“Your class will be going into the dungeons as your final exam for this class.”

One sentence had no right to fill Liliana with a volatile mixture of emotions. Fear, anxiety, excitement — all of it was twisted up inside of her, a tangled knot sitting in the middle of her chest, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.

Normally, a dungeon dive would fill her with excitement, happiness. The chance to fight enemies that bled and died, to chase after the high that was leveling up, something she hadn’t experienced in months thanks to the Academy’s no-leveling restriction.

However, there was an issue she had with this particular dungeon, namely its choice to fill itself with things straight out of her worst nightmares. She had barely survived one dungeon dive through it without devolving into a fear ridden, stuttering mess. Now they were expected to spend three days and two nights inside of it rather than a small handful of hours.

Liliana would have to sleep in a bug infested torture pit where at any moment one of those cursed creatures with more legs than any living being rightfully needed could sneak up on her.

Suffice to say, Liliana felt a lot of things in regard to her final exam for Battle Training, but none of them were happiness.

“This is a hate crime.” Liliana grumbled as she sat on the floor of the training room, surrounded by her team, as they all checked over their gear.

Their class was once more split in half, their teams arranged the same as before. Her, Marianne, Alistair, Emyr, Anya, Diana, Koth’talan, Basil, Rathwater and Dawn. Others had tried to cajole and worm their way into the team, but they had worked well together the last time and didn’t want to risk changing up their structure during their final exam.

Not when the grade they got on this exam would have a massive impact on their ranking and could determine if they retained their seats in class S or lost them. It was perhaps one of the reasons Diana was still on their team, despite the strained relationship she and Liliana now had. That strained relationship had bled out into the relationships Diana had with the rest of the team, many of them friends of Liliana’s who didn’t appreciate the other girl’s distance. Especially the ones who knew what caused it, far less understanding of Diana’s reasons than Liliana was.

The ones unaware of the circumstances just saw Diana suddenly icing Liliana out and were even less understanding. Their team was strained as a result, but even with that, it wasn’t worth risking an unknown variable. The team would behave, if only because their grades were more important than personal grudges.

Battle Training had the first exam out of all their classes, a whole three weeks before the Tournament would be held. They’d have a week of rest before the exams for the rest of their classes, and the written one for this class began. Then another week of rest before the Tournament was held, which could be the last chance some students would get to hold their spots.

The Tournament wouldn’t save someone who had abysmally failed, but it could tip the scales for someone who had just barely dipped below the necessary ranking. Or shove the person at the end of the ranking for their class down to a lower class.

Everything was coming to a head, and this exam marked the culmination of their sleepless nights and panicked studying and training. They’d been warned a week in advance what their final exam would be for this class and, as a result, students who had never seen the inside of a private training room suddenly had an urgency to spend as many hours as possible inside of one.

Liliana was lucky to be in class S where there were twenty individual training rooms, otherwise she might have had to duel someone just to use a training room. It was already happening in other classes and years, and seeing someone issue a challenge to a duel was becoming a common sight throughout the Academy. Students were picking up extra assignments too in the hopes of saving up enough merit points to afford some of the nicer gear.

Liliana had already splurged on a bit of armor for herself. A thick piece of iron was held over her chest by sturdy reinforced leather straps that buckled over her torso, complete with places to strap on sheathes for her daggers. [Threads of Control] had advanced far enough that she could now control six daggers at a time and, thanks to that, she’d needed to buy two more daggers as well.

She was getting closer to being able to control swords, but she wasn’t excited about the cost that would be accrued when she needed to buy six swords for her to use instead of daggers. The daggers, the armor and the pair of knee-high boots with armor on the shins had wiped out her entire stock of merit points she’d been saving. However, if she did well on her exams, she stood to gain a good amount of merit points, or if she placed highly in the Tournament.

