Ashern City - Reinhart Institute of War, 2nd of Brightforge, year 315 UC

REINHART INSTITUTE OF WAR

Student Performance Evaluation

Instructor: Gloria Reinhart

Student: Bryan Blackwood

Rank: 1

Team: 3

Position: Specialist

Overall Rating: A-

General Assessment: "I hate giving credit where it’s due, but I’d be lying if I said you weren’t one of the best in this camp. Your combat ability is well beyond what most cadets at this stage should be capable of. You think ahead, act with precision, and keep your emotions in check. It’s clear you’ve been trained before coming here, and unlike most of these brats, you actually know how to fight."

"That being said, raw talent and training aren’t everything. You’ve got gaps—ones that will hold you back if you don’t fix them. So listen up."

Strengths

Tactical Awareness: "You read the battlefield better than most, predicting movements and controlling engagements. I can tell you don’t just react—you anticipate. That’s rare in a first-year cadet."

Combat Efficiency: "You don’t waste movement, energy, or attacks. Your strikes are clean, controlled, and deliberate. I suspect this is because of your prior training, but either way, it sets you apart."

Emotional Discipline: "You don’t rattle. Pressure doesn’t shake you, and I haven’t seen you panic once. That level of control is good—it’ll keep you alive. But it also makes you predictable. We’ll get to that."

Adaptability: "You adjust fast. I threw unexpected variables at you during the test, and you didn’t hesitate. That’s a good trait in a soldier… or an operative."

Independent Execution: "You don’t need your hand held. You see a problem, you solve it. Simple as that. The issue? You’re solving it alone. And that’s going to bite you eventually."

Weaknesses & Areas for Improvement

Reluctance to Lead or Communicate with a Team: "You seem to think you can do everything alone. You’re not wrong—most of the time, you probably can. But if you refuse to engage with your squad beyond surface-level coordination, you’ll always be limited. Even the strongest soldiers have a unit they trust. You don’t trust anyone, and that’s a liability."

"If you die in the field, it won’t be because you weren’t strong enough. It’ll be because you were too damn stubborn to rely on someone else."

Predictability in Controlled Situations: "You are composed and tactical, but that also makes you patterned. I can read you. Others will too. Your combat style is efficient, yes, but it lacks creativity. You need to learn how to break your own rhythm. Make them guess what you're going to do, not assume it."

"Being calm is good. But when someone expects you to be calm, it’s a weakness."

Underutilization of Power/Strength Restraint: "I can tell you’re holding back. Maybe it’s out of habit, maybe it’s to avoid drawing attention—but if you keep restricting yourself, you’ll never know your real limits. If you think there’s a situation where full power is necessary, you damn well better use it. Otherwise, you’re just dead weight pretending to be dangerous."

Lack of Tactical Deception: "I’ve seen you analyze people, but I haven’t seen you manipulate them. Strategy isn’t just about moving pieces—it’s about controlling them. If you want to win in real battle, you need to start making people react to you, not just responding to them."

Final Notes & Next Steps

"You’re good. No question about it. But you’ve got an individualist mindset that’ll get you isolated, and that’s a good way to die. You need to start using the resources around you—including people—to accomplish more than just personal success."

"You want to be better? Learn how to use your team as an extension of yourself. Learn how to create doubt in your enemy’s mind. And most importantly—when it’s time to hit something, hit it like you mean it."

"You’ve got potential, Blackwood. Don’t waste it being a lone wolf in a pack of wolves."

- Commander Gloria Reinhart

Bryan sat cross-legged on his bed. Gloria's performance review had been sent to his academic card two hours after the tests ended. He'd read it three times already, and his eyes narrowed at specific phrases.

‘She's more perceptive than I expected.’

There were a couple of things that stuck out to him. One, this review seemed to be more than just her insight. Alan had a part to play in it as well, no way was she able to know he was not a team player when they only met today.

Two, she said she put in a variable for him. What variable was she talking about?

