A few of the upperclassmen had waited at the staircases when Tercius and his fellow first-years entered the massive hall where all the floors and wings of the building were conjoined, but a single look from Mistress Dea made their curiosity wane and they made themselves scarce. Very little intermingling happened between the upper years and the lower ones, something Tercius attributed to high drop-out between the second and the third year.

Besides passable grades, which were attainable through written tests and some practical demonstration, Master Slav informed them that Mana Manipulation (7) and Mana Metamorphosis (1) were the skill level requirements. Only with all of these under ones belt does a student get to make that leap from the lower to upper years, something only about a third of those enrolled manages to do in the required time. Some manage to get good grades in time, but not the required skills. Students in this situation are given up to two years to get the two skills, and if they manage to do it then they can come back and continue where they left off. If not …

Each year had a skill level requirement, and while the mages would not ask a direct question about someone’s skill level, they had tests that the students are required to do; these tests would give them an approximation of someone's skill levels. Master Slav told them that the tests were made with the bare minimum of skill requirement for certain staple spells any mage learns at the beginning of each year.

Mistress Dea turned her attention to his group and Tercius stopped his musings.

The dark-haired woman put her hands behind her back and addressed the crowd. "In a moment you will see some things. Some of you will be frightened and that is completely normal, but know that the threat was contained. Waiting for you, outside, are your teachers and they will be the ones who take you to Chameos. If I find out any of you are slacking in your studies, I will make sure to pay a surprise visit. That's all. I wish you good luck. Porfira, I entrust them to you,"

Those last words Mistress Dea said over her shoulder and as if on a cue, a woman appeared. Where Mistress Dea was nearing two meters in height, this woman was Tercius height. Black long hair spilled over half her height as she took a few steps forward. "Thank you, Dea. As you heard my name is Porfira, you may address me as Mistress Porfira. I will be your caretaker for the next three months and anything Mistress Dea told you so far applies going forward."

The woman's brown eyes went over the crowd and settled on Tercius. “I thought only the first years were sent away. Dea, you have a stray here.”

Mistress Dea looked at Tercius then a frown graced her face as she turned to Porfira. “He’s no stray, merely a bit taller. Porfira, a word before you leave?”

The two women moved away, while Tercius’s classmates looked at him.

“Don’t worry, she’s just jealous,” Penelope whispered to him from the side.

Tercius smiled weakly. He was without a doubt the giant of their group, as the girl that was at the second spot only came up to his nose in height, while she was half a head taller than the average of the group. If his grandfather’s genes had any say in it, he might even go as tall as 2.1 or 2.2 meters.

A rumble sounded out behind them, as light flooded in. Everyone turned to look at the opened door that a moment ago was a solid brick wall.

“Come along.” Porfira came back, a sour look on her face.

She moved straight through the group, while the students moved out of her way. Tercius waved to Mistress Dea, as the loud group left the premises of her building. She observed them with the same stony expression she usually had.

Something in the air was different, Tercius sensed a moment later as he moved towards the door. The air was dry, while a faint burning smell wafted in. The light snow cover had melted as soon as the snowstorm outside stopped and the sun came out. Some of the trees outside of the dorms were burnt-out husks, while the grass, which just recently started to wake up, was nonexistent.

Only ash remained.

Some trees looked to have avoided the fate of burning, but only where the branches were thick.

Master Lazarus, Master Slav, and three others waited right outside of the building.

The difference in the way Master Lazarus was dressed made Tercius stumble a bit. Just this morning the man wore a brown robe that barely covered his knees. If someone met him on the street one would think him a common farmer. Now, the giant man seemed like another person entirely. The shining gray leather was form-fitted over the giant man's muscular build, while he held a giant staff in his left hand. The armor protected everything, from Master Lazarus's fingers to his neck, and Tercius saw a helmet under the man's other arm. Master Lazarus's small beard braid was going from side to side as the man talked to a small wrinkled granny.

Tercius recognized the woman. The day he came to the Library for transport he had moved out of the way for this woman to pass. At the time a large crate was levitating in front of her, so he stood to gape a bit. Like Master Lazarus, she, and every other Master or Mistress there, was in the same leather apparel.

“--ulet was used. It was added in the last batch to the security network, so they need to remove all of them.” Master Lazarus said, and while Tercius could not hear the man’s words, he was perfectly capable of reading lips. His skill Language Acquisition was a blessing in many ways. Those words Mistress Dea used before him were already stored in his mind with perfect clarity, and as he started to find out more words and get more context, he would be able to start making sense of it. Every level of the skill brought along a speed of processing that enabled him to learn a new language in record times. Even completely unknown languages were on the table if he had enough data.

"Porfira, how about you dress up first," a man that was previously talking to Master Slav said when his eyes landed on the dress Porfira wore.