She was lucky that potions weren’t necessary for her to buy. Thanks to her enrollment in the alchemy club, she had access to as many potions as she could make. And when she was properly motivated, she could churn out quite a lot, as she’d found out. Thankfully, Professor Gambrill was the type of instructor who was so easily distracted by her own experiments she didn’t notice when students stayed a bit too late in the alchemy club room and perhaps ended up falling asleep under the tables.

It had only happened twice, but the professor hadn’t noticed, or if she had, she didn’t punish Liliana or any of the other students who had used the room as an impromptu bedroom during the exam season. The blankets the students would wake up under implied the woman perhaps understood a bit too well what stress they were under.

“It’s not a hate crime,” Basil chided her gently, reaching over to tug at her tight braid and earning a slapped hand for his troubles.

Liliana hadn’t expected to grow closer to any of her newfound friends after the events of her summer vacation, but Basil had grown on her. Like mold. He was softer spoken than many of her friends, a comforting presence. His silence wasn’t as caustic as Koth’talan’s could be.

His newfound enjoyment of Herbology meant they had something to bond over as well, and the quiet stolen moments she found with the other boy in the greenhouses had made their original acquaintance type relationship blossom into friendship. A memory rose to the top of her mind, the day their friendship had truly become something that could be called that.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t expect anyone to be here.” Liliana said softly, face flushed in embarrassment as she stumbled over her own feet, tripped up by surprise.

She had escaped to the greenhouses for a dual purpose, one to get away from her friends who had been hovering around her far too much lately. She appreciated their concern, but there were only so many sympathetic glances, gentle reminders to eat, and watching gazes she could stomach for so long. So she’d slipped into a hidden tunnel when they had looked away, hurrying down hidden passages until she found herself near to the greenhouses.

Her second reasoning was she wanted to see what plants were being cultivated, and potentially see what she could harvest for potion making. Some potions required fresh ingredients, as opposed to the dried and preserved materials in the potion room. Nemesis had also been begging to visit the greenhouses to explore. She knew right now there were no classes or clubs scheduled, so she wasn’t expecting to find another student in the greenhouse, least of all a student from her own class.

“You don’t have to leave, Liliana.” Basil said, his face in a soft smile as he sat next to a rainbow rose bush, one blossom cradled in his hands and his normally pristine uniform smeared with dirt and plant matter. It was obvious he’d been in the greenhouse for a while, working with the plants.

“If you’re sure?” Liliana said hesitantly, shifting her weight nervously.

She had barely spoken to Basil for weeks, not since the end of the summer vacation. She had distanced herself from most of her new friends, except for Anya, who refused to be ignored. Partially because of the bad reaction she’d gotten from Diana, there was a chasm between them now where there hadn’t been one before and Liliana worried they’d never bridge the space between them. Liliana feared her new friends would similarly turn away from her if she dared to get close to them, if they knew the danger her presence came with.

“Yes, let me introduce you to Sheila.” Basil said with a charming grin, his green and brown eyes lighting up in amusement as Liliana let out a giggle.

“You named the rosebush?” Liliana asked, taking a small step forward, head titled in interest.

“I heard that naming plants helps them thrive.” Basil whispered loudly with a wink.

Liliana felt the tension in her shoulder relax as she approached. Basil kept his movements slow and gentle as he told her about first the rainbow rose then other plants, speaking in a quiet, lilting tone as if he was addressing a feral animal he was trying to entreat closer.

“Well, I hate it.” Liliana grumbled as she finished sharpening one of her daggers, shoving it back in its sheath with a huff. Her lips were twisted in a small smile though, and Basil bumped his shoulder against hers.

He seemed to pick up on the fact that physical touch calmed Liliana better than words did, and so had slowly begun incorporating it into their interactions. Liliana wasn’t sure why the southern duchy heir was being so kind to her, why he seemed dead set on being friends with her, but she was grateful.

Liliana’s eyes drifted to Diana, who was talking to Rathwater quietly, as far from Liliana as she could get. The girl would talk to Liliana occasionally now, but the days where she spent meals with her group or nights in their study room were gone. It hurt to know Liliana had lost a friend, and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever get her back. She had gotten so attached to the girl and now that connection had been severed.

