“About time,” Moxie said from where she sat on the bed beside Noah.

“That’s it? I made four Rank 3 Runes in like five minutes!” Noah exclaimed. “And the best you can say is about time?”

Moxie laughed and held her hands up in surrender. “I mean, you did have those Runes for a while. I was surprised you didn’t just start making the Rank 3s as they came.”

“I was focused on Formations,” Noah replied. “And I still needed to make sure my intent for everything was perfect. I just need to buy a few Runes to finish everything off – both for myself and for Lee. Then I can get to Rank 4.”

“If you get to Rank 4 before me, I’m going to be pissed,” Moxie declared, smiling to show that she was only joking. The smile slipped away as her expression turned serious. “You really need to register as a Rank 3 mage, though. When you hit Rank 4, people might start to notice. I suppose you could always act as if Father was boosting your Ranks because he got fed up with you being behind, but it could cause issues that you don’t want.”

“Yeah, I was already planning to do that,” Noah said. “After our class tomorrow, probably.”

“Do we have to do anything about Alexandra?” Lee’s voice came from the window, and Noah nearly jumped out of his skin. He suddenly realized that Lee had somehow disappeared from where she’d been sitting.

She hung upside down, her hair framing her head on the other side of the window. Noah reached over and opened it, letting Lee slide inside before closing it behind her.

“God, Lee. You scared the life out of me,” Noah said. “And if you mean her Runes, I don’t see how it’s our problem. Arbitage let her in. I guess they don’t have a strict limit on strength, but it’d be really awkward if she’s at or above my rank when I’m the professor.”

“Sounds good,” Lee said. She hopped down from the bed and splayed out across the floor. “I’m bored.”

“Have you figured out what you’re going to need to fix all of your current ones so they’re true Perfect Runes?”

“Yeah. I just need to find them,” Lee said through a yawn. “Can we go shopping soon? I don’t know where to find shadow aligned monsters.”

“I need some more Vibration Runes as well, so I’m definitely not against it. We can go after class,” Noah said. “Besides, we’ll know if we need money for a healing potion to fix Todd’s neck injury by then.”

Moxie and Lee nodded. Noah cast a glance out the window. There was still a fair amount of time left in the day – and that meant more time to practice his Formations. Testing his newly made Runes would have to wait until tomorrow. He didn’t want to mistakenly destroy Moxie’s room.

***

The rest of the day passed quickly and the next one dawned as it always did. As the sun rose above the tall buildings of Arbitage, Noah headed for the transport cannon with Moxie. Lee had gone ahead, having woken up several hours before them.

She also had the added benefit of being able to sniff out where Isabel, Todd, and Emily were. It struck Noah that there was always a possibility that they hadn’t actually shown up yet, but Silvertide didn’t strike him as the kind of man that was often late.

Sure enough, when he and Moxie arrived at the base of the transport cannon, there was already a small group waiting for them. Noah nearly missed a step. The students had gone through a pretty significant change since he’d last seen them.

Todd was more muscular than he’d been a few months ago, and he stood with the casual ease of a fighter. He’d never been particularly stiff, but the difference between now and his previous posture was like night and day.

Isabel, like Todd, had put on some muscle. She stood with just as much grace – if not more – and had her hair tied back into a ponytail. There was a long, thin scar running along the side of her cheek that looked like it had long since healed over.

Emily and James stood beside them, just across from Lee. Out of all of them, Emily had changed the least. She was still unfortunately the shortest by a wide margin, and her long silver hair hung low at her back.

She was locked in an excited conversation with James, who also looked largely the same as he had before the vacation. He still had the same, vacant-eyed expression that hid a rather intelligent mind.

Todd was the first to notice Noah’s approach. He paused mid-word, turning to look at him and raising a hand in greeting, a wide grin stretching across his face. Noah noted that he didn’t seem to have any issue with the sudden motion.

“Teacherman!”

The other students all turned toward Noah and Moxie as they came to a stop beside the small group.

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that one,” Noah said with a laugh. “How have you all been? Did Silvertide treat you well? I don’t see him anywhere. Did he not come back to Arbitage?”The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“He was great,” Todd said. “Way less crazy than you. Richer, too.”

Isabel smacked Todd on the shoulder. “He was a very effective teacher, but his methods were really different to yours. They’re more in line with what I would have expected from a soldier.”

“I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a compliment or an insult. Before I get any farther, though – Todd, is your injury…”

“Fixed?” Todd asked, putting a hand on the side of his neck. He flashed Noah a toothy grin. “As much as it’s going to be, yeah. Silvertide spent a whole crapton of money on healing potions. He’s out taking care of some personal business now.”

“Upwards of fifty thousand gold,” Isabel muttered, a note of awe in her voice. “Apparently, damage like that gets more set in the longer it takes to get healed. Even the best stuff we could buy wasn’t a perfect fix.”

“It was more than enough, though,” Todd said, moving his head from side to side. “It gives a bit of a twinge every once and a while, but I can handle it.”

Holy shit. He dropped fifty thousand gold? I thought we were rich, but evidently not. How much money does Silvertide have if he can afford to do that? I mean, quests paid well, but if he dropped fifty thousand that quickly, he must be absolutely loaded – or incredibly kind. Maybe a mix of the two.

“That’s a relief to hear,” Noah said. “It does mean nobody is going to be going easy on you during fights anymore.”

