The days passed and the inclement weather worsened. Yuriko spent much of her time training both the Golden Silhouette’s Animus techniques and Master Alfein’s skill cube. She kept training her body in the mornings, except during Sixthdays, the day when she had reserve officer training.

Using PTM after practising the sword dances, she refrained from using Recovery. As a result, the heat and cold generated by it permeated her body throughout most of the morning, receding only by the time lunch rolled around. She didn’t use Recovery at all and as a result, her progress in training her physique slowed even further.

Once the heat and cold feeling disappeared, Yuriko felt a bit more clear-headed. She practised Alfein’s Animus manipulation exercises, making quick progress with the cube. Within a couple of days, she’d managed to complete the first step, braiding five strands together. By copying the paracord lanyards' pattern, it allowed her concentration to lapse for only a couple of seconds before the braiding started to fail. It was more than enough time for her to pick up the slack after she added new strands. She got all the way up to four braided cords before she started having trouble but she figured that if she continued practising she’d eventually get the hang of it.

On the first day of the week, as she attended homeroom in Jade 101, Master Alfein handed each of them a small vial about the length and width of Yuriko’s thumb.

“These are vials of Zoi Elixir,” Master Alfein said. “None of you have Animus reserves less than fifty lumens, so the Zoi Elixirs you have there are of the second tier. They are effective as long as your reserves aren’t above a hundred lumens.”

Yuriko stared at the vial. About half of it was a clear liquid quite reminiscent of the Atavism Catalyst she drank during the ritual on the first day of the Season of Fire.

“Does this taste as bad as that?” she mused. The other half of the vial was occupied by floating motes of something that shifted colours between red, violet, and every colour of the rainbow in between.

“If you’re to drink this, make sure you have Animus in your reserve. The moment you ingest it, envision your Anima and catch the lights you’ll see and bring them into your core for the best effect. If you choose otherwise, you may return the vial to student affairs in exchange for coins. A tier 2 vial of Zoi is worth a hundred and sixty Sovereigns, though you’d only be given a hundred if you return it. Take note that selling the vial to outsiders is strictly forbidden. You may exchange it directly with another student of the Academies if you so prefer but not to anyone else. You’ll also register what you do with it no later than this evening.”

Master Alfein’s discussion shifted away from the elixirs and into the specializations that each of them will take.

“The three specializations are Rune Scribe, Spellweaver, and finally Sorcerer. Rune Scribe is the minimum you’ll need to accomplish before you can graduate from Sharom, and if you wish to become a Sorcerer, you’ll need to go through both Spellweaving and Runescrivening. If you wish to be a Spellweaver, you’ll need to complete Runescrivening courses. That means that the first thing all of you have to accomplish is to obtain some measure of competency in runescript. Essential Runescript for the Neophyte Scribe is your basic handbook on runesciverning and I expect you to read the complete book by next week. You will be quizzed on what you learned…”

“Oh great, more reading!” Yuriko snorted.

Still, it was a change of pace from all of the physical training she did during the week. Her dedication showed during Martial Sciences class, especially during individual sparring sessions. The first time it happened the second week of class, Yuriko had been paired off against Gwendith Sharine.

She had been looking for Heron, or maybe Kale Kinnock, the greatsword wielder she’d met during her journey to Rumiga City, for the spar. Martial Sciences class was a mixed year class, with the upperclassman often taking the role of assistant instructors or match referees.

Either way, for today’s class they were given the option to learn the basics of spear, sword, or unarmed striking. Da had barely taught her unarmed techniques so she thought to shore up that weakness.

The instructor, Master Gethen, taught her and a dozen others a couple of striking routines, an attack with hands, and defences using the same. Then they were paired off to practice. Gwendith snorted when they faced each other, her curly blonde hair was in a neat bun and she pointedly looked at Yuriko’s ponytail.

“You make it easy for an assailant to grab your hair.”

Yuriko shrugged. “It’s bothersome to tie up neatly, and I figure I won’t always be ready for an attack.”

“Suit yourself.”