Liliana thumbed one of her daggers absentmindedly, hissing when her finger slipped and the blade cut her. She looked down and glared at the cut even as it healed, leaving no mark besides a bead of blood for such a shallow wound. The weak pain refocused her mind, and she drew the blade against the whetstone, sharpening to a deadly edge.

“That doesn’t make it a hate crime,” Emyr informed her, placing his chin on her shoulder as he watched her sharpen her dagger. She paused her sharpening to flick him in the nose, forcing him to pull back slightly.

“It feels targeted.” Liliana huffed at her friend, tilting her head back to rest on his chest as she pouted, done with sharpening her last dagger.

“Yeah, sure, the Academy specifically made a centipede dungeon just to torment you.” Emyr drawled, tone heavy with sarcasm as he took her dagger from her lax fingers and flipped it, catching the weapon by the handle before tossing it in the air again.

“Exactly!” Liliana huffed, throwing her hands in the air.

Emyr snorted and slipped her dagger into one of her sheaths without prompting before he stood suddenly, making Liliana fall on her back at the lack of support. She glared up at her friend from the ground while her friends chuckled at her antics from around her.

“Lili, if you’re done playing around, we need to double check the potions you have,” Marianne snapped from where she was sitting with Alistair, poring over lists of supplies. The princess was obviously succumbing to the stress of the exams with her shortened temper.

Some had been supplied by the school, such as tents, sleeping bags, food, first aid supplies and water. Others they had to bring themselves, like anything for warmth, their own armor, and weapons. Small things like ropes, knives, maps and such had to be provided by the students as well.

Basil was bringing plant seeds, to supplement their food supply and to make the use of his affinity easier. Marianne and Rathwater would be able to summon water too if they needed extra, and Emyr functioned as a portable spark kit, but they had to bring their own firewood.

Basil could make trees, but green wood was a hassle to burn and produced more smoke than heat, and in a subterranean dungeon, smoke inhalation was a deadly threat. Liliana was tasked with the potion supply while others in their team were charged with various item acquisitions.

“Ugh fine. Haven’t I already told you guys what I have?” Liliana grumbled as she flipped to her feet and strode to where her brother and friend were sitting.

She summoned a parchment already labeled with her potion list. Twenty-five minor Health potions, twenty minor Mana potions, thirty minor Stamina potions, ten Major Health potions, five major Mana potions. She had focused on potions they would most likely need rather than anything that could increase their stats; she didn’t have a lot of time in the alchemy club and hadn’t wanted to risk not having enough necessary potions just so someone could have a boost to their Speed or Strength. Stat enhancing potions took longer to make and were more prone to failure when brewing anyway.

“We’re double checking.” Marianne informed her, snatching the paper from her hand and comparing it to the other parchment in her hand.

Liliana hummed as she sat down, leaning on Marianne’s side as the princess went over the supply lists again, mind drifting. She should’ve figured out how to make bug spray or something. A bug repellent potion or an aerosolized explosive would do nicely for this damned dungeon. Anything that meant she didn’t have to face her phobia.

“Do you have the breakdown of the creatures we’re most likely to face?” Marianne asked and Liliana shook her head, banishing fantasies of giant spray cans full of industrial strength bug killer.

“Yeah, I already gave everyone the copied sheets. My hand still hurts from writing out ten copies.” Liliana rotated her wrist to enforce her point. She swore her fingers were still stiff from holding a pen for so long, even with [Threads of Control] aiding her in her writing.

On top of potion duty, Liliana had been tasked with research into the centipedes and their possible evolutions. She now knew far more about the centipedes of this world than she ever wanted or needed to know.

