After Calisco’s crushing victory, the group hung around for another hour to watch the rest of the matches. Det had originally been eager to get right back to the training room to keep practicing, but Sage had promised it would be worth the time.

  The man had not been wrong. The duels they watched were all C or B-Rank, with some wild displays of magic. Watching the movie-fights on the TV back in the apartment was entirely different than watching it live. Yes, the fighters still ‘made a show of it’, but they were also far more efficient with their battle. No monologuing or giving their opponent an opportunity to use some power-up or final form.

  The most impressive part of it all was, of course, how versatile the fighters made their magic. Like Det, they only had one core ability. How they expanded and evolved that ability, however, was where the difference lay.

  Invisibility, for example. If anybody had asked Det how it could be used in a fight, he would’ve said, “They can make themselves invisible”. It would’ve been a good answer. Just not accurate when compared to how the people fought.

  The woman in the arena—A Vanguard with invisibility magic—got up to all kinds of antics with her ability. It seemed she could make any part of herself invisible, as well as anything she was carrying or holding. More than that, things she had been holding remained invisible for several seconds after she released them.

  This had her making parts of herself vanish throughout the fight. Fists and feet came from unexpected angles because the entire limb disappeared as she went on the offensive. Knives she threw couldn’t be seen until they struck. She even hid her opponent’s disarmed weapon briefly, faking out throwing it in one direction, while actually just dropping it at their feet.

  Through practice and cunning, she won the fight against a Duelist who should’ve been able to beat her in terms of raw fighting skill.

  All in all, it had been fantastic to watch, and all six cadets eagerly returned to the training room after the match with a new fire under their asses to get them going. Of course, none of the fighters had used Wordless equipment during their duels, but that was still the priority for Det and his group when they got to the room.

  Luckily for them—mainly for Sage—Beauty returned for a second night in a row, bringing an automaton for cadet, and assisting the group with training with their equipment.

  By the end of the night—or maybe more accurately early morning, since it was probably about one a.m. when they left—a newly motivated Det was able to now move kernels through his swordbrush as easily as a regular brush.

  Meanwhile, Tena’s shield could absorb multiple unenhanced explosions from Calisco. The enhanced explosions—with the benefit of the strange sonic pulse the gloves released—were still the limit of what the shield could take. One blast would crack it. A second would shatter it.

  Aside from that, the most interesting thing they learned was that Calisco’s earmuffs offered her a form of sonar. They didn’t drastically increase her hearing, which was probably for the best with how loud her explosions tended to be. Since the explosions often blocked her view, though, that was why the Wordless equipment held so much value to her.

  On the opposite end of the spectrum, Weiss’ whip performed exactly as expected. Conveniently, for the entertainment of the rest of the group, the man blushed every time he used it. Mainly on Tena, as she was dealing with Calisco’s explosions. Since Det hadn’t been hurt, he hadn’t been a target of it yet, but Tena embarrassingly had described it the first time as “a good pain.” That was something the rest of the group was not going to let her live down anytime soon.

  The following morning after that was the next new class Det and the others would attend. Like that accursed alchemy class that Eriba clearly wanted to shoot—even though it was more of a concept than a thing—this was a joint course with the all the other cadets. Det was both excited and dreading it.

  History. Possibly his least favorite class through any schooling he’d ever attended.

  It was painful in junior high school, when half the time it was called “social studies,” and even worse in high school and university. Taking Greek and Roman history, while mildly more entertaining, still wasn’t his cup of tea. On the other hand, the history of the ReSouled might give him some hint as to why he got pulled to Elestar against his will. Better yet, it might hold a clue to getting him home. That was the only thing that really got him back to the classroom without a gut full of dread.

  He just had to deal with the classes.

  “Is every class going to be in this room?” Det asked as he sat down in the same familiar seat he had for the alchemy class. It wasn’t that the seats were assigned or anything; he just felt it would be easier if he always sat in the same place. From the way the other ReSouled moved—filling in the same chairs they had a few days ago—he wasn’t the only one with the thought.

  “Can Calisco explode it?” Eriba said quietly from beside him.

  “She probably could,” Det said. “She might get in trouble, though.”

  As the words came out of his mouth and he looked at the woman sitting on the other side of Sage, he shrugged. “Totally worth it.”

  “I’m okay if she gets in trouble, as long as we don’t have to take the class,” Eriba said.

  “Way to throw your teammate to the wolves, you two,” Sage said.

  “Not like she wouldn’t do the same thing to me,” Det reminded the man.

  “And why would I go out of my way to help you?” Calisco asked, clearly having heard the conversation.

  “Because you don’t like the alchemy class any more than I do,” Det said.

  “I just don’t get why we have to measure stuff,” Calisco said. “I do things by feel. That should be good enough.”

  “Remind me not to be your lab partner when we start brewing alchemical solutions,” Weiss said from the far end of the row of party mates.

  “Your loss if you don’t want an A,” Calisco said.

  “I really don’t think that’s the grade you’re going to get,” Weiss said flatly.