He thought as he tapped the line about being "a good trait in a soldier... or an operative." The deliberate pause in her review wasn't subtle. She suspected something about his background, though likely not the full truth.

His finger traced down to the section about predictability. That observation bothered him more than he cared to admit. Being predictable meant being vulnerable, and vulnerability wasn't acceptable. But she had a point – his controlled approach had patterns. Patterns could be exploited.

The comment about holding back drew a faint frown. Of course, he was restraining himself. Using his full abilities would draw unwanted attention and possibly compromise his mission. Yet her words nagged at him: "Just dead weight pretending to be dangerous."

‘I'm not pretending.’

He thought, but the defense felt hollow even in his own mind.

His gaze lingered on the team-related criticisms. Gloria's assessment aligned uncomfortably with Violet's warnings about isolation.

"Even the strongest soldiers have a unit they trust."

Trust. It was such a simple word, yet it carried complications he couldn't afford. Trust meant vulnerability. Vulnerability meant risk. Risk meant—

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Bryan's jaw tightened. He'd specifically chosen this time for review because most students would be at lunch or training. The knock came again, more insistent.

If that's Alexander trying to organize another team dinner...

He gathered the notes he had made on the other students in his group and put them away as the third knock echoed through the room. Whoever it was, they were persistent. Annoying.

"Bryan?"

A female voice called through the door.

"I know you're in there. We need to talk about the assessment."

Sabrina. Of course, it would be her – the one teammate stubborn enough to seek him out directly.

The fourth knock never came. Instead, Sabrina's voice carried through the door again, lower this time.

"You can't hide in there forever, you know."

"Go away."

Bryan cut her off, his voice carrying just enough edge to make his displeasure clear.

A pause. Then: "No."

Bryan closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. In his mind, Gloria's words seemed to mock him: "Too damn stubborn to rely on someone else."

The irony wasn't lost on him.

Bryan stared at the door, wondering if silence would eventually drive her away. The soft thud of another knock answered that question.

"If you think being stubborn will work, I've got all day."

Sabrina called through the door.

"And unlike you, I actually ate lunch."

He could hear the amusement in her voice, which only irritated him more. Setting aside Gloria's assessment, he moved to the door but didn't open it.

"How did you even get into this building?"

He asked.

‘Didn’t Rebecca say no one could get in?'

"We trained together this morning, remember? Rebecca logged me as a teammate."

There was a pause.

Look, the cafeteria's still serving for another hour. Everyone's waiting."

"Training was necessary. Lunch isn't."

"Is it, though?"

Sabrina's tone shifted, becoming more thoughtful.

"You can learn just as much listening to people talk as you can watching them fight. Maybe more."

Bryan's jaw tightened. The comment was too close to Gloria's assessment for comfort. "You need to start using the resources around you—including people."

"Not interested."

"Really? Because I heard Christopher talking about his family's military history. Lots of interesting stories about tactics and combat experiences."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Another pause.

"But I guess that's not relevant to someone who already knows everything."

Bryan's eyes narrowed. She was manipulating him, rather obviously at that. The frustrating part was that it was working – mentioning military tactics had caught his attention.

He could learn something about Christopher and add something to his list of tactics. He was, after all, too predictable.

"They're probably exaggerated stories."

He told her.

"Probably."

Sabrina agreed easily.

"But exaggerated stories still have truth in them. Besides, Alexander's been asking about everyone's magic attributes and performance. Might be useful to hear what people are willing to share."

Bryan pressed his fingers against his temple. She wasn't going to leave, and her points, while annoying, weren't entirely wrong. Information was valuable, and people tended to reveal more in casual settings than formal ones.

"If I agree to this, will you stop bothering me?"

"For today? Sure."

He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Tomorrow's a new day, though."

With a resigned sigh, Bryan opened the door. Sabrina stood there, looking far too pleased with herself.

"This is a waste of time."

He muttered, stepping into the hallway.

"Probably."

She agreed again, falling into step beside him.