Such as the fact that what they’d faced were Centipede Soldiers, a Rank 6 creature part of the Myriada species. It could evolve at Rank 5 into a Phalanxede, an armored version of the Centipede Soldier, or a Ceturionede, a more streamlined version with swords for legs and pincers. Those were what they were likely to face. If they were truly unlucky, there would be a chance to run into the Rank 4 evolution as a boss, a Millipede Strategus.

But that was highly unlikely, as she was certain the dungeon went no higher than Rank 5. They wouldn’t chance a class of Rank 6s against a possible Rank 4 opponent. Even if Liliana had a Rank 4 tame, they wouldn’t risk the other group in the same dungeon knowing they had no way of fighting a Rank 4 safely. Even with Polaris, Liliana wasn’t certain her group could survive an encounter with a boss Rank 4 creature with an army of Rank 5s and 6s.

Even so, Liliana had included the possible boss in her notes for everyone. Better safe than sorry.

Luckily, the entire evolutionary line stayed close to Earth and Metal affinities, with few chances of deviations. Unluckily, they had just passed the fall equinox, so Earth type beasts were stronger than normal right now. It was likely why the day for their exam fell only two days after the equinox, right after their short break for it. The dungeon would be at its hardest right now and it would be a struggle, even without any Rank 4s thrown into the mix.

“Times up for preparation.” Rauk called out, drawing the attention of the entire room.

There were four teachers this time, two for each group. It was obvious they were being more careful with this longer excursion into the dungeon, or they wanted more eyes to give and take points for their grades. Her group once more had Rauk, but Vereign had elected to join him in watching their team for the exam.

Guérin had actually graced their class with his presence and would be accompanying Zir’elon’s team into the dungeon, along with Professor Reviee, their Fundamentals’ professor. Liliana did not envy Zir’elon’s team with the way Guérin was glaring at them as if they were shit he had accidentally stepped in. Liliana hoped their Battle Training professor’s attitude towards them would improve after the tournament and exams, when the students remaining had proven they belonged in the class.

She much preferred having two of her favorite teachers following her around. Rauk and Vereign had done the most for her out of any of the staff, as little as it was. Regardless, it was clear they cared a little about her wellbeing. Even if they did less than the bare minimum, in her opinion, it was better than the nothing the rest of the teachers did.

Vereign had never revoked Alistair and Emyr’s permission to enter her rooms, though she suspected the teacher had some way of monitoring to be sure that nothing untoward was happening between her and Emyr.

After the break, Rauk had been careful who she was assigned against during the first few weeks, and had visited her when she was training privately to give her tips and advise her on her techniques. It was obvious that was his way of being sure she was okay. It was clear they were both doing something to help her, and she appreciated it even as she resented them a bit for not doing more.

But Liliana had long ago gotten used to being disappointed by adults and no longer placed expectations on them that they would ultimately never meet. Even if the expectation was something as simple as caring for her or protecting her. Jason and Silas were the exception to the rule, they had defied the trend set by every other adult in Liliana’s life.

“Ugh, into hell we go.” Liliana groaned as she stood, stretching out her muscles one last time to ensure she was ready to face her literal nightmares.

“Come on, Lili, face your fears and overcome.” Alistair teased gently, flicking her braid into her face.

“I will not hesitate to stab you.” Liliana deadpanned, fingering a dagger as she glared at her brother, who held up his hands in surrender.

“We’ll keep you safe from the big scary bugs,” Emyr assured her, throwing an arm over her shoulders as he dragged her towards the door, where the teachers had already left, heading towards the dungeons.

“Who is going to keep you safe from me?” Liliana asked as she elbowed her friend, making him groan, bending over and putting half his weight on her in revenge.

“My dashing good looks and charm?” Emyr wheezed and Liliana huffed but let her friend drag her out the doors.

“It’s definitely a hate crime,” she muttered under her breath as the confused tangle of emotions in her chest pulsed faster, spurred on by the hummingbird wing like beating of her heart. For better or worse, she would face the dungeon, and hopefully, she wasn’t about to fall to her fears and fail.