"I have you to protect me," Porfira said with a wink. The man snorted and shook his head.

The old woman turned her head, her eyes placid. “Porfira, protocol is protocol. Do it now.”

Tercius noted some resemblance between Porfira and the old woman. Tercius was not quite sure how old Porfira was, but at that moment she was a small scolded child, and when she saw how many children were watching the proceeds she went red. Porfira turned on her heels and went back into the dorms.

The old woman turned to the students that each clung to each other, and moved like some giant amoeba. "What is this mess?! Lazarus, take thirty and have them move in pairs forward. Kot, organize the next thirty and move after Lazarus's group. Fenia, you follow with your thirty after them. Slav…"

Like a general, the woman pointed at each Master, named them, and gave a command that was executed with no questions asked. It was amusing for Tercius to watch middle-aged men and women jump to obey with the same dose of fear and enthusiasm small children had for their parents.

"You will be Porfira's group," the old woman said as she made thirty students move forward. Then she looked at Tercius and his larger-than-thirty group. "You are mine."

"While we wait for Porfira, let me make introductions. Since you've had your first day of classes, you must know Master Lazarus. I know that you know Master Slav. The brown-haired mop after Master Lazarus is Master Kot, while she is Mistress Fenia." With each name, she pointed and walked about. Tercius noted that he heard her voice in the same even tone no matter how far she went as she paced about. "I am Mistress Helfira. We will be the teachers that make sure each of you gets your skills and learns all that is required of you.”

Master Kot turned back when she called him a brown-haired mop, and glared at the old woman, yet didn't say a word in response.

Mistress Porfira came back, dressed in gray leather armor. "There. Can we go now?"

The old woman sniffed and inclined her head to the group of thirty students. "These are yours."

“Lazarus, start moving!” Mistress Helfira snapped and the students moved forward. Tercius was with Penelope, while Jorro and Eunim went behind them, followed by Lomera and Euria.

The temperature was quite pleasant, but Tercius expected that to change as soon as they left the space that housed the Pyramid. The space behaved, in a way, much like a greenhouse. Outside, the snow was over a meter and a half in height and the sun did not have the same success it found with ten centimeters of snow.

As they went further Tercius noticed that something had left burn marks on the stone paths. They moved from the dorms towards the building where their classes were held and moved past it. They made their way to a solitary pavilion that housed the elevator that led downwards, and would eventually leave them just before the Pyramid, on the ground floor.

The pavilion was surrounded by an open area that had just started sprouting grass. Now that open area was teeming with mages, all dressed in the same gray leather uniforms. Hovering in the air above them were creatures of nightmares. Large and ungainly, with proportions that seemed so out of place, were beasts and humanoids. Tercius saw a dog the size of a larger house, seemingly paralyzed inside a forcefield of some kind. Its black skin flowed around some kind of spiked growths that jutted out of its body.

Another creature seemed like a giant toddler, also with black flowing skin and growths on his body. Every creature there was black with similar growths, and Tercius watched as a group of mages in gray leather armors dissected one on the ground. Master Zver was there in the thick of it, his hands up to elbows inside of the insectoid creature as he brought pieces out of the carcass. These pieces were then cataloged and one of the mages would make them disappear.

The whole area was like this, and at first Tercius’s attention was on the center of activity, but then his gaze was moved to the statue-like mages in the corners of the field. Eight men and women in total, he counted, every single one opening their mouths, yet no sound was making its way to where Tercius and his group made their way to the elevator. He observed with Mana Sight how Mana left their mouths and slowly faded into thin air, the further it got away from them.

Not one to shy away from asking a question, Tercius turned his head to Mistress Helfira and asked, "Mistress, what are those outlying mages doing?"

The woman paused in her stride and looked at him, then at the mages in question. “Pooling their Mana into one whole, then powering the containment spell.”

The woman grabbed her amulet for a moment and then turned his way. “You will hear soon enough. Enjoy the show,”

As if someone placed headphones in his ears, a chant reached him. Voices melded into one, male and female, an even recital echoed all around him. A sound so deep that his bones vibrated, and he saw students turning their heads around searching for the source as it seemingly came from everywhere at once. A tingle ran up his spine, as Tercius realized that something didn't add up. He saw only eight people open their mouths, while the chant, the air carried, sounded as if performed by a whole choir of people. A hundred voices, at least, were weaved into one whole, whipping about in crashing waves.

As the song came so it went away, suddenly and without warning.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Mistress Helfira said, her gaze on the chanting mages. “You should hear them when they are singing and not casting a spell… Nothing in the world like it.”

“Mistress, what are those… creatures?” he asked as he returned his gaze on the beings that were placidly hovering in the air.

