KAEL'S POV
"Why can't a nose be twelve inches long?"
For the past ten minutes, I had been staring at the front of the classroom.
Not because there was anything interesting to see or important to learn.
Professor Anlor hadn't even arrived to teach the class yet, which meant the teaching floor was empty, the projection wall was inactive, and the room was filled with students whispering before class.
So why am I staring at the front of the classroom, you ask?
To not encourage Taron's antics.
Unfortunately, for me, Taron was never one for needing encouragement.
"Because," Taron continued, leaning in closer with a grin that already made the answer feel painfully annoying, "then it would be a foot."
Silence.
I slowly turned to him. Taron looked immensely pleased with himself.
I looked back at the front of the class and said the first thing that came to mind.
"That was terrible."
"Hey! That was a classic! What are you talking about?"
"It was criminal."
"Hm? A classic crime, eh?"
I closed my eyes briefly while pinching the bridge of my nose.
The worst part of that wasn't even the joke. It was the fact that Taron had clearly arrived today prepared to tell it.
He sat beside me in the back row with his usual wind-touched dark auburn hair, one elbow on the desk, his chin resting lazily on his hand, and the smug confidence of a man who had decided humour was his weapon today, whether it worked or not.
"Fine, fine," he said. "I can see that was not to your taste, so let's try a different one. What animal can jump higher than a house?"
"No."
"Lots of them."
"Taron."
"Because houses can't jump."
A student two rows ahead turned around to look at him.
Not with amusement, but with concern.
Taron gave them a cheerful nod.
They turned back around immediately.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose again.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Doing what?"
"Testing the upper limits of my patience."
"Oh, no. If I were doing that on purpose, I'd be standing on the desk."
A brief pause passed between us.
Then I sensed it. Taron's eyes brightened as if he had a genius idea.
So I quickly grabbed him.
"Please don't stand on the desk," I said.
"I wasn't going to."
"You were considering it, though, weren't you?"
"... Maybe."
"It's nine in the morning."
"And?"
"Are you ever not this energetic? It's NINE in the morning."
Taron leaned back in his seat, then let out an exaggerated, triumphant laugh that somehow sounded like it belonged to a villain who had forgotten their master plan halfway through announcing it.
"Phuphuphu, time is merely an abstract construct when it comes to maintaining my exuberance."
I stared at him.
'So he knows he acts exuberant.'
That just makes it even worse.
Before I could decide whether to answer or pretend I had never met him, the classroom door opened quite forcefully.
Professor Anlor entered.
His entrance had an immediate effect.
Conversations softened. Students turned forward. Even Taron straightened slightly, though his expression kept the stubborn cheerfulness of a man who treated authority as an option to follow.
Professor Anlor crossed the teaching floor with his usual polished composure. Long black hair fell well past his shoulders in heavy, uneven layers, several strands hanging loosely across his face despite the otherwise immaculate presentation. Thin, gold-framed spectacles sat over narrow, tired-looking eyes, sharpening the severe lines of a face more austere than handsome. His professor's coat was tailored with almost excessive precision; it was black and ivory, layered beneath dark formal robes, the fabric traced with restrained gold embroidery and fitted with the small insignia and chains of his academic office. Everything about him looked carefully maintained, as though refinement were less a preference and more a discipline.
He placed a stack of papers on the desk.
Then looked at the class.
"Right! Everyone, take your seats. We will be discussing the details of the assignment you will be doing in the next two days."
A ripple of murmurs passed through the classroom.
Many students straightened.
Some looked excited; others looked nervous.
A few looked like they had suddenly remembered they'd chosen a practical elective, not a theoretical one, and were now dreading the fact that they might have to do fieldwork.
Taron leaned closer to me.
"Oh, oh, it's finally happening," Taron whispered, his eyes bright with anticipation. "I'm excited. I wonder what he's going to make us do."
"I'm pretty sure you'd be excited about anything."
"Hey," Taron said, looking offended. "That's not true. I hate it whenever Professor Naeric makes one of his motivational speeches on Aether refinement."
