Taking his seat alongside the other cadets at their assigned desks, Det did a quick inventory of what he’d been provided for the day. Ten full bottles of ink, a selection of brushes ranging in size, and a stack of paper a foot tall.

  Hope I’m not expected to get through all this in a single day…

  As much as Det was eager to practice, the sheer volume was a bit daunting.

  “It’s good to see you all taking your seats promptly for our eight-A.M. start time,” Beauty said, grabbing the attention of the twenty cadets. Baby-face had snuck in at some point, sitting at his desk right in front of where Beauty stood.

  “I got their asses in shape while you were gone,” Beast said, more than one cadet wincing at her voice.

  Beauty slowly turned to look at his partner, then at the students sitting in the classroom. “I see,” Beauty said. “We have counsellors and emotional support should you all need it. I shall provide names and how to go about reserving their services after lunch.”

  “Why would they need emotional support?” Beast said, her pinky finger in her nose as she dug around for something. Somehow, she was still gorgeous.

  “Anybody’s guess,” Beauty said flatly to Beast, cleared his throat, and clasped his hand behind his back. “For the morning, I’d like to see the progress you all made in my absence. I will be coming around… yes, Cadet Neferan?” The instructor had paused as the man’s hand went up.

  “Where were you?” Neferan asked bluntly.

  “Away from the academy with a group of students,” Beauty said. “Which I will be again, next week.”

  “Why?” Neferan challenged.

  Without taking his hands from behind his back, Beauty shifted slightly to square his shoulders in the cadet’s direction. “And why, Cadet Neferan, do you believe you’ve done anything to deserve an answer to that question?”

  “Well, what have those three done to deserve special attention already?” Neferan countered, baby-face nodding along in front of him. From the expressions on the other cadets’ faces Det got a quick look at, emotions on the topic ranged from light curiosity to outright jealousy. Not really a surprise.

  “Once again, why do you believe you deserve an answer to your question?” Beauty countered.

  “So, they get special treatment just because they’re from a fancy pillar?” Neferan said. “That’s bullshit.”

  Beauty didn’t react more than raising an eyebrow at the tone the cadet took with him, and his head slowly pivoted to take in the other nineteen cadets in the room.

  “By the looks on faces across the classroom, I guess we’re having this conversation,” Beauty said.

  “Good,” Neferan said. “Because I have questions, and I think…”

  “I don’t care what you think,” Beauty interrupted. “Nor do I particularly care what your questions are.”

  “Oh,” Beast said from her chair, leaning back in it and smiling. “You actually went and pissed him off. That was a dumbass thing to do. If you think I’m scary when I’m angry, you got no idea.” In the next moment, the woman opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a literal bowl of popcorn.

  Ignoring his partner, Beauty’s eye had taken on a hard edge—the eyepatch on scar on the other adding a dark air to his expression—and Neferan wisely closed his mouth.

  “The headmaster explained this on your first day,” Beauty said. “Mount Avalon is not fair. Nor does it coddle anyone. You—or others from your class of new ReSouled—will need to earn your opportunities. Instead of assuming we are playing favorites for the sake of politics, perhaps you should be asking yourself why you haven’t done anything yet to earn our attention. Why aren’t you working harder to get the chances you believe you deserve?

  “If you spend all your time obsessing over what somebody else has that you do not, instead of working on overcoming your own weaknesses, or improving on your strengths, you are not deserving of special treatment. You will get no breaks by acting out. You will be, at best, average.

  “You are free to rant and rail all you like,” Beauty continued, leaning forward ever so slightly. “But I am under no obligation to listen. My attention and time will be spent on the people who have earned it. If you wish to have an opinion, be one of those people.”

  “Or shut your pie-hole,” Beast added, between shoveling popcorn into her mouth.

  “But what did they do to earn the attention?” Baby-face risked asking. “We’ve all gone through the exact same stuff since we came here. Why do they get special treatment if it’s not because of where they’re from or the money their families are giving to the Mistguard?”

  “You believe the Mistguard needs money?” Beauty said, then actually laughed and shook his head.

  “This pillar,” baby-face said. “All these facilities. The salaries of the ReSouled, none of that can be cheap. You need money to…”

  “We do not,” Beauty said. “As you are obsessing over their origins, I will assume you are referring to Cadet SJ’s last name? Jilkins?”

