Consulting his map, Nar realized that he was closer to the canteen than to his room, so he decided to head there instead, in the hopes of finding his party already eating dinner.

And if they weren’t there, he would quickly eat something and head back to the room, to see if he could catch them before they headed out for aura practice.

His plan formed, he was only half aware of where he was going.

The physical exertions of the day as well as his talk with K had left him wrecked. He didn't know where he was going to find the will and the strength for the long hours of aura training that awaited him, but he knew that he had no choice in the matter.

Not only did he want to improve, he still had the Master of Aura’s punishment hanging over his head, and he only had five more days in which to achieve her requirements, or face something worse. And considering what he had faced today at the hands of the Master of Blades and his instructors, he had no doubt that the Master of Aura could be just as terrifying if necessary.

And so, he stumbled onwards, through still unfamiliar corridors and lifts, following the guiding white arrows to the canteen.

By the time he got there and got a tray of food ready, he was shaking, holding back his saliva from falling out the corners of his mouth.

He looked up, searching for his party or any empty table where he could sit down and demolish the pile of food in front of him, when he caught sight of a long arm, waving at him.

“Nar!” Tuk’s voice reached him through the hubbub of conversation. “Over here!”

In a daze, Nar stumbled forward and dropped heavily at their table.

“Well, you also look like crap,” Tuk said.

“Let him eat,” Kur said.

Nar grunted something at that and shoved the first fork of something into his mouth. He didn’t even know what he was eating, or how it tasted, which was almost blasphemous. He opened his mouth, he filled it with food, he chewed, he swallowed, he repeated.

“Damn, that’s grim,” Tuk said. “What did they do to you in that Blades class?”

“Exercise,” Nar said, through a mouthful. “So much exercise. All day.”

“Same as us, then” Mul said, his voice a drawn-out husk of its usual self.

“And Viy as well,” Kur said. “And Gad… I’m very happy to be a party leader today.”

“Great…” Mul muttered.

“Where… Others?” Nar asked, in between mouthfuls.

“Napping,” Kur said. “Before aura practice.”

“Which is what I should be doing,” Mul said.

“And Jul?” Nar asked. He was starting to feel a little better, the fuller he got.

“I’m here…”

Nar paused mid chewing and turned slowly to his right side. Jul stared at him and gave him a sad smile, and for a moment Nar’s brain refused to come up with a course of action.

Jul… Not noticed… Sad… Shit…

“Wait! No, no, no! It’s not like that!” she suddenly stammered. His face must have betrayed his thoughts and feelings, even as his mouth struggled to catch on.

“I’m sorry…” he finally managed, after a painful, hurried swallow.

“No! It’s not that…” Jul insisted, looking away.

“You have been quiet over dinner,” Kur pipped in, coming to both of their rescue. “Are you okay? Did something happen at the Shadows Hall?”

Jul took a deep breath to speak, then, hesitated, her mouth hanging open. In itself, that was all the answer they needed.

“What happened?” Nar asked, turning fully to face her on the bench.

Jul sighed and pursed her lips.

“Come on, Jul. If you don’t tell us, we can’t help you,” Cen said, from the rogue’s other side.

Oof! I didn’t even notice Cen either… Nar realized, trying to keep that from showing on his face.

“Okay… Okay,” Jul relented. She took a deep breath. “I… I don’t think I want to be a rogue anymore…”

Nar blinked and focused back on her, processing what she had just said. From the silence that spread across the table, he knew he wasn’t the only one shocked.

“I’m sorry… I know the party needs a…”

“No! No!” Kur said, the first to react and stopping her apology. “The party doesn’t need anything! Like I always say, do what you want and the party will adapt and make it work. And you know that, Jul!”

“Yes… Sorry.”

“That aside, I am curious as to what…”

“Why?” Mul cut in. The brawler’s voice sounded even more tired, if that was possible, but his eyes were fixed on Jul, and alert.

The quam fidgeted under the table, shrinking under his intense scrutiny.

“The stuff the Master of Shadows talked about today… About subterfuge, and tricks, and poisons and assassinations, and-and all the sneaking, preparation and stuff… I know that my [Stealth] is useful and all, but…” she sighed, slumping her shoulders. “I’m not the same person I was when I made that choice. I don’t want to be that same person anymore… I want to be brave! I want to be more! I want to be… Different.”

Nar leaned on his elbows and considered his half-eaten plate before him.

“Then change,” he blurted, almost without thought.

“Yeah. Just do it,” Mul said, closing his eyes and resting his face against his fists. “No point sticking to it if that’s not what you want.”

“Yeah…” Nar said, almost in a daze.

“I mean, I’m all for it,” Kur stepped in. “But, before you make any decisions, make sure of what you want, okay? And talk to us. We’re all here to help.”

“I… Okay. I’ll do that,” Jul mumbled with a nod.

“You think they’ll allow her to change, though?” Tuk asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Kur said, shrugging. “And I told you about K. They really seem to just want to let us build whatever path we want.”

“That’s what he told me too,” Nar said, filling up his mouth again.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Kur frowned at him. “You went to see him?”