That was a fair point.
Professor Naeric's "motivational speeches" had the emotional warmth of a brick explaining why structural weakness was inefficient.
'I can't even disagree with him there.'
"SOMETHING TO SHARE WITH THE REST OF THE CLASS, KAEL?"
Professor Anlor's voice cut through the room.
Every head turned toward the back row.
My thoughts stopped.
'Oh boy. Here we go again.'
Professor Anlor stood at the front, his gaze fixed on me, and his expression calm in that irritating way of his.
Before I could respond, Taron stood up.
"I'm sorry, Professor," he said brightly. "I was the one asking Kael a question. Perhaps I was a bit too loud."
The room watched.
Professor Anlor's jaw tightened slightly.
It was almost invisible.
Almost.
"Perhaps you were," he said. "Quiet down for now. I will be explaining the details regarding the assignment, so make sure to pay attention and listen."
Taron raised four fingers to his eyebrow in a joking salute.
"Yes, Professor. I will."
Then he sat down as if nothing he'd just done was unusual.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. All I could see was him giving Professor Anlor a deceptive smile.
That had become a common occurrence lately.
Professor Anlor would involve me in something or call me out for something, and Taron would step in before I could ever become the centre of attention.
I appreciated it.
I did.
Although I didn't really know what to do with it.
I'm not used to this kind of kindness, especially from someone I barely knew.
Professor Anlor turned toward the board, lifted one hand, and the projection wall lit with a map of Valoria and the surrounding territory. The capital appeared as a brilliant cluster of white and gold lines, Aetherion Academy marked above it like a crown. Beyond the city, the map stretched into greener, less structured terrain.
"This practical assignment will take place outside the Academy," Professor Anlor said. "Specifically, a few miles east of Valoria. We will all meet by the Academy entrance before departure, and at that point you all will be escorted to the assigned site."
My attention sharpened.
'Outside the Academy. Finally.'
A strange wave of excitement hovered over me before I could suppress it.
Since arriving at Aetherion, my world had been narrowed to the Academy halls, training grounds, classrooms, dormitories, cafeterias, and the occasional window view of Valoria. I had seen the capital from above, distant and beautiful, but not truly walked through or beyond it.
The idea of leaving the Academy, even for an assignment designed by Professor Anlor, stirred something uneasy.
I wanted to see Valoria again.
Properly this time.
Not as a backdrop, but as a city.
Professor Anlor allowed the class to react to the news.
The room erupted into whispers.
"Outside the Academy?"
"Is that southeast of Valoria?"
"Do we have to walk?"
"Are there actual Aethren there?"
"Obviously, you idiot; it's Anti-Beast Tactics."
"Can't we take a carriage or something?"
Professor Anlor waited for several seconds, looking almost unimpressed.
Then he tapped the desk once.
The sound cut through the room.
'Did he just shut them up with Aether?'
"You will be working in pairs inside one of Aetherion's controlled field reservoirs," he continued. "The reservoir contains low-rank Aethren used for observation, tactical training, and controlled practical assessment."
The projection shifted.
The map of Valoria faded, replaced by a rough diagram of a fenced woodland area marked with route lines, territory zones, and several shaded sectors.
"Each pair will be given a route to follow, a partial map, and several assigned Aethren to locate."
Someone near the front raised a hand.
Professor Anlor ignored it.
"Oof, that's tough," Taron whispered to me.
'Indeed.'
"Before any of you get excited," Professor Anlor said, "the objective of this assignment is not to run into the forest and murder any living thing with claws."
He paused.
"Though not all Aethren have claws."
Several students stared at him.
He cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Anyway."
A few students remained visibly indifferent.
Professor Anlor looked almost disappointed.
"Listen. You're all studying Anti-Beast Tactics," he said dryly, "not recreational hunting for fun."
The board changed again; this time, four words appeared.
LOCATE.
IDENTIFY.
PREDICT.
RETRIEVE.
Professor Anlor turned toward it.
