It was more than understandable if most of the students had forgotten another aspect of their Kardia which wasn't tied to whether it Affixed, Pooled, or Alienated itself. This aspect had been purposefully glossed over by their Dragon Biology and Kardia Studies instructor, after all.

For the Second Burning, all the First Years had been given flasks that they were told would indicate what kind of Kardia they had after they had ventured into the Rebounding Seether.

The flasks would show either a thin, candle flame, which represented Affixing Kardia; tiny dotted spots of flame that sputtered, issuing bright sparks, a sign of Alien-type Kardia; a lava-like flame that covered a wide space, representing Pooling-type Kardia; and a swirling flame for Totality-type Kardia.

The coloration of the flames would denote the strength of the individual's Kardia. In order of the highest degree of heat produced, the spectrum went from blue, white, yellow, orange, and then red.

While several students had kept track of such a thing during the Second Burning, what most of them failed to investigate further from the flames that appeared in their flasks, was whether said flames ascended to the neck of the flask or plummeted to the bottom.

"So that was it the entire time," Ginger said. "She paired us based on whether our Kardia Surged or Collapsed."

Ginger vividly remembered that Professor Lyall, during the Second Burning, announced not just the type of Kardia one had, but whether it fell or rose within the flask.

Ginger's flask had exposed his dual-natured Kardia with blue sparks of flame, as well as an orange splash of liquid fire nesting at its bottom.

The plump dragonling had been identified to have Collapsing Alien and Pooling type Kardia.

"Alcaeus had Surging Alien-type Kardia," the boy said before looking at Reiss. "And you have Collapsing Affix-type."

"Yeah, and Vassilis has Surging Affix-type," the short dragonling said matter-of-factly.

The criteria for who went into the chamber with whom was decided by this aspect of Kardia. A student with Surging Kardia was matched with one who had Collapsing Kardia, whatever its type was, and vice versa.

This pairing was decided this way mainly based on the potential interaction with the mysterious pedestal. Professor Lyall had teased that the hard-to-find and not-as-big-as-Ginger-had-thought construct, would help make the exercise easier, but that wasn't exactly the case.

The pedestal had nothing to do with it.

The instructions Professor Lyall gave – for the students to place their hands overlapping on the thing – were meant to force pairs into making physical contact.

Why Professor Lyall didn't just outright tell everyone that what was needed for this 'trump card' in the exercise was physical touch wasn't clear.

Or maybe it was. Perhaps the thickly Professor was trying to make the deed less awkward.

The First Years were prone to instances of hesitation when contact was involved after all. Pairings of boys and girls could be particularly tricky, or worse yet, what Ginger had been dealing with, a nemesis.

"So, what then?" Ginger said while scratching his chin. "When Collapsing and Surging Kardia meet, they combine and explode out like that?"

"Well, yes and no," Reiss replied. "If that were strictly true, then some of us who have been making contact daily would have destroyed a classroom or two by now." Reiss shook as though a chilly storm had suddenly assaulted his body. "This seems to only happen after you have killed your first Blighted and refined your Kardia. The fact that the Professor didn't specify this must have - and probably will - mislead some of us into rushing towards the pedestal from the start. I can only imagine the looks on the faces of the idiots who try that."

Ginger was infected by the same sort of chill that ran through Reiss.

That was terrifying to think about. If he had rushed towards the pedestal immediately, he would have been in dicier waters than the ones he had already had to swim through. Alcaeus would have probably killed the two smaller Blighted and gotten stronger while Ginger got schooled by misinformation. Disinformation?

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At that moment, a muffled roar issued from the mouth of the chamber. The pair who had just gone in… Ginger prayed they were not helpless fools who hung on Professor Lyall's every word.

Speaking of the chamber…

"You also saw that… thing, right? The one that cleans up after you are done and summons new Blighted?" Ginger asked with a frightened visage. The picture was still fresh in his mind.

"Good grief, don't remind me," Reiss said, looking more repulsed than afraid. "I couldn't wait to get out of there after it showed up. I think even Vassilis looked a bit pale when he saw it. I didn't look back until I saw the light."

Ginger narrowed his eyes. He hesitated.

"About that… How did it go? With Vassilis, I mean. He didn't do anything funny, right?" he asked.