“... Yes?”

“Wait? What?” Cen asked. “But I thought only people with affinity had gone to see him?”

“I thought so too,” Kur said.

Nar looked around the table.

“I didn’t go,” Tuk said.

“I went,” Kur said.

Jul gave Nar a nod.

“I also went,” Mul said. “Freaky place. And there was something off about that guy...”

“I didn’t get called…” Cen said, looking downcast.

“So why did I go?” Nar asked, his expression one of dumb, tired confusion.

“Beats me,” Kur said. “What did you talk about?”

“The champion class stuff, the hybrid class, and basically everything that happened to me and who was my inspiration for it,” Nar explained.

“Hmmm… More or less what he asked me, except we talked a lot about my influence affinity,” Kur mused, rubbing his chin. “And? Did you find out more about your class?”

Nar shook his head. “He’s never heard of it, but he’ll look into it.”

“He what?” Mul said, sounding as though he had just snapped out of dozing off. “What pile of shit is that? He rubbed in my face that a fire brawler was so common, it was going to take him forever to get what I needed!”

“Really?” Nar asked, his eyebrows climbing high up his forehead.

“Well, for me it wasn’t as bad as that, but he found a little over a million matches of influence party leaders,” Kur said. “And that’s just from the stuff they have on their databases, without calling back for info from Tsurmirel’s supposedly massive databanks. The real number is probably way, way higher.”

“I thought your affinity would be, I don’t know, sort of rare?” Tuk told Kur. “I mean, it sounds more… Out there than say, fire and stuff?”

“Yes, yes, I know I’m fucking common,” Mul sighed into his hands. “But to have zero results? In this whole fucking Infinite Nexus? Are you telling me you’re unique? What a load of crap!”

“Yeah, that doesn’t seem right,” Cen said. “But then again, why would he… Lie? I mean, that’s crazy right? Why would he?”

Lie? Nar thought, pushing around a white square of something in the sauce on his plate. Nah! Why would he though?

“Hmm,” Kur made, Tuk’s question forgotten. “Yeah, don’t see why they would lie about it. After all, your path is ranked as Rare. Maybe they somehow never heard of it? I mean, there are supposedly infinite paths in the Nexus, no?”

“And that could be why you got called!” Cen said, sounding almost relieved.

“I’m sure that we’ll all go through our class changes soon enough, as we unlock our affinities and progress with our training,” Kur said. “No one is going to be left behind. And speaking of classes, Tuk, did you get to ask about that aim assist thing?”

Tuk shook his head, though a grin graced his lips. “Didn’t have to. All the ranged folk were freaking out about it!”

“Really?” Cen asked. “That’s good then! It’s not just you!”

“Yeah! It was the first thing that our masters talked about!” Tuk said, chuckling. “You could hear the relief in the hall!”

“Did you just say masters?” Mul mumbled, not bothering to lift his head from the table.

“Oh, yeah! That’s right!” the ring tosser said. “Guess what? We have three masters!”

“Three?” Kur asked, frowning. “Why?”

“Well, there’s a lot of different weapons in the Rangers Hall. We got a Master of Rangers, who is like the main dude. He teaches about bows and crossbows and survival and traps and stuff! Really cool looking guy too!”

“Traps?” Jul asked.

“Yeah. Turns out some paths out there are very into making and setting traps around the place,” Tuk said. “I zoned out a bit, so not sure…”

“Tuk!” Cen snapped at him.

“What? That’s not my path!”

“You need to pay attention to everything!” Cen said, exasperated. “It can help us! You never know!”

“Sorry…” Tuk mumbled, his expression pitiful. “I was just trying to catch my breath…”

Cen grimaced at the truggers sorry face. “Okay, okay! Just pay attention next time!”

“Okay!” Tuk said, immediately beaming. “And where was I? Oh, the masters! Right. So, the second master is the Master of Throwing Weapons. I think my rings are throwing weapons, so he'll probably be my guy…”

“Please don’t call the masters as guys and girls,” Kur pleaded.

“What? Of course not!” Tuk said, offended. “Why would I do that?”

“Do we need to answer that?” Mul muttered.

“And the last master?” Cen asked, before the conversation fell apart.

“Uh? Oh, she’s the Master of Guns.”

A collective frown went around the table.

“What’s a gun?” Jul asked, her voice low and nearly inaudible under all the chatter surrounding them in the canteen.

Tuk rubbed his chin. “Yeah, that one’s a bit of a mystery. From what I understood, a gun is like a machine you wield, and it shoots these things that are usually called bullets. It’s like a bow, but you just aim and shoot using your aether or aura.”

And he made a gesture of holding something with his hands and shooting it.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those amongst the Climbers,” Kur said.

“You haven’t!” Tuk rushed to say. “They’re going to be testing us to see if some of us are meant for the gun paths instead.”

“And do you want to change?” Nar asked the ring tosser.

“Me? Nah! I love my rings, man! I’m happy to stay with the Master of Throwing Weapons,” Tuk said. “But anyways, back to the aim thing, they basically told us that we’ll need to properly learn how to use our weapons from scratch. Our aura will help a lot with the aiming, like you said Cen, but we’re meant to master our weapons the right way, and not just rely on aura. They say it’s bad, you know. Very aura wasteful and a crutch and all that.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Kur said.

