Oz left the auditorium feeling odd. That might’ve been because he’d spent the whole time fighting the urge to take notes. It might be because he was being slowly strangled by his cravat, which he’d worn to avoid drawing attention on the first day. Or it might’ve been that in spite of that, there were five or six people staring daggers at him.

  He could’ve understood if it was the guys. He did have both Angie and Bless with him. His brief periods of popularity with girls back home had invited a lot of stares like that, but this felt different. More aggressive, less jealousy and more like he was being judged and found wanting.

  Bless had found them just before the lecture. She and Angie had immediately hit it off, the pair comparing notes about all manner of things. It hadn’t escaped his notice that people had hovered around them, waiting for their chance to join the conversation. Unfortunately for them, Angie was a force of nature. The unstoppable chatter was enough to keep them at bay.

  Now he thought about it, it looked to be the same people who were now staring at him. People who definitely were Dynasty. You could tell by how they used their nostrils to look at you. They also seemed more comfortable with the panelled wood walls and the exceptional amount of art that stared down at them.

  “Bless, do you know any of the people glaring at me?” Oz asked as they flowed out of the hall. He couldn’t help but notice that Bless was speed-walking and avoiding the starers, who couldn’t keep up without looking desperate.

  “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s because of my family. I can go speak to them if it’d help.” Bless did not look comfortable, so Oz waved his hand.

  “No need, I just wanted to know. So you’re off to get your class now?”

  “Yes, they’re filtering us all through today. We get our class, a brief test to make sure none of our skills cause anything unexpected and then we’re done for the day. The formal testing is spaced around the introductory lectures for the rest of the week,” she explained.

  “Well, wishing you the best of luck,” Angie said, having caught up with them as they hustled through the corridor.

  “Do you mind if we meet up after? I’d like to celebrate or commiserate if necessary,” Bless said, but not before checking around to make sure no one was listening in.

  “You’ll be fine, I’m sure.” Oz scoffed. “You were literally considering blowing a guy up when I met you, so I find it hard to believe a class would make you less deadly.”

  “She was what?!” Angie’s eyes danced between them. Oz really should keep his mouth shut.

  “It’s not that surprising. I mean, I met you because Chops chased you through the woods,” Oz offered, to help balance things out. The Ozzer helped him by guiding his social sensibilities. They’d been rather helpful today, enthusiastic to finally be getting to the magical school arc, as it liked to call his education.

  “Well, I know what we’ll be talking about when we meet up later.” Bless chuckled. “Where can I find you?”

  “We’ll be in the library. I’ve booked out a study room for the rest of the day.” Oz then explained how to find it and Bless headed off. As she split away, Oz frowned as a couple of the starers appeared from round a corner and began power-walking to catch up to her. Both flashed him an annoyed frown as they passed. Oz glared right back, but didn’t follow, trusting it was something Bless could handle.

  “Wow, Bless is popular,” Angie said, watching the pair speed after her new friend.

  “Seems that way.” Oz shrugged and they headed off towards the library.

  “Also, you mentioned you booked a study room all day. I thought that they didn’t let you do that?”

  “Hmm. Wasn’t an issue for me. I’ll check with a librarian,” Oz offered. Angie was a walking trivia machine when it came to Noxarcer. He felt it was more likely he’d got something wrong than she had.

  The pair walked through the halls. Now the term had started, the once-empty corridors were teeming with students. The mood was relaxed, and Oz had to admit that the uniform really added a feeling of professionalism to the place. The conversations, some of which wouldn’t have been out of place between the lads of Greywater, dragged it back down. It seemed boys were the same no matter where they were, only the outfits and accents changed.

  Once Oz felt they’d lost any of the first years, they stepped into a small alcove to summon Chops. Both he and Angie had decided that openly advertising they were already classed to the first years would’ve brought nothing but trouble. Oz wasn’t a politically minded soul, but between him and the Ozzer they felt they understood bullies quite well. There was nothing that kind of ugly soul liked more than to pick out someone who was different.