Because of his own experience, Ginger assumed that Reiss had suffered through the same thing with an even worse candidate to be paired with. He even dreaded that Vassilis had been the one to break Reiss' hammer.

When Reiss wore an aggrieved visage, Ginger thought his worst fears had come true.

"He…He helped me at the start," the short dragonling said.

"What?"

Ginger recoiled in no small volume of surprise.

"Yeah. I made that same face too. As you might expect, I had a really tough time maneuvering with the hammer. The Blighted were also nimbler than I thought they would be, and they covered a lot of distance and space when they charged. Thank the great Ebony they didn't have wings," Reiss said. "Vassilis nailed down one of the smaller dragons for me with his arrows. He pierced one of its feet to the ground. I hate to admit it, but his archery and control of Kardia are nuts. When the thing turned its attention to him, I knew that was my cue. I managed to kill it. I probably looked pathetic when I screamed at the top of my lungs while I swung that damned hammer."

Reiss stroked the pole to the dead hammer with some manner of longing.

Ginger grimaced.

To think that Vassilis actually helped Reiss.

He stole a glance at the young dragon. Vassilis was on this side of the cavern too, and a few other students, including Alcaeus (of course), were sitting around him.

The plump dragonling allowed the look of his handsome enemy to bring his blood to a boil.

HE helped?

That didn't make sense to Ginger. He wanted to ask Reiss why the pompous prodigy would do that but stopped. Instead, he asked:

"Is that how the hammer broke?"

"No," the short dragonling suddenly looked lively when he answered. "The moment I felt my Kardia get refined, the hammer turned a little lighter as my Kardia rushed through it. I was able to swing it significantly easier. Vassilis and I banded together to kill the last Blighted – after he killed the other smaller one, of course – and…it didn't go so well. I swung my hammer a bit too freely and without managing how much Kardia I sent through it, and the whole thing shattered when it hit the Blighted's shoulder. After that, Vassilis and I went for the pedestal."

"Oh," Ginger said. "Sounds like you had fun. You even finished earlier than anyone else."

Reiss harrumphed.

"I wish. I did have a lot to think about though."

"Like what?"

To Ginger's question, Reiss wore a strange smile.

"Did you get any nasty injuries while you were in there?" he asked.

"Of course, I did!" Ginger replied, sounding a little offended.

"Where?"

"Well, I got this pretty bad burn right her—"

Ginger froze just as he was about to show Reiss the chars on his hand where the greater Blighted had burned him with its breath.

His hand… his hand was completely healed now. There was not even a sign that it had been anything but whole and slightly chubby, livid with fresh youth.

Ginger stared at his limb with a stupefied look.

"I had the same reaction, more or less. Everyone did. It seems when your Kardia gets refined, you get a few benefits other than having your Kardia get stronger. Our innate healing factor as dragons also awakens," Reiss said, thoroughly pleased by the look on his friend's face. "I didn't know this was when it was supposed to kick in."

Ginger barely heard what Reiss said. He simply nodded while checking himself for any other injuries he might have sustained. As a rather serious burn on his body had been completely healed, it went without saying that all the small scratches and scrapes on him had been smoothed over as well.

"This is amazing," the plump dragonling said.

"I guess. I wish I had known earlier. If only our upperclassmen were more loose with this information to us. Could we have asked Dorothea or Zale?"

At this, Ginger snapped back to the moment.

"We should try to ask from now on. Then again, we don't really know what to ask, do we?" he said.

"Would they have told us anything, though? It feels like as First Years, most older students alienate us except when they want to recruit us into Out Courses. Maybe they are instructed to keep us in the dark?"

"Maybe."

Ginger was starting to notice that despite Reiss having such a huge well of knowledge, he was not infallible in that regard. Most students didn't seem to know what he expected to have been shared by their parents at least, or even the library. There was an odd sense of disconnect between students knowing something like not to read the True Names of the Ancient Dragons, and them not knowing about the benefits of refining their Kardia.

Perhaps it all had an explanation, but Ginger found it odd.

Knowledge was just as important as vigilance in the Wild, after all.

'Well, then again dragons rule these lands. They live peacefully as the beings at the top. They can afford to allow their children to learn things at school over five years, I guess,' Ginger thought.

"So, how did it go with you and Alcaeus?" Reiss asked with scalding curiosity burning in his large gunmetal blue eyes.

Ginger groaned.

Where to even begin?