A week passed by, and the team continued training. Caeden and Lily spent at least a few hours every day continuing to deal with the Forged. Over a dozen of their members had died during the Academy assault, and more than double that number had been injured. It was at this time that the Academy's cruel practices showed their value. Despite the death of friends and grievous bodily harm many suffered, they all came out relatively unscathed.

After facing almost a year of weekly battles where death was possible, and injuries happened often, all the Forged had come to terms with their mortality. Of course, they mourned those lost, and Caeden coordinated a memorial service in the continental traditions for all of them. Most of the Forged were continental natives, so the service was deeply appreciated. He even forged remembrance chambers, small cylinders of Lifenum, a magical metal whose durability scaled inversely with its quantity, that had been infused with the ashes of the dead. These were given to those closest to the fallen, and he made sure to check with them about any family members, making chambers for the parents and siblings they had left behind. He would deliver them at a later date.

Near the beginning of that week, not long after Lily’s first, near-disastrous, success with her new Galaxy splinter, the other top one hundred ranked students returned from their monster-hunting excursion. This returned all the strongest members of each faction to campus and normally would have rekindled the ongoing petty conflicts that had defined the first six months of the year.

But nothing about the Academy was normal at the moment. The Forged may have suffered casualties, but the other factions had it even worse. The Seat factions paid very little effort into developing their weaker members, the ones that stayed behind and were on campus during the Revolution attack. As such, they were under-trained and under-equipped compared to the Forged. They lost far more people.

With the CA itself in a tough situation and with a competition of their youngest members closing in, fighting among the factions was considered ‘undesirable.’ So a hard stop was placed on all previous actions, like turf warfare or harassing students from other factions. Even ranking days had been stopped. All to preserve the students that remained and prevent more losses. All the factions agreed.

Of course, the worst among the Seat factions didn’t really care. The whole point of these weaker members had been to stroke the ego of the strongest, part of a game of who had the most members. The Seat factions were more about political posturing that was so common among the shrouded than actually benefiting or developing those involved. Especially so early on in this school cycle.

No families or the military could recruit members before the first year of school had passed, and most wouldn’t want to anyway. After all, the point of the first school year was to separate the observant and the skilled from the rest. It gave those in power a chance to study the students and make sure any contracts offered would benefit the contractor. No one wanted to overpay for an underperformer, after all.

Right now, the faction game was just a way for the young scions of important groups to get their feet wet in the world of endless squabbling and casual death battles that took place among the shrouded elite. It was only next year that factions would represent centers for recruiting talented outsiders into said factions.

That’s not to say shady dealing didn’t occur. The Core faction, the Ether Soldiers, was a prime example. To join, one had to sign a contract to spend the next fifty years in the military, far more than the mandatory decade. Those that signed had no idea that this contract was completely unenforced and couldn’t be upheld against them. But the one they would sign at the beginning of the second year to ‘renew their commitment’ would bind them completely. This was done to prevent any that were scouted from entertaining other, better, offers, as they believed they were already under contract.

Once again, this was allowed by the Academy as a way to separate the clever from the rest. As far as the Headmaster was concerned, those who didn’t read the rules enough to understand their rights didn’t deserve to exercise them.

Personally, Caeden found that stance to be barbaric and backward. He had a hard time reconciling the ruthless and uncaring figure of the Headmaster with the doting grandfather he knew Damon Vestigious to be. He actually ended up asking Cat about the strange dichotomy.

She had only shrugged, saying, “Gramps has zero respect for those that won’t look out for themselves. He grew up in a really different time. Back then, it was kill or be killed. The CA didn’t even exist, and the country from before sounds like an awful place, from what he told me. Even worse than it is now. At least now, most shrouded are treated with respect. Back then, only the strongest of the strong had a say, and the only rule was whatever the most powerful person in the room could enforce.”

“I think Gramps understands that things are different now, but he doesn’t know how to change things from the way they’ve always been done. Plus, the Council likes it this way. Gramps is strong, but he can’t just tell the Council to fuck off without something to back him up. They want the weaker students to get locked into the shittiest work because it means they don’t have to worry about filling those positions. It’s just easier for them if things work this way. And from what Gramps has said, the Council always does whatever is easiest for them while keeping their power. It’s how he got them to agree to leave you alone. Because it meant they didn’t have to do anything.”

It painted a dark picture in Caeden’s mind. The Council was lazy beyond belief, only interested in their personal ventures and entertainment, while the Headmaster wanted to change but was so ingrained in his old mentality that he couldn’t see a path forward outside the one he had always known. If these were all who could lead the CA, the Revolution was the least of their problems. They would collapse from within.

Of course, Caeden then realized that was precisely what was happening. The Council’s inattention was what had led to the Revolution in the first place. He was literally seeing the downfall of the Central Authority play out in front of him. And he and his friends would be tasked with delaying that fate. Not stopping it. No, they weren’t strong enough to stop thousands of years of neglect and brutality. But they could delay it and spare billions that would be caught up in the fall.

It was a heavy burden. Caeden decided to focus on the elements of it that he could influence. His own strength and the strength of his friends. According to Damon, they were tasked with exceeding all expectations in the Tournament of Powers. Hopefully, that would be enough to dissuade the surrounding countries from thinking that the CA was as injured as it was.

Now, Caeden and his friends were going to find out exactly what that entailed. With the other top students back from their trip and given enough time to acclimate to the changes that had happened at the Academy and recover from their trip, it was time to learn what exactly the Tournament of Powers was. Details had been sparse. Lily had tried to access records on the topic and found them blocked.