  Now that they could conceivably be classed, they could relax a bit. It’d still probably come out at some point, but by then it wouldn’t be big news.

  On the way to the library, Oz explained a bit of how he’d met Bless to Angie. When he mentioned that her aunt ran Altharn Arena, Angie had a minor freak-out. Apparently the Altharns were a big deal, which Oz had assumed, given the ‘black sheep’ of the family ran a whole dungeon. But he learned a bit more about them from Angie’s endless font of knowledge.

  The family was utterly obsessed with being Champions, and they were good at producing them. The Republic had somewhere around twenty-five S-Tier dungeons in the realm. Right now, Altharns served as Champions in at least five of them. This made them heavily involved in politics, using their connections to these pillars of the nation to network at the highest levels, and that’s before factoring in all the ‘lesser’ Altharns serving in A-Tier dungeons.

  Oz, being Oz, just decided to remind Angie not to be weird about it.

  Oz had found being consistent in how he behaved was best. People tended to change dramatically when they talked to teachers compared to when they talked to their classmates, and the same went for differences in social class. Oz didn’t change. He was equally belligerent no matter who he talked to. Sure, he might hold back a bit here and there, and be more relaxed if he felt that way, but that didn’t really come from someone’s background. It more came from how the other person treated him.

  Speaking of people he didn’t treat differently, as they entered the library with its towering stacks and air of hushed terror and effort, Oz approached the main desk, spotting the librarian he’d spoken to before, sat between stacks of thick books.

  Beside him, he heard Angie squeak in fear. Around him, he heard students shift in their seats. For the second time in half an hour, he felt a lot of gazes resting on him.

  “Hello, Derlame,” he greeted the elven librarian, in a hushed tone, trying to ignore the sudden attention. The man smiled at him, and even reached out to pet Chops.

  “Yes, Ozren, how can I help?” Derlame responded. He’d always been helpful whenever Oz spoke to him, even if he’d never stopped calling him by his full name.

  “I was wondering, I’ve been told I can only book a study room for a couple of hours. I just wanted to check I wasn’t breaking any rules through ignorance,” Oz asked.

  “A wise move, but no. That limitation is imposed during busy periods to ensure all students have access to the rooms. Please continue booking slots as you see fit, especially for that room, as it remains underutilised. If there’s a problem, we’ll let you know.” Derlame smiled again, seemingly pleased at Oz’s diligence.

  Oz nodded goodbye and left the elf to his sorting, or whatever it was he was doing with the giant stacks of books beside him. Beside him, Angie was staring at him intently. It was the same look she’d given him as when he’d revealed the runes on his clanknife, like he was a puzzle with no corners.

  She wasn’t the only one. A few students from the desks were literally slack-jawed, staring. Some even forgot themselves and began to whisper before a subtle clearing of the throat from the central desk silenced them.

  Oz held in a sigh. How had he messed up asking for advice?

  They finally entered the small study room, and the second the door shut the words tumbled out of her so fast Oz didn’t understand.

  “Slow down. What’s got grit in your gears?”

  “Grit in my gears! This isn’t grit! Why did you do that?!”

  “What do you mean?” Oz was genuinely confused. He looked to Chops, the pair of heads looking back just as confused as he was.

  “You spoke to the head librarian!”

  “Oh, Derlame’s the head librarian. That makes sense. He’s a little intimidating, but quite nice.”

  “Nice? He steals people’s mouths, or seals them, technically! Or maybe it’s an illusion, otherwise they’d have trouble breathing, I’d assume.” Angie paused, realising she was distracting herself. “He’s a Noxarcer legend, he’s infamously difficult to please. And when he’s not pleased, people find themselves missing an orifice!”

