Stepping into an empty train booth, Emily places her barrel on the floor in front of her and settles into her seat, finally relaxing her guard a little.

That was close, they almost caught up to me before I got the door open. Luckily my new spell worked wonders.

She grins slightly as she pulls up the spell in the system and the notes from when she made it.

¯¯¯¯¯

[Thermal Shock]

[Circle:] First

[Cost:] 40 Mana/cast

[Description:] Quickly change the temperature of an object in contact with the caster’s hand between extreme heat and cold.

_____

New spell, base: burning hands and flash freeze.

-Take contact target runes from flash freeze, and blend effects. Alternate effects.

Thermal shock: extreme changes in thermal stresses causes mechanical failure.

-Change to channel instant of instance cast?

Shattered a heavy mechanical lock.

Little to no visual damage on the door.

Hot then cold was better (door cool to touch afterwards).

Shorten heating cycle slightly (reached temp 0.14s before cooling started).

Finished adding to her notes about the spell, Emily sits back in her seat. Her smile vanishes as she contemplates the table of crests and what they mean.

What did she mean by ‘trophies’? Are they killing The Covenant’s mages? It must’ve been going on for a while. Why haven’t they warned us about danger in the city? And why did that prick arms dealer tell me to go to that tent? Is he working with them, or was he trying to warn me? It’s got to be a pretty big operation if they removed the guards from all the market’s exits just to get me, so maybe they are all in on it?

With a frustrated sigh, Emily reaches up and rubs her brow.

Whatever, I’d better ask around in The Dome and I’ll be extra careful next time I go back there. Worst case, I can just kill them all or reset and avoid them if that’s not possible. Should I reset so they don’t realise I know about them? I still need the black powder, so I’d have to go back anyway. Is it worth repeating yesterday’s class for? It was really boring. I don’t really care that they know. If they attack me again I’ll just kill them.

***

That afternoon, Emily heads to a new class with her friends. They arrive at the familiar training hall, except this time ‘Basic Magic Combat’ is written on the open door. They enter and find groups of first circle mages gathered, but no teacher.

Walking to a free spot, Emily, Juliana, Tom, and Hester continue chatting as they wait for the teacher to show up.

“Is it okay for you to be in this class? Shouldn’t you be going to intermediate instead?” Tom voices the question on everyone’s mind to Emily.

“I’m going to ask if I can be moved up a class as soon as possible,” Emily responds casually, not seeming worried about her chances. “It’s up to the teacher whether I can or not though, since I technically need to pass this to join the intermediate class.”

“Good luck, Emi. I think that may be harder than you think,” Juliana says gloomily.

“Why? Is the teacher strict?”

“It’s not that Mr Campanula’s strict, but he is a nobility purist,” Hester answers for her with obvious disdain.

“Oh great.” Emily’s heart drops just as the doors to the hall slam shut.

Looking over, she sees a tall man with short blonde hair and a well-groomed beard proudly walking into the centre of the hall. The room falls silent as he slowly casts his gaze around, looking for something in the crowd. The moment he makes eye contact with Emily, he calls out with a clear baritone voice.

“Well, if it isn’t the commoner prodigy herself. Finally deigning to grace us with her presence.”

She hears a few chuckles and glances towards them, seeing Jeremy and Kyle standing with a small group. However, they quickly avert their eyes the moment she looks at them.

Cowards.

“I apologise, Mr Campanula, I simply got too invested in my other studies and accidentally neglected your class,” Emily quickly tries to feign humility, unwilling to be stuck in this class due to the teacher’s wounded pride.

He scoffs at her half-hearted excuse.

“At least you know your place. I assume you would like to be moved up to Intermediate Magic Combat as fast as possible?”

“Yes, sir.”

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“In that case let me give you a little test. Come stand in front of the class.”

He gestures for her to approach, and all the mages slowly form a circle around him. Emily obliges and walks into the centre, ignoring the gazes following her.

“Let’s start with the basics. In a duel between mages, what are the two most important aspects that will decide victory or defeat?”

“Casting speed and elemental compatibility,” Emily quickly answers without pause.

“Yes.” Mr Campanula nods with slight disappointment.

Did he really think I wouldn’t prepare for a quiz?

“Why is that so?”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Emily explains clearly.

“The difference in casting speed will dictate who finishes a spell first and gets to go on the offensive. If the mage with a slower casting speed chooses to cast an attack spell, they will be at an immediate disadvantage for the rest of the fight, so it’s sensible to first start with a defensive spell if you believe your opponent is faster than you. As for the mage’s elements, there are naturally good and bad matchups. A water mage will struggle to break past an earth mage’s defences but will find it easier to smother a fire mage’s flames. This means that before the fight even starts one of the mages will already be at an advantage.”

Though that won’t mean much if you just approach someone and use physical attacks to interrupt their casting.

“Exactly! You seem to have at least read the textbooks for this class. Now, why don’t we test your casting speed? Pick any spell of your choice and start casting on my mark. Ready? Now!” he calls abruptly, barely giving her any time to prepare.

Ignoring his obvious attempts to show her up, Emily raises her hands and quickly weaves together a set of hand signs. A glowing electric blue magic circle forms around her hands and begins rotating within three seconds.

“Done,” she says casually, raising one of her hands and tapping the air before her, sending small arcs of lightning out a few centimetres.

It is a neat trick she has worked out by targeting the air molecules around her with the contact-based stunning touch. A few murmurs break out in the crowd around her. Mr Campanula raises a brow for a second before schooling his expression.

