Pax did his best to hurry across campus toward the dining hall. The sun was sinking, and the academy was busy again as transports returned the students after another long shift of helping put the city back together again.

Pax saw dirty robes, dusty armor, slumped shoulders and tired gazes. He didn’t have trouble mimicking them, surprised at how exhausted hours of constant mana work had made him. And he hadn’t taken time to clean up after the morning shift, so his armor still fit in with the others.

He was tempted to take the second potion from Incedis, remembering how much he’d enjoyed the rapid uptick of mana after taking it. It drove home again the difference between low- and high-level potions.

However, he could feel the bit of the artificial strain that let him know he couldn’t drink more than one or two more potions today. Despite his hope that coin would solve all his problems, chugging potions through an entire fight wouldn’t work. Still, in a case like this, a better one made all the difference, especially helping keep the dreaded mana headache at bay.

When Pax saw the dining hall, his pace picked up. He wasn’t that hungry, but he had news for his friends and wanted to make sure they were all safe after a second trip into the city.

Pax entered the bustling hall full of clattering dishes, voices and delicious aromas. The knot of tension inside him relaxed when he spotted his entire crew, pets included, scarfing down a meal. With recent events, the various dining halls had adapted to having a mix of classes eating together at any given meal.

Hi, Pax! Friends brought us to eat. Said you’d come soon. Missed you, Talpa sent.

Pax caught a flicker of motion and stepped off to the side with a grin, crouching down. Talpa flung himself at him as if he were still small enough to hold in two hands.

Hey buddy. I missed you, too. He grabbed his friend, using his Strength to keep from falling backward as he gave him scratches.

He missed you a lot. Whisk’s voice was full of tamped down excitement at seeing Pax. I did, too, but I’m more used to being on my own. Though we weren’t actually on our own as we had each other. The others were also fun company, especially that Horrid girl. She’s got the most interesting abilities. We decided she should aim for something with acid, like me, next.

Thanks for keeping an eye on all the young ones, Pax sent to Whisk, infusing it with his heartfelt gratitude as he straightened and headed toward their table, Talpa on his heels.

Whisk’s form was malleable enough, he could have come with him for the day by staying mostly unnoticed wrapping himself around and through Pax’s armor. But they’d needed a more mature babysitter to keep an eye on the pets that were too big to be carried anymore, but not old enough to be trusted doing dangerous work in the aftermath of the riots.

Amil’s eyes lit up when he saw Pax walking up to their table. He started to say something before pausing and frowning. “I was going to bug you about skipping out on all the hard work, but you look about as tired as we feel.”

Pax shot a quick glance, relieved to see no one was paying them any attention in the loud and busy hall. “Yeah, sorry we got separated. But I did just as much work as you guys.”

Amil winced at his slip before waving a fork at Pax. “Grab some food. We’ve got plans to do a bit of crew training when we’re done, so you’ll need your energy.”

Pax groaned. More training was the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew his friends had to be close to leveling, so he couldn’t begrudge them his help. It wasn't like the school leaders would make them go out again after dinner. And the rest of the campus would likely be recovering from the rigors of the day.

“Don't worry, it won't be all work.” Rin shot him a grin that made him immediately suspicious. “The rest of us have a couple of surprises for you.”

“That doesn't sound ominous at all,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Are you sure you can't tell me now?”

“And ruin the surprise?” Dahni shook his head with a matching grin.

With an exasperated sigh, Pax hurried over to the food line to grab his portion of beast meat. Despite the excellent potion Incedis had given him, he could still use the practice circulating more mana. If anything, Pax’s attempt to awaken the street boy had motivated him to improve his mana stores and control as much as possible.

After they finished a hurried meal, the trip through the tunnels was uneventful. But the mischievous looks Rin and the others aimed at Pax after they all stepped into their training cave made him rethink his agreement to help them.

When he aimed a suspicious look in her direction, she laughed and brought a metal rod out of her inventory. “Here's your first surprise.”

Her gleeful smile told him all he needed to know. The intricate runes wrapping around the top half of the rod solidified the rest of his suspicions.

“Please tell me that's not a fancy freezing rod you got from Mistress Nymeli.”

“Sorry.” Rin didn't look at all apologetic. “That's exactly what it is. And when I told her we needed it to help improve your magic, she offered to let us borrow it indefinitely.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “I know Incedis isn't telling us who has officially joined the rebels, but I get the feeling that Mistress Nymeli might have joined some time ago.”

