The mushrooms were on fire, and it was only partially Todd’s fault.

“Duck!” Emily yelled, her voice just barely carrying through the crackling roar of the flames around him.

Todd threw himself to the marshy ground. Moss squelched beneath him as he rolled, and he ripped more dirt up from beneath the layer of foliage to reinforce his damaged armor.

Something screamed through the air above him. Ice prickled against Todd’s neck in passing. A loud crash echoed through the forest a moment later, followed by a warbling scream of pain.

Todd rose back to his feet, yanking the fire from the burning mushrooms around him and forming it into a ball between his palms. Before him, amidst dozens of fallen and crushed fungi the size of buildings, stood a huge froglike monster.

The monster was easily three times taller than he was. A huge grey tongue lolled from its mouth, covered in jagged barbs. Its yellow skin was covered with a slimy ooze that had proven to be an infuriatingly effective flame retardant. Todd’s explosions had managed to scorch it in a few small spots, but his magic had proven to be largely useless against the monster.

It wasn’t quite so lucky against Emily.

A huge arrow made out of ice protruded from one of the frog’s feet, pinning it into the ground. The frog croaked and thrashed in attempt to free itself, but it was futile. Frost crept up its limb, biting deep into the monster’s flesh and freezing the ooze on it solid.

“Nice!” Todd cheered, a grin splitting his features. “Good shit, Emily.”

There was a loud creak from behind him. Todd stepped to the side.

A burning mushroom crashed down behind him. Its head exploded with a splattering crash, sending burning goo flying everywhere. One chunk slapped into the stem of another mushroom. It went up in flames with a roar like a bundle of dry wood.

Todd winced.

“Dude, have you ever heard the word restraint?” Emily asked from several paces behind Todd, drawing her bow back and forming another arrow in it. The frog screamed and thrashed, but it was stuck fast.

“Sorry,” Todd said. “I didn’t realize the mushrooms exploded when they caught fire. Really couldn’t have seen that one coming. Why the hell would anyone choose such a weird place for an exam?”

Emily loosed the arrow from her bow. It flashed through the air and slammed into the frog’s eye, burying deep into its brain. The monster jerked, then went limp and collapsed to the ground, struggles ended forever.

No energy entered Todd’s body, but that was to be expected. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the sheaf of Catchpapers that he’d folded up inside it. A grin split his features and he held one up.

“Rank 2 Dripping Ooze,” Todd said. “I got a rune.”

“Finally. Good news,” Emily said. She walked out from the treeline to join Todd, and he handed the paper to her. She gave him a blank one in return.

Another burning mushroom crashed down. They both winced as its head exploded, but fortunately, every other mushroom in the area had already been burnt to a crisp and the muck that filled the fungus’ heads just splattered harmlessly across the wet, mossy ground.

“I still think they just should have had the exam in the Scorched Acres. For old time’s sake,” Todd said, stuffing the new Catchpaper into a back pocket. He paused, squinting at the air behind Emily.

There was nothing visible, but to his heat-vision, there was a patch of heat that marked a person. Todd crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“James. Are you going to just stand there sniffing her hair, or are you actually going to be useful?”

“I was not sniffing her hair,” James said, the air rippling as he let his magic fall and emerged in plain view. “I was assessing the situation.”

Emily didn’t so much as flinch at his arrival. Either she’d gotten used to James popping up out of nowhere, or she’d already known he was there.

“What, the situation regarding the scent of soap she uses?” Todd snickered as he scanned the area around them for any more signs of newcomers. The fire made it a little difficult for his heat vision to pick up on humans or monsters around it, but most of the flame was already dying away.

“Mango,” James said.

“Hey!” Emily exclaimed. Her eyes went narrow and she prodded James in the stomach in a manner remarkably similar to what Todd had seen Moxie do to Noah countless times. “You don’t need to go sharing that. That’s weird.”

“Why?” James asked. “I got it for you.”

Another heat signature caught Todd’s eyes, but he’d been expecting this one.

Isabel stepped around the trunk of an unburned mushroom and emerged into the burnt clearing that Todd had mistakenly created.