  “He was born with a silver spoon,” baby-face said. “His family has more money than my whole pillar combined. So, they have to be paying…”

  “They aren’t,” Beauty interrupted. “And, even if they did, it would barely be a drop in the bucket compared to our own finances. We have no need for outside donations, contributions, or bribes.”

  “How?” baby-face said, clearly not believing it.

  “Earn the right to get the answers to that question,” Beauty said. “And I shall tell you.”

  “Not like you’ve even answered my first question,” baby-face said, arms crossing.

  “You haven’t earned an answer to that either,” Beauty said. “Though, I shall give you a hint. What makes you think somebody’s accomplishments began after they arrived on Mount Avalon?”

  The question hit most of the class like a slap across the face.

  “You all thought you were special,” Beauty said into the stunned silence. “As ReSouled, you possess superhuman bodies, magic the natives of Elestar can only dream of, and an immunity to the dangers of the mist. You can come and go as you please, and have likely known from a very young age that you would be inducted into the Mistguard simply for existing.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Special,” he repeated. “So, most of you had no need to excel. You would come to Mount Avalon, and then you would start applying yourselves. No, this is not true for everybody. There are nearly twenty cadets we had our eyes on long before a mistship was sent to retrieve them. Those ReSouled are the truly driven. The ones who decided not to wait to become people of note. If you are not on that list of twenty, that is nobody’s fault but your own.

  “You spoke of a silver spoon, Cadet Aarak,” Beauty said directly to baby-face. “Have you ever stopped to consider you had your own this whole time? I thought not.

  “Now, we will bring this discussion to an end shortly, where you will each be given a chance to prove how you’ve improved during the days I was away. If you have not improved—and I will know—then I suggest you take a hard look at yourselves and why that is true. Even if you have shown some growth, is it enough?

  “Next week, I shall be gone again with the same group of cadets who has earned the attention and treatment. This will continue as long as they continuously prove they are worthy of it.”

  The words came directly at Det, Sage, and Eriba. A gentle reminded that just because they were getting special lessons and opportunities now, that could change. They needed to take those chances and make the most of them, vaulting ahead of the other cadets to prove they were worth it.

  “Should any of you others prove you deserve similar perks, you will get them. I repeat, Mount Avalon is not fair. We will happily heap benefits upon those who work and achieve. Yes, that second word is very important. Working hard and failing will not be rewarded here. There are no participation trophies.

  “I can tell some of you don’t like my hard truths. To that I say, too bad. You don’t like it? You want to change it? Being average will never present you the chance to change anything. Being exceptional? Oh, that will open many, many doors for you.

  “You are more than welcome to choose to be average. There will still be work for you in the Mistguard. Luckily for us, your drives will keep you with us. What we offer is too good to pass up, even for the middle of the pack. You will still grow and get stronger. You will earn a life many of this new world could never even dream of. Wealth and power will come easily.

  “What you will not have, is the right to ask questions, demand answers, or be involved in decisions. Those three things are reserved for, you guessed it, the ones who earn it.”

  The class stayed quiet as Beauty finished. As far as motivational speeches went, that was pretty much a dumpster fire. Then again, it wasn’t like the man was trying to inspire anybody. His words were just the truth of things, and he’d been correct when he said their drives would hardly let them quit just because they didn’t like the truth of things.

  “To summarize,” Beauty said, unclasping his hands from behind his back. “The ones you are jealous of have done something to attract our attention. You have not. Yet. I suggest you take this as a wake-up call. You each have the chance to be more than you are now. We are early on in the year. Very early. If you have not done so already, it is time to begin pushing yourselves.

  “Finally, I will reiterate, we are all adults here. Twice over. Violence outside of sanctioned, official duels is strictly prohibited. If you insist on fighting—and very few of the Mistguard will try to stop you—do so inside the arena. Much like tomorrow’s duel between Cadets Aarak and Det, following our afternoon classes.”

  At the reminder, baby-face turned and looked in Det’s direction, some of his usual scowl missing. If Eriba, Sage, and Det had accomplished something before coming to the academy, it was suddenly a variable baby-face hadn’t accounted for. Was he suddenly a bit more nervous about the fight?

  He should be. I’m going to have to make an example of him…

  Beauty’s hands clapping in front of him snapped the attention on Det and baby-face back to the instructor at the front of the room. “Let us resume our class, and your demonstrations of how you’ve improved. Ah, I do want to be clear about one thing. In this class, and on the topics of what you are learning, questions are encouraged and welcome.

