didn't know could hurt, but he was still
functional, and it was clear that Dana wasn't going to make it much longer at this rate when
the Saturday training session rolled around and Colonel Valerie was the one that met them
at the door in the morning after breakfast.
"Good morning, Colonel. We are ready to go." Karl greeted her at the door, then winced as
she patted him on the shoulder in greeting.
Dana was awake, but in a daze, not in any shape to be vocal, so Karl was doing the speaking
for the both of them. Colonel Valerie seemed to recognize that, and she didn't push for
more speech out of them as she led them to the car and back to the same training
warehouse from a week ago.
The teams all smiled as they saw the two bedraggled students stumble in, leaning on each
other to remain upright. Karl, because he could barely walk, and Dana because she was half
asleep.
"Well, they made it through hell week, but I'm not sure if they're in any shape to make it
through one more day of training to make it to the day off." One of the mages laughed.
Alice, the dark-haired mage that watched Karl's training every day, smirked at him and
gestured toward the pair.
"Try them, I think you will find that they're in better shape than they look." She suggested.
The teams moved closer to begin an attack routine, and the two students responded in
unison. Dana summoned a Golem and Karl called Hawk out, letting the giant bird fly freely
around the warehouse.
Colonel Valerie gave a rueful chuckle, and the team members backed away with a smile.

"Well, that might not be the ingrained response we were hoping for, but it works, I guess."
One of the warriors agreed.
"I can still fight, just not as energetically as usual, unless you've got some painkillers. I
swear that my bruises have bruises right now." Karl replied.
"Good thing that you can fight a ranged battle, then. Should we wake Dana up and get this
started?" The man asked. @@novelbin@@
Dana didn't open her eyes as she answered. "I'm awake. What's our first activity?"
"This week is not as bad as last week. We want to see how the two of you work together to
defend a spot in the middle of the warehouse against multiple attackers. But we will have
to call Hawk back because there isn't enough terrain set up to sneak up with him hanging
out in the rafters." One of the warriors explained as he began to equip a set of training
armour.
The helmet had a face shield, and a neck protector, giving the attacking team full coverage
as well as the shielding from their mages, so they shouldn't get hurt no matter what Karl
and Dana did to them, but in the eyes of the attacking team, there wasn't much they were
likely to do in that state.
This was an essential part of the first week's training, learning to function on limited sleep
and while exhausted. It wasn't as severe as the military put the regular soldiers through, at
least not in the physical sense, but the students were also younger, and the mental
exhaustion was undoubtedly just as great.
Alice led Karl and Dana to the centre of the impromptu maze, while a group of the warriors
scattered through the crates that made up an approximation of either narrow alleys or an
office building's maze of walls.
Karl wasn't sure which it was meant to be, as he hadn't personally seen either, but it was
going to make it easy for them to get close before they were detected.
Karl's eyes were much better than human, but his hearing hadn't changed much, nor had
his other senses, but his eyes could only see for a few metres around them.

"Set the Golem to guard this spot and I will set up traps. Then you start spreading fog, but
in random banks around us, it doesn't have to encompass our position." Karl whispered.
The random fog banks might confuse the attackers, and Karl would set traps using Rend, as
they had taught him last week.
They didn't have much time, as the warehouse was not a huge place, but Karl worked
quickly to get traps set up on most of the routes into the centre by putting them just into
his line of sight. There were a few routes behind him that he couldn't keep visible, so the
Golem would guard those approaches, and that would have to be enough warning for them.
The team approached silently, for the most part. The sound of someone bumping into a
wall in the fog alerted Karl to their approach, but he couldn't be certain if it was an accident
or a deliberate distraction.
Then there was another from off to his left, and a sharp intake of breath as the warrior
stopped short just before he would have run into the trap. Karl carefully added one more
trap, down by the ankles and a half step further than the first, which was at chest height in
the fog.
There was a full second of silence as the warrior checked the trap in the dense fog, and then
a crash as he ducked under it and hit the second line, falling out into the open only a few
steps from the central area Karl was guarding.
Karl sent a Shred attack his way, and the warrior raised his hands as the attack slammed
into his helmet. That should be the signal for 'out' because after that, he lay on the ground
and played dead.
There was another footstep and a soft chuckle from behind him, as the next man in line
assumed that Karl had gotten the drop on him, then a loud cuss as he stepped on the trap
line and retreated around the corner.
That made the others much more careful, and Karl nearly missed the next one until the
Golem surged forward to attack down a corridor.
It was going to pursue the target, but Dana called it back to them, waiting to see what the
warriors would do, and smart enough not to let the Golem out of her sight where they could
trick the simple reactions of the automaton.
A few seconds later, they came all at once, making Karl and Dana both lash out with spells
as fast as they could for the next few seconds as the warriors dodged and parried, until they
found blades at their necks, marking the end of the defence.
"Not bad. We have one chased off by the golem, three downed by traps, and four more
downed in the final rush. Now, grab an energy drink and something to eat, we're going to
go over some more effective defensive measures using the skills that you both have."
Colonel Valerie congratulated them with a nod of appreciation for their effort.
That was the best praise that they had managed to get out of her yet, and Karl was sure that
it was a good sign that she was warming up to them a little bit.
Karl sat down with the warriors, one of whom was still nursing a sore foot with his boot off.
"As you can see, the most effective strategy against many targets is actually the feet and
legs. They're not as protected, and while the target will be careful what they step on, that
also means they will be hesitant to approach you." Daniel explained, taking on the role of
the spokesman after having watched Karl in his regular classes for a week.
"That makes sense. The boot has to have some feeling, or you won't be able to walk as
smoothly, but that also means that the armour is limited. I wasn't expecting someone to
actually step on the trip wire, though." Karl agreed.
That made the other warriors chuckle.
"Thin wires in the fog is a great combination technique, and it was what we were initially
planning to suggest. There are only so many different ways to use Rend, but if you treat it
like wire, then you should be able to make a number of quality traps, as well as set up
ambushes.
Our discussion today will be less about new ways to use your technique, and what we
should be finding you for a second pet attempt. If you had someone who could fight at your
side in that situation, like the Golem, you would have increased your potential defences by
a lot, and it might have been enough to deal with all the attackers.

The official position is that we should have you try with more newborns or eggs, as that
was how Hawk started. If you try to bond a larger, aggressive monster, there is a strong
possibility that it would remain hostile to you and waste your talent until it is put down.
There is also the chance that a lost pet might not be able to be replaced. The classes that
can summon a Familiar or helper pet are like that. Once it's gone, it is gone and they can't
do it again.
Your class is unique, and you can bond with actual monsters, not use magic to summon a
mouse or cat level common animal, plus you can bring them into that space in your mind,
that nobody knows the limitations of. But that is why we are being cautious, there is a lot of
potential there, and we don't want to make a fatal error." Daniel explained.
Karl nodded slowly. The explanation made sense, but the space felt more like it was a nest,
a home for whatever lived there. It didn't stop existing when Hawk was outside, and the
second space was just sitting empty, waiting for Karl to build a nest for something else.
"Alright, what did you have in mind? Is there like some strategic reserve of monster babies
for study or something?" Karl asked.
The team laughed and shook their heads. "No, what we're going to do is go for a little
adventure. There are a few tame species of monsters that the scientists study, but those
aren't what we need for an Elite that cultivates combat pets. Instead, we are going to head
to the southern plains and go find you a proper monster.
The place is infested with them, and they're all brutal killers. They have to be to survive
there among their own kind. So, the initial plan is to drive around until you find one that
feels promising to your class, then hunt it.
We have surveillance, and we've marked nearly a hundred nests and infant monsters, so
there is a good chance that we can find what you need.
Look at the hawk. He started out as an egg in the kitchen, and now he's one of the largest
birds of prey that I have ever seen. Most birds his size, even the monstrous ones, are
flightless, but his body is light and powerful despite his size. If another pet went through a
similar advancement, we could be looking at a whole new strain of monster that is more
deadly than any other on its level."
Daniel was clearly excited as he finished his speech, and the others were preparing to bring
out the maps to show Karl the possible matches that they had found.
"We've got everything from snakes to badgers to a Crystalline Mammoth cub tracked. So
whatever you think would be best can be available." Daniel added.
A crystalline Mammoth would be a nightmare for anyone to fight against. They were
supposed to have incredible magical powers according to folklore, but the book said that it
was a result of their hide reflecting and changing any attacks sent against them.
Plus, they stood over five metres tall and could crush armoured cars with just their feet.
Having one would be cool, but feeding one could be much more difficult than keeping Hawk
happy.
One of the others gestured to spots on a map they unrolled. "We have also prepared for the
possibility that your skills only allow you to bond with birds, so there are six different
powerful potential avian partners who have eggs in their nests.
Now, actually getting the eggs won't be easy, but that's why we're here. We will send two
teams with you to gather the new pet, and then we will impose a full blackout on the
information so that it doesn't leak out until you are ready for others to know.
If it is a baby, you will need time to help it grow, and nobody wants everyone to know their
true power if they have the chance to hold a secret skill back for emergencies."
Daniel smiled at Karl's hesitation. "We're all on the same team, but we're all competing for
the best jobs, the next promotion, that special chance that will give us something that we
want. Having a little something in reserve can help impress people at just the right
moment." @@novelbin@@
Karl smiled at the warriors as he understood the logic. "Alright, when do we leave?"
"Now. I will go get Alice, and we will take Jodi and Anise as well, so that Dave and Jill can
stay to watch over Dana as she recovers. They will likely spend the night here, resting and
practising through the off day. The Academy is too loud to really focus, so having a night to
just sit in silence should be appreciated." Daniel explained.
Jodi was the stereotypical blonde, handsome ladies man, while Anise was a short but
muscular ginger woman, and both were among the military half of the Bureau of Elite
Development agents. That seemed to be a deliberate choice by Daniel as he led them all to a
military vehicle which was far better suited to off-road use than the car that they had taken
from the Academy.
"How long will it take us to get there?" Karl asked as they got in the truck.
"Not long, we're close to the region that we want to start the search in, so we will drive a
few hours and stop at a way station for the night. It would be better to search for the
targets when we're all fresh and rested. Mistakes happen in the dark, and I despise writing
incident reports." Daniel replied with a teasing smile.
They didn't wait for any long goodbyes, they just headed out and followed the highway
south, intending to make their destination in time for dinner.
That was still going to be difficult, Karl realized as the sun set, and they were still driving,
but a few hours after that, they were pulling up to a walled town that opened the gates for
them and let them in to park next to a small motel, with a row of units in two levels, and
gun turrets on each end of the roof.
"I take it that this place is a bit more dangerous than it is at home." Karl commented with a
gesture toward the guns and the spotlights that were mounted on every building near the
wall.
"A little bit, but mostly it is a precaution against larger predators trying to break into the
city. Nobody wants to run to the wall for every emergency, so they build turrets on their
workplace instead." Alice explained.
Daniel checked them in, and Karl found himself alone in a small room with a single bed and
a television. It wasn't anything special as far as hotels went, but it was quiet, so he spent the
next few hours meditating and working on the new Beast Space to prepare it for
occupancy.
[Get something cool.] Hawk demanded.
[And what do you think would be good? If you say a messy eater so you can steal the
scraps, I will have to remind you that you mostly eat in separate spaces.] Karl replied.
[Something that will scare targets. Maybe a huge snake. Everything is afraid of snakes, even
if they're easy to chop with Rend.]

Karl thought for a second. [I think that it would be best to get another smart species. We
work well together because we can communicate easily. If they can't follow the same
instructions, it will just make it harder to fight.]
[That rules out snake monsters. They're dangerous, but not intelligent. What about a
Warbear? They're smart. We should get a Warbear.]
They were also seven metres tall when standing on all four feet, covered in heavy natural
armour and infamously ill-tempered, Peak Overlord Rank monsters. A Warbear would take
on anything without fear, from a juvenile Dragon to a main battle tank.
[I don't think we will be in a mood to celebrate if mama Warbear finds us trying to steal her
cub.] Karl reminded Hawk.
The Windspeed Hawk and the Warbear actually got along well, as the Hawks liked to chirp
for assistance when they wanted a partner to take down prey, and the Warbear would
happily kill anything that walked on its territory. But it didn't consider birds a threat, as
they stayed off the ground unless they were hunting, and they were smart enough not to
hunt anything that the Warbear liked to eat.
Karl drifted off to sleep a few hours later, and woke up to the sound of a warning siren.
He quickly threw on his uniform and got up to see what was going on. As an Elite at the
Awakened Rank, it was part of his duty to respond to these sorts of emergencies, even if the
town was prepared.
They had the four escorts from the Bureau as well, so he wouldn't be in any real danger, but
if it was a monster attack, there was a chance that it might lead him to an opportunity to
find his second partner.
As soon as he stepped out the door, there was a man in a police officer's uniform pointing
at him.
"You're an Elite, right? Ranged or Melee." The policeman shouted. @@novelbin@@
"Either. Where do you need me?" Karl asked.
"On the wall. It's a locust swarm."

The officer was obviously panicking, and Karl wondered why a bunch of tiny insects were
causing so much panic to people other than the farmers.
Jodi and Daniel were outside a few seconds behind him, while Alice and Anise were up in
the tower on top of the hotel, and were already preparing to start casting spells.
[Hawk, stay inside. They're shooting at anything that moves.] Karl warned his partner, then
ran to the wall a few metres from the hotel.
The swarm was hundreds of metres wide, and behind them, there was nothing. Not
branches or grass, nothing but bare dirt and locust droppings. That explained why the
villagers were terrified of these things, and they were much larger than Karl had read about
in the book.
These were a Common Grade monster species, and larger than his forearm, instead of the
size of his finger.
Nothing was trying to eat the locusts, as Karl had expected of this insect buffet, and he
quickly realized why. Every one that the locals shot was instantly devoured by those
around it, leaving nothing behind. With that sort of cannibalistic instinct, not even Hawk
would want to attack and have most of his food stolen before he could retrieve it.
Karl shook himself out of his reverie and sent a constantly widening set of [Rend] attacks
into the front of the locust swarm, tearing dozens apart with each of the four attacks.
That wasn't even close to enough firepower to slow the tide, but the power consumption
was low, and Karl was throwing them out twice per second.
The mages were the ones that made the first real change in the tightly packed ranks of the
swarm, by using fireballs to burn huge holes in the pack that quickly filled with other
locusts eating the bodies and caused the front line to waver as the insects were distracted
by the prospect of food left behind.
That made for an even more densely packed group, and Karl changed to creating a net with
two Rend attacks, and stretched it into a thin wire, which took a bit more power, but which
tore apart a large patch of the locusts.
The more of them that were destroyed at once, the slower their progress got, buying time
for the locals and their guns to get in position and begin defending their homes.
The buildings would likely hold up against the swarm, Karl assumed. But the gardens and
everything else would not. The land would be left completely barren after the swarm
passed, and they would have to start over from nothing.
"Welcome to the South." A man with a rifle and a cart full of equipment greeted Karl as he
made it up the ramp.
"Quite the morning. What do you have there?" Karl replied as he continued to attack.
"Automated flamethrower turret. If we have to retreat to the bunkers, they will burn most
everything that tries to get into the town. Bloody locusts will even eat the metal when they
get close, not much else you can do."
Karl kept up the low-power attacks as the locust swarm began to dwindle under the
combined firepower of the town and the efforts of the Elites. Jodi and Daniel were currently
using rifles, as they were close combatants, but they were highly skilled with them, and
every shot counted against the pure numbers of locusts.
"How long can you keep that up?" The man beside Karl asked as another fence of four rend
attacks tore apart the front lines of the swarm.
"Long enough. They're going to be here before I'm worn out." Karl replied.
"Perhaps not, lad. Just wait. Once they're close enough we will start with the explosives,
and that should thin them out quick, fast and in a hurry." The man informed him with a
smile.
The first explosives were a line of landmines that the swarm set off, tearing apart the entire
front line of insects, and then the one behind it as they reached the second row of mines.
That was over a quarter of the insects in a few seconds, but they were leaping into the air
now, flying over the minefield.
That made them easier targets for Rend, as now they were right at Karl's eye level and the
attack would tear through multiple ranks of them before dissipating.
Then the city's police force began firing grenade launchers into the swarm, hitting some in
the air, and others on the ground. The rifles were having a harder time against the flying
insects, but Karl and the mages were not. The exploding magical fireballs and crimson
streaks of energy were stopping everything that the grenades didn't, and the flying portion
of the swarm began to descend to in order to eat the bodies.
That set off more of the landmines, and the number of attackers began to fall to the point
that they hardly seemed like a threat anymore.
But even a few could run amok through the town, and each of them could kill a human, then
use the body as nutrients for more locust eggs.

Karl began to sweat with exertion, and Hawk was pushing to come out and assist, even if he
was standing beside Karl on the wall.
[It's alright, buddy. We're almost done here. One more minute and they'll be all gone, then
whatever cleanup the town does can start.] Karl replied, placating the bird for a moment as
he slowed his attacks to avoid overtaxing his stamina.
The locusts made a field of green blood and body bits in the distance when the alarm finally
sounded again, marking the official end of the battle, and the start of the cleanup effort,
which would ensure there were no survivors or viable eggs left behind.
"Thank you Elite. Might I know your name?" The man beside Karl asked politely.
"Karl, Awakened Rank Student at the Academy." He replied, and the man chuckled.
"I must say I'm a bit jealous. You did an impressive job here today. Your skills are well
suited to town defence against the swarms of weaker monsters. Come back again sometime
and drinks will be on us."
Daniel laughed as he came over to the pair.
"No getting the students drunk so young." He reprimanded the local.
"Bah, you city folk are too uptight. Out here in the sticks, we start drinking beer with
breakfast as soon as we can walk."
Karl chuckled. That was because the water was no good, so you had to filter it, and beer
came ready to drink. His own family had done the same thing, though they thinned the
cheap beer with the more expensive drinking water for the kids. @@novelbin@@

"Still, we're headed out into the long grass, so no drinking this morning, even if the beer is
free with breakfast." Daniel cautioned Karl with a frown.
"Got it boss. No drinking before we go monster hunting."
It took a few minutes before things had calmed down enough that the staff returned to the
restaurant next to the motel, but there was hot coffee in the pots, and the four agents were
happy with that until the cook returned to take their orders.
Alice was the first to address their plans for the day. "As we've all been vividly reminded.
The South is not a safe area, and it belongs more to the monsters than the people. So, we
will have to watch every move that we make as we travel further from civilization. The first
spot that I want to stop is here, by the river.
I don't know if Karl gets some sort of calling to his potential partners, or if it will be a
conscious decision every time, but there should be a wide variety of options along the
riverbank. Most monsters need to drink, so they will have to go there eventually.
The optimal targets would seem to be the Stoneskin Rhino, the Golden Dire Bear, the Giant
Crocolisk and the Armoured Ape."
They were definitely aiming to get Karl a tank for the next pet, but they were right, those
would all be great options. The Stoneskin Rhino could spread its armour over nearby
targets, the Golden Dire Bear had an extremely impressive strengthening ability, the
Armoured Ape also had armour magic, and the Crocolisk was basically a living tank.
Karl would put it at the bottom of his list as it didn't have innate magic that he would be
likely to learn, but as far as combat power, it was certainly near the top of the list.
"Since I gained Hawk's [Rend] skill, I think that another innate skill would most likely be
passed on as well, so it might be just as important to pick a good skill as it is to pick the
toughest of monsters." Karl suggested.
"We could go a bit further and try to find him a Giant Cerro?" Daniel suggested.
"You think that a giant armoured lizard with Rhino horns is what anyone would want as a
pet?" Alice asked.
The warrior shrugged. "It's a herbivore, so easy to feed. It's huge, armoured, and it has the
[Rapid Regeneration] innate skill. When it activates that ability, it will heal from the most
egregious wounds in seconds. How would that not be useful?"
Jodi smiled. "I just think it will be amusing to see someone try to fight an ancient lizard the
size of a small elephant."
Karl had never heard of such a creature, but it sounded terrifying.
Their drive took them out of the grassland, and down a road that led through a marshy
area, where the Crocolisk could be found. There were other magical beasts in the area, ones
that hadn't been flagged as the most likely ones to build a strong team with Hawk, and
some of them were not shy about being around the roadway when they passed.
@@novelbin@@
For example, a large antlered animal roughly the size of their truck, with long legs, and a
thick neck that promised those broad antlers weren't just for show.
"What exactly is that?" Karl muttered as they passed it by.
"Southern Moose. They're not a magical beast, but most of the Common Grade beasts won't
mess with them." Alice replied.
That was understandable, the beast was massive.
Up ahead they spotted a few smaller magical creatures, and the others watched Karl
carefully to see if he had any sort of response to them, but Karl was just in wonder at all the
scenery, unlike anything he had ever seen before.
"First up, there should be a Stoneskin Rhino nest around here somewhere. It is further back
off the road, so we will have to walk in to find it. One team will come with you, the other
will stay to guard the truck so we don't have to walk home." Daniel informed him seriously.
"Alright. Let's go see what we can find." Karl agreed.
According to the map, they would have to pass by a bit of the marsh, then they would be
back at the river, and that was where they were likely to find the Rhino nest, as well as
many other predators.
"Stop. Don't leave the truck. It looks like we found one of our options early." Alice ordered,
and Daniel abruptly, but silently, pulled his door closed again.

Off in the trees, there was an enormous furry creature with a mottled pattern of golden
spots through jet black fur. That should be the Golden Dire Bear that they had informed
him of, and it had a small cub with it.
The problem was that they were together, and the mother was paying close attention to her
young cub, which meant they wouldn't be able to sneak up on it and see if Karl could bond
it.
"The mother is Commander Rank, and she doesn't look impressed to see us here. How
about we go a little further along?" Jodi suggested.
Karl considered the options for a moment. The Golden Dire Bear would be a good team
member, especially as they grew so naturally powerful, but getting into a fight with one on
the off chance that the cub would forgive him and work together seemed risky.
"We know where they are now, we can come back later, perhaps with some meat, and see if
that puts her in a better mood." Daniel agreed, while Jodi began to slowly drive until the
bear decided that they were no longer a threat and went back to watching her cub.
"It's a bit further from the river, but up ahead here there are some survivors of the Giant
Lizard breeds. There aren't many of them left, at least not outside the breeding farms in the
west, but any of them should be a viable option.
They're not dragons, but there are some Drakes among them, and almost every species has
some sort of innate skill." Jodi explained as he turned down a dirt path.
They drove for another ten minutes, when Jodi stopped the truck and pointed to the far
side of a clearing where there was a large group of animals, roughly the same two metres
tall as the Golden Dire Bear had been on all four feet, but with thick scales and three horns
on their wide heads as the Cerro were described. They were happily munching plants with
beaked mouths, which made Hawk happy, and they seemed to be nonaggressive unless
threatened.
"Those are a subset of the Cerro. They're less than half the size of the ones we were looking
for, and they lack the full extent of the healing ability, but they have a rather unique racial
skill that you might like. These beasts can coat themselves in magical lightning. They use it
both as armour and as a weapon when they charge." Jodi explained.
"There are eggs in the nests, and they're closer to us than to the beasts. Do you think that
we should take a little trip out and see if we can get one to test?" Daniel asked.
Karl agreed that they looked like they would be a suitable option, and they had heavy scales
all over their body that looked impenetrable, as well as the three long horns and the
armoured head.

