The Seven Star College possessed two faces. Their enviable Main Campus. And the F campus, made for their undesirable students. Almost every piece of the system intended to remind F-class students of their status.

Our trip began at the schoolhouse, a large building near the Campus entrance. We were going to exit the campus itself. The class traveled together.

In the way, I noticed something remarkable. F Campus was much larger than required. Many ‘residences’ were vacant. As far as I knew, each residence had a name plate. Get far enough from the entrance, and the place becomes a ghost town. Aside from the fake housing, there were some plazas and facilities for sports and recreation. Though, they were empty at the time.

Our convoy of second-year students arrived at its destination. The forest surrounding Seven Star College. I wanted to sight-see, but we weren’t there for a break.

Teacher Alan didn’t spare me any time. “I’ll tell you the instructions for this assignment. You are all going to race towards the school border.”

By school border, he meant the corrosive fog. It was an incredibly powerful security measure. A product of some psychic ability. Possibly the peak of what rigorous training can achieve.

” I’ll be waiting for you there. If you beat me, you’ll get the grand prize. But since that won’t happen, I’ll tell you the rewards you’re getting…”

Alan would award fifty credits to each member of the winning team. Then, second place gets thirty each. Twenty for third place. And a meager consolation price of five credits for all participants. For a fair comparison, five credits will buy you an off-brand soda from a vending machine.

What did my teammate think? Going by her expressions, she was aiming for the first place

From what I knew of my teammate she would shoot for the top spot. She was someone ambitious, and that’s not a bad thing. I also aimed for the first place. But I’m not used to winning at anything, except for multiplayer matches. This time I planned on changing my track record. With the help of the top student in my class. Though her rental fee’s expensive, so I better get those much-needed credits.

My teacher waved at me, who was too self-absorbed to notice his instructions at first. “Are you paying attention? Take a compass from the bag.” Apparently, each team would have a dedicated navigator. Why did he choose me? “Go east. Be smart with your abilities and finish first. But before I give you the call…what’s the safety rule?”

Like I would know.

“No lethal injuries allowed!” The class responded as a group.

“That’s right. Pull your punches. Now go!” He didn’t talk only to me.

The race began. I dashed away from my starting position. My physique wasn’t much, but I was going to make it up with effort. Besides, the other students frightened me. I didn’t know what they could pull off. What if they duke it out right at the starting line? Fearing that, I fled as fast as I could.

But no such thing happened. It took me a while to notice how silent the environment was. Filiel and I were totally alone. Were we running in the right direction? I checked my compass. Nothing was off. The competitors must have scattered. I was mistake. If we are fighting, the encounters would be small. And quickly dealt with.

Filiel had decided to run at a comfortable pace. One which she could keep up with. Unlike me, she expected small skirmishes to occur further in the race. It was clear I couldn’t sprint for much longer. She easily passed me. I’ll say I’m an average runner while she had obvious advantage over me. Her large height. Her strides were simply longer than mine. She noticed the difference in our aptitudes and allowed me to catch up.

Since my speed wouldn’t win the day, she requested me to use my abilities. “I’m ready to receive your psychic support. Whatever it is, we’ll find a use case.”

“I’ll try. But nobody ever taught me how to use it.”

“You have your student ID on you? Its amplifier function makes it dead simple to use.”

“I heard so…”

‘And your Personal Advisor comes up at just the right moment, taking you by surprise.’

Whoa! I’ll never get used to that thing. It unnerved me.

‘Are you not grateful of your Advisor’s appearance?’

Possibly, but only if you make us win this race. I’m in need of those twenty-five credits. Help please.

‘…’

Aren’t you duty- bound to me or something? Then help us win.

‘I will summon your ability’s interface. There.’

Something amazing happened. The 'Interface' took over my field of vision. A colorful, tridimensional display overlaid my sight. It was dreamlike. Realistic enough to satisfy my exigent expectations for Virtual Reality technology. Best part? I could drive it at the speed of thought. If I only I knew how to use it. Instructions? I asked the Advisor.

‘Go over to the girl. As a bonus for your Contract, you can develop a new ability for her. Party Influence works under a nodal system. Focus…and activate her upgrade node.’

Is this all I can do? Upgrade allies?

‘If that were the case…what’s the matter? This ability makes you companions better so they can work for you better. It is very slothful. But that’s what you got.’

