The students fell into social circles oriented around key people. Val was one of those people, and Akemi and I were on the periphery of that by virtue of being her roommates and because she wanted us to be. Akemi put more effort into the area than I did.

I was a bit of a mystery to the socially inclined because I didn’t really show any interest in making social connections. I had Val’s favour, although my enhanced hearing picked up comments about her taking pity on me or her being told to include me. I didn’t get any indication from Val that either of those was true. People didn’t know where I fit socially. I didn’t care enough to enlighten them. I have to admit I didn’t really know myself, but it wasn’t important to me.

One of the other social circles was orientated around Astrid Ravera. She wanted me to go into a mirage chamber with her so she could see if she could get a one-hit kill. She was disappointed it didn’t happen in the assessment. She was rather vocal about my lack of combat prowess, and her followers did as the name suggests. They followed her example.

Hers was a particularly competitive group, and the leadership board of the obstacle course and academic placements were discussed a lot. She, Val, and a Leonid called Zyair often swapped the leadership of the obstacle course rankings table, and I don’t think any of them ever got lower than the top five.

I was doing all right, but I was using the obstacle course to try things rather than be the best. As long as I was faster than Instructor Mosi’s minimum time, he didn’t seem to care. Of course, the time kept reducing week by week. I would often stop to help the less physically skilled over certain obstacles, and I earned a lot of goodwill among them. They were not the social influencers, though. Not that I cared.

I tried to go to the Temple of Death once a week to see Denice and the head gardener, Omari. I would go there to catch up and meditate. There is usually at least one funeral a day there. It is a huge reminder of one's mortality, and I remembered those whom I had lost.

I also went to the Temple of the Outcast once a week to deliver supplies and help where I could. Davu was good to talk to and be with. He didn’t care about social standings and being at the top of everything. It was refreshing for me. The Academy had instituted a curfew after my incident, and all students had to be back by midnight unless special permission was granted. This meant I had to leave the Temple of the Outcast around eleven. I was late once, and a person running through the streets near midnight was suspicious and drew the attention of the guards.

Then, the first groups were announced for the Group Tactics mirage chamber exercises. I think Professor Prefiti deliberately mixed up everybody as much as she could. Each group had five or six people. They varied a bit, but generally, there was a defender, some melee attackers, a ranged attacker and a support. Sometimes, a scout or healer. People were not labelled as such in the list, but as I looked down at what I knew of people, I saw that it followed that pattern. She would be leaving the groups themselves to sort out what individual roles were. There were the usual complaints about not being with mates, but she had warned us.

We had four Group Tactic sessions a week. The pattern would now be one session of prep time for the Mirage Chamber and then the Mirage session. Then one session for reviewing and writing our report on it. The final session was the professor giving her overview and teaching us what we were lacking.

The professor handed out a form with information similar to what you would find on an adventure board notice to a member of each group and told us to go and work out how we were going to kill the monster.

Of course, I was in a group with Astrid Ravera. How could it be otherwise? She immediately tried to take charge. Apart from a token challenge from the heavy warrior, Rudo, she became the leader. She didn’t have any of her core followers, but she had a forceful personality.

“We have been given a Trihorn as the first monster, Sarah. Can you look that up for us, please?”

“We actually covered that in class three weeks ago,” I said. I had been good at monsters and monster identification since I was a kid.

“I know that,” she said to me like she was explaining to a simpleton, “but we don’t want to miss anything.”

I am not sure what there was to miss. It is big, heavy and heavily armoured with an armoured tail. It has a charge skill, but that is it. No special surprises, just lots of health and armour. I suspect all the groups were given simple monsters.

Once Sarah read out what I already knew, Rudo said, “That's simple then. We send Theo to find it, then I hold it, and you lot pile on the damage.”

“What is the terrain?” I asked.

“Savannah,” Astrid said, “grassy plains with a scattering of trees.”

“So, lots of room for it to manoeuvre,” I said.

“I said I would hold it, Narelli. That is my job.” Rudo said.

“How about we dig a pit trap to hold it, and then we all pile on the damage, and it can’t get out,” I said.

“And who's going to do that? None of us have the Earth essence,” Astrid said with a bit of scorn in her voice. “Rudo can hold it. Ken and I are both sword specialists, and Sara will burn it with fire.”

“You don’t need the Earth essence to dig a hole. You only need a spade,” I said.

“That will take too long. We are supposed to have this done in half an hour, including finding it,” Astrid said. I was dismissed, and they went on discussing how they would deal damage to it, even down to the skill combinations they would use.

