When his alarm rang the next morning, Nar silenced it with a groan.

“Come on, people,” Kur shouted. “Up, up, up!”

Nar groaned again and turned around, but Kur pulled open the curtains and shook him.

“I’m awake… I’m awake!” Nar cried.

“Then get up!”

Making a sorrowful face, Nar forced himself to sit up.

“Didn’t we just come back?” Mul asked, from the bunk bed across from him.

“We got five hours of sleep. That's more than enough,” Kur said, getting himself dressed.

“For the Climb maybe,” Mul muttered, dragging his butt down the steps of his and Tuk’s shared bunk.

“Next time, eat faster then!”

Nar bit his tongue to not add to the brawler's protests, and he too, got himself out of bed.

“Where’s Tuk?” he asked.

“He left earlier. Went to the pods with Cen,” Kur explained. “He wanted to get in some more aura training before he needs to drop it next week. Now get ready! We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Damn… How are you people so full of energy first thing in the morning?” Mul muttered on his way to the bathroom.

Am I slacking off? Nar thought, following after the brawler. I came back at two in the morning yesterday… Surely I’m working hard enough? They were all already asleep!

Shaking his head at the futility of those thoughts, Nar got himself ready.

In a whirlwind of corridors, lifts and breakfast, almost forty minutes later, they found themselves sitting in the auditorium for their second, and final, Nexus 101 lecture.

“Stay awake!” Nar heard Cen warning Mul.

“I will, I will…” Mul replied, sounding unconvincingly half asleep already beside Nar.

At his other side, Gad was looking half asleep herself.

“Hey. How are you doing?” Nar asked the tank. Part out of concern and part to keep himself awake as well.

Gad grunted. “Hanging on. You?”

“Same. I heard you had it bad yesterday.”

“Hmmm. Let’s just say I was very wrong about what attributes are crucial for a tank,” she said, her eyes half closed. “The running was the worst.”

“Really? I hated the exercises,” Nar said, poking his bicep and wincing.

As promised by the Master of Blades, his body sang the song of agony indeed.

“You have plenty of [Speed],” Gad said. “I suppose it helps. While my [Constitution] kept me going through those endless circuits.”

“Hmmm…”

A moment of silence paused between them.

“I’m not looking forward to today’s Tanks class,” Gad said.

“No… Me neither,” Nar said, grimacing.

The lights dimmed above them, and Nar looked down, finding the professor already in position at his screen atop the podium.

“Morning everyone!” Professor Thim greeted them, with a pained expression. “I know a good chunk of people are feeling very, very sore and tired today, especially our melee DPS and tanks, but please do your best to stay awake. We’ve got another heavy session ahead of us, but hopefully, you will find it interesting! Plus, it’s certainly essential to your survival and integration into society at large! Alright. Let’s get started!”

The same image of the Nexus surrounded by lines representing the Labyrinth appeared on the screen.

“First, let’s start with two questions as a warm up,” he said, rubbing his hands despite the warm and cozy temperature of the room. “Who can tell me what a micro-jump is? And a beacon? Raise your hands, please!”

“Wait, what?” Kur said, jolting in alarm from Gad’s other side.

Stunned, Nar watched as hands went up in the auditorium.

“Hmm, about a quarter,” the teacher said, smiling. “Not bad. Not bad at all. You can lower your hands now.”

“But… How?” Kur whispered, looking around.

“Now, for the rest of you, looking lost and confused, did it not occur to you to ask someone about it?” the professor asked them. “I casually dropped some very important information about the workings of this ship, any aethership really, and which is crucial to the topic of delving, and you didn’t think to figure out what they meant?”

The students looked down at him, in chastised silence.

“Let this be a lesson for you all. Always ask questions. Always understand what is being told to you or expected of you,” the professor said. “It will mean the difference between you wasting your time doing an exercise wrong, or far more seriously, cause costly and deadly mistakes as you misunderstand an assignment’s brief! And just so you know, a brief is what you will receive with your assignments, during our long delve, to give you all the information you need to get started preparing and give you a chance to ask preliminary questions.”

He scanned the silent class before him, then nodded to himself.

“Well, as long as you remember this, you’ll be fine,” he said, with a half-smile. “Now, and so we're all on the same footing, a jump is what we call when an aethership literally jumps across space and time and instantaneously moves from one place, to another.”

“What…” Nar said, dropping his jaw.

“I know it sounds impossible, but it’s very much possible, and we have, and we’ll continue to be doing many of these jumps throughout your time at the Scimitar. However, I asked about micro-jumps, correct?” he said. “Well, a micro-jump is a much smaller version of a jump, distance wise, and is performed with the aid of a beacon. Beacons are basically machines that emit a special signal that ship pilots and computers can follow when executing said micro-jumps across time and space. A target, so to say. A beacon also coordinates with the ship’s computers on an empty space to jump to, in its vicinity.”

“Crystal…” Mul muttered. “I don’t have the brains for this.”

