The morning broke with the soft light of dawn filtering through the curtains, casting a warm glow over the room. Aria was wrapped around Axel’s back, her knees pressing into his bladder. Axel loved the feeling of her and her wing enveloping him, but his bladder was screaming for relief. Gently, he disentangled himself from her embrace, trying not to wake her. Aria grumbled in her sleep and sprawled across the bed, taking up all the space. With a chuckle, Axel leaned down, kissed her head, and covered her with a blanket, earning a contented sigh in return.
After a quick bath, Axel decided to surprise Aria with breakfast in bed. He first got permission from the cook to use the stove and bought supplies from a local market. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of sizzling meat and freshly cooked porridge with fruit in it. Axel hummed to himself as he cooked, only needing help from the cook to save the meat once. He carefully arranged the breakfast on a tray, adding a single flower for a special touch.
When he returned to the room, he found it empty. The whole process must have taken much longer than he thought it would. Just as he was about to look for Aria, she walked in, drying her hair with a towel. She stopped in her tracks, eyes widening in surprise at the sight of Axel standing there awkwardly with the breakfast tray.
“Aria didn’t know you were going to do this; otherwise, bath time could have waited,” she said with a smile, then made a running jump back onto the bed, pulling the covers over her legs.
“Well, I tried. I hope you enjoy it,” Axel said, placing the tray on her lap and beginning to feed her.
Aria happily ate the food, though Axel noticed she didn’t seem to enjoy the taste as much as the thought behind it. He vowed to learn to cook better so that Aria would have a much better meal and experience next time. As the food was finished, Aria kissed Axel and headed out for her planned day with Lyra, while Axel planned to return to the library to work through the many books on beasts to add to his index.
The ride to the library was uneventful, with the weather not showing the heavy clouds laden with rain that were common this time of year but a greenish-blue sky with the walls and imposing buildings in the skyline had a beauty of its own. The library was just as busy as the day before, even this early in the morning, but finding the section he was looking for was easy, as Axel had memorized the directions from yesterday. The library was vast, with towering shelves filled with books and scrolls permeated with the scent of old paper and leather that filled the air, and the quiet rustle of pages turning created a serene atmosphere to accompany the hushed whispers of hundreds of conversations from groups researching a topic of interest. The rows of tomes and scrolls were still dizzying to navigate, even with directions, making Axel almost miss his row of books even with the correct directions.
The options before Axel were overwhelming as there were books about the jungles around the area, books on the beasts of the plains, books on mountains, to even aerial beasts, and water-based beasts. Axel, for lack of better information, picked one shelf and decided to work from one end to the next. As the lunch bells rang, Axel realized the size of the task he had set for himself would take months, if not years. As it was lunch, Axel put back only the third book he had made his way through, this one about plains and hill-based beasts that were native around Greenhaven. Axel decided that he would work in the areas around here and then work his way outward to other cities or places that were explored deeper in the jungle or the ocean.
The noon bell rang once again, telling Axel it was time to leave and head to the Vanguard building for the first of several training sessions with the Vanguard so he could take his Trial. As Axel walked down the steps of the library, he realized he would need to plan better in the future, either finding the walking path to take or leaving earlier for the Vanguard building, as the nearby launch station was crowded with waiting people trying to get to their planned lunches or other activities.
This was going to be an issue for him as Axel realized he was going to cut it close for the training time based on a convenient clock near the launch station telling him the time. Axel did not feel that with the chance of still being followed, taking an unknown walking path was just asking for trouble, so he began to queue with the others. The next unpleasant discovery was that the price for a platform during busy times was more expensive than on slower times of day, cutting into Axel’s more limited funds after giving so much to Aria to help get Lyra better gear for her trial.
With a bitter feeling, Axel paid the increased price and was sent rapidly to the Vanguard tower, making it there in about fifteen minutes. As Axel left the station, he could tell that he had about ten minutes to get to the training room on what would be the twenty-third floor of the building. Axel walked quickly into the lobby with all its counters and had the choice: choose the strange metal box and ride it to the floor or choose the stairs and run up twenty-three sets. Neither was appetizing to Axel, but he decided to avoid the unknown metal box and ran up the well-lit staircase, which was surprisingly busy, as quickly as possible.