"But sometimes the best intel comes from wasted time."

Bryan shot her a sharp look, but she was already walking ahead, humming to herself. He followed, keeping a good distance between them.

**********

The cafeteria buzzed with conversation as Bryan followed Sabrina to their team's table. Alexander's face lit up at their approach, while Christopher merely raised an eyebrow. Farrah, seated between them, offered a polite nod.

Bryan chose the seat with the best view of the room, positioning himself slightly apart from the others. His tray remained untouched as he listened to their animated discussion about the morning's assessment.

"I only managed six targets in the combat section."

Alexander admitted, absently stirring his soup.

"My bubbles kept breaking before they could trap anything."

"Still better than me."

Christopher sighed.

"Five targets and my rock projectiles barely scratched the last two. Should've focused more on defense when my attacks started weakening."

‘Six and Five? What were they doing?’

Bryan gazed at both of them for a second before he cut into his steak. While Christopher’s stamina was lacking, he should have performed better than Alexander by a mile.

It left Bryan wondering if they were still feeling the effect from the morning’s team practice.

"What about you, Farrah?"

Sabrina asked, cutting into her meal.

"I think I did well enough. Lasted almost two minutes during the first test, barely missed it too. Off by two seconds. Managed fifty-eight tags on those imps and sixteen targets during combat."

Farrah's fingers traced patterns on the table.

"I probably would have done better, but I tried to slow myself down so I was not running into walls, and the combat part got a bit hectic. Didn’t manage to take them down quick enough, so got overwhelmed, and time ran out."

Out of everyone in the team, she was the most talented. Second most talented, he corrected himself.

Her performance was good, really good, and she could make up for Christopher and Alexanders lack of performance.

"I got eleven."

Sabrina announced.

"Though that last magma burst nearly drained me completely. Did anyone switch to melee? No one in my group did."

Bryan's eyes narrowed slightly. It takes three to four seconds for her to cast, and she can't move while casting. It was a weakness she best fix or remember that it can be exploited.

"What about you, Bryan?"

Alexander turned to him.

Bryan set down his glass of water. Great, now everyone was looking at him.

“Two minutes, fifty-two tags, fifteen targets eliminated.”

“That’s amazing! You and Farrah are definitely more skilled than the rest of us. My barrier shattered at thirty seconds, and it felt like the wind was knocked out of me.”

Alexander said.

“Yeah, a lot better than me.”

Christopher added.

“Only managed one minute thirteen seconds before I dropped, and don’t even mention those imps. Little critters were crazy fast. I barely managed to nab twenty of them.”

“He didn’t mention he did it without a barrier.”

Farrah commented from across the table.

Bryan raised his eyebrow at her words. Was she watching him?

“Wait, what? You mean like just pure endurance?”

Alexander asked.

“No way, dude! The pressure at one minute was too much for just pure physical strength. He had to use augmentation. It is the only that would have been possible way.”

Christopher told Alexander as he looked at Bryan once more.

“That's… like seriously impressive. I don’t know many people, especially newly awakened mages, capable of using body augmentation.”

“It’s not like it is rare. Plenty of mages use it. It must just be where you’re from. It’s just a pain to keep up, and a barrier blocks spells, so it’s a lot more handy.”

Sabrina told him.

Christopher nodded at that.

“So, you were watching me?”

Bryan asked Farrah.

“Not you specifically. I just glanced around when it was not my turn and saw you is all.”

They locked eyes for what felt like an eternity, staring at one another without looking away. He was not too fond of other people analyzing him; that was his thing.

“So, like, hey, man.”

Christopher tapped the table, drawing Bryan’s attention.

“Mind giving me some advice on that? I’m not sure we’ll learn about body augmentation in this camp, and given that more brand new students will appear in a month…”

He let the words hang there, but Bryan could understand what he would say.

More students meant more testing and more basic training that they probably would have already done hundreds of times by the end of camp. Learning anything about how to move ether in your body to reinforce it and increase your physical attributes was unlikely to be on the first-year curriculum.