[Let me. I will be in and out in seconds.] Hawk suggested.

"I will send Hawk." Karl informed the others, then opened the door a crack to call the bird
out into the open.
Hawk streaked through the trees, and as soon as he grabbed an egg, alerting the herd to a
predator in their midst, Karl called him back into the Beast Space.
He could feel the egg, the life form inside of it, and it had been pushed to the other space
when Hawk entered his home, but it was not ready to hatch. There was something missing
for Karl to form a bond with it.
"I think it's a possibility, but I need to do something, and I'm not sure what." Karl informed
the others, as Jodi began driving again. Slowly, as if the bird had nothing to do with them.
"Then we will keep looking. Place the egg here in the padded bag, and we will hold on to it
in case it's the best option." Alice explained.
In the taming space, Hawk shook his feathers, and something else moved to the secondary
space.
[Did you get something on you?] Karl asked curiously.
[Not sure, what happened?] Hawk asked, unable to see the other space or its contents.
[There is a tiny egg. Like miniscule.] Karl explained as he examined the egg.
"There is another tiny egg there as well. I think that it was on Hawk when he came back. I'm
not sure what it is yet." Karl informed the others.
"Can you bring it out? Or is it too fragile to move easily?" Alice asked.
"It looks very soft, not like a bird egg, but there is something alive in there for certain, I can
feel it." Karl explained, then moved the egg to one of the padded bags.
The others looked at it in horror, and Alice opened the door.
"Get that thing out of here. That's a Bloodbath Spider egg."
Karl looked down at the egg. The Bloodbath Spider was an urban legend. They were an
invasive predator from a nation to the East, and survived entirely on blood, like a mosquito.
But unlike the common mosquito, they grew to the size of a small car and had mandibles
that could tear through steel to get to what they wanted.
They were supposed to have been hunted to extinction, but it seemed that there were still
some hiding out here in the wilderness.
Karl was still admiring the soft egg when the truck made an abrupt turn, circling back the
way that they had arrived from, and Jodi increased his speed.
"You know that it is an egg, right? It's not hatched." Karl reminded the playboy.
"Yeah, you say that now, but where is mother Bloodbath? They lay their eggs on the strands
of their web. If Hawk came back with a spider egg on him, he broke a strand of the web as
he flew over to get the other egg.
They don't lay many eggs at a time because it would overpopulate an area too quickly, so
they're probably going to be very protective." He replied, beginning to panic.
"The mother can bite through the armoured roof of this truck." Daniel whispered to Karl,
explaining the situation more clearly.
They had four fully trained and high-ranking Elites, but precisely zero who fancied walking
home after their car was demolished by a giant spider.
Karl moved the egg back into the secondary Beast Space. If they didn't find another option,
this Bloodbath Spider hatchling would do very well.

It looked like the spider and the Lightning Cerro might be his only options if they were
picking today because Jodi was headed straight back to town, and he wasn't even slowing
down when they got near the river, where the other options on the original list should be.
"Well, it appears that I've got two choices. How about I hold them both, and see which one I
can get to hatch and bond first?" Karl offered as the town walls came back into sight.
"Two is enough." Jodi agreed.
Alice looked ready to disagree with him, but the other two looked like they were on his side
with the plan to not spend any more time in the wilderness after the day that they had.
They had only run into a few predators, but they were the worst possible ones to anger.
At the very least, they would wait one night before going back out again.
The Academy had given permission for the trip, and they didn't have a set schedule, so they
could stay out here for a week if they needed it. As long as the answer of whether Karl
could bond another monster was clear, they could take all the time that they needed.
Once they were both safely set in the secondary beast space, the two eggs seemed to be
coexisting without any issues, but they couldn't be moved to Hawk's space anymore, which
made Karl wonder if he was going to have to move one of them out the minute that the
other one hatched and bonded.
There was one easy way to find out. Karl began to meditate and pour energy into the space,
which flooded into the eggs.
They were both immature eggs, though of more powerful monsters than the Windspeed
Hawk, and the change was immediately noticeable.
The embryos in the eggs began to develop at a massively increased rate as the space
increased in size to accommodate them. He should probably pick one or the other well
before they hatched, but both were growing so well that Karl didn't want to change
anything yet.

There was always the possibility that he could have multiple beasts in the space once they
were bonded. Perhaps this second space was for unbonded pets in waiting?
The first to hatch was the Cerro, with small horns smashing through the eggshell, and a
sense of mingled joy and relief flooding Karl's mind as the small reptile bonded with him.
As Hawk had done, the beast began to grow rapidly out of its awkward newborn phase, but
the Cerro wasn't as helpless as a baby bird, and he was screaming for food already.
Karl focused, and found that he could move the creature to Hawk's space, but he felt like a
visitor there. It wasn't his space, but the small prehistoric looking beast began to happily
graze on the imaginary grass that Karl had made, and its body fleshed out with the influx of
energy.
So, Karl kept adding more energy to the second space with the Bloodbath Spider egg, which
was still growing and maturing.
"What are you up to? We're here." Alice asked.
"I need to focus. I think that the eggs can both be hatched and bonded." Karl muttered, not
opening his eyes.
"Alright, just follow me to a hotel room and you can finish your work." Alice instructed as
Jodi parked the truck.
The others went to talk to the staff, while Alice led Karl to a room, then closed and bolted
the door while she waited there with him.
"If that spider hatches, and you can't bond it, you will need one of us here to keep you safe.
It will be weaker than you, but they're fast, and they can dig inside the skin, which makes
victims panic." She explained.
Karl hadn't considered that possibility. If he couldn't bond it, he likely couldn't keep it in
that space either, but he wasn't sure that either he or Hawk could handle it running wild in
the hotel room. A tiny spider running loose would be a nightmare to catch, but Alice was a
mage, so she likely had some way to deal with it. @@novelbin@@
Karl forged ahead and kept the progress going on the spider egg in the secondary space,
growing it to the size of a baseball, with a transparent membrane that held a large black
spider inside. It was almost ready to hatch, and the space had been expanded by quite a bit,
though the quality of it still seemed very low compared to the first space.
In retrospect, that was the wrong course of action. But Karl had no way of knowing that
until the egg hatched, and the pain hit his mind.
The moment that the spider egg hatched, the two Beast Spaces in his mind were nearly torn
apart, with a third trying to form, and the imbalance between the complete space and the
incomplete one was not allowing them to find a common distribution rate to form the third
space.
"I need high-energy food, whatever you can get." Karl informed Alice with a pained wince,
feeling like his head was going to explode.
"What is happening?" The mage asked as she sent a message on her phone to the others.
"Both of them hatched too close together for me to equalize their living spaces. It is trying
to create a third space in my mind, but the second is not ready to be split, and the first can't
give up the energy that it already has. I need that energy." Karl demanded.
"It's on its way, just hold on for a few more seconds, and we will get you something." Alice
explained.
The reserves for Hawk were almost all raw meat, which Karl would have a horrible time
digesting, but there was some roasted chicken in there, which Karl pulled out as a stopgap
measure until he could get something with more energy.
"Does it have to be meat?" Alice asked frantically.
"Anything with an Awakened energy level or better." Karl replied as the energy influx from
the chicken flowed through his body.
Jodi rushed in with a bag from the truck, and began pulling out supplies until he got to the
prepackaged meals.

"These are all Ascended Rank meat for the main course, and the other dishes should be
decent. They're made for Commander Rank Elites on energy-intensive missions." He
explained as he tore the first pack open and handed it to Karl with a spoon.
A cold ration pack was not exactly fine dining, but it was edible enough, and the energy
flow was enough that the immediate pain was fading, while a sense of mental stress was
settling in as a third space began to form.
Both of the hatchlings were drawing immense amounts of energy from him, and even after
Karl did his best to feed them what power he could absorb, it wasn't enough.
"I need monster blood and large amounts of magical plants for the new beasts. I think that
things will stabilize once they are fed and not drawing energy straight from me." Karl
explained, while otherwise completely focused on feeding himself and keeping his focus
well enough to stabilize the newly formed space.
Magical plants were something that they had plenty of, since the plants didn't have to be
edible to humans. Daniel brought back what appeared to be an entire hay bale, while a few
minutes after that, Jodi returned with a five gallon pail full of blood.
The shrub was put into the newest area, as the baby Cerro seemed to be the more placid of
the two, while the Bloodbath spider took its name literally, and accidentally fell off the rim
of the bucket into the blood before climbing back out to drink more carefully.
"You need to keep eating." Alice advised him as Karl began to relax.
That made him open his eyes, and look at his hand as he reached out for more food.
"What the hell? What happened to me?" He gasped as he looked at the skeletal thin arm in
front of him.
"You tell us. You suddenly started to wither, and it's still ongoing, though not as fast as it
was at first. You look like hell." Alice replied. @@novelbin@@

Karl dug into what looked like a set of plates from the buffet, piled high with whatever
could be grabbed, and tried to form his thoughts.
"The monsters don't share a space the way that I expected them to, or rather, they can't. I
didn't realize that until the third one hatched and bonded. It needed to form another
mental space, and I wasn't prepared. It drew the energy it needed from me, and it looks like
I barely managed to keep up.
If the beasts hadn't been hatchlings, they would have needed more energy to stabilize a
space at their power level, and I would most likely be dead right now, or one of them would
have broken free. There is a cap on the size, but not on the power density of the first space
that I have reached. But there is a minimum requirement to properly bond a new pet, I
know that now. One separate mental space, with as much or more stored energy than the
creature being bonded has.
In the future, it would be best to keep going with hatchlings, unless I have time to form a
space for them in advance and to stock it with massive amounts of energy. But right now, I
need a lot of food for growing beasts, and to try to recover what was spent. I don't even
know how long that will take. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before?" Karl
explained.
Jodi frowned. "I have, but it was the result of a hostile spell, not backlash from an ability. It
looks like there are dangers to overextending yourself in this way. But are the two new
beasts really stable?"
Karl inspected the Beast Spaces. "Yes, they are stable, at least for now. They are going to
need some time before they're ready to actually begin training, but they are stabilized."
"Then our priority is to get you back into functional shape. We will help you eat and try to
regain energy tonight, and then in the morning we will determine if you need to be
hospitalized until you can regain enough of the lost mass to be safely moved back to the
Academy." Alice informed him with a pitying look on her face.
"I guess I had better get to work on my recovery then. What do we have for higher rank
foods? I will let you know when it's too much for me to digest efficiently." Karl sighed.
"Start with this salad. It might taste awful, but it's the most potent in the group. It was
prepared for us to recover quickly from injuries, so it has healing properties and a
Commander Rank base." Alice offered.
Karl took the first bite, and energy flooded his system at a rate faster than anything he had
ever experienced, then began to drain into all three of the Beast Spaces as fast as he could
eat. It took immense focus to keep some of that for his own body, but after a few bites, he
was getting the hang of splitting the energy four ways.
The mental strain of the new spaces was diminishing as the energy influx became greater
than the beast's need to draw from him in order to stabilize their early growth, but the
pounding headache that Karl had was only getting worse. It felt like someone was kicking
him in the skull from the inside, but he had no idea what he should do about it.
Then, after a few minutes, and three of the four salads, Karl found the reason. A new voice
broke through the pain and whispered in his mind.
[This food is good. Is there more?]
The placid voice was coming from the newest of the spaces in his mind, which was
currently occupied by the Cerro, who was happily munching away on the plants as his body
grew from its hatchling state.
[I will get you more before that runs out.] Karl agreed.
That was enough to reassure the creature, and with it the pressure on Karl's mind. At least,
some of the pressure on his mind. The bond with the Bloodbath Spider was still not strong
enough, and while the creature seemed happy with the situation that it was in, the bond
between them still needed work until Karl could speak to it mentally and ensure that it
wasn't going to escape and run rampant through the town.
Hawk had a habit of wandering out of the space anytime that he wanted, but Karl was fairly
certain that he could keep the beasts in the space if he wanted to.
Once the bond was formed, they would obey his orders without too many questions, and
asking that they stay inside was a simple enough request.
With the singular goal of stopping the pain in his head, Karl kept adding energy to the
spaces, working to strengthen them while he rebuilt the damage that was done to his body
as well as he could with the excess energy that he could spare from the process.
A few minutes later, a man in a white coat came into the room, carrying a large box full of
various potions and assorted tools that Karl vaguely recognized as medical devices in his
distracted state.
"He's stable, according to my skill, but he's got a long way to go. I will give him a regrowth
potion, and I hope that your overseer will cover the cost. These things aren't cheap." The
doctor informed the other Elites in the room.

Daniel laughed. "We were sent here directly by the Bureau of Elite Development. We can
put it on the expense account, no need for a reimbursement filing."
That was the best news that the doctor had heard all day, and with that magic promise of a
direct billing to the expense account, he was eager to break out all the best treatments to
get the young student fully recovered from whatever mishap he had sustained.
"Might I ask what caused this? If I know, I might be able to treat it more effectively." The
doctor asked.
"That's a fine question, and we really don't know the answer. He is a strange class marking,
and he bonded a Windspeed Hawk type magical beast to him in order to gain power. On
this outing, we wanted to see if he could add more monsters and expand his powers.
@@novelbin@@
Well, it worked, and he added two, but there was some sort of backlash, it was too much
mental strain, but then it started siphoning off his body as well." Alice explained.
"What two monsters?" The doctor asked.
"A Cerro, probably one of the smaller lightning adept varieties, and a Bloodbath Spider,
both hatchlings." She explained.
"It is possible that the Bloodbath Spider was not getting what it needed, and it fed from the
Elite's body instead. Did you find some food for it? Hatchlings are born hungry." He asked.
"We did. There is a lot of Awakened Quality blood for it and a smaller amount of Ascended
because we weren't sure what it would be able to digest." Alice explained.

The doctor pulled another set of potions out and began to set up an IV drip for Karl, to
make it easier to keep feeding him potions until he recovered.
"I suspect that a lot of the issue will be blood loss, and extreme dehydration. Did you say
that the Cerro has lightning or Regeneration as its primary racial skill?" The doctor
requested, with a notepad in his hands.
"We would assume Lightning, as they were the smaller variety at the nest, but it's freshly
hatched, and we haven't seen the bonded animal's ability yet."
That was good enough for the Doctor, and he added more rapid healing medication to the
bag, and an electrical insulator on the stand. One thing that he didn't want was for his
expensive treatment to get shocked into uselessness if the monster broke free during
treatment.
He needn't have worried so much about that particular pet. It was perfectly happy eating in
the Beast Space, with little to no motivation to do anything else right now.
The Bloodbath Spider, on the other hand, was glutted on monster blood and bored, looking
for something to do, while it was stuck in a featureless space with barely enough energy to
be comfortable.
[I will add more features later, so that you can start making yourself comfortable.] Karl
placated the spider.
[At least a tree to build my web in, something.] The spider complained, not understanding
the intricacies of building the contents of the space.
Karl took a branch from the pile of food that they had brought into the room for him to feed
his pets, and moved it into the fist sized spider's area, near the bucket of blood.
"That's a start." It sighed with relief, then set about making a nest in the branch, with
stringers that ran to the bucket, so it didn't have to walk across the unnerving nothingness
to get there.
An hour later, the doctor switched the medicines in the IV bag, and Karl's body began filling
back out to something closer to his natural state. It wasn't a full recovery, but the Elites in
the room were feeling a lot better about his chances of not only surviving this mishap but
coming out better for it.
The two monsters that Karl had bonded would both grow up to be extremely powerful
without any additional help, but the evidence showed that simply being bonded to Karl
would help them grow to be smarter and stronger than usual in a much shorter time.
Between the Hawk, the armoured body of the Cerro, and the Bloodbath Spider, they would
form a combination that very few Elites would be able to take down once they were fully
grown.
The bond grew as Karl stabilized the spaces all through the next day, and after a few glasses
of straight monster blood, they were beginning to make progress on returning his body to
its normal state.
Currently, the feedback from the two new monsters wasn't great, and mostly it was them
drawing from Karl and Hawk, who was also eating heavily to sustain the burden of their
two rapidly growing hatchlings.
But already Karl could feel that the demand was decreasing as they grew in power, and
soon it would reverse, with them beginning to strengthen his Awakened Grade physique.
The Bloodbath Spider in particular. It was born on the strong side of Awakened Rank, going
by its physique, but nobody in the room really knew what its innate skill was.
@@novelbin@@
It could tear apart an armoured car with its mandibles, and smoothly cut through monster
flesh with the claws at the end of its legs, but pure power wasn't enough to explain its
deadly reputation at its level.
Just after lunch, the best sign that the bonds were normalizing appeared. The Cerro, who
insisted its name was Thor, after someone in the room had mentioned the mythical god of
lightning, had settled in to sleep off a heavy meal, and Karl received a mental impression of
a new power.
[Refreshing Lightning] Create a lightning barrier around the caster that damages enemies
and increases healing speed.

"Thor's lightning isn't just lightning. It is a magical effect that also slightly increases healing
speed. I just gained access to it, but I don't dare use it in bed and hooked up to the IV. At
least not the first time." Karl informed the others.
Whoops of joy filled the small hotel room, and the weary Elites began to celebrate the fact
that there didn't seem to be any lingering damage to Karl's body from the mishap.
"Now, we just need to find out what the ability of the Bloodbath Spider is, and we're set."
Alice cheered.
Karl checked on the spider in his mind. It had gone from the size of a baseball to the size of
a volleyball overnight, and it had consumed nearly a third of the bucket of blood that they
had provided for it. But it was happily sleeping in the hammock it had made in the small
branch it had been given, and wasn't ready to answer questions yet.
"Give it a bit longer. They're both sleeping it off, and I need to do some more strengthening
of the spaces before they grow any more powerful.
The incredible body growth speed is great in theory, but I wasn't prepared to contain them,
and I'm still worried that they will grow faster than I can keep providing a home for them.
Hawk was good that way, his initial power level started low, and he grew with practice, but
these two are growing powerful quickly without any training at all." He explained.
"That's fine, take all the time that you need. Should we get you more of the monster blood
to drink?" Jodi asked, concern clear on his face.
"It's fine. I think that the initial lack was due to the spider, and once we got a bucket of
blood in there for it, I just needed to replenish what I lost." Karl sighed.
That was completely unexpected, but they had gained valuable insights into the bonding
process, and the possible side effects of bonding to something beyond your level.

The spider still hadn't made direct contact with his mind yet, though he could feel its
curiosity about where it was and what Karl was. They were lone predators by nature and
had only recently taken to protecting their young as their numbers dwindled. Before that,
they were nomadic, and once they mated, the females would lay single eggs every few days
as they travelled, spreading their clutch far and wide.
For most of the day, they all rested, moving past the excitement of the night before, and just
before dinner, the doctor came to remove the IV stand and the needles from Karl's arm.
"It looks like you're healed well enough to be in the clear now. Not all Elites heal faster than
normal, but you should be alright on your own, and you will just need some training to
rebuild the muscle mass that you lost." The Doctor informed Karl with a professional gaze.
"Thanks Doc. I will get to that as soon as the headaches are gone, and I'm feeling less dizzy.
I think it should be within a day or so. Possibly, right after dinner." Karl replied.
The doctor got back to tending to the rest of the frontier town, which Karl had learned was
as much a military outpost as a town. They might not dress like it, but most of the
townsfolk were low-level Elites, people who never made it past Common Grade, and who
signed up to work for the Defence Department.
Like the Doctor, who could make various medicines, but nothing amazingly powerful by
magical standards, they were still Elites, but doing the most dangerous sort of job by
keeping the wild monsters restricted to the South and not moving into the more populated
areas.
"Let me stand up, and I will see if this lightning is enough to help me recover." Karl
suggested.
"Outside. Try the first time outside, in case you can't control it properly." Daniel reminded
him.
The first few attempts to stand up were shaky, but Karl was feeling better by the step, and
once they were out in the parking lot, he was ready to give the [Refreshing Lightning] a try.
Soft blue light crackled over his body, and Karl felt his body strengthening, while the
sleeping Thor woke up for a moment to see who was under attack. Once it realized that it
was just Karl healing himself, the newborn beast went back to sleep, secure in its small
home and tired from the effort of growing so much.
"Impressive. The muscle mass is growing back at a notable rate, recovering from the
damaged and dehydrated tissues, your skin is clearing up, and your pores are getting
cleansed. You even smell faintly of ozone. It's a healing effect and a spa treatment in one."
Jodi noted with glee.
"Unfortunately, I can't put it on anyone else. But I think it's going to be a fairly reliable
defensive technique." Karl agreed.
The last thing that they needed to do to determine the usefulness of the ability was to test
it. Alice raised a barrier in between them, and gestured toward it with her fist.
"With just the lightning up, give that a punch as hard as you can. It will tell us how your
muscles are recovering, as well as if the lightning can already stand up to an Awakened
Rank impact. If it can't, it will break around your fist when you hit the barrier." She
explained.
Karl snapped a fast punch at the barrier, and frowned. His strength wasn't fully recovered,
and the physical strength wasn't as high as he would have preferred, but the lightning
crackled against the barrier, making it glow bright blue, and held firm.
"Well, it's an Awakened Rank ability, for certain. Karl will need to keep the lightning up as
much as possible for a while, but the barrier is as good or better than that Awakened Rank
training armour." Alice informed the others.
"Is it safe to touch? As in, can you sit down in a chair without scorching it?" Daniel asked.
Karl took a step back and saw the faint scorch marks where he was standing.
"I'm going with no. Even through my shoes, it's burning the ground. But it's not burning off
my uniform, which is a big win for my dignity." Karl replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, best not to tempt fate. You aren't recovering as fast as the big Cerro or the Trice with
their [Indestructible] innate ability, but it's still much faster than I had expected." Daniel
agreed.
"I feel well enough to sit for a proper dinner now, so how about we go eat?" Karl suggested
as he released the Refreshing Lightning ability.
[Eat?] A soft feminine voice hissed in his mind.
[Are you hungry for something different?] Karl asked delicately, hoping to make a good
first impression on the spider.
[No, blood is life, life is power. I need a bigger nest before I lure prey.] She replied.

