Hamill's comment about us not having even started yet was sadly not an exaggeration. If anything, it was probably an understatement. Pain from running was quickly replaced by pain from squats, push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, burpees, and a dozen other exercises designed to hit every single muscle we had.

I expected my body to give out, but Hamill seemed to have an almost mystical ability to see when we were about to give up and give us the exact least amount of rest necessary for our Vitality to get us functional again.

We spent HOURS working out. Nothing but exercise all day. I forgot what it felt like not to be in pain, and when the day finally ended and we were allowed to crawl back to our barracks, the first thing I did was heal burst myself, Benny, Callie, and Celine. Since they were the ones actually with me at the end, I used some charges, but the others all just went to see Jessie, since I could only hold ten charges at a time.

"That is SO much better." I groaned as I felt energy and life fill me. I wasn't wired like I normally would be, since all the energy was taken up healing, so the life force inside me just felt like a soothing warm bath. It was absolutely amazing and just what I needed after such a hard day.

Callie, curled against me, groaned weakly. "That was hell. Why would anyone do that to themselves. We're going to have to do that every single day?"

"It gets easier." Said Abel from a cot where Jessie was finishing up pumping power into him. "It's all a matter of discipline. Plus you two are close to E-rank anyway. Once you rank up you'll just be doing your command training. You have what? A few months of this tops?"

The thought of repeating this for months or even weeks was horrifying, but at the same time I couldn't wait to rank up. "So, does anyone feel...stronger?" I asked vaguely. "Like we didn't get any Might from that, but they said it would help, so...did it?"

"I think so." Said Benny from his own cot. Jessie had cleared out the building when we showed up, not that there had been anyone there but staff. Her healing abilities were absurd, and she hadn't had any long term patients because of it. We were all meeting in here to catch up. Benny seemed to be the most enthusiastic. "I feel more in control of myself. Might gives us the raw power, but I haven't been engaging it well. Hell, I couldn't even move some of those muscles before."

That I could understand. I'd had more than a few muscles that I didn't remember ever straining before, and those workouts had damned sure hit all of them. I was already thinking over some of the movements in my staff forms and trying to make small improvements, as well as building a framework for my next form.

Nat, who had been quiet up to this point, spoke up as Jessie got to her. "I feel...better. Not good, but better. This was a good distraction, and I feel stronger and more confident. There's something freeing about learning to use your body better. But is this really all we're going to do here? Just train until we can't stand? Because I have to admit that sounds pretty pointless over such a long period of time."

"Of course not." I said with a shake of my head. "We're going to be in actual battles too. Plus we get weekends off. Hell, we could probably take nights too. There was nothing in the contract requiring us to stick around here, as long as we're up and ready to work at Reivelle. They probably assumed we'd be too exhausted. Maybe they underestimated what Jessie could do."

She shook her head. "They didn't, but you're right about the loophole. In fact, I got a message from Camden earlier, inviting all of us to dinner at the manor. I think he might have dug up more about who you two are. He seemed interested in talking to Nat and Shane in particular."

I grimaced. That was the downside to becoming better known. We weren't a household name or anything, but enough people knew about us that a concentrated search effort should turn up something. Camden had access to Tolbert sources, or at least something like them, so figuring out who I was probably wasn't too tough. I wasn't exactly subtle. Chelsea should be safe enough though, with mom covering her tracks. Luckily we'd brought a ton of people so she was likely to just blend in.

"I could eat." Said Callie, to the surprise of exactly no one. She and Abel were our biggest foodies. "Is everyone ok to go though? When is it?"

"An hour and a half." Said Jessie with a nod. "And yeah, they'll be fine by then. Your workout finished at six, and the dinner is at eight. As thorough as the damage is, it's not actually too harmful. Your natural Vitality was allowed to patch you up periodically throughout the day. I've been reading some of the healer books on my downtime, and the way Vitality interacts with Impact on planets like this is fascinating."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I smiled at her. "Glad to hear you're learning a lot. The contract mentioned a mentor, did he already have a healer around to teach you?"

"Nah, there's a part timer he pays like a mercenary. She works with a dozen other local nobles too, and is only available one week out of the month. They have some expensive stasis bandages that can hold someone together if they get hurt badly, but if something doesn't kill you immediately as an Ascendant it usually won't kill you at all. Everyone with less severe wounds either waits for the healer or just walks it off."

Despite knowing how hardy Ascendants were, that still sounded awful to me. "Did we bring anything to wear to a fancy dinner?" I asked Callie. "I don't pay attention to that stuff. I guess we could just go in costume though."