“Why?”

Bryan asked, although he felt he knew the reason why. It would just confirm what he suspected hearing Christopher say it himself.

“So, like, you’ve seen me perform yesterday. I’m not the greatest, but I can take a hit, and the way my family develops their spells, I’m more than likely to get sent to a frontline unit after graduation. Breaking down stone with my bare hands would be more useful than blocking a spell.”

Christopher told him.

“If. If you graduate.”

Bryan corrected him.

“But yeah, sure, I can teach you. After the team matches when we have time, so more than likely at night.”

The one reason he agreed to Christopher's request was that Christopher was currently in their team's tank. While Bryan could do a lot by himself, having someone be a distraction to the enemy was a good thing.

Their group continued to talk about their performance and the other members of their respective testing group. Victor Ashwood scored the highest score for endurance in two minutes and thirty seconds. The highest score for the speed test was sixty-three tags, which Marcellus Thorne did. As for the most eliminations for combat, Julius scored eighteen.

As the conversation shifted to speculation about tomorrow's matches. Bryan's attention drifted as the tactical value of their discussion decreased.

"Bryan?"

Alexander's voice broke through his observations.

"What do you think about our chances tomorrow?"

Bryan stood, picking up his barely touched tray.

"Depends on who we face."

"You're leaving already?"

Farrah asked, though her tone suggested she'd expected this.

"I've heard enough."

He left without waiting for a response, ignoring the looks exchanged between his teammates. Their conversation had provided useful data about their capabilities and limitations – that was all he'd needed.

As Bryan approached the exit, movement at the far corner of the cafeteria caught his eye. Alessia Hayes sat alone, her gloved hands wrapped around an untouched cup of tea. Unlike the other students who naturally gravitated to groups, she maintained a distance from everyone else.

Given the volatility of her power, her isolation wasn't surprising, but something about her deliberate separation resonated with him. The way she positioned herself—back to the wall, clear view of exits, space between her and others—spoke of practiced caution rather than simple anxiety.

As if sensing his attention, Alessia looked up. Their eyes met across the crowded room. There was no fear in her gaze, no desperate loneliness that usually marked the truly isolated.

She held his gaze for a moment.

Bryan's feet moved before he'd fully processed the decision. She didn't reject his approach. Instead, she watched him with the same careful attention he'd often seen in his own reflection.

Bryan pulled out the chair across from Alessia and sat down without asking permission.

"Here to lecture me about control again?"

Alessia asked without looking up, her gloved fingers tightening around each other. The green apple in front of her tea cup rolled slightly from the tremor that passed through the table.

"Not really."

He answered.

Her green eyes flickered up to meet his.

"Then what? Your team seemed quite... cozy."

The last word carried a hint of bitterness.

"Your power, it's too powerful. That makes you dangerous."

Bryan said.

Alessia snorted, though her hands remained clenched.

"That's rich, coming from you. And your blood magic isn’t?"

She leaned forward slightly.

"The whole camp was talking about it. No one's seen anything like it before. And that makes you dangerous."

Bryan noted her deflection technique – using his abilities to avoid discussing her own.

"You were watching them?"

"As if."

She glanced at a table across the cafeteria where Julius sat with his team.

"I have better things to do than spy on other teams."

"Like maintaining control?"

The words were blunt, but his tone held no judgment.

Alessia's eyes snapped back to him, a flash of anger crossing her features.

"You don't know anything about—"

She cut herself off as the apple on the table began to deteriorate slightly where her gaze had fixed on it.

Bryan watched the apple's surface pit and erode before Alessia squeezed her eyes shut, taking several deep breaths. The erosion stopped when she opened them again, but the apple bore visible scars.

"Erosion magic, pure destruction. Very rare."

He mentioned.

"Like you're one to talk about rare abilities."

She muttered.

"Why are you really here, Bryan? Shouldn't you be resting up for tomorrow's battle with your friends?"

