1.

While we were all in the dorm that night, Lynne and Evelyn learned quickly that fighting back against May and Kate’s verbal abuse only made it worse. So, they kept quiet, becoming less than mute walls.

I cannot remember ever asking myself how many ways there were to creatively insult a wall. After tonight, I knew the answer was too many.

Some people just had a second core. A second engine, so to speak, that they kept in reserve and solely called on in dire circumstances—of which one was to trash-talk another person.

May and Kate had that engine.

They fed off each other’s jokes and insults so much May had to grab her stomach as she laughed and Kate twirled with her feet in the air, repeatedly kicking the bottom of Evelyn’s bed due to her general height.

It wasn’t until around midnight that the two demons tired and I could finally catch some shuteye. When I heard a soft, repeated sniff coming from the bunker behind me, where Lynne slept, I turned into my pillow, covering my ears.

I felt bad for her, since most of the jokes targeted her. But a dark part of my mind couldn’t help but ask: Would she have felt bad if May and I didn’t return alive?

2.

The next morning came, and the sky was pale and grey. Mist lingered on the mountain as initiates made their way to Elder Muyue’s lesson, covering them like a shroud.

If I said a heated fervour had gripped the entirety of our year, I’d be underselling it. Others were operating on their second tank, too, it seemed, because someone had woken up earlier than the rest to plant a wooden sign at the end of the path leading to the training field.

It read:

‘Rankers on the right. REJECTS on the left. Don’t allow them to spy on us.’

Us wasn’t specified, but the insinuation was clear. Rankers, as the accepted students were beginning to call themselves, shouldn’t allow the lesser of us to look at how we were training.

The sign was of course kicked down within the first minute of the rejects gathering.

Crazily enough, no one mentioned it. There wasn’t even a murmur amongst the initiates about who could’ve placed the sign. No. Students went to their respective sides, naturally following the rule of the board, and barely exchanged greetings before going straight to training.

So it was that the grassy field on the mountain, where littered a hundred something students, was quiet within an instant. All there was, was the thrumming of maura stalking between blades of grass like a prowling breeze.

I glanced around after taking a seat. Was it my imagination, or was the mist thickening by the second? No, I thought. It’s not my imagination. When May sat down at my side, the grey smudge had grown so dense it swallowed all other students but the two of us.

‘Elder Muyue’s doing,’ May whispered.

I hummed. So, the Ranker had gotten their wish in full.

The two of us sunk into our training without another word, and I went through three forms in the first level of shaping: the puddle, the spear, and the arrow.

After all my training, shaping a puddle of raw maura came easy. Adding rotational force wasn’t a problem either. So, I went onto the spear.

Raw maura rushed from my core. It speared into my veins and towards my palms, where it gushed out and bubbled together. I took hold of the tiny pool with my mind, imagining myself pulling on opposite ends and stretching it. The pool thinned and twisted as commanded. A moment later, there was a lance in my hands. Or, well, a pole was a better description. This pole just had a sharp point.

Works for me, I thought. As long as it did the job.

I moved onto the arrow, but here I met resistance. It was the most difficult to shape of the three. While the puddle and spear had a single property—soft or hard—the arrow required both.

The shaft should be yielding, allowing it to absorb energy from a bowstring. The tip should be hard, allowing it to penetrate through a target’s skull.

Whatever I did, I couldn’t get the conflicting attitudes to match and stay stable. So, I went back to the spear. After a while, shaping the spear became too easy, though.

Should I add my maura nature to the process? I thought. That will make it more difficult.

The thought passed. And I paused when the next one caught up to me: I hadn’t called on my maura nature since I got cursed.

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Right then, Marcus’s words replayed in my head. ‘Search for an activation condition,’ the physician said. The siren was a lord spirit of water, wasn’t she? If anything I could do would activate the curse, calling on my nature should be it.

As I thought it through, a tingling built in my chest. It should, yes, I decided, my features growing dark.

I didn’t give the hesitation building in my lungs a second longer to grow—I looked over the lance in my hands, breathed in deep, and exhaled. A spiritual muscle flexed. Immediately, the maura condensed within my palms, wetting my skin. But my mind pulled away from the act of nature manipulation and let my instincts handle it. Instead, I turned inward.

Towards my neck, where the skin had gone numb.

My mind zeroed on the sensation to inspect it more closely. At least, that’s what I tried to get it to do. But travelling through my veins was like playacting a tiny fish swimming upstream. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get any closer. Not only that, but I was being pushed back.