The other girl was just a bit shorter than Yuriko but her blows were quite fierce. It was apparent that she was no novice when it came to unarmed attacks and, for the moment, it took most of Yuriko’s focus to keep the other from bopping her on the nose.

Much of fighting in melee had to do with footwork, Yuriko realised, and keeping a proper distance. With swords, single or dual, the appropriate distance for her was just close enough that she could reach her target within a single step. That was true when she used spears or the greatsword, or even the rifle-blade variant. Too far away and she gave away her Intent as she moved, and too close just felt uncomfortable to her.

Going unarmed, the distance between her and her opponent was much less but it was still within a single step. As long as she was at that point, she could easily react to any attack and she could easily strike back.

Gwendith was far more skilled than she when it came to this anyway. Still, the difference in their physiques was considerable. For Yuriko, Gwendith’s strike seemed slow enough that she could easily determine the direction, point, and path of the other girl’s strikes. The spar ended with neither girl landing any blows.

Gwendith breathed heavily with sweat streaming down her cheeks. The two of them bowed and Yuriko picked up a training blade, intent to continue her spar with a fresher opponent. Before she could take more than a dozen steps, an older boy, who looked vaguely familiar, stepped up and gestured with his weapon, a training spear. His eyes glared at her, his face was a frowning mask.

Shrugging to herself, Yuriko accepted, hoping that an older student would put up a better fight. A minute later, the boy was flat on his back with his arms akimbo and the spear flung far and wide.

“Give it up, Theo, you swarm fodder!”

A few of the boys laughed out loud. The boy’s face reddened and he glared up at her before scrambling to his feet and fleeing. Yuriko spotted Heron afterwards and approached him though he had a strange and distracted look on his face.

“Heron.”

The boy jumped in surprise.

“Oh, Yuri.” He laughed awkwardly. “Let’s spar.”

“Of course.”

For the rest of the class, Yuriko and Heron sparred. First with weapons then unarmed. By the time the hour was up, both of them had worked up a sweat. Unfortunately for Heron, Yuriko had long outpaced him when it came to skill and battle effectiveness. Most of the time, it was he who was on the defensive and by the end of it all, his arms and sides were striped with welts. He seemed in better spirits though even as he winced and cursed while he activated Recovery.

The week after, at the next Martial Sciences class, Kale Kinnock approached her during sparring hour.

“None of your yearmates seem to be a match for you, Miss Davar,” he said with a smirk. “Perhaps I can offer you a better challenge?” The dark-skinned, silver haired-youth exuded confidence.

“Oh, sure. Greatswords?”

“If you like. I noticed that you’ve been training in unarmed striking techniques, as well as dual swords. I find the need to polish up those skills as well. How about an unarmed match?”

“Very well.”

Yuriko and Kale bowed to each other, then assumed a stance. Yuriko kept herself mostly neutral, back straight, knees slightly bent, left foot slightly advanced, left hand extended and held just below eye level while her right was in a fist next to her waist.

Kale held both hands in front of him, fists held on either side of his chin. With a nod, he dashed up to her and threw a jab with his left. Yuriko slapped his fist away and he followed with a right swing that she leaned back from.

‘He’s nearly as fast as I am!’ Yuriko thought with delight and from the feedback she felt against his fist, he was clearly as strong. She couldn’t help but grin while she stepped within striking distance and let loose a punch aimed at his side.

Kale’s blocked with his elbow, wincing at the impact. She danced to her right, aiming to circle around him while throwing in a jab. Nearly unbidden, the first sword dance’s Animus circulation pattern started up and she could almost see points along his body that she should aim at to get him to open his guard.

She aimed a knife hand at his face, towards his eyes, and when he reflexively flung his arm up, she easily shifted her aim and stabbed her knuckles into his chest. His reaction surprised her though. He winced and grunted but his other hand snaked out and caught her wrist.

Yuriko’s instincts flared as he sought to pull her off balance. Instead of resisting the pull, she went along with it and drove a fist into his side. Kale’s hand sprung away and he let out a pained yelp. She followed up with an elbow but he hurriedly put some distance between them.