The spider reminded Karl of when Hawk was a baby, all about food. Always with the mice
requests. Of course, if he hadn't had a massive growth spurt, those requests might not have
stopped, but the focus on making the beast's situation right for comfortable eating was the
same.
The group sat down to a proper dinner at a restaurant down the street, while the spider
peered out of Karl's mind, content in its small nest, but intrigued by the world around them.
[They killed it and burned it? Why do they do that to the food?] The spider asked.
[For humans, it tastes better this way, and we can digest it more easily.] Karl informed her.
[Interesting. I will try some.]
Karl put a bit of steak in the Beast space, and the spider happily tore it apart before eating it
in delicate bites that directly contrasted with the ferocity used to portion it.
[Not bad, it simulates the warmth of living food. Humans are strange, but smart. It is very
tender, and they put something on it for flavour as well. I approve.]
Karl smiled at the response, and Alice gestured for him to share with the group.
"My new spider friend gives her compliments to the chef. She approves of making the meat
hot and tender, as well as the seasoning." Karl explained.
"Does she have a name?" Alice asked.
Karl knew she was listening, so he waited while she came up with an answer.
[Even if you don't that is fine. I can help you come up with what you would like to be called
later.] He soothed the spider.
[What should I be called? For I am the bringer of death, the one that all are fearful to speak
of, the shadow that stalks the night and haunts the dreams of prey. I am power and stealth,
what name could suit such a mighty being?]

Karl could sense the immense pride, but it was for her speech, and not for herself. She was
very proud that she had come up with something good, and she had no concept of what an
edgy emo teen was, so she had no idea how much she sounded like one.
"She hasn't yet picked a suitable name. If I come up with one, we will decide on it later."
Karl informed the others.
[We will come up with something suitably impressive for you. But maybe it will be simple.
Thor named himself after the God of Lightning, so perhaps you would like to be named
after the Spider Goddess, Arachne?] Karl suggested.
There was a pause as she considered it. The spider didn't know anything about human
gods.
[Is she a cool god?] She asked.
[Very cool, and the most talented of gods at weaving.] Karl agreed.
[That name is too coarse. I will be Rae, short for Arachne.] She decided.
"Change of plans. She will be called Rae, short for Arachne, the Spider Goddess." Karl
explained to the group, who were all waiting, while he had a silent conversation in his
mind.
"Hawk, Thor and Rae, all superb names." Daniel complimented the beasts before continuing
to eat.
"Please let us know when we can meet her." Alice replied with a smile, and Karl felt the
spider looking out of his mind.
[Later, not now. It is too bright and too far from my nest.] @@novelbin@@
"Maybe tonight. She isn't fond of bright places while she's still growing." Karl explained.
"Oh, that makes sense. We will meet tonight if she is up for it, and then after we have done
some basic tests tomorrow we will head back to the Academy. I'm sure they're concerned
about you, and Sergeant Rita is probably going to murder me for ruining her lesson plans
again." Alice laughed.
Karl gave her a questioning look, and the mage continued.
"Well, you've got three pets now, right? Hawk is well versed in working with you, but he's
never worked with the others, and they haven't done any survival training at all. Once they
are back at the Academy, the Sergeant will want them all trained to work in a team for
safety and to enhance their power." She explained.
That got Thor's attention.
[There is safety and power in numbers. Together is much better than alone.]
On the way back to the hotel, Karl called out to Thor, who immediately began to run in a
circle, sniffing the other team members so that he would recognize them as friends later.
Then he came to stand by Karl's feet and looked around for something to eat.
"There isn't much food out here. But there are more friends. When we get back to the
Academy, I will introduce you to other trustworthy people as well." Karl explained.
The Lightning Cerro was the size of a large dog already, up from the ostrich egg size that he
started from, and his horns were already beginning to grow. One on his nose, above the
thick beaked mouth, and two more on the armoured frill that looked strangely like jade
stone, slightly shiny, with wavy white lines through it in a pattern that spread down all its
scales and thickened to pure white on its belly.
The tail ended in a large armoured ball with small studs all over it, like a living wrecking
ball, but Thor was careful not to smash people with his tail as he ran around.
The townspeople looked at them like they were crazy, wandering around with a baby
Lightning Cerro, but the creature was happy like a puppy and not attacking anyone, so they
didn't voice their complaints about the danger of bringing monsters into town.
[Humans don't get big, do they? Just wait, I will be big enough to take care of you soon.]
Thor informed him with certainty that made Hawk laugh.
Karl hadn't realized that the beasts could hear each other when they talked to him, but
Hawk certainly could hear Thor.
Thor wasn't worried about Hawk, though. His scales were so hard that the average
Windspeed Hawk would only pose a minimal threat to him, and they would be unable to
drag him away into the sky with his size. Hawk still might not be able to lift him easily, but
with Rend and Shred, the winner of a fight between them was unlikely to be Thor until he
grew up.
[Humans don't have to be huge, they're smart. Haven't you been looking at all the strange
things they have made? This place is like one huge web for hundreds of them.] Rae added in
her gentle voice.
Thor didn't understand. Webs weren't a danger, they were just silk strings. But there were
plenty of humans here, a whole herd of them that stayed in one spot, so they must be
strong somehow.
Thor took in everything that there was to see, and relayed the information to the others.
Rae didn't want to come out in the light, and Hawk knew that they were likely to shoot at
him if he flew around town.

Jodi led them to an open field near the edge of town, a sport field for the local school, and
then stopped the group.
"Let's get everyone out now. I know that Rae isn't comfortable in the light, but we're all
friends here, so it should be alright." He announced, using his tone to imply that it was
more of an order than a suggestion. @@novelbin@@
Hawk happily went to stand by Thor, but Rae hesitated, still uncomfortable being in the
open and around anyone in the light.
Karl went over to stand in the shade of some trees at the edge of the field, and Rae relented,
exiting the Beast Space to hide in the branches.
[If there is a threat, I will pull you right back into the space if you don't notice it first. Just
focus on the space, and you can return to it when you are close to me.] Karl informed the
skittish spider.
"Isn't she coming out?" Jodi asked, and Karl sensed Rae's smug smile even without looking
at her.
"She's a Bloodbath Spider. Her body adapts coloration to her surroundings. She's in the
tree, you idiot." Anise reprimanded him, speaking for the first time all day and startling
everyone.
She was normally quiet and let the boisterous blonde man do all the talking, but when she
did speak, her reprimand brought him to an instant stop.
"Oh, right. Yes, there she is." Jodi stammered, while Alice openly laughed at him.
[I like your friends. They're funny.] Rae giggled.
"Miss Rae, would you mind attacking a barrier spell for me, so we can see how your
abilities are growing?" Alice asked politely, before making the barrier in the branches of the
tree, so the spider didn't have to come out.
Rae inspected it for a moment, then her body surged with power, and she descended upon
the barrier in a frenzy of violence.

As soon as she attacked, Karl understood the brilliance of the Bloodbath Spider's evolution.
The energy on her front claws and mandibles adapted as soon as she first touched the
barrier, and insight flowed into Karl's mind.
[Offensive Adaptation] passive ability that allows attacks to take on a more efficient form
based on the target.
Alice whistled in appreciation as the blows rained down on the barrier until the spider
exhausted herself and backed up to the trunk of the tree, annoyed that the barrier didn't
break.
"That is impressive. Just on attack power, you would certainly be ranked as Ascended,
though the actual energy level is much lower and at the bottom end of Awakened." Alice
informed her.
Then the mage turned to Thor. "Would you like to try as well?"
She set up the barrier on the ground, standing as tall as herself, and Thor ran off into the
distance, then coated himself in lightning before charging forward.
The beast hit the magical barrier with a bang, and rebounded, lifting himself up off the
ground and hurling himself back half a metre.
Then he laughed, ran off and came at it again.
[This is awesome.] Thor cheered as he slammed into the spell again at a full run.
"Be careful, or you're going to break a horn." Karl laughed as the Lightning Cerro made for a
third pass.
[Horns are hard. They will be fine, the Lightning isn't breaking.] Thor replied, then
slammed into the barrier again, lighting it up and flinging himself into the air.
"How his neck is fine after that, I have no idea. I've never seen an animal seriously injure
themselves in a charge, but it's not normally that violent." Daniel joked.
Thor roared in pride, and slammed into the barrier again before laughing and panting.
"We will have to work on your cardio if you're going to play with the barrier all day long."
Karl informed him.
[I don't know what a cardio is, but I trust you.] Thor replied as he caught his breath and
prepared to go again.
The group sat in the grass and watched Thor charge the barrier over and over, while Rae
laughed at him and Hawk lazily circled in the air over the field.
Once they had realized that the monsters were with the Elites in the field, the local citizens'
panic had subsided. The Elites had seen stranger things in their time than a few tame
beasts, so although they were deadly, the townsfolk quickly realized that they weren't a
threat.
Once it started to get dark, Rae finally came down from the tree, blending into the grass as
well as she could until she was hidden behind Karl's back where he sat at the edge of the
field. That let her observe the humans from much closer, while Hawk and Thor returned to
their spaces to rest.
"We now know what allows the Bloodbath Spider to be so deadly. Lovely Miss Rae here can
adapt her attacks to whatever she is targeting, so it's the most efficient option for
destroying it." Karl was explaining to the others.
[Hey, why are you telling them that.] She protested.
[So they can come up with a way to help you make it even stronger.] Karl replied.
@@novelbin@@
She had to think about that for a while, as did the other Elites.
"Can you do it, since you're bonded with her?" Alice asked.

"I can, but not as well as she can." Karl agreed. He couldn't modify his gloves or even his
fingernails with the ability like she could her claws and mandibles, but the energy from
Rend could be altered to some degree when it was held in a layer over them.
Alice brought up another barrier, and Karl focused for a second before throwing a full
strength [Shred] at it.
The spell changed from red to golden as it hit the barrier, and the field filled with golden
light as the spell was dissipated.
Pain lanced through Karl's skull, and he cradled his head in his hands.
"It looks like I'm not quite at full recovery yet. The energy draw still makes my head hurt
after a single attack. Once the spaces are in better shape, I think that it should be fine. A
week, maybe two." He explained.
The others sighed in resignation. They would have to explain that he was injured during a
training mishap if he wouldn't be healed before they returned, and they really didn't want
to have to fill out the paperwork involved in returning an injured student to the Academy.
"Why don't we give it another day here, and you can meditate with the lightning barrier up
the entire time except for meals? Then we can judge whether it will take the full two weeks
to completely recover." Daniel suggested.
"That's not a bad idea. I will start as soon as we get back. I understand now how to hold the
barrier tight to my body so it doesn't burn things through my clothes." Karl agreed.
Daniel gestured for him to try, and then grabbed Karl's shirt and nodded in satisfaction
when he didn't get shocked.
"That works for me. I will go buy a good cushion or a beanbag chair for you. If you're going
to meditate that long, comfort is important." The warrior informed the group.
Karl ushered everyone into the space, against Thor's protests. He was tired, but he wasn't
done with the barrier game yet.
"You can play again later. There are more mages at the Academy who can create them, and
Miss Alice will be at most of my classes to make them while I work." Karl explained.
Thor was excited, but Rae wasn't much less eager to test that barrier again. She would take
some time to figure out how it worked, and grow a little more, then she was certain she
could find a way to destroy it. If it existed, she could eventually find a way to tear it apart to
get to the good bits inside.
Maybe that was it, she might just be lacking motivation. She would ask Karl to put food
inside the barrier when she was ready to try again. That should help. Or she could practice
on Thor's barrier, and try to break it right before he could ram it. That would be fun too.
The fact that Alice was a Commander Rank mage made no difference to Rae. It was just a
matter of time in her mind before she would be able to smash that barrier with a single
strike.
Karl had two goals that night. First, he would create a nice shady set of low trees for Rae to
rest and make her web in, and he would make a training field for Thor to run around. That
Karl had two goals that night. First, he would create a nice shady set of low trees for Rae to
rest and make her web in, and would be enough to keep the two of them happy for a little
while, and the standard of having decent plant life corresponded to the level of beast space
development that Hawk needed when he first advanced to Awakened Rank power.
Karl was assuming that the development of the space that was needed would be the same
for all beasts at the same power level, and he would just have to keep up while they went
through their initial growth phase, so the space didn't fall behind and cause him this same
mental pain again.
Being unable to use the abilities that he had was a huge step backward for his personal
power, even bigger than the degradation of his body that had yet to recover.
Jodi returned not long after they reached the hotel with a large beanbag chair and a smile
on his face.
"This one is perfect. It is filled with glass beads. They're an electrical insulator, so the shock
shouldn't travel anywhere, even if it leaks from Karl," he announced.
That wasn't quite how magical lightning worked, it would melt the beads, but nobody
bothered to mention that, as a beanbag chair was precisely what they needed, and even if
the lightning leaked and melted the beads, it should form a more comfortable seat for Karl
tonight.
Once the recovery process was complete, Karl wouldn't have to split his energy into healing
himself, and the development of the Beast Spaces would improve, but for now, the teams
were more worried about avoiding a lingering injury report and light duty training
modification appeal to go with the incident report that they were already going to have to
do.
Karl started with the easier parts, the increase in the quality of the two spaces, and the
addition of simple grass to the ground. Instead of the short grass that Hawk liked, it was
longer grass. Rae liked to hide in the long grass, and Thor liked the way that it tickled his
belly scales.
No judgment.
Then Karl left Thor's mostly empty, as all the other plants in the space were going to be
food products. The power density of both was increased evenly at the start, but after a few
hours, Karl began to experiment and found that Rae actually required much more power in
her space to relieve the strain on his mind.
Her species was the more powerful of the two, and her power was growing more rapidly as
well. The side effects of that could be problematic later, but the short-term benefits would
be huge.
By the time that the sun came up in the morning, Karl was no longer feeling the drain of the
two monsters on his mind, and he was beginning to feel an influx of energy instead. Each of
the three had a different feeling to it. It was difficult to describe, but Karl likened it to the
feeling of wind in his hair, grass under his feet and a comfortable blanket.
He briefly stopped for breakfast in the restaurant downstairs, which had amassed a huge
amount of meat, blood and magical plants to restock his pets, then returned to his
meditation. If he ever returned here, he would owe them a huge favour for helping him out
with the feeding duties, as he now had weeks worth of food stored for everyone, and
someone had even found him another strength stone to mix with the blood for Rae.

That was a winning combination, according to the Bloodbath Spider. The extra energy in
the blood was helping her body form, which was improving the feedback, which in turn
was restoring Karl's body and increasing the quality of her home.
It might not look like they were getting much done, but the three monsters were
undergoing a massive strengthening. Even Hawk was getting in on it now that the other
two had stabilized. The three spaces seemed to feed off each other and the monsters
within. That helped the others grow as much as it did Karl, and hour by hour, they were
actually getting further ahead of him on the strength scale.
It didn't feel like a problem, as long as the strength of the Beast Space held up, it didn't
matter how strong his own body was. It was improving, though. He was stronger than
before he had arrived, if not by much.
That news was a massive relief to the others at dinner that evening. Seeing Karl recovered
and glowing with power assured them that they had made the right choice in bringing him
here and letting him bond both monsters. There was a short-term setback, but now they
were ahead and still gaining.
"Do you think that there will be any long-term damage?" Alice asked as Karl finished his
dinner and prepared to go back to meditation.
"Not really. There will be a definite reduction in maximum growth speed, with three spaces
to enhance instead of two. I will be spending most of my spare time in meditation, with
little time for anything else until they are full-grown. But after that, the extra space means
what I can provide will be split three ways, and it will be up to the feedback from the
monsters to progress.
Until I reach the higher side of Commander Rank, that shouldn't be a big issue, as their
natural growth will provide a significant portion of the strength growth we need. But after
that, it's going to be a hard grind, and then I will either have to find another way to keep us
growing or find a fourth partner with even higher potential to pull us all up.

I'm not even sure that will be realistic, though. You saw what happened this time. Even if I
prepare, how much strain will an Overlord or Royal Rank monster cub put on my mind?
They're even more intelligent than these three, or so I have heard, and their energy
requirements have got to be immense."
"So, you're saying that your class will have a minimal impact on the growth of the monsters
beyond their adult peak?" Alice asked.
"Not quite. It will have a much larger impact on the ones with lower innate potential, and
then after that bonus from the early growth phase ends, we will be looking at years and not
weeks or months to move up a rank. @@novelbin@@
I can't guarantee that it will hold true forever, but with the scaling once Hawk was full-
grown, and the power difference between the levels that is described in the textbooks, I
would say that making Commander would be relatively easy, but it might be pushing it to
make Royal before graduation, and then Monarch by age twenty-five.
Of course, a new pet, a new technique, or even just a better understanding of how to
leverage resources for growth could shorten that considerably."
Alice laughed out loud, drawing the attention of the others in the restaurant.
"Don't let the others hear you call Royal before eighteen years old a slow progression rate.
Even I'm more than a little jealous, and I'm still a young maiden." She reminded him
quietly.
Karl was fairly sure that neither of those words applied to Alice anymore, at least not from
his perspective. But who was he to argue with her self assessment?
Daniel tapped the table to get everyone's attention. "We will be heading out in the morning.
Karl has recovered enough to return to his regularly scheduled classes, and the pets are
both bonded and growing smoothly. That completes the conditions of our outing, and the
Colonel will not be happy if she finds out we decided to take a little vacation after the job
was done."
There was no doubt about that. Colonel Valerie had a bit of a human side, but it was hidden
deep under her adherence to rules and regulations.
To say that Rae was excited about the car ride was an understatement. The Bloodbath
Spider naturally wanted to travel to spread their brood and find a mate, and as they gained
intelligence, that instinct turned into a form of wanderlust.
Being able to cover this much ground in one day was wonderful for the young spider, who
watched everything from the safety of her growing nest within the low trees and bushes
that Karl was creating in the space for her.
On the other hand, Thor had no interest at all in the scenery. He was content to munch all
day long as long he was certain that he wasn't being left behind. Even compared to Rae, he
still had a lot of growing to do. Most of her size would come from her long legs, with a
comparatively small body, so she was going to reach full maturity before he would, but he
also had a solid and durable body to form with armoured plates that needed time to
solidify.
Hawk was more eager to get back and show Dana their new friends. She had two Golems
now, but Karl had three pets. They weren't outnumbered anymore, and with the amount
that Thor was growing, they wouldn't even be the physically smaller team for long.
It was a good thing that the Lightning Cerro was content to remain within his safe space
because he wouldn't be able to wander around the balcony for long.
Karl was more worried about Dana's response to Rae. The Bloodbath Spider was a
sensitive soul, and having someone be terrified of her at first sight would be a heavy blow.
Not everyone was terrified of spiders, but monstrous spiders the size of a small table might
be a different story.
They drove through the day, and classes were long over by the time that they made it back
to the Academy. From the direction that they arrived, Karl realized that they had actually
detoured around to the far side of the area by nearly fifty kilometres because there was
only one road leading in and out of the Academy, and it ran alongside the railroad tracks.
Keeping the Academy isolated was best for both safety and security, but he hadn't realized
how remote this region was until he was paying attention to the trip during the daytime.
"Alright, everyone will need to fill out a mission report for the morning, and this one is
going to be significantly longer than usual, with the progress that was made. I will let you
all rest for now, and see you all later." Alice instructed the others while looking at Karl to
ensure he knew that meant him as well.
The Academy and the Government would naturally want to know all about the new pets, as
well as the backlash from bonding two when his mind was only ready for one weaker pet.

Normally, he would omit the speculative parts when he made a report, but this time it
seemed important enough not to skip, so he added it to his report, along with a note about
how trying to bond a fully grown monster might be a disaster if it was significantly more
powerful than he was.
Not to mention that fact that if it wasn't significantly stronger than him as an adult, then
bonding it would be a mistake, as it would hinder his growth.
A brisk knock at his door after dinner alerted him to a visitor, and Karl let Dana in, noticing
how he looked a bit panicked and exhausted.
"What happened? Did they come up with new training for you as well?" Karl asked as she
flopped down on the bed.
"You could say that. The choreography and singing teachers have decided that we're not
paying enough attention to them with all the cutbacks in their allotted time. They have to
split the afternoons now, and they have been prohibited from issuing homework, as Jill
decided my magic is more important than their department's plans.
So, they're going crazy every day to pack everything they want me to learn into the time
that they have." Dana explained, staring at the ceiling.
"Have you eaten? I can grab something and bring it to the room. I have some new friends
after this trip, and they could use a bit more variety in their diet." Karl suggested.
"I did. Jill brought something to the end of choreography class, and I ate before coming
over. I think that she's trying to pull me out of the classes entirely, but someone senior to
her isn't going for it."
Karl smiled. "In that case, would you like to meet someone? She is a lovely fuzzy Bloodbath
Spider, and she likes meeting people, but not in the bright sunlight."
Dana smiled. "You bonded a spider?"
He nodded. "And a Lightning Cerro, but he's sleeping right now. Rae is growing more
smoothly, and she wants out to explore the room."

