The food at the mess hall left a lot to be desired even by Yuriko’s modest standards. For one thing, the meat was overcooked, tough, and chewy, and the sauce for it had too much pepper. The roasted potatoes and green vegetables were mushy and, worst of all, the dessert was a sad-looking bar of what appeared to be cake but it was dry and not at all sweet.

Yuriko barely finished her serving and despite her body wanting more, she refrained. Krystal ate expressionlessly while Mikel just kept eating. The mess hall had several long tables that could seat dozens and a few smaller round tables at the edges of the room. Yuriko and the others chose one of the long tables by the tall windows.

“Why is this so bad?” Millie groaned. She had left half of her serving on the plate.

“Tastes fine to me,” Heron shrugged.

“Nope, they’re bad,” Orrin grumbled.

“Cadets, you have a few more minutes to eat,” Leader Yorin called out. She and the Armsmaster didn’t eat in the mess hall. In fact, most of the diners here were, perhaps, only a couple of years older than the group.

There was an even mix of young men and women all clad in green uniforms. The insignia of the Eternal Empire, an eight-pointed silver star above a tree on a black field, was on the left sleeve, while the Watchtower insignia, three red dots arranged in a triangle, was on the opposite sleeve.

Yuriko brought her plate and utensils to the bussing area and walked up to the windows while she waited. The view from here was to the north, overlooking the wheat fields. The grain was almost ready for harvest and there were a few farmers walking along the dirt paths between the fields.

She summoned her Animus and diverted it to her eye, magnifying her vision. Now she could vaguely see the northern woods, a tangle of tall trees and heavy undergrowth. One of the figures she thought to be a farmer was actually a boy, just a bit younger than her, plucking at a grain.

Something drew her eyes to the west. It was perhaps a longstride away from the kid, who was a couple of longstrides away from where she was. The wheat moved counter to the wind as if something was creeping underneath. It wasn’t moving towards the boy though.

Just as she contemplated calling Leader Yoran’s attention, a couple of shuttles flew towards it. Each shuttle hovered about ten paces above the wheat with a pilot and a gunner holding a Plasma Caster. They came closer to the suspicious patch of wheat and, when they were only a couple of hundred paces away, the creature hiding underneath stood up.

It looked similar enough to the Wyldling she first hunted on the day of the Atavism Ritual though its carapace was more on the greenish side than grey. It had only stood up before a bevvy of plasma bolts blasted from the shuttle and splashed against its Protective Field.

“Fall in!” Leader Yoran yelled.

Yuriko tore her gaze away from the battle, or more like an execution than anything else really. The outcome of the battle didn’t look like it was in question. The Wyldling couldn’t reach the shooters and the militiamen, in turn, didn’t intend to risk their lives grandstanding.

“Yuri, come on!” Krystal hissed.

Shaking her head, she followed her friend and got in line. Soon enough the girls followed Leader Yoran down the hallways.

“What were you looking at?” Krystal whispered.

“A Wyldling,” Yuriko answered easily. “There was one in the wheat fields and the militia found it.”

“Oh!” Krystal shuddered, “I didn’t think that there would be one so near.”

“We’re near the border,” Yuriko shrugged. “I expect we’ll face them again during the training.”

“Oh right. You actually hunted one on Atavism Day.”

“More like my Da killed it when I failed to. He’s the one who found it, too.”

They were going down a set of stairs. The last time she had been here, she had gone straight up to the watch posts and balconies. Now, they were headed below the living spaces and maybe even below ground level. The lower level living spaces didn’t have windows, so it was hard to tell.

They passed by a couple of sentries who waved them through. Then, they were in a strange set of hallways that curved slightly so that it was impossible to see past a dozen paces in either direction. They passed by several branches and she noticed that they took the right-hand side branch every time. Eventually, they found themselves entering a small chamber that was dominated by an earthen pillar that connected the floor and ceiling. The middle part tapered into points and between them was a green spherical stone the size of her fist.

‘It’s not jade, I think,’ she pondered.

It wasn’t a smooth stone and there were odd protuberances on its surface. It spun slowly on an axis, the movement only perceptible because Yuriko had been watching it closely.

“This is the Gemheart,” Leader Yoran said. “It is the core of the Watchtower and serves to keep the Chaos at bay. It also happens to be a great lure for the Wyldlings which is why most of Faron’s Crossing’s strength is concentrated here. The Wyldlings can feel this thing for leagues around and will invariably find their way here instead of the town or the nearby villages.”

They were given a few minutes to stare at the stone, but other than the fact that it wasn’t connected at all to the pillar, it did little to hold their interest.

