Evay Maver: I figured it out! Kind of at least…..I didn’t know how that was possible since I hadn’t ever consumed a drop of liquor in my life, but I was beginning to use my blueprint little by little. I also felt a lot sturdier now and I also felt noticeably less pain. It was an odd feeling though, I didn’t feel like I was using my blueprint at all, but then again I wouldn’t know what the feeling of using it was like either. I took a deep breath and outstretched my hand–trying to push my energy out through my fingertips. A golden, circular, shield of transparent energy suddenly sprouted in my hand.

Earlier in the week I kept asking Geon to throw rocks at me and I tried to block them with my shield. It was difficult at first but it wasn’t too hard to get used to after a little while.

My blueprint seemed to give me a lot of defensive capabilities since there were a lot of abilities designed for counter attacking and defending. The only problem was that there wasn’t much I could do to attack or cause damage to my opponents. Even when I had started that fire I did it by repelling the breeze that came in from the window and directing it towards the stove coals. If I wanted to actually fight someone I needed to figure out how to actually attack–and I needed to figure out how fast.

Geon suddenly burst into my room holding up a piece of paper, “Hey, we got our schedules. All three of us basically have the same classes except we have different extracurricular classes. We want to see what you got,” I walked out of my room and sat down at the dinner table where Lila and Aurora were always seated.

I opened my schedule.

It turned out that we all pretty much had the same schedule. It was hardly unexpected as the school probably put students with similar grades and caliber of skill in similar classes. I hadn’t had any prior schooling but I guess my blueprint got me into the special classes with the elite kids.

I was relieved to be with Lila, Geon and Aurora, but I noticed something weird on the back of my schedule. The others talked amongst themselves while I went back into my room. I looked at the back and saw a red stamp along with a building number. It also stated that I was to come to this building for special instruction everyday after school.

Was this because of my blueprint?

I hadn’t told anybody about my situation since I didn’t want to mess anything up. Geon, Lila, Aurora were all I had–I didn’t want them to run off or treat me differently just because I was some rare phenomenon.

But I would have to tell them sooner or later…….

I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

In the meantime I’d learned a lot of new stuff that helped me fit in with all of these regular people. Firstly, I figured out that the two guys I saw fight when I first entered Bondas were graduated warriors. These people were full fledged soldiers who fought for the nobles–usually not the big four nobles, just the minor ones–and apparently one of them had challenged the other. A formal challenge was apparently a really big deal because if a challenger was declared victorious, they would take the loser’s possessions and their tag–which every warrior wore in the form of a necklace, braid, or bracelet. So if you lost, you lost your wealth and your dignity. If you won, you earned money and improved your reputation as a warrior. Warriors with a lot of tags were generally recognized as more powerful or capable than other warriors–and were paid higher salaries or sought after by more minor nobles, or sometimes even major nobles.

That’s why warriors only challenged people they thought they had a chance against. Like Jiden, that warrior I had watched when I first entered Bondas.

The kids who fought in our festival were apparently first years but challenges don’t legally apply unless you’re a real warrior. Those two didn’t get that memo though. They both faced heavy suspensions and were fined several wheelbarrows worth of gold. Plus, I don’t think they were challenging each other, they probably just wanted to fight.

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Those two guys were pretty strong but the red haired boy was my main concern. Aurora had rescued me with pure physical strength alone so logically it could be assumed that this boy could stop us from using our liquor-based abilities. If he really could do that then that was bad news for all of us. If we weren’t careful we wouldn’t be able to attack or defend ourselves in his presence and we would be instantly overpowered.

I had been studying books and manuals on everything over the last couple of days while I was still recovering. Lila insisted I go to the hospital but I didn’t want any of my roommates to find out who I truly was and I didn’t want to attract any attention to myself.

So while I was resting I had practically inhaled an entire library's worth of information on liquor, combat, guides to analyzing opponents, and even some more history and language. I couldn’t read very well but I had been getting better with all the books I had been looking over, and the fact that I had access to this thing called a dictionary—an entire book which told me what any word meant—helped a lot as well.