“The empty area in between the Nexus and the Outer Reaches of the Labyrinth, as well the entirety of the Outer Reaches of the Labyrinth, is covered by a vast network of beacons, aptly called the Aetheric Jump Beacon Network, or AJBN. It is most commonly referred to as the Beacon Network.”

“Just kill me now…” Mul pleaded, holding his head.

“Hush!” Cen hissed at him.

“The Beacon Network allows aetherships to easily and quickly move around and get to where they need to,” Professor Thim said, marching on without a care as stares slowly glazed over and headaches ramped up across the room. “Unfortunately, the Beacon Network coverage falls off sharply once you reach the Deep Zones. About 75% of the Deep Zones are not covered by the Beacon Network, meaning that traveling through them becomes a much more complex affair. And it becomes even worse in the Deep Deep. Navigating through those areas of the Labyrinth is extremely complex, but it’s not something we’ll be covering. Suffice to say, those areas of the Labyrinth are much vaster and darker, and to this day, remain largely unexplored and uncontrolled. Especially the Deep Deep.”

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He flicked his wrist over his screen and the image changed to the one of the circles they had seen before, detailing the greatly incremental sizes of each of the areas of the Labyrinth. Then, the image changed, and more circles appeared within the initial four ones.

“Last and not least, we should briefly consider the gateways,” the professor said. “These are stationary jump machines. Like their name indicates, they are gargantuan, linked gates, which ships can use to cover enormous distances across time and space.”

That’s insane! Nar thought, trying to picture it.

“As you can see on the screen here, there are five rings of gateways, also aptly called the Five Gateway Rings. The first is the Ring of Faith, and it connects the empty space around the Nexus to roughly a quarter of the way into the Outer Reaches, “the professor said. “After that, there's the Ring of Devotion, the Ring of Loyalty and the Ring of Obedience. Each of these takes ships further and further into the Labyrinth, with the Ring of Obedience reaching the edges of the Deep Zones. Beyond that, there is only the Ring of Sacrifice, which connects the Ring of Obedience to the very, very edges of the Deep Deep. It’s so close to the edge in fact, that many consider the Ring of Sacrifice to still be well within the limits of Deep Zones.”

Each of the circles described was highlighted in a different, brighter color as the professor enumerated them.

“The Ring of Faith comprises 10000 gateways,” he said, and when he touched the screen, the rings of gateways became highlighted in order. “Each subsequent ring has fewer and fewer gates. Of course, that means that the closer you are to the Nexus, the easier it is to move about, given how many gateways there are and the smaller size of the Outer Edges of the Labyrinth. By the time you reach the Ring of Obedience, however, there are only 3500 gateways in operation. For the Ring of Sacrifice, the last of the rings, there are only about 100 gateways in operation. And I say about, because the number goes up and down constantly, as free-roaming beasts, monsters and other things destroy those gates with frequency, and it then takes a long and costly operation to move a new gate into position.”

Other things? Nar thought with a grimace. Is he talking about those Abyssals and Formless?

That was still a difficult to swallow piece of knowledge.

Well, not my problem for a long time… If he ever.

“And thus, the farther out you go, the longer it takes you to get there,” professor Thim rambled on. “And it’s not uncommon for delves into the Deep Zones and the Deep Deep to take upwards to five years and more. Of course, the rewards found there are equally much better and higher. By orders of magnitude. However, for now, the Ring of Faith in the Outer Reaches will provide you with challenges aplenty for you to grow.”

The screen changed into an image of a simple square, and Professor Thim carried onwards.

“With that covered, we finally finished our first lecture and can move on to the second,” the professor said. “I’m going to speed up a little and throw a lot at you now. Don’t panic. Whatever you don’t understand you can rewatch the lectures and later on, you will be able to choose elective lectures that go in much more depth into all sorts of aspects about the Nexus and the Labyrinth. For now, let’s just together continue to build a base for that knowledge. So, everyone, hang in there!”

A much, much smaller square appeared within the first one, and then another one appeared as well. The third square touched the inner edges of the first one.

“This is the Nexus. This is also what we believe that each section of the Nexus looks like,” professor Thim explained.

Then, the area between the first outer square and the larger inner one became highlighted in dark blue. “This first section in blue represents the O-Nex, or Outside-Nexus, and which goes from the surface of the Nexus and down to level -20. Any level below zero and down to the -20 is called the Minus Levels, or simply the Minus. This is where the Nexus’s great industries are usually located. Unfortunately, it is also where the poorer in the O-Nex tend to live, alongside a very substantial criminal element and illegal economic activity. It is also where all the gates into the B-Nex are located, as you know.”

Then, the next square, which could be nothing other than the B-Nex, was highlighted in orange.

Uh… It matches the Pressure, Nar thought in passing.