  “Angie, is this some rumour?” Oz had learned there were a lot of rumours about Noxarcer. It made sense. Even his tiny school had a few ghosts, and a cursed corridor that was bad luck to walk down on a test day. It’d be honestly surprising if Noxarcer didn’t have actual curses.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I heard about it through my cousin. He said he was friends with someone who went here and said the head librarian seals people’s mouths as a punishment for making noise.” Angie paced in the room, before Chops got in the way and diverted her attention with some stress pets.

  Oz was about to refute the claim, but then he remembered that sense of great power that’d washed over him when the librarian had thought he might’ve let a book go overdue.

  “I feel like maybe I’ll just keep following the rules. Problem solved.” Oz nodded.

  “Aren’t you worried?” Angie asked, horrified.

  “I’m a pretty quiet guy. Maybe that’s why I’m not worried,” Oz replied, moving past her to try and set up his things on the table.

  “Was that a dig? That wasn’t it?” Angie shot him a sharp look. She raised a finger as if to speak, and met Oz’s face, his scowl absent and the very slight hint of a smile on his lips.

  She paused, then pulled out the study books from her satchel. Glaring, she pulled up a notebook and wrote something on a piece of paper.

  I can be quiet

  Oz started to laugh, the chuckle escaping him before it was joined by Angie’s own laughter. Chops chuffed along, just to be included.

  “Back to the topic of the heiress you’ve stolen away from her Dynasty brethren,” Angie chimed in.

  “I’ve not stolen her.”

  “The heiress that you’ve made friends with, who is willing to meet up to celebrate her classing with you, over the no doubt massive party that her Dynasty friends must be trying to rope her into,” Angie clarified. The Ozzer nudged him, the politically minded intelligence pointing out that they’d literally been trying not to stand out not a few minutes ago.

  “Those people staring at Bless now make more sense. Can we not call her an heiress either? You’re not wrong, I just get the feeling she’d hate it.”

  “I’m really pleased I tried to clobber you. You’re so honest, it’s kind of surprising with how…” She paused, her hand gesturing to his face before she could stop it.

  “I always look like I’m going to punch someone?” Oz sighed.

  “I mean…”

  “I know what I look like, Angie.” Oz wasn’t an idiot. He had gone through a period where he’d tried to smile more, but it’d just resulted in more fights.

  “You don’t talk much about your school life. Like, we’ve talked about the frankly appalling state of education on the frontier, but not much about what it was like in school.”

  “I don’t talk much in general.” He frowned, he could feel her attention on him. “Look, it’s simple. School was not fun. I was not good at it, and I did not get along with the guys, which meant lots of fights.”

  “Is that why you’re not trying to meet up with that person from your school who made it here? Were they not very nice?” Angie asked. Of course she’d remember that he’d mentioned that one of his classmates had made it into Noxarcer.

  Loxa was the daughter of the sergeant of the guards of Greywater, a complete prodigy and his total opposite. Well liked by students and teachers, she excelled in both the local Delving team and in her studies. And as far as he remembered from their few interactions, a genuinely nice and friendly person.

  “Loxa was fine, nice enough. She was friends with one of the girls I dated,” Oz replied.

  “One of the girls. As in you had multiple girlfriends? I thought you said you didn’t get along… no, you said guys.”

  “I thought we came here to study.” Oz tried to hide behind ‘Dungeonmics, a Primer on Risk and Reward’.

  “I’m sorry. Between the hei, Bless, and you casually talking with an S-Tier Overseer, I’m a little distracted,” Angie responded.

  “Wait, the librarian is S-Tier?”

  “Did you not read the history of Noxarcer! I thought you said you… You’re trying to distract me, aren’t you?” Angie gave him a shrewd look.

  “Is it not working?” Oz sank lower behind his book.

  “Tell me something, Oz.” Angie pouted. “I know, like, next to nothing about you apart from your secrets. And to be honest it feels weird knowing that but not knowing the basic things about you. Besides, I’ve told you everything about me!”

  “If I tell you something, will you drop the rest of it?”

  “For at least the rest of the day!”

