“When I said to meet me here before breakfast, I wasn’t expecting to find you meditating in the shower room.” The voice was the woman instructor he’d fought the previous day.

Serenity turned to her and stood. It was nice to be able to move easily. “I needed a mirror, and the only one I knew of was here, so - here I am.”

The woman looked him up and down. “You are looking healthier. That’s good to see. Now, if you’ll excuse me … we’ll talk after my morning shower.”

Serenity took a quick glance in the mirror - he still looked to be a healthy weight - and headed outside. Maybe he could pick up another point or two while he waited on her.

By the time the woman made it outside, he’d figured out that while he could mostly direct it, sometimes he would get something he didn’t intend to. He wasn’t sure if that was lack of focus or something more basic. It was still an amazing ability.

“Good morning,” Serenity greeted the woman.

“Good morning. I should introduce myself. I’m Aardya a’Kerinth - please call me Kerr. You are Ek’re’kht, are you not?”

“I am.”

It took him a moment to realize that her entire statement had been in Sterath - and that he’d replied in the same language. He wasn’t sure why she looked shaken by his reply.

When she didn’t say anything after a moment, he asked, “Is something wrong?”

“I’ve never actually heard the royal form used before.”

Serenity switched back to English to ask, “Would you expect the Peace of the Grave to use anything else? On topic though, what do you actually want?”

Kerr looked dubious for a moment, then laughed. “I’d like to ask how in the seven hells you got that Name, but I doubt you’d tell me.”

“Not without trusting you a lot more than I do right now. Letting you know it’s real seems like more than enough.” Serenity smiled to soften the harsh statement.

“Fair enough. I should get on with it, not long until breakfast. I’m here because I’m pretty sure you’re the center of this Tutorial group, and this is the first Tutorial. That means you’re the top candidate from your planet. And from what I’ve seen … I’ve never seen a candidate with so much promise, and I’ve done several Tutorials before.”

“Doesn’t that take a lot of time? There are only about five hundred people here, and this stage is a month…?” Serenity didn’t really remember how it worked anymore.

“We’re in compressed time. It’s not too bad, really. I’d happily spend more time in the environment of a newly inducted planet. It’s not quite as rewarding as being part of an invasion force, but it’s much safer. And with the time compression, it’s pretty much pure gain. Realtime, it’s only about half a year.”

Serenity nodded. He’d never had the option to teach in a Tutorial (although he’d been in several invasions), but her logic made sense. “So, then … what do you mean, center of the Tutorial?”

“Each Tutorial is a group of people selected because of their physical proximity to a particular person - we call that person the center. It’s generally believed to be the person with the most potential who hasn’t yet been through the Tutorial. That’s why this being the First Tutorial matters. I hope you’re not going to dispute me about being a top candidate?”

Serenity shook his head.

“Good. So. I’m blunt. I could do this other ways - and you’ll see people do this other ways. But I’ll be blunt. I want to build bridges with you. You’re powerful enough that I think your planet has a good chance to win out, and leave you a force to be reckoned with. So I want to have the option of having you as an ally.”

Well, that was better than the other reaction he’d seen to powerful people.

She held out a small crystal. “So here’s my contact information. You can use it once you reach a -” Kerr broke off, looking at his left hand as he took the crystal.

Serenity held up the crystal and thought Contact information transfer

[Aardya a’Kerinth [Kerr] has been added to your contact list]

“You .. have contacts unlocked. Why am I surprised by this. You have actual combat training, not just skills from the Order. You have a fecking crystal hand. And can fight for hours at Tier 0. Not only that, you’re Named in a language that isn’t even present on your planet. What in the hells.” Her voice sounded nearly expressionless.

Serenity smiled. He couldn’t help but be amused at throwing the clearly very experienced instructor for a loop. “It’s always the small things, isn’t it? But yeah, I have a lot unlocked. The hand’s only temporary though. I probably should have faked exhaustion, but … it was good training. And I didn’t think of it.”

Kerr just looked at him for an entire minute. “You … didn’t … think … of … it. Please tell me you’re still hiding some of what you can do. That’s the only thing that can excuse that level of idiocy.”

“I’m hiding enough.” Serenity was confident. If he had to, he was pretty sure he could wipe out the entire tutorial. Including the instructors. It would push him back into the person he didn’t want to be, but if the cause was enough, he could do it.

Kerr looked at him doubtfully, then sighed. “The other reason I’m here is to do what we should have done after yesterday’s fight. I need to talk to you about your options for weapons on your path. Did you get any Notices? Seeing as it’s you -”

Serenity paged back through his old notifications and sent her the two from the fight that he was willing to share.

[General skill with weapons, both armed and unarmed, has been Noticed. Additional Paths are opened.]

[Willingness to fight at a severe disadvantage through repeated failures until the absolute end has been Noticed. Additional Paths are opened.]

“Huh. Either of those would have been a good outcome. The first one should net you a Weaponsmaster path as well as several individual weapon Paths. Do you know about repeating Tiers?”

Serenity nodded. It was good to see that the instructors were sharing that information, though he wondered if everyone would get a one-on-one session like this. Probably not.

“Good. If you’re a weapons specialist - if that’s your Path - I recommend repeating the Tier for each weapon you want to use after taking the Weaponmaster path. That cements Weaponmaster into your History and prevents any of the weapons from taking over but still lets you get the benefit of the individual Paths for their weapons. I assume you’re probably going for a more hybrid Path, though?”

“Good guess.”

“It’s the crystal hand. Stuff like that doesn’t happen to people on a pure Weapons path.” Kerr somehow managed to say that with a neutral tone of voice, but her eyes glinted with amusement.

“Got me there.” Serenity was beginning to think Kerr had the potential to be a good friend.

“Alright then. Given how you seem to feel about weapons, a weaponsmaster Path still seems like a good one for you. I’d recommend taking it early, though if you have a primary caster Path you may want to take it after that. With your second Notice, you’ll probably also get a weapons Path that progresses through failure. I recommend taking it, but only if you’re in a place where you can repeatedly fight against people who are better than you. A training ground would be perfect, but unless you take it as your very first Path, I doubt you’ll get there during the tutorial. Don’t take it as your first Path. You really, really don’t want to start your path off depending on failure.”

The advice about weapons paths wasn’t surprising, but Kerr’s advice about the second Notice was pure gold. He’d never have thought about considering his current training situation as a reason to choose a particular path. “Thank you.”

“Enjoy your breakfast. May your enemies fall before your might.”

The traditional Sterath farewell to an ally.