“This next section is of course the B-Nex, or Between-Nexus, where the great and critical machinery of aetherium recycling is located. This is, unfortunately, where you all come from, Climbing up from your cubeplants,” the professor continued with a grimace. “We don’t really know how deep the B-Nex actually goes. All Climbers start at the Upper Depths region of the B-Nex, and then Climb up through the Mid-Levels and eventually exit through the Upper Levels. However, the question remains. Is there anything below the Upper Depths? The name itself seems to imply that there are, at least, a “Lower” Depths section of the B-Nex, but could there be more? We do not know. It is a closely guarded secret maintained for the safety of the Nexus and its aetherium recycling capabilities… Yes?”

Professor Thim pointed at a raised hand.

“Does that mean that we all come from the Upper Depths? Or are we all just moved there?” an apprentice asked.

“Excellent question! It is known that there are cubeplants across all the known zones of the B-Nex, and with that in mind, the accepted, prevailing theory, is that Climbers either start at the Upper Depths already, or they are taken down to the Upper Depths first!”

“Taken down?” Mul asked from Nar’s other side, apparently having managed to stay awake. “Are you telling me we could’ve been closer to the exit?”

“Maybe that’s what happened before we exited,” Nar mused. “Before the door opened. There was all that moving about and such.”

“Well fuck me,” Mul said, shaking his head with a snort.

“Crystal…” Cen whispered. “That’s… That’s horrible.”

“I know that this is always something difficult for you to hear,” professor Thim said, raising his hands for peace in the auditorium. “But unfortunately, that is the way it goes. A Climber must climb all the way from the Upper Depths in order to earn their forgiveness. That is the way it has always been. And it is unlikely to change.”

“Yeah… Of course,” Mul snorted.

Nar found himself nodding in agreement with the brawler.

It will never change… That would be too kind and merciful and not enough suffering to clean us of our sins.

He made a face, twisting his lips and nose, but kept quiet as the professor highlighted in white the last, and smallest square at the core of the Nexus.

“Finally, we have the I-Nex, or Inside-Nexus. Some like to call it the Within-Nexus, or Core-Nexus, as it is the core of the Nexus, but I-Nex is still the most commonly used term,” the professor explained. “The I-Nex is where the Crystal Itself and the Radiants are located, either within the Great Basilica of the Holy Crystal, which is the headquarters of the Holy Church, or in other sacred locations. It is also where the vast, vast majority of the nobility lives. This includes the 14 Great Houses of The Nexus, then the High Houses, the Middle Houses and the Low Houses. Of course, many hold significant holdings across the O-Nex, but their main ancestral residences are all located within the I-Nex. Oh! And bonus points if you noticed the matching names to the orders of the Radiant Hierarchy, which I believe the Master of Aura briefly mentioned to you!”

At his side, Nar could practically feel the brawler slowly sliding down the length of his seat.

“Mul?” Cen whispered, more concerned than angry.

“I’m listening!” he retorted. “You pay attention!”

“The noble houses are so named to match the order of the spirit, or god and goddess, that heads their house. Thus, all of the 14 Great Houses are headed by one of the 24 Radiants themselves. Below them, the Higher Houses are headed by Higher Order Spirits, and so on. Also, a spirit linked to a noble house is called a noble spirit,” their teacher said. “Spirits can go up and down in order. And this reflects on their powers, renown and number of worshipers and subordinate spirits, and even the quality of skills they can offer their bonded classes. This up and down movement in order follows the achievements of their bonded aethermancers. Thus, competition between spirits, especially those linked to noble houses, is fierce.”

Nar frowned and took a deep breath, gripping tightly at his focus. The man was taking them all for a ride, wasn’t he? Competition amongst spirits? How in the Nexus did that matter to them, auramancers?

“You should know that some of these houses are outright enemies, only held back from tearing into each other by the Laws of the Radiants. But out in the Labyrinth, the further you go, the further you stray from the watchful gaze of the System and the Radiants, and the limitations imposed on combat classes within the Nexus. And in the O-Nex and Minus, there are many ways to achieve through subterfuge and hired hands what you cannot do yourself…” he said, his tone dark. “Blood is spilled easily in the great game of the noble houses, and death comes to the unaware. And before you ask, yes, as long as the houses are not openly destroying one another, even if the Crystal Itself knows about it, it might still be allowed in the name of keeping the spirits and the houses combat ready to defend the Nexus from the inevitable, and constant invasion from the Abyssals. Complacency and comfort is not allowed. Death and destruction… Maybe. It depends on the tenuous decision of what counts as going too far. Entire houses can and have been eliminated overnight, if they fall out of favor with the Radiants. Even the 14 Great Houses, if they fall out of favor with the Radiant leading them and It wishes to have a different house serving It…”

The professor clasped his hands behind his back.

“Now, you may wonder why I’m going on and on about noble houses and spirits all of a sudden, especially given that you will never bond yourselves to spirit. But there’s two reasons for that,” he said. “The first one is that nobles are above you in society. They are directly above everyone except Church members, and between the both of them there is a complex hierarchy at play. But all that boils down to, is the fact that you effectively owe your obedience to the nobles.”

“We fucking what?” Mul growled, not the only one in doing so.