Name Lily Syashan Deity Unidentifiable Oathholder Class 5 Membership Level 1 Membership Points 78 Name Jasmine Rayes Deity Igni / Nacea Oathholder Class 5 / requested to not disclose Membership Level 1 Membership Points 78

Two hours had passed since we’d returned from the Shuti, and while it was already pitch dark outside, the inside of the TAG was humming with activity, adventurers and administrators going to and fro. Alex and Lukas had elected to go home and get some rest after we’d received the payout for the job, but Jasmine and I had agreed that we were both overdue for a reevaluation.

“You caught up fast,” Jasmine said, glancing at the metal card I’d received. “Wow. I know you said you thought you’d increased your level, but…”

“You moved up a class too,” I said, flipping a couple coppers worth of tips to the man that ran oath evaluations. He’d told us of the failure of his magic to identify my god, explaining that the TAG simply did not evaluate third and fourth pantheon gods.

“You moved up three!” she exclaimed as we left the room, reentering the main lobby of the guild headquarters. “That has to be a record of some kind.”

“The earlier levels are easier to move up, I know that much,” I said. “It was probably all from killing the higher-class cultists in the Sinlen Pass.”

“That’s still incredible,” Jasmine said, shaking her head.

“Well, I still can’t really do anything with this,” I said. “You know more spells already, but all I know are the two basic ones intended for class one oathholders, and I’m not proficient at them.”

“And yet you’re decimating military-grade Altered with a single strike,” she said. “Give yourself some credit.”

“I have raw power, and that’s it,” I said. “You, Lukas, and even maybe Alex all outclass me in breadth and depth.”

Well, I still preferred using unstructured magic, and I was pretty sure that my handling of it far outclassed the others, but spells were faster and getting used to them would hopefully benefit my capabilties.

“That’s fixable,” she said. “Actually, that’s fixable in the near future.”

“How so?”

“Most nobles have tutors for fields other than education. Many of us have combat tutors, and those nobles that gain an oath early have tutors that train them in magical combat. The best of them were unfortunately made unavailable with the fall of House Byron, but I am still in contact with mine. He’s quite talented, and can likely assist you in expanding your repertoire.”

I tamped down hard on the sudden, blinding surge of emotion that came with an unexpected mention of my former house. Much as I hated to give my family any credit, it was true that we’d had the best teachers. We had been a militant family focused on combat even before the fool that had called himself my father had tried his hand at war, but while I’d trained extensively in conceptualizing magic and in mundane combat I had never gained access to our mixed combat tutors, having not committed to an oath before the fall of my House.

“Who’s your tutor?” I asked, pushing my recollections aside. “And are they nearby our location?”

“Closer than you may think,” Jasmine said. “You might know him as Professor James Lasi.”

“Professor Lasi?” I asked. “The one who helped run orientation and teaches Structuring Spells?”

“That’s the one,” Jasmine said. “He has his quirks, but he is an excellent teacher.”

“He was pretty hands-off when he was teaching,” I frowned. “I’m not sure I like that.”

“First-year classes are all like that,” Jasmine said, waving a hand. “Nobody is at great risk of harming themselves and they are yet to grow into the greatest part of their power. James is more involved in his higher classes and individual tutoring.”

“James?” The name sounded odd on her tongue.

“Yes, James. House Rayes hired him to be my tutor for three years, so we got familiar with each other. He’s a great guy, once you get to know him.”

Jasmine was speaking with real warmth in her voice. When I’d met her, I’d thought her expressions to be carefully manufactured, cold and calculated like so many other nobles tended towards. Over the couple of weeks we’d been adventuring together, though, she’d seemed genuinely nice and supportive, helping me and others even when there was less than nothing to be gained for her. She was either remarkably good at maintaining a facade even when vulnerable or just a truly decent person. A rarity in nobles, to be sure.

I wasn’t sure how to judge Alex and Lukas yet. Lukas had been friendly when I’d first met him, and he wasn’t a noble, even if he worked for one, which was a definite point for him. Alex, on the other hand, was, and while he too seemed to deviate from the norm when it came to Tayan nobility I was still unsure of him and I didn’t want to put my trust in him just to be burned again.