Isabel snickered. “That’s what I told him.”

“Bah.” Todd crossed his arms. “As if I need the help.”

“How have the rest of you been?” Moxie asked, her eyes locked firmly on Emily. “Did your training go well?”

“Yeah, it went fine,” Emily said with a casual shrug. She pushed her hair out of her face. “It wasn’t anything special, but it was effective. James and I mostly just worked on some fighting techniques and hunted a few weak monsters.”

“Ah. That’s good.” Moxie nodded sagely. “That’s good.”

Wow. I’ve never seen her this awkward. Emily seems like she’s trying to do the exact same thing.

Judging by the expressions on everyone – other than Lee’s – face, nobody was buying it. Noah nudged Moxie with the top of his shoe and she cleared her throat.

“Either way, it’s good to see you all again,” Noah said. “James, I almost hesitate to ask this… but where is Revin?”

“No idea,” James replied. “And to be honest, I’m happy to keep it that way. I haven’t seen him since vacation started.”

They all paused and glanced over their shoulders. By some miracle, Revin didn’t show up at the sound of his name being bad-mouthed.

“Are we going to have a real class today?” Todd asked, rubbing his hands together with an eager smile. “Lee wouldn’t say what we were doing.”

“Probably stretches,” Isabel said.

“Probably,” Noah agreed. “Among some other things.”

“Can James come with us?” Emily asked.

Noah tilted his head to the side. She’d definitely gotten closer to the shaggy-haired boy over the vacation. He wasn’t keen on picking up every random student that came by, but he didn’t have any reason not to let James tag along.

Isabel and Todd were already friendly with him, and he was already adding Alexandra to the mix.

“For today, sure,” Noah said. “We’ll have to figure something out in the future if you’re continuously coming to class without your teacher, but I can’t say I blame you.”

“Thanks.” James rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll try to avoid getting in the way.”

“You’ll be fine,” Noah said. “We’ve got one more person joining us today, actually.”

“Another instructor?” Isabel asked, looking from Noah to Moxie.

“Nope. Lee, do you know where Alexandra is?” Noah asked. “I thought she’d be here by now.”

“She’s over there,” Lee said, nodding down the road. Noah turned to look over his shoulder. Sure enough, Alexandra was heading down the path in their direction, her sword hanging at her side.

She noticeably slowed when she realized they were all looking at her, then accelerated to avoid remaining the object of attention for too long. Drawing up alongside Noah and Moxie, Alexandra inclined her head slightly.

“Sorry. I got lost.”

“No harm done. Everyone, this is Alexandra,” Noah said. “She’s a new student.”

“A new student? You?” Todd’s eyebrows lifted and he crossed his arms. “What, we aren’t enough for you? Don’t tell me you’ve reverted to your old ways, Teacherman.”

Isabel prodded Todd in the side and he doubled over with a startled yelp.

“Sorry about him,” Isabel said, her words polite but flat. “Todd doesn’t think before words come out of his mouth. Did you choose professor Vermil? Or were you assigned to him?”

“I chose him,” Alexandra said. “He, Lee, and Moxie helped me out of an… uncomfortable situation. I just happened to see his name as one of the available professors teaching non-noble students here.”

“And you chose Vermil?”

“She’s not from Arbitage,” Noah said wearily. “She doesn’t know about my unfortunate reputation.”

“Ah. That explains it,” Emily said. “I see she’s a sword-wielder. Or is that a flying sword?”

“It’s for combat,” Alexandra said. “I don’t have wind magic.”

“You’ll all get more than enough time to get to know each other soon enough,” Noah said. “Try to be nice, please. I suggest you all spend some time getting to know each other at some point today.”

“So what are we going to be doing today, then?” Isabel asked. “Scorched Acres?”

“Nah. I think you’ve graduated from that for the time being,” Noah said. “And you’d have an unfair advantage since you’ve fought monsters from that location before. We’ll be going somewhere new so you all start from the same spot. It’ll be a better frame of reference for your abilities.”

“We’re leaving Arbitage?” Alexandra asked, taken aback. “I thought we would be sparring each other.”

“We’ll get to that at some point, but I’d much rather see you fighting at full strength,” Noah said. He nodded toward the transport cannon. “And this is a great way to do just that. We’ll be going to the Windscorned Plateau. Any questions before we get moving?”

“I didn’t bring appropriate equipment for fighting monsters,” Alexandra said with a frown. “I’d thought we wouldn’t need it yet.”

“Appropriate equipment?” Noah frowned. “Like what? You’ve got your sword and your Runes.”

“A Shield. Gen – ah, I didn’t have one before. The unique Imbuements I had made my body considerably more resilient than normal, but those are gone. My Runes still make me harder to hurt, but they won’t stop a direct attack by a sharp claw.”

Isabel, Todd, and Emily all exchanged a look of mutual understanding and started to laugh. Alexandra frowned.

“What?”

“It’s fine,” Isabel said. “We had the same reaction. You won’t need a shield.”

“I won’t? Why not? I thought we were fighting monsters.”

“We are,” Noah said. “Shields are a good tool, but if you’re overly reliant on them, then they’re a crutch. You won’t be using one.”

“You’re serious?” Alexandra asked. “But…”

“Welcome to the class,” Todd said with a wry grin. “You’ll get used to it.”