They left the chamber and made their way back upstairs. They were led to the bathing chambers which had lockers for their clothes, cold and hot water showers, also a bathing pool that could fit in a couple of dozen women. There were some soaking in the hot herbal water when they peeked, though the steam made it hard to see and, when they left the baths, they were soaked with the condensation.

Yuriko’s Plasma Caster and side-blade had already been deposited in the armoury even before lunch. They returned there now and they all had their measurements taken, from their height--Yuriko was the tallest by at least three inches--to how long their arms were.

Most of the weapons in the armoury were polearms with a few swords and combat knives. There was a rack of Plasma Casters that varied in length, girth, and calibre.

“Most of you won’t be using ranged weapons,” Leader Yoran said, “especially if your accuracy isn’t at least ninety-five percent. It would be a waste of your Animus if you can’t even hit your target. Even so, ranged strikers tend to use up their reserves quickly in battle. So, you will mostly train in polearms: either spears or glaives.”

By the time the tour was over it was mid-afternoon. Leader Yoran led the girls to a series of recreational rooms and left them there.

The door Yuriko and Krystal entered was labelled “Game Room”. It was a smallish room that could fit in a dozen people. There were a couple of two-person couches and a couple of armchairs. There were three low tables and cushions. The room was in the internal structure, hence no windows, but it was brightly lit anyway and the walls decorated with tapestries. The floor was covered in a plush carpet and a shoe rack was positioned right next to the entrance. There was a shelf by a wall filled with some books and several board games.

Heron, Zeyn, and the twins were inside, with Braden facing off against Zeyn who was seated across him. A wooden board was laid out between them.

“Hello!” Orrin greeted when they entered. “Want to play?”

“What’s the game?” Krystal asked.

“Tracer,” Heron replied. “Armsmaster showed it to us before he ditched us here. It’s a game of control and skill.”

The board had about twenty-five stones about an inch across: ten red, ten blue, and five purple. They were divided into rows of five in a red-blue-purple pattern. The centre column was completely purple while the red and blue stones were placed alternately, such that the second and fourth rows were blue-red-purple. The stones were three inches apart from the nearest one and lines connected each stone to at least three others.

There was a stud in each corner of the board where the boys pressed a finger on each hand against.

Heron flipped over an hourglass at the side of the board. “Begin.”

Braden and Zeyn’s eyes lit up with their Animus as they used Field to inject it into the board. Lines of their Animus followed the lines on the board: black for Braden and yellow for Zeyn.

“They’re supposed to light up as many of the waystones as quickly as they can while keeping those they’ve already touched lit. The red stones must be touched by Animus with an intent to warm, while the blue needs Animus with an intent to cool. The purple must be touched with both intents,” Orrin quickly explained. “The end of the round is indicated by the hourglass. Typical games last for five to seven rounds.”

Zeyn’s yellow Animus glow crept out from the studs he touched. It was painstakingly slow, Yuriko thought, taking about a minute, nearly a third of the sand in the hourglass had fallen to the bottom half before his Animus touched a stone each. The red one started lighting up but the blue one didn’t appear to be affected.

Braden, on the other hand, focused completely on the red stone, not even extending any of his Animus to the blue one and he reached the red stone in half of the time it took Zeyn. It started glowing completely red after another minute. After a certain point, the glow on his red stone stabilized and a ring of black, the colour of Braden’s Animus glow, appeared around it. From there, he started pushing another tendril towards the next red stone which was diagonal from where the first one was. The hourglass ran out before Braden could secure the stone and any Animus in the lines were expelled.

Zeyn had managed to activate the red stone on his end but that was about it. Both stood at one red stone each.

The next round, Zeyn continued trying to manipulate two strands of Animus at a time, to the same effect, but this time he managed to activate a blue stone before the round ended. This time, Braden had activated a couple of red stones, the third one in the middle of the board. He still didn’t have any blue stones activated.

While Yuriko looked at their game with some interest, Krystal pulled out another board game, this one was a purely strategic contest and yanked Yuriko off to play.

After a while, Braden whooped and started dancing around the table while Zeyn grumbled to himself.

While the two girls were in the middle of their game, a few people entered the game room and picked out other games to help pass the time. It wasn’t long before the room was crowded, with the majority just watching those already playing.

“I think we’re done,” Krystal sighed, toppling her pieces. “I give up.”

“Good game,” Yuriko said.

“Yuriko, want to play?” Heron asked while gesturing to the Tracer Board.

“Hmm, no thank you. I still need to fix my things. See you boys at dinner.”

“Sure. See you later,” he said dejectedly.

Yuriko and Krystal returned to their room, finding Millie and Ishika already there and settled in. Yuriko unpacked her bag, placing her clothes in one of the closets. When she was done, she settled down to meditate and practice her Animus control. She hadn’t had much time to do so since before the performance the evening before and she felt she was getting close to a breakthrough.