I could dig a pit to hold it in a little over an hour before I was Iron Rank. Now, there were five of us at Iron Rank. It wouldn't take very long at all. It wouldn’t even need to be that deep, as it couldn’t jump much due to its weight. They weren’t going to listen to me. I could see that.

“What happens if it gets away from Rudo and attacks one of us?” I asked.

“You just run like a coward,” Rudo said, “And I will get it back focused on me.”

I saw Astrid smile at Rudo, calling me a coward. Mentally, I planned to do exactly that. I wasn’t going to die fighting a monster. The professor had been emphasising not dying a lot. She was also strong in making contingency plans. Yet all the discussion here was about how to use their skills.

It occurred to me that none of these people had been in a life-or-death situation. Most had only fought in the mirage chamber or a controlled monster. They were treating this like death didn’t matter. I guess it didn’t in the mirage chamber. It does in the real world.

I feel like I need to visit the Temple of Death again and meditate for a bit. I didn’t have time before tomorrow's session, but I will spend time in my Tranquil Garden tonight.

Everybody is focused on killing the monster. My first priority is not to die. The monster dying is secondary, but these people didn't even consider they might die.

“OK, people, wrap it up. You can finish in your own time if you need to,” Professor Prefiti said. “For the session tomorrow, you will go straight to the Mirage Chambers in your groups. There will be no watching other groups while you wait your turn. We found spectators can invoke stupid actions. The recordings will be reviewed by me and my assistants only. All the best tomorrow.”

As we were leaving, I remembered there was no rank estimate for the Trihorn. A group of iron rankers should be able to take out a low bronze rank, but we had never worked together, and our coordination was shit. Would they do that to us? Yes, I do believe they would make a point like that.

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Priority one is to survive.

Everybody but me was excited the next day. Our session was not until after lunch, but the excitement was there except for me. If this were real, probably half the people here would be dead in a couple of hours.

I made my prep. I was wearing the latest version of my armour. Apart from the bracers and greaves, you would not think I had any on. All four Kais were back, and my fur only took a few days to grow out. My fang took a couple of weeks. I need more Iron rank food.

I had my axe on my belt, but my spear was going to be my weapon of choice, as keeping my distance was the plan. I had a modified quiver on my back with javelins in it. Keeping my distance.

The five of us arrived on a grassy valley with gentle hills and scattered trees, as expected. We came through with weapons ready, as we may have appeared right on the monster. It was like we were portalled here, which sometimes happened.

There were no trihorn or other monsters here. I took a deep breath and listened carefully.

“Alright, scout person, find me a monster,” Rudo said as if he was eager for this.

I nodded. There was no smell of Trihorn in the breeze, so that meant it was probably downwind. Three Kais ran off into the grass. I didn’t bother speaking.

“I still think the rats are creepy,” Astrid said quietly to Sarah. Sarah was a pyromancer. I was scared she would burn all this grass. She was the one that scared me the most.

I moved quickly and quietly using my Hunters step and was soon out of sight of the others. I heard a “Why does he think it is that way?” from Sarah, but I didn’t hear the reply, even if there was one.

I kept my Aura tight. Just because the information said a Trihorn, that didn’t mean there were no other creatures around. There may be more than one Trihorn.

I soon found it in the next valley over. There did appear to be only one. It was bronze-rank, and I thought it was more than early bronze. This meant it would have damage reduction against our Iron Rank Skills. I honestly thought an experienced team would struggle against this. I was blended into the grass while the Kais checked for more monsters. Then I went back to the others.

They were waiting very impatiently.

“Well?” Astrid asked.

“It is in the next valley over that way. There is only one, and it is bronze, possibly mid-bronze.”

“Right, let’s go,” Rudo said.

“Can we take mid-bronze?” Ken asked.

“They wouldn’t have sent us here if we couldn’t,” Rubo said. Maybe I will just start calling him the fool.

“I don’t think we can,” I said for the record.

“Just stick to the plan,” said Astrid. “It might take a bit longer, but we will be fine.”

“I would back out and get a more experienced team or a bronze ranker,” I said.

“I am not backing out of our first challenge just because it is a little tougher than expected,” Astrid said. “We need to rise to the challenge. That is why we are here at this academy. Show us the way, Theo.”

“I could see Sarah and Ken weren’t sure but didn’t want to fail, or maybe didn’t want to be seen to fail. I am not sure.

“Come on, Theo, don’t back away from a little challenge,” Rudo said. “Which way?”

I pointed, and he headed off, forcing us to follow. A team should stick together. I shook my head and then moved into the grass and got ahead a bit. I stayed hidden.

Rudo was also the slowest member of the team. They got to a rise in view of the Trihorn and stopped.

