The rain had stopped some time during the night and the sun welcomed us in the morning. I stood in front of my tent and stretched. Nyx was next to me and did the same.

“Morning.” I said to my friends, who were also leaving their tents.

“Morning.” Helena said. “You know, the mana still flows. I had almost expected it to stop during the night.”

“Yeah, I think it even helped with my foot.” Cassie said.

“How is your foot?” I asked.

“Basically healed. I mean, I was able to march yesterday but it was still itching a bit. Now it’s fine. How are your legs?”

“The skin is still a bit red but otherwise they are healed. No more bandages.” I said with a smile.

“Hey, since the mana just circulates naturally now, we could train some other spells today, while marching.” Skadi suggested.

Cassie sighed. “I suppose…”

After breakfast we washed our gear in the river before packing it up. A wet tent was better than a muddy tent. Soon our journey continued. I even saw Archibald marching again. He had been inside a wagon yesterday. It seemed that he made a complete recovery. Likely they had used healing magic or potions on him. It was amazing what magic could do.

Soon we were on the road again. Today I was working on ice daggers. While my necrotic dart was powerful, I needed a less toxic way of killing things. Also, it was not a great spell to take something alive, if I ever needed to apprehend someone.

Cassie was summoning flames in her hand and Skadi was playing with rock darts. Helena was trying to form a water shield above her head.

“Why are you forming a shield above you?” I asked her.

“To protect me from the sun!” She replied.

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“Um, water is not going to help you much. It’s transparent.” Cassie pointed out. “You might even make a lens and grill yourself.”

“The idea is to turn it into cloudy ice. I am just trying to get used to the water version first. I hope I can get it done by midday.” Helena explained.

An ice shield would take more mana. Especially since the sun would try to melt it, so she would need to reinforce the ice.

“That is actually a nice way of training. The sun would be like a mild fire attack.” I said.

“You need a Nyx on your head to train against physical attacks as well.” Skadi suggested.

“First I need to create an ice shield. Let’s skip adding even more challenges for now.” Helena said.

“You should work on a shower spell, so we don’t need to bathe in the river.” Cassie suggested.

“The problem is the amount of water you need. I think we could use the river water and just move that above our heads as a shower. I am not sure if that would be worth the trouble.” I answered.

Most students looked confused when they saw us training. Only a few others tried something similar. I guess many of them were not at the academy to push themselves. They just wanted the prestige of having attended. Or maybe their parents forced them to be here.

“Am I imagining things, or are a lot of the students a bit lazy?” I asked my friends.

Cassie looked at me. “We are marching the whole day while carrying an unnecessarily large backpack. Why would any sane person want to do even more? Especially when you see the second years riding.”

“Because it’s good training?” I responded.

“You forget that most students are spoiled nobles.” Skadi said. “I am surprised they haven’t rebelled yet.”

“I think Archibald getting turned to stone was a good lesson. I heard something similar happened in another class. A student was frozen for a bit.” Helena said.

“Even I heard about the Archibald thing. And I barely talk to people. But there will be plenty of complaints when we return. You can bet that everyone is writing to their parents about the awful treatment here.” Cassie added.

“Considering the incidents they are going to put a lot of pressure on the academy. Erik Hailstorm is respected, because of his power, but his management style is not well liked among the nobility.” Helena said.

“What do you mean? He seemed rather fair so far.” I asked.

“Nobles don’t want fair.” Cassie pointed out. “Or rather, they see it as only fair that they get better treatment. That the son of a duke could be commanded by a commoner is outrageous for many. But if they want any influence in the army they need to send some of their children. They can’t boycott the academy.”

“And their private armies are limited…” I added.

“Exactly. The king says this system is there to ensure that any powerful citizen can become part of the army. But mostly it’s there to make sure that he remains in control.” Helena confirmed.

“Do you think anything will happen that affects us?” I wondered.

“Hard to say. They could replace one of the teachers if an investigation manages to blame them.” Helena theorised.

“I think the blame will fall on the duchy. But we will have to deal with royal investigators for a bit. And I will have to deal with my mother. There is no way this does not draw her attention…” Cassie sighed.

“Ah. And she will be unhappy about how you treated Florence. And Archibald. And she will be unhappy about your all female team and expect you to find a husband.” I said.

“Exactly…”

Skadi patted her on the back. “No worries, we got your back.”

As the day went on Helena managed an ice shield. It was slowly melting though. But she seemed to enjoy the water dripping on her face. We made sure not to exhaust ourselves too much but kept training throughout the day. By the time the caravan stopped for the evening we were tired. But it was worth it.