Dana nodded, and Karl brought the spider out to sit on the bed next to her.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds, then Dana smiled and Rae moved closer, as
if to get a better look at her. @@novelbin@@
[So, this is a juvenile female human? She's cuter than the other ones. Tell her that I say
hello.] Rae instructed.
"Rae says hello. I'm not sure if you can shake hands safely, given her claws, but she's very
friendly." Karl explained.
"Do you know about magic? I need to study some spells, and it was too loud in my dorm for
that. It was great for focus training, with the random explosions from the neighbours rooms
making it harder to keep the spell stable, but for reading, it is just distracting." Dana asked
the spider.
[I know about magic. Lots of animals use magic. What is reading?]
Karl briefly explained the concept of books, written language and learning from recorded
information, which shocked the young spider.
[That is great. You don't even need them to be nearby to learn from them. Books are good. I
will watch her technique.]
Karl laughed. "She's still quite young, and hasn't seen enough books to learn to read yet, but
she wants to watch you. I need to meditate to improve the power level in her mental space,
but you two are free to work."
Rae ran out onto the balcony and disappeared into the foliage, then followed Dana to the
gazebo and began admiring the hammock before creating one of her own from webbing.
Bloodbath Spider web was very versatile. It could either be flimsy enough that the smallest
of disturbances would break it and alert the spider in its web, or it could be strong enough
to hold a hundred kilogram monster in place despite attempts to escape.
What she used this time was the stronger kind, but without the stickiness, so that she could
more easily move about and watch the reading process below her.
Karl settled in to meditate, listening to Rae's reactions as she admired the pictures in the
book and contemplated what the runes would mean. Dana was narrating things to her,
thinking out loud, as she worked on the assignment to improve her spell formation speed.
Rae wasn't much help, as she only knew one ability, but the moral support seemed to be
helping the two of them bond.
With Rae outside, it also reduced the strain on his mind a little, as she was burning her
energy and not using his to actively grow. Karl realized that this would be a great
advantage to him, and he worked much harder on her space, getting it further ahead of
Thor's space, in balance with the progression speed of the two species.
The next morning, Karl completely forgot to warn Jill about the spider on the balcony, but
when she failed to return with Dana after a minute, he went in to check on them and found
her wrapped up like a cocoon, and glowing with power from her hastily raised magical
barrier.
"Thanks for finally coming to check on me. Now, would you kindly ask this young lady to let
me go so that I can get my charge to class on time?" Jill requested.
Karl considered the look of restrained rage at being attacked for a second time by Karl's
pets when she went to wake Dana up, and for a moment, he contemplated whether it might
not be safer to leave her there.
But she could break out easily enough, she was just waiting for him to do it so that she
didn't have to fight with the Bloodbath Spider.
"Rae, you can let her out. She is Dana's teacher, she won't hurt her, just wake her up for
early morning instructions before breakfast." Karl instructed.
[That sounds like torture to me.] The spider replied suspiciously, then vanished into the
Beast Space, which was now becoming much more comfortable after another night of work
by Karl.
"Alright, she's definitely not a morning person. But she won't attack any more today." Karl
informed the teacher, who gave him a pointed look.
"Right, the web."
Karl activated the enhanced Rend on his index finger and cut the surprisingly durable
webbing down the front, releasing Jill to shake Dana awake.
[See, she's not even just vibrating the web, she's shaking her like some animal.] Rae
informed Karl in an insulted tone.
"Five more minutes." The young mage complained, and Karl smiled. It was the same thing
every day, but her schedule was so packed that she couldn't waste any time in the morning.
Karl walked over and gently rocked the hammock, then plucked a string by Dana's head,
which she should hear vibrating next to her ear.

"Fine, I will get up." She mumbled and opened her eyes.
"How did you do that?" Jill asked in shock.
"Wise advice from the Bloodbath Spider. She knows all the best ways to operate a web."
Karl explained.
Jill looked down at the mass of spiderweb on the ground, then picked it up, expecting a
mass of loose strands now that it had been cut open, but the strands were stuck to each
other and interwoven, creating a form of blanket.
"You know, this is actually pretty well-made, all things considered." Jill noted as she
admired the soft white silk.
"Karl brought me a silk blanket? That looks comfy." Dana agreed, while Karl tried not to
laugh.
"No. A certain someone thought it was appropriate to wrap me in webbing when I tried to
wake you up the first time. Now, we need to go, or we will be late. Karl, we will be
borrowing your shower, there isn't time to make a detour across the floor." Jill insisted.
"You cut the times awfully close. Go ahead, I will head down and eat first while I go over my
day with Sergeant Rita. I'm sure she has a few questions about my mission report anyhow."
But Rita didn't lead him to the cafeteria, she led him to the staff lounge, where they could
talk without the curious student ears listening in. The teachers were all privy to the official
reports, so there was no point in hiding it from them.
Karl and Dana had been the talk of the staff for a while now, and once the new pet was
spotted, everyone would be gossiping about it.
"Start at the beginning. There was a lot in that report and I want it play by play from the
time that you left the Academy," she instructed.
Karl went over the trip, the early morning locust attack, and then got into the sighting of
the Golden Dire Bear.
"So the other pet, the one named Thor in your report, is a Golden Dire Bear?" Rita asked.
"No, we left it alone. Picking a fight with it and stealing its cub seemed like a monumentally
bad idea when it was ready to charge our truck, so we left and went looking for something
less hostile." Karl explained.

He realized his mistake. In his report, Karl had only briefly mentioned the species of the
pets, and had been referring to them by name for the rest of the document, so a cursory
scan would be confusing.
"We were headed further into the trees, and away from the river, when we came across a
clutch of Lightning Cerro eggs, while the herd was on the far side of the clearing. I sent
Hawk to recover an egg, then brought them both back into my mental space. But it wasn't
just the one egg. There was a Bloodbath Spider egg stuck in his feathers as well.
So I set about hatching them both." Karl explained.
"And of course, nobody realized that would be a terrible idea until after you were injured."
She replied with an eye roll.
"Exactly. I didn't expect them to hatch that close together, and I was unprepared for the
requirements that each of them must have a separate space, even though they can move to
the other beasts' space.
So I had to mentally form the third one in a hurry when the Bloodbath Spider hatched, and
that put a lot of strain on my mind and body.
The extra mission time was to recover enough to stabilize the bonds, and now I'm back to
as good as new, or something close to it." Karl agreed.
"Can we see?" One of the teachers at the next table asked.
"Of course. Rae, do you want to come see people? Thor, if you come out to say hello, they
will rub your head for you." Karl instructed.
Thor bounded out, nearly knocking one of the teachers out of his chair before stopping
himself, while Rae appeared, but hid under the table on Karl's thighs.
"Oh, she's shy. Alright, we will admire her from a distance." The older mage who taught his
morning accuracy training class said softly, with a gesture for the others not to scare the
spider.
Thor had no such restrictions, and the large dog sized animal happily bumped against
people, asking to be patted, nearly spearing a dozen people before realizing that his horns
were going to be in the way if he kept charging at them headfirst for attention.
"Is this the Lightning Cerro variety? The smaller ones." One of the teachers asked.
"Yeah, he will get about two metres tall, if he's the size of his parents, so he will be big, but
not elephant sized." Karl agreed. @@novelbin@@
The teacher happily rubbed at the scales on Thor's side. "He's going to be beautiful with
these deep green and white scales. Have you decided what sort of training he will
undergo?"
"Not yet. That's what Rita is glaring at me for, I think. And maybe the fact that there is a
giant spider climbing up her leg."
That made the teachers burst into laughter, but Rae was intrigued by the Sergeant's
uniform, and she wanted to find out what the buttons were made of.
The button, as it turned out, was made of blackened brass, and after poking at it for a few
seconds and then rubbing her mandible against it to see what it felt like, Rae gave up on the
button and returned to her space to avoid the attention that she was getting while out in
the open.
"Once she's fully grown, I think that she will be more open about being outside, but for
now, she is much more comfortable in places where she can camouflage herself, especially
dark places." Karl explained.
"We won't force her out where she's uncomfortable then." The leader of the mage training
agreed, while he rubbed Thor's head.
One new and friendly pet was good enough for the teachers, but Rita had brought Karl here
for an actual reason, and not just to talk about how his weekend went.
"Are you healed well enough to begin full training schedules again? The notes said that
there had been some mental damage, and there is no good way to quantify that." She asked
very seriously.
"I feel better, but the only way to know for sure is to actually start training again and see if
the pain returns. The two new spaces have advanced enough now that I am getting
feedback from the pets, and not needing to constantly feed the spaces to keep them
contained, so it should be alright. I'm not sure how much training I will be up for, though. I
am going to need a lot of time to work on mental strength just to keep ahead of their
growth rate." Karl explained.
"Alright, then we can go to the morning classes as scheduled. The afternoon classes will be
changed starting today, as the decision has been made that there is not enough training for
your pets now that there are three of them.
Sending Thor out to get his head rubbed is not officially training, no matter what the other
Professors tell you." Rita reminded him.

What exactly they were going to teach Thor was a mystery to Karl, but as they finished
their breakfast and headed for the training field for Hawk to practice, Rita got a much
better idea.
"Thor is a growing boy, and he needs his exercise, so what we're going to do today is to
have you sit and meditate while Hawk blocks the attacks, and I will bring some mages from
the early Ascended class who are working on barriers to help Thor practice his skills."
As soon as he heard the word barrier, Thor's head perked up in the beast space. He loved
the barrier game, and it would be even better with more barriers.
"Won't that be a waste for the other students?" Karl asked.
A few of the nearby mages laughed and Rita shook her head. "Taking full force Awakened
Rank attacks repeatedly will burn through their mana faster than you might suspect. The
goal is for them to keep the barriers up as long as possible, while Thor rampages through
the field building up his muscles."
"Normally, they have the students from the Awakened Rank warrior classes smash at the
barriers all afternoon. Setting them up for Thor won't be any different. But who is that? A
new pet, I take it?" The mage student beside Karl asked.
"Yeah, a Lightning Cerro that I just bonded. The teachers are all in love with him, and he
adores the barrier game. Once you see him play, you will feel thankful that you got Hawk
instead." Karl joked.
The students got set up, and Hawk took to the sky for his daily training. It only took a few
seconds for Rita to grab four of the students who were working on barriers, and to instruct
them to set them up at different angles around the field, making a cube of sorts.
[Go, have fun.] Karl instructed, and Thor ran out of the space at his best stumbling run, still
a bit uncoordinated, in the way of newborn animals everywhere.
But when his horns hit the first barrier, and it wavered slightly as he bounced away, the
mages knew that this training would not be easy on them.

There was no rhyme or reason to the attacks, he charged at whatever one he saw, as long as
it wasn't the one beside him. That was too close to get a run at, and he wanted to run as
much as possible.
In actual combat, that would rarely be the case. They would sweep and spear with the
horns to tear apart their enemies, but there was just something satisfying about charging at
the glowing magical walls.
The mages that were attacking the moving targets below Hawk had to work hard to pay
attention and not laugh as Thor trumpeted happily, a long warbling note like a military war
horn, and continued to charge at whatever barrier managed to come back up first.
It had only taken him twenty minutes to smash them all, and the first break wasn't
scheduled until the half hour mark.
But if they weren't up, he would wait until one was. The students could all see his
disappointment when he had to wait, and that silent judgment, that they weren't good
enough to even be a long-term play toy to a monster like him, was wearing on them.
They had thought that the barriers they had made were exceptionally impressive, and they
were a Rank above him, but when there was no offensive power to deal with the threat, it
didn't take long for him to smash through their mana reserves. @@novelbin@@
The lightning barrier only stabilized his body and prevented him from breaking his horns.
It had collapsed multiple times already, but even without it, a Lightning Cerro had
incredible raw power.
Thor lay down in the grass when the break was called, and a few of the warriors from the
group of warriors that was training on the Ascended barriers came over to get a better
look.
"You know that technique has some merits. We use skills and swing our weapons, but he's
basically throwing a hundred kilo dinosaur coated in lightning at them. I bet if I grabbed
John and swung him at the barrier, we could do even more damage." One of the boys
laughed.
"Don't even think about it. Just be glad that they didn't send him to us to test our Guard
ability because someone would have gotten seriously injured." The other boy laughed,
while Thor panted in the grass, replenishing energy for the next round.
"He has to be tired, right? He's been running wild for half an hour." One of the Ascended
Mage students asked.
"You would think so, but no. His natural recovery means that by the time the break is up he
will be ready for another round of the barrier game, and you had better be ready to play, or
he will be very disappointed." Karl informed them.
Thor perked up at the mention of play, and the mages all groaned to themselves as they
realized that trying to contain a monster was not as simple of a task as they had expected it
to be. If it were an attack, they would have to keep the barrier up and attack at the same
time, without letting the barrier fail, or they would be in trouble long before
reinforcements could arrive.
Thor was almost tired when the morning classes ended, and he returned to his space for
lunch, but Hawk was having a glorious time. Without Karl there to take up half the work, he
got to just freely attack anything that he wanted, and according to the students, he had an
uncanny talent for picking off the ones that were actually going to hit the moving targets,
while ignoring the ones that would miss.
Even when they sent out a cluster of attacks, he would just knock a portion of them out and
let the others fly past the target. It was incredibly energy efficient on his part, and it
wouldn't have been possible with the stationary targets, as the mages would rarely miss
those.
They were even beginning to take note of who Hawk seemed to totally ignore because their
aim was so bad. Those mages were going to have to improve quickly because the rest of the
class wouldn't let a giant bird make a mockery of them forever without joining in on the
fun.
It was after lunch when things took a drastic change. Sergeant Rita, as well as the duo from
the Bureau of Elite Development, had decided that martial arts training, now that he had
sufficient proficiency to deal with minor threats without resorting to skills usage, was no
longer the most efficient use of his time.
Instead, the afternoon would be a group training exercise for Karl with the pets.
Coaxing Rae to come out and play might be difficult, but today's practice was on the basics
of working together against a target that was stronger than they were.
It was a situation that would inevitably happen in the future, and with three of them in the
team, they could now easily work on group tactics.

"We have enlisted a small group of volunteers, and they will be your targets today. The goal
is to intercept the three infiltrators and disable them without seriously harming them.
These are all guards, so they know how to fight, but they are all at the Ascended Rank, so
you can't just go all out with the attacks like you did against Tank and the barriers." Alice
was explaining.
That got Hawk's attention, but Thor was disappointed. If he couldn't just smash them, it
would be much less fun. But Hawk's explanation that these exercises were practice for
being an adult was enough to get the growing young Cerro on board.
Rae considered the situation for a few moments, and then came out to climb up Karl's back
and look at the battleground from relative safety.
"Alright, everyone is on board. The targets are instructed to take it easy on you, but they
will be attacking in your direction with actual attacks. They are wearing training armour,
but they are not going to be magically shielded so that you can take them down naturally.
@@novelbin@@
I will step in if someone looks like they will be seriously injured." The mage instructed,
while the volunteers smiled at the sight of Thor prancing around in the grass, eager to play.
They got into position, out of sight around the corner of a building, with Karl as their target.
They would try to grab him, as abductions by foreign agents were a real threat, while he
and the beasts would work to prevent that.
The idea was to give them limited response time, in as realistic of a scenario as they could
concoct within the school grounds, which meant the volunteers were close, so that Karl
didn't have large amounts of time to prepare.
It didn't make much difference, though. The three beasts could communicate with each
other, and since Hawk could see the attackers, as soon as the practice team was given the
order to begin, and charged, the beasts were right on them.

Thor held back on the full force charge, and instead shielded himself with lightning against
the lead warrior's [Slash] and then threw him into the air with a horn between the legs that
had Alice bringing up a barrier to soften his fall. Thor turned on the other two, who had
raised their [Guard] to deal with Hawk's [Rend], while Rae had launched herself off Karl,
and hit the barrier at a tremendous speed, which allowed her clawed legs to tear right
through it.
She landed on one of the men's legs, and he panicked as he realized that she was a
Bloodbath Spider, which let Hawk's attack hit him without resistance, pummelling him
unconscious through his helmet.
The last man didn't fare much better, as he could only parry Thor's attacks for the next
second as the Cerro flailed its horns at him, and then Rae was there on his back, tearing into
the armoured coat with gleeful abandon.
"BREAK! That's a victory for the defence team. You know, you don't have to take down the
strength of your defensive abilities, just the attacks." Alice announced.
"We didn't. The Hawk and the spider combined tore through them faster than we could
bring them back up. I've never seen a rending attack shatter a [Guard] barrier like that."
The winded man who had been pummelled on the back by Rae announced.
"The training that Hawk has gone through so far has done wonders for his attack strength,
but Rae is a very fast learner, and her Offensive Adaptation innate ability makes deleting
barriers a breeze. Just wait until she's fully grown, barriers a Rank above her won't even
slow her down." Karl praised his shy teammate.
"Can we test that, so we can make a better strategy?" The one who had been thrown into
the air asked as he limped over, nursing an injury to the groin from Thor's horn, despite the
armour.
He stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him, and activated [Guard] which Rae took
down almost instantly with a strike from her mandibles and both front legs in unison.
The pure smugness of her attitude was clear to everyone, and Karl couldn't help but smile.
"Do you have a stronger defensive ability?" He asked.
"No, we trained as covert bodyguards, we don't usually use powerful defensive abilities,
but parries and sudden strikes. Maybe we should try the next one without the pets already
deployed? It will be good training for everyone." He suggested.
Also, that would give them a few more steps before they were noticed, and perhaps his
testicles wouldn't have to meet the horn of a Lightning Cerro again today.
The team came at Karl again, spread out and sneaking up on him through the dorm
building, with one even leaping out of the window.
[Now.] Karl ordered the beasts, sending them into the battlefield.
Hawk moved to intercept the flying target, while Rae spit out a large mass of web to trip
another, and Thor went with his signature charge, throwing another man high into the air
with a flick of his thick neck.
The three of them crashed to the ground at the same second, and Rita blew her whistle.
"Karl, how did you know that they were coming?" She demanded.
"A side effect of bonding Hawk. I have fantastic peripheral vision, and I can focus on any
spot I can see without moving my head. I had all three of them located before they
attacked." Karl explained.
"Then was it necessary to throw me again?" One of the men wheezed, climbing to his knees.
Thor had gotten the same target twice in a row. Although he didn't spear the man between
the legs this time, the two upper horns made for an excellent tossing platform, and he had
peaked well over five metres in the air.
"He didn't injure you this time. I mean, with the hit. The sudden stop at the end looks like it
wasn't much fun." Karl amended.
"Are they aware of what is happening around you before you call them out?" One of the
men asked.

"Probably more than I am. I don't know how much they can actually see, but they do have a
solid awareness of their surroundings." Karl explained.
"Alright, so it's not easy to sneak up on you either. We should check on Agent A, he looks a
bit rough." The wheezing man replied, referring to the one that Hawk had intercepted.
Alice rushed over, and noticed that the man was conscious, but having a deep moment of
personal introspection as he stared at the sky and began to question his life choices.
"Is anything broken? I have healing potions from the Witches." Alice offered.
"Just my pride. Can you fix that?" He asked, and Alice noticed that there were six deep
scratches in his training armour.
Not only had Hawk knocked him out of the air, his attack had broken the man's Guard and
Hawk's claws tore up his armour before dropping him on the ground. @@novelbin@@
"It feels like we were the ones who got ambushed." The third man agreed, nursing a twisted
ankle.
Rita and Alice both sighed, but it was Rita who spoke first. "I can already see that this will
not be a viable training method in the long term. They already understand basic strategies
and their response time is fast enough that it will be very challenging to actually ambush
Karl even if they are resting. We will have to come up with another method of preparing
them for combat."
Rae gave her a pointed look, which the Sergeant returned for a moment before shaking her
head.
"Even I can tell what that look means. The only way to truly train for combat is to be in
combat. Karl knows enough martial arts that he should be alright in a fight, but the
Academy wouldn't approve of putting you all in danger just to get better training results."
She reminded the spider.
[Hawk would agree to let us go outside.] Rae pouted.

Hawk's mind became curious, and the spider beamed the mental version of a smile at him.
[If we were hunting outside, you could eat them after you killed them.] She announced.
[This is not a democracy, majority rules don't win here.] Karl informed them in his best
stern tone.
Rae had already found Hawk's weak point. As soon as she mentioned food, the Windspeed
Hawk would be on board with whatever she wanted to do, and Thor would go along simply
because that's where everyone else was going.
"You look like you're having an intense discussion." Alice noted as Karl talked to the beasts.
"They all want to go outside to train. I don't necessarily disagree with them, as our training
options are limited here, but it is safe here, and safety in numbers is a good thing." Karl
replied.
Thor bobbed his head happily as he heard those reassuring words from the boss, and the
instructors did their best not to laugh. They had been brutally bested by the Lightning
Cerro twice in as many hours. But still, it didn't feel like the creature was a threat, he was
just too friendly.
"Let us discuss that for a few minutes. There are groups of students looking to go outside
on missions, and we might allow you to lead one of them, as long as there is a second
Awakened Rank or higher member, as you are still a first year student and untested in the
field." Alice explained, earning herself a glare from Rita.
Daniel wisely sat at the back of the field, as he had been doing all day, and avoided drawing
attention to himself as the two argued over the appropriate course of action. The student
training missions were normally not dangerous, certainly no worse than the Goblin Tribe
had been, and Karl was much stronger now than he had been even that recently.
With the addition of the two new pets, he alone would rampage through a Goblin Tribe.
Nothing that they could do would significantly injure a Lightning Cerro unless they
managed to swarm it and pin it down. That seemed unlikely with Hawk and Rae both in the
fight, even if you didn't count Karl himself as a combat asset, as he would be mostly
watching out for the other students.
The outcome seemed inevitable, and after twenty minutes of discussion and a few tersely
worded phone calls, the ladies returned with a smile on both of their faces.
"You will be allowed to lead an away mission. Student Dana will be going with you, along
with eight of the Common Grade first years. It is a herbal resource gathering mission in a
lightly monitored area, and there will be emergency assistance available on a ten-minute
helicopter ride, should you activate the emergency beacons." Sergeant Rita informed Karl.
"Understood, Sergeant. Thank you for this opportunity." Karl replied as seriously as he
could while trying to ignore the excitement of his beasts.
They were finally getting to somewhere that there might be mice, and Hawk was overjoyed
at the prospect.
The mission was to start the next morning, and they would be delivered by train to the
location. There was no road near where they were going, but the train tracks ran only
twenty kilometres from the location of the suspected magical resources.
That would be close enough for them to hike in, and it would be up to Karl and Dana to
make sure that the team didn't get lost.
With Hawk on duty, that should be a simple matter, as he could see where they were going
from above, so Karl didn't have too many concerns about the situation.
There were also no reports of major beasts in the area, only some of the ever present wild
boars and a few small monsters that liked to live in the forest. That could become an issue
for most teams, but it would be a great test for them, Karl thought.
The small monsters were all Common Grade, and he could deal with them in a matter of
seconds, but they would be a good opponent for the students who were still struggling with
their early growth.
Also, having Dana along with her pair of Golems would be enough security against the
larger creatures that very few things would dare to attack them. The golems didn't take
much upkeep, and by now she should be able to get them to follow complex orders without
much distraction from her other casting, which would make them excellent guards.
@@novelbin@@
They all called it an early day, as the supply train arrived at three in the morning, so that
supplies would be sorted and ready for pickup by the time that everyone started to wake
up. But that also meant that if you wanted to catch the train out, you had to be at the tracks
by half past three in the morning, or four at the very latest if they were slow unloading.
The train didn't wait for groups to come to them unless it was an urgent mission, so being
on time was a major part of your responsibility.