Pax thought that might be true, but it didn’t keep him from scowling at everyone who looked eager to get started with the ice testing. At least Bryn gave him a sympathetic shrug. Tasar and Tyrodon had already moved into the cave to set up some equipment and weren't paying much attention.

“I think we should start with your training, not mine.” Pax motioned toward where Tyrodon already had some of his training balls out, and Tasar was arranging practice weapons in a wooden rack.

“Except that we think it will take you some recovery time after freezing you down, so we've all decided to do our training when you need breaks. It's the most efficient way.” Rin’s smile widened again. “Besides, as soon as you're done, we have a few more surprises for you.”

“I don’t like your surprises,” Pax said under his breath, still unable to argue with her logic. He walked over to the shelving unit that Tyrodon had installed, grabbed a pillow from the shelf, and plopped down in an open spot to Meditate.

Pax suddenly realized he’d forgotten about Whisk wrapped around his torso under his leather armor. He didn’t want to subject either of them to blasts of cold. After sending Whisk to go hang out with the other pets, Pax pulled out his armor stand, and took his armor off. The sudden rank smell wafting from his clothing made it clear he needed to spend some time getting things clean, including himself. Finally ready again, he sat, closed his eyes to Meditate, and tuned out the noises from the others.

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"Let me know when you're ready," Rin said quietly from what sounded like a few feet in front of him. “Once I get started, give me another signal when you've had enough.”

“Are you sure you don't want to come sit closer to me?” He patted the floor in front of himself.

“Not right now. Though I expect you'll be using this on me eventually, so I’ll get my own dose soon enough.” Rin let out a rueful laugh. “You still need to get to your next level first if you’re going to help me unlock mine, right?”

Nodding, Pax pushed aside the good-natured teasing and focused on his mana. Even though it wasn't the lightning element that Amil hoped he would improve, Pax couldn't pass up any opportunity to advance any of his new secondary elements. It didn't take him long to pull up the small sphere of ice mana from deep within him and spread it in a thin layer just at the surface of his torso and arms.

“Ready,” he said. “Keep it to my chest and arms to start.”

She didn't give him any warning. A rush of chilling air hit his chest and splashed out over his arms, even wrapping around his ribs. Pax bit down on the shocked cry that wanted to burst out.

With an iron focus he'd earned on many battlefields, he turned his attention to his chest and what the cold was actually doing. Understanding the way elements affected his body was never a pleasant process, so he wanted to progress as quickly as possible.

His first impression wasn't so much of cold as it was a slowing. With his growing understanding of anatomy and the underlying processes, he sensed immediately that not only did the cold slow down his blood flow as vessels and tissues contracted, but it also seemed to inhibit the signals of the nerves in the area. He suddenly understood why his chest was going numb and losing sensation.

A sudden worry about doing more damage than he wanted made him pull light mana to the area and focus on countering some of the freezing with his healing. The last thing he wanted was to lose a layer of skin to frostbite. He'd seen enough of that on fingers, toes, and tips of noses among the Vipers to be plenty wary.

Once Pax felt he'd achieved a tenuous balance between protecting himself and allowing the freezing energy inside, he dove deep again to learn more. He found that the extreme cold not only slowed the normal processes, but also pushed the liquids to take up more space as they tried to solidify into ice.

The damage caused by frostbite suddenly made more sense. He’d thought it was just the lack of blood flow to the area, kind of like a string that accidentally got tied around a baby's toe. But now he saw that ice had another damaging effect. As the liquid froze and expanded, it pushed out and broke through the surrounding tissue. It made him think of how fruits, once frozen and then thawed, turned mushy.

Pax’s understanding of how severe cold impacted the body grew. Next, he dove into the mana. His own ice mana was entwined with the two shades of blue that made up air and water mana, one light and one dark. He could feel the consistency of his ice mana fluctuate as the incoming cold energized it. It fought to slow and harden the entire front of Pax’s body. Only the consistent push of his light mana kept things moving.

A bone-deep ache kept distracting him as he felt his breathing become labored and painful. But if he could just understand the essence of ice, he'd be able to help Rin unlock hers. Ignoring the pain and trusting his Healing, Pax dove deeper into the boundary where his mana interacted with the incoming cold.

He could feel himself on the edge of understanding more and pulled up his memory of using his ice mirror. It had an almost unnatural hardness, able to reflect damage while being made of such a brittle substance. How could he reconcile the use of something so solid and immovable inside his relatively vulnerable body? Was there a way to incorporate ice without everything slowing to a complete stop?

