“Disappeared?” Elaina asked. “You mean it got transported?”

“That is unlikely,” the System—Temmie—said. “I almost certainly would have sensed the energy buildup to perform such a feat, even if I am not at full processing capacity. It is more likely that the subcore has been masked in some way, hidden by either another crystal device or someone’s aspect.”

“Hey, uhm, just a reminder,” Flora said, still clad in only her flower crown, “I’m kind of out of the loop here.”

“Long story short, Temmie here is what gives us our powers. There are other crystals like this one, and the things that attacked the school are after them. We had a lead on another one, but it sounds like we lost the trail.”

“Miss Strask is precisely correct. I can tell you at least that the last location of the subcore was in the castle town, but specifics are now beyond me.”

“Hey, while we’re talking about crystals going missing, shouldn’t we do something about those?” Carline asked, pointing to the red crystals shoved up against the cave wall.

Flora squinted, looking over at the blades and gems. “Wait, aren’t those…”

“Yeah. Tira and I fought one of them up in the grove above.” 

“Gods,” Flora said, walking over and examining them. “They’re huge, way bigger than any of the ones I saw.”

“And powerful,” Temmie added. “Carline is right to be concerned about them.”

“They should be safe enough here, right?” Elaina asked. “I mean, this cave was hidden for nine hundred years before I just happened to fall in.”

“That is not necessarily the case. Should any student who was already Awakened have stumbled in here by chance, the System would not have activated, even if they touched the core. We cannot be sure this cave is as hidden as it seems. I can remain shut off if someone wanders in, but the blades cannot be safely left here for an extended period, and they are just as dangerous in the wrong hands as my subcores.”

“Well, there’s always my room,” Tira said. “The automatons come in to clean, but no one else does.” 

Elaina nodded, though she had reservations about the security of that as well. “Okay, we’ll come back with a bag or something later to move them, but that still leaves the subcore. What are we going to do about it?”

“There is unfortunately little to do about it now,” Temmie said. “We will have to wait until it either moves and becomes unhidden, or until my sensing capabilities are improved.”

“Well, that sucks.” Tira started pacing around the cave, hand holding her chin. “I prefer to have a concrete goal. Waiting around doesn’t suit me.”

“Oh come on” Flora said, running up and putting her hands on Tira’s shoulders. “We beat back those things last time, and now you three have me too! We’ll be fine.”

“This is serious, Flora,” Carline said as Tira pulled herself free. “And dangerous too…”

“It is, but we can only do our best. If the best we can do right now is wait, that’ll have to be what we do.”

“No,” Elaina said. She’d waited before, and the only thing it had brought were bodies to line the school halls with. “We need practice, training. Need to increase our class levels, our practical skills.”

A smile started to grow on Tira’s face. “Hoped you would say something like that. I have a mission lined up for our practicum group. We’ll have to wait till next weekend, but I think you’ll be interested.”

“What is it?” Carline asked, looking confused. “Aren’t most student missions done over break weeks?” 

“Yeah, but this one’s close to home. Apparently there’s a group of crystal poachers in a forest not too far from here, and they’ve got some minor Aspected with them. The town guard couldn’t handle them, so they’re calling in the cavalry.”

Elaina perked up, smiling back at Tira. “And if they’re the same ones that took the subcore, we might be able to find out where it is! But wait, why are students the cavalry? Shouldn’t the town guard be more advanced than us?”

Carline shook her head, frowning. “No, the town guard mostly just handles stuff in town. It’s only like that here, since the school values sending students out on missions for training, but I didn’t think they sent out first years so soon…”

“It’s new,” Flora said. “I’ve only been out twice myself, but I heard they’re changing things after the attack.”

“Yeah,” Tira said, grimacing. “I really pressed Calivahn on that, but she said it was Stormshine’s decision, that he couldn’t be persuaded otherwise. Most of these freshers do have some combat training, but the commoners… The ones that don’t have classes are going to be in big trouble if they see any serious action. They just don’t have enough experience.”

Elaina tried imagining fighting for the first time, without a class. She could picture herself fighting without skills of course, but she had always had the enhanced capabilities a class provided, ever since she had her aspect at least. “We need to do something about that, but if these missions don’t usually happen until break weeks we have a bit of time at least. For now we’ll focus on the poachers, getting the subcore back. Temmie, are there any other subcores you know about right now?”

“Not at present. I presume most are dormant, and they won’t activate unless they have a reason too. If we have the option to improve my scanning subsystem, then I may be able to locate even dormant ones.”

Flora started rubbing her head, frowning. “Okay, I’m pretty easygoing normally, don’t really mind surprises and stuff, but this is a lot.”

Tira nodded. “I have patrol soon too. We can reconvene in my room later if Temmie has more she needs to say.”

“Negative. That is the only pressing matter. It was a pleasure meeting you though, Flora.”

“Likewise,” Flora said, clapping and running over to the pedestal. She leaned over, giving Elaina and Carline both a direct look at her still exposed ass as she actually patted the crystal. “Hope I can see you again soon.”

“I— ah— Hmmmm… You may visit Elaina’s room if you like. I can communicate through the subcore we have there as well.”

“Great! Alright, up we go, everyone!” 

The group climbed out of the cave, taking time to wash their hands in the pond before heading off. Tira went on alone, while Carline and Elaina stayed behind, Carline intently watching Flora get dressed while Elaina tried to not make it obvious she was doing the same. It was odd, seeing Carline stare so unabashedly. She was getting more confident with looking at Elaina, but staring at Flora seemed almost second nature to her.

The trio left back for the school, Elaina and Carline explaining how they’d first found the System, how they obtained the first subcore, more about the Red Order. Despite already learning a lot of knew things all at once, Flora stayed attentive, seemed to understand everything. And she really did take it in easily, far easier than Elaina had taken in everything. She hadn’t reacted at all when they walked in on her swimming either. Is she fazed by anything.

“We should go back to the clearing sometime, just you and me,” Flora whispered in her ear as the entered the school. Elaina blushed as the girl backed away, giggling and running off. “My room’s this way. I’ll see you two later!” 

Elaina and Carline slowed as they watched Flora run down the halls, seemingly no cares in the world. “She’s always been this way,” Carline said. “Strong, able to take anything that comes her way.”

“I like her…” Elaina said, still blushing, still feeling unsatisfied from before. Maybe Carline can help me take care of that. The two made their way back to their room, thoughts of carrying on the fun they’d had before lunch dancing in Elaina’s head, but when they opened the door and Elaina was about to ask about it, she noticed something on her bed, a letter addressed to Elaina Weaver.