He surreptitiously checked his hands, and the blood was gone.

The angel’s expression changed. “Despite your being a stupid masochist, I’m guessing congratulations are in order. That’s quite an evolution. A non-standard one, too. I’m very impressed.”

April handed him what looked like a menu, but wasn’t. Instead, it listed the details of his new spell Blood Replenish.

Spell: Blood Replenish – Tier 0.

At current levels, ten mana can regenerate a tenth of total blood volume.

Sideways evolution 1. The amount you bleed from any cut is reduced by fifty percent.

Tom whistled in response to that evolution. That was exactly what he wanted, and in many ways it was better than the active resistance spell that Purge Foreign Substance had granted him. Taking fifty percent longer to bleed out could save his life one day.

“That’s better than expected. Do you think the favourable evolution is related to the circumstances in which I acquired it? Like, if I had that evolution before the fight, it would’ve been a lot easier.”

“No. No.” She frowned. “Maybe. But I’m not facilitating that sort of craziness. Theoretically, life-and-death battles in here should be no different from training. I guess it’s possible, if your brain believes hard enough, then you might get a slight combat bonus. It could be analogous to the phenomenon of tough trainers who occasionally kill their students obtaining better results.”

Tom smiled.

“No. We’re not doing this every week.”

He just laughed.

“I’m serious.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve explained the path to get Touch Heal. Just to ensure I don’t accidentally kill myself, I’ll be doing over half of them in here as it is. If being in a life-or-death situation gives me a bonus, I’m not about to turn those down as well.”

“If it’s about ones you can’t do safely elsewhere, you can do them here. But no others!”

Tom studied April. She was still annoyed with him for insisting on fighting a monster that was almost impossible for him to kill. The fact he had succeeded meant nothing, he knew, but there was an additional reason for why he had wanted to fight something fast. He had wanted April to gain a better understanding of his abilities, and this had been one way to give it to her.

“How far off the general combat four am I?”

It was her turn to laugh.

He scratched his ear. “Is it really that bad?”

“Worse than you think. As you currently are, over half of all the rank four monsters will slaughter you. You’re a long way off even getting near that ranking.”

“How about general combat two? Can I test out for that?” He figured that practising spear work against the weapon wielding gorilla lair below the orphanage would be helpful. They were rank three, but slow, and so Tom figured he would be able to take them. He would succeed even if lots of them attacked him at the same time.

She shook her head. “Not yet, but you’re close to that threshold. It’s very impressive. Most reincarnators don’t get there until they’re eight.” Tom stopped himself from getting excited by that admission. Any statistics April could tell him were out of date, and he doubted reincarnators fifteen years ago had the same amazing setup that he had available. “That’s significant. Their biological growth, has increased their attributes by fifty percent on average by then. Normal kids, even the prodigies, are further behind. They only reach that level after they’ve turned ten, and by then they have doubled your current attributes.” She made an annoyed gesture. “I meant the ones that aren’t propped up by treasures. Those do better early, but stagnate later”.

“You know my build plans. When will those tools tip me over the edge?”

She looked thoughtful. “Spear mastery won’t be enough; spear skills in general won’t get you there, as your issue is speed. For combat rank two, Spark will probably push you to where you need to be. That’s the one that tips you over. You get Spark, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll cross that threshold.”

“And general combat four?”

“Maybe by age ten. Magic by itself won’t take you far enough.”

Tom grimaced at that blunt summary, and then he told her about Corinne’s trait. “If I add something like that, will that change anything? I want to get there by six.”

“It’ll certainly close the largest gaps. It’s possible, but I can’t say for sure. Ultimately, it’s the GODs that will assess you.”

“You don’t sound very positive about my chances.”

“Because I’m not. Listen Tom, my role isn’t about validating your feelings, it’s about giving you proper advice. I’m not sure you understand how unrealistic what you’re trying to achieve is. Do you really think you’re a one-in-a-trillion talent?”

“Probably not, but Corrine’s not one, either.”

“No, she’s definitely not. But there’s a sweet spot at age eleven for some humans. If they go through their growth spurt in time, that is. Corrine hit that with that trait.”

“And you don’t believe I can compete down lower?”

She raised both her eyebrows to illustrate her derision at that thought. “You’re not properly comprehending the scale of Existentia. When I say one in trillion, it’s because there are only so many spots for that age group, probably sixteen. That’s it! And there’s over thirty trillion people competing for them. Do you understand how big a billion is, or a million, or even a thousand? For example, had you been the undisputed best in your starting group of eighty? Can you imagine being the best against the champion of a hundred similar groups, then doing that again and again? Do you really think you’re that superior?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I get it,” Tom interrupted angrily. “But I have to believe that I can make it. Besides, fate is powerful. Along with my years of experience, it gives me a chance, even against those odds.”

“I’m not going to say it’s impossible.” She paused, and her brows creased. “Your progress to date has been impressive. But, Tom, it’s not enough. You have to solve the speed problem. That’s going to require a tailored trait, because I doubt you have the time to develop a biological or magical solution.”

“Dimitri’s already said that he won’t give me a trait.”

“Then you have to find someone else to do it. They would also have to put out feelers fast, because a suitable trait might not come up for months.”

“I don’t have that option. I’m a proper orphan. I don’t have not-parents.”

“Some orphans have old friends of their parents who might help. Do you have anything like that?”

“I don’t, or, at least, I have no memories of anything like that.”

“The other option is people from your old life.”

“That’s not safe.”

“But if it’s important enough? Then you run the risk, don’t you?”

Tom was about to argue, but stopped himself when he realised she might be right. “If I run into one of them.” He said finally. “I’ll think about asking. It’s just that I can’t judge how risky such contact will be.”

