Consciousness comes slowly.

I awaken on a bed that feels far too comfortable, like my body is trying to become part of it. Opening my eyes, I see I’m in a rather plain looking room, though on the larger side. There’s a table in one corner, with two chairs, and a bundle I can’t quite get a good look at from here. I can see a large window on one wall, though the curtain is shut and either it’s night outside or the curtains are too thick for any light to pass through. Finally, there is a door set in the opposite wall.

The room is lit up by a simple chandelier set with brightly glowing crystals. I assume they’re supposed to be enchanted, though if I’m still in the mindscape then it likely doesn’t matter all that much.

I take a moment to inspect how I feel, given the last thing I remember I had long passed being on my last legs and was well on my way to a complete shut down. Actually scratch that, I did shut down. Remarkably, I feel completely fine, like that whole trek through a monster infested path never really happened.

I mean, I suppose it didn’t, magical simulation and all, but it’s not exactly easy to keep in mind. Though the floating panes of light coming out of nowhere helps keep perspective, and while I was a little too preoccupied before to notice, but now that I have the space to really think I can’t shake the feeling that the monsters I faced were weaker than they should have been, based on the few I fought that I recognised from Mom’s stories. I suppose it makes some sense, they aren’t going to test us with monsters of equal strength to their real life counterparts, that would be counterintuitive.

It takes a monumental degree of effort, but I eventually manage to convince myself to get out of the sinfully comfortable bed. As I get up I see I’m wearing a set of simple cloth pajamas. I reckon it’s for the best, if this whole thing is an exam then they’d want to actually observe us. There’s probably a few ways to do it, but I wouldn’t know. Regardless, I appreciate the notion.

I feel a little unsteady once I’m on my feet. It’s like my body and my mind can’t quite agree on whether or not I should be capable of standing, but the feeling quickly passes.

I walk over to the window, wanting to see what’s outside, but strangely enough, the curtain won’t move at all. It shifts and feels like fabric, but any attempt to make it so I can see past it fails completely. Weird.

Deciding to let that be, I head over to the table. The bundle on top appears to be the armour I was wearing for the first two scenarios, though if it is it has since been cleaned and repaired, as it looks brand new. The pouches have been removed and placed separately from it, at just the right angle that I couldn’t see them from the bed. Taking a peek within, they still contain my spoils from both scenarios, including the odd scale from the Amphisbaena.

I spend a few moments staring at it. Part of me wants to tell myself I don’t deserve the remnant, as I didn’t exactly kill the monster through my own strength and skill. The other part says I’m being silly and I should keep it anyway, as I never know if it might come in handy. I don’t exactly understand where that is coming from, but I shrug and return the scale to the pouch.

There’s a small section in the corner next to the bed with a privacy screen, so I pick up the armour and walk behind it. It takes me nearly ten minutes to figure out how to get it all on, with all the layers and straps involved, but I persevere and eventually manage. I then walk over to the door, and take a deep breath.

Time to move on.

The moment I place my hand on the door handle, another pane of light appears before me.

The next scenario will involve teamwork. You will be given time to familiarize yourself with your teammates and make whatever preparations you may need. Once 48 hours have passed after the last member of your team has seen this message, you will automatically be sent to the final scenario. You can trigger the scenario at any time, by exiting through the main door.

48 hours. Why would we need two days to introduce and prepare ourselves? Seems a bit much.

Anyway, I push open the door and step through.

On the other side is a hallway, with two doors in each wall. My room is through one,, and on the others are signs reading COSGROVE, MAPETA, and ANDERS. It doesn’t take much to guess that they’re the names of my teammates, and looking at my own door shows the sign ENDMARCH.

It looks like Sophie and I will be grouped for this, which is great news. We know each other and our fighting styles pretty well, so that works well for us. Though it does raise a few questions. Either we got absurdly lucky, or they grouped people together based on who they entered the tests with. That will be answered by whether or not Ethan is on our team, unless the other two names are from the two people before me and Sophie, in which case I wouldn’t be able to tell. I suppose it doesn’t matter.

Down one end of the hall is another door, this time labeled SCENARIO 3, so clearly that’s where we go to move on. I turn the other way and find myself in what looks like a lounge room. There’s a large couch, with two stuffed armchairs facing it at an angle. Another window is on the far wall, once again with the curtain shut tight. An open doorway leads off to either side, though I’m not paying that much mind.

What does catch my attention is that I’m not the first person to leave their room.

Sitting in one of the armchairs, and facing me, is a very large boy, older than me by almost a year at my best guess. His skin is dark, his face wide and expressive. His body is covered in dense tattoos, and I know this because he isn’t wearing a shirt.

I admit I spent a little too long looking at his bare chest. The tattoos are intricate, and so well defined that I’d almost think a tattoo machine was involved.

I quickly realise how long I was looking and immediately return to his face, which is showing that he is very amused by my staring, though thankfully not offended. He gets up, holding out one hand for a shake.

“Hello, I’m Onslo Mapeta,” he says.

“Valerie Endmarch.”

“Endmarch? Like that new teacher everyone was getting worked up about? There a reason people were so excited?” he asks.

He… doesn’t know who Mom is?

The idea stumps me for a bit, though on reflection I suppose it’s not too surprising. There are always going to be people who don’t hear about someone, and Mom hasn’t been heard from for sixteen years, it’s not impossible for most people to have moved on.

