Elvira turned as fast as she could, aiming towards a random bolt on the distant wall she noticed earlier. She tried to manage her spin so her feet would naturally plant themselves in position. She had to wiggle her left foot a bit to get it to catch. Couldn’t have taken more than a tenth of a second.

She pushed her Vital Net to activate her Dash Tech, which she made earlier that morning. She had been practicing with it ever since, pausing only for a quick lunch and supper. Right now she was trying to use it without—

Hitori appeared in front of her in a blur, weapon at the ready. She already felt her VN guiding her body, settling under the force of gravity to ensure good traction for the move. It was too late for her to back out. Tech canceling was an advanced technique with significant trade offs. In particular was the one where she hadn’t learned how to do it yet. Instead she tried to time a swing of her sword to parry the blow.

Her weapon landed in the dirt behind Hitori with a dull thud. Taking stock of her situation, she realized Hitori impaled her through the left kidney. Her VN punished her with a spike of pain while it directed blood away from the injury. Also, her arm had somehow wrapped its way over Hitori’s shoulder. He held her up as she slumped down.

“Went for a parry?” Hitori said, pushing her into her own space. “A bold move, and not a bad idea, but you’ll have to incorporate it into the tech if you want to pull it off consistently.” He backed away gently, removing his blade without further damage. A wave of light closed the wound, but left a small line of blood on her skin.

“God, I’m horrible,” Elvira said. Her outfit was now more than half covered by Armor Tape patches. She retrieved her sword from the ground and replaced it to her sheath. “Nothing I’ve tired today has worked at all.”

Hitori gave her an incredulous look. “Oh, you mean it wasn’t you rocking that Dash Tech all day?” Elvira huffed. “Don’t sell yourself short. Making a useable tech on your first try is very impressive.” Hitori added with a chuckle, “Hells, my first one launched me sideways.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Elvira shrugged. “But it doesn’t really feel….”

“Like a win?” Hitori said. Elvira nodded. “Well, if it’ll make you feel better I can give you a free hit.”

“Har, har.” Elvira pushed him on the head. “But yes, it would have been nice to get at least one thing on you.”

“You know, I get that, but I think you might have the wrong perspective.”

“You mean there isn’t a really important practical exam tomorrow that even if I pass will be out of pity?”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about, perspective. Nova isn’t sentimental or indulgent. We’re pragmatic, almost pathologically so. It wouldn’t be sensible or reasonable for us to expect you to be on the same level as someone who’s been training their whole life after six months. Our training would be useless if that’s all it took.”

“That’s fair,” Elvira said. “But I wish I felt it.”

“Alright, you don’t have a lot of faith in yourself. Fine. You should, but okay, you don’t. Do you trust me, at least?” Hitori said. Elvira nodded reluctantly. “Then trust in my trust in you.” Hitori smiled.

Elvira laughed, then doubled over with a groan. “Oh God, why does laughter hurt so much.” She was still smiling in spite of the tears in her eyes. A few drops of blood fell to the ground and her smile faded. “And seriously, why am I still bleeding? I know I have plenty of Vital Energy remaining.”

“Your Vital Network is trying to conserve resources. That, or it’s being petty, one of the two.”

“Is that it Vinni? You being a little bitch?” Elvira said. She paused for a moment, and then frowned. “She said yes.”

Hitori laughed. “You know, I heard that there was an uptick in chatty VNs from the Inductor. Kind of reminds me of back when I was a kid.”

“Oh, you’re the one Vinni mentioned?” Elvira said. “This is your fault?”

“Honestly, maybe.” Hitori looked sheepish. “Nova’s Inductor is designed to accumulate traits from users, and the chattiness started after I used it last year. In my defense my VN stopped talking to me ages ago, after I met Protius.”

“Well, your sassy robot ghost is very annoying.”

Hitori laughed. “Technically, it’s more like you’re talking to yourself.”

