The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Resonant Room training with summons. Alistair trained alone, not interested in any deeper conversations with Juno about what had happened with Justin.

Alistair didn’t like that side of himself.

Since no one else was around, Ghost instructed Alistair on the correct way to have won all of the fights they had witnessed over the Mage Solo competition. The assassin went over each bout point-by-point, including what Zola could have done against her two aggressors.

“It’s like you have a photographic memory or something,” Alistair told him as he looked ahead to the pair of aerwhisps, which hovered in front of him, not sure why he had been stalling so much.

Ziggy was with him too, the slime occasionally looking back at Alistair and offering him short affirmative squishes.

Squish!

“You have a musical skill; I remember things exactly as they happened. This is why you should always trust me. For example, that fight between Arnez and Dawn. Arnez’s mistake was that his center of gravity was off. Had he kept his leg here,” Ghost showed Alistair what he meant, “and blocked like this, he would have absorbed her strike and been able to follow up with a punch like this.”

“Good to know. Good to know.”

After more instruction, Alistair summoned Noctarii.

“I was wondering when you’d call me out of hibernation,” the shadow fae said after a quick buzz around. “It feels good to stretch my wings!”

“I wanted to apologize for the other day. I also wanted to explain why I did what I did,” Alistair said. “Kanda told me that I would be scrutinized even more than I already am if I did too well at the tournament. So when given the chance to summon something, I chose you, knowing that Chane would likely summon something that would, at least to most people, seem like an easy choice to defeat a shadow fae. I’m aware that you could have won through some of your more devious tricks as well.”

“Yeah?” Noctarii asked, his chest puffing up slightly as he realized that Alistair was apologizing and complimenting him. “Well, you’re right. You’re goddamn right I could have won.”

“You’re an asset to us,” Ghost said, taking over. “What we accomplish here in the near future will be because of the help you are able to provide.”

Squish?

“Fish for compliments on your own time,” Noctarii told the slime. “Now, are we going to stand around here fluffing each others’ wings, or are we going to train? Those aerwhisps aren’t going to whip their own asses. Well, they might. Actually, you could probably command them to fight one another.”

“Ogres,” Ghost called to the aerwhisps. “Four-armed ogres.”

The aerwhisp’s forearms morphed until they were large enough for their knuckles to drag against the pavement.

Ghost shook his head. “No, not ogres with big forearms, ogres with four arms.”

The aerwhisps’ forearms shrunk and then grew again.

Squish?

“I’m with Ziggy,” Noctarii said. “These aerwhisps are dumber than Tritanian trash goblins.”

“Dammit. Ogres with six big arms,” Ghost said. The aerwhisps morphed again, this time taking the form of ogres with six arms, just as he had requested. “Finally. Ziggy, Noctarii, you’re up..”

Squish!

Ziggy surged toward the aerwhisp, the slime tripling its size. Noctarii moved to attack his as well, the fae buzzing around it, firing arrows, and practicing diving into the aerwhip ogre’s mouth.

Since the aerwhisp’s body consisted entirely of a cloud, Noctarii wasn’t able to take over the aerwhisp or anything, but he was able to work on his precision in executing the maneuver.

“Not that one,” Alistair told Ziggy as he started his enzyme attack, evident in the way the aerwhisp’s form partially hardened. “We’re not trying to kill it.”

Squish? Squish…

Ziggy hopped away and then slicked forward, where he delivered a strike that almost looked like an uppercut.

“It’s okay, buddy. Just fight, not kill,” Alistair said as the slime beamed up at him with something akin to a guilty smile on its face.

Squish…

“Now get back in there.”

Squish!

Ziggy launched himself back into the fray.

After watching his summons fight for a bit longer, Alistair went through some of his {Wandbound Spells}, starting with Mistmeld, and then moving to Eclipse Claw.

“Been meaning to really try this,” Alistair said as he used Lightning Firestorm. Bolts reigned down from the sky and immediately set the six-armed ogres ablaze, the pair doing everything they could to beat the flames away.

Alistair used the power again and again, growing more familiar with what it felt like. This was one advantage he’d noticed in the Resonant Rooms— there were no limitations in using his {Skills} and {Wandbound Spells}.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He kept at it, conjuring lightning that came coupled with great plumes of fire. It made him feel stronger, much stronger than he’d felt earlier in the day in his match against Lauren.

“Time to hurt yourself,” Ghost said, which was something Alistair had reluctantly agreed to earlier. “Summon Lionel.”

Alistair did as instructed, the Umi Koshi Kraken forming out of bubbling black pools.

Squish! Ziggy jumped up to Alistair’s shoulder and Noctarii, who moved closer to him as well.

“Yes?” Lionel asked.

“I need the dagger.”

The summon tilted his head at the sound of Ghost’s voice. “Ah, the assassin is in charge at the moment, I see.”

“We’re both using my body,” Alistair told Lionel, who hadn’t been phased when Alistair had introduced him to Ghost two nights ago in his dorm room.

“I see. In that case…” Lionel produced the dagger out of one of his shadowy puddles, the weapon extended to Ghost by a long blackened hand.

“I’ll do the cutting, you do the healing.” The assassin went to work. He started with a small cut on Alistair’s arm, one that would have stung had Alistair been in full control over his body. “Do it. Heal up.”