That was how Karl found himself waking Dana up at two in the morning, much to the
protests of both herself and Rae, who was sleeping above her in the rafters of the Gazebo.
"It's time to go. I'm going to water the plants quickly, and then we need to grab breakfast
and get on the train." Karl reminded her.
Rae disappeared back into the web in her space, while Dana got up and ready. They both
met their team at the cafeteria, with the lone night shift worker on staff for occasions such
as this. But there weren't enough of them, they were still missing two people, and it was
getting close to three in the morning.
"Does anyone know what rooms the other two are in? We should go wake them up." Karl
insisted.
"I do. They're just a few doors down from me." One of the others agreed with a vicious
smile that said she would enjoy waking them up much more than most.
Three students came back down ten minutes later, and the girl who went to fetch them
settled back down with her breakfast, while the two boys looked rather lost and half asleep.
"Cook, can we get some food for them, and some lunches to go? We've got ration packs in
the gear that the school provided, but I think a nice fresh sandwich would be better." Karl
asked as he finished eating and got the last two stragglers settled.
"I will get them something to go. The train is already here, so you should be going if you
want to make it before they're unloaded." She reminded him with a smile, then handed
over a tray full of brown bags, two of which were much larger.
Dana worked to usher everyone out as they finished their meal, for the kilometre walk
from the school grounds to the train stop on the ring around the Academy.
"Did anyone bring a light? I can't see a thing." One of the warriors complained as they left
the academy grounds and began to walk down the road.

Everyone looked to Karl, who was leading the group, and he shrugged. "Sorry, I forgot for a
moment that I'm the only one who can see in the dark. I've got a flashlight in my pack, and
there should be one in everyone else's as well."
The packs were issued to them by the supply room, dropped off in their dorm after they
were approved for the mission. So, they should have everything that the Academy thought
the student needed for the trip, as they weren't expected to plan out their whole gear set
during their first year.
One by one, the students brought out their flashlights and spun the cranks to charge the
batteries. The Academy knew that they would forget to bring spare batteries, so even the
camping lantern that was in Karl's pack as team leader was powered by a hand crank
charger.
The lantern also had enough battery storage to charge the emergency phone, which served
as their lifeline to civilization.
"Ten of you, then?" The train's usher asked with a gesture toward the passenger car.
"Yes, sir. I've got the mission order right here." Karl replied.
The man looked it over, then picked up a phone mounted to the wall and confirmed the
dropoff location with the engineer.
"Alright, climb aboard and stow your bags in the overhead compartments. We have a few
more stops before yours, so you won't be there until lunchtime."
Karl settled into a seat at the front of the train car, where Dana promptly fell asleep on his
arm, and the rest of the team did their best to get a few more hours of rest while they
travelled the morning away.
They napped, meditated and played games until the conductor gave them the warning that
they had one more hour before dropoff. That was when Karl decided it was time to get
them all ready to move.
"Alright everyone, have your lunch early, use the washroom, double-check your gear and
make sure that you have your weapons ready. Not in your bag, but on your hip and
available for use at a moment's notice. While it isn't likely that there will be monsters next
to the stop, we will get off in the wilderness, and there won't be anyone there to clear the
area." He warned them.
"Got it." The team agreed, while the Conductor nodded in satisfaction to see that the team
leader of this first year mission was taking things seriously.
Not all of them did, especially an easy mission like this one was supposed to be, but it
always made his life easier if there were no injured students when the train stopped to pick
them up again.
The train pulled to a stop in the middle of nowhere, and the students rose to their feet.
"Good luck, young Elites. Just flag down any train you see passing by in the other direction,
and it will take you back to the Academy, or close enough for you to walk in." The
conductor explained.
"Got it. We will see you soon." Karl agreed, and led the others out the door.
Dana brought up the rear of the group, making sure they were all off the train, and when
Karl called out Hawk to scout for them, she called her pair of Golems to guard the back of
the pack.
It was quiet out here, other than the sound of the train beginning to move again, but that
didn't necessarily mean safe, just that they hadn't noticed any threats yet.
The students were all incredibly nervous, flinching at every sound of their teammates
moving in the long grass, but as Karl led them into the trees toward where they should find
the magical plants they needed, they became almost petrified with fear.
That couldn't be natural, they had been so excited a moment ago, but when Karl searched
the area, he couldn't find a reason for it. The feeling seemed to fade quickly as they walked,
until finally, one of them pointed out a small weed growing near the tree trunks.
"Terror weed. The pollen causes a mild reaction that causes a fear response. It's the plant's
natural defence mechanism, someone must have stepped on one in the grass." He
explained.
The students all felt a little foolish when that was mentioned. The first thing that the
warriors learned was to watch where they put their feet. They needed a solid footing for
their sword skills, so the ground under them was as important as the enemy.
But someone had still stepped on a common toxic plant.

"Everyone, put your masks on. Who knows if there are other dangers like that in the area,
and we don't need anyone poisoned on the first day of the trip. Do we have a healing class
with us?" He asked, while mentally going through the students' descriptions he was given.
"I can do a minor heal and a poison cleanse." The lone Druid in the group mentioned.
"And I have healing potions, but we're here to get materials for more." One of the two
witches added.
"Perfect. We will save the potions for as long as possible, as the warriors will mostly heal
pretty quickly. As I discussed on the train, if we are attacked, fall back to form a ring, with
the casters in the middle.
No, that's not because they're weaker, but because they're squishy. The warriors are the
shield, while the casters are the primary damage. The Golems will back you up, and my
beasts and I will range outside the defensive circle." Karl reminded them.
He would have liked to actually practice the manoeuvre, but according to Hawk, the first
plants that they were searching for should be only a few hundred metres away. There was
another spot marked on the map, many kilometres away, but Hawk was certain that he had
found them just up ahead. @@novelbin@@
Once they got the first target, the mission could be considered a partial success, and
everything that came afterwards would just bring them closer to completion.
[Definitely found it. Bright blue flowers shaped like shoes.] Hawk informed Karl, with a
mental impression of where they were.
[Keep an eye out for threats. I don't want you getting ambushed as you fly over.]
Hawk laughed a little at Karl's concern, as he was hundreds of metres above the trees, but
he appreciated that his human cared enough to make sure he was safe.
Karl adjusted their course, pretending to follow the map, and within minutes they were
standing next to a field full of beautiful blue flowers.

"These are the ones, right?" He asked.

"Yes, but everyone, please stay out of the clearing. Only one in ten blossoms has the magical
properties of the plant, the rest are all decoys. If someone breaks the wrong one, we will
have come here for nothing." The witch pleaded.
"You heard her, stay here while the witches gather their ingredients. Hawk will be watching
from above, and I will be right here at the edge of the clearing in case something is hiding in
the flowers."
The two witches moved delicately through the field, avoiding stepping on any of the
flowers as they picked the ones they wanted. The plants weren't going without a fight,
though. Multiple times, the witches stopped right as they were about to pluck and grabbed
a different one, then continued on their way.
Once they had a few dozen in total, they returned to the others with careful steps.
"That's enough. You can't pick too many, or you will kill the patch, and we hope to come
back here again soon. The plants are smart, and when they sense that they're going to be
damaged, they will pull their essence back to their roots, which renders the flowers
worthless for potions. That's why we had to be so careful." The more outgoing of the two
witches explained.
"Alright, on to the next one." Karl agreed.
[It's not far, one hundred metres south.] Hawk informed him.
The next should also have been much further, but if Hawk had found some that weren't on
the map, that was even better, as their collection wouldn't remove a listed herb from the
directory for the other students who wanted to do a mission near here.
"Hawk thinks that he has found another of our goals already. Move as silently as possible so
that we don't disturb the wildlife." Karl reminded the others in a stage whisper.
The students began to move, but a whistle from Hawk drew Karl's attention. He had seen
something dangerous, and it was close.
"Everyone hold position, Hawk sees something." Karl whispered as he raised his hand in a
gesture to stop.
[White cloth, two figures, running your direction. Possibly human, but maybe not.] Hawk
warned him.
Humanoid monsters were rare, but poachers, aggressive hill folk, and foreign soldiers
might not be. They didn't have enough information about the area's human population in
the data to be certain.
Karl's keen vision caught sight of the white cloth moving toward them at a run through the
forest, a full second before he managed to associate the clothing with its most likely owner.
"Those are clergy robes. No more than 150 centimetres tall, I think that they're students
from one of the Seminary Academies." Karl informed the others, then moved to intercept
the two running figures.
If he was wrong, he had all the advantages, and if they didn't want to stop, he could just
have Rae tie them up until they calmed down.
The two came barrelling through the trees, then paused when they saw the Academy
uniforms, and began to gesture wildly.
"You have to get out of here. There is a giant monster in the sky." One of them shouted.
"Three metre wingspan, kind of brown with a creamy belly and red streaks on its legs? That
one is trained, he's with us." Karl informed them, and the two clerics simply stared at him
as if he had grown another head.
"A what now? That sounds terrifying. But no, there is a giant beetle flying this way. It killed
our lesson proctor, and he was an Ascended High Priest." The young boy exclaimed.
"How far have you been running? We are all Elites, and we are hunting for magical plants in
the area. There are ten of us, with two strong Awakened Rank leaders." Karl tried to calm
the pair.
Clerics weren't known for their combat power. They would empower the weapons of
warriors and their healing magic was remarkable, but as far as actual fighting abilities, they
were just humans with swords if they were even carrying them.
These two weren't.
"That might be enough? Can you fight an Ascended Rank beast?" The boy asked hopefully,
while the girl beside him did her best to hide her face.
"I can confidently say, yes. We can fight a lone Ascended Rank monster. If there were a
bunch of them, we would lead you away with us, but one is something that we can defeat."
Karl replied with a gentle smile.

Hawk was getting excited as well. Most beetles didn't fly well, they only flew a short
distance and then landed. His genetic memories told him that beetles were crunchy and
nutritious, though he wasn't sure that this one was a species that could be eaten.
Rae was likewise excited about the prospect. To the Bloodbath Spider, all insects were
prey.
The sound of crashing through the trees brought another trill from Hawk, who had spotted
a large black figure headed their way, covered in blood and reeking of death. That had to be
the beetle, and it was tracking the two humans.
"Everyone in position, get the clerics to the middle of the circle." Karl ordered, doing his
best imitation of Sergeant Rita.
He did it so well that even Dana responded, ushering everyone into position, while her
Golems remained outside, ready to face whatever threat Karl had noticed.
The crashing through the trees was hard to miss as the beetle chased after the escaped
prey, so Karl called out the other pets in time for the students to get used to their presence.
"These two are Thor and Rae. DO NOT attack them." He warned the others.
The students stared in confusion at the sudden appearance of the Lightning Cerro, who was
already the size of a small bear or a huge dog, but it took them a few seconds to find Rae,
who had appeared in a tree and instantly hidden herself.
The beetle came in sight, and Lightning flashed around Thor's body. That caught its
attention, and the creature began to charge, keening in a way that made Karl feel like the
creature was starving and desperate for food.
"Wait for my signal. Thor, block the initial charge, then move out of the way for the
students to retaliate." Karl called.
The beetle flapped its wings to fly at Thor, then crashed to the ground as Rae tied them
together above its back with a spurt of spider silk.
The muscles that moved the wings weren't particularly strong, and it couldn't break free as
Thor charged into it, flipping the creature on its back with a jab of his horns.
"Now!" Karl ordered as Thor moved away, sending his own attack to join the combined
spells of the mages.
They wouldn't actually do much damage to the Ascended Rank beast, but as his Shred tore
apart the chitin, and the wings were held up, exposing its vulnerable sides, even the
Common Rank magical attacks proved relatively effective.

With a screech, the beetle tore its wings free of their confinement, and charged at Thor
again, drawn to the largest threat.
The students paused their attacks, waiting for an opening, while Karl moved in for the kill.
Thor's lightning wavered and flickered out of existence for an instant as the two beasts
clashed, and the beetle began to celebrate its impending victory, a split second before Rae
landed on its head and began to stab its eyes out with her clawed feet before tearing into
the chitin of the beetle's skull.
Karl helped that along with a condensed [Rend] to the back of the creature's neck, and the
Bloodbath Spider moved in for the kill, tearing through the hole to sever the muscles.
The giant beetle fell to the ground with one last desperate flail of its wings, trying to
dislodge Rae, but it was far too late. The strength left its body, and the spider began to tear
the shell open to get at the good bits inside.
"Don't go getting yourself covered in bug guts, there's no river nearby to clean off in." Karl
warned her, just as Rae was about to take a dive directly into the carcass.
She grumbled out a complaint and pulled the head into her beast space, while Thor gave it
one last kick for good luck.
"Problem solved everyone. We will keep an eye out for more dangers, but the beetle threat
is gone.
Where are the cleric students? How far did you run, and how many more were in your
group?" Karl asked.
They both just shook their heads. "There was just us and the High Priest out gathering
herbs. I don't know how far we ran, we just ran."
Karl nodded. "I will have my Hawk go look for the scene of the battle. I know that the
church has some formal burial rituals and such, right?"
The two young clerics nodded numbly, not quite sure how to process what was going on.
"Well, then we will get it all sorted out so that the High Priest is taken care of. Don't worry,
we won't just leave the body here in the wilderness." Karl informed them.
There likely wouldn't be a body to leave in the wilderness, but a little white lie wouldn't
hurt anything, and if there was a blood soaked keepsake that the beetle didn't eat, it should
be enough for their purposes.
It would make both the cleric students and the other Elite students feel a bit better about
the situation, Karl decided, then wondered when he got so casual about death.
@@novelbin@@
[Meat is meat.] Hawk replied, unconcerned.
Rae wholeheartedly agreed, but Thor just shook his head. Fragrant leaves were better than
meat any day.
With the responses of his pets, Karl began to realize how much their way of thinking was
influencing his own. He should be horrified by the situation. But the calmness of his pets
affected him just as much as their excitement did, and he just couldn't bring himself to be
suitably agitated about the situation as Hawk searched for the site of the original battle by
following the beetle's trail through the woods.
[I have found it. It didn't finish eating, it just took the good bits and then chased the others.
I think I can fit it all in this bag they brought.] Hawk informed him helpfully.
That was a disturbing thought.
[Pack him up and bring him to the Beast Space, we will make sure that he makes it to a
proper burial. No, wait, I will ask the clerics if he should be buried right there first.] Karl
replied.
"What is the burial ritual for High Priests? Should I have Hawk preserve the remains of the
body, or should he be buried on the land?" Karl asked.
The older of the two clerics took out a small book and began to flip through it.
"I'm not sure, that isn't supposed to happen. I mean, this is a safe zone, there shouldn't be
anything stronger than a weak Awakened beast here." He mumbled as he flipped through
the pages.

"Oh, here it is. Yes, he should be brought back to the church for a burial in state, thanks to
his high station. There will be three days of mourning for the clergy surrounding the
funeral, and some other things that don't really involve you, but please preserve the
remains." The student replied.
Karl relayed the message, and Hawk did his best to get all the bits into the large herb
gathering bag that they had brought, and began the flight back to Karl. Once he was close,
Hawk shifted the bag into his beast space, while Rae claimed the beetle body, leaving the
area strangely empty.
"What just happened?" One of the Elite class students asked.
"My beasts have a separate space where they can store food for later. Rae put the beetle
away, and we will strip the good parts of chitin for trade to the Academy. They pay for
monster parts, since they can be used in armour and weapons, as well as some magical
items." Karl explained.
"Oh, that's right. Will you ask Rae if I can have one of the horns? Beetle horn is on my list of
ingredients, but I never thought about keeping it from the giant beetle."
Rae broke the horn off with some effort, and ejected it from her space. It was just a solid
lump of chitin, and completely inedible. Therefore, it was worthless to her.
The student stared at the horn in reverence. "You know, it died so fast that it never really
sunk in. That was an Ascended Rank beast, wasn't it? I can feel the power in the chitin, but
it died so easily."
Karl smiled. "That's partially thanks to Rae's specialty. She's excellent at finding ways
through chitin. Plus, my attack power is high, and with its wings lifted, the less armoured
sides were exposed." @@novelbin@@
The students were making mental notes, in case they had to fight something like that again.
The shell that covered the wings was the strongest part of the giant beetle's body, so
normally you wouldn't attack its back. But with the wings lifted by the spider silk, that left
it vulnerable to attack, and Karl's ability had left an open wound for them to target.
"Now, we're near the next herb that we came here for, so let's keep going. My apologies to
our new friends, but we still have a mission to complete. I will make sure that you make it
back safely, though if your pickup point is further afield than we're going, I will bring you
back to the train tracks instead." Karl added.
"That's good enough for us. I don't know where we were supposed to be picked up, The
High Priest was responsible for that. But there are other groups from the Seminary School
out here somewhere. The train dropped us all off only a few minutes apart, so we might
find one of them before you go." The young cleric replied.
One of the warriors smiled at the boy. "But in the meantime, we're counting on you and
your Holy Magic."
The boy nodded, and the shy girl gave them a thumbs up. Holy Magic was the one thing that
they were confident in. They had been out with the High Priest mostly to serve as pack
mules as he picked herbs, and not as much for training as the warriors of the Elite Academy
were. To the Church, obedience and subservience were more important than combat skills,
and serving the High Priest on his mission was good training for their future works of
service to the community.
"What is next? Didn't Hawk say that there was something nearby before the emergency
happened?" Dana asked.
"Just this way. Hawk is already back up in the air looking for more threats, so we will just
follow his path toward the next set of herbs, and then we will move on to the third marked
location." Karl agreed.
Technically, he would be skipping the third location marked on the map, since it was either
at or very close to the battle site, but if they couldn't find that resource elsewhere he might
lead them there at the end of the trip.
The way that he had planned to bring them would go right past the battle, but with Hawk's
discovery, he could change the route to make a big loop around it and end up back near the
tracks as they finished. If that covered everything that the group needed, then they could
skip a few potential resources and head back satisfied.
Though, if the clerics needed some of the others, he would gladly bring them around to help
gather. They had enough trauma for one trip, so putting a good memory on top might help.
Karl seemed to recall hearing that somewhere as a kid, perhaps from the school counsellor
after one of the many incidents down below in the pit.
If anyone had felt relaxed about this easy mission when they arrived, they didn't feel
relaxed any more. The whole group was on high alert, searching the woods for anything
that might be a danger.
Karl let Thor lead the group on the ground, following Hawk's guidance, while Rae hid in the
beast space with the remains of the giant beetle that she was carefully dissecting to
improve her understanding of exoskeletal species for [Offensive Adaptation].
Minutes after they started moving again, an angry grunt caught Karl's attention, and the
crashing of a large animal through undergrowth drew the attention of everyone else.
[Three tree apes. Common Grade. They don't look tasty.] Hawk reported as the creatures
approached.
"We have a small pack of apes in the trees incoming. Group, you know what to do. It is up to
you if you want to attack them or let them pass." Karl informed the others, which made
Dana smile at him.
They could attack anything that moved, but that would anger everything else. So, if it
wasn't hostile, she would prefer not to make it hostile.
One of the mages shook his head. "They normally don't attack people. They just like to
shout at them from the trees. If they don't attack, we should keep moving, since they will
scare off any other small monsters with the noise they make."
The group patiently waited, and moved in a triple column, putting the warriors on the
outside with the mages and clerics between them and the Golems at the back. But the tree
apes behaved just as the mage had anticipated, and they remained in the upper branches of
the trees, screaming at the humans, and occasionally throwing nuts and berries at them.
The monkeys thought that the whole thing was hilarious, and they laughed as the warriors
swatted aside the projectiles, but they didn't come any closer, and they didn't do anything
that would provoke an all out attack.
[The spot is just ahead. Should I scare the monkeys away?] Hawk asked with a hopeful tone
in Karl's mind.
[Sure, go ahead and get your snack.] Karl replied, likening the monkeys to junk food.

[I told you they don't look tasty.] Hawk replied indignantly as he folded his wings and dove
out of the sky.
He hit the monkey at well over a hundred kilometres an hour, nearly shredding its body as
he pulled it away from the branch in his claws and returned to the sky. That was what a
normal bird of prey would do, as they had all the advantages when they were flying.
Some of the students didn't realize that was Hawk at first, and they began to panic at the
presence of another powerful attacker, but that only helped the tree apes make their
decision. The humans were afraid of that thing too, so it would likely attack them next if the
ape tribe left.
Hawk peeled the ape apart and took one tentative bite before discarding the body, which
bounced down through the branches as the rest of the tribe scattered.
[Good work, they're still running.] Karl congratulated Hawk, just as the bird speared down
to get another of the tree apes and bring it into the sky to use as a projectile. But this time,
it wasn't on the apes.
Instead, he found a lone Black Mane Bear and circled up to an altitude of five hundred
metres before diving hard and releasing the corpse. A flap of his wings sent him on a glide
path over the forest, and the bear roared in anger as the body smashed down right where it
had been standing a second earlier.
[Why are you angering the bears?] Karl asked as he heard the noise.
[Why would I not anger the bears? You should have seen it, it was hilarious.] Hawk replied.
[I hate that I can't argue with that. It probably was hilarious. But the others are already
freaked out enough without an angry bear coming their way.]
[Do you know how a Windspeed Hawk usually learns to fly? I mean, not me in the space,
but other ones.] Hawk asked.
[Don't they just flap their wings in the nest until they can take off?] Karl asked.
[Nope, they'd remain in the nest forever that way. Once they're grown enough to fly, their
mother pushes them out of the nest. They either learn or they hit the ground.] Hawk
replied.

