"Well, that was certainly an experience…" Kayla muttered as they all came filing out of Professor Kara's classroom.

"That's one word for it," Pale agreed. "By the way, are you feeling alright? You looked pretty shaken up back there."

Kayla shook her head. "I'll be fine, it's just… I didn't expect her to directly tell me to try and kill her, you know? I'm… still not used to killing people, even after everything. I probably should be by now, but-"

"Don't," Pale said, interrupting her. Kayla turned to her in surprise, but Pale's demeanor didn't change. "I know, in the past, I've disparaged you for not being willing to kill… but that morality is part of what makes you who you are. And even beyond that… you're not like me. You weren't designed for that purpose like I was."

"Pale-"

"Let me finish, Kayla," Pale implored. Kayla fell silent, and Pale let out a small sigh. "On a certain level, yes, I think your earlier feelings about killing were more than a little misplaced… but you've proven that you don't let them hold you back from doing what needs to be done. Rather, you've simply become more measured with how you do it now."

"Measured…" Kayla echoed. "If you want to call it that, I guess…"

"I mean it, Kayla." Pale reached out and gently rested a hand on her shoulder as they walked; Kayla's ears perked up slightly at the sudden sensation, but she didn't say anything. "Never lose sight of who you are."

Kayla bit her lip, her tail lashing behind her. "...It's just been harder than I thought. Ever since Sven got here-"

"I know; I've had the same memories come up, too. But we'll deal with him in due time. For now, let's focus on what we can actually control."

"What would that be?"

Pale looked out a nearby window, frowning when she saw the position of the sun in the sky through the clouds.

"Getting to class on time, for one," she said. "Follow me, I'll get us there as fast as possible."

With that, the two of them started to double-time it through the halls, intent on, at the very least, not being the last ones to make it there.

XXX

As it turned out, they weren't the final pair to make it to class – that dubious honor went to Cal and Cynthia, who came striding in just as Professor Glisos entered the room from a door in the back. It didn't take a genius to see which class this was supposed to be – the rudimentary weight sets and track equipment scattered about told the whole story, and as if that wasn't enough, a large set of double doors off to the side led out to a wide-open courtyard in the center of campus.

"Good, you're all here on-time," Glisos said, his deep, rumbling voice reverberating through the room. "I'll spare you the long introduction – this is your physical training class, where I will whip you all into shape over time. This will be easier said than done, given how the Luminarium tends to feed its students, but make no mistake, by the end of this year, you all will be in the best shape of your lives so far."

A hand went up in the crowd; Pale recognized Joel among his entourage on the other side of the room. Glisos pointed to him, and he took a step forward.

"No offense, but what's the point of this class?" he asked. "I thought this was a magic academy."

"The point is to keep you in-shape so you may stay alive and continue casting spells," Glisos answered without a moment's pause. "And aside from that… casting magic is just as much dependent on your stamina as it is the overall strength of your sjel. The more in-control of your body you are, the more you can cast without getting physically fatigued. Professor Tomas is here to teach you control of your spirit; I am here to teach you control of your body. Two halves of the same coin. Does that make sense?"

That, at least, seemed to placate Joel, who grimaced before shrinking back into the crowd. Glisos seemed unperturbed, however, and instead beckoned for the class to follow him.

"For today, I'll get you started with a basic introduction of what we'll be doing, which will begin with showing you your uniforms."

A groan went up through the crowd of students, one which made Glisos shrug. "They're not mandatory if you don't want to wear them, but you'd be very wise to do so – most of you showed up to class wearing those ridiculous cloaks, if not other expensive articles of clothing. If you want to sweat like a pig in them and ruin them by getting them dirty, you're free to do so. The uniforms are simply the Luminarium's attempt to spare you the pain of ruining your outfits."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Another groan went up through the crowd, though it was more muted than the first. With that having been established, Glisos beckoned for them to follow him.

"Come on," he said, "I'll show you all around."

XXX

The tour didn't take very long; it was mainly showing them the various areas they'd all be working out in. As predicted, nothing here was high-tech at all; the most complex things they had available were the weight sets, among which Pale recognized what had to the have been Glisos' take on a very primitive bench press and squat rack, along with more than a few sets of dumbbells. Everything was carved from stone, save for the bars the weights rested on, which were metal; Pale raised an eyebrow when she noticed that everything here was made by hand.

