The morning sun was still climbing when Adrian and Lilith walked through the academy gates.
The courtyard buzzed with movement. Students streamed past them in steady waves, their voices carrying that effortless certainty of belonging. Adrian moved through them without slowing, his gaze fixed ahead. The bracers on his arms were fastened tight and his blade secure at his side.
Ethan was waiting just inside the gates, his sandy hair fluttering from the light breeze. He spotted Adrian and waved.
"Dorian! Over here."
Adrian made his way through the crowd. Ethan fell into step beside him with a wide grin on his face.
"First day. Can you believe it?" He looked around at the stone buildings, the courtyard fountain, the students moving in neat streams toward the main hall. "My father wrote me a letter last night. Three pages. Mostly about not embarrassing the family name."
Adrian glanced at him. "Are you worried?"
Ethan's grin faltered. "A little. There are a lot of nobles here. And they don't exactly love merchant sons climbing the ranks." He shrugged. "But I got fifth. They can't take that away."
Adrian nodded. They continued in silence for a moment. Then Tessa pushed through the crowd, her coat slightly rumpled, her hair whipping in the wind as she tried to pull herself together.
"There you are." She fell into step on Adrian's other side. "I got lost twice. The buildings all look the same."
Ethan laughed. "They have signs."
"The signs are in old Beltonian. I don't read old Beltonian." She glanced at Adrian. "Lucky they canceled the written test. I would have bombed it."
Adrian nodded. "You're here to fight."
She grinned. "Exactly."
---
The main hall was vast, with rows of benches rising in tiers toward a stage at the front. Adrian found seats near the middle, Ethan on one side, Tessa on the other. Lilith sat beside him, her hands folded, her presence so still she seemed to fade into the background.
She had decided to stick by his side until he had built something substantial in his Soul Space.
The hall filled in moments, voices rising as more students poured in. Adrian took in the crowd around him. Nobles in immaculate coats, commoners watching everything with guarded eyes, and a scattered few who carried themselves like they had earned every step it took to stand here.
More students had passed than he expected. The combat test had likely been used to rank them by ability rather than decide who got in. Still, he couldn't shake the question of why the academy had abandoned the written assessment when it had been part of the process for centuries.
Cassius Vorne entered the hall, his dark hair perfectly in place, his red coat tailored to fit like it had been made for no one else. He carried himself with a rigid precision that made him seem almost unyielding. Students stepped aside without a word as he passed, and when he took a seat in the front row, the space around him quietly cleared.
Serena Ashford followed a moment later. Her coat bore the blue Ashford crest, her dark hair was arranged perfectly, her face was a mask of cold disdain. She scanned the crowd, her eyes landing on Adrian for a moment before moving on. She sat several seats away from Cassius and did not speak to anyone.
Davin Cross came in near the end. His face was pale, his posture stiff. The bruise on his nose had faded to yellow, but the memory of the headbutt was still fresh. He found a seat in the back and kept his eyes on the floor.
Ethan leaned toward Adrian. "He looks like someone stepped on his pride."
Adrian did not answer. But through their bond, he felt Lilith's amusement.
A door opened at the front of the hall. The grey-haired examiner from the combat trials stepped onto the stage. Her voice carried without effort.
"Welcome to Soulmark Academy."
The murmuring died down.
"You have been selected from hundreds of candidates across the empire. You have passed the soul frequency assessment and the combat trials. You are now first-year students of the most prestigious institution in Beltonia." Her eyes swept the crowd. "Some of you will become Soul Knights. Others will become generals, advisors, leaders of men. While the rest of you will wash out before your set graduates."
She let the words hang in the air.
"Your classes begin today. Your instructors will assign your schedules. Your conduct will be monitored. Your performance will be graded." She paused. "You are here to become weapons. Do not forget that."
She stepped back. A tall man in academic robes took her place, reading names and room assignments. Adrian listened for his name, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about her words.
Weapons.
He had been a weapon once. In the Scar, fighting things that wanted to kill him. Things had been simpler then.
His name was called. He stood up, gathered his schedule, and followed the stream of students out of the hall.
---
Combat Theory was held in a lecture hall with seats rising in tiers toward a blackboard. Adrian sat near the back, Ethan beside him, Tessa on his other side. Lilith sat behind them in her usual stillness.
The instructor was a woman with short grey hair and sharp eyes. She introduced herself as Professor Elara Vanessa.
"Soul energy is your most valuable resource," she said, pacing at the front. "It fuels your bond, enhances your abilities, and keeps your spirit manifested. Waste it, and you die. Conserve it, and you survive."
She drew a diagram on the board—a circle divided into segments. "Most of you will learn to channel your soul energy through your bond. This is efficient and effective. This is what separates bonded fighters from common soldiers."