I’m not sloth-. A bit. I did what Advisor recommended. Focusing on the upgrade icon, I unlocked…

‘Filiel’s Hardwall ability upgraded. Burst Counter unlocked. Proficiency improved.’

Hey. This is way too game-y to be real. Is this one of those rare conscious dreaming experiences? Because that would mean I was never admitted to Seven Star. That would be great.

‘Completely, hundred percent real. As for the gameness of Party Influence. It’s because of the nature of mind itself. A collection of one’s experiences. But you won’t find the… whatchamacallit? XP points?’

XP already carries ‘points’ inside it.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The target of the upgrade didn’t notice. “Are you feeling anything new?”

“Huh? Nothing. Did you do something?”

“Try using your Hardwall ability. I think I buffed it somehow.”

“H-Hardwall?” Filiel suddenly stopped. She had an expression of unease.

Somehow, I had startled her. What did I do wrong? I couldn’t progress without her. Every second could mean defeat, but I had to figure out what happened.

I was just about to ask. When she spoke. “I never told you the name of my ability.” She fiddled. “The power to defile the privacy of my thoughts…No, it can’t be…Right?”

I freaked out. “No! It’s not like that!” I could deny everything, but she wouldn’t accept weak sounding explanations.

The trouble for me was not knowing how to express psychic phenomena. All the fancy words my peers used sounded just like pseudo-science buzzwords. I considered telling her about the Advisor. Until I realized. Confessing I heard voices inside my head was a bad idea. Something unhealthy for my credibility.

So...I winged it. “Do you know videogames?”

“Who in this day and age doesn’t know of them?”

“I guess my ESP works like a game system. Loosely.”

“I nicknamed my ability Hardwall. And your ESP extracted that.”

“It doesn’t go any farther than that. Please trust me.”

‘Personal Data such as Filiel’s measurements can be computed from vision. The RGB hexadecimal code of her eye color, vocal frequency range…’

You are not helping my case. I’d appreciate silence.

I sighed, disappointed of the alien assistant installed inside my head.

“So, Filiel. Your ability’s been upgraded with Burst Counter. The name should mean something to you.” Diverting the topic towards her was the best way forward.

“Counter…” The naming drew her curiosity in.

She demonstrated her ability. To create forcefield barriers wherever she wanted. The ‘Hardwall’ would stay fixed in the air, telling gravity to shove it. A trivial factoid, the walls are of a calming shade of pastel yellow.

 “This is my ESP ability. It’s working normally. What did you do to it again?”

“Burst Counter.”

“The name sort of spoils it.” She tapped the surface, causing a reaction from the barrier. Sparks burst from it. A counter force pushed her back. Most promising, was her control over the repulsion force.

“You are pretty good. Varying the output with so much control over it.”

“If we hop on it, we should get some airtime. It will be very useful!”

The pit stop was over, and we jumped back into the competition. The combination of our powers greatly increased our travel speed. Filiel created platforms above the irregular terrain. And the burst effect propelled each of my strides. I sprinted at insane speed. Without breaking a sweat!

I looked at the compass clutched in my hands. We had been traveling straight to the goal. Yet our peaceful travel aroused my suspicion. Not encountering competitors worried me. Either we were far ahead…or were just catching up.

A projectile whistled through the air. It went over my head and stuck deep inside of a tree trunk. Filiel dissolved our Hardwall track. Both of us had a harsh landing onto the forest. I took the backline position according to standard formation. When the attacker tried to shoot at me again, Filiel intercepted it with her ability.

Even If shadowed by the tree canopy, I recognized the perpetrator. He had made enough of a mark for me to never forget his face. It was my third time encountering him.

“Heads up. This guy’s name is Baron. He is a vanguard with a heavy hitting ability. But he’ll have a hard time breaching my defense.” Filiel warned.

Baron’s voice echoed through the vegetation. “I’m grateful that I caught up to you. You won’t get any further.”

“Are you so sure about that? You and I have studied together half a year. You know me. I’ll never back down on a challenge.”

No other school would have their students fighting each other as part of the syllabus. Was it specific to our class tier? Or a global policy? The Seven Star education system wanted me to learn combat skills.

I glanced at the other student. In order to size him up, or even find a weak point. He became aware of that fact. “What are you looking at, transfer? Are you never going to learn how we do things at Class F by yourself? Because I just got the time to teach you.”

“Go ahead. For the first time ever, I’m eager to study.”

“Christian? Excuse me. The cool guy talk takes up our valuable time. I’ll get rid of Baron. Support me from the back.”