Thankfully, he had his proto core and stamina to spare and made it to training room 2306 with only about thirty seconds to spare based on a clock in the hallway. As Axel opened the door to a room lit with the sterile white light of a gem, the wave of conversations stopped as he walked in to find the training room was filled with many of his former village members. How the hell did this happen?
Seeing the hostile stares from the villagers was very hard for Axel to take, as many of these people Axel grew up around, though they tended to avoid him due to his proto core and control of his strength. Swallowing hard, Axel pushed through the now oppressive silence bearing down on him and found a seat in the room. It was after sitting down that Axel realized the room was set up much like how Icthia had set up her classrooms, rows of benches with a seat roughly five feet between them. Axel took an empty seat near the front right as it had the most space away from the others in the room. Sitting down just in time for a person Axel had already met to walk through the door in the form of Rex.
Rex, sweeping the room with a chilly glance and ignoring the developing situation, moved to the front of the room with a blackboard and podium. He seemed to move in a way that drew the attention of everyone, taking off the pressure from Axel for which Axel was very thankful. Setting down a notebook and other teaching aids, Rex cleared his throat and, tapping his podium so that he was sure he had everyone’s undivided attention, began to instruct the room starting with his introduction.
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“Greetings, my name is Instructor Rexius Stormwing, but you will call me Instructor Rex,” Rex started. “As it seems everyone here comes from the same village and knows each other, I will not ask for your introductions. You are here to learn about the trials and the path of power set down by the Goddess. This is my domain and you will respect that while you are here. If I catch any of you disturbing it in any way, I will boot you and you can wait a year as I will then ban you from your initial trial for the maximum amount of time that I can, as you will have shown your lack of ability to survive.”
The people in the seats around Axel shifted in ways that told him that they were planning to pull some crap like had happened during lessons growing up. Thankful for Rex likely nipping shenanigans in the bud early, Axel put his undivided attention on the lesson, having to worry less about anything the others would do to him while they were in the room.
“With that, I will go over the basics first,” Rex continued to the groan of many people. “You will request your initial Trial and what power you wish for by the end of this set of lessons. This is the only time you will be able to get this type of help from the Vanguard as they will capture and bring a Crimson Entity for you to defeat for your novice core.”
“This is not to say there is no danger to this. Even with Instructors like me trying to help you live through it, there is roughly a yearly casualty rate of about five percent for people getting their novice cores,” Rex paused to let that sink in before moving on to his next point. “So, take this class seriously as I would prefer to find out your name after your success than you just becoming another among a long list of faces that will never have a name to me.”
Rex then grabbed some chalk and began writing on the board. “As many of you should know, there are four known categories of powers: Physical, Elemental, Mental, and Special. Most people can, during a Tier, take one from each of these categories once per cycle and cannot repeat the same category more than once per tier. There are exceptions, but I will cover that later in this lesson,” Rex then turned from the board sharply and held out his hand where a ball of wind-shaded green formed and was held in a perfect sphere, expertly containing its swirling mass. “This is a combination of Aerokinesis and Elemental wind. While what I am doing is more advanced than many of you will achieve for years yet, I figured it would be great to show you power combinations.”
Rex then let the ball float in the air slowly until it was near the ceiling and released it into dozens of wind blades, causing several people to scream as they headed for everyone. Just as the blade was to reach Axel, it broke from its deadly edge, causing Axel’s long hair to blowback. Amazed by the sheer control that took, Axel was impressed to notice there was a small cut on his cheek that stung slightly but healed nearly instantly. With a glance around, he saw that everyone had one in the same location, except for the Thalaxians who had one near a mandible.