She nodded. "I doubt he'd put us through all that and then expect us dressed to the nines. That said, it may not be necessary." Flashing a grin at the bored looking vampire fake snoozing in the corner, she called loudly. "Hey Bethy, do you want to dress everybody up?"

Bethy's eyes snapped open, glowing an ominous red and shining with a (much less literal) intensity that scared me more than her bloodlust did. "I can...dress you all?" She said, her voice faint and kind of dreamy. "Are you sure?"

"No!" I said quickly. "She's not sure. None of us are sure. Go back to sleep. This has all been a dream!"

Bethy's lips slowly spread in the most unsettling grin I'd ever seen, exposing fangs that I was almost sure weren't usually that long or sharp. "Nope!" She crowed as she blurred to her feet. "Not a dream! A dream come true! Oh, I have so many ideas. Does Shane need to wear that creepy mask?" She asked Callie, ignoring my presence entirely.

"Yes." I said firmly, positive it wouldn't matter. Luckily my girlfriend also said yes, and Bethy pouted as she started circling around me.

"Oh, fine." She said as she pulled a tape measure from...somewhere. "Earth tones then." She started measuring me, shoving my arms up, twisting my head, and basically tying me up like a pretzel to get a proper idea of my measurements. Snapping her fingers, she whipped out a black button up with obsidian buttons, shoving it into my hands alongside a pair of brown leather pants, a long brown leather coat, and a pair of knee length black boots with a pirate cuff on them.

Without asking my opinion of them, she turned me and shoved me toward the other side of the room where there were curtains around some of the unoccupied beds. I gave Callie a panicked look but she just shrugged apologetically.

Bethy, as we all knew, absolutely adored fashion. She was constantly wearing new gowns and dresses, and coming up with designs. I was pretty sure she actually had a tailoring Skill, though she'd never confirmed it. I knew Aida and Tracey, her thralls, both had fashion and design related Skills, though they weren't their primaries. But Bethy hadn't brought them along because she didn't think they would let her have any fun.

As I changed into the clothes, I could hear grunts and squeaks as she contorted and bullied all the others with her measuring tape. I think she'd been planning this for a while, actually, because she somehow had something sized for everyone, though she did make a few adjustments apparently (and I was grateful not to have needed those, given the yelps of pain from needle prodding) before sending each person off to their own curtained area to change.

I admit I hid back there for a few minutes after I finished, afraid to get her attention again, but eventually she barked out. "Present!" And all of us shuffled out into the main room again.

She'd pulled a mirror from her ring, and when I saw my own image I had to admit I didn't look bad. The clothes went with my mask, and the whole thing gave me a mysterious and dashing image. Callie was wearing a pitch black off the shoulder ballgown, the bodice of which was studded with some kind of shiny little scales like an onyx fish. Benny was in a copper colored outfit that looked like a cross between a tux and the leathers gunslingers wore in old movies, while she'd dressed Gabriel in a gunmetal grey smoking jacket and black pants over a grey silk shirt.

Abel was wearing a silver and black long coat over a grey shirt and black pants, while Chelsea had a black and white dress that matched her hair and Mel was in a crimson gown that went with her mask. Celine and Jessie both had hunter green dresses, while Nat's was black, and Callen, Cark, and Valk were in black suits. All the clothes were matched to our masks (for those that had them), since Bethy had taken my insistence on wearing mine as something standard. I wondered how many outfits she'd made for each of us to have such a wide selection.

"You all look so COOL!" She squealed happily. "I knew that silver thread would set off Andy's mask, and Gabe you look so handsome in grey."

The uncomfortable look crusader grimaced at his clothes. "Why do they all get suits and I have to wear this. I look like a lothario."

I snickered at his old fashioned word choice, but shut up when Bethy's eyes snapped to me, narrowing in annoyance. I'm not ashamed to admit I stood up straight and avoided eye contact. She was even scarier like this than in combat. "You look very nice." She said in a tone that threatened imminent and dramatic violence to anyone who disagreed. "Doesn't he everyone?"

We all chorused 'yes' at the same time, and she gave a vindicated 'hmph' and a nod as she slipped behind another curtain to change into a blue velvet gown with black lace along the arms. Callie, pleased we were all finished getting dressed and completely indifferent to the terror we'd just been through somehow gestured to Jessie. "Now, how about you hand me the invitation, and we can go over a bit of noble etiquette with Celine before we go.

Our healer passed my girlfriend the envelope, which she opened and read over, apparently gleaning some information from what was written there. Then she passed it to Celine, who bit her lip in thought, then gestured us into the center of the room. "I'm not sure how necessary it'll be." Said the elf with a determined expression. "But I'll do my best." Somehow, I suspected this would be worse than the training.