In the morning I was expecting the trainers to arrive I planned to made it clear to Steven that I expected him to have a better training program. As I was sure that if we carried on down the path that he was driving then when we were forced into whatever situation that the powers were pushing us towards, most if not all of us would die.

Yet we had all gathered in the mess hall, eaten our fill. And still, the trainers were not present. Then there was a sudden change, one of the monsters had arrived in the hall along with a small group of smaller monsters. And behind them trailed James, and the other 4 instructors.

“I am Holly Sphinx. You now belong to the Sept Dark Wing.”

At this a seal lit above the exit door and the entrance to the hallway to the sleeping rooms.

“This seal will block all access to what occurs within these rooms. I shall open the entrance to the training rooms that were blocked by the Imperials. You will still spend half a day at the training arena but you will return each day and be instructed in aspects of your Mind and Spirit. To this end, limit what you display in the arena to that which you have already learned. We do not wish you to be purged because you are viewed as too powerful!

Is this Understood!”

Everyone including James, and the other instructors snapped “Yes Master”. The sheer sense of command that Holly extended was immense, I could never conceive of rejecting her command while under that pressure.

Even thinking that I would be able to in the future resulted in flickers of pain that ran across my mind. Holly glanced in my direction and smiled. It was not a pleasant sensation.

“To this end today, training in the arena is canceled, each of you will be examined by my staff. However, before this can proceed We need to remove a curse that was placed on you. Since one of you already has this skill we can have him practice.

Everyone other than the members of Red 1 will line up in front of Fonial and he will remove the Curse “

I then noticed that I was no longer sitting at the table but somewhere during or before the instructions I and everyone else had stood, and were standing braced at attention. The more that I thought about it, I had stood immediately that Holly had entered, and had not even realized it. She was a monster. Again as I thought that she glanced in my direction and she smiled that cold empty smile again.

I moved from the cluttered area that housed the tables as the other teams formed a line in front of me.

I asked Shamhila who was at the front of the line to extend her hands. I took them and started the chant “Remove Curse, Remove Curse, Remove Curse”.

Even as I did so Holly said to Fanny “what are you doing there is to learn from him, Once you are sure that you have the concept, a useful visualization, Start curing, That is the purpose of a healer. You lazy piece of trash”

Not pleasant, but at least it sounds like we were going to get real training.

Once the chant was completed, my cast shattered, the skill failed, and I could feel the drain of my power. It was so much more than when I had removed the curse for Fanny and Robert. I cast it again this time pushing about 50% harder. While it failed again, at the moment as I lost even more power to the failure, I felt the curse weaken. Shamhila's eyes’ popped larger as she felt something that held her weakening. This must have encouraged her. She accepted the change because this time the ‘remove curse’ Skill bit down and the curse was lifted.

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I could see the excitement in her eyes.

“Ohh” she gasped with pleasure. “I did not know”.

Holly told us “I have much to do, I will leave in the hands of Elizabeth.”

One of the Aids told Shamhila to move along. Find a senior instructor that is free.

The next member of the Red 2 stepped forward, and slowly, hesitantly held out his hands. It took them and cast it again. This time it only took 2 attempts. I had started to judge the amount of power that was required.

The next person stepped forward and with one cast they were free of the curse.

Skill improved - Basic Remove Curse - 7 /10

Red 2 had been treated, and my understanding of the skill had safely reached the point where not only could I suppress a simple curse I could remove it with one use of the skill. The only problem was that when Dakota stepped up and I took their hands while I could feel that I simply did not have sufficient power to cast again. My Knees were weakening and I was threatened with collapse. Then there was a flush of power flowing through my river, I could just sense that it was coming from the instructor beside me. I was refreshed. So again I cast. Just like that, the Curse was removed. I did wonder why they had used such a curse that was so easy to remove.

Even as the thoughts crossed my mind Elizabeth who was behind me said “The curse is intentionally as light as possible so the heroes would not detect it and develop curse resistance, The Imperial sept does not want that to be a common skill amongst you heroes. And no I am not reading your mind, that even you would notice if I was to try that. Your body tells me all I need to know. You will need to improve that, Since although truth detection is a restricted skill set, we have all had to learn to read the body at least we are taken advantage of.” there was a real sense of amusement in her voice.

“Come on, keep casting.

And Fanny enough thinking about just do it.”

With that we both started casting I was able to succeed with each cast, But Fanny took multiple casts to achieve the same result. I was steadily gaining skill upgrades as Elizabeth refreshed my power. But each time that she did I gained less and less. With three team members left my river had become flooded with power that I was unable to use, and I was no longer able to cast the skill. I was not physically exhausted but the power which had so refreshed me at the beginning of the session no longer did. My mind was sluggish and no longer able.

Skill improved - Basic Remove Curse - 9 /10

“You are only able to be refreshed so much by some whose power is not familiar to you. As you build trust and a connection to you and you to them, this will change. Tomorrow the first skill that Fanny you will need to learn is this “Refresh” skill. It and healing are the fundamentals of the healing classes.

Hurry up Fanny we need these last three healed, The curse only grows stronger the longer it is left. Of course, they are now aware that they have a curse which makes it easier. You have sufficient power, so Get it Done!”

With that, Fanny pushed the next cast out and was able to succeed in one cast with the last person that was affected.

Fanny told us that she had reached Basic Remove Curse 7/10.

“Fool! It is bad enough that you cannot protect your skills from more than casual inspection. Without announcing it. Tomorrow is not going to be pleasant as not only will you have to master “Refresh power” you have to gain more Will otherwise all we are trying to achieve here will be disclosed, by any casual contact.

During the rest of the week, we will teach you how to share correctly but never ever tell anyone your skill set. For that matter, it is only marginally better to disclose the level of a particular skill.

Same for you Fonial, although you do have enough will and presence to provide yourself with an uncommon amount of resistance.

Since both of you are now past the point of function, Rest, Meditate.”