“Now that your attention is returned to me,” Rex continued his voice firm and commanding. “Figuring out your path to power is one of the most important things you do. That example was three powers working in tandem, and I, as a young man, had a horrid plan starting out and chose what was common to my people with my first two powers.”
Rex paused, looking around the room to gauge the students’ reactions. Some looked intrigued, while others seemed anxious. He decided to lighten the mood with a personal anecdote. “When I was your age, I thought I had it all figured out. I chose powers that were flashy and impressive but didn’t complement each other well. It wasn’t until I nearly got myself killed in my first real battle that I realized the importance of a well-thought-out plan.”
The room was silent, the students hanging on his every word. Rex continued, “Now we will go through each category to give you an idea of what you can go for, though I suggest you do your own research at any of the libraries in the city for more information. The first is the Physical category. This covers endurance, physical powers, enhanced reflexes, power storage, and regeneration powers. Next are the Element-based powers, which are the ability to generate that element and unleash it. At the start, you will not have much control over what you generate, but it does come with immunity to the elements you make. Not to be mistaken with, say, immunity to wind, but to the wind or fire you made as it seems there is some natural protection.”
Rex noticed a hand raised in the back at this time. “Yes, you have a question?”
A young woman stood up, her voice trembling slightly. “Instructor Rex, can you give an example of a good power combination for someone who wants to focus on defense?”
Rex nodded, seeming to appreciate someone being brave enough to ask a question. “Excellent question. For a defensive focus, you might start with a Physical power like enhanced endurance or regeneration. Then, you could add an Elemental power like earth manipulation to create barriers. For your Mental power, danger sense would be invaluable to avoid a beast gutting you from ambush or a bandit sneaking up on you at night. Finally, for your Special power, consider force fields or energy healing if you are one in two hundred and fifty lucky chance. Each of these powers complements the others, creating a well-rounded defensive strategy.”
The young woman nodded, looking less scared and more thoughtful about what she heard. Rex continued, “Following up are the Mental-based powers. These are things such as danger sense as I mentioned earlier, empathy, telepathy, telekinesis, and mind reading. Mental-based powers are the most watched and restricted as they are easy to abuse and hard to prove. So, when you are in a mental cycle, you will need to report your power to a truth sayer to confirm you are not taking a restricted power without authorization. If you do and get caught, you will be forced to see a Blessed Healer to have the material forcefully removed, and let me tell you, that hurts like hell.” Rex made sure at this point to look everyone in the eyes as he swept them. “That comment comes from personal experience as a dumb young man who took a restricted power and was caught. There is a whole section in the library on what powers are restricted, and I recommend you memorize them as while unlikely to see one, I would always be on the watch for them as there have been people who slipped through the cracks gaining them.”
“Last, I will talk about the Special category, and it is the broadest of them all. This is a catch-all and the most likely to have an exception to the only-take-one rule. They cover energy healing, any of the kinesis-based powers such as Aero or Pyro, the ability to turn one invisible, force fields, and for humans, a special regeneration ability. These are just a tiny fraction of the abilities that fall under this one and can be the biggest wild card if you ever have to fight another of the People,” Rex said, taking a flask from his belt to take a drink to clear his parched throat.
“The last thing I will mention is mutations. These are people who can take two, three, or even all four powers in the same category. This can make them powerful but one-dimensional in what they do, making them more easily countered if someone figures out their gimmick. The thing is, do you remember those mental powers mentioned earlier?” Rex waited for the nods. “Well, many specialty positions in the city need those mutants to work as there is no one better at dealing with data or communication than a mental or a myriad, so it is always good to check if you are one as the only way that has been found to test for it is to try to take a power of the same category and let your Journal tell you if you can take it or not.”
“I will now go over the standard regulations, so get ready for the driest part of your week, kids.” With that, Rex started to list all the various regulations and laws that would impact them. Axel could almost feel the others’ eyes glaze over as this part of the lecture lasted the whole last two hours. Even with Axel’s willpower, he had to fight off drowsiness and began to wonder if Instructor Rex had a sleeping gas power.