"In the most recent raid on the redcap settlement of Cohlyana, we directly involved ourselves in the birth of a child, from a redcap mother. This child, from what we could see, was not fully redcap, but in fact part human. It is our assumption a Guild Member forced himself on the redcap and it was made to give birth to this thing. We have begun to interrogate some other dwellers of the settlement, but so far nothing has given us any hint of how this thing came to be. I will keep you updated, Ethan.

Many Thanks, Iago Duskwalker"

-A Letter to the Guildmaster I, by Iago Duskwalker

After some introductions from his new 'teacher', Daniel quickly found a seat, nearer to the back of the class. This hall was like nothing he had every expected; while it was not like the small classrooms of his hometown's school, it held that same welcoming atmosphere despite its imposing appearance, and the class seats were arranged in arcing curves, rising up on each level towards the back of the hall.

How, Daniel thought, How was this thing my teacher? It makes no sense. How high of a rank is this guy; Platinum? Maybe it was even one of the two platinums I heard about. The Vileblood or The Brawn. No, if this guy was one of them, he would definitely be The Vileblood. He isn't just vile but... He's frightening too. While watching his teacher welcome another student too, Daniel noticed that his facade was gone. No, rather it was improved, it was now flawless. His eyes, that once spelt death for all who dared stare into them, were friendly and hopeful. Was that previous facade just something he put up for a quick fix? What Daniel had not realised that the facade that the thing was wearing now was its 'perfection'.

"Hey!", a small girl around half his size and, seemingly, age too, had found herself a seat next to the engrossed and somewhat disturbed boy, waving her hand over his face, "You there?"

"Oh! Sorry for that, it's just hard to take it all in, you know?" Daniel responded in a shaky voice, peaking at the end.

"I know right! Everyone was acting shocked and were looking at me weirdly when I got put into this class, it's pretty surreal, you know?" the girl said, mimicking his tone and inflection with the same last words as he, "Well... The names Nynae! Nyn for short! And you, 'you know' boy?"

"Daniel. Don't really have a nickname, like you." Daniel answered, taken aback by the girl's excitement, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Yes! I suppose so. I'm from the Silversnow Mountains, near Shanty Town!"

The Silversnow Mountains; the name that describes the mountain range that covers all sides of Alium except the south; and Shanty Town; a small village at the base of Pegasus Peak, the tallest mountain in the range. Usually, the only people that live in the Silversnow Mountains that aren't in Shanty Town are from small, indigenous tribes that are dotted around the entire range, unaware of the happenings of the rest of the world.

"Aren't the rest of the mountains just populated by tribes and such"

"Yep! I'm from the Okshlaw Tribe, meaning Wild Polar Beast! We take big pride in that"

"I can see", she acts more like a child than she looks, thought Daniel, "Then how did you come to the Guild? I thought tribes like yours are usually isolated from the Guild."

"Our tribe is nearby Shanty Town and the main Lyrim city, so we get a lot of travellers and trade from them. I heard about it from some foreigner looking for a taste of some special 'Lyrim Brew' or something like that. I don't remember," muttered Nyn, before bellowing a laugh, too loud for her small frame, "Anyway, I went travelling with this foreigner. He was very kind and he led me to the Guild since he was a Guild Member and said I should join. So I did! And I'll never forget that man's name, its 'Mr. Smith', I think. I’m too excited to think straight right now, so I can’t remember…"

Mr. Smith. My examiner. The one who only allowed me to join out of my whole testing group. How powerful was this guy, to just allow someone to join the Guild without proper testing? He even recognised someone who he doesn't even know as a candidate for becoming a platin- It then hit Daniel. Nyn was also fated to become a monster like him. How strong was Nyn to be expected to become a platinum at this age? It couldn't be her physical abilities, after all, she looks like she could barely hurt a fly. Then there was only one other reason, her Ar-

"Attention! Class is starting" the thing called Lanyon Pierce exclaimed.

It was the first time Daniel had looked around before talking with Nyn. The class had become relatively full with porcelains, and most of them were fairly unusual. An eccentric looking boy, chatting with others around his table, or a sickly girl hiding in the very corner of the room, muttering calming words to herself in a mantra, and even the various noble's children around him. At that moment, it truly felt like a class for the porcelains expected to become platinums. They were all powerful. And he, for the first time since he came to Alandriel, even after being discouraged and put down all those times, he felt weak. Truly weak.

* * *

"Okay! Let's start, now that everyone's at their seats," the thing shouted, "Lets begin with introductions. I am Lanyon Pierce, which is Mr. Pierce to you, no questions asked. Unless you somehow don't know, you are all expected to become platinums!", the room grew quiet, a few realising that fact for the first time, and others looking smug because they already knew, "However, you may be in Class 1, but you are in Class 1-B! My Class! And it has been for a while... Now, don't get discouraged about the fact you're in the B class, you can do just as well or exceed that of the A class, but you, at the moment, are weaker. Not weak! Weak-er! Understand that well, and we'll get on just fine. If anyone dares to think they're weak in my class, not this class, you don't deserve to be in it. Because, you are strong... Got it!?"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Y-Yes sir!", the class chanted in apprehensive unison.

