Olivia was disturbed to see that more upper-class students and professors had shown up for her demonstration than had for the awards assembly. She was standing on stage next to Alyss, wearing her gray first-year robes and nervously wringing her hands behind her back. The confidence she’d felt the previous night seemed to have departed her, and she was back to her old, anxious self. That wasn’t entirely true—she didn’t like the crowd of quiet faces staring at her, but she still felt confident in her ability. She’d practiced her meta-element weaves for several hours before sleep and had gotten so fast that she couldn’t count past two while constructing one. Considering her first attempts had taken minutes and unraveled before she could complete them, she was rather pleased with herself.

“Well, I’m impressed that so many of you have given up part of your Saturday to come and see a demonstration from one of my students!” Alyss said, affecting a bit of a showman’s voice. The crowd was mostly quiet, though Copper gave a few hoots, and Olivia heard Rald call out, “Olivia!” She hadn’t felt worried prior to that, but something about the way her cohort seemed to believe in her brought a sliver of doubt into her mind, and she began to worry about letting them down. “Just a moment while I get the stage ready for you, Olivia,” Alyss said, loud enough for the audience to hear.

Alyss walked to the left side of the stage and produced a shiny metal stand that looked a lot like a chrome pole. She must have taken it from a dimensional container because it seemed pretty heavy. Alyss grunted as she rolled the broad base into position, then she stepped a few feet to the right and produced another one, rolling it ponderously in line with the first. Then, she put one hand on each shiny pole and concentrated for a moment. A bright flash erupted between the poles, and a wide, swirling maelstrom of Energy appeared between them. It looked like a colorful, spinning whirlpool suspended sideways in midair. Alyss turned back to Olivia and paced ten steps, then motioned for Olivia to stand next to her. “Please aim your spells at the portal; it will harmlessly disperse the Energy.”

“Alright, thank you, Alyss.” Olivia nodded and began concentrating on the swirling portal, glad to have something to grab her attention.

“Please maintain your decorum and keep quiet! Olivia hasn’t been able to enact these workings before for fear of leveling too soon,” Alyss announced as she moved behind Olivia and closer to the audience. For her part, Olivia closed her eyes and turned her mind inward, looking at her Core, instantly feeling more calm as she watched her spinning rings of attuned Energy gyrate around her inner heart of pure Energy. She knew what she was going to do; she’d run it over in her mind a million times. She’d studied her other spells and the way they spun her attuned Energy into a pattern and launched them. Now, she just had to manually do the same with her new meta-elements.

Olivia had decided to replicate the effect of her Fiery Burst spell—it had the simplest pattern that poured almost pure fire-attuned Energy out of her channel into the air. She took three deep, steady breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth. Delicately, with precision she could only have imagined a month ago, Olivia pulled a thread of air-attuned Energy out of her Core and matched it with a thread of water-attuned Energy. When she had them next to each other in her pathway, she took another deep breath, held her right palm out toward the spinning portal, then rapidly formed the pattern for arcfrost and pushed the completed weave through her pathway into the pattern of Fiery Burst.

She felt a chilling, tingling sensation in her palm and a deep rush of Energy through her pathways. A buzzing, crackling torrent of frosty air arcing with jagged bolts of electricity howled through the air in front of her palm, pouring into the portal. The moisture in the air around the torrent of arcfrost seemed crystallized, and flakes of frost drifted to the stage. A collective intake of breath spread through the audience as the flood faded and Olivia let her hand fall and a surge of golden motes coalesced in the air pouring into her.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Arcfrost Cascade - Basic***

***Arcfrost Cascade - Basic: Prerequisite: Affinity - Water, Affinity - Air. You conjure forth a torrent of raw arcfrost. Energy cost: 200, Cooldown: Minimal.***

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 10 base human. You have 5 attribute points to allocate. Your first Class selection is available to you.***