Karl's smile caught the attention of the warriors at the front, and they were suddenly very
worried about the safety of their "low risk" training mission. Did they get two awakened
leaders not because Karl and Dana were both in their first year as well, but because they
were going to need more than one? @@novelbin@@
What was out here that was making the monster man so happy?
He was already so much more powerful than anything that should be in the area, perhaps
he forgot that the rest of them were not looking forward to actually meeting monsters on
this trip to get resources?
The sound of the angry bear retreated into the distance as it moved out of the territory of
the annoying bird, but the group's tension level didn't drop any lower until they made it to
the next spot, a section of fallen trees where an Awakened Rank moss grew abundantly all
over the dead fall.
"This is what we are here for, the best of the resources in the region." One of the warriors
quietly cheered.
Karl's confused look let them all know that he hadn't had time to study the properties of
the resources here, only their locations. So one of the warriors helpfully filled him in.
"The moss is dried and then lightly roasted to create a tea that supplements the strength
stones for classes that have physical enhancements. I don't know if it will work for your
class, but a kilo each of that moss will keep us for the entire school year.
You can't use too much, it will just be a waste, but a cup in the morning will make nearly as
much of a difference as a strength stone twice a month." The warrior explained.
That was more often than Hawk was going through strength stones mixed with blood as
food seasoning. So, it should be a good resource for the pets, and Karl would have to get
some.
[It looks good.] Thor agreed, letting a bit of drool slip out of the corner of his mouth.
"Alright, do the mages need this resource? Or should we split it between the people who
can use it, stopping at a kilo each, so it doesn't go bad before everyone can use it?" Karl
asked.
"Mages can't use it, it won't do anything beneficial for us unless we're weakened. But the
Witches can use it in recovery potions, so they will need at least as much as the warriors."
One of the warriors explained.
The pair of witches looked grateful that he had stood up for them, and the resource
intensive needs of their potion making.
"Is there anything else I should know before I harvest this? Parasites, dangerous creatures
that like to live under it?" Karl asked.
The group all reluctantly shook their heads, and Karl drew his short sword from the
scabbard at his hip. The rest all thought it was a bit odd that he didn't take the sword out to
fight, but he carried it anyhow, though they didn't say anything.
The Team Leader was responsible for loot distribution, according to Academy Regulations.
Karl looked at how the moss grew, down the top of the logs, and the one side, but not the
bottom or the other side. If he wanted it to keep growing, he had to leave enough in the
right spots that it didn't ruin the moss bed too badly.
So, he cut diagonal stripes across the log, removing thin strips amounting to half of the
moss on each log, while leaving the rest securely attached. That should grow back over, he
assumed, and then it could be harvested again.
"Where did you learn that?" Dana asked as Karl cut the careful strips from the moss.
"I'm actually just guessing here by the way that it grows. But I'm only taking half, and
leaving the other half in the way that looks like it will grow back the fastest. Moss spreads
from the edges, you see, and only grows well on the sunny side. So, if I only take half and
leave as many good edges as possible, then it looks like this.
That should be the fastest pattern to grow back, and by my guess, I've cut nearly twenty
kilos of wet weight moss from this one tree. I haven't even touched the other ones yet, and
we've got enough to fill all the warriors and the witches requests. I just need to grab a little
for Thor here, and we can be on our way to the next spot." He explained.
"I don't suppose we could spare a bit more... There is an awful lot of it growing here." One
of the warriors suggested.
The witch closest to Karl nodded in agreement. "The Academy expects you to provide for
your own when it's not a standard part of the growth plan, and it's not like they accept
these items as a trade in, at least not from the first years who are supposed to be looking
out for themselves first, but normally, we would never see so much of an Awakened Rank
resource in one spot.
If this was up on the market, we would be rich. Well, until we all got arrested for trafficking
controlled substances to the masses, but you get my point. We could earn plenty of favours
from the other students in class if we had a bit to trade them, you know?"

"Alright, I will harvest another log." Karl agreed with a smile.

He cut the same stripe pattern on one log, and then had Thor quietly move the log hidden
behind where he was working into the beast space. A beast his size would need a lot of the
moss to equal out to a cup of tea a day, and a bit added to his usual diet every morning
would help him grow big and strong.
But even the Lightning Cerro realized that the herb should be rationed. He ate a lot of
higher rank plants as his general diet, but this one was special, and the effects were limited,
so it was more of a treat than a basic staple of the diet.
The second batch was spread the same as the first and stuffed into backpacks, while Karl
looked at the map to see what was up next. They were going to go around the battle from
earlier, and that would bring them to one of two spots. Either a spot that might have
another strengthening herb, or one that was known to grow crystals that helped focus and
increase the mana pool growth rate.
Karl decided to lead them to the crystals first, in the interest of fairness. If anything went
wrong later, at least they should all have gained something from the trip that way. It would
also help the clerics that they had rescued, so they wouldn't go home empty-handed.
The signs of monsters got more prominent the further that they went, and Karl began to
question whether the intel was wrong, or if this was actually what they considered a low-
risk area in the wilderness.
He knew that there were countless monsters in the wild areas, and that large portions of
the land barely held any humans, but he was seeing signs of magical abilities and trees that
had been downed by something powerful enough to claw through them.
That was no Common Grade monster, and most of the marks were too far up to have been
the giant beetle.
Even Thor was becoming nervous with all the signs and scents of predators, but he had a
large pack with him now, and he wasn't as concerned as he would have been if he were
alone. He trusted Hawk to find anything really dangerous, and the bird was currently
circling their destination, making sure that nothing was hiding around the cave.

He hadn't checked the inside, but the surroundings were clear of any large animals, and a
few more of the small ones as well, as Hawk was feeling a bit hungry after all that flying.
"The crystal cave is just ahead. Remember, we haven't checked the interior yet, so I can't
say if the crystals are there, as the report said there would be, but I can say that Hawk
found the cave right where they said it was." Karl reported.
The mages shared an excited smile, while the warriors prepared their minds for the charge
into an unexplored cavern system. If they found the crystals near the entrance, they
wouldn't have to go far in, but if not, they would need to explore, and that brought a whole
new realm of danger with it.
"Hold up." Dana warned them as they approached the clearing outside the cave entrance.
"I saw some unique plants in the clearing. They're not on the list, but I recognize them from
the botany books that I had to read." She informed the team.
Karl looked carefully, and began to smile. One of the plants was a Winter Berry bush. Not
powerful, but he would have to pick some for Hawk, who loved the flavour.
[I already got some.] The smug bird informed him. Karl checked the mental space and
found that there was an entire bush there, planted in the ground as if it would keep
growing.
Maybe it would. Karl didn't really understand how the spaces worked, but he was feeding
them magical energy, so it wasn't impossible that a magical plant might survive in there,
although the majority of the ground was just a mental image.
Dana addressed the group. "There are plants with narrow spiny leaves. Collect the leaves
without letting them touch you or your clothing. We will want as many as possible. I need
four warrior volunteers."
Four hands went up, and Dana sent them out, then she pointed to another plant. "These are
tiger leaf weeds. They're exceptional for fire magic training. All the mages should gather at
least a few of them. They are eaten one at a time just before you try to learn fire magic, so
dry them and save them." @@novelbin@@
The mages began to move out, so Karl gathered the rest of the warriors. "We are on guard
duty, but as you move, keep your eyes open for these purple and white berries. They're
delicious. Not much of a magical effect other than slightly refreshing, but they're a great
seasoning for oatmeal."
That made the warriors smile. Oatmeal was not only a staple of the breakfast menu at
home, but it was also in the breakfast pack of all their travel rations. Being able to flavour it
with some fresh berries would make their first morning in the wilderness much more
enjoyable.
The team made their way carefully across the field, grabbing everything that they thought
might be valuable, while being careful not to kill the plants, even when they needed a
portion of the roots for their training.
It was a bit odd seeing these strong warriors being so delicate with flowers and weeds, but
if it meant that they could come back here in a month or two and harvest the same
resources again, it was well worth the effort.
Although they had met up with a group from the clergy, it was rare for people to head this
far into the wilderness, and with so much ground to cover, and only an aerial scan to
indicate that there might be resources, the chances were that nobody else would return
here after the report was filed that they had harvested in this region.
It took them nearly an hour to finish their work and make it to the cavern, where all the
team members realized that they had a real problem on their hands. They had found so
many other resources that they had filled their bags already, and they were only at the
third stop. Well, technically the second stop, as the first one hadn't been one of the
intended map points to harvest resources.
"If we pack the moss a bit more tightly we might make room for one more stop, but if it's a
large leafy plant, or a flower that shouldn't be crushed, we will be really short on space."
One of the warriors noted.
They had loaded up with the moss, but the mages had filled their bags with the flowers and
leaves here in this field, where they had actually come to gather crystal from the cave.
"Alright, same formation as before. I will keep Hawk in reserve, but here in the darkness,
we will have Thor and Rae." Karl explained.
He felt Rae's amusement at the thought of Thor stomping around happily smashing all the
crystals that they were here to gather.
"On second thought, I will keep Thor in reserve as well, and Rae will help me with the
scouting duties on point. The golems will take up the rear, and the rest of you mingle your
ranks, warrior then mage. You all know the drill." He amended.
The group adjusted their positions and prepared their flashlights with a rapid round of
cranking the chargers, just to make sure that the batteries were absolutely, completely
charged.
Unlike Karl, who had very little reason to be afraid of the dark, the others were much more
comfortable in the light. Rae decided that was the perfect excuse for her to scout ahead, so
she would be out of the range of the lights, and vanished into the cave.

[It's shiny in here. Oh, pretty stone. That's for me, and a bit of glowing moss for my nest,
and a mushroom.] Rae happily narrated her scouting mission.
[Just remember that we're here to help the others level up so that they can catch up to us,
so don't loot everything before they get there.] Karl laughed at the Bloodbath Spider's
excess.
[They're not valuable, just pretty. You can come in now, the entrance doesn't have anything
scary in it.] @@novelbin@@
Karl stepped inside, and for the first time noticed that there was something strange about
his night vision. It was never truly dark in the Academy, with the lights in the yard, the dim
lighting in the hallways and all the other light sources around.
But inside the cavern, before the others entered with their lights, Karl could see in a whole
new way.
Not how Hawk saw in the dark, as that still relied on some level of light being present, but
how Rae saw in the dark, through a combination of thermal imaging and echolocation. Each
footstep made his surroundings seem more vivid, and he could see the difference where
there was cold water running over the warmer stones.
It was no wonder that Rae liked it in the dark, she was perfectly in her element.
Then the group followed behind him, lighting up the tunnel with their lanterns and
flashlights, and Karl's night vision naturally shifted back to the more detailed low light
resolution that he had inherited from Hawk.
Rae had been correct, none of the students were interested in the remains of the
interesting objects that she had found, and the spider carefully led them down to the first
chamber of the cavern system.
"There's one. I see one of the crystals." A mage whispered.
One wouldn't be nearly enough, but it meant that there were, or had been, some here.
"Leave the first as a marker that they are still here, and let's move further into the cave to
check for more. Rae, do you see what that one looks like? That is the type of crystal that
they need." Karl commented.

[On it.]
[There is another good room up here, but something is in it. There is a pond in the middle,
and I can sense something moving under the water.] Rae reported.
[Stay back, and we will approach it as a group.]
"There is a cavern up ahead, with something living in the water. Rae doesn't know what it
is, so prepare for a fight." Karl reported.
He moved slowly to the entrance, where Rae was hiding directly above his head, blended in
with the stone of the wall, and followed her gaze to the softly glowing waters of the pond. It
was magnificent, giving off a dim glow of magical power, and the bottom was lined with
crystals.
There were hundreds of them in this room, but something felt off, like taking any of them
would bring about a backlash.
"Wait before you pluck any of the crystals on the walls. I have a feeling that they're related
to whatever is in the lake." Karl warned the group, who were about to go into a frenzy at
the sight of so many resources.
They paused for a moment, but it was obvious that they thought he was being overly
cautious on nothing more than the word of a spider.
One of the warriors used a stick that he had brought in with him and splashed the surface
of the water, waiting for a response, but there was nothing, just ripples in the placid
surface.
The mages hesitated for a few more seconds, then one of them used a knife to pop a crystal
from the wall. Still no response from anything, and the others smiled in victory.
The mage took off his glove to examine his prize, and a flash of light filled the room,
engulfing and blinding everyone, as well as forcing Rae back into the beast space.
[I told them there was something here.] She muttered as she waited for her eyes to adjust.
The first to adapt was Thor, who had been sitting with his eyes closed as he chewed, and he
relayed the situation to Karl.
[There are things here. Dangerous things, I will go out and chase them away.]
The Lightning Cerro took action as he spoke, and his bugling call to arms echoed through a
much larger space than Karl had expected. They couldn't be in that same cavern, unless it
had collapsed, it sounded more like they were outdoors, next to a mountain valley.
The noise was enough to hold whatever was there at bay for the few seconds that it took
Karl's eyes to adjust, but what he saw was nothing he could have anticipated.
They were standing in a lush green valley, as he had guessed from the sound, surrounded
by mountains, with a massive golden pyramid temple in front of them.
The steps up each side pulsed with magic that he could feel even from hundreds of metres
away, while between him and the temple stood thousands of glowing crystal golems, the
same rainbow hue as the crystals that they had come here to recover. @@novelbin@@
"I'm going to guess that there was no warning about not touching the crystal with your
bare skin. But wherever we are, we might be in trouble." Karl informed the others, who
were a bit slower to adjust than he was.
"How did we get here? And holy hell, are those Golems? I want one." Dana gasped, shocking
Karl with her unexpected language.
The Golems were beautiful, and they looked powerful, but if Thor's guess was right, they
were far from friendly.
Thor activated his lightning barrier, ready to fight, but the Golems didn't move at all. They
just stood there, watching the group of intruders from a distance.
Karl stepped forward to calm the nervous Cerro, not wanting to start an incident before
everyone was recovered, and they had some idea what was going on. If touching the crystal
brought them here, then doing it again on this side might send them all back.
That would likely be for the best if it was possible.
But when he got a few steps forward, a message appeared in the air in front of them.
[Welcome to the World Dragon Temple's Trial Instance]
"Do you see that?" Dana asked from behind him.
"I do, and I would rather that I didn't if it means we've got to fight those golems." Karl
agreed.
"I think that we stepped into an ancient holy relic. The crystals must have been the ruins of
its activation array before it was buried under the cavern, and now we're in some sort of
trial ground that the World Dragon Church set up for their members." She added.
"That's not reassuring at all."

Though most of the holy relics from those ancient times didn't lead to death, a trial ground
might, especially if it was damaged by time.
While they tried to make sense of the message, one of the Golems stepped forward.
[The trial is simple. Make it up the steps to claim your reward. If you fall down the steps,
you may continue to attempt to pass your previous high mark.] The Golem spoke in a
strange accent, directly into their minds.
The lines of Golems split, leaving the road empty, and Karl took another step forward with
Thor between him and the crystal giant.
It made no move to attack, and Karl simply shrugged at the other students as he began to
walk toward the golden temple.
If they had happened upon a holy relic, there was bound to be something left behind from
the Mythical times, when magic users reigned supreme, and legendary beasts vied against
dragons for supremacy of the skies.
According to the tales of his childhood, the World Dragon, and the World Dragon Church of
those times, had made a pact that had allowed the humans to live glorious lives of power
and wealth.
Now that the Elite Serum had been developed, Karl and everyone else knew that it was
likely related to the System Stones, but the fairy tale only got more popular instead of
fading once it was proven to be plausible historical fact.
Maybe he would learn what had happened to end those glorious times, and how such a
powerful culture fell into ruin. This place looked intact, so it had to have survived hundreds
of thousands of years of history, buried beneath the forest.
Behind him, the rest of the group moved in the defensive formation, with the mages and
clerics in the middle row, and Dana taking up the rear as she did her best to examine the
Golems for ideas on how to make one.
The clerics simply stared at everything with reverent awe. This was a holy relic, a legacy of
their church, their own ancestors. Temples like these were the ancient seat of the church's
power, the source of the healing magic that they had managed to sustain with their faith
through even the darkest of times.
When they reached the clearing around the temple, another one of the Golems stepped in
front of them, and seemed to stare at Thor, who was still bristling with lightning.
[There are four sides to the Temple, four staircases to walk, and four levels of difficulty to
master the lessons of the Trial.
Walking up the first side will test your strength. It is the easiest, as strength can be trained
by any of the chosen.
The second will test your magic. Like strength, magic can also be trained by any of the
chosen, but it is the more difficult path.

The third side will test your will. Will can be tempered, but should the tempering fail, it will
shatter and leave you broken. For that reason, the third side is the most dangerous.
The fourth side will test your affinity with fate.
Approach the temple and speak the side you wish to challenge. Each visitor may challenge
one side per day. Every day you remain on a chosen side, the difficulty of the other sides
will increase.]
All the students stared at each other in shock. What sort of trial was this? They just had to
walk up the stairs, and it would test them somehow?
Then, Thor disappeared, and reappeared a second later on one of the staircases to the
temple.
[Nothing is stronger than a Cerro.] Thor announced proudly in Karl's mind as he stepped
onto the first stair and a crushing weight seemed to descend upon him.
[See, nothing at all.] He gloated, then took another step and the weight doubled.
One more step and he began to reconsider his position.
[Except maybe these stairs.] He amended when he was forced to a stop.
There were a thousand steps, by Karl's estimation, to get to the top. Thor was struggling at
step three and had come to a stop at step five.
"Well, that's how it's done, I guess. Just will yourself to the trial you desire, and see how
that works out for you. We will stay here as long as we can, at a very minimum, we will stay
four days, so we can try all the routes. We have enough resources for that in our packs, and
it's only half a day to the train tracks." Karl informed the group.
"I like the way you think, team leader. Now, let's go do the trial before the clerics start
crying in joy." One of the warriors laughed.
"Have you two taken the Divine Injection yet?" Karl asked the clerics as the rest of the
group began to move forward.
They shook their heads. "Not until next year. We're still trainees at the Seminary School."
"Then this will be quite a day for you. Just do the best that you can, and maybe start with
the magic route, since you've got some skill with holy magic already."
Karl let Hawk and Rae out of their spaces, and Hawk immediately vanished from sight,
going to one of the tests that they couldn't see from their position.
The mages and warriors all seemed to still be visible, so it would be willpower and fate that
were on the far side of the temple.
Rae went to join Thor on the strength training side, as she wasn't confident in her magical
abilities, while Karl considered what route he should try first. The Golem said one route a
day, so he would try willpower first, as that was one that he was more confident in.
Once you had learned to get past the fear and claustrophobia of the crushing depths of the
mines, not many things would bother you. Plus, he had noticed that his will was stronger
than most thanks to the beasts, and that might earn him some reward.
There were only a few others on the willpower testing stairs when Karl arrived. Hawk, plus
the female cleric student and one mage.
Karl set foot on the first step, and a sense of doubt began to set in. What if the test rewards
were only for the first trial? Surely, it would have been better to go to the other stairwells
first in that case.
But Karl kept to his decision, and took another step.
The more that he thought about it, the more likely it was that this was also a test of
character. Would the temple think that he had nothing else going for him but pure
determination? He had met dozens of students like that in the accuracy training sessions.
They had remarkable willpower to keep going, keep training and grinding away every
single day, but where did that get them? It got them to the bottom of the class, that was
where.
Because willpower was all that they had.
Karl had talent. He had magic, he had strength. If he had tested those first, the temple
would still see his determination, his willpower to keep going. Why had he chosen this
staircase?
Another step and another, as the self-doubt crept in and the world around him faded until
Karl could only sense what was around him. He barely noticed as he passed the mage, who
was on the fifth step and in the middle of an existential crisis, or when he passed Hawk on
the seventh step, who had stopped to have a little snack before he continued.
The Golem hadn't said anything about being timed. Perhaps Hawk had the right of it, and
you should save your strength and keep refreshed.
No, if he stopped, it would be that much harder to get going again.

Karl made it past the tenth step, and the world completely vanished around him, leaving
him in a vision of the mines. He was trapped in a collapse, his legs pinned, but ahead of him
was another miner, closer to the emergency bell, and gasping for breath.
The man's rebreather was broken, but he could get to the button.
Karl took off the miner's mask he was wearing and threw it to his struggling coworker, then
held his breath against the toxic fumes as the faceless man scrambled for the button, and
the emergency supplies locker beside it.
Ten more seconds, that was all he needed. Ten seconds and the man would be coming back
to throw him a new mask.
Nine, eight, Karl struggled to hold on. If he passed out, he would start breathing again, and
the toxic fumes would linger in his lungs, adding a bit more permanent damage to the
lifetime of injuries that a miner would suffer.
In his mind, Karl was still young, he hadn't taken the Divine Serum yet, and he knew that
childhood lung injuries could ruin a man before he even became a man, leaving him useless
underground. He would hold on, he had to.
Then the miner was back and slapping the mask over his face with a blast of fresh,
compressed air and Karl was back in the real world, looking at the staircase in front of him.
"What was that?" He muttered as he looked at the steps in front of him.
The Golem had said that it would test his willpower, but it didn't say anything about that.
@@novelbin@@
Another step forward and the reluctance built. This was an impossible task, There was no
way that anyone was going to make it to the top with that sort of horror in their minds. No
wonder the mage had stopped, and the cleric girl was moving so slowly, this was torture.
Worse, it was self-inflicted torture, with no promise of rewards.
There was no reason for him to keep going, he could just go back down and relax for the
rest of the day. Maybe the warriors would be able to use the strength wall as a training
event. He could go there tomorrow and try it as a gym day, building some muscle strength
as he tried to move his physique toward Ascended.

But even with the doubts in his mind, Karl forced himself forward another step.
There was definitely a reason he picked this side. He couldn't remember what it was right
now, but he was certain that this was the right side for him to test himself on first.
That thought got him through two more steps before he realized that you were unable to
see the other stairs once you were on one. How would anyone even know if he did well? He
could just slack off and wait here for hours and then tell everyone that he did well.
It was just the cleric and one mage here, and they were both lost in their own minds
already. They wouldn't say anything against him.
But another step reminded Karl that he had work to do, he would make it to the top and
find out what sort of recognition he could get from the temple.
But another step reminded Karl that he had work to do, he would make it to the top and
find out what sort of recognition If it was impressed with his determination, his willpower,
maybe it would grant him a boon of some sort, a bit of magic that would help him in his
training.
Training the beasts. That was his ultimate goal, to help them grow and let them pull him up
to the top with them. He couldn't be less determined than they were. Even Rae was out in
the sunshine, testing her strength on the stairs, he could feel the pressure that she was
under, as if a mountain was trying to crush her to the stone steps, but her spindly little legs
were still holding strong and pushing her upward.
That was determination, that was willpower. He would keep going. Even Hawk was moving
again, now that he had realized that the cake was a lie, and that whatever delicacy he had
seen was just a way that the temple used to convince him to stop, to give up and not
progress any further.
The sun began to set over them when Karl forced himself to the forty-first stair, pulling his
mind out of a nightmare of desperation, where he had lost everything, even his pets while
trapped and starving here in this broken relic with no way out.
"Well, that one hit a bit too close to home. I've got this, one more step." Karl mumbled to
himself, unconcerned if anyone thought that he was a madman.
Then the sun settled below the horizon, and Karl, along with everyone else who was still
undergoing the trials, found himself standing in the grass near the second Golem who had
spoken to them.
[The trials last one day at the most.] The Golem informed them, then went back to its silent
judgment of their efforts.
"Perhaps we should have waited until morning to start our first attempt, but I think that we
did pretty well." Dana mumbled as she lay on the grass, staring at the darkening sky.
"I'm not sure if we would survive a whole day of that. Even with these few hours, I had to
back down two steps near the end because the weight was becoming too much to bear."
One of the warriors replied.
"Well, there's always tomorrow. But first, we should make some dinner and set up camp."
Karl reminded them.
He was not going anywhere near the willpower steps again, tomorrow or ever. He had done
enough of that.
Setting up the camp proved that there had been some serious oversights in their mission
training. It was assumed that the leaders would be experienced, and not just powerful first
years who had never actually used any of the kit before.
So, an hour after dark, they were only just finally managing to get the tents set up around a
small magical fire that they assumed was intended to be their campsite.
It was made of flaming rocks, which gave off a gentle blue glow, as well as a level of warmth
that reminded everyone that while this was a magical realm, it was still getting colder at
night.
For most of the students that wasn't a big deal, but some of them came from the warmer
climates, or from the big cities, where the apartment buildings were maintained at a steady
temperature. They weren't expecting how fast it got cold out, even with the fire nearby, and
many had chosen to pitch their tents further away for privacy.
That situation changed quickly, and the students who had camped further from the fire
found themselves moving out of their tents and coming forward.
Karl and Dana had both chosen spots near the fire, but not because they knew about the
temperature. They were both used to it getting cold at night and were somewhat used to
the change, but they had wanted to be closer to the centre so that they could respond
evenly to an attack from any direction.
Both Golems and Rae were on lookout for the early portion of the evening, while Hawk
would be taking over from Rae later so that they would both have enough sleep tonight.
They could both see well enough in the dark, with the simulated stars overhead, but
nothing that they were seeing was enough to concern them, and Karl didn't wake until
Hawk informed him that it was first light and that Thor was being annoying.
@@novelbin@@
The Lightning Cerro had realized that many of the students couldn't sleep in their cold
tents, so he had volunteered his large, warm body to help them out. Which naturally led to
the students going around in the morning to find snacks for their scaly benefactor, and a lot
more movement than the grumpy Hawk would have preferred.
One of the students tapped a spoon against his metal canteen to get everyone's attention.
"Everyone, bring out the breakfast packs and anything you have to season them. If you
brought something that you think looks good, you can bring it out as well. What I'm going
to make this morning is known as a cowboy stew.
I'm not sure how many of you know how to cook at all, but I grew up on a cattle ranch, and
we learned that if everyone brings a different bit of the basics, we can actually make one
large decent meal out of ten lousy ones." The boy explained.

