“Due to overwhelming feedback we have received on your last Tower exam,” Ms. Denner spoke on the stage, “we have decided to strive for more transparency in how we handle your final exam.”

Her voice carried easily, and Micah could see ripples from it pass through the hall—either through the air essence or as echoed influence; he switched between either lens liberally.

“As such, we will provide resources on the Guild’s current interests in exploring the lower floors of the Tower for you. Yes, this means that your final exam will be structured in a similar way to your last—”

A chorus of groans came from the shifting crowd. The school had lost any chance at perfect obedience after the Tower changes, and lowered their chances more and more with every new mistake they’d made.

Oddly enough, Micah thought it was because they weren’t strict enough and tried to ‘make it up to them’, in a way, that they couldn’t head into the Tower yet. They should have done both, carrot and the stick, in his opinion.

Not that it was so bad. Only a part of the assembly groaned and enough people gave them askance glances in response.

Ameryth spoke over them, “—in that your goal will be to assist the Guild’s current endeavors to make the Tower as safe as possible for you and your fellow peers. All the latest Guild publications are available in the library and Registry, some of which have information in them that you have gathered during your exams.

You should be proud of yourselves for that. I know of many of you who received the [Explorer] or similar Classes from that last exam. That alone should be proof of the contributions you have made.”

Micah tried to feel proud and ended up frowning instead. Why hadn’t he been one of the ones to get the Class? He’d found out lots of stuff by now and ‘discovered’ the fire slime in the mines.

Well, he’d sort of bumped into it. Almost literally. It was Ryan who had discovered its true summoning crystal beneath the floor … and probably leveled up in [Scout] for it, along with the dozen or so other things he did to scout for their teams.

Ugh. No wonder he had been the only one of them to receive two levels, the triple- Classer.

“I hate you,” he whispered to him.

Ryan swiveled around in stark terror.

Micah put on an awkward smile to hide his surprise. “I’m speaking ‘Ryan’,” he whispered in explanation. “You know, what Lang said? When you say you hate someone, you actually mean—”

Ryan elbowed him hard in the side and shushed him to be quiet. Micah groaned, but shut up. It had been stupid of him anyway. He didn’t even know if he would want an extra Class someday.

Aside from the obvious one.

“These folders will be available at the secretary’s office in the main administration building,” Ms. Denner was saying, “and will be updated monthly leading up to your exam, barring urgent exceptions. This means you shouldn’t use these folders to make fixed plans until their last update. You should only use them as a guideline for what you may want to target eventually.

And yes, this means we will weigh your teams’ votes for which floor you want to go to more heavily in the following exam.”

His knee-jerk reaction was that this was more carrot, but then he realized what it meant. If they had a better chance of choosing where they wanted to go and the Guild was telling them what needed exploring—

He sat upright and listened, trying to recap what she had said. Folders? He made a mental note of ‘secretary’ and ‘administration building’ because he’d still been catching up as she spoke.

Instead of elaborating, though, Ameryth moved on, “Now, onto our last topic of the day: the Sport’s Festival.”

Huh?

“As you know, since you’re in school now instead of the classroom, your Sport’s Festival will not be a half-day for you students, but instead extend into afternoon activities where the usual fair play notions will be lifted.

What this means is that magic, Paths, Skills, and skill-sets—things that would usually be considered cheating in the classroom—will be allowed. You can show off what you can do and go wild.”

Micah broke into a smile. He hadn’t even considered that. With everything else going on, it had slipped his mind. Did it include alchemy, as that was part of his ‘skill-set’?

Anne nudged him and whispered, “Are you going to make something for that, then?”

Yes, he wanted to say. But … he didn’t know if he would even be able to afford it, if it was just for fun. Maybe if prices stabilized by then?

He shrugged. “Maybe. And you?” She could cheat in all sorts of ways with her Skills, as she had done during the entrance exam.

Oh, and Ryan could, too—

Ms. Denner shifted some papers on the podium and went on, not quite looking at the crowd as directly as she had a moment before, “But sadly, due to miscommunication within the school district, we will not be able to participate in the Sport’s Festival with the other schools in our district.”

Micah froze where he had been turned to whisper to Ryan and his thoughts did for a second, too. What, no Sport’s Day? was the first thing he managed. He could feel his heart chip at the thought.

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“Instead,” she spoke over the discord, “we will be holding our very own Sport’s Festival in the Tower plaza this year, similar to the physical entrance exam you participated in last summer.”

But— But then they wouldn’t have another school to compete with or show off, right? What was the point; the difference to a normal Friday when half their courses were gym classes, then?

“And we will be rescheduling the event to take place after your final written exams and before you have to finalize your team submissions for Tower Studies, so that, and I quote Mr. Sundberg here, ‘you can scope out the competition’.” She smiled. “And hopefully, even find teammates among your fellow students who you don’t necessarily share courses with for a healthier team-building experience.”

So … they wanted them to show off? That, Micah felt like, was something they could do. Oh, what if he was allowed to make potions for others?

