The mad scratchings of paper with quill concocts a cacophony of noise. Like parched wanderers upon discovering an oasis, my classmates drink from the lecture with a desperate fervour.

Cruelty.

The word springs to my mind before I even understand why. In an instant, the meaning becomes apparent. It's cruel to give them hope. I see through it now. Every student in this hall, no doubt, dream the same dreams I do…

The same dreams I did.

Attend the academy. Distinguish yourself. Become a hero.

A hero to their low-tier Clan by saving them from falling into namelessness. A hero to their starving villages by ascending the Towers to gather supplies. Their collective thoughts are palpable, I can almost hear them cry out.

"If I can study hard as a student here then anything is possible." Well, it's not.

For the few who might survive, they may net themselves a comfortable life. Perhaps they'll be recruited by a higher-tier Clan. Perhaps they'll form a guild and make a name for themselves. Whatever they do, it will be at the pleasure of their betters. If they're not crushed by the system they'll be absorbed by it. The same system that makes our days miserable. The same system that cuts down our lives like they're grass in a field, fighting and dying in their pointless wars. The same system that slaughtered my family like pigs…

In a hopeless place, true cruelty comes from giving people hope and letting life take it from them. True subservience comes from the same deed.

With the sound of writing dying down, our professor resumes the lecture.

'As you advance your rank in Tension Control, you'll find yourself able to perform multiple Set and Fluid Arts simultaneously. Any questions?' As if encouraged by her previous display, the bespectacled girl raises her arm.

'Sir, beyond the standard meditative techniques and practice is there a way of quickly raising your Tension Control?'

'As it happens there is.'

'Battle'

'Hard-fought, gruesome combat, pushing your body and soul to their extremes. In such a situation it has been known for a Tension Master to break through the bottleneck and advance their Tension Control.'

'Of course, for such an event to unfold, they would have to be right at the boundary of the next rank up, and unless their Tension Resistance can match the increased use of Arts, it's likely that even if they survive the battle, they'll die shortly thereafter from the corruption.'

Turning to face the blackboard, Lucas scrawls words out in chalk.

"Tension Resistance"

'As alluded to prior, Tension Resistance regulates the strength of a Tension Master's Arts. While at rank two, a Tension Master will be able to harness ten to thirty percent of the true capacity of any given Art, at rank five, an Art can be cast at one hundred and fifty percent of its usual power.

All writing stops as the professor waits, no doubt, for his words to sink in.

'With that kind of power, you could level a fortress…' Chatter resounds as my classmates discuss the possibilities of "that kind of power."

The most affluent of my peers being a low-tier Clansmen, not one in my class is likely to have ever dreamed of reaching such heights. For most clans such as theirs, rank-four Tensions Masters is the highest attainment of any member of their Clan, and for the one who has reached said rank, they would be the absolute monarch dictating their lives and their deaths from above.

As the scratching recommences, the professor continues. 'Tension Resistance doesn't only determine the strength of your Arts. It also determines the number of times you can use your Arts before corruption precludes it.' Writing once again on the slate, Lucas proceeds with the lecture.

'This part's important, so listen carefully. As you've probably figured out by now, at rank-one Tension Resistance you are unable to perform any Arts. To even attempt it would inevitably result in incapacitation, degeneration, grievous self-injury, or death. The most a rank-one Tension Master can do is temporarily strengthen their physical attribute through enhancement.'

'When you reach rank-two, however, Arts open up to you. Typically, at this stage, you'll be able to use Arts up to seven times, before corruption puts a stop to you. At this rank, you can supplement the natural expulsion of corruption through meditation. If pushed to capacity, through regular meditation, you should be able to return to peak form in around two days.'

The scrapes of studious writing fuse with the taps of Lucas' pacing to recreate in my mind Father's lessons. When we weren't hunting for meat, raiding lost tombs or running away, Father was always sure to impart to me his teachings. As I would jot down his words, he would pace up and down in whatever cave or den that could shelter us from the rain. He would lecture for hours, quiz me all day and examine my work. On days such as those, only with a "passing score" would sleep come my way.

I don't lament the time spent though. Father's greatest lesson was never the basics of Omni-forging or the foundations of runes, it was that knowledge is strength and only the strong can survive.

'For most of you here, rank-three will be the pinnacle of your achievements. Though some may be able to progress, rank-three is where the first major barrier to advancement asserts itself. To move from rank-one to rank-three is nothing to be proud of. With a little patience and years spent in meditation, advancing to rank-three is simply a matter of time. Some of you have already achieved this.'

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All eyes on me, the whispers of our final assessment spread through the theatre. Though difficult to distinguish from the assemble of hushed mutterings, one name is repeated time and again.

"Wolf Yung."

Allowing for the chat to die down, Lucas recommences the lecture.

'It's once you reach rank-three that the difficulties begin. You'll find that instead of months, it takes years to increase the strength of your Arts just a single percent higher, and if by some act of grace you could somehow live long enough to reach the peak of that rank, you'll find the leap to rank-four entirely impossible through meditation alone.'

At an accelerated pace, professor Lucas proceeds to describe to us the details of rank-three. He explains the breakdown of the rank into four grades. Rank-three, grade-one being such Tension Masters able to use forty percent of an Art's true capacity, grade-two, fifty and so on at ten percent intervals up to grade-four, capping out at seventy percent.

He then goes on to explain how each grade increases the number of Arts a Rank-three Tension Master can use before needing to expel the corruption within twelve hours of meditation and rest.