“Well done, Olivia,” Alyss said from behind her, then she continued, more loudly, “Please quiet yourselves, everyone. Olivia has only just begun. If you’re wondering, that was a meta-element that she just conjured; its destructive force actually put a strain on my portal.” More buzzing conversations started up at that comment, and Alyss had to raise her voice even more, “Again, please be quiet. Allow Olivia to concentrate!” Olivia glanced at the audience, and suddenly they hushed. A few students pointed at her and whispered, and Olivia turned to Alyss, concerned that something was wrong. “It’s alright, Olivia. Your eyes reflect the meta-element you just conjured; frosty storm clouds are hiding your pupils.” More hushed conversations started up as Olivia absorbed Alyss’s comment. She felt fine; the only change in her vision was that the room seemed a little brighter.

Once again, Olivia held her palm toward the portal, and the assembled students grew quiet. Olivia prepared a thread of fire-attuned Energy, a thread of earth-attuned Energy, and then took a deep breath. When her mind was set, she quickly formed her magma weave and pushed it into the pattern for Fiery Burst. A surge of hot Energy poured through her pathways and erupted from her palm. A veritable column of roaring magma surged through the air into the portal. The heat from the meta-element caused waves of distortion to appear in the air on the stage, and Olivia heard a high-pitched ringing sound come from one of the pedestals that Alyss had used to create the portal. After just a couple of seconds, the beam of magma halted, and, again, Olivia leaned forward, absorbing a surge of Energy motes that coalesced out of thin air.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Magma Ray - Basic***

***Magma Ray - Basic: Prerequisite: Affinity - Fire, Affinity - Earth. You conjure forth a beam of raw magma. Energy cost: 200, Cooldown: Minimal.***

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 11. You have 5 attribute points to allocate. Your first Class selection is available to you. Warning! Your advancement is being held until you select your first class. Should you sleep or lose consciousness before selecting your Class, this advancement will be lost.***

“Excellent, Olivia; are you doing okay? Can you continue?” Alyss asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer; she stepped up to the portal and carefully inspected the shiny pedestals, a slight frown on her face. “Actually, I think we might have to pause, for now, Olivia. You can demonstrate your other spells to me later.” Alyss turned to the audience while Olivia absorbed what she’d just said. “Everyone, I think Olivia has more than earned her prize, wouldn’t you?” The audience gave a rather hearty cheer, and Olivia felt a surge of pride, but then a shout rang out.

“What? Two offensive blast spells? Not very nuanced, is it?” Professor ap’Gravin stood and approached the stage. “Sure, it requires some luck with affinities and some raw power to make a meta-element, but I still don’t see how she warrants the top prize. It's most definitely not clear-cut enough for me to offer up another award.” Olivia turned to the professor, a surge of heat rising in her, making her pulse pound in her ears. He almost took a step back when he saw her gaze, for a fiery roiling storm raged under her brows.

“I have something I could show the good professor,” Olivia said calmly, her voice ringing out over the audience.

“Olivia, you’ve done enough, and my portal might not contain another blast,” Alyss said quietly, turning her back to the audience.

“It shouldn’t cause any damage. I’m feeling fine, Alyss.”

“Well? I’m waiting,” ap’Gravin said, glancing to the side where some of his students sat. Chuckles and sniggers sounded from the group. Olivia felt such an urge to conjure a bolt of magma and hurl it at them that she had to close her eyes and take stock of her mental state. She usually didn’t react to threats or teasing with violent thoughts, and she knew the elemental shard was influencing her. Forcefully, she concentrated on her Core with her eyes closed and took two deep breaths; then, she opened her eyes and nodded to Alyss. Alyss stepped back and turned to the audience.

“Olivia has another spell she’d like to demonstrate that should put to rest your doubts.” Alyss walked over to the portal and touched the shiny pedestal on the right; the swirling maelstrom winked out of existence with a pop. Olivia turned to the audience and held out her right hand, palm facing upward. She closed her eyes and looked into her Core, calmly pulling out one thread of attuned Energy after another, lining them up in her pathways. All in all, she had eight threads read to weave, and then she took one deep, steadying breath and began. First, she weaved together the pattern for arcfrost, finishing in less than two seconds. Then, setting a new record for herself, she wove the pattern for magma in the space of one heartbeat. Holding those two patterns together in her pathway with an effort of will, she did something she’d never done before: she wove together a third meta-element: plasma. It took her nearly four seconds, and sweat began to bead on her brow as she concentrated on holding those three weaves together. Still, she didn’t stop and started the arduous process of weaving together a thread of pyrosteam.