  “You are more than welcome to seek assistance and knowledge when it comes to improving yourselves.”

  Cadet Oligy’s hand immediately shot into the air.

  “Yes, Cadet Oligy?” Beauty said, ready for one of the cadet’s usual—and often strange—questions.

  “I’d like to go first,” Oligy said, his response coming out as a surprise to everybody.

  “Excellent,” Beauty said. “I already see some growth from the class. For the rest of you, while I take the morning to go around from cadet to cadet, continue to practice. Innovations and breakthroughs can come at any time.

  “Should you need any assistance, Beast will be available to work with you.”

  More than a few heads turned to the woman who’d polished off the entire bowl of popcorn during Beauty’s speech. At the attention, she burped with enough force baby-face’s hair flew back like he’d been caught in front of a tornado for an instant.

  “Happy to help your asses,” she said. A sentiment nobody believed.

  “Help she will provide while maintaining the decorum required of a professional instructor,” Beauty said. “As the headmaster asked I remind her.”

  “The… headmaster?” Beast said, eyes wide. “He… uh… he mentioned me? Or, just, like, instructors in general?”

  “You, specifically,” Beauty said. “I believe he received word of your coverage of the class while I was away. He asked I observe and report.”

  “What’s your report going to say?” Beast said.

  “Depends what I observe,” Beauty said. “Should you perform your duties to a level I approve of, assisting our charges, I will happily convey that to the headmaster. On the other hand, should you not perform those duties, I shall…”

  “… you shall?” Beast prompted when Beauty trailed off.

  “Throw you to the proverbial wolves.”

  Beast winced.

  “With the added reminder,” Beauty said. “You will be looked in upon from time to time when I am gone next week.”

  “You’re having somebody check up on me?” Beast whined.

  “I absolutely am,” Beauty said. “And, if you have a problem with it, please take it up with the headmaster.”

  Beast scowled at Beauty, her magic kicking in to add some extra oomph to the expression. When it did nothing to dissuade Beauty, she relented with a resigned sigh.

  “Fine,” Beast said. “If you have a good question that isn’t boring…” she started, Beauty’s raised eyebrow cutting her off. “I mean, if you have a good question that’s not too boring…” she paused to see if that was good enough. Taking what he could get from the woman, Beauty allowed the compromise.

  “… then I’ll help you.”

  The cadets weren’t lining up to ask, but a few of them looked to at least be considering it.

  “Good,” Beauty said, walking over to Oligy’s desk. “Show me what you’ve got.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Oligy said.

  Part of Det was curious to see how the others had improved over the few days he’d been missing from the class. Not a big enough part to stop him from working on his own magic. He’d been practicing—among other things—while he was gone—but he’d also found more than a few things he needed to improve on.

  The point of the class he sat in now seemed to revolve around the magical energy traveling through his body. In metaphysical channels running down his limbs, the normally mist-like energy was what powered his magic. Manipulating that magical energy would be how he’d get stronger. Already, he’d leapt ahead of most of the class by learning how to do something called kernelizing his energy.

  Like the name suggested, he could transform a small portion of his misty energy into more of a liquid state. Just a drop of it the size of his fingernail, and one for each of the seventeen nodes within his body. Sage and Calisco—the other ReSouled who’d come with Det from Radiant—had each managed to kernelize thanks to Det’s help, but neither of them had been able to create more than two. Total.

  Even then, being able to create even two kernels put the pair well ahead of the rest of the ReSouled cadets. Det wasn’t nearly satisfied enough with his progress, even if it had gotten him a lot of attention already. Not to mention him being able to assist the others with creating their own kernels.

  When he fought in the Radiant dungeon, against the Wordless marionettes, and the giant Stage Bite Boss, he’d learned firsthand his weakness when it came to kernels. Yes, the kernels had added significant boosts of power to his magic, but they’d also been very tiring to use. Worse, after one was used, it was gone until he could create a new one in its place.

  Something he hadn’t been able to do in the midst of battle. Kernelizing his energy took a certain level of peace and calm to achieve. Not quite meditation, but close enough it would never happen in a stressful situation.

  At least, not unless he practiced.

  Which is exactly what Det planned to do for the morning, one hand reaching out to snag a brush and bottle of ink, while his other grabbed several sheets of paper. One after the other, he spread the paper across his desk until he had eight sheets lined up.

  It was time to get to work.