Her eyes swept the room. "But some of you will learn to fight without it. This is harder to achieve but it is rewarding. It is a good way to conserve soul energy. This is what separates survivors from corpses."
She looked directly at Adrian. Her gaze lingered for a moment, then moved on.
He felt the weight of her attention in that short moment and he had no doubt that she was talking to him.
'She must have watched the combat trials or heard about it' he thought.
The lecture continued. Adrian took notes, but most of it was things Lilith had already explained to him on the road.
Soul energy was the foundation and the bond was the channel. Waste your energy, and you died. Conserve it, and you survived. It was as simple as that.
---
The training yard was a wide circle of packed earth surrounded by low walls. Students stood in loose rows, facing a woman with a scarred face and a sword at her hip.
Professor Ophelia.
"Footwork," she said. Without any introductions.
"You can swing a blade all day, but if you can't move, you're dead."
She put them through the drills. Step. Pivot. Step. Pivot. Adrian's body remembered the drills Lilith had taught him on the road, the slide-step he had learned from Jarvis, the forms his father had shown him when he was small.
He moved through them without thinking. His footwork was more complex than what the professor had shown—a mix of different styles—but he performed it easily, with few mistakes.
Around him, students stumbled and fell out of rhythm. Ethan was struggling, his feet tangling on the pivots. Tessa was better, her movements rough but steady.
Ophelia moved through the rows, correcting stances, barking orders. When she reached Adrian, she stopped.
"Where did you learn to move like that?"
He met her eyes. "The Scar. Border work"
She studied him for a moment. "Border work teaches you to survive. It doesn't teach you to move like that."
He just shrugged without giving a reply.
Her eyes flicked to Lilith, standing at the edge of the yard, then back to him. "We'll talk later." She moved on.
Adrian glanced at Lilith before resuming the training.
---
The day ended with a sparring demonstration.
Students gathered around the training yard, their voices hushed. Cassius Vorne stood in the center with his blade drawn. Across from him stood a second-year student—older, bigger, his own blade glowing faintly with soul energy.
The match lasted thirty seconds.
Cassius moved like water. The second-year swung, and Cassius was already gone, standing behind him, his blade pressing against the older boy's throat.
The students were surprised.
"Did you see that? He just took down a second year student in less than a minute!" Someone exclaimed in shock.
"Are you dumb? We all saw it" Another shut him down.
Cassius sheathed his blade and turned away, walking back toward the edge of the yard. His gaze moved across the crowd, searching.
Then it found Adrian.
He stopped.
The change was subtle, but it spread quickly. A ripple of whispers broke through the students. Ethan went rigid beside Adrian. Tessa's hand shifted to her blade almost on instinct.
Cassius walked toward them. Students parted to let him through.
He stopped in front of Adrian.
"You're the one who fought without soul energy," Cassius said.
Adrian met his eyes. "Yes."
Cassius studied him for a moment. "I watched your fights. The construct. The spirit. The boy who cheated." His voice was flat, but there was something beneath it, a sense of intrigue. "You moved like someone who had been fighting his whole life."
Adrian did not answer.
Cassius drew his blade. The crowd gasped. Ethan moved to block but Adrian held up his hand.
Cassius held the blade flat, offering the hilt to Adrian. "Tomorrow. Sparring yard. Seventh bell."
Adrian looked at the blade, then at Cassius's face. There was no malice there. Just the cold fire of someone who wanted to measure himself against the best.
"You don't even know me," Adrian said.
Cassius smiled. "I know you got third without using soul energy. I want to see what you can do when you try."
He sheathed his blade and walked away without waiting for an answer.
The crowd erupted in whispers. Ethan grabbed Adrian's arm.
"You're not actually going to fight him, are you?"
Tessa's face was pale. "He's the top-ranked student. He's been training since he could walk. He—"
Adrian looked at the door where Cassius had disappeared.
He turned to Ethan and Tessa. "I'll see you tomorrow."
He walked toward the door, Lilith falling into step beside him.
Behind him, he heard Ethan's voice. "Is he insane?"
Tessa's answer was quieter. "I think he might be."
---
The courtyard was empty when Adrian stepped outside. The sun was setting, the sky the color of old bronze. Lilith moved at his side, her steps smooth and effortless.
"You're going to fight him?" she asked.
He stopped. "He wants to see what I can do."
"He wants to prove he is the best."
Adrian looked at the sky. "Maybe. But he didn't challenge me because he thinks I'm weak. He challenged me because he thinks I'm strong enough to be worth his time."
"What will you do?" she asked.
He pulled up the system interface. He'd gotten a quest notification when Cassius challenged him.
[New Quest: Prove Your Worth]
[Objective: Win your first sparring match]
[Reward: 25 EXP]
He closed it.
"It's been decided for me already," he said, "Tomorrow, I'll show him."