Ameryth was still smiling as she stacked up her papers, a usual sign that she was about to finish, “Nevertheless, we hope you use the opportunity to relax and have fun after the grueling exams. And who knows? Maybe a few famous climbers will be walking by that day and see prospective new recruits amongst your numbers. We know for sure that a few Guild representatives will be there.

We hope you had a great Spring Cleaning before we approach the home straight now. That will be all.”

In the post-assembly chaos, Anne nudged him and asked where he was headed after this. They had a short break after assembly to get their things and get to class in an orderly fashion.

Micah had been organizing his thoughts and gone back the mental notes. He was loathe to turn down a possible chance to hang out with her, but he really wanted to check out those folders.

“Now?” she asked as she inched out of the row ahead of him. “You’ll still have weeks to do that, you know? I doubt they will be in too high demand.”

Micah pushed his shoulders up. “What can I say? I’m curious.” That was true enough, he suspected, as an explanation for almost anything he could do.

He checked with Ryan behind him before they reached the aisle and slipped out, leaving the two to stand there on their own while he dodged his way through the crowd to the exit.

It was only a short trip out onto the clustered courtyard and then to the back entrance of the administration building. He pushed his hands against the edge of the counter in the secretary’s office and leaned forward to see if anyone was in. Not in the main room, at least. He rung the bell.

She walked backward out of a side-room, spotted him, and slowly walked up. “Can I help you?”

“I just came from the assembly,” he started.

“I know?”

She probably hadn’t been expecting students so soon. “And Ms— Uhh, Principal Denner said you would have folders …? About the Guild interests?” He went up with his voice, a little unsure as he hadn’t been listening perfectly.

“Ah, those. Yes, it’s right there.” She gestured at a table where a single black folder stood, unlike the multiple tomes he had been expecting, marked clearly on the spine. “Just, you know you can’t borrow it yet? You would have to read it right here until we make copies.”

There were chairs along the far wall next to the door. Micah nodded. “That’s fine, I still have some time.”

Only ten minutes or so to read, then he would have to run back to his dorm to get his things. But that was fine, he just needed a peek. The urge was almost literal, a ‘need’, because this was his solution to not letting his frustrations seep into everything he did, or eventually going off on someone he cared about.

It’s right here, he thought as she handed him the heavy folder. Just then, a familiar voice spoke and Ms. Denner walked in.

“Rana, please tell me you have a pot of coffee here and I can steal a cup from. I need to— Oh, Mr. Stranya.”

He froze, glanced at the chairs, back to her, and bowed his head a fraction. “Good morning, Principal Denner.”

“So formal.” She rubbed her temple and placed an empty cup on the counter. Was she tired? She had seemed perfectly awake on stage. Or was she just letting her guard down here? “Is that the exam folder?”

He nodded.

“You came for it already? It’s barely been a minute.” She sounded more curious than accusatory.

Micah considered for a moment and said in perfect honesty, “I want to contribute, ma’am.”

Because he kept on thinking that someone more deserving should have been the one to discover the Gardens, to have gotten the recognition and the celebrations in their honor. Someone like Garen instead of that asshole.

But if Garen had been here, Micah knew full-well what he would have said. Something along the lines of, ‘Whoever did the deed deserves the reward.’ Well, then … he just had to make sure the right people got to deserve the rewards. So he was here, because he wanted to help.

She gave him a long considering look and nodded, saying, “Well then, carry on. Just don’t be late for class.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He rushed to sit, opened the folder, and flipped through the pages as quickly as he could without wrinkling them.

Behind the counter, the secretary asked, “Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

The sound of gurgling fluids and hot coffee filled the room and Micah read about unpopular floors, only partially explored areas, and claims that needed official verification by Guild employees—which their school was counted among, apparently.

He skimmed most and out-right skipped some things that seemed too unfamiliar or too unappealing to him, heading for the areas he found most interesting, but then stopped at a section that mentioned ‘Tower economy’ and a familiar question someone asked during the last exam.

A few paragraphs later, he looked up and considered. It seemed perfect. And even if it wasn’t, there were dozens of other questions in this folder right here. He could come back for alternatives later.

And he knew Ms. Denner had said not to make concrete plans with this version of the folder yet, but he figured it wouldn’t change too much. He could consider this … pre-planning or something, testing the waters. And if it didn’t or the folder did change, he wouldn’t mind asking him to be on his team anyway.

He gave the folder back—Ms. Denner had left ages ago—and sprinted for his room. He didn’t head straight for class, though. He headed for the foyer and ran through memories in his mind. Where would he even be this time of day? Which courses did he have? Where had he seen him headed before?

He chose a direction down a hallway and headed past clusters of students and open lecture halls, then spotted him sitting on his own in one of the back rows. Because of course he was sitting on his own.

Micah slipped into the seat next to him and caught his breath before he could greet him.

“You’re not in this course,” Kyle beat him to the punch.

“I know.”

“So bugger off.”

“Listen.” He shook his head. “During the last exam, you asked where the Kobolds got their wood from, remember?”

He frowned. “And?”

“And,” he smiled, “do you still want to find that connection to the Fields?”

It could be like their own, lesser quest to find the Gardens.