"So, for the first lesson of the day..." he said, with the class wondering what a Class 1 lesson would be, "The basics of Arts!"

It went silent. For most of the people in that room, the basics of arts is something that is taught when you first enter schooling, in order to help you practise the safe use of your Arts. Of course, there was outrage. Some nobles were too snobbish to talk in hushed condemnations and insults, while a select few were shouting at the thing. Frankly, everyone in that room was disrespecting the lecturer in some way, except for Daniel and Nyn who had no clue what the fuss was about. For Nyn, she didn't even know what an Art was, and for Daniel? Well, he dreaded what was about to come. Yet, while the two oblivious porcelains were trying to calm everyone down, the thing in front of them let their facade slip.

"Quiet," the thing said in a calm and monotonous voice, his eyes somehow piercing the entire hall, through all the commotion and all the shouting, and into every one of our souls, despair settling over them. Those eyes, deep blue eyes, began to look like more of a deathly black than anything else. And his expression was that of someone who had killed more times than they can count, "Good! I finally got your attention. Let's get back to the lesson."

Daniel had already grasped who that man was and what he was capable of downstairs at the entrance, but this was the first time the rest of the class stared death in the face, and they were frozen just as he had been. Nyn was stuck to her seat, her pupils shrinking to a single dot on her small face, and she could only look up at Daniel for support yet she only found what seemed like anger itself. Daniel had begun to snarl.

In fear, his mind had retreated, his thoughts taken over by something sinister and ancient, less a being and more a thing. In that moment of perceived life and death, instincts that weren’t quite natural took over and decided that fighting to survive was his best chance at coming out alive. His eyes had begun to look not so different from the teacher's, them glazing over and taking a darker, stormier, colouration. Then, with a snap of lucidity, Daniel was back, as if waking from a dream. No snarling thing; only a boy wondering why Nynae was looking at him so strangely. No one could go on with their day as normal after that, but the two monsters did just fine. And one of them didn't even realise how much of one they were. In his mind, he was weak, but no; he was strong. But he was different too.

"Arts!" The teacher broke the silence of the room, drawing a circle on a large chalkboard on his side of the room, "Arts are contained inside of your Node. A Node is a fragment of a God's soul from when Galem himself smote the Gods and now we mortals come and pick up the pieces of their power and declare it ours. A Node is traditionally depicted as a sphere, though it is literally anything but one, a manifestation of your inherited power that you can grasp at inside of yourself.", the teacher explained, before drawing a tree diagram with branching paths and three iterations, "We use a technique called Pathing to access certain parts of the Node and access our Arts. For example," he began to draw a line in a blue chalk going from the tree diagram's origin down one of them and then further another splitting, "Let's say the person using this Pathing has an Art that allows them to create a weapon and specify the type. The Node is stated first, then the Pathing, then any other additional content known as Variations, or sub-Arts. For example, Weapon Art: Weapon Creation, Spear. Of course, nothing happens, because I don't have the Weapon Node and I haven’t put any will into it. But let's take one of you..." the teacher began to search around the classroom, his eyes running back and forth among the porcelains until, "You there! I believe Nynae is your name, come forward!"

At this point, Nyn was still in fear of the teacher so she instead nodded her head up and down, scared at what would've happened if she said something wrong. Just like Daniel had done earlier, she slowly waddled down the aisle and down to where the teacher was standing.

"So... Nynae, what Art do you have, cause I believe you do have one, yes?" the teacher said, hinting that there was an artless porcelain here, while slightly eyeing Daniel, who he noticed was slightly disoriented.

"Y-yes! I-I h-have... an ability to create gas, but I-I didn't know it was called an A-Art."

"Now, Nynae, what type of gas is this and what do you say when you use it, Nynae?"

"Poison, I think, I don't know. I don't really know what I do, it just happens..."

"So that's what you are. Sorry for my prying, but I think I understand you now. Sometimes when people have Arts they don't even realise how they elicit it since they activate the entire node not a single Art. Now, this is a special case,”, the teacher then directed this to the entire class, "When you either struggle activating or grasping your art, you can sometimes call your arts by your own names. This is technically an advanced technique, but I'll inform you of it now. It is called Node Transmogrification; the art of creating your own Pathing. It should be simple for Nynae, here, but for you who have likely cemented your pathways, essentially making them unchangeable, it would be very hard to achieve," the teacher said, before turning back to Nyn, "Now, what happens when you do this, Nynae?"

"A c-cloud of gas is made, and it makes people choke and c-cough and sometimes go to sleep."

"Now, let's focus on that sleeping one so it doesn't harm any of your classmates. What do you think is a suitable name, Nynae."

Nyn stood there, almost dumbfounded by the politeness of this monster, before quickly thinking of something, "Umm... Perhaps... Kalimar Mist."

"Why kalimar, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Kalimar is the word in my native language that means 'drowsiness' or 'drunkenness' or... something else, I don't remember."

"That's okay, Nynae, as long as it means something to you. Now," the teacher said, before crouching down to her level, "I want you to say this for me, and imagine what it feels like to release that sleepy gas."

"S-Sure!"

"Okay, then please say this and remember to imagine that feeling. Poison Art: Kalimar Mist."

"Poison Art: Kalimar Mist!"