“I’m glad to know we’ve managed to keep focused during the exam,” Isabel said with a dry smile. “Todd, why are you trying to bring the Mushroom Forest down on top of you?”

“The mushrooms explode when you burn them,” Todd said. “I was unaware. Where’s Alexandra?”

“She went off on her own. She felt like the exam would be too easy if she worked together with us, and she wanted to make sure she learned from it. I think we might have let her spend too much time with Jalen,” Isabel said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “But she’s fine. I don’t think there’s a single student that can really pose her a threat. Even that Rank 3 girl, Fiona… she hasn’t seen a real fight like Alexandra has.”

“She’s badass,” Emily said with a nod.

Todd thrust a finger in her direction. “Hah! You said badass! I told you it was a cool word!”

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“Fuck,” Emily said, burying her head in her hands. “He’s ruining my vocabulary. Do you know what Moxie is going to do to me if she figures out I can’t speak like a proper noble anymore?”

“Compliment you for removing the stick from your ass?”

James coughed into a fist to hide a laugh. Emily narrowed her eyes, then prodded him again.

“Hey! That wasn’t my fault. Why aren’t you attacking Todd?” James protested.

“He’s Isabel’s problem,” Emily replied.

“Ah.” James nodded sagely, then did a double take and nearly tripped over himself as he spun toward Emily. “Wait. They’re dating. If he’s Isabel’s problem, does that mean I’m—”

A flicker of heat caught Todd’s attention from the sky — a location that he had most certainly not set on fire.

“Above us!” Todd yelled.

All of them snapped into motion instantly. Isabel pushed Emily behind her and heavy plates of armor rushed up from the ground to slam down around her. James vanished from view and Todd pumped energy into his own stone armor, readying the explosive attacks in his arms and feet.

An attractive woman dropped from the sky above them, landing in the center of the burnt clearing with a flourish. Her bright blonde hair fluttered through the air behind her like a streamer, and even though they were in the middle of an exam, the only thing she wore was a flowing white dress.

She arched her arms over her back, almost as if she was trying to strike a pose, and Todd realized that she hadn’t actually touched the ground. The girl floated about an inch away from it.

Todd’s brow furrowed. He recognized the girl, but only vaguely.

She’s from the Advanced Track. I can’t remember her name, though. And what is she doing? Is she choking on something?

For a long second, nobody did anything. They just all stared at each other. Then the newcomer’s eyes narrowed.

“What? No reaction?”

“Should I shoot her?” Emily asked.

“Why bother?” Isabel asked. “I doubt she’s managed to collect any Runes. It’s not worth the energy.”

“What?” The girl’s eye twitched. “I’m in the Advanced Track too, you know!”

“Do you have runes?” Todd asked.

“I — that’s none of your concern.” the girl said, charging straight past Todd’s question. That was as good as a confirmation that she had not, in fact, collected any runes. She thrust a finger at Todd. “You’re going to give me the ones that you’ve collected.”

“This is the weirdest robbery I’ve ever been part of,” Todd said.

“I’m going to shoot her,” Emily said, raising her bow.

“Are you sure about that?” the girl smirked. A white shield hummed to life around her and the forest rustled. Five other students emerged from the far end of the clearing, each covered with a shield of their own. They made their way over to stand by her side. “Have you forgotten who I am?”

Todd was fairly sure they were all in the Advanced Track, but he couldn’t remember for certain. He hadn’t noticed their approach, but they’d come from the direction of the fire.

It had been a bit since Todd or any of the others had gone to one of the meetings with the rest of the Advanced Track. Jakob and Verrud had been getting bolder in their attempts to get near Isabel recently. Marley, Jakob’s student, had given it a few shots as well.

There were just too many enemies. It was difficult to keep track of them, so the group had just opted to avoid the issue entirely. Training with other Advanced Track students was great — but training with Jalen, Bird, Brayden, and the others was far more effective.

It was also considerably safer.

Jalen was only kind of trying to kill them.