"Your task is to locate your assigned Aethren, identify how it behaves within its territory, predict its next likely movement, and recover a marked token placed somewhere inside or around that territory. You will take notes on your observations and decisions throughout the exercise."
He tapped the board.
"How you retrieve the token is your problem."
The room went very still.
Professor Anlor seemed to enjoy that part.
"You may fight the Aethren if you have to. You may distract it. You may avoid direct contact entirely. Students in previous years have used deception tactics, lured Aethren away from their habitats, waited for particular movement cycles, interfered with scent trails, disrupted territory markers, or hid until the creature left the area."
Professor Anlor shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't care."
'At least he's honest.'
His gaze swept over the room.
"What I care about is whether you understand what you are dealing with before you commit yourself to a fight."
That part, irritatingly, sounded like actual teaching.
Professor Anlor leaned back against the desk and folded his arms.
"Most of the reservoir contains F- and E-rank Aethren. Some sectors contain D-rank specimens, but those areas are restricted and monitored separately. If you find yourself somewhere you think you should not be, simply turn around."
That statement changed the mood within the room.
All remnants of whispering had stopped.
Everyone noticed the phrasing.
If you find yourself somewhere you think you should not be.
Not if you are assigned.
Not if an instructor directs you.
If you find yourself.
'A controlled reservoir, but not perfectly safe. Great. What could go wrong?'
Professor Anlor continued as if he hadn't just woken the class's collective survival instincts.
"Each pair will be issued one signal crystal and one examination band per student. The signal crystal is for emergency communication. The examination bands will monitor your location, Aether output, condition, and whether you have left your permitted route."
A student raised a hand.
This time, Anlor acknowledged it, albeit sighing in the process.
"Yes, what is it?"
"What happens if we end up in one of the restricted areas?"
"Then leave."
"And if we can't?"
"Then use the signal."
"And if we cannot use the signal?"
Professor Anlor looked increasingly annoyed at the questions.
"Tch. Stop asking so many questions. The examination bands are linked to a monitoring system; it will flag any anomalies and alert the faculty members, who will retrieve you if necessary."
The student who asked the questions looked only partially comforted.
Professor Anlor could see that some students were anxious and nervous about the assignment's dangers, so he reassured them.
"If a group's situation becomes too dangerous or extends beyond the scope of the assignment, I will withdraw them from the field myself."
That didn't comfort me as much as I suspected he intended.
Probably because Professor Anlor retrieving me from danger sounded like something that might somehow end up being my fault.
Professor Anlor continued.
"You will not receive additional marks for nearly dying."
A pause.
"Not officially, anyway."
Silence.
No one laughed.
Professor Anlor coughed once into his fist.
It wasn't dramatic, not like how Taron does it, but it was enough to make it obvious the joke had failed.
"Moving on."
Taron leaned slightly toward me.
"That was worse than my nose joke."
"Yes. It was."
"And somehow less charming."
"Well... that's debatable."
"Huh—"
Professor Anlor's gaze flickered toward us, resulting in us both immediately facing forward.
The board changed again.
Four categories appeared beneath the four words that had appeared earlier.
IDENTIFICATION.
PREDICTION.
EXECUTION.
RESTRAINT.
"As I explained before, your task is to locate the Aethren and retrieve their respective token. However, your score will be determined by four primary criteria," Anlor said. "Your ability to identify the Aethren, predict its movements, execute the token retrieval, and, if necessary, restrain the Aethren."
He gestured to the first word.
"Identification. Did you correctly determine what the Aethren was doing?"
'The second.'
"Prediction. Could you tell where it would move next?"
'The third.'
"Execution. Did your plan actually work?"
'The fourth.'
"And restraint. Did you use more force than the situation required?"
His gaze sharpened.
"That last one will matter more than some of you think."
The room quieted further.
Professor Anlor pushed himself away from the desk.
"If your answer to every Aethren you encounter is to hit it harder than the last, then eventually you will meet something that hits harder than you."
No one spoke.
Even Taron stayed quiet.
"The point of this assignment is not to prove that you are stronger than a beast," Anlor said. "It is to prove that you understand it well enough that strength becomes optional."