“And someone did bring it up in our aura classes today as well,” Cen added. “And yes, we casters imbue our aura attacks and skills with our intentions, and that’s how the aiming goes. Apparently, it happens entirely subconsciously for us, like, if I want to hit Kur, but instead I think about hitting Tuk, I’ll hit Tuk instead.”

“Neat!” Tuk said. “Very jealous. They made it sound like it’s going to be rough for us. And, we’re starting next week already, and it will take all of our time. Day and night!”

“What? Really?” Kur asked. “What about the aura stuff?”

“And what about the new attribute and the physical attributes and the weights and stuff?” Nar blurted in a nearly incoherent string of words that was just barely a sentence.

“What weights?” Tuk asked.

“What weights?” Mul shouted. “You don’t have them?”

“Uh, no?” Tuk said, looking at them weirdly. “We just run around and do exercises and stuff. It’s kinda fun.”

“It’s fun?” both Mul and Nar shouted.

Tuk leaned back, away from his two rabid party members.

“They have it rough,” Kur told Tuk. “Just drop it. But they’re right though. Is that new attribute and getting more efficient use out of your physical attributes not important to the ranged DPS?”

“Of course it is!” Tuk said, looking almost hurt and glaring at the other two. “But, you know, it’s more important for us to re-learn how to use our damn weapons before we go back into a fight!”

Nar looked down. “Sorry…”

“Yeah, man. Sorry about that,” Mul said, sighing. “I don’t think my brain is right.”

“Yeah… I almost passed out so many times today,” Nar said, almost in a daze. “Thankfully I didn’t puke. They make you clean it up…”

“Uh… I’m sorry. What?” Tuk asked, shocked.

“They have it rough,” Kur said again.

“Us too…” Jul added.

“Hmmm…” Tuk made. “I’m sorry. I… Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Nar said, grinning. “Not yet.”

“Next week looks pretty rough for you,” Mul said, also grinning.

“Okay, now you’re just being assholes!” Tuk said, going pale.

Nar chuckled darkly, and Mul simply nodded slowly at Tuk.

“Alright, enough of that,” Kur said. “Let’s head to the aura hall. We need to find our own pods tonight.”

“Oh, my Crystal! You’re right!” Cen shouted. “What if we can’t get one?”

She got up and quickly dashed to return her tray.

“Wait for…” Mul said, but she was already gone.

“Ah, let her go,” Kur said. “This stuff’s important to her.”

“Yeah… I know,” Mul muttered. “Crystal. I need my bed.”

“After,” Kur said, patting his back. “Come on.”

Groaning to himself, Nar forced his body to follow after them.

Crystal… I don’t want to do this, he thought, as they waited for the lift.

“Oh, by the way. I’ve got something for you, Nar,” Kur said as they entered the lift.

He lifted his hand and a short and thin metal cylinder appeared between his fingers.

“Is that…”

“Yes. It’s those screens everyone’s been using. The touch-screens they promised us in the quartermaster,” Kur said, handing it to Nar. “They handed them out to us party leaders today, just before dinner. It’s pretty neat! You can rewatch classes, and watch the footage they’ve already collected of us, including the Ceremony. And you can also draw on it, write and do plenty of other stuff.”

“Nice,” Nar said, examining the black, smooth cylinder in his hands. “Wait, is this aether tech?”

“It is. But they make these especially for us auramancers,” Kur explained. “It comes with an aether battery that should last you a good few months, and it's reinforced somehow. Enough that our aura won’t break it.”

“Wow,” Nar said, examining the cylinder. His first piece of aether tech!

“Yeah. Unfortunately, they won’t last forever. By the time we’re reaching the end of the two year delve, our aura will be too strong for them…”

“Hmmm. Still nice, though,” Nar said, turning it in his hands.

“They’re also very expensive, so don’t lose it,” Kur said with a wince. “Or there's a promise of some kind of really severe punishment. And of course, don’t go cycling while holding onto it! Though it’s okay if it's inside your ring…”

“Right,” Nar said, storing it to play with it later. “I’ll be careful, don’t worry. And thanks. I’ll make sure to figure it out later.”

“Nah! Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure out how it works and teach you guys,” Kur said. “You just focus on… Well, surviving.”

Nar snorted. “Yeah… I mean, thank you! That would be really helpful.”

“No worries. Just doing my duties as the party leader.”

The lift stopped and as the door opened, they were inundated by a wave of sound and raised calls.

“Is this what I think it is?” Tuk asked, as they squeezed out of the lift.

“We should’ve come earlier,” Kur muttered.

“Ugh!” Mul made, passing a hand over his face. “Why? Just why?”

Nar must have looked miserable, staring around at the massive queues that had formed as everyone tried to make it inside the Aura Hall, for Jul rubbed his back and gave him an apologetic smile.

“You okay?” she asked.

He could only nod.

This is going to be a long, long night… he thought with a sigh.