In fact, many people had been watching as Team Kill Bill embarrassed themselves.

Upon exiting, the team found a small group of about 15 interns waiting outside the gym, pretending to do anything but look in their direction. The awkward glances and sudden silence said it all.

From the back of the room, Kaden heard someone start making “cluck cluck cluck” chicken noises before someone else shushed them. He felt his face turning red.

Bill, on the other hand, leaned into it. “Cock-a-doodle-do!” he crowed loudly, and then laughed, reaching for a high five from the nearest onlooker.

The tension broke as a bunch of others laughed and started talking again.

Bill slapped Kaden on the back. “Don’t take it so seriously, bro,” he encouraged with a wink.

Kaden tried to smile and shake it off. A message from Sandy popped up on HUD. Kaden looked around, spotting the incorrigible Corgi in the far corner next to a window looking into the gym.

You guys suck! Balls!

Kaden rolled his eyes. Sandy kept going.

But I gotta give you credit. That was an exceptionally gory finish to your kill. I quite enjoyed it, actually – almost as much as watching you getting chased around by a bunch of chickens.

Makes me want to get in there and show you how it’s done!

Kaden got out his mobile and typed out a reply. Thanks I guess. By the way, why are there so many people here?

Ha! Sorry, pal, they’re not here to watch you. They’re here to watch the next session. Team numero uno, led by you-know-who. Patty-not-so-fatty.

Kaden looked back at the gym and sure enough, there was Patricia and her cronies talking to Andy before the start of their assessment. Her team name was “Team Alpha.” He watched with the others as her team formed up on the far side of the gym, Patricia in front and the others slightly behind and to each side.

Do you have an update for me on the competition, like I asked? Kaden typed.

Working on it, should have you something over the weekend.

OK, Kaden wrote and then turned his attention back to the training room.

Three chickenators appeared, same as before. Team Alpha acted immediately, with three individual wards snapping into place. Patricia called out instructions, and the group marched forward, moving to flank and corral the three monsters.

It was over very quickly. When the blue-streaked sound waves shot out, the energy was deflected and absorbed by each of the team members. As the monsters quickly exhausted themselves, Patricia signaled to her teammates and then leaped forward. Instead of attacking, each of them deployed a different ward. The chickenators froze in place, immobilized. Each of the team members then siphoned up the remaining mana.

“Over three and a half caps,” Bill remarked.

“How did they do that?” Kaden asked.

“Zero loss on the frontal attacks,” Jill replied. “They were prepared. But also at the end, the way that they held the monsters immobile allowed for 100% capture of the mana making the monsters corporeal.”

Team Alpha exited the gym, and a small group of the onlookers applauded. Patricia smiled and looked at the leaderboard. Team Alpha remained at the top, with a current score of 50. Kaden found his team now in about the middle of the leaderboard, with a score of 35.

“At least we’re not last anymore,” Kaden remarked.

Bill chuckled. “That’s certainly true, but not all the teams have attempted the assignment yet.”

Bill was right – none of the teams below them had a score yet. In fact, they were the last of the teams that completed the assignment so far.

He sighed.

“We have a review session with Ms. Kingsley next, right?” Jill said.

The group headed into a conference room on the same floor where they were scheduled to meet with Julia. While they waited, Jill found a way to pull up a recording of the fight and play it on the screen at the front of the room. They watched in silence, waiting for Julia to arrive.

Kaden found his thoughts wandering to a memory of his parents, almost ten years ago. It was late at night, and his father had just come home from work. Apparently his dad had failed to win an important contract and was feeling down about it.

“I just don’t know if it’s worth it anymore,” Kaden had heard his father say. It stood out in his memory as the first time he had ever heard his father be anything other than optimistic and positive about the family business.

“Maybe you didn’t win today, but the seeds were planted. They’ll come around,” his mother had said. Kaden found some peace and wisdom in those words.

Today’s performance wasn’t a win… but they did live to fight another day.

Kaden came out of his reverie when the door opened and Julia entered the room. She and the others watched silently as the playback of the battle finished. Kaden cringed as he saw himself running haphazardly across the gym, three chickenators following close behind.

“Alright,” she said, taking off her glasses and taking a chair at the head of the table.

“How do you think that went?” she asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Kaden spoke first. “Could have been better,” he said.

“We made some mistakes,” Bill chimed in, “but we managed to finish on a positive note.”

Jill remained silent, and Julia waited.

“The guy in the room with us – Andy – he suggested we had a lot of individual development areas. Weaknesses we should shore up,” Kaden said.

At this Julia frowned and stood up, walking over to the display screen.

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“I’m with you up until that last comment,” she said. “He’s not necessarily wrong, but let’s focus for a minute on what went well and what each of you are good at. There were a few good things I would like to point out.”

Julia pointed at Kaden. “First up – good combat reaction. Quick instincts will keep you alive and help protect against injury. While killing the monster without collecting any mana wasn’t the objective, it would have been far worse to freeze with indecision.”

Moving the recording forward, Julia paused at the point where Kaden started running back to Jill.

“Jill – you arrived at the correct analysis of the mana auras and set up the collection array perfectly. It took a little too long, if I’m completely honest, but you were also working 100% by yourself. And this was your first attempt, correct?”

Jill nodded.

“Speed will come with practice. But clearly you know what you're doing with managing mana for the team.”

Julia turned to Bill, continuing in a clear and concise manner.

“You were knocked down, but immediately got up and had the right ward up to defend your team at the right time. Shows resilience and guts. And if I’m not wrong, you’re currently the most knowledgeable on the team in how to program and use defensive wards, correct?”

Bill nodded and gestured to his teammates. “We’re pulling together a pretty full quiver of solid wards.”

Julia raised an eyebrow. “Good to hear,” she said, moving back to the head of the table and taking a deep breath.

