Between one moment and the next, Corrine changed. She went from swearing in an apparent incoherent rage to a massive grin.

“That was fun.” She laughed and patted both of them on the shoulder. “It was fucking fun, letting loose, and, to be honest, if you weren’t aiming to do the impossible, I would have been disappointed.”

Tom stared at her in disbelief.

“Are you serious? Was that put on?”

“It was a bit of fun. As I said, it felt fucking awesome to let loose. Definitely recommend it for stress relief.”

Kang next to him doubled over laughing:

“What? You thought she was serious? That’s so funny”

“Her words were pretty pointed.” Tom actually wasn’t sure what precisely they had been, as he had retreated into his system room in a futile attempt to avoid being spat on. Well, it was at least only a partially successful retreat, as he had been spat on, but had not felt the specks land on his exposed face. Based on her facial expression, he figured it had been a safe assumption. “No reasonable person would say all that…” He trailed off as he realised how ridiculous he sounded.

Corrine put her hands on her hips, tilted her head higher than usual to create an impression that was like a cross between a haughty lady looking down on people and a street bully:

“I’m not fucking reasonable.”

Kang just laughed harder, then Corrine cracked her stern visage with another smile.

“Rage boy, did you honestly think I’ll be upset at someone striving to be their best?”

Tom opened his mouth to respond.

“I haven’t been exposed to him for long, but I don’t think Tom’s necessarily the best at social stuff.” Kang interrupted quietly.

“How can you say that? My acting has been great.”

“You outed yourself as a reincarnator on the first day.”

Corrine guffawed:

“He did what?”

“I…” Tom went to argue and then stopped himself. “It was just a long sentence. I was in shock and it slipped out. Plus, we were in a safe spot at the time.”

“The hide fort’s not secure.”

“You and Bir were the only ones to overhear.”

“Yeah, and I picked you and I’ve been trying to figure out since whether it was worthwhile to make contact. You failing in the first interaction did not inspire confidence.”

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Corrine tapped her empty wrist to indicate the time. It was a gesture that would only work with someone who had grown up on earth.

“First day, that’s so funny. I would love to hear more, but we’ve got two minutes. Is there anything else you want to know?”

Kang appeared thoughtful for a moment, and then shook his head:

“Nothing pressing.”

“How often are we going to meet?” Tom asked.

“Not often. It’s too dangerous otherwise. I’ll keep doing these meetings.”

“Quarterly, then,” he summarised.

She shook her head:

“Every third or fourth. I’m not about to create fucking patterns someone might recognise. Dimitri, however, sits down with all students privately once every six months. He’ll be your main point of contact.”

“What she’s saying is that, despite the GODs guaranteeing your behaviour, she’s unwilling to take that risk.”

“She’s not saying that at all.”

“Not with your spectacular ability to out yourself. She feels unsafe having too much to do with you.”

“Children, focus.” She ordered, laughing. “I’m not saying Kang’s right, but can you see his point?”

“Fine, be like that.” they both laughed harder. “Moving on, what happens if I get general two combat?”

“Then, Tom, you engineer private time with Dim. He is the person you have to talk to. Going direct to him is not recommended. If any one of us is watched constantly, it’s him. It’s better to wait until your sit-down session.” She checked her watch again. “Sorry about this. It’s a matter of operational security.”

She attacked him.

He attempted to block, but his hand-to-hand fighting ability was terrible. She went through his defences effortlessly. He felt his collarbone break, and then a snap kick dislocated his hip. The force she struck with was ridiculous for someone he knew was restricted to the strength of a preteen girl. Skills, potentially even passive ones, turned blows, which should have been restricted to damaging soft tissue, into ones capable of shattering bones. He crashed into the ground, then twisted in an attempt to get his functioning leg between him and the danger.

Corrine nodded approvingly and stepped back. “You’re tough: kept fighting, not a single whimper. Great job.” She glanced at Kang. “You’re going to have to get those ribs checked out. So, I don’t need to hurt you further. Formally, you’ve both failed and I’m not recording any abilities against. You can work out how to treat future assessments, whether to produce an ability every time or slide under the radar. It’s not something I can help with.”

The door dinged open. “A healer will be here in a minute.” She said in a curt, disinterested tone as her mask went back on. She left, unconcerned.

Tom tried to fix his hip, smacking it with an elbow to try and drive it into place. If he had his magic, it would have been different. Even with his eight mana he could have fixed this himself with his old Touch Heal spell. Use it to loosen his tendons, relax and tense the right muscles, and, with a bit of outside pressure, it would click back into the socket. Without that level of control, he needed to rely on brute force, and his strength wasn’t going to be enough.

Kang grabbed him. “Stop,” the other boy hissed and threw a furious glance at the open door, and then Kang deliberately dug his fingers into the tender joint. “Healer soon.”

The unexpected pain caused an involuntary whimper even as his brain caught up with what was happening. With a mental sigh, Tom retreated into the system room and his avatar immediately started screaming in pain. He acknowledged that reaction was probably what he should have done the moment Corrine turned to leave to leave, and his failure to pretend was why Kang had gotten so pissed at him.

Less than a minute later, a young man entered. The pain immediately vanished, and then, with true brute strength, the healer carefully popped the hip in place.

Tom had discovered the ability to play sound and to slow down sections while doing so to make them perceptible. The healer cursed at how brutal the trainers were, but not, Tom noted, at Corrine specifically.