Suddenly, the pressure on his chest disappeared, making him mentally stumble like hitting an unexpected extra step on a staircase. He blinked his eyes blearily, and tried to ask Rin what happened. No words came out, and Rin’s concerned face moved in closer, pressing a potion bottle to his lips.

“You were supposed to tell me when to stop, dunder.”

It took him a second to process her words as he instinctively swallowed the potion. Now that he was paying attention, he realized just how cold he was. The thought seemed to amplify the mild shivers going through him into something that felt like a full-body spasm. He fell forward, curling into a ball and trying to stop the shaking.

“Amil, get over here and warm Pax up. Now!”

Rin’s urgent voice still sounded somewhat muffled as Pax dove back into his core to pull up all the light and flame mana he could. He was glad to see the pulsing energy from the healing potion already at work. Doing his best to ignore his shaking body, he pushed the combination into his healing skill, doing his best to reverse the effects of the extreme cold that had snuck up on him while he was distracted.

A sudden warmth poured over him and felt more amazing than his first heated bath at the academy. He sank into the floor as all of his muscles relaxed under the languid heat that seemed to wrap around every inch of his body.

Why so cold? Not smart. Talpa sent the concerned and chastising words right before squirming under Pax’s arm to curl his large and warm body against his front.

You’re right. It was a stupid mistake. I won’t do it again. Curling around the comforting warmth of his companion, Pax took a moment to see if all the pain had been worth it.

***

Increased understanding of Ice: +15. Level 1 - 33/100

***

He’d gained eighteen points using his Ice Mirror against Graybrew and his friends, the high-leveled opponents giving him a decent start. And now he’d gained another fifteen during a training exercise. He was surprised to gain so many all at once outside of combat. But this had felt similar to the intense elemental training back in the ruins. And he’d almost let Rin freeze him solid, so maybe this counted as training under mortal danger?

“Is that better? Is he alright? What happened?”

“I thought this was just a simple test?”

“Were you trying to freeze him solid?”

The barrage of questions from his friends overlapped each other, so he couldn’t tell who was speaking.

“He was supposed to speak up when he wanted me to stop.” Rin interrupted them all, still sounding angry. “And he just sat there completely still in his Meditation like he usually is. As soon as I noticed his muscles shivering, I stopped. But I think he was suppressing the effects of the cold until they overwhelmed him all at once.”

Pax forced himself to open his eyes and reassure his friends. “Hey, how about you turn down that heat. I'm sweating now.”

Amil turned to him with relief on his face that was quickly replaced by anger as he let his arm and the warm mana drop. "You idiot. You're worse than I am with the lightning. What were you thinking? Letting Rin almost freeze you solid?”

“Sorry. I’m fine now. Rin’s right, I got too involved in studying how the ice affected my body.”

Rin scoffed. “We can both tell you that. It freezes you solid and then you die. It may be slower than lightning, but like me, it's sneakier. Next time, we are setting a time limit.”

“Oh?” Amil gave her a narrowed look. “So, there's going to be a next time? Unlike with my lightning?”

“Didn’t you learn your lesson?” She gave him a raised eyebrow. “And I'm not letting him use his ice mana on me until he's got it to level two. I'd recommend you do the same with the lightning. My guess is, he'll have better control not only of the amount but of the direction and area he can push the mana into.”

Amil looked disappointed before aiming a considering look at Pax. “I wonder if Mage Harding might lend us his lightning sword to practice with? Or we could figure out where he keeps it?”

The others gave him looks that told him exactly what they thought of his idea.

“Don't worry.” Pax reached out to pat Amil on the leg. “With the second city already falling, I don't think we're staying in Salman much longer. Once we are back at the ruins, you'll have plenty of lightning to practice with.”

“I guess so.” Amil looked discouraged until the rest of the crew moved closer.

Then Pax saw him perk up after getting a nod from Rin and Dahni. Suddenly suspicious, Pax clambered slowly to his feet and took a few steps away from them. “This looks like another surprise, and I haven't quite recovered from the last one.”

“Oh,” Amil said with a slow grin. “You'll like this one a lot more. I'm just remembering that I have something else to keep me busy while I'm waiting to unlock lightning.”

To Pax’s surprise, Amil held up one hand and flared mana through his tattoos. When everyone else, pets included, took a step back, Pax hastily followed their examples.

Then his friend burst into flames.