They had been told that the Headmaster had called for a gathering of the top twenty students, where he would be explaining the Tournament of Powers in depth. Arriving at the designated place, a large theater-style room in the Mess with a stage at the front, Caeden could feel at least two death stares aimed his way.

One he quickly identified as Ander, Lily’s brother. That one wasn’t a surprise. Ander had an unhealthy and deeply creepy obsession with controlling his sister and blamed Caeden for her emancipation from under his thumb. Lily noticed almost the same time he did, and her eye roll was a pleasant development. Lily had never shown true fear of her brother, but she certainly didn’t want anything to do with him and hated to be in his presence. It seemed that that aversion had lessened into a general contempt. Caeden hoped that there would come a day when she would forget her brother entirely.

The other stare somewhat surprised Caeden. It came from Victor, the previous number one ranked student and the other dual-shrouded at the Academy besides Caeden and Erik. Their last and only fight had ended in Caeden’s loss after suffering a devastating, life-threatening injury. Since then, Caeden had advanced not only to Nascent shroud, but also True shroud. It placed him firmly in the top seat and far outside Victor’s reach.

Caeden wasn’t necessarily surprised by the animosity; he had dethroned the man. No, Caeden had simply forgotten about Victor practically as soon as their fight was over. After his loss, Caeden had been far more concerned with his five-stage fight against Ander’s faction, Solar Radiance. Since then, Victor’s existence had been more of a side note than anything else.

Amusingly, Caeden had noted the school rankings after the hunting trip. His entire team had eclipsed Victor. Cat had a magic shroud, Erik was dual-shrouded as well as a Nascent Shroud, and Lily had a second splinter. His team occupied the first, second, third, and fourth spots. Only after them did Victor find himself in fifth place. He wondered how Asherta would fare against him. She wasn’t currently part of the rankings, as she hadn’t participated in any ranking days. Despite that, the Headmaster had personally okayed her to join this meeting, considering her raw power and latent potential easily put her in the top twenty of their class.

“Alright, let's get started.” The Headmaster said, simply appearing on stage when no one was looking. It seemed to be his entrance style. Immediately, all idle chatter ended. The only sound was Asherta, who ignored several glares and continued to gnaw on a whole deer haunch. Caeden knew she had seasoned it with Several herbs and spices, along with an industrial-grade cleaning agent similar to bleach. Honestly, her digestion seemed entirely different from a human’s; otherwise, he wasn’t sure how she was surviving her current eating habits.

“I’m here to explain to all of you about the tournament you will be participating in. We have exactly one month before that tournament begins. According to the rules, first-time participants like yourselves are initially part of a separate group and are only given one month’s notice of the rules. This is why none of you have heard of this tournament before, and you weren’t allowed to access information on it before now. I’m sure some of you tried.” Damon explained, ignoring the loud crunching sounds of Asherta chewing on bone.

“It is a test of your ingenuity and adaptability, as you won’t have years of forewarning and preparation for the events involved. First of all, I will tell you this. The Tournament of Powers is not just a fighting tournament. Dozens of different skill challenges and tests will take place over several months. This will include events based around various skilled crafts, from ethersmithing to baking. This Tournament of Powers will be only the second of such to include a challenge of ethertechnicians.”

“There will also be events testing your capabilities in each of the basic principles of shrouds. That being aura senses and manipulation, as well as infusion-based physical enhancement and formshifting. All students will not participate in each event. Rather, only the top three in each discipline will represent the CA in the youth division. We will be holding mockup matches to determine the most skilled among you. If one student acquitted themselves well in multiple disciplines, they will participate in all they qualify for.”

“Make no mistake; there will also be a combat tournament in the classic style. Both individual and group events will be held, with the group fights split between three, five, and ten shrouded events. All of you will take part in the individual bouts. The group fights, however, will only involve those who can prove effective teamwork. We will not force teams that will simply fail to perform.”

“The victors from the individual and group fights of the youth tournament will be sent on to fight their seniors in the official tournament. This is the CA’s goal. In this Tournament of Powers, we will succeed in claiming first place in the youth tournament. Normally your numbers would be supplemented with recent graduates of the Academy, as the Tournament of Powers happens every ten to twenty years on average. Unfortunately, the last one was conveyed only three years ago, so you are the only class that has not participated and are the only ones allowed to enter the youth tournament.”

“I expect each and every one of you to perform to the best of your abilities. Most of the focus will be on official events rather than youth events. This is no excuse not to outperform those ten to eighty years your senior. Success yields great prizes, especially for any that move from the youth tournament to the official one. Though the rewards have not yet been announced, as they will be provided by the host country, previous tournament winners have received such grand prizes as monster-generated items, especially crafted grandmaster rank armor and weapons. Etherships, vast quantities of ether, even the right to petition a grandmaster for a shrouded weapon are all possible.”

Unable to hold back, murmuring ran through the room at the idea of such amazing prizes. Caeden didn’t blame them. That list contained the most valuable things a shrouded could ever want. Items that couldn’t be produced or replicated by any shroud.

“I encourage everyone to study previous tournaments, as you will now have access to those records. Train, grow your skills. The competition to determine slots from the skill challenges will happen in one week. That is all.” And he was gone.

Caeden almost wanted to laugh at the abrupt address. He left no room for questions and simply laid everything out. Honestly, it reflected the Headmaster’s reputation more than any other encounter he’d had with the man. Even Damon’s opening speech when Caeden entered the Academy had been more welcoming and inspiring than the dry conveyance of information that was just thrown at them.

“Your team should come join me. There is more I must tell you.” The words echoed in his head.

Looking around, Caeden could tell the others had experienced it as well.

“Looks like Gramps has more to say.” Cat shrugged, heading off toward Damon’s office. Caeden looked at Lily. They both shrugged before following their friend.