“Silence!” The murmurs in the crowd die out almost instantly.

“Very good, I will admit you’ve done enough to pass to the intermediate class. However, before you move up, we should see how you handle yourself in a duel,” he says with a sly smirk. “Since you are already at the second circle, it would be unfair to make any of your classmates duel you. So instead, I will have to test you myself.”

Emily clicks her tongue at his obviously unfair treatment. She hears a familiar voice muttering about it and glances behind her to see Juliana watching her with concern. She flashes her a reassuring smile before turning back to her teacher turned opponent.

“Sure, that seems fair. What are the rules?”

“First! We start ten metres apart,” he says turning around and gaining distance from her.

“Second!” He spins back to face her while raising his hand to reveal a single copper coin. “We begin casting the moment this coin hits the ground.”

“And finally, third!” He launches the coin into the air between them while bringing his hands together. “The first person to land a magical strike on the other's body wins. I’ll only use second circle spells.”

The moment he finishes speaking, Emily brings her focus wholly to the coin spinning quickly towards the floor. Bringing her hands together, she sends a mental command while formulating a battle plan.

Set core two to assistive processing.

The coin slows its rotation in her perception till she can read the face each time it turns.

I don’t want to reveal double casting yet: it’s better to keep a few cards hidden for now. Silent casting alone should be enough to catch him off guard.

The coin lowers, only a few centimetres off the ground as Emily sends a small spark of mana into a crystal within her robes.

He saw my casting speed before and was still confident in starting this fight so he’s probably able to cast faster than me. Defence it is!

The coin hits the floor and Emily’s hands instantly burst into motion. Her fingers glide over each other, forming a complicated dance of light as pale green lines and runes fly into place in front of her. She stares straight ahead at her opponent as a solid mental picture of a protective gust takes shape.

Mr Campanula slams his hands together the moment the coin falls, a prideful grin plastered on his face as he moves his hands in an exaggerated motion. He curls his fingers together in a twisted rotating motion, then gathers them together into one ball before throwing his hands towards Emily with fingers splayed.

A glowing red orb of fire forms between his hands, roaring loudly as it flies out. Emily’s casting finishes just in time, her arms sweeping wide, spreading the formed runic lattice before her to surround her body and shift into a twisting orb of safety. The fireball slams into her barrier, bursting apart as its flames are carried away by the wind, spreading to join the rotation until the individual strands of fire are snuffed out.

“Tsk,” Mr Campanula clicks his tongue in irritation. “Impressive to be able to put up a barrier fast enough to block my fireball. Let’s see how durable it is!”

This time as he begins his gestures, Emily has her focus split on maintaining her barrier and watching him.

Weird, where are the runes of his spell? He doesn’t seem to be forming any.

With her brow furrowed, she watches as a new fireball forms between his hands and flies at her barrier. The fireball explodes against the wind again, blocking her vision for a moment before being ripped apart.

Disable assistive processing. Core two, maintain the wind barrier.

With her main consciousness freed up, Emily focuses completely on watching Mr Campanula cast another fireball. She sends a small flow of mana to her eyes, slightly enhancing her ability to see the flow of mana around him. A faint shimmer appears in the centre of his chest as he gestures, before flowing down his arms and out of his palms the moment the fireball forms.

Satisfied she has gathered enough data on his casting method, Emily stops focusing on him the moment the third fireball hits her barrier. The orb of wind holds strong. However, as she looks at her mana, she notices it decreasing slightly each time the barrier is hit.

Damn! I can’t keep this up forever. I need to go on the offensive.

Moving on to the second stage of her quickly forming plan, she breaks out into a sprint, running forward to close the distance between them. The barrier follows her, draining her mana slightly faster but never letting her stray from the centre. A fourth fireball hits the in-motion barrier just as Emily steps within four metres of Mr Campanula.

Realising that Emily’s barrier is about to hit him, Mr Campanula starts backing off while twisting his fingers around and waving his hands in wide motions. Emily is two metres away, with her barrier only a metre from hitting her opponent, as a short, metre-wide wall of fire rises in her path.

Grinning, Emily instantly drops her barrier and silently casts iron blade, forming a mental image of a short, thin blade. The small metal object drops into her hand and she raises her arm behind her, arcing her back and building up as much tension through her body as possible.

Firmly planting her front foot, her arm violently snaps forward, sending the blade ripping through the barrier of fire as easily as air. The small blade flies straight towards Mr Campanula’s face. His eyes widen in surprise, and he tilts his head to the side in the nick of time as the blade sails past, slicing his cheek on the way.

He looks at Emily in rage. However, it quickly changes to confusion when he sees her standing relaxed, as if the fight is over already. Some of the students begin clapping, and the applause spreads until most of the class is congratulating Emily.

“That was a conjured blade,” Emily states smugly, clearing the confusion from Mr Campanula’s gaze.

“I see,” he says uncomfortably before stepping forward with his hand outstretched. “Well done, you pass this class. That was a fine display.”

Deciding not to embarrass him further, in case he changes his mind, Emily quickly shakes his hand while lightly bowing her head.

“Thank you, sir.”

As the class begins to quiet down, Mr Campanula continues calmly.

“You are dismissed now. I shall see you in the morning intermediate class starting next week.”

Emily bows before turning to leave, walking past her friends and giving them a smug wink as she goes. The moment she passes them, her grin falls away to reveal a grim scowl.

Now it's time to ask about missing mages.