“Did Theo not come?” Rudo asked.”The coward.”

“He is the scout. He is probably scouting,” Ken said.

“Probably,” said Astrid, “maybe.”

“Right, let’s do this,” Rudo said.

“Draw it over by those trees,” Astrid said. We can use them as some cover.”

Rudo nodded and started marching down the hill. The other three veered off towards the trees.

I decided I did not want to be anywhere in Sarah’s line of fire, so I would position myself behind Rudo but off to one side.

The Trihorn soon heard Rudo approach. It didn’t have very good eyes, but there was nothing wrong with its hearing or aura.

Nobody was in position. It had sensed Rudo earlier than they expected. It turned to face him. Instead of backing off and getting into positions, he kept marching and yelled a challenge. I don’t think he used a skill in that yell. It was just him. It had the same effect.

The Trihorn started to lumber toward him, picking up speed. Rudo ran toward the Trihorn with his shield up. It was sensible to try and stop it from picking up momentum in a charge, but it would have been more sensible to be in the right position before alerting it to his presence.

The two clashed, and Rudo angled his shield to deflect most of the force, but he still was pushed back, and I saw a dent in his iron shield. He struck at it with his sword, and then I think he did use an attention-grabbing spell.

With the Trihorn focused on Rudo, the others started to attack. Sarah sent a ball of fire at it, and the swordspeople rushed in and attacked.

I threw a sharpened javelin, aiming for a gap in its armour. I missed the gap.

I think the fire angered the Trihorn the most. It swung its horns at Rudo, throwing him back and turning to Sarah, who sent a fireball toward its face. It started to charge her. Rudo yelled his spell, but once the charge was in motion, it was not going to stop.

Astrid did her big chop skill but only hit bronze plating, and while it cracked it, it didn’t do any more damage. I tried to get a javelin into the crack and missed again.

Sarah dived out of the way of the charge, and Rudo ran after the Trihorn to get its attention again. I stepped forward with my spear and stabbed the cracked plate with Pierce combined with Quick Sharp, and it dug deep.

A fireball splashed over the Trihorn, making me back away so I didn’t get burned. I couldn't let Ardisia out, for Sarah would burn her. She wouldn’t hold this big bronze beast anyway.

Astrid came in again, as did Ken on the other side, and I saw Astrid’s sword dig deep into a leg. Crippling it would be a huge advantage.

Rudo had its attention again, but as it came around, its armoured tail swiped Ken off his feet.

Sarah was trying a different spell, and flaming spears came out of the ground to strike at the weaker underbelly of the beast. That angered it, and Rudo couldn’t hold it as it took its anger out on him.

The grass was aflame now.

Rudo was thrown to the ground and trampled. I heard a bone break. It went for Sarah, and she was caught by surprise and impaled on one of the horns.

I sent another javelin into the weak spot as Astrid and Ken went wild on it, trying to give Rudo time to drink a potion. Ken was limping.

The only thing I had that would hurt the Trihorn was my claws as they were boosted up a rank by Kai, but I was not getting that close. We should back off, and I was about to say that, but I think Astrid was lost in a battle frenzy. I don’t think this was a skill.

I was using my spear as much as I could, darting in and out, but it wasn't doing much. I was pretty sure my claws wouldn’t do enough. I was using Pierce and Quick Sharp to get the spear in, but this was a bronze-rank beast. I am pretty sure all our wounds to date would be classed as superficial.

Rudo was back up but limping and used his Skill to get the monster’s attention. It swung around and swiped its tail into Astrid, catching her in the chest. It crushed through the mail armour, caved in her chest and charged Rudo. I cast my Hunters Tether to try to slow it down, but it was Bronze rank and barely noticed. Ken wasn’t ready for the change in direction and was already limping and went down and got trampled.

Rudo was alone and wounded as the Trihorn slipped past his shield and ripped a gash in his armour, then trampled him. It spent some time getting its anger out on the bodies. I backed off and hid, using Blend. I waited for the time to expire and emerged on the platform to an angry team.

They rounded on me, obviously having argued amongst themselves for the last fifteen minutes.

“Coward, you left us to die,” Rudo accused.

“You didn’t help hardly at all,” Astrid said.

I didn’t bother responding. I just walked out.

“Hey, come back here. We were talking to you,” Rudo rushed after me and put a hand on my shoulder to swing me around.

I was swung around, but he got five large thorns through his hand, and this was not a mirage chamber.

“Don’t ever touch me again without permission,” I said with passion.

I turned and walked out as they were stunned, and blood dripped on the floor.

I heard the supervisor say, “You had better see the healer, and the rest of you can clean up the blood and then get out.”