The students that Karl had set to pick berries each brought out a couple, as well as the
packs of dry oatmeal, granola and dried fruit that were in the breakfast ration pack.
The rancher's son brought out a pot that he had managed to stuff into the bottom of his
pack, and one of the mages filled it halfway up with a water spell. Then he added all the
various ingredients in, and Karl brought him three sticks to create a tripod to hang it over
the fire, the way his mother did at home in the summer.
It got too hot to cook inside, and this method was much better for cooking over the fire pit
in the yard.
Then, Karl brought out the masterpiece of the meal, much to Hawk's annoyance. A large
piece of Iron Tusk Boar meat at the Common Rank. One of the last pieces from the very first
boars that they had killed during the fight against the Goblin Tribe, and a food product that
Hawk routinely ignored, in favour of the many better options in his space.
Food didn't go bad in there, it seemed to be in stasis. So, though Karl couldn't keep books in
there, all forms of food and other resources were a valid option, and it was going to make
their breakfast much more enjoyable.
One of the mages scrubbed off a flat rock, and began cutting the meat into small cubes,
making forty of them in total, then conjured a collection of long sticks and began to skewer
them.
"Now, this is what I'm talking about. See, everyone, with just one chunk of meat and a few
berries, we're all going to be eating well today." The warrior stirring the oatmeal gloated.
They weren't master chefs, and some of the kebabs got a bit burnt on the edges, but the
oatmeal was fruity instead of bland, with no dried chunks of leathery mystery fruit to gnaw
on. That left each of them with a small package of nuts left over, and the drink mix to go in
the plastic drink pouches if they wanted something other than water.
Once they finished eating, Karl stood to address the group.
"Alright, you can try the same site again, if you think that you will gain something from it,
or you can try a different one. I know we all discussed our experience last night, and the
willpower side was definitely not the most popular among the options, but for those of you
with trouble concentrating on your abilities, it might still be a valid and valuable training
resource.
Take some time to choose your path. You can only do one a day, so there is no need to rush
right to the wall this instant. I will see you all when we get back, but don't forget to bring
water and something to eat, in case you find a spot you wish to train on all day." He
informed the group.
As terrible as the willpower stairs were, his meditation last night had made huge strides in
the improvement of the living spaces for his pets, and Karl was briefly tempted to go back,
just to see if he could meditate on the higher steps and improve the beast spaces even more
rapidly.

If the spaces were at their peak, it might make it easier for the three beasts to grow. Hawk
was certainly advancing far beyond what anyone would expect of a Windspeed Hawk.
But it was also possible that what they needed was a more magical environment. Karl was
human, they were all magical beasts. What if the real limitation was the fact that he had a
virtually nonexistent mana pool?
He might not think of it the same way that a mage did, but ultimately, the energy needed to
use [Rend] was still magical energy, so there should be some merit to going up the mana
improvement stairs.
The warriors of the ancient times had powers beyond anything that he could dream of
holding for himself, so was it possible that they did it by having a well-rounded set of
abilities, and not some super rare class and an Immortal Ancient bloodline that allowed
them to leave their competition in the dust?
Three of the sides of the pyramid appeared to be intended to train every aspect that a true
warrior could need, and they were intending to stay here longer, so there was no harm in
using one of the days on the mana stairs. Even if they didn't help much, he could still
meditate and make the best of his time.
Hawk had the same idea. He had tested his willpower, and the stairs had tested his
appetite. So today he would train his magical stamina instead. Rae had decided to stay on
the strength stairs to build her rapidly growing body to a standard she was happy with,
while Thor didn't see any other option than strength as being worthwhile.
All the warriors were with him on that one, except for one Berserker who was staring
toward the willpower stairs, which startled everyone around him.
"Are you thinking of building your willpower to extend the amount of time that you can
maintain the pain nullification and enhancement of Berserk? I think it should work. I
trained for a few days with Professor Tank, learning how to fight against and alongside
Berserkers, and there was a lot of willpower involved on his end." Karl encouraged the
young fighter.
The mention of the massive Berserker made the warriors smile as they reminisced about
meeting him, and that steeled the boy's resolve.
"One day, I will be as mighty as him." He agreed, then stepped up to the guardian Golem
and vanished to his chosen trial.
One by one, the rest split up, and Karl found himself standing next to Dana at the bottom of
the mana staircase.
"You're training mana with Hawk? That's unexpected." She commented as Karl stared up
the staircase.
"Magical beasts, magical energy. I think it will help. If not, I've wasted a day, but I can
meditate on the steps." Karl shrugged.
"Well, if you're willing to risk it, I won't stop you. Good luck, I'll look back now and then to
see how you're doing." Dana laughed as she set off up the stairs.
The first few weren't going to pose any problems to her, especially now that she knew how
it worked, but the moment that Karl put his foot on the first step and felt the overwhelming
magical force on his body, he knew that he was not going to be impressing anyone today.
Karl managed to make it to the third step before the crushing weight of the mana test
forced him to a stop, freezing his body in place and preventing him from taking another
step.
There was an enormous amount of power around him, and he had very little clue about
what to do with it. It wasn't the same as the energy in his beast spaces, but it was similar. It
almost felt like an unformed magical attack, power waiting for guidance.
That was a concept that he understood a bit better. The energy that he used to form attacks
came through the beast space, normally Hawk's as Karl hadn't tried really using any ability
but Rend and Shred. He could use the Lightning Shield to a comfortable standard, and
Offensive Optimization was more of a passive ability that worked all the time, so it was the
one space where he normally got his power.
But if he reversed that path, taking the outside power and pulling it back into the space,
would that improve them? There was one way to find out, and this trial hadn't hurt any of
the mages who drew the power in, so it should be safe enough.
Karl stood motionless on the third step as the mages all walked past him with curious
looks. The worst of them had made it to the fifth step yesterday, but Karl, who was much
more powerful, was stuck on the third.
From their point of view, the test definitely favoured mages, and they had made the right
choice to keep training their strengths before worrying about their weaknesses. Their
strengths were still weak enough that they couldn't be neglected. @@novelbin@@
Karl managed to get a trickle of energy to flow into the three spaces, filling them with
sparkling motes of light that slowly integrated themselves with the constructs that Karl had
made to flesh the spaces out into their own small worlds.
He did his best to meditate as he stood there, frozen in place, and the trickle eventually
became, well, it was still a trickle, Karl couldn't lie to himself and call it more than that, but
it was a steady one.
The plant life was multiplying, improving the lake in Hawk's space, the grasslands in Thor's
and the bushes in Rae's home, while also condensing a stronger energy inside. The
expansion rate was still the same as it had been last night, but the quality of the space was
actually improving now.
That hadn't really been the case before. It would improve a little when Karl focused on
adding an element, but mostly he improved the size of it so that it would stabilize and allow
the pet's energy to feed back to him.
Karl wasn't sure how much time had passed when the burden on him began to lessen, and
he managed to move up another step. But he noticed that the sun was no longer overhead,
and it was on the side of his face when he moved up to the fifth stair.

The team was going to be overjoyed when they got back home tonight. Karl's lake was an
actual lake now, with small silver fish made of pure energy flitting about in it, Thor's
grasslands had a number of solid stone pillars that he shouldn't be able to break and
enough room to get a good run at them, while Rae's dark bushes now had a half dozen
trees, placed so that she could spin a web between them all to create the ultimate nest.
The energy level was noticeably higher, and it was beginning to feel closer to the mana rich
atmosphere of the mage training areas than the open training fields where the warriors
worked at the Academy.
Karl continued right until the sun touched the horizon and the Golems kicked them all out,
then went back to sit around the campfire, where the self-appointed cook was collecting
ingredients for the evening meal.
"We're doing the beef stew packages today, if you could toss me yours." Their designated
cook announced as Karl walked up.
"Yeah, give me a second, it's in the tent."
The clerics had collected a number of herbs while they were out, as well as some edible
roots when the group stopped outside the cave, so although they didn't have any rations
with them, they could still contribute to the pot.
The roots weren't very nutritious, but they were large, and they added volume to the meal,
making it look even more impressive. The rations were supposed to be lightweight and
easy to pack, but that meant calorie dense, not large and filling.
They were just about to settle down with the pot full of rations heating when the cleric girl
seemed to have a flash of inspiration, and she began mumbling a spell while glowing with
soft golden light.
Nobody dared to interrupt her. This was a World Dragon Temple, and she was a priestess.
A trainee priestess without much power to speak of, but still, a priestess of sorts.
As her spell finished, she spread a cloth out in front of her, and a large golden orb began to
form in the air in front of her hands. Then, it solidified, and a large ball of soft white grains
fell to the ground, landing on the cloak that she had spread.
"I did it. I finally got the spell to work. That, my friends, is the sign of a true magical Acolyte
of the church. Blessing of Nutrition." She declared in a tiny, quiet voice.
It was rice. Nearly five kilos of it, Karl was certain.

That was far more than they would be able to eat even in a few days, but Karl had seen this
magic before. The priests who came to town to help the poor would use their magic to
create a giant pot full of rice and beans that would feed hundreds.
This was just the rice, but it was more than enough for today.
Karl patted her on the back in congratulations, then scooped up a bit of the rice with the
bowl that attached to the bottom half of his canteen. He poured a bit of water over the top
and set it by the fire to cook, signalling the others to do the same.
"Good work. Now we don't need to worry about running out of food so quickly. Even an
extra day or two here will be a great help to everyone's training." Karl congratulated her.
The boy beside her looked both jealous and proud, as if he was envious of her achievement,
but unable to hold a grudge over it. Instead of trying to copy her to show off, he began to
pray and created a soft golden glow over them all that soothed aching muscles and minds.
It wasn't a fully formed spell, but it was close enough to a minor healing spell to refresh the
students and allow them to fully relax as they waited for their aching muscles and minds. It
wasn't a fully formed spell, but it was close enough to a minor healing spell to refresh the
dinner to be ready, now accompanied by a large portion of rice.
"How is everyone else doing? Is the training on the temple stairs giving you real results?"
Karl asked as his beasts finished their patrol around the camp and returned to the beast
spaces.
"It is for the mages, for certain. The amount of mana that I can handle is up by nearly a
quarter. But more importantly, I gained an insight into how to make it grow more quickly
even after we leave." Dana agreed.
The other mages nodded happily, as they had been sharing the trick with each other on the
stairs all day.
The warriors decided that flexing and posing would be more appropriate, though Karl
couldn't tell if they were actually any more muscular than they had been a day ago.
"I can't say for certain how much of a difference it is without something to test against, but
I've made it four more steps today than I did yesterday. If this pace keeps up, then I think
that I will be able to pass the Awakened Warrior exam after another week at the most." One
of them explained.
"Alright. Enjoy your dinner, we will be headed back to train first thing in the morning. Make
a plan, I doubt that we will get another chance like this again, unless we can return here."
Karl reminded them.
The cleric girl shook her head. "This is a trial ground. Most of these can only be accessed at
set intervals, or worse, once in a lifetime. After we leave, it could be a long time before
anyone can use this place again, but I will make sure that the clergy marks it off as a
protected holy relic so that nobody destroys the crystals that operate the entrance."
That was what Karl was afraid of. There were other holy relics that opened only on certain
holidays, and the serum could only be used once in a lifetime. But they had been able to use
this one, and he was going to make the very best of it.
So far, he had tested his willpower, which helped him grow the size of the beast space while
meditating, and his mana control, which helped him improve the power of his beast space,
so tomorrow, he could either focus on the mana control, which needed the most help, or on
his body, which was already strong, and improved at a fraction of the rate that the pets
were improving.
The initial burst of power that he had gotten from the pets had been impressive, but after
that, the feedback was limited and his growth was slow. He would need a lot of training to
get physically powerful, but if he focused on the pets, his combat power would shoot up
much faster, and eventually drag his body along with it.
The answer was made when the beasts settled into their improved homes.
[Oh, this is nice. I can feel the power soothing my muscles. Whatever you did today, do it
again.] Rae commended him as she spun an expanded web between the new trees.
[Yes, this is the right improvement. I can feel myself getting more powerful.] Hawk agreed.
The two of them waited for Thor to say something, but he was staring in wonder at one of
the stone pillars.
[Did you make a smashing pillar for me? You are too kind.]
He was nearly tearful with joy over the addition of the pillars, and the other two beasts
immediately discounted anything else he said for the evening. Like giving Hawk an extra
rare species of meat, the Lightning Cerro had been bribed with the thing he wanted most,
and his opinion was unreliable.
Karl considered their answers for a moment, and then replied.

[Alright, I will go back to the mana training tomorrow and see how much I can improve the
spaces for you all. After all, the faster you grow strong, the faster I grow strong in return.]
A good night's sleep brought about some notable changes to the trio. Not so much to Hawk,
but Thor was a full hand taller than he had been yesterday, enough that it was immediately
noticeable to everyone when he came out for some attention in the morning, but Rae was
the one who caught everyone's attention.
She was not only larger, but the armoured chitin on her legs was beginning to turn the deep
crimson that helped to give the Bloodbath Spider its name. As they grew older and more
powerful, the red would spread up from the claws until her entire legs and portions of her
black underbelly were deep crimson, as if she had been standing in a pool of blood.
She wouldn't lose the short black fur on her body, but the carapace underneath would
change colour as a warning to others that she was not to be trifled with, and no longer
needed to hide in the darkness.
Karl hadn't expected it to begin so early, as she wasn't even fully grown yet. The training
must have been good for her, not discriminating against users, even if they were not
human. @@novelbin@@
"Rae is looking really powerful. I didn't know that spiders got that big." One of the warriors
noted.
"That's not even half grown for a Bloodbath Spider. When she's full-grown, she will be able
to grab and flip an armoured car with her legs. They're scary enough that even the team
that took me to the wilderness to find new pets didn't want to meet the adult version. I got
Rae here as an egg." Karl explained.
The warrior wasn't quite sure he believed Karl's bragging, but that spider was huge, and if
it was still growing, it was going to be nightmare fuel for countless students. All the ones
here had met Rae, and knew that she was friendly, but if she crept up on them in the dark,
they would still freak out.

Karl returned to the mana enhancement stairs, and slowly made his way to the fourth, and
then the fifth stair to begin his training. That shocked the mages a little, as they had all
expected him to go work with the warriors today to complete the rotation, but with two of
the three pets there already, Karl was more concerned about making sure that their homes
could keep up with them.
That day, the progress up the stairs began to really increase for Karl. He was getting the
hang of pulling energy in from the outside to feed the beast space, whereas before he was
only converting food to energy to build them. With him starting at rock bottom, he had
nowhere to go but up, and by the end of the day, he had moved from the fifth step up to the
tenth, where the pressure was immense on him, but he could still effectively channel more
power than the step before.
That was enough to get ahead of their growth needs, and the beast spaces were actually
starting to look like islands in the void. There was no real sky or anything like it, other than
a few fake stars Karl had put in Rae's darkened space to simulate nighttime, but they had a
fair amount of land after two days of training on the stairs.
But compared to Karl's internal improvements, the others were beginning to show real
signs of the gains that they had made here.
Both of the clerics eyes shone with a faint golden light, the mages were all filled to the brim
with power, and the warriors were becoming the toned and muscular Elites that they had
dreamed of being since they found out that they were compatible with the Serum.
They were well into the afternoon, and everyone was exhausted and ready to turn in when
the Golems made an announcement. Speaking in unison, their magical voices reached every
one of the students.
[You now have twenty-four hours remaining in your trial. Choose your last day's event
wisely.]
Those words sent a wave of panic through the group. They had no idea that there was a
four-day time limit on the trials. Many of them had intended to try to push through to the
Awakened Rank, then spend a few days checking on the other sides, just in case they could
gain something important from them.
Karl didn't have any particular regrets. His body was already stronger than his mind, so
testing his willpower and mana made the most sense. The question was: What would he do
for the last day?
He could balance it out, and go for the willpower side again, but something told him that
the neglected stairs, the random gamble that was the Fate Challenge was going to be much
more entertaining.
It might only be good for a story around the campfire, but all of them should have some sort
of affinity with fate, since they all passed the trial of the Divine Serum, and proved
themselves compatible.
That settled it. He had gained what he needed from the stairs. He learned how to more
effectively expand the beast spaces, and he could ask Rae and Thor about the effectiveness
of the body training. So, he would take a chance on the final day, and he would go for the
fate stairs to see what would happen.
The next morning, the team realized that they might not have been as prepared as they
thought that they were. They had only packed a week worth of rations, which were now
over half gone, and they were almost out of the berries for the oatmeal flavouring, which
would leave them with just the dehydrated bits that came in the ration pack.
They didn't have to worry about starvation any time soon with the clerics available, but the
variety of their diet would soon begin to disappear if they spent too long in the woods
before returning to the train tracks.
But with the time limit imposed by the trials, they would be outside today, and once the
cleric trainees had properly marked the spot on their maps as a holy relic, they could be on
their way to give the news of their trip to the church.
Before he went to the Fate Stairs, Karl stopped next to one of the Golems, hoping that it
would answer a question for him.
"Excuse me, do you know how often this trial can be accessed?" He inquired politely, with
the assumption that a bit of courtesy might get the magical construct to answer.
[The Trials open at the will of the World Dragon.]
Karl bowed and stepped away, then focused on being sent to the Fate Stairs. The answer he
got was both informative and useless at the same time. If it opened at the will of the Golden
Dragon God, the World Dragon as it was sometimes known, then there was no way that he
could predict the next opening date for anyone who asked.
But what he could confirm was that it would open again at some point. If the Church kept a
close watch on this place, they would probably be able to tell when it would open.
The Fate Stairs were different from any of the other sides. They were cloaked in thick black
shadows, which made Rae immediately regret going back to strength training. That
darkness looked wonderful to her, but Karl suspected that it had some other purpose.
It was likely something along the lines of everyone's fate is their own, so you could only see
your own path forward, and everything else was shadowed, but it could also be intended to
change if you stepped away from the path you were on.
Could that be what it was meant to do? Show you ways to change your fate through the
decisions that you made? There were Oracles among the Elites, blind seers of the future,
and their visions were uncannily accurate. This could be the same sort of magic, but built
into a massive temple to show more than just a glimpse of the possible futures.
One step forward brought him onto the first stair, and Karl looked upward, seeing visions
of first power and glory, then tragedy in front of him. But to his left and right on the second
step were misty figures of himself.
Instinctively, he knew that he could step up toward one of them and see what changes
would be made if he changed the first major event along this timeline. From what he could
see, he returned to the Academy and claimed credit for leading the team that found a Holy
Relic.

It would make him a darling of the church and the media. His fame would rise even faster
than his power would, but after some time, that fame would fade, and the lingering
resentment of those who had lived in his shadow would leave him alone in the world,
discarded by those he had left behind.
Both of the options would reject that next step, but neither were clear to him. Karl's first
thought was to step to the left, but he found that he could only move forward unless some
condition was set.
Perhaps he needed to make a choice? If he decided not to claim the find, but instead
attributed it to the group, the glory would be shared between all of them and the clerics.
He thought that he could also imply that it was the presence of the future servants of the
Golden Dragon that caused the trials to activate, but then how could he explain that he
knew it was all at the will of the Gods, or keep them from ending up in that same discarded
and shunned state he saw for himself?
It was better to put it all down to chance. They had been the first ones here after the World
Dragon had willed that the trials be opened, so they were pulled in. Glory to the World
Dragon and all that pious sentiment.
Yes, that seemed best.
Karl saw the path to the right begin to become a bit more clear, and resolved to make that
the reality. He would instruct the others, and say that he had seen a vision on the Fate
Stairs instructing him to give glory to the World Dragon. Few would argue with that, and
those in power would be more inclined to listen.
Karl stepped up to the right, and a new future path became clearer in front of him. In this
one, the ten members of the team all became much stronger, and began to surpass the
average, becoming notable among the Elites of the Academy.
His mind began to spin as the visions of ten different people's futures were slowly played
out in front of him, and Karl saw the impact that a single decision could have on the futures
of everyone around him.
He didn't see any horrible endings for them, they would all end up with some level of
success and recognition, while their two clerics would become pillars of the church.
The Pillars were those in favour of the Gods, who could use Holy Magic at Royal Rank or
higher. Each of them would gain a boon from their chosen deity, a special spell that only
they could use. From what Karl remembered, the current head of the church naturally
followed the World Dragon, and was granted the boon of Rebirth. He could bring the dead
back to life, with some limitations.
What those limits were, Karl didn't know, but there was video footage of him resurrecting a
murdered cleric after an attack on one of the churches near the border. Every student in
the Golden Dragon Nation had seen that footage in primary school.
With such bright futures for everyone in the vision, Karl took a step forward and found
himself somewhere entirely different.
He was still on a staircase, but one with no start and no ending point. It simply floated in a
sea of stars, and a sense of power and timelessness surrounded him.
The first trial must have been to choose a path for your immediate future. Once you found a
decision that you were content with, or intended to follow through, the vision ended.

