“Well, I hope we don’t get landed with him if we’re still at Blackmist next year,” Damien said. “I don’t think he likes me much.”

“He doesn’t like anyone,” Sean replied, sitting down beside them and tapping the rune circle on the table to activate it. “At least he’s got a reason to dislike you.”

“Do you know what the tournament rewards are?” Sylph asked, setting down her empty skewer and starting on another. “They haven’t told us yet, and it would be nice to know if it’s going to be worth much.”

“For first place? It should be pretty hefty, even if it’s just the Year One prize. I’d expect a good amount of credits, some medicinal plants, and a small sum of gold,” Sean said. “I’ve never actually placed first. The highest I got was a semifinalist in Year Two, and the reward for that was pretty solid.”

“That’s a relief,” Damien said. “We need a door.”

“Among other things,” Sylph agreed.

Sean chuckled. His rune circle lit up and he tapped it. A plate of steak and potatoes appeared on the table before him. “I know what you mean. It’s good to get one now to get ahead of the curve.”

He trailed off, remembering something. Then his face cleared and he gave them a wide grin. “But we’re not meant to talk much about what you’ll see in Year Two, as it’ll cheapen the experience or some equally stupid garbage. Either way, I’m not trying to get on the professors’ bad sides, so I’ll stop there.”

That was the worst thing he could have said, as now Damien very much wanted to know what happened in Year Two. However, Sean clearly wasn’t going to give him any information on the topic so he didn’t press it. “Say, do you know why nobody eats here?”

Sean glanced up, something sparkling behind his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Well, there are a lot of students at the college, but the mess hall never gets overcrowded,” Damien said. “They’ve got to be eating somewhere else.”

“You’re right,” Sean said. “A lot of students hunt their own meals. The forest to the east side of campus has quite a few low to mid level monsters. Eating them is good for your body and helps you grow your core. However, most Year Ones aren’t ready to fight monsters, so it isn’t encouraged until Year Two.”

“Not encouraged, but not against the rules?” Sylph asked.

“Nah, you’re welcome to if you want,” Sean said, taking a large bite out of his steak.

Damien and Sylph exchanged a glance.

“Why do you eat in the mess hall if the monsters in the forest are better?” Damien queried.

“Hunting is a pain, and my powers aren’t suited for it,” Sean replied, taking another bite of steak. “Besides, who wants to spend all their time running around a forest? It’s time consuming and tiring. I’ll hunt every once and a while, but the improvements just aren’t worth the effort for me. I’m not planning on being a combat mage anyways.”

“Fair enough,” Damien agreed, finishing off the last dumpling in one large bite.

Sylph finished her own meal a few moments later. They exchanged another minute or so of small talk with Sean before bidding the older boy farewell and heading back up to their room.

Nolan and the Gray siblings weren’t there yet. Damien’s headache had already abated and he could feel that his Ether reserves were nearly full once again.

“I think I might as well continue expanding our room,” Damien said. “I don’t think I’ve got the brainpower to try to learn a new spell right now, so menial labor sounds perfect. It’ll help my cultivation anyways.”

“I won’t stop you,” Sylph said. “I’ve got to practice my own cultivation.”

She headed into the first training room and sat down, closing her eyes and starting to meditate. Damien continued through the hallway, stepping into the room-in-progress behind it. He channeled a single mote of Ether out through his palm, creating an orb of destructive energy, and got to work on the walls.

Within him, Henry stirred for the first time in hours. Slowly, like a cat waking up from a long nap in the sun, the eldritch creature let out a yawn.

Hello, Henry. You’ve been out of it for a while.

“I had to make sure the Dean wasn’t going to drop by and give you a surprise visit,” Henry replied. “Drawing her attention wasn’t wise.”

I know. I realized that about a second too late. There isn’t much I can do about it now.

Henry sighed. “If you thought things through before you did them, we’d rule half the Mortal Plane already. I’ll admit, it was smart to buy the girl time. You weren’t going to beat her, and you certainly weren’t going to beat the wild boy. This way, she feels even more indebted to us.”

That’s not why I did it. The better we both do, the more we can get. She’s on my team, remember?

“And she owes you more than she can pay back in quite some time,” Henry said, his voice smug. “She will be useful.”

You should put that spark of humanity to work and figure out what a friendship is. It’ll help you out in the long run. Not everyone has to be a tool or an enemy.

“Hm. We’ll see,” Henry said noncommittally. “Regardless, your performance was adequate today. You displayed a decent amount of critical thinking skills if we pretend you didn’t bring us to the attention of a woman that might be able to see me if she tries hard enough.”

Thanks. I think.

Henry chuckled and retreated into the back of Damien’s mind once again. Damien just sighed and redoubled his efforts, forming an orb in his other hand and tearing through the wall like it was made out of paper.