Instructor Kaelen paired me up with the heavily armored Dwarf. Without the Voltaic Step or the Sapphire Dissonance, my Dexterity was only useful for dodging. But dodging a massive, sweeping great-hammer in a confined space is a lot harder than slipping past a boxer.
I managed to evade the Dwarf's first two swings, dancing around the heavy shockwaves of his strikes. But my footwork failed me on the third. I didn't even take a direct hit—the Dwarf simply slammed the flat of his hammer into the stone next to me, and the sheer force caught my legs.
I was launched off my feet, flying backward and skidding hard across the scorched arena floor. My ribs throbbed, and my breath left me in a ragged wheeze.
I looked over just in time to see Snow faring no better. The Dwarf's bond was a massive, slate-gray Stone Serpent. Snow had tried to freeze it with a glare, entirely forgetting her magic was suppressed. The serpent simply coiled around her, pinning her completely to the ground. She let out a highly undignified, muffled yowl of outrage as she was reduced to a fluffy, immobilized burrito of scales.
"We yield!" I choked out, tapping the stone floor.
The Dwarf grunted, hoisting his massive hammer over his shoulder with a good-natured nod, while his serpent uncoiled and released a very disheveled, deeply offended Snow.
Across the arena, Garret was having a much better time. He had cornered the Elven archer. In close quarters, without her bow or Qi, she couldn't handle his aggressive, heavy-handed boxing style. Garret hooked her legs out from under her, while his Steel Sparrow aggressively chased her wolf cub bond under the weapon racks.
"Alright, time!" Kaelen roared, his crimson aura flaring just enough to demand absolute silence. "Clean yourselves up and sit down! The physical evaluations are over."
I groaned, pushing myself up off the stone. Snow trotted over to me, furiously attempting to groom her crushed fur back into place.
"I despise reptiles," she projected into my mind, her tone colder than absolute zero. "When the magic restriction is lifted, I am turning that oversized worm into a very expensive pair of boots."
"Get in line," I muttered, rubbing my bruised ribs as we walked over to the edge of the arena and sat down with the other battered recruits.
Kaelen paced in front of us, his heavy boots echoing in the quiet room. The amusement from the sparring matches was completely gone from his face.
"Some of you did well. Most of you died," Kaelen stated flatly. "In the Void-Sector, you don't get to tap out. If a Void-beast corners you, it doesn't wait for you to catch your breath. That is why your priority is not fighting. It is survival."
He stopped pacing and crossed his massive, fur-covered arms.
"I am going to send a list of required reading to your Guild Comms," he continued, his gravelly voice dropping into a deadly serious register. "Anatomy of common lesser Void-spawn. Environmental hazards of corrupted zones. Basic field triage. If you don't read them, you will bleed out from a wound you didn't know how to bind, or you'll get eaten by something you didn't know how to track."
Kaelen looked over the bruised, exhausted group of recruits.
"Class is dismissed. Go lick your wounds, Coppers. Tomorrow, the real training begins."