But this place didn't have any instructions. He could go up or down endlessly, it didn't seem
to matter which he chose, though upward was generally seen as the correct way. You
should strive to work hard and move beyond, up the social ranks, increasing in reputation,
up was used to signify all things beneficial.
But down seemed so much easier. If he were going to travel indefinitely, he could certainly
make it further going down than up. His strength and willpower would last longer, and he
would see so much more if it were going to give him visions or rewards.
Then an absolutely insane notion came to mind. This was just a staircase floating in the
nothingness. The mental spaces where he kept Hawk and the others began as an empty
void as well. If he simply stepped off the side, what would happen? @@novelbin@@
Could he continue walking as he wished? Would he fall endlessly? The curiosity was egging
him on, encouraging him to do something wild, just because he didn't know and couldn't
know what would happen.
As he considered it, Karl felt a sense of curiosity and amusement flow into the space. Not
his own, but as if there were someone or something watching him. Someone who could
read his thoughts.
"A little help here? What way is the right way?" Karl called into the nothingness.
For nearly a minute, nothing happened, though the sense of amusement remained.
Then the whisper of a man's voice filled the space.
[There is no right way. There is definitely a wrong way. But there is only your way.] It
spoke.
Dammit. He was terrible at riddles and brain-teaser type problems.
There was no right way, only his way, but there was a wrong way for it to be his way? Or
his way was destined to be the wrong way?
Jumping off the side of the staircase was beginning to look like a better option than trying
to figure out what way was the best, and that feeling was increasing by the second.
Karl took the ration pack spoon out of his pocket and began to flip it in his hand as he
considered his options. Over and over it flipped, then Karl noticed something odd. The
more he focused on the spoon, the slower it spun, as if gravity stopped working correctly
because Karl was focused on the spoon being where it was.
That gave Karl an idea. He would go up. Not up the stairs, but straight up into the air.
So, he crouched and gathered his strength, then jumped, flying high above the staircase for
one brief glorious moment, seeing the staircase fade into the distance beneath him as if he
were a God himself, floating through the universe.
Before landing exactly where he started.
[Not very bright, is he?] Karl heard a second voice ask.
[But entertaining.] The first whispered, and then Karl was back in the grass next to the
campsite.
Karl looked around the camp site and realized that it was mid-afternoon. Over six hours
had passed since he left, though it only felt like a few minutes in his mind.
He went to move toward the fire, where there should be some fresh skewers to cook meat
for lunch, and nearly tripped over a small golden chest at his feet. That wasn't anything that
he had seen before, but the moment he touched it, the chest vanished from his hands, and a
burst of knowledge entered his mind.
[Taming Ability: Skill Master] Increases the chance of a beast learning new skills when
actively used during training.
Was that what his class was supposed to be? He wasn't just collecting the beasts and
creating a place for them to grow strong, he was supposed to be teaching them new skills
as well? Was that even possible without the help of the Skill Books?
They were a powerful magical item, and it had taken the Inscriptionist group nearly a
decade to learn how to make them, but this new ability Karl had been rewarded with
seemed like he would be able to teach them new magical abilities at will. Hawk had been
able to use [Wind Shield], so if it was the right element, they might even be able to learn
magical spells.
There was more to the knowledge than just the title, and as Karl focused on the skill, he
began to understand the way that it should be used. With the skill active and the beast
watching the ability that you wanted them to learn, as well as some related resources as
needed to increase their compatibility, he should be able to teach them to use an incredible
variety of new skills.
They lived at the Academy, there should be all sorts of skills available to watch on any given
day. He might even be able to teach his pets some of the skills that the others already knew.
Karl brought up Thor's lightning barrier around himself to help clear and focus his mind, as
well as recover from the strain of the previous days' trials and three nights sleeping on the
ground. If he could teach this to Rae, how much more dangerous would she become? Or
[Shred]. If she could learn that ability, she would absolutely annihilate anything that she
attacked.
The real question was if she would be compatible with either of them. Karl couldn't see
Thor being capable of using Offensive Adaptation or Rend without some major attunement,
or Hawk using Refreshing Lightning as he needed the delicate adjustments of airflow over
his wings to fly. @@novelbin@@
But Rae might be able to use some new attack abilities, or possibly even fog, or a stealth
skill, as her body coloration would naturally adapt to her surroundings. Just thinking about
the possibilities was getting Karl excited, and the beasts weren't even finished their daily
training for him to try anything.
So, he passed some time meditating, and improving the beast spaces while he wasn't on the
stairs, giving himself a chance to compare the two training environments.

The difference was depressingly obvious. Though he had learned the technique to improve
both the size and quality of the space while he was in the trial, his actual effectiveness at it
when he was not partaking in the trial was less than a tenth as high. It would take him a
month to get as much gain as he did in two days on the mana training stairs.
But compared to before he had learned and refined the techniques here, it was still much
faster. That one month, which would feel so long after being on the stairs, was still equal to
an entire semester or longer before they had gotten this opportunity.
So, there was no denying that this Holy Relic was a massive improvement for anyone lucky
enough to have been able to enter, or that the change would have lasting benefits that could
help them through their entire life.
As the sun got closer to the horizon, the other students began to tire of their training, and
prepare to head back for the night. They had gotten an incredible amount from the Holy
Relic so far, and most of them were only staying until the day ended out of general
principle.
So, when the first one to come back early arrived, he wasn't expecting to see Karl sitting by
the fire, and he certainly wasn't expecting the small silver box that appeared in his hands.
"What is this?" He asked nobody in particular.
"Try opening it. I got a gift from mine." Karl replied, eager to find out what the others would
be rewarded with.
The warrior pressed the latch, and the lid popped open, then the small chest vanished, and
a large flaming sword appeared in his hands.
"This is... wow."
Karl nodded in agreement. "That is pretty astonishing. I don't know what you're going to do
about the safety measures needed to carry a giant flaming sword everywhere, though."
The boy smiled, and the sword vanished. "The chest says that it is bonded to me, I can use it
at will and dismiss it when it is not in use. That will be so useful later, being able to have a
blade in reserve on occasions when carrying a weapon is forbidden."
"You've got a point. Especially after you graduate and take up a job of some sort. If you're in
an office somewhere, you're not going to be able to keep weapons handy all the time, and if
you get an emergency call, it would take quite a while to go to your car, or run to the
nearest armoury to get them.

Plus, it's a giant flaming sword. How cool is that?" Karl agreed.
A few minutes later, another student came back, one of the mages, and she was clearly
nursing a sore head. She must have over exerted herself in the rush to get a gain before the
trial ended, and had to leave early.
She tripped over the small silver box in front of her, as Karl nearly had with his golden one,
and landed on the ground holding her head.
The warrior was only a few steps away, not quite fast enough to catch her, but he was there
a split second after.
"Are you alright? You tripped over the reward from the trial. Pick it up and open it when
your head feels better." The boy told her, eager to see what she would get.
If he got a sword, then the mages might get a spell, or a wand or something equally
amazing.
It took her a few minutes to recover, but she picked up the box with curious reverence, as if
it might crumble in her hands, but she simply had to see what was in it. The box was tiny,
and nearly fit in the palm of one hand, but when she opened it, a large book appeared in its
place.
For a few seconds, she was silent, likely listening to the trial inform her of what she had
been granted, and then she began to squeal and dance around happily.
"I got a spellbook. An actual spellbook." She cheered as she dismissed the book and pulled
the warrior into a swinging happy dance.
"That is remarkable. So, you can just cast all those spells by looking at the book?" He asked.
"Even better. I can just cast all those spells because I know them now. But if I hold the book,
I get a bonus to my magical damage and mana recovery rate." She explained.
Then the influx of students began, as the trial forced them all from the stairs as the sun
went down.
[You will be ejected from this space in twelve hours. The trial is now complete.] The crystal
Golems announced, while all the students were still staring in wonder at the small boxes in
their hands.
Some looked like jewellery boxes, some were small treasure chests, and a few of them
seemed to be poorly wrapped holiday presents. There was likely some method to the
madness, Karl assumed.
Then he noticed the colours. Almost all of them were silver, but Dana's was a small gold
chest as his had been, and the worst wrapped of the lot were all in bronze paper.
It might be based on their accomplishment while here in the trial, as Karl and Dana were
the most advanced and best prepared to begin with, but Karl suspected that it had
something to do with their power levels, or some outstanding student who had been a bit
slow at the start of the school year likely would have gotten a gold box as well.
The quality of the reward was also directly linked to the quality of the package. Not that
any of them were useless, or anything less than a priceless treasure, but there was
definitely bias being shown in the rewarding process.
The items that came from the bronze wrapping paper were mostly trinkets and pieces of
jewellery that would help with growth or strength. But the items from the Silver category
were more practical.
They included mostly weapons, the mage's spellbook, and in one case a scroll that would let
the user pick one new combat skill from a set list.
But Karl had gotten a rather incredible new class skill that would let him easily teach the
beasts new skills, and Dana had gotten a new combination attack and defence spell that
nobody had ever heard of before.
[Nullification Barrier] simply dispersed anything that touched it. It didn't matter if it was a
magical attack, or a stick that the warriors swung, it simply lost all energy and stopped
when it hit the barrier.
The offensive use of the spell, [Nullification Blade] surrounded a weapon, and would cut
through anything that they could find with ease, even the other mages shields.
Nobody was willing to try with a magical item, for fear that it would be disenchanted, but
the barrier appeared to be much stronger than the usual ones they trained with.
@@novelbin@@
If it had come from a skill book, she would have been fabulously wealthy beyond her
wildest dreams, but the golden chest simply taught her the skill the same as it had taught
Karl. Both were what the Academy would call Tier Three skills. Not the basics, or the
advanced versions of the basics, but something that was entirely new and on another
power level.
They were incredibly rare, and often unique in the world, with only one Elite having ever
learned them. But more than that, they had a growth rate that scaled proportionately to
their advantage. If they were twice as deadly as normal skills at Awakened Rank, they
would be twice as deadly as other spells when you were at Ascended and Commander Rank
as well.
They were simply superior in all ways.
Karl's was mostly only relevant to himself, but it didn't specify that the animals had to be
bonded to him, and that was something that he wanted to test.
"Druid, sorry I forgot your name. Do you have a bonded animal?" Karl asked.

"Not yet. Most druids get the ability, but I'm still at level three, according to the way that
Druids see their progression, and I don't have that ability yet.
My healing got much better while I was here, though, and I learned to use an area heal spell
while training on the stairs." The druid replied.
"What did you get from the box?" Karl asked.
"A staff. It vanishes when I want it to, and it applies its additional magic damage even when
I am wild shaped." He explained.
"Oh, you're a transformation type Druid. Never mind. I was thinking about trying to teach a
Druid's spirit animal a new trick when we get back to test out the reward I got." Karl
explained.
That made the others curious. Karl had returned first, so none of them had seen what he
had gotten, and so far, he hadn't spoken of it. But if it was a transferrable power, a skill that
he could teach others, wouldn't that just be too powerful?
If he left to join the army, he could teach his whole unit that power, which the team
assumed should be at the Ascended Rank, since the item type rewards everyone got were
generally a Rank above themselves. The thought that it might be a Tier Three skill that
would scale with his growth, and not simply a more powerful normal Skill, never crossed
their minds.
"We have some time before we are ejected, so get some sleep after you eat. We will get up
early to pack our gear before we are pushed out, and then we can finish the mission and
find the other plants that we came here for." Karl decided.
"Wait, we're still doing the mission? Even after we found a holy relic and got all these
rewards, we are still going to get the plants?" One of the warriors asked.
"Do you not need them anymore? Will they not be effective on you now that you've gained
some power?" Karl asked.
The warrior looked sheepish, and his friends consoled him. Technically, it looked more like
mockery, but what were friends for?
"See, we will finish the mission, and then make sure that our new friends from the church
make it safely to the train with us. Now that we've found the Holy Relic, it is not just about
getting them back safely, but they need to properly relay to their superiors the information
that we have gathered about this place so that it is protected and not disturbed before the
next time that it decides to let a group in." Karl explained.
The cleric students nodded rapidly. "They will likely want this to be kept all hush-hush. You
know how it is with holy relics. If we talk about finding it, then any Elite could look up our
mission information and find the general area that it is in, to come here and try to exploit or
destroy it."

That was something that Karl hadn't considered. The church did good things for the poor,
and they had the best healing magic, but not everyone was a big fan of theirs, partially
because of the power that they had. Karl didn't watch the news often, but there was always
someone mad about something that someone else did.
It was an undeniable fact, and the Church inevitably got caught up in arguments when their
programs conflicted with someone else's.
The students all seemed to be in agreement, and as Karl brought out a bit more of the
Awakened Rank boar meat for their final dinner here, the talk turned to what they might
find at the other herb sites.
So far, they had found two spots that weren't on the map, an Ascended Beetle, a Holy Relic,
and two refugee clerics. If they kept up at this rate, they might find the lost city of
knowledge, one of the students suggested.
The thought of that was hilarious. The City of Knowledge was just a legend from mythology,
and it was supposed to be where the young World Dragon learned the power to travel
between worlds to find a new home to protect. But the World Dragon and its offspring
were immortal, and given the nature of the legend, the City of Knowledge probably wasn't
even on this planet.
Not that it had stopped generations of treasure hunters from going looking for it.
The final meal was a larger one than usual, as everyone who had gathered food donated a
bit extra for the celebration, and they made a massive pitcher of punch out of all the energy
drink pouches that they hadn't been using.
The plans to sleep early had gone right out of everyone's mind, and when the ever vigilant
Golems warned them that they had one hour left before being ejected, they were all still
sound asleep.
"Everyone up and get packed. We don't want to end up leaving half our gear here, unless
you all fancy sharing tents for the rest of the journey." Karl warned them all.
That got them up and moving. The boys all knew that the girls wouldn't want to share with
them, and Karl was right about them not wanting to cuddle with each other in a tiny tent
with a single sleeping bag.
Breakfast was delayed, but they all got their gear packed in the next half hour, though it
was quite disorganized, and most of it would need to be repacked before they went
anywhere.
"Everyone, shoulder your packs and make sure there is nothing left on the ground, no signs
that we were here at all." Karl added.
That took a few more minutes, while they adjusted their packs enough that they could be
worn properly without gear falling out, but once they were settled, Karl called out to the
Golem.
"Sir Golem, we are finished and packed, will you please send us back out?" He requested.
Instantly, he was standing outside the entrance to the cave, along with the other eleven
members of their team.
"Alright, clerics, take two warriors and one of the golems as an escort and mark the
entrance of the Holy Relic, then we can get going."
The Clerics returned a minute later with concerned looks.
"The end of the tunnel is gone. Everything past the first chamber looks like solid rock, the
whole tunnel is hidden. We marked it as the entrance of a Holy Relic, but I'm not sure that
anyone will believe us if they can't see the crystals." The male cleric informed Karl.
"That's fine. When it opens again, there will be no doubt that it leads to the Holy Relic.
Perhaps it's better this way. Anyone else who stumbles across it will be trying to get a
portal to open on the wall, while only those who should know will understand that the
tunnel will appear when it is ready." Karl replied.
The students started to repack their gear into the best approximation of its original state,
helping those who just weren't getting it, until they were all ready to move again.
Having been in the same spot for a few days gave them some backpack space again, thanks
to the rations that were used up. That would give them a bit more space for more resources
to bring back, but they had already gained far more than they expected, even just
measuring by the actual plants that the team had harvested.
Normally, you would only find a few flowers, or a small patch of moss, not entire trees and
fields worth of them.
That led to many arguments in the student groups if they hadn't worked out a proper
rotation for who got the resources, instead of having enough for everyone to split what was
available.
"The next one is straight east of here by ten kilometres. I will send Hawk up to scout, but be
prepared for a long walk." Karl warned the group as they set off.
Through the woods, ten kilometres was going to take them half the day, but there was
always the chance that Hawk would find something along the way.
"Do you think that the abundance of resources we found was because the Holy Relic was
about to open? I mean, it should give off lots of power, right? So it might be the reason that
there are so many resources in this area." Dana suggested.
"So, you're saying to forget the map and look around the cave for more good stuff?
Everyone, what do you think of that? Do you mind staying in the area for a day or two, in
case there are more plants for us to find?" Karl asked.

They were the leaders, but the other eight were the ones who had actually planned the
mission. The resources were mostly for them, and had been expected to be a level below
what Karl and Dana would need.
Most team leaders would add a mission point of their own to the trip if possible, if not, they
would do it just for the Academy Credits and the time away from the regular training
schedule.
That was the important part to a lot of them. Getting to go out and explore on their own
was much more relaxing than being in class, and the missions picked by the first year
students were rarely dangerous.
Even the Ascended Rank beetle which had been mauled by their team was an outlier. The
mission report hadn't expected anything that dangerous in the area.
[Hawk, circle the area. Any magical plants or other interesting things you see, let me know
and we will go explore it. Even if it doesn't seem too useful, it's still a resource.]
Hawk turned to circle around the cave in increasingly large circles for the next ten minutes
until he found something of interest.
[There are shiny rocks over here. The mages like shiny rocks.] Hawk offered, as if he wasn't
quite sure what to look for if it wasn't food or a resource he had seen a picture of.
[That is good. I have shown you all the resources on the list, and if there are any that you
have seen on the balcony, or in the botany books, you can tell me about those too.] Karl
suggested.
He focused on Hawk's location for a moment, and then turned to face it.
"Hawk has found a possible magical crystal source. We will go there and see what it is." He
informed the others.
Dana smirked at the other mages. Ten minutes outside the cave, and they were already on
their way to even more resources.
It was a short walk, with everyone keeping their eyes open for more hidden magical plants
and any signs of threats that might have come looking for them.

After the incident with the beetle, and then the Holy Relic, they had realized that they
wouldn't be the only ones drawn to the magical resources in the area. Monsters would be
as well, and that meant they would have to compete for what they could get.
As they walked, Rae darted out and grabbed a small vine from up in a tree to bring back
into her beast space.
Karl wondered just what the limitations were on that. Vines, meat, branches, leaves. Those
could all be brought in, but he couldn't put his backpack or textbooks in there. Clearly, it
wasn't that they were a physical item that was the issue, so it must be that they weren't a
resource for the pets.
As they approached the point that Hawk had marked, the Clerics started to get a strange
look on their faces, and the mages were getting really excited, while the Warriors
wondered why. Then they stepped over a small ridge and saw the situation.
There was a large pond with small glowing yellow stones at the bottom. Even the warriors
could feel the magic now that they were this close, and the cleric girl looked like she was
going to faint.
Her legs gave out after one more step, and Karl caught her in his arms.
Her partner pointed at the pond with a shaky hand.
"Those are Holy Mana Stones." He mumbled.
Dana looked at him, then did a double take at the pond. There had to be a hundred of the
stones in the lake, and each of them was an Awakened Rank resource. They were to mages
what the Strength Stones were to the warriors, only infinitely more rare.
They wouldn't be crushed to dust and ingested, as they were impossible to replace without
an especially powerful High Priest, instead they would be kept in a locket or other safe
place and the user would draw on their power as they meditated.
Even just having one was a huge status symbol among the clerics, to the point that priests
would wear them outside their robes when visiting important people or hosting nobility,
just to prove their favoured status.
They also apparently couldn't be stolen. They decided who was able to use them, and you
couldn't touch them if they judged you as unworthy. @@novelbin@@
"Everyone, if those are Holy Stones, they won't approve of a greedy heart. Put aside any
thoughts of taking them all, and pick one that you like. Go for that one in particular, and if it
lets you pick it up, put it somewhere safe." Karl informed them a moment before they were
set to run toward the pond.
The cleric nodded fervently. "You must not entertain greed or violence in your heart, or
they will reject you."
Karl jerked to the side, startled when Dana poked him on the arm.
"You can set the priestess down, she's awake again."
Thor looked out of his space and popped into reality to run across the field and splash in
the pond.
"Well, we can say that the water is safe. Go ahead, everyone, and try not to let Thor splash
you too much if you're not going to strip down to swimwear." Karl laughed.
After splashing around for a moment, Thor settled into the pond with a sigh, letting just his
snout show over the surface as he relaxed in the cool water.
[It feels so good on the scales.] He informed Karl happily.
Karl walked down to the pond, following the others, who were searching for a spot that felt
right to them so they could pick a lucky rock.
Hawk thought that it was hilarious, as he had no interest in the rocks. Nor did Rae, as they
glowed and would mess up the vibe in her space. How could she be a mysterious predator
in the dark and use a nightlight?
[You could make a walkway with them down the sides.] Karl suggested.
[So bright. How would I ever sleep?] Rae objected.
Karl looked over at Thor, who was now snoring as he relaxed in the lake, and the spider
began to laugh. @@novelbin@@
[Point taken.]
Karl decided he would pick a stone after everyone else had theirs. He wasn't strictly a
magic user, so it didn't matter whether he found some perfect or most powerful stone, he
would just pick a nice-looking one and call it a day.
So, while the others put great effort into their choice, Karl focused on making a relaxation
pond for Thor in his mental space. If the Lightning Cerro liked the water that much, it only
made sense to give him a pond of his own.

Finding the stones only took a half an hour, but then the warriors began to strip down to
their shirts and underwear to go for a swim with Thor. The water had magic in it, and a
swim might give them some benefits that they wouldn't get just by standing near the shore.
Most of the mages were more reluctant, as they weren't as physically toned as the warriors
were, but eventually, they caved and ran back into the bushes to change into swimsuits
from their bags.
Having to recover a resource from the water was an anticipated scenario, and the suits
didn't take much space, so they were standard kit. They were also useful on rainy days in
hot environments, when it was easier to just get wet and keep your kit dry than to try to
dry your clothes later.
Karl finished the small pond for Thor, which he could expand later, and changed before he
came out of the trees to join the fun. The combination of the Lightning Cerro, whose
refreshing lightning made the water mildly charged and refreshing as he slept, and the
natural magic of the pond combined to make an outdoor spa.
They likely wouldn't get much more done today unless they left soon, but Karl let everyone
soak for an hour and play in the pond before Hawk reported that he had seen some strange
ferns that were definitely magic.
"Hawk has found another resource. Has everyone found what they need here?" Karl asked.
"Yeah, give us a bit to change clothes, and we will be ready to go." Dana replied, giving the
water a longing look.
They couldn't take it with them, but there were still plenty of magical stones in it, so they
could come back on another mission to the area and play in the water again. The Holy
Stones that they had gathered wouldn't wear out if they just used them as a meditation
focus to improve their growth, so they wouldn't need to take any more of them, just relax in
the water.
Once e