  “Fine. I had three girlfriends over, like, a six-month period. The relationships all ended because of their fathers,” Oz grumbled.

  “You know you’re really good at saying just enough to make me ask more questions. Come on, you can’t stop there!”

  “The first dad I wheeled back after he dragged me to a bar to drink. He was a local Core Holder. Apparently I wasn’t meant to get along with her dad, so we broke up. The second one, like six weeks in, her dad came over to try and beat me up. That didn’t go the way he planned and I sent him to the healers. He was an F-Tier administrator, total weakling, don’t think he’d ever invested in strength. Apparently, while I wasn’t meant to get along with a dad, I also wasn’t meant to go too far the other way. So, we broke up.

  “You sent an F-Tier to the healers?”

  “I was terrified my dad would find him. If I didn’t knock him out, he’d have vanquished the idiot. I was doing him a favour!” It’d also felt really good to punch someone talking that much trash, but Oz didn’t mention that. He scowled as he recalled his third and final relationship.

  “The last, well, her dad I helped put in prison.” Oz held up a hand as Angie began to puff up with questions. “I don’t want to talk much about it. He was a cunt.”

  Oz didn’t swear often. But that bastard deserved it.

  “He was a very ugly piece of work and she used me to help expose that. I don’t blame her. The man was scum who used his powers on her. He called it ‘discipline’, made sure the scars didn’t show unless you were well…” When I found them, I marched right up to the guards and told them to go deal with it or I was telling my dad. Only time I used that threat in all my years down there.” Oz found he was petting Chops without even thinking about it.

  “He used his powers…” Angie’s face was pulled into a grimace.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. I only mentioned it because she and Loxa were tight. She and all the girls were nicer to me after that happened. Still, my brief period of popularity ended there. I think the boys started a rumour that I was cursed or something.”

  Oz frowned. Was it possible that whoever was interfering in his life had been to blame for all the rumours that came out? Would they be that petty?

  “If I’d asked questions about how your school life was, would I have fared better?” Angie winced, she clearly wanted to ask more questions but was restraining herself.

  “I considered my time dating as a highlight of my school years,” Oz answered.

  “And I thought not getting invited to Wadgo’s birthday was a big deal,” she muttered to herself.

  “Shall we study?” Oz raised his book hopefully.

  “Let’s do that. You’re still set on your electives?”

  “Yeah. I’m doing runes for magic, obviously. Free choice is Trapping and Sapping. For the craft I’m torn between Evocative Arts and Sculpting.” Oz had spent a lot of time trying to work out what he should focus on.

  “Why those two? Didn’t you want to do sculpting pretty hard?”

  “It’s, well, I like the idea of Evocative Art. The sculpting thing is more about making statues and stuff that blend into the background, forming stuff that the dungeon can copy and recycle. The Evocative Art feels more interesting,” Oz replied.

  “Is this connected to why your room always smells of paint? Because it feels like it might be connected.” She smiled as his frown deepened.

  “I didn’t realise that was leaking out.” He scratched the back of his head.

  “All the rest of your options are safe. Your runes are incredible, and yes, you need to catch up on the trapping academia, but given what you’ve told me about your dad I don’t see the practical phasing you at all. So why not go for Evocative?”

  “But there’s so much to learn!”

  “And will you have fun sculpting? Will you enjoy making stuff that sits in the background? Yes, if you get really, really good you might make a centrepiece here and there. But the Evocative Art is all about warnings, the stuff that’s on the walls to make risk apparent, or to help set a tone for an entire room,” Angie asked, and Oz frowned.

  “Thanks.”

  They continued to talk about the various choices, wondering about what kind of class Bless might get, and other distractions. Not much studying got done. Oz couldn’t ignore how much nicer it was to have someone to speak with. The Ozzer helped, but he felt like he was really starting to get the hang of things.

  Just after they returned from getting lunch at the cafeteria, there was a knock at the door. Oz opened it to find Bless and two unexpected faces. An elf and a nervous-looking ratkin. The elf was very familiar.