“Oh great, I’m getting doubled teamed by my own bad attitude. Well, you know what Vinni, I only want you to be nice and supportive, you hear that!” Elvira paused, then her face drooped. “She said she doesn’t know how.”

“That’s rough.”

“Okay, that got way too real,” Elvira said, bracing herself. “Time for an abrupt subject change. What the heck is the World Net? Vinni mentioned it a few times when I was under, and if your talking to myself theory is true, she shouldn’t know things I don’t. Explain that, Mr. Technical.”

“Well, Ms. Real Talk, if you want to get technical, I said it was like you were talking to yourself. Your Vital Net conveying knowledge to you in your voice is like you talking to yourself,” Hitori said. Elvira huffed, then Hitori continued in a more serious voice. “As for the World Net? Basically it’s a kind of weak Vital Net made of cast off restructors. I think it plays a part in preventing mutant strains from forming. Possibly does other stuff. Chandra would know more, I’m sure.”

“Oh yeah, Chandra. I think I’m supposed to be able to do those, oh, what are they called? Sigils?” Elvira said.

“I think Paladin Crafts in the technical term,” Hitori said. “But yes, that’s what Ms. Athens told me.”

“Vinni noticed some unusual functionality in herself, I guess that’s it.” Elvira sagged with a groan. “I’m so far behind. Should I grab Chandra and stay up all night?”

“No. As long as you can still transfer Vital Energy”—Hitori looked at her expectantly. Elvira nodded—“then that’s good enough for tomorrow. We can worry about craft tokens later.”

“So, are we done for today?”

“Not quite, there’s one more thing I want to do. It will be fun, and educational.” Hitori gave a shrill whistle. A small animal bounced out of a nearby clump of bushes, chittering happily. It had bright yellow fur, and large round ears that wobbled on its big head. A giant poofy tail wagged behind it.

Elvira gasped. “It’s so cute!” She blushed and tried to strike a cool and relaxed pose, though she couldn’t hide the grin camped on her face.

Hitori knelt with his arm out, and the creature bounded onto his hand then climbed from there to his shoulder. It nestled into his neck with a faint purring sound.

“Ah, quit it! Quit it!” Hitori yelled while laughing. He gently pushed the creature away. “You mischievous little brat!” He scratched it under the chin.

“Is that a meta?” Elvira asked. “Wait, yes, obviously.” She paused. “I think? To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person this close before, at least one that wasn’t trying to bite my face off.”

“Was your first encounter with metafauna yesterday?”

“Yeah. With Li it’s been nothing but drills and lectures, and none of our classes have covered them. Before that, well, different circles, I guess. I didn’t know they could be cute, or friendly.”

“That’s a common misconception,” Hitori said. “Now don’t take this and go off thinking you can wander into the forest and cuddle any old critter you see, but still, the monstrous reputation of metafauna far outstrips their actual danger.”

“Really?”

“Of course. At heart, metafauna are animals. Sure they don’t get along well with humans, but animals have never gotten along well with each other anyway, it’s just these ones are a lot more powerful and a bit smarter.”

“How much smarter?”

“Depends on the animal they were before they changed. In something like a spider it—“Hitori paused a moment, a distant look flashed in his eyes—“uh, usually, anyway, doesn’t count for much. In rodents like this… well, I think it adds to their charm.”

A shimmer of suspicion crossed Elvira’s face. “You don’t strike me as the animal loving type.”

“You’ll see.” Hitori grinned back mischievously. “We’re going to play a game.”

“A game?”

“Yes, a simple game of tag. You and me versus this little guy.” Hitori motioned to the creature on his shoulder.

“Was is it, anyway?”

“The Codex lists them as Molniya, but the students at Nova like to call them Thunder Bunnies.”

“Thunder Bunnies? I think I see where this is going,” Elvira said in a flat tone. A playful note lingered in her eyes. “I’m starting to think you have a sadistic streak in you.”