Asper's jaw hung open. Shocked by what he'd just seen. His reaction was the mildest as a roar of collective protests by the crowd rose. Mostly a mix of profanity.

"Settle down!" Projected a voice to everyone, quieting them. "We have a lot of names to get through. There are surprises every year."

Asper watched Raff walk back calmly and confidently under withering stares of jealousy, envy, anger, and outrage. He let go of his own shame about his results. He decided Raff is someone he can learn from. The moments, the breathing, Asper tried to take it all in. In the moments before Raff took his seat, Asper would have sworn the skilled young man winked at him.

Asper knew everyone felt like the one skilled wonder he was next to Raff. All this will do is motivate everyone to try harder. A light punch on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts. "Just because he's number one, doesn't make you anything more than last. I'm surprised you even had one skill."

"Micah." Asper responded flatly. While greeting the hundreds of others who had made it through the third ring. He had seen a few dozen he recognized who made it in this year. Almost everyone stepping out of the ring was recovering from their experiences and adjusting to the woodsiness. They were also pushed onward by others exiting behind them. There was no time to chat.

Of those, he recognized Micah had just been the worst. Not a friend or an enemy, just someone he had avoided when they crossed paths, someone who never had anything good to say and used his bulk to intruded on others space. "Just saying the first set of rankings are only a month away." He swung another light jab into Asper's shoulder. "It's time to toughen up."

"I appreciate the advice." Asper cycled a breath through his body, and gave Micah his own light tap back. "You toughen up too."

Asper watched as Micah grunt and rub the spot where he had tapped and wished the kid wouldn't mock him by pretending he had actually hurt him with that punch. "Whatever." Was Micah's response before moving a good bit away to take a seat.

Raff's attention never entirely never left Asper once he noticed the larger kid making his way towards the odd boy's position. It was easy to split his focus and accept the congratulations or enmity while also paying attention to one of the few actually intriguing people here.

He watched the boy casually respond to one jab, and then two. Asper's return jab almost had the same halfhearted energy to it as his reaction to the boy, but Raff could see the force ripple through the fat and muscle of the oversized kid. He'd produced such effects himself, and the way the boy responded and moved, he clearly received a fracture or a break. Asper's mind seemed to be on other things, and Raff let the smile on his face become a real one, happy with all the exciting new things to explore.

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"How did you get so many skills?" Baxter, a short and scrawny boy whose name Raff remembered from him his exit of the third ring.

"Hard work Baxter. Never settle with even what your status says." Raff responded absently. More names were getting called, and he needed to put some effort into remembering everyone's skills. He was used to the sudden influx of attention whenever he entered a new field of interest.

"You're going to be trouble, aren't you?" Raff had wondered when she would show up.

"I would think you would be happy that I'm getting all the attention and not you, Rian. You clearly have the next highest amount of skills and sub-skills. And those kinds of skills draw more fear than admiration. Now you'll be barely an afterthought."

"Those training as assassins, thieves, politicians, and diplomats join the academy every year to get their levels and survive with the uppers. I don't know what kind of monster spawn you are, but I have one request for you."

Raff grinned at Rian's hostility. Being called a monster wasn't even new. Mages, healers, so-called diviners had all checked him out either at Graft's request when he worked for him or by his competitors. "You want me to teach you some of my new skills?" He asked with a hint of mocking in his voice.

"I want you to leave me and my business alone. To stay as far away from me as possible. I don't care how strong you are. The first ring is a big place. Be aware of that fact." And with that, she turned and left.

Raff liked this girl. She hadn't been the first one to threaten him. That immediately happened once he stepped back among the other future academy students. He took a deep breath and gathered the abundant energy in the air, letting it envigorate him. Here at pricore academy, he decided he may have finally found a place that can hold his interest for a good long time.

Rian made a note of who paid attention to her public threat towards Raff as she made her way far away from where that freak of a boy sat glowing with thought. Raff's reaction wasn't the point of this. It pained her to admit that with the skills she saw, she would be useless in a head-on confrontation. A big shiny distraction like he was would have uses for her if she played it right.

She sat next to Jon, the pliable young lordling had saved her seat like she had asked so she could make that little stop to see Raff. "Thanks for saving my spot." She told him while taking the plate of grapes, she had asked him to hold for her when she walked away.

"You congratulate your friend?" Jon asked.

Ever since seeing her and Raff greet people coming out of the ring. Jon kept on asking about how they knew each other. "In a way."

"He's going to be a great hero. I'm sure of it. Maybe finally someone to challenge the dark dungeons or the Skulkers at the border." Jon said with the awe of hero worship.

Rian let out a small sigh. She knew heroes were fairy tales told to make powerful men look better than they were. Jon can have his flawed fantasies of heroes, and ladies, a perfect world where anyone can advance to high levels of power. She let herself relax slightly. She was in, her status read pretty much how she expected it. The plan was only beginning. Now she only had to survive her time as a student.