“Looks like I can’t take it easy," he muttered.

He had a ferocious grin on his face as he lunged, but stopped just short of her reach, nearly prompting a blow from her. When he saw his feint didn’t make any headway, he threw another jab while closing in, taking advantage of his slightly longer reach. Just as she thought he would stay that way, he quickly unleashed a flurry of punches.

Yuriko swayed and ducked into the blows, avoiding them by the skin of her teeth while the second dance roared in her Anima. Her hands deflected strikes, though he managed to grab her wrist again, in an iron vice-like grip. She twisted her arm and pulled against his fingers, managing to get herself loose but his other arm circled around her shoulders and pulled her close.

Before he could do anything more though, she struck his solar plexus with a well-placed palm and knocked him back.

“I thought we were practising striking?” She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, hehe, I apologise, but your speed and strength meant that I couldn’t afford to hold back.” Kale chuckled. “Would you like to move on to weapons instead?”

“I suppose.”

They sparred for half an hour more before Kale got called away to train a different set of students.

Yuriko trained with Krystal next, though she couldn’t help but recall how the older boy had managed to match her speed and tempo. Lately, her spars with her friends felt lacklustre. She wasn’t struggling or pushing her limits. Training with Kale, and perhaps with other upperclassmen would be more challenging.

During the Reserve Officer Training, they mostly worked on small unit tactics. How to pick a proper formation to patrol, and how to use the terrain to their advantage. Back in the training camp, what should have been a couple of weeks going through this exact same thing had been preempted with the Wyldling Wave instead.

Most of their movement patterns had been with the scout in advance position while the rest of the team walked in a line or a small clump. The second Sixthday, they practised a wedge position. How to walk straight, how to turn, how to skirmish, and how to transition out of it should the need arise.

Near the end of the session, the class had a little squad on squad skirmish, much like Agaza’s Elite trials. Well, the difference was that Yuriko’s squad were all from Sharom, and aside from Ella-Mai, the others were woefully inept. So aside from the two of them, the opposing squad had wiped out everyone else.

The rest of the classes were dreadfully tedious, though the one she didn’t really look forward to at all was Social Studies. The second day, they were taught more pattern dances. Heron and the twins almost came to blows over who would partner with her that she got annoyed enough to walk away and dance with one of the other boys in class who looked like he’d swallowed green lavan berries from the expression on his face.

She avoided them until the end of class and thankfully, they only had twenty minutes of dancing. The rest of the time was spent with etiquette lessons, formal dining manners, and how to conduct themselves during formal afternoon tea parties.

“What an annoying class,” she grumbled to Krystal during the last hour of class in the third week of school.

“Yeah?” Krystal grinned. “It’s not so bad. At least the boys have stopped bickering. Good job putting them in their place.”

“They’ve no cause to start fighting like that.”

“They did apologise though,” Krystal shrugged.

“And Braden gave me a couple of chocolate truffles to show how sorry he was.”

“Seriously? Hey, fork over one!”

“Too late!” Yuriko grinned.

“Aw!”

Brakaaaam!

Thunder shook the lecture hall, bringing them all to silence. Panicked screams came soon after when the lights flickered and another blast of thunder shook them.

“Don’t panic!” the instructor, who gave a great impression of a headless chicken, screamed. The floor shook and the lights flickered again.  “Stay in your seats! It’s only a thunderstorm!” she yelled while she hastily jogged to the door.

A few minutes later, the lightning and thunder let up. The instructor had returned from where she went.

“Nothing to panic about,” she said placatingly, “though I’ve been informed that a Chaos Storm has been brewing outside Rumiga’s borders. It will breach the plane in a few days so no need for worry yet!”

‘Chaos Storm!’ Yuriko gasped.

Most such storms came from the east, and by the time it reached Faron’s Crossing, much of its strength had been sapped by the countryside and the Zarek Mountains. What would it be like to experience the storm before its might had waned, she wondered. She wasn’t really sure if she was ready to find out.