“There’s really only two things I want you to do,” she said, leaning forward with both hands on the table.

“Number one: Focus on your strengths. Make them stronger. Learn from each other. Learn from your network. I’m sure you’ve come into contact with colleagues at the Company that could teach you what you need to know.”

Heads nodded.

“But don’t listen to Andy. There’s a reason he’s stuck at the Associate level… If you're unsure about any advice you’re getting, feel free to run it by me first.

“So to make sure you can progress adequately, immediately go ahead and book at least two hours each day in the gym. Do it now before other teams snap up the spots.”

Jill picked up her mobile and went to work. “What time slots should I pick?”

“Preferably in the afternoon, but honestly anytime will do. Does that work for you Bill?” Kaden said.

Bill nodded.

“The second thing,” Julia said. “Each of you needs to spend as much time as you can in the mana meditation chambers.”

Kaden hadn’t heard of those yet. Sensing that no one knew what she was talking about, Julia continued.

“Meditating in the Company mana meditation chambers will gradually imbue your body with mana, making your bodies faster, stronger, and more resilient.

“By themselves, wards are not enough to guard against the challenges you will face in the next phases of the internship. You have to harden your bodies if you want a chance of surviving this internship until the end. And the best way to do that, besides intense physical exercise, is mana meditation.”

Kaden had a host of questions. He opened his mouth to start asking, but Julia waved him away.

“There’s lots of different meditation practices and paths to follow, but at this point, just stick to the introductory basics. You’re all beginners. You just need to put in the time. Follow the Company training and you’ll be fine for now. We’ll revisit to review your progress in a week or two.”

“Why are we only learning about this now?” Jill asked.

Julia smiled. “Because you passed the initial team assessment! You’ve made it this far, so the Company is now willing to invest more of its resources in you.”

While it made sense in a coldly logical way, it also meant that injuries like Braiden sustained in the gunsword training were acceptable collateral damage. Almost necessary, in fact. The Company was literally willing to sacrifice the interns' health and bodies in the name of its interests, and that made Kaden sick to his stomach.

Bill raised his hand to ask a question. “So when we’re doing our time in the gym, what should we do to make the most of our time there?”

“Good question. What I want you to do is to get better working as a team, while each of you performs the same basic role you demonstrated today: Kaden on attack, Bill on defense and ward implementation, and Jill performing the tactical analysis and mana management.

“That doesn’t mean Bill and Jill shouldn’t practice attacking, or Kaden work on mana management. Instead, each of you needs to become the master of your domain, and then teach the others what you know. Make sense?”

Heads nodded around the room.

“So like, if we were a band,” Bill started, as Jill groaned, “Kaden would be like our lead signer and front man. I’d be on the guitars or keyboard, laying the foundation for the melody, and Jill would be on the drums, driving the beat that tells where we all should be.”

Julia nodded slowly. “Sure, I guess that analogy works.”

“I have a question,” Kaden spoke up. “How do we make sure we win?”

Julia became serious, her gaze steely.

“There’s only one tried and true rule in this business: the rule of power. Never forget that. If you have the power to achieve results, you will move up the Tower. Results are power,” Julia said. “If you want to survive, if you want to win, you will need to make it clear to Management that you have the power to deliver results.”

Julia leaned in. “But here’s the kicker – what you need to understand that they won’t publicly advertise. You need to deliver results not just for yourself – but also for your team. And also for the whole program. Focusing only on the individual competitiveness of this program will be the kiss of death for you.”

“Wait – for the whole program?”

“Yes. If the overall performance of the cohort is insufficient, they will shut down the whole program. No one will pass. It happens more often than you might think. Phase 3 in particular will consume significant Company resources. At the end of each phase, they will ask themselves if the juice is worth the squeeze. If it isn’t worth it, they’ll stop the program,” Julia shrugged.

Wow… that seems unfair, Kaden thought. Even if he did really well by himself, he wouldn’t be able to move forward unless the whole group did well enough.

“And by the way, for what it’s worth, I’m also incentivized to see you succeed. Each intern’s manager will be ranked and graded in terms of the success of their interns. I’ve got skin in the game too, as do all the managers of interns in the program.”

Kaden felt relieved and supported by Julia’s statement, but also somewhat worried. What she said seemed to make a lot of sense but also raised a number of questions. He wondered if he could really trust what Julia was saying at face value. For the time being, Kaden went with his instinct and decided he needed to trust his manager. He didn’t know Julia that well yet, but if he could verify some of the stuff she was telling him, he would feel a lot better about his position.

“Thank you,” Kaden said. “That’s good to hear.”

“You’re welcome,” Julia replied. “Are there any other questions I can help you with?”

The team looked around at each other.

“No? If you do, you know where I’m at. Send me a message or put a time on my calendar for us to talk. Ideally we should be checking in a couple times a week on progress. Sound good?”

“Thanks, Julia,” Kaden said. “Appreciate the help!”

“You guys have a long way to go… but it’s doable. With hard work and a little luck, I can see you progressing to the next Phase of the internship. You’ve got only three weeks until the final team assessment on July 1st so make the most of your time over the next few weeks.

“Go ahead and put a check-in on the calendar for us sometime mid-week. I want to make sure you’re making steady progress.” With that, the meeting was over.

Bill and Jill thanked Julia as everyone stood up and filed out of the room.

It was the end of the day on Friday, but Kaden felt like he was at the beginning of the next step on his journey at the Tower.

Surprisingly, he felt optimistic. It was the end of a tough week; his team was in last place; and he had yet to find out anything about what happened to his father. And yet, for the first time during this internship, he felt like he knew where he was headed and that it would be worth it when he got there. Julia had made their next steps clear, and he was ready to get back to work.

Kaden cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck.

“Coffee, anybody?” he asked.