They dropped the difficult conversation and chatted instead about the insignificant details of Tom’s time in the tutorial while he finished his coffee, and then she sent him back to the wood growth room.

He had been improving. As usual, branches grew from the wall from random spots and angles. Methodically, he shaped them into a cocoon around him, as well as killing all signs of life in the wood closest to him. Then, when the three minutes mark ticked by, the intensity of wood’s energy ramped up and buds began to sprout from everywhere, even from the previously dead cocoon around him. He killed them when he could, but he missed one and the branch rapidly grew to be as big as one of his arms. It took a significant amount of concentration to break it off, and the buds elsewhere grew uncontrollably while he was distracted. It became a chain reaction of failures that he couldn’t keep pace with. His carefully carved-out space vanished under the surge of randomised expansion.

Everything reset, and he started again. Tom could feel the progress, but he figured he was still weeks away from mastering the skill. After four sessions in the growth pod, he was moved to watch the shadow figure show him the spear kata. As had been happening more and more frequently, April showed him an abridged version containing only the movements he hadn’t mastered. The session took only a third of the time that it used to take, and then he was sent into the next fight.

Given the kata snippets he had been shown, he wasn’t surprised his opponents were aerial monsters. He spun, leapt, pirouetted, and tried to duplicate some of the more fanciful moves of those he had just observed.

He left the trial, and, three days later, after another boring reading session, Dimitri trooped in with a line of adult volunteers following him.

The large man stood at the head of the class. “Everyone, it’s been three months. It’s time for another assessment.”

Panic flared across the room. Some wore scared expressions. One girl ducked under the table, but no one attempted to run. The gathered adults were enough to dissuade such action.

“Split into five groups, and then we’ll escort you to the testing room.”

Tom ended up in one of the larger isolation rooms with seven other kids. Courtesy of carefully positioning, both him and Kang managed to be at the back of the group, which would let them go last.

Corrine wasn’t taking this session. Instead, it was a black teenager who was probably already six feet tall.

Their tester had a sad look on his face. “I’m sorry we have to do this. I’ll try to be as gentle as I’m allowed to be.”

The first volunteer was pointed at and tested in the same format that Corrine had done. He let the girl attack him for two minutes, and then went on offensive.

“Show me something.” He ordered, lifting a single foot threateningly. She couldn’t.

He kicked out, and she fell down, screaming. Tom shut his eyes and focused on the realities of Existentia. This was necessary to help them grow to get the skills to survive. This was not a case of the orphanage acting unfairly, this was the opposite. They had to do it to teach children how to survive the harsh, unforgiving world that existed outside these walls.

It barely helped.

The girl healed herself using the crystal, and, while escorting her out of the room, the teenager bowed to her. “Well-fought. Work harder and show something special next time.”

The next boy went, and Tom used a brief burst of Dampen Senses for when the kick and healing occurred.

The third chose a hammer, and then, with a face that made him look constipated, struck the trainer with it. There was a glimmer of blue, but the teenager blocked it effortlessly with the palm of his hand.

“A skill. Impressive. How did you acquire it?”

The boy hesitated and lowered the heavy practice hammer, so its head rested on the ground.

“Was it from a not-parent?”

The kid refused to answer.

“Was it a skill crystal?”

“No. Mum showed.” He froze… “Um… No. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Not a crystal, then? A natural treasure?”

The boy clammed up, obviously realising that he had already said too much.

The trainer raised his leg up the way he had when he had kicked the other two. “You haven’t impressed me yet.” He said in a warning tone.

The distressed child licked his lips. There was panic on his face. “It was a room and magic stone. Lots of hammer imprints, like someone hit it lots. No, I won’t tell you. They told me not to tell.”

“They were naïve,” the trainer said as he lowered his foot. “They shouldn’t have done that. Still, I’m impressed. You can go.”

The next girl failed as well.

Bir stood up, and, rather than grabbing a weapon, she filled up a mug from the tap.

The trainer stepped back, suddenly wary about where this was going.

“Getting me wet won’t achieve anything.”

She threw the cup of water at his face. Panic flashed across it, and the teenager tried to jump backwards, but it was a good throw. He waved his hands to try to intercept all the water, but it was futile. A couple of drops splashed across his face. The boy winced, and then raised his fingers to the damaged cheek.

A green glow radiated out to spread over the spots the water touched.

“Razor water,” he summarised quietly. “You’ve impressed me. You can go.”

Then it was just him and Kang left and, being closest, Tom went forward and grabbed a hammer. “Please, be merciful,” he said and reached out to grab the boy’s hand. The tall kid looked more than a little confused about Tom’s actions, but before he could pull back Tom successfully grabbed his hand. There was no spark between them.

He was not a reincarnator.

“Sorry,” Tom muttered sheepishly and picked up his chosen weapon that he had dropped. Then he channelled as much aggression while keeping his form into his attacks. He effortlessly dodged the blows.

“Show me something.”

There was no way he was going to switch to casting his healing magic, so he kept swinging his hammer. “It glows sometimes. It does.” Tom lied, figuring that’s what a kid in his position would do.

“Show it.” It was clear the trainer did not believe him.

Tom obviously couldn’t. The kick, when it came, slammed into his thigh just like it had with everyone else. It felt like being hit by a gwanta tail. His leg collapsed, and he crashed to the ground, releasing an involuntary whimper. Then, despite how the juvenile him would have reacted, Tom stood and limped to the healing crystal. He needed to bring his behaviour closer to how his adult mind reacted to things. The days of pretending to be overwhelmed by pain were behind him.

The healing crystal finished its work, and he left Kang to his fate. He wasn’t sure if the other boy planned to pass or not, but for Tom, failing this test was worthwhile. For now, he wanted to remain firmly in the middle of the pack.