So I managed.

But it was still tricky trying to figure out how to fight this red-haired guy. He had a necklace which pulsed but no weapons I could see…..But he has to have some type of offensively heavy attack right?

He dealt with that other boy who had a giant sword so easily…..it would be hard to face him.

Aurora walked in and saw me concentrating while looking down at my notepad. I quickly saw her and put them away and tried to act natural.

“Um, we brought home snacks. Come out if you want to eat them,” he quickly turned around and left. I still felt like she was a little mad at me…..She had accepted my apology earlier but I felt like she was being…..skittish around me?

I got out of the bed and walked to the living room where there were several pastries and fruits lying in the open. Everyone was on the couch, and I plopped down next to Geon who tossed me a grape.

Lila was looking down at her newspaper and sighed before summarizing the front cover story, “Apparently the attack at school is all over the news and not one segment talked about injuries or damages. It’s all just talk about who won and there’s a huge argument about whether warrior vows apply to them or not, but these idiots can’t seem to grasp that people were almost killed,” Lila put down the paper and crossed her arms.

“If Evay had died that probably would have been a different story, but he still got hurt. I guess being a rich school has its perks—you’re screw-ups don’t even matter.”

We all looked absently into the distance but we knew what Lila had said was true. I didn’t really care that I got hurt, since no one else did, but I knew that anything that happened at this school usually went under the radar. That’s why I was so fortunate to come here since I had a lot more protection.

Or so I thought.

If that seal on the back of my sheet is government signed then will they be involved with me and the people around me? It’s not hard to believe that I’m going to get dragged into a lot. Will everyone else get dragged in with me?

I knew the government had caught on but what did they plan to do with me? Surely they can’t just pluck me out of my life just because of my powers right?

Right?

I tried not to show the worry on my face.

Eventually Aurora and Lila went to their rooms to sleep and Geon went up to his room too. He turned around and smirked as he threw a rock at me. I didn’t expect it but my shield went up automatically. I instinctively flinched and fell over the back of the couch.

Geon burst out laughing and came over to help me up. I rubbed my eyes and gave him a small shove as I threw a pillow at him.

“Evay, you can do it at will now?” he asked as he kept deflecting my pillows with gusts of wind.

“Yeah I guess, you’ll be toast the next time we fight now, right?” We both laughed and headed back towards our rooms.

I laid down on my bed and looked up at my ceiling. Geon’s voice suddenly rang out through the silent darkness, “Hey what’s with you and Aurora? Why do you guys always act like strangers or something,” my face went a little red as I was suddenly thankful it was dark.

“What? It’s uh….nothing. I mean we haven’t known each other for that long and we have some history so,” Geon let out a small stifle and spoke again.

“Nah I don’t think that’s it. You like her or something,” he spoke while laughing and I promptly threw another pillow at him.

“No it’s not like that. I just, you know…yeah,” Geon lit a small fire in his hands. He looked at me with a sly smile.

“Really? So you don’t think she’s a little pretty? Not even a bit?”

I tried not to look flustered, “Yeah she’s……a good looking person. There, you happy?” I laid back down and heard a triumphant laugh from Geon.

“I think she might like you too. I mean she doesn’t act like she normally does around you. She’s so stoic and calm but with you she’s more human.”

I didn’t believe him. I wanted it to be true but it couldn’t be, “No, she probably just feels sorry for me. I’m not a top student and an influential pretty boy like you,” I said in my best teasing voice. Geon threw a pillow at me.

“Nah, I have a feeling she doesn’t really like me. That’s good news for you though,” he smiled and put his little flame out. I heard him turn over and tuck himself in as moonlight seeped into our room.

I wanted to become strong. I still wanted to kill the nobles but all of this made me want more than that. I wanted to be with them, to run with them, to not get left behind—not for my own pride but because I wanted to be in their company. I smiled and slowly closed my eyes as I peacefully drifted off to sleep.