She casted flat panels around her body. Hardwall was flexible enough to produce energy armor. At the other end, Baron also showcased his ability. He summons bladelike entities that he remote controls. That was how he ambushed us with projectiles. Numerous sharp slashes orbited him. Each one, a different bright neon color.

An armored Filiel charged at Baron. When they neared melee-range, he attempted stabbing her gut. It bounced off, product of my Burst Counter upgrade. Baron deaccelerated the blade milliseconds before the ricocheting piece struck him. She used the distraction to land the first hit. He swallowed the pain of the strike. He was lucky Filiel was pulling her punches. It appeared she preferred not sending people to the infirmary if possible.

Everything appeared to go to our advantage. I went to take a deep breath, to savor the fresh air infused with victory. But something had happened to me. Breathing became difficult.

Filiel collapsed first. Her physical exertion depleted her oxygen quicker than I did mine since I was only watching from afar. My legs trembled trying to balance me. I was going to fall too, but not before finding the culprit. Another student had come out of hiding. A small girl I can describe as the polar opposite of Filiel. That was all I got before I had to brace my face with my arms to dampen my fall.

“Nothing against you Dawn. But I’m sort of pissed.” He said.

“I didn’t want to see you hurt on a fight.”

“This little bruise? It’s nothing. What I meant was that I really wanted a fair chance a fighting her. Not this race against the clock stuff.”

“If you go solo, I’ll keep these two suppressed. After us, they are the runners-up most likely to win.”

He sprinted east towards the goal. Leaving us under his teammate’s watch.

‘You are being affected by a physical debuff.’

A debuff? So, this girl is probably a support. Her name was Dawn? That ability did a number on us. Baron should have been hurrying at top speed. Our fortunes reversed just when I had felt sure of victory.

In the end, I had misjudged the support role. My misconceptions had tainted my idea of what a support could accomplish. I relived the last encounter. Aside from my upgrade, I didn’t do anything to help out. Compare that to Dawn, who took one for the team and stayed behind. Letting her vanguard go endangered her. Any other team could take us out right now. But she still did it.

Baron was right, I was a transfer in need of learning the ways of the world. So, I made up my mind to learn from my peers. And I was starting with this Dawn girl.

Advisor. You heard all that, right?

‘Yes, all of it. In these situations, you must observe carefully. Figure out how the opponent’s ability operates.’

I will…It’s not hard to figure out. I can barely breathe. If I can’t intake sufficient oxygen, I won’t be able to move.

‘Also, your body temperature has dropped a degree.’

Metabolism too? Is it a stamina debuff?

I succeeded in guessing the method of operation. Then, I needed to find a way to put that knowledge to use. I forced air in through my mouth. By changing how I breathed, I could slightly mitigate the effect.

Talking became possible. “Can you tell me your ability’s name?” Making small talk hid my intentions. I wanted Filiel to know we had a chance. Slowly, I pushed against the ground to lift myself.

“Stay down. You are too weakened to even scratch me.”

“You are totally right about that…but that won’t stop me. Even if can’t do crap, I’ll try. If that isn’t enough, I’ll rest for the day.”

I grounded myself on one knee. My hands were still pushing against the soil.

“Don’t even try it. I gave my word to him.” She started to consider me a threat. One more worrying than Filiel, the top student on our class. Dawn lifted her foot and stomped down. A faint yellow film covered me just in time. When she struck the Hardwall shielding, Burst Counter sent her flying. And she landed ungracefully on her behind.

I turned to see the teammate who protected me at the last second. We made eye contact and it was enough to hatch a plan. An opportunity had opened up, we went in all or nothing.

I picked up a rock, lifted it for her to see and dropped it. Filiel angled a Hardwall so rock would bounce at the right angle. It struck our target right in the head.

Headshot! We were freed from the debuff when she went unconscious. Although a stumbled a bit, I got back on my feet.

“She didn’t die or anything. Surely.” To confirm, I went over to her body. She was out cold. But my fingers felt the pulse through her wrist. However, it felt wrong to abandon her. “Did I cross a line there? Any wolves or bears living in these woods?”

“A security team must be on its way. It happens whenever a student is knocked out.”

I had a puzzled look. How could that be possible?

“Our IDs. They are networked. Seven Star doesn’t want us dying on their grounds. The college protect us.”

They also don’t want us leaving…I shook my head. It wasn’t the time to complain.

We had a second target to take out.