I clicked my tongue. The numbing sensation was growing weaker as time passed, and in my mind, the boundaries of my veins were starting to fade. This battle wouldn’t last much longer.

Oh, no, you don’t. My toes curled in effort. You’re not get away from me! I screamed internally, smacking my fishtail with so much force blood whipped against my face.

God—

All the pressure vanished at once, and I fell forward, catching myself on my knees.

—goddamn, I thought as my shoulders heaved up and down.

Was that the curse activating?! I wanted to say it was, but I honestly couldn’t tell. If I had to beat that stream to see if it did…I was about to cuss more when a rough material rubbed against my thighs, causing me to look down. My pupils strained against the light. I was holding something. A moment went by before I remembered what I’d actually been doing.

Raising the spear to eye level, I breathed out sharply.

‘Would you look at that,’ I murmured.

The craftsmanship had vastly improved. Ridges spiralled around the haft towards the tip, providing more grip. And the tip itself had changed, too. Instead of a simple point, it was slightly triangular. But above all, there was now a weight to the lance, so I actually had to hold it in both hands.

None of my previous water constructs had been this accurate…was this the curse? There was also…I paused. Something was off about this thing.

Before I could question further, the system dinged in my head.

Stats, I thought.

Status Screen for Djina Marshall.

Hunter Nickname

N.A.

Hunter Rank

N.A.

Affiliation

Hunter Academy

Physical Status

Motivated, The Siren’s Accursed

Maura

14/22

Physical

E+

Mind

E

AP

E

Talent

N.A.

Abilities

Basic Maura Nature Manipulation (Water) - rank B, Basic Dagger Wielding - rank E, Basic Body Enhancement - rank B, Basic Weapon Enhancement I - E, Water Striding II - E, Basic Maura Shaping - rank E (2/3).

Ailments

Curse Mark of the Siren.

Seems like the system had finally recognised my shaping skill.

‘Took you long enough,’ a voice said.

I turned and found May eyeing my weapon.

Long enough? I thought, frowning. I glanced at her lap.

Heat soared through the air, fighting the residual cold near my rotated neck. The flame spear between May’s palms spun so fast it nearly whistled. This girl…she had completed the second level already!

She grinned at me, and I bit my teeth.

Falling behind her wasn’t an option. But asking May for advice was like begging her to start rubbing in my face she was better than me in every way. I’d allow that after a certain wolf swallowed me whole. Two hours of training before bed, I promised myself. I’d need to find a secluded place to train, since May and Kate would no doubt be going off again on the other two tonight.

That, and I needed to work on something else. I called my status screen up again. There was a sign I hadn’t seen before: “E+” the rank next to my physicality said. The only other time I’d seen a sign like that was in the waters near the dungeon entrance. It must mean I was extremely close to reaching D rank.

Elder Kang’s lessons are working, I thought, and my heart thrummed. Yesterday was a close call, but getting drained of maura in his class was totally worth it. The faster I achieved D rank, the quicker I could start training my core and mind, which meant my capacity for maura would go up. And every point of the mystical element would be a godsend in the approaching war.

The problem was that I had no idea how to train my core even if I did reach D rank. Elder Kang told me it involved a lot of “painful” meditation when I asked, but I wasn’t sure what he meant with that.

What I did know, was that the process wasn’t public knowledge in the first place. Hunters were secretive. But supposedly, there were more ways than one to go about it, and the academy sold one of those ways at the trading centre in the form of a scroll.

I should get the scroll early, I thought. That way I could prepare myself—

I jerked in place as the cold on my neck redoubled.

May’s flames fizzled out, taking the rushing heat with them. The mist around us dispersed, too, showing multiple students leaving the field.

Ah, I must’ve missed Elder Muyue announcing the end of the lesson. I let my spear dissolve. I’ll look at it later, I thought.

May stood up.

‘I’m going to check out the trading centre,’ she said, stretching her legs. ‘Probably buy the scroll, too. You coming?’

Once again, we were thinking along the same lines.

I didn’t agree immediately, though. Both of us buying the scroll would be a waste since we could just give it to the other after reading. But getting to know everything the trading centre had to offer was a good idea.

Still, I shook my head.

‘Later,’ I said. ‘There’s another lesson I want to try that starts soon.’

May yawned, giving me a thumbs up.

‘I’ll let you know what I found at lunch,’ she said. ‘Which lesson are you attending?’

I pounded my sleeping legs before standing up.

‘Monstrography,’ I said.

‘Monstrography?’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Why?’

‘Because, if I’m right, it could seriously save our lives.’