  “Do they even have grades like that?” Tena asked. “Didn’t the instructors say that there’s no pass or fail?”

  “That’s what they said,” Det replied. “But if that’s the case, where’s the tension? If this is supposed to be our academic arc, shouldn’t there be some kind of pressure?”

  “What is it with you and arcs?” Tena asked.

  “Too much anime with my daughter,” Det fully admitted. “Especially when it’s an academy story. We’ve already done the rivals, the arena is coming up, and then there’s bound to be a summer holiday arc or something like that. Maybe… maybe a beach arc? Yeah, there’s always one of those.”

  “You just want to see me in a bikini,” Calisco said. “Not that I can blame you, ’cause I’m pretty hot in a bikini. Dat ass, whoo!”

  “I take back what I said about the beach arc. Let’s have a North Pole arc, or whatever the equivalent is here on Elestar.”

  Calisco didn’t get a chance to offer a retort to the comment, with the door once again opening at the front of the classroom. Two instructors walked out and moved to the large table at the front. A moment later, a third instructor came out—or maybe an assistant—pushing a huge trolley of books.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Great, more books,” Det said. “Worse, they’re going to be history books. Possibly the driest written word known to man.”

  Forcing himself to look away from the books and the trauma they were trying to induce, Det focused his attention on the two instructors.

  For history teachers, they were much younger than he expected. If it wasn’t for ReSouled physiology and the way Ranks could hide ages, he would have assumed this pair was in their mid-twenties. A man and a woman, both wearing a sort of robe version of the ReSouled uniforms.

  While Det had pants and a jacket, neither of these two did. They also wore small caps on the tops of their heads and had belts with what looked like book holsters on them. Yes, each of them carried a pair of large tomes hanging from their waists. Whether those were just their latest reads, some Wordless equipment, or something else, Det couldn’t tell from where he sat, but the items were clearly important to the two instructors.

  “Welcome to ReSouled History 101,” the woman said. “We will be your two primary instructors for the semester, and we hope everybody here is ready for a good time.”

  Det nearly choked on the thought of having a good time in a history class, but he somehow managed to hold it in.

  “My name,” the woman continued, “is Libra, while my associate here is Vault. As you can see from the cart, there is some required reading for this class. There’s honestly too much history to go over in the limited amount of time we have. Instead, you will be asked to read on your own time while we discuss the important points in history during our time together in class.

  “Yes, for those of you wondering, we will discuss what we know about the earliest ReSouled that we have on record, as well as getting into information on the Cored, the Uncored, and the Corelands.”

  Cadet Oligy’s hand was already in the air.

  “Ah,” Libra said, “you must be the one with all the questions.”

  “Yes, ma’am, that would be me,” Oligy said.

  “And you’ve already got a question,” Libra confirmed, and Oligy nodded. “Let’s hear it.”

  “Well, knowing the history of the Cored and Uncored, will it help us fight them?” Oligy said, notebook ready in front of him for her response.

  “Of course it will,” Libra said. “Unlike ReSouled, the Cored and Uncored are predictable. The types of abilities you will see them present with are the same as those that have come before. A Cored, for example, that utilizes lightning will have a restricted list of available abilities. If you’ve studied the history, and thus the abilities, you’ll know what to expect.”

  “There’s no deviation?” Oligy asked.

  “Deviation within a limited list,” Libra said. “We have recorded, as in this example, every lightning ability that a Cored can use. We’ve cataloged them, we’ve measured them, and we will teach them to you, so that you are prepared.

  “While you may not be aware of exactly which of the abilities the lightning Cored may use against you, you will be aware of every option it could use. And, believe me, knowing every option a lightning user could use is much, much easier to prepare for than not knowing what your enemy could do.

  “Think of it like this. If I were to put a test in front of you, and the only question on it was ‘What is the answer? Hint, it’s the first one that comes to mind.’, what would you write down?”

  “Forty-two,” Oligy said without pause.

  “An excellent choice, but why did you choose a number?” Libra asked.

  “Because it’s the answer to everything,” Oligy said. The man had no doubt in himself at all.

  “Unless the answer I’m expecting on the test is a letter,” Libra said.

  “But, how would I know you were looking for a letter to answer that question?” Oligy asked, and Libra smiled like he’d fallen into some kind of trap.

  “Exactly, how could you?” Libra said, bringing a finger to her lips. “Perhaps, before coming to this class, you could have asked other ReSouled—those who had taken this class last cycle—if there was a test in this first class. Let me ask, how many here did just that?”

  More than half the hands in the room went up, including Tena’s.

  “What, really?” Det said.

  “After the the alchemy class, of course,” Tena said. “I’m not falling for the same trick twice.”

  “Excellent,” Libra said. “Learning from past experience. Learning from history. I applaud you. Now, those people will have found out we don’t do a test in the first class here. However, for sake of the example, if they had been told there would be a test, and the answer would be a single letter, would they have done better on the test than you, cadet?”

  “Maybe,” Oilgy said. “They would’ve still had to guess which letter.”

  “Are you sure? Think back to the question. What is the answer? Hint, it’s the first one that comes to mind.”