“Demons. Beings of another plane of existence. Feral creatures that destroy everything. Still, they have their uses. See those growths on them? Pure metal. That flowing black liquid you see is one of the best alchemy catalysts that is known to this day. A calamity and a treasure trove, that's what these beings are.”

“The mages there seem to have things well in hand,” he said, waving his hand to the field. "So why are we sent away?"

"These beasts pose little threat to them. Even if they prove hard to kill, a trained mage will merely flee and get reinforcements, then come back and subdue it. But what about you? What can you do? You need a safe space to study until such a time as when you can defend yourself." Mistress Helfira said, then raised her voice a bit, "Students, remember this. It's better to take a step back than to lose your life in vain. This applies to the majority of the situations. But when pressed in a corner, with no other way out, make sure you bring Hellfire. Isn't that right Lazarus?"

“Yes, Mistress.” Master Lazarus’s voice shouted from the head of the marching students.

“Such a good boy.” Mistress Helfira said with a grandmotherly chuckle.

“Mother-” Mistress Porfira said then snapped her mouth shut when Mistress Helfira looked at her sharply. “Mistress, Grand-Master Tergaron advocated for peaceful resolutions.”

The old lady scoffed. “No, he advocated for peaceful resolutions whenever possible. And do you have the power the Grand-Master had? The man's words had the backing of his power behind them. Who in their right mind would deny him anything? If you try to do the same, with no power to back it up, see what happens. When you have the power to destroy your enemies completely and utterly, only then will you know what you are at your core. We don't have such power, and even if we did have it, I think that we might not use it, for completely the wrong reasons." The old lady shook her head sadly. "I am sorry for missing your education Porfira. Yours too Slav. If I was there things would have been a bit different."

“I’m sure they would be. I still remember when you took us hunting when we were ten-” Porfira said, her voice tinged with a bit of anger.

"When was the last time you left the Pyramid? Well?! You live your life in this cozy place, never once attempting to leave it and experience the harsh land outside. Instead of building something new, you stayed where you were. I thought that I have at least pulled you to see things more clearly, but I was mistaken. I know this is not your fault. That burden is with my generation and the one before it! We-"

“Mother, please, don’t speak so lou-” Mistress Porfira moved towards her mother and said in a low voice.

“What? You think they will try and silence me? They will only muck it up like everything else they did. Look at what their soft policy led to. Insurgents running amok! They should have been dealt with swiftly and with no negotiations, then … this wouldn't have happened. So what if they are our members? If they raise a hand against us, they are no different than those demons. Why don't they follow your precious pacifism? I'll tell you why. Because the insurgents know that you will, so they wiggle. They search for boundaries. They want the knowledge they have been denied, and they will not stop until they get it. I wonder what will the council do when someone gets hurt?" The old lady went into a frenzy. Every word Mistress Helfira said made the rest of the Masters there flinch as if she struck them on the cheek. "I don't know for how long things can go on like this. Someone will pay the price of this foolishness, and I only hope that someone doesn't end up being an innocent bystander."

The students listened in silence to the exchange and most of them pretended to look forward. Tercius did the same, but he tried to memorize every single word to sift through them once more.

The stone platforms carried students in groups of ten. As soon as a group was on the hovering platform, Master Lazarus would activate it, and a shield would protect the group as the platform was sucked into the hole in the middle of the pavilion. In a few minutes, Tercius and his group climbed on a platform and a field went up around them. He expected some kind of push upwards as they moved downwards at high speeds, but none came. Even when their vertical movement turned to horizontal, he felt as if he was standing on solid ground. The dark tunnels rushed past them, and in a moment the shield went down.

Another group of mages in armor was waiting at the end of the giant cylinder that was The Tunnel.

Just after them came the, still arguing, mother-daughter pair.

"If they can't pass the tests, why should they get the spells? They had their chance, and they were found wanting." Mistress Helfira said.

"Mo- Mistress, they only want more chances to try."

"Is that all they want? Then they should go out, like I did, and get some new knowledge to exchange for that chance. Not whine and sulk and make threats."

"Not everyone is like you. Not everyone can just pack their bags and leave their family behind. No-" Porfira growled, her face red.

"I asked your father and you to come with me. I asked and you said no. Do you think that it was easy for me?" The old lady snapped back. "No, it was not. I endured blasted rain, jungle, beasts, illness, and more, all with my team. For a decade! But such are the rules. You only get as much as you give. Why should these petty children get anything if they don't give something back? This place is not supposed to be some safe home you use it as, bu-"

"Are you blind?! Can't you see?! If-" Mistress Porfira raised her voice, but Master Kot interrupted her.

"Ladies, maybe bring your issues somewhere else to solve," he said, then raised his hands in defense when scarlet lightning started zipping out from Mistress Helfira hair. "Students are listening, Mistress."

Damn you, man, Tercius snapped at the Master mentally. Why did you stop them now?