  “Hey, Oz, fancy seeing you here.” Loxa smiled at him. She was a classic dusk elf, lithe and tall, with pointed ears and grey skin and sharp almond-shaped eyes. Her stark white hair was cut short and aggressive.

  “Hey, Loxa.” Oz immediately scratched the back of his neck. He could also see her looking him up and down, like she was checking him for wounds. Oxley had said he’d handle speaking to her, and Oz hadn’t asked any questions, but he really wished he’d checked what he was going to tell her.

  “Let’s get in the room so we can talk there.” Bless spoke quietly and everyone shuffled quickly into the study room. It wasn’t really meant for this many. Four people would’ve been cosy, now with five plus Chops it was cramped.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but while they classed us individually, they did the very quick preliminary tests to check we weren’t going to blow ourselves up with our powers in groups of three. I heard Loxa mention Greywater, and then invited her and Pilt here, who seemed like a nice guy too. I hope it’s not a problem.” Bless was looking to him, and clearly unable to tell if he was actually frowning.

  “It’s Oz, he’ll be fine with it as long as you aren’t starting a fight or breaking the law.” Loxa had immediately slouched into a chair and started petting Chops. It was at odds with the prim and proper sergeant’s daughter he knew, but then what did he really know about his fellow Greywaterite?

  “Ah, so you two do know each other! But still, I feel I should’ve checked.”

  “Loxa’s got me down. I really don’t care.” Oz felt a bit of a barb enter his tone. He hadn’t expected to deal with Loxa yet. The Ozzer pointed out that she was likely reminding him of memories he’d repressed, but Oz repressed that voice too.

  “Hi, Pilt, Loxa, I’m Angie.” The werewolf beastkin waved from her seat.

  “Nice to meet you. Did you do your classing earlier?” The ratkin, Pilt, spoke with a refined accent. He was friendly enough, and wasn’t looking down his nostrils at them. Still, even to Oz’s undeveloped sense, he felt more Dynasty than Scholar. Still, the fact Bless had brought him meant he wasn’t one of the starers. Oz had seen enough of how she’d looked at them to know the only invitation they’d get from her was for a quick journey off a high cliff.

  “We’re both on medical exemption. But please don’t spread it around. We figure it’s best not to stand out,” Angie replied for them.

  “Smart. Don’t want too much attention from the wrong people.” Loxa was clearly eyeing Oz as she spoke and for the second time he wanted to punch past Oz for not asking questions of Oxley.

  “Well, I figured we’ve all got classes now and we’re all free, so why don’t we celebrate?” Bless said. “Unless you want to study?”

  “No, I’m down to make some friends!” Angie smiled.

  “I need a distraction to drown out the temptation to try out my skills,” Loxa groaned. Oz gave her a confused look.

  “We’ve been told not to. We got to try them all out once and then we have to wait for the proper testing. Thankfully we’re all tomorrow. Not like those poor sods who have to wait another couple of days. Would drive me loopy, that would,” she supplied.

  “Are we staying on campus or going to town?” Bless asked.

  “I’m going out! I spent two weeks travelling here after something blew up the teleport station in our realm.” Loxa shot Oz a subtle glare. He had to work out what Oxley told her. “So I had to slog my way over here the hard way. I want to drink and be merry.”

  “I think a convivial drink would make for a proper celebration,” Pilt added.

  “My aunt suggested a few good places.” Bless grinned.

  “Are they places your aunt would like or that we’d like?” Oz shot her a look. She paused and he could practically see her panic as she tried to calculate what the average student’s disposable income might look like.

  “There are a couple that’d be better for us,” she offered after a moment. The group nodded and started to head out. Just as they were about to clear out, Oz felt a hand land on his shoulder.

  “All right then, why don’t you go and see about getting us there? Oz and I need to catch up for five minutes,” Loxa grinned at the rest of them.