For a moment, I almost forgot I disliked him.
Almost.
Because what he said was good. Frustratingly good.
It aligned too well with everything I had been learning recently. Fire didn't grow stronger when I forced it against the world. It became better when I understood how it moved through it. Composite casting was not about collision, but harmony. ABT apparently wasn't about killing first, but about understanding enough to make killing unnecessary.
They were different subjects, but with the same direction.
Understanding before force.
Aetherion, beneath all its arrogance and ridiculous hierarchy, was teaching a pattern.
And I wondered if that was intentional.
Or if every system eventually revealed the same truth when stripped down far enough.
Professor Anlor looked across the class.
"Inform me of your pairs by tomorrow. Any student who fails to submit a pair will be assigned one."
A few students immediately turned to friends.
Others looked nervous.
'And the pairing politics have begun.'
Professor Anlor collected his notes.
"And please," he added, with that annoying calmness of his, "try not to embarrass yourselves."
The projection had ended. The words had disappeared.
The class didn't end immediately, but it might as well have, considering the rise in noise levels.
The next few minutes dissolved into a private meeting of logistical details. Students asked about departure time and uniform requirements, with some wondering whether they could wear "lax clothing" and whether special equipment was allowed. Fortunately, it was clear they weren't, as with the Island Exam.
"Interesting," I mumbled.
"Right?" Tarorn responded, even though I wasn't speaking to him, "No private potions. No personal beast-repellent charms. No external maps. No noble artefacts. No pre-cast spell seals. No "family-approved tactical assistants. I could tell that noble kid at the front looks personally attacked at the fact there's no special privileges."
"..."
There was a pause between us.
"What?" Taron asked.
"You know you're one of those 'noble kids', right?" I wondered whether Taron really understood his circumstances.
"... Don't ever compare me to the likes of them."
Taron's tone was a bit harsher, but as always, I couldn't tell whether he was being serious or if this was all some fun comedic bit to him. Either way, I didn't want to antagonise him.
'He's still a frien— nope, not admitting it, yet.'
"Right. My bad." I said.
"Haha, no worries, I was only joking anyway."
"..."
"What?"
"Nothing."
By the time Professor Anlor dismissed us, the room had filled with contained excitement.
Students got up in clusters and had already started to discuss pairings.
Some pairs were obvious. Friends turned to friends. Nobles turned to nobles. A few commoners looked around too slowly and were immediately engulfed in panic.
I gathered my notebook, still thinking about the reservoir.
'Low-rank Aethren means we most likely will have to engage in combat. A partial map will probably test our ability to survive in the wild. The assigned route is a bit of a concern; who knows where Professor Anlor will direct me."
I wasn't worried about the token retrieval or restricted D-rank sectors. They all seemed pretty straightforward.
'Understanding makes strength optional.'
This was, unfortunately, a useful assignment. Which meant Professor Anlor was either very good at his job despite being hostile, or those two things were not mutually exclusive.
Taron nudged me with his elbow.
"So," he said, voice bright again, "we're pairing up, right?"
I looked at him.
He looked entirely too pleased for someone asking a question with an assumed undetermined answer.
I sighed.
"Do I have any choice?"
"Nope."
"Then why ask?"
"Because the key to friendship is the illusion of consent."
"That is a concerning sentence."
"... I'm still going to stand by it."
I closed my notebook and stood.
Taron stood next to me, grinning as if we had just agreed to go sightseeing instead of entering a 'controlled Aethren reservoir' designed by a professor who seemed personally invested in making my life a nightmare.
Still, as we moved toward the aisle, I glanced once at the empty projection wall.
I could still see it clearly.
A few miles east of Valoria.
Outside the Academy.
A forest full of low-rank Aethren.
Tokens to retrieve.
Aethren to restrain.
And Taron Caelvarin beside me, cheerful, dramatic, and far more protective than he wanted to explain.
I had a strong feeling Professor Anlor's assignment wouldn't be simple, but then again, nothing at Aetherion ever was.