“Why is nobody answering me?” the girl demanded. “If you’re scared, we can just skip to the part where you give me your—”

“I forgot your question. Sorry,” Todd said with a sheepish grin. He drew on more power but kept his tone perfectly casual. There were a number of enemies. They couldn’t afford to take this lightly. “What was it again?”

“I asked if you knew who I was!” the girl snapped. “It was rhetorical. Of course you—”

“Sorry. Forgot your name too.”

The girl’s eye twitched.

“Me as well,” Isabel admitted. “My bad. Alexandra was kind of the one remembering the random names. She’s really polite, but she’s busy right now. Do you remember, Emily?”

“Er… was it Casie?” Emily hedged. Even though her words sounded uncertain, more energy was gathering at the tip of her arrow. She was preparing to fight.

“No! Bethany! My name is Bethany! How did you forget? We’ve sparred before!”

“We have?” Isabel asked.

“Yes!”

“Did I win?”

Bethany’s mouth snapped shut. Her eyes narrowed even further. “Yes. But this time will be—”

“Ah. Then that’s why I don’t remember your name,” Isabel said, speaking right over Bethany. She shook her head. “This isn’t worth the time. She clearly hasn’t gotten any runes yet.”

Wind howled around Bethany and gathered in her hands, forming into two balls of twisting white magic. “You’re good with a sword, but we’ve got you outnumbered, and this isn’t a sparring ring. This is the real world. Give me what you’ve got and we won’t crush you out of this exam here and now.”

“Wow. Good line. Did you practice that one in front of the mirror this morning?” Todd asked.

Bethany’s cheeks went bright red. “How did — No! Of course not!”

“This is just sad,” Emily said. “I’m shooting her now.”

“Yup,” Todd said.

Bethany thrust her hands forward. The balls of wind exploded, transforming into a howling gale of white blades that carved out toward Emily.

Emily released the string of her bow.

An ice arrow screamed through the air in a blur. It struck the rolling front of wind and sliced through it in a split instant. Bethany’s eyes went wide.

One of the boys beside Bethany lunged before her, a brown shield burning with energy as he summoned stone up from the ground and formed it into a wall between them.

The arrow carved straight through the stone. It continued on into the boy, shattering his Shield like sugar glass and driving straight into his chest. His eyes went wide in disbelief. A necklace on his neck flashed a brilliant white and he vanished, yanked out of the exam to get medical attention.

Every single one of them wore a similar necklace. It wouldn’t do anything if they took an instant killing blow, but those were supposedly against the rules. Todd wasn’t about to count on Verrud and Jakob’s students remembering that.

“How?” Bethany staggered back, her mouth hanging askew in disbelief as she stared at the spot where one of her allies had been a moment before.

Todd shook himself off. He was getting distracted.

I should probably focus, even if these people are jokes. Their Runes are nothing compared to ours thanks to Teacherman showing us how to make flawless combinations.

“We’ll be happy to pretend to answer your questions once the exam is over,” Isabel said. Bethany thrust her hands forward and sent blades of wind carving toward her. Isabel just raised a shield of stone from the ground, blocking the magic effortlessly. Bethany’s face went pale. She took a step back, then launched herself into the air.

“You’re cheating! I’ll be ba—”

A glowing blue spear sailed through the air. It sliced straight through Bethany’s shield, shattering it, and drove into her back. The girl stiffened, then vanished in a flash. Several empty pieces of Catchpaper fluttered down from where she’d been.

“Don’t let any of them leave with their Catchpaper,” Isabel said, her spear reforming in her hand as she turned to the remaining students.

The remaining students went pale. Two of their members had gone down in two attacks. Their shields hadn’t been strong enough to tank a single hit. They turned and ran, sprinting for cover.

Todd grinned.

I wish the Professor was here to see us now. Nobles, running from us.

“I’ve got this,” Todd said.

The ground beneath him exploded. Fire curled out from his feet as he burst into motion, crossing the distance between himself and the running nobles in moments.

His laughter was the last thing any of them heard before their shields shattered and their amulets went off, dragging them out of the exam and to safety.