“Sorry to break it to you, but I don’t really do friends.”

He commented.

"The Hayes family."

He started saying as he tapped the table with his index finger.

“They're known for earth magic, aren't they?"

Alessia's gloved hands tightened again.

"Been doing your research?"

"It's useful to understand unusual variations in magical lineages. Your case is something special."

"Right."

She laughed, but it held no humor.

"Well, here's some free information for you – sometimes the universe has a sick sense of humor when it comes to magical inheritance."

Bryan noted how her gaze drifted to the windows.

"The universe or family expectations?"

That caught her attention. Her eyes met his again, this time with what seemed to be sadness.

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

Before Bryan could respond, movement from Julius's table caught his attention. He was standing and walking over to their table.

"Speaking of family expectations."

Alessia muttered.

Julius stopped at their table.

"Bryan."

He smiled, but it seemed fake.

"I don't believe we've had a proper introduction yet."

Bryan leaned back into his seat as he noticed Alessia rise from hers.

"No, we haven't. Though I'm not the friendly type."

His lips quirked slightly.

"Or so people tell me."

Julius's smile widened.

"Mother was quite pleased with your performance this morning. She's not an easy one to impress."

‘His mother? Gloria?’

Bryan put the pieces together and inwardly laughed. Now, it made much more sense why Julius viewed him as a rival.

He must have been hurt that his mom praised him instead of her own son.

That, or he couldn’t stand being ranked second.

Julius slid into Alessia's vacated seat. He picked up the eroded apple, examining the damaged surface.

"You should be careful around her."

Julius said, setting the apple down.

"Alessia Hayes isn't as controlled as she pretends to be."

He already knew that, but there were some things he did not know, and this could be his chance to obtain some information.

Bryan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Her mother died when Alessia was eleven. Along with thirty-seven others. All turned to dust in less than a minute."

He traced a finger along the apple's eroded surface.

“I mean, like—”

He snapped his finger.

“That.”

Bryan processed this information, remembering Alessia's clenched hands and rigid control.

"If she's so dangerous, why is she on your team?"

Julius leaned back, a flash of annoyance crossing his features.

"Family politics. The Reinharts and Hayes have... arrangements."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Though I hope they don't expect me to get engaged to her. Her last engagement dissolved rather quickly once word got out about her incident. No one wants to send their sons to their death."

"And yet she's here at the academy."

Bryan stated.

"Under strict monitoring."

Julius confirmed.

"Without those gloves of hers..."

He gestured to the apple.

"Well, you can imagine what would happen."

Bryan could imagine quite well, having seen similar containment measures in the Inquisition. Though those usually end with execution, not academy enrollment.

"Interesting choice for a noble family."

"The Hayes are... complicated."

"But enough about Alessia. I've been wanting to test myself against your blood magic. This morning's display was quite impressive."

"Is that so?"

Bryan said, wondering where he was going with this.

"I think a spar would do us good, don’t you think?"

Julius asked.

"I'm sure we can both benefit from the duel."

"And what's in it for me?"

Bryan asked, though he already saw the potential benefits of studying Julius's fighting style.

Julius laughed.

"The information about Alessia wasn't enough? Though I suppose I wasn't really offering that, was I?"

He reached into his uniform pocket, pulling out his academic card.

"How about 300 credits? And I’ll cover the cost of the training room."

Bryan considered the offer. The combat data on Julius and Alessia and the credits would be valuable.

“Sure, I don’t see why not."

"Excellent."

Julius's smile widened.

"I'll book Training Room 5 for tonight. Eight o'clock?"

At Bryan's nod, he stood.

"Don't hold back. I want to see what Mother found so impressive."

As Julius walked away, Bryan's gaze returned to the eroded apple.

Thirty-seven people turned to dust in less than a minute. The Inquisition would usually eliminate such a threat immediately. The fact that Alessia lived, attended the academy, and came from a noble house suggested there was something at play here.

He could use this. He didn’t know how yet, but he’d find a way.