“Uhh… Lily?” Jasmine waved a hand in front of my face. “You there?”

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “So, tutoring with the professor? How much do I need to pay?”

“Nothing,” Jasmine said. “My family has paid him more than enough. If I ask with you, he’ll agree to do it for free.”

“Alright,” I said. “Lead the way.”

“Jasmine!” Professor Lasi exclaimed, getting out of his plush seat as we entered his office.

There was a pungent odor of alcohol overpowering every other sensation in this room, and I hid my displeasure, looking around and taking his office in. It was a simple affair, just a few bookshelves, chairs, and a desk.

That, and a copious selection of beers, wines, and spirits that must have brought a brewery hundreds of suns of profits. Bottles of every shape, size, and color were carefully arranged along his desk, inside a glass case, and even on the bookshelves.

“James,” Jasmine greeted him back warmly, meeting his greeting with a handshake.

I didn’t know what I had been expecting from the professor, but this had certainly not been it. He had a reputation among the student body, one of an ex-military hardass who had all too much composure for a university course, and I found that reputation a little hard to believe right now.

“I didn’t take the professor to be a drinker,” I said, wording my statement as politely as I could. I was still his student, after all.

“I keep it down well,” the man in question said, taking a swig from the flask nearest to him. “Going on forty years with this vice now, and it hasn’t killed me yet.”

He was sixty? He must have gotten some great benefits from his oath, then, because he looked less than half that.

“You sure try to help it,” Jasmine said, and the two of them laughed, her joke worn and comfortable from a long period of use between friends. “You don’t need to worry, Lily. He’s exceptionally competent.”

“I do alright,” the professor said. “So what are you looking for?”

“A magical combat instructor,” Jasmine said. “She’s struggling with structured spells.”

It was more of a general irritation with the practice than a struggle, but I declined to clarify.

“You’re looking for a magic tutor? Couldn’t just sit through class?” He sounded like a different man here in this office, his voice far more jovial than he’d been while teaching.

“Lily here advanced three classes in the last couple of weeks,” Jasmine said. “I was hoping you could update her education quickly, rather than expect her to wait through months of classes.”

“Gods above,” the professor said. “Three classes? How?”

“We adventure,” I provided. “I fought some, and I’m only class five now so I didn’t really gain all that much power.”

“Ah, young adventurers,” Lasi said, shaking his head with an emotion that almost could have been regret. “It’s a dangerous profession, you know?”

“I’m willing to lead a dangerous life,” I said in response.

“You remind me too much of a man I once knew,” Lasi sighed. “Haven’t you heard that there’s trouble on the horizon? That the Adventurer’s Draft will be used soon?”

“Yes, and I’ll deal with that when I get there,” I shrugged. “Will you be able to teach me or not?”

“It’s a primordial coming unsealed, you know,” Lasi said, breezing past my question. “That’s a dangerous proposition even for me, and I’m more than triple your class.”

“Can you tutor me?” I asked, getting a little annoyed. Ex-military or not, I really didn’t need someone thrice my age to lecture me on safety right now.

“Of course,” Lasi agreed immediately. “I owe the Rayes family my life, and any friend of Jasmine is a friend of mine. I do, however, have one condition.”

He waited expectantly, and when I didn’t respond to ask him what it was he sighed. “You kids these days are no fun. I need you to convince any adventurers at this school that you know to come to me if they get drafted.”

I raised an eyebrow. That was… odd, to say the least, but it didn’t require me to give anything up, which I had been testy about. “That works with me.”

“Thank you,” Lasi said, sitting back down and straightening his back. When he spoke again, his tone was of the professor that had taught me my first two spells. “Our curriculum will cover far beyond the basics that you will learn at this university. It will not be easy, but it will return results.”

“That works with me,” I said.

“Good. We can start tomorrow afternoon after I am done with class. You are dismissed.”

With that, we left, and when I glanced back at him I saw nostalgia in his eyes.

Tomorrow, then.

For now, I would return to my dorm, bidding Jasmine farewell, and prepare for the coming days.