Olivia wasn’t aware of the murmurs breaking out in the audience or of ap’Gravin’s huff of impatience. To everyone else, it looked like she was standing with her eyes closed, scrunching her brow down in concentration, but nothing was happening. Deep inside her, though, a furious effort of will was taking place while Olivia strained to hold together the three completed meta-elements as she laboriously crafted the pattern for pyrosteam. It was the hardest of the four, with the fire-attuned Energy fighting her every step of the way as she bent it around the water-attuned Energy. Still, she was doing it. She was halfway through the pattern by the fifth heartbeat, the other meta-elements still holding solid. She took a huge breath, and, letting her instincts take over, she flew through the second half.

Olivia opened her eyes, and they blazed with the fury of a white-hot sun—some kind of mixture of all her meta-elements. She looked directly at Professor ap’Gravin, and then four orbs burst into existence, orbiting each other in a complicated pattern over her extended palm. A ball of white, crackling arcfrost, one of shifting bubbling magma, another blue, roiling orb of super-heated plasma, and finally, a cloudy globe of pyrosteam that pulsed with a fury reminiscent of a thermite reaction.

Each sphere was about the size of a baseball, and the Energy seeping out from the combined forces was palpable. Some in the front row of the audience stood and scrambled backward among the exclamations and cheers that began to break out. Olivia closed her eyes and stopped the flow of Energy. The orbs dimmed and winked out but were replaced by a new light—extremely bright motes of Energy coalesced out of the air and surged into Olivia.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Orb Manipulation - Epic***

***Orb Manipulation - Epic: Prerequisite: Affinity - Fire, Affinity - Earth, Affinity - Air, Affinity - Water. You are able to conjure and manipulate orbs of pure meta-elemental force. Energy cost: 100 base (scalable.) Cooldown: Minimal.***

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 12. You have 5 attribute points to allocate. Your first Class selection is available to you. Warning! Your advancement is being held until you select your first class. Should you sleep or lose consciousness before selecting your Class, this advancement will be lost.***

Olivia ignored the notifications in front of her and watched ap’Gravin. His face had blanched a little, but he didn’t speak. He simply turned on his heel and marched out of the auditorium. Olivia glanced toward her cohort and saw them standing and cheering loudly. Most of the crowd was cheering—even novices understood, or rather couldn’t understand, what Olivia had done, and were caught up in the excitement that seemed to be infectious. Olivia scanned the crowd for the glowing blue eyes of Gwinna. When she finally spotted them, she stared at her rival, her own eyes still flaming, only very gradually cooling toward normal. Olivia grinned, teeth bared, as Gwinna broke first and stood to leave, turning away from her.

“...Incredible, Olivia!” Alyss was saying. Olivia had missed the first part of what she’d said, but she smiled, her face flushed, and reached out to take Alyss’s offered hand.

“Thank you!” Olivia couldn’t stop grinning.

“You didn’t mention that one! Do you realize what this means? I can’t think of anyone that can hold together four meta-elements like that. Don’t get me wrong; you still have a lot to learn, but your raw talent is exceptional. Word of this is going to spread. Oh, I hope...” She cut herself off and then motioned for Olivia to follow her. “Come with me, Olivia. Let’s go to my office so you can have some peace while you select your class. I’m assuming you leveled?”

“Three times!” Olivia laughed, and so did Alyss. Then, still holding Olivia’s hand, she turned to the audience and held Olivia’s arm high. Again, the crowd cheered. Olivia, acting on an impulse foreign to her, bowed with a flourish, then followed Alyss off the stage and through a side door.