Alistair used Touch of Grace to quickly heal the wound, which stitched up completely leaving just a little blood that had seeped out. He knew that he could have used it earlier in his fight against Lauren, but keeping his powers secret was one of the things that Ghost had suggested and he agreed.

The less the other students knew, the better.

“I can make deeper cuts and we could see how it does directly against a vein, but if we test that, we should do so in front of Seraph’s Rest,” Ghost said.

Ziggy made a nervous sound.

“Leave it to the shadow demon to pull blades out of his ass so the assassin can start the butchering,” Noctarii said. “My how far we’ve fallen.”

Lionel turned to the fae. “I am not a shadow demon.”

“You literally are that. You’re utterly terrifying. I’d rather have nightmares than look at you, no offense.”

“I’m a nice guy.”

“Just because your name is Lionel doesn’t mean you’re a nice guy.”

“What does my name have to do with this?”

The fae squinted at him through the eyeholes of his mask. “Lionel is a nice human name. Sort of starts tough with the with word ‘lion’ and quickly loses its wings with ‘el’. Lion-el.” Noctarii said it again in a mocking way. “Lie-nel. I guess when it’s pronounced like that, it seems weak.”

“And your name is Noctarii?”

“Noctarii Shadeveer, Darkwhisperer of Silent Haven, Keeper of the Veiled Crescent, Nightflutter Faeling, to you.”

“And you think an unnecessarily lengthy name makes you strong?” Lionel asked.

“I do. Names mean things.”

“Moving on,” Ghost said, interrupting the two. “Remember, everyone, we’re supposed to be self-mutilating for scientific purposes.”

They continued cutting and healing for another twenty minutes, Alistair never quite getting used to the feeling of taking control of his body and the initial sting of the wounds.

Once Ghost was done, Lionel went away and Alistair focused on his next task. He cast his hand out, practicing the gesture he needed to Celestial Bind.

He did so in his next attempt, his body size nearly quadrupled as he binded with his owl bear.

Hello, Hooty thought to Alistair.

Hi! We’re training.

Yes, are you ready?

I am.

Then lead, and never forget to use the wind.

Alistair charged toward the two aerwhisps. He threw his wings back, which sent him several feet into the air, allowing him to crash down onto his first opponent.

Use your strength in the same way you would in your human form, Hooty told Alistair.

With this in mind, he grabbed the six-armed aerwhisp ogre and body slammed it onto the stone. Alistair jumped on top of it, Hooty laughing in his head as he used his wings to amplify each attack.

That’s one way to do it!

Alistair dropped down onto the aerwhisp with an elbow. He lifted it and brought it down across his knee.

Ghost: Yes! This is how we will defeat Goran.

The fun Alistair was just having seeped away. He knew why he was doing this; aside from the upcoming team battle, he knew it would be important to work on his binding and later, hopefully, be able to bind with other summons. But remembering that he’d use this form to fight off a murdering giant of a man had a way of canceling out the good times.

It also led to him focusing on a new binding task, especially after he’d worked with Hooty for a while.

Alistair stood across from the two six-armed aerwhisp ogres, now in his human form. He finished catching his breath and summoned Noctarii and Ziggy back to him.

Ghost: What are you doing?

“You want me to be even more powerful, right?”

Ghost: Yes. Why? I know I can’t see your face, but I don’t like the look on your face. What are you thinking, Alistair?

“This is what you want. This is what we need. Especially if we’ll be going to the Dracolich Empire this weekend.” Alistair touched his chest. He summoned Noctarii’s Resonant Card and attempted to crush it in his hand.

Ghost: Binding with Noctarii?

Alistair didn’t respond. He sent his hand out again and felt the mana surge through him as he attempted to bind with the shadow fae.

He failed yet again.

Ghost: You’ve got this. Do it, Alistair.

Alistair attempted to bind with the fae again and again, failing each time. His concentration grew to the point that a vein was pulsing on the side of Alistair’s head, sweat dripping down his chin.

He took a knee and kept at it, Alisair aware that doing something like this would increase his chances of survival in the future. It would also likely aid him in some unpredictable moment that involved his friends. Alistair knew they’d need him at some point, especially as the conspiracy unraveled…

“Come on,” he whispered as he made another attempt at binding with Noctarii. He had tossed his hand out so many times now that he could feel it in his bicep.

He bit his lip and continued, Ghost quiet in his head for once.

“You’ve got this,” Alistair told himself ten minutes later after dozens of attempts. He could feel the Resonant Mana surging through him each time, yet it was like it hit a wall once it reached his wrist, not able to pass to the card and do what needed to be done from there.

[Congratulations, Fledgling, you have leveled up! You may upgrade one of your Skills. Which Skill would you like to upgrade?]

“Dammit,” Alistair said, his concentration was broken. He lowered his arm, his muscles pulsing, shoulder a bit sore. “Dammit.”

The prompt came to him again.

[Congratulations, Fledgling, you have leveled up! You may upgrade one of your Skills. Which Skill would you like to upgrade?]

Ghost took over and brought Alistair back to his feet. “You did good. You’ll get it. Don’t beat yourself up. Let me do that instead. Now, as for your skills. Lightning Firestorm, or Touch of Grace? What do you think? Choose one to level up and let’s be done with this.”