Tessa stayed by his side during training, inspecting him suspiciously every time he moved.

Zack was forced to exaggerate his movements, wincing as he played up his already healed injuries. It didn’t work. By the end of class, she had already made up her mind regarding the state of his health.

Her fingers were tapping on the cafeteria table in annoyance as she watched him eat.

“How?”

“How, what?” He asked around a mouthful of meatballs and potato, careful to not spew any of it.

She leaned across the table, her fingers stretching out like claws and her red hair falling in waves around her face. “How are you no longer injured? Who did your healing? No one should have the ability that using mundane means would require to heal you so completely in such a short amount of time!”

Zack swallowed and pulled away from her. His appetite fleeing between heartbeats. He was afraid that she was about to stumble upon the answer, regardless of what he might say.

It was then that someone kicked the table and distracted them. It was a completely ineffective attack against the heavy surface that didn’t even budge. To the side, Spencer could be seen hopping around on one foot while clutching the other. Two other boys stood close by with puzzled looks on their somewhat dull faces.

“What do you think you are doing?” Tessa snapped at the red, pain-filled face of the boy. “Do you think Dorn will protect you or something?”

The two thugs shared a look and stepped back. Taking the opportunity to separate themselves from whatever was to come. All they had been asked to do was stand there and look as imposing as their sixteen-year-old bodies could. The loyalty they felt towards Spencer only went as far as the business their parents did together. Once names like Dorn Albright started getting dropped, they were out.

Spencer sneered at her and turned to Zack, intent on not leaving without delivering his message. “You were warned!” He reached out, expecting one of his large companions to be there, and toppled over when they weren’t.

“So, what time did you say you were picking me up tonight?” Zack asked her loud enough for the spoiled brat on the floor to hear. Despite his misgivings, he couldn’t help but stir the proverbial pot with the information.

Tessa rolled her eyes and answered in an equally loud voice. “How about an hour after our last class? That should give you enough time to change and get ready.”

Spencer, who was now gripping his knee as well, looked up in shock. “But… Dorn…” He sputtered, unable to understand what was going on.

“What about him?” Tessa turned to face the boy sprawled across the dirty cafeteria floor. “Dorn and his family mean nothing to me. He never has and never will factor into my future, regardless of what he may think!”

As if that was the cue they had been waiting for, the two thugs grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away. Dragging him across the floor, uncaring of his protestations to the rough treatment.

“Well, that was fun, are you sure your mo-“ Zack coughed, to cover the near slip of his tongue. “Your family will be able to handle everything?”

She nodded, and pulled back from him, momentarily forgetting what they had been talking about. “It’ll be fine.”

“Speaking of which, won’t her doing all of this reveal her identity in some way?” Zack looked around and asked quietly. He remembered the thoughts he had that morning. For him to be placed firmly in her camp, the mother would need to reveal herself.

Tessa pulled away from the table. “We’ll talk again later.”

Zack found himself deep in thought as he carried his unfinished food to the trash and scraped the dished clean. It was an action that he would never have dreamed of doing only weeks before. Wasting food had been a sacrilegious act worthy of stoning in his mind. Now that there was plenty of food, it had taken on a slightly less status of importance in his mind.

Posters of monsters, specifically those of the beast and plant persuasions, covered the walls of the classroom when everyone returned from lunch.

“Next week, this class will be conducted in a different manner, with varying mockups in the center of the classroom. However, due to this being the first of classes, this time it will be a purely introductory and information-driven experience.” Quinn barely waited for them to be seated before launching into his spiel. “Welcome to the ‘Monster Biology’ class. During this period and the normal closing period, we will be discussing everything about the school portal. We will begin with the monsters found inside.” He tilted his head towards the posters. “And then end with the environment, and how it is different from other portals.”

Zack listened with rapt attention as the muscled teacher described all the beasts he had failed to see during his trip through the portal. Some portals had a quasi-safe area around the opening, with certain monsters not liking the light and energy it put out. Those were usually found in the lower-level portals.

The locations with stronger monsters typically didn’t care about the portals and ignored their existence entirely. More than one team had gone through one to find monsters nearly on top of them from the start.

Finally, Quinn moved on to the subject that Zack had been looking forward to the most since lunch. The environment inside the school portal. For most of his time spent inside, it had been dark. Near the end, when it was beginning to grow brighter, he had been caught up in the conversation with Jean. He had seen very little of what was inside.

“The first thing you need to know about the space inside the school’s portal is that it is a mostly closed environment. There have been a few other portals that exist on an island surrounded by water, and there are even a couple that lead to deep cave systems. What is different with ours, is that it leads to a large, forested vale or hollow, if you will. There are mountains on every side, enclosing the entire area and preventing us from exploring the rest of the region. We have no idea what may or may not exist beyond their towering heights.”

“Now, here is the particularly interesting and unique feature of the school’s portal, and the main reason that corporations pay so much to rent time inside it. Above the mountains, floating in the sky, is an island that moves around.” Quinn folded his arms and let the class absorb that information. “It is the only floating island that has ever been documented inside the portals.”

“Surely there has been someone with a high level that has been able to climb the mountains and look out beyond them? Not to mention, get onto the island!” Quinn looked as though he didn’t want to answer, considering that it was Spencer who had spoken.

Instead, he posed the answer as a leading question.

“Let’s assume that you are a fast runner with plenty of stamina to burn. Someone with stats over at least fifteen in both Agility and Constitution. Realistically, that means around fourteen kilometers or so an hour. Now keep in mind that you can only remain inside for twelve hours. That means you can only make it one-hundred, and sixty-eight kilometers in before being forcefully brought back. That is with you doing nothing but running the entire time, without breaks or needing to fight off monsters.”

“Of course, those numbers change as you level up and grow stronger, put more points towards agility. Here is the thing you need to keep in mind, no one is stupid enough to only put their status points in one attribute. Those points are precious, and are limited, especially before you reach your ‘Regular Class’. Putting all of that aside, let’s assume someone did up their speed enough to sufficiently shorten the time. Then they still have to climb the mountain, which means they would need strength and even more stamina.”

Quinn was enjoying himself as he dually tore the boy down for his thoughtless question and taught the class at the same time. “Now, as much as I am loathed to admit it, the question actually does present some valuable points. First of all, the hollow is not over three hundred kilometers in length. It is only around a hundred kilometers total. This brings me to the second point. The portal is in the middle of the hollow and sits on a rare grassy plain inside the space.”

Spencer slammed his hand on his desk in aggrieved anger. “If it is only fifty kilometers to the mountains, why did you have to go through the rest of that?”