  “A,” Oligy said, suddenly seeing it.

  “Exactly, with context, the answer is clear,” Libra said. “As a whole, the Cored are like the question, ‘What is the answer?’. They are too broad to be able to answer, or in the case of a fight, counter. On the other hand, a lightning Cored is like the alphabet. If you can limit the list of all their possible abilities down to something like a letter, it’s that much easier to come up with the counter.

  “Against a lightning Cored, you will see abilities based around speed and stunning power. You will not see abilities focused on durability. Those would be—if we continue with the example—numbers, instead of letters. Does that make sense?”

  “I think so,” Oligy said. “And these lists will help with that?”

  “Not just help you, cadet. They will save your life.”

  “It sounds like we’re going to have to do a lot more memorizing,” Calisco said, not even bothering to put her hand up.

  “That is exactly what you’ll be doing,” Libra said, though she looked at the books on the cart. “None of these are the Cored’s list of abilities. We have those volumes being sent to your apartments as we speak. You’ll find volumes one through six of Cored abilities waiting for you when you return after class.”

  “I’m sorry,” somebody in the back of the room said. “I thought I just heard you say volumes one through six?”

  “That is exactly what I said,” Libra replied. “Don’t worry, with your ReSouled minds, you’ll quickly be able to memorize them.”

  “When you say quickly…” the cadet prompted.

  “It should only take you a few weeks. Assuming you spend three to four hours every night.”

  “I hate history,” Det mumbled.

  “Now, I know everybody is excited to get right back to their rooms and jump into the list of Cored abilities,” Libra said, clearly misreading the room. “But let’s first make sure we get this week’s handouts into everyone’s hands. Fluke has gone to a lot of trouble to bring them in here with her.”

  At the name, Det’s head turned to the third person at the front of the room. The one who inconveniently tripped over an ill-placed cord and vanished behind a desk as she fell. A second later, she popped back up, clearly hoping nobody had seen her. Unfortunately, since Libra had drawn attention to her, every head in the room had been looking at her little incident.

  “Hi!” she said in a bubbly voice, one hand coming up and waving in a strange combination of nervous and hyper energies. “Yep, I’m Fluke. Nice to meet you all. And none of you saw that.”

  The last words out of her mouth weren’t a question so much as an order, which got a few chuckles out of the room. Fluke continued around the table like nothing had happened until she was standing side by side with Libra and Vault.

  “Ahem. Like she said, my name’s Fluke. I’ll be assisting with regular classes occasionally and then heading up some special assignments. I’ll also be in your survival classes after lunch. And while I’d tell you to pack a sandwich for the class, what would be the point of a survival class if you already had food with you? So yeah, how about you don’t eat, don’t bring a sandwich, and come hungry!”

  Libra coughed off to the side.

  “But right, this isn’t…” Fluke said quickly, flustering herself, “this isn’t survival class. This is… this is history class! Really exciting history class!”

  From the look on Fluke’s face, she actually believed that. She was practically glowing while she said the word ‘history’.

  “And since I know you’re all as excited about it as I am, we prepared these pamphlets for you!”

  She pointed at the cart carrying the hard-bound, two-inch-thick textbooks.

  “That’s a pamphlet?” one of the cadets at the front asked.

  “Yeah! We tried to make it as short as we could,” Fluke said brightly, “so you can finish it this week. We’ve already got next week’s printed out and ready to go!”

  “We have to read that in a week?”

  “Yeah! Shouldn’t take you too long,” Fluke said. “It’s really interesting. Once you pick it up, you’re not going to be able to put it back down.”

  “More like I’m going to fall asleep on top of it,” another cadet said, earning a round of laughter.

  Fluke didn’t seem to mind. “You say that now, but tell me again in a week if it’s true!”

  At the bubbly confidence of the instructor, the cadet had no response.

  “Good,” Vault said, speaking up for the first time. His impressively deep voice practically vibrated the desk beneath Det’s fingers. He’d gone to an opera once—just once, because Yumi was really interested in it—and one of the singers had a voice like this guy. A bass, it was called, according to the performance flyer that had come with the show. It was what Det imagined a barrel would sound like if it spoke.

  “To expedite the process of getting the books into everybody’s hands,” Vault continued, “please, in an orderly fashion, come up and get your own copy. We have an exact number, so we’ll know if somebody…” He paused. “Forgets to pick up their copy.”

  “Why do we need to learn all this stuff if we don’t have to pass the class?” a cadet asked.

  Det could only shake his head. At some point, people would have to figure it out. Luckily for the cadet, the instructors at the front of the class were relatively patient, since it was the first day and all.

  “I believe this was explained during your alchemy class,” Libra said. “It’s not about passing. It’s about surviving.”

  “But,” the cadet said, “I get how learning about the Cored and Uncored abilities will keep us alive, but how will history keep us alive?”

  “So you don’t repeat the mistakes that were made,” Libra said. “Look, I’ll give you an intro after everybody gets up and picks up their books. How about that? I’ll tell you about the first generation of Mistguard.”