'At grade-one', he says, 'A Tension Master is able to use an Art up to twenty times before needing to rest, then at grade-two, thirty. At grade-three, fifty Arts can be used, and finally, at grade-four, at seventy percent of an Art's true capacity, a Tension Master will be able to us up to seventy Arts before reaching their limit.'

'Of course, that's only true for the Set Arts. For Fluid Arts, you should think of it more like time. It's less a matter of how many Arts that can be used, and more a matter of how long those Arts can be used for.'

'When a fluid Art is cast, regardless of whether it's used for one second or one minute, you can count that as a single deduction to the number of Arts that can be cast without break, but for every minute that passes before you cancel the skill, five Arts can be counted as used.'

Multiple hands spring to the air. Sighing, our professor points in the direction of a brown-haired, heavyset boy sat in the row ahead of mine.

'Sir Lucas, is that to say even if I reach rank-three in Tension Control, I could only perform a single Fluid Art for one minute?' The boy indignantly asks.

'Well done, you can subtract numbers. I'm glad I took the time to come nurture such brilliant minds.'

Though only from the back, I see the boy's cheeks flush with colour. Taking his seat, he buries his face on his desk.

The bespectacled girl still stood, Professor Lucas, points her way. 'Sir you mentioned through meditation alone, advancing from rank-three is exceptionally hard. Is that to say there's a way beyond meditation?"

'Take note class, that is what a question worth asking sounds like. Yes, there is a way to progress through rank-three. Ether crystals. By refining the crystals with an Omni-forge and the right formulae, you can produce a silvery powder that when boiled with red sapling dew and olive seagrass will create a body refinement potion. Not only will it increase the rate at which you can advance, used frequently with meditation, you'll find your physical prowess increase over time.'

Sketching circles inside circles, with runes in-between, Lucas XI draws the refinement potion equation on the blackboard. Like a lunatic's obsession, the hall descends into a furious rush to copy down the sketch.

'The formulae you can have for free, but to get the crystals is no easy feat. A set amount can be purchased here on campus. No more than enough for you to brew one potion a month. If you want more than that, and of course, you will. They can be awarded for the completion of missions on the mission board.'

Once the last quill falls silent, Professor Lucas erases the board. With the slate clean, he begins to write once more.

"Higher-Form Tension and the Principles of Tensions"

A harmony of gasps reaches my ears. It alerts me of my cohort's unrestrained anticipation. Eyeing the professor like a monster does its prey, not a soul moves an inch, as if any sudden movement would alarm their game.

'As you're well aware, Tension in its natural form is an invisible pool of energy. When harnessed as an Art it becomes translucent. Certain Arts, as you've seen take on different forms according to the principles of Tension employed. These are called, "higher-form Arts." Hold that thought, I'll come back to that in a minute.'

'Higher-form Tension, or as its erroneously dubbed, "Elemental Tension" is divided into nine groups according to their effect. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, body, mind, life, and death. A higher-form Tension Master is only capable of harnessing one group. If they can utilise fire they cannot also use water.'

'Though restrictive, such Tension Masters benefit from its higher-form in numerous ways. For one, the higher-form Arts they cast are anywhere up to fifty percent more powerful than regular Arts of the same kind.'

'Beyond that, the corruption produced by their Arts is half that of the corruption that accumulates from regular Arts.'

Whispers of misgiving disseminate through the hall. Catching portions of their mumblings, it seems to me reality has set in. While higher-form Arts can be used by anyone with the talent and luck to learn them, higher-form Tension is a much rarer phenomenon. With the unquestionable advantage, such Tension Masters have over the masses now known, a bud of hope blooms inside me. The hope that my classmates give up...

No.

What business is it of mine if they charge headlong into failure? I let go of the part of me that cares for such things.

"Abandon all mercy, it will not serve you here."

Father's words repeat in my mind, consuming all life from the root of compassion inside me. Suppressing the thoughts, I wrest my attention away from that man and focus once more on the lecture in progress.

'While I'm precluded from going into too much detail, I will conclude this seminar touching upon the principles of Tension.'

'Not all who use higher-form Arts are higher-form Tension Masters. Even without progressing to that state, elemental Arts can be cast by a Tension Master who happens to learn It. Of course, such Arts are tightly guarded and you will not find any instructions on them at this academy. '

'Higher-form Arts do not always neatly fall into the nine groups of higher-form Tension, take the Art, mist walk, for example. One could categorise it as a water Tension Art. Or maybe it uses wind Tension? Perhaps it's body instead. The truth is, it would fall under all three to some extent.'

'That's where principles come in. The Art holds three principles. The principles of water, wind and body. Say its predominant principle is water, that would mean the Art would be far more compatible, and easier to learn for a water higher-form Tension master. Conversely, for those whose Tension form is not covered by the Art, they would be incapable of using it.'

Writing along as he goes, the professor continues. 'Finally, if a regular Tension Master learns mist walk, should they happen to discover a way to convert themselves into becoming a higher-form Tension Master, they would be incapable of advancing into any of the groups not encompassed by that Art.'

With a soft tap, Professor Lucas drops the stick of chalk onto a tray suspended at the bottom of the blackboard. Turning around to face the class, he waits patiently for the last of us to finish taking notes.

'Here concludes our lecture, and by Ember's grace, I won't see any of you again. You are dismissed.'

Relief rushes out my lungs as I slide my chair backwards and stand. Making my way to the door, my pace is halted by the call of the blue-haired man.

'Nero XIII...'

'Why don't you stay for a chat?'