“She’s also known as the Warbreaker?” I say quizzically. No reaction. Huh. “One of the most accomplished Metal mages on the continent?”

Onslo shakes his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell, I’m afraid. I’m guessing she’s a big deal?”

I think back to all the stories Mom’s told me, and what she said a few nights ago about how many were needed to get her to stop her crusade on the Order of the Empty World.

“...Yeah. Something like that.”

I step around him and sit on the couch, and he returns to the armchair.

“So, uh. Where’re you from?” I ask.

We spend the next ten minutes or so in idle small talk, before we are joined almost simultaneously by Sophie and, to my mild surprise, Ethan. In that time, I learn Onslo is from the Penticos Islands, an island chain to the south off the coast Hortell resides on. He’s here through the scholarship, like myself and Sophie, with an Aspect and A Grade Affinity.

Maybe it’s just me, but It’s a little odd that everyone I’ve met so far is high Grade and has an Aspect. Both are supposed to be rare, but the first three people my own age I meet have an Aspect? Even with the slightly less than even chance that Aspects show up, that’s unlikely.

Anyway, Onslo’s Affinity is Physical Enhancement, like my Dad, and he even plays a similar role in combat, though he goes about it in a different way. His Aspect, Onslaught, increases his strength and toughness with every hit he receives and deals out, so he tends to trade blows before using the accumulated strength in one final strike. Physical Enhancement is a rather extreme example of how Affinity’s can differ wildly in versatility. It’s very narrowly focused on, well, enhancing people physically. Like all Affinities, it can increase a person’s physical abilities, but unlike the others, mages with Physical Enhancement can actually control how they’re enhanced, as well as to what degree. They can also heal themselves, as well as alter their shape to a very, very minor degree. Like adding an inch or so of height minor.

When Sophie and Ethan enter the room, I see they are dressed very differently from myself and Onslo. I assumed at first that he simply chose not to wear a shirt, but no. Ethan has a thick leather coat, down to the knees, with patches of chain mail sewn into it. Sophie, on the other hand, has armour similar to mine, but a little heavier. Thicker on the joints, for one, and I can see a bit of chain poking through on the shoulders and inner elbows, which my own lacks.

It would seem that our gear is tailored to match our approach to combat. Ironically enough, Sophie actually has the less mobile fighting style, so she can afford to wear heavier armour. Ethan, on the other hand, isn’t exactly suited to the melee, so it makes sense he doesn’t prioritise heavy defenses either.

Finally, there’s Onlso. Despite being the ‘tank’, video gamers would call it, Onslo’s Aspect actually requires him to feel the full hits he takes. He can benefit from armour, but damage taken on places protected by armour get significantly less out of Onslaught, so he opts not to wear a shirt.

“So,” I say once Ethan and Sophie have been introduced and sat down. “What now? I mean, we’ve been given almost two days to get ready for the last part of the exams, they wouldn’t have done that unless we’d need it.”

“Well, we could check out what’s behind those doorways,” Ethan says. I do my best not to show that I completely forgot they were there. I was very engrossed in the conversation. “They have to serve a purpose.”

With that, we each check the two doorways. The first leads to a room that’s remarkably similar to the Astral Armoury’s training room, though I think that has more to door with the fact he Armoury’s room screams ‘generic training room’ more than anything.

The other room, however, shows us why we are given the amount of time we are.

It’s a workshop, filled with a very wide assortment of tools that most of which I don’t know the names of. A fair number of them catch Ethan’s attention, so I assume they’re related to enchanting in some way. A door leads from there into an alchemy laboratory, which Sophie says is on par with her mother’s.

Ethan sighs. “It’s a shame we don’t have much in the way of materials. There’s some scrap I can use to make some very rudimentary pieces, but anything decent will require monster remnants, and we simply don’t have any for it.”

Sophie nods. “Yeah. I’m not quite as gungho about alchemy as you are over enchanting, but I can put together some basic healing potions with the right materials.”

I look at Onslo, who is looking just as upset over the lack of materials, though less because he can’t make anything and more because he won’t get any magic items ti use. I get the feeling he was looking forward to that.

“Did… did none of you think to pick any of the remnants up?” I ask incredulously.

Ethan looks at me like I’m touched in the head. “I couldn’t exactly fight whilst carrying them, Valerie. It was hard enough as it was.”

“I need both hands for my spear.” Sophie says.

“It didn’t occur to me, no,” Onslo says, a little chagrined.

I sigh in exasperation. “Guys. You have pockets. Did you not check them?”

They look at me blankly.

“Oh for fu-. Watch, let me show you.”

I then proceed to methodically extract my small hoard of monster remnants onto one of the workbenches, to their collective astonishment.

Ethan’s gaze switches between the growing pile and his own pockets. A quick experiment shows that, like my pouches, his are a good bit larger on the inside.

“Well, now I feel stupid,” he says.

“Yep,” Sophie agrees.

I eventually top the pile with the Amphisbaena scale. The whole thing is now starting to overflow over the table a little. There were a lot of monsters. Now that I can see the full pile of their remains, it reminds me that quite a few of the fights I had were a little too reliant on luck. There were a number of times where I won very quickly and with little fanfare because it was a favourable matchup, i.e. big, strong, and stupid.

“So,” I say,failing utterly to contain a hint of pride in my voice. “Think you can make a few things with all this?”