It made sense, of course; this world wasn't industrialized at all. But still, part of her suspected that Glisos had handcrafted everything here himself, which she had to admit was impressive considering the sheer breadth of equipment on-display.

After showing them around the weight room and courtyard for a bit, he led them to a pair of what were essentially locker rooms where they could change and leave their valuables behind before working out.

Pale, however, opted not to change; she was still wearing a set of combat fatigues and body armor, plus her knife, the same way she had been ever since she'd first learned Sven was here with them. As a result, she was the first one out of the locker room. Glisos raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of her.

"You're going to exercise in all that?" he asked.

"Train how you fight, professor," Pale answered.

To her surprise, Glisos cracked a small smile at that statement. "I can respect it, I suppose. What is that, anyway? Weighted vest?"

"Something like that," Pale replied.

A few of the students came stepping out of their respective locker rooms, already dressed and ready to go, though most of them didn't look happy about it. Kayla was among them; Pale stepped over to stand next to her while Glisos appraised them for a moment before nodding.

"Well, since you lot were the first ones out, I see no reason to keep you waiting," he said. "Give me five laps around the courtyard, fast as you can. I want to see you all sweating by the time you get back."

A few of the students let out another groan, and Glisos smirked at them. "I'm getting a lot of good responses about that. Since you all seem to like it so much, make it six laps instead."

For a moment, nobody moved, until Glisos crossed his arms. "Well? Get to work. Or would you rather learn to lift heavy weights right now instead?"

None of them argued, instead taking off running around the courtyard.

XXX

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

"Kayla," Pale chastised.

"What?" Kayla replied as the two of them walked down the hall to their next class. "All I'm saying is, my legs are killing me right now."

"I'm not giving you any of my medicine so you can make your legs stop aching, Kayla."

"Come on, please?" Kayla begged. Pale was unperturbed, causing her to pout.

"It's for emergencies only," Pale reminded her. "I can't get more once it's gone."

Kayla let out a sigh of resignation. "I know, I know… I just haven't been this sore since we fought that vampire…"

"Well, luckily it's the last class of the day now," Pale said. "Dueling… sounds pretty self-explanatory. No idea how it'll work if I can't use magic, but I guess we'll find out soon enough."

A few minutes later, and the two of them took a seat in their final class of the day, settling in next to Cal and Cynthia like usual. Cal was wincing and holding his head, Kayla frowned at the sight of it, then leaned over to speak with Cynthia.

"Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Cynthia replied. "His headache has just come back after all that running, is all."

"Professor Kara is kind of a bitch…" Cal muttered.

"Cal!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"What? It's not like she needed to knock me out!"

"If your head hurts so much, then go visit the hospital wing and get it healed!"

"And tell the healers I got knocked out in a single move? No way!"

"Quiet!" a large, booming voice suddenly announced. Immediately, all chatter in the room died. The throng of students parted, allowing Professor Marik to step up to the front of the room. Pale did not miss how his entire body seemed to clink with each step.

Either he had some heavy-duty armor on underneath his cloak, or he was armed to the teeth under there. Either way, between that and his demeanor, it didn't bode well for any of them.

Marick made it to the front of the room, then turned to face them, clasping his hands behind his back.

"I won't waste your time," he said. "This is a class designed for you to test your abilities against your peers. Duels are fought either to the first drop – emphasis on drop – of blood, or until someone is otherwise unable or unwilling to continue fighting. There are only a few rules in this class – no lethal or debilitating blows, no continuing to fight once I've determined the fight is over, no involving outsiders in your fight, and no leaving the arena until the fight has concluded. Past that, any kind of weapon or tactic is allowed. The goal here is to teach you what an actual, no-holds-barred fight is like, and to that end, the rules are kept deliberately sparse. To put it simply – I don't care how you win your fight so long as everyone is still in one piece afterwards. Understand?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement through the crowd. Marick's eye twitched.

"Understand?!" he repeated, much louder this time.

"Yes, Professor!" they all replied.

"Good," he said. "Now, let's get right into it. For most of the year, I will have you all fighting in one-on-one matches; anything else tends to get over-complicated at this stage. To that end… you and you, up front. I want to see what you're both capable of."

He pointed out into the crowd, and Pale froze when she realized where he'd motioned towards.

He was pointing directly at her and Kayla.