“You alright, man?” Theo took a step back and watched the school’s newest mage collect himself. In his shock, Gust’s dark eye flew open and Theo’s easy smile faded. For once, he didn’t know what to say.

When Gust’s heart rate returned to normal, he couldn’t help but laugh. He knew he was in for a repeat of that same reaction as everyone noticed his changes. He explained as quickly as possible, then pointed toward the board full of missions which he finally had access to.

“So, I think you understand why I’m here.”

Theo let out a long whistle as his mana sense confirmed some of what Gust told him. “Well, look at that! I’ve never seen heard of someone opening a meridian so quickly, but you aren’t just anyone. A Demon, and the disciple of one of the greatest swordsmen in history. Talk about lucky.”

Gust scratched the back of his head and affected an awkward expression. “I don’t know if almost getting killed is lucky, but I survived so I’ll take it.”

“That’s the spirit! So, you’ll be a renegade, so what? The Patrons won’t hold it against you. Most of them, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

Theo pointed up at the Patrons’ mural. “You looked worried a second ago. I know it might be strange taking the Swordsman’s path, but don’t sweat it! Only the most devout will hold it against you. Like Oba,” he smirked and shook his head.

Gust was actually worried about the Patrons slowly torturing him to death for having the gall to stand up to them, but he didn’t need to share that with Theo.

“Think of it this way,” the curly headed boy continued, “the Patrons’ paths are studied everywhere. Our school follows Pestilence and the Mother, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have manuals from the rest. A fight becomes far easier when you know your enemy’s path, so we’re encouraged to read as much as we can. Every renegade is distinct, though, so you can use that to your advantage. Oh, and follow me.” He turned and walked into a supply room while Gust waited in the doorway.

It hadn’t crossed his mind that other mages would hate him for being a renegade, but plenty already hated him for being a Demon, so what difference did it make? He noted Theo’s words anyway, as it would be good to figure out Isaac’s path, then read up on it.

“Thanks for the tip. What’s your path, by the way?” After a short pause, Gust added. “That’s not rude, is it? Master Ephraim keeps correcting me on stuff like that.”

As he spoke, Gust opened his mana sense. He remembered that Locke noticed when he scanned the blonde mage’s soul, so Gust merely observed the glowing lines in Theo’s body. As he suspected, the boy didn’t notice.

Theo had the same meridian opening at his heart and flowing toward his hands, but there was more. Another path surrounded the heart and split toward the left and right. These two paths looped down near the lungs and back up, where they connected to the pathways leading down Theo’s arms.

“Earth Avatar Maturation,” Theo answered with a grin. “I won’t be able to manifest an avatar until my source forms, but when I do it’ll be like fighting with two bodies at once! I like you, so I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He held up his forearms, “Avatars tend to develop wills of their own. These chains will help me keep it in check.”

“Hold on, you can clone yourself? That’s possible?” Gust asked with wide eyes.

Theo laughed. “Not a clone, more like a copy made of earth mana. You should read up on it in case we ever spar. Not like you’d stand a chance anyway,” he teased.

“Hey, you don’t know what Demon Blades in the Void can do!”

“Yeah, but neither do you, so I think I’m safe.”

While Gust laughed at that, Theo found something he was looking for and returned. He raised his hands to display fine robes with more intricate gold branches than Gust’s old version. “Here we are! The colors are associated with your path’s Patron, in case you haven’t noticed. Purple for Pestilence, green for the Mother, gold for everyone else. Throw these on while I find your new sash.”

Gust blinked and nodded. Despite the momentary distraction, he felt ecstatic. He had never taken a martial arts class growing up, but the belt-based ranking system always interested him. Gust felt proud of the work he put in over the past weeks as he removed his old, tattered robes. The new version was softer, with wider sleeved and legs which made movement smoother.

When he was finished dressing, Theo tied the new sash around Gust’s waist. It was green, with one tassel. As Gust looked down at it, his eyes widened, and he felt like an idiot.

He didn’t need to use his mana sense to know what level anyone’s cultivation was at. He just needed to use his eyes. Theo’s green sash had two tassels, and the most Gust had seen was three. That meant the purple sash represented the fourth level of Pathway Establishment, with another level for each tassel after the first.

Gust handed in the old gray sash he received on his first day and followed Theo into his office. While they continued their conversation, Gust looked at a strange chart on the wall.

On the left side of this chart, there were ten boxes containing small signs of the five elements. In descending order, they read fire, earth, metal, water, and wood, then it repeated again in the same order. There were many boxes to the right, ending with number 121. Some of Theo’s handwriting covered these boxes, seemingly at random.

“Every time you advance a level, come back and you’ll get a sash with an extra tassel,” Theo was saying. His face scrunched up, “You’re gonna make us all look bad, man. I can’t believe it’s only a been a few weeks and you’re already almost catching up to me.” There was more disappointment than envy in the young man’s voice.

Gust didn’t need to put on an act to appear awkward now. He was well aware of his unique situation and his most immediate goal was to lay low while he practiced his new cultivation methods and spell.

Something had been bothering him, however. Gust held out a hand. “Wait, you said I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I’ve been counting the days. It’s been at least a month or two!”

Theo blinked and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the chart behind him. “Uh, no it hasn’t. What day did you get here?”

“May 9th…”

Theo gave him a weird look, then shook his head. One of his fingers found the first symbol that looked like gleaming metal, then followed its boxes to the right. He tapped. “No, it was around the 100th day of Rising Water, give or take a few. I can’t believe I didn’t write that down,” he chided himself.

Gust’s jaw dropped. He pointed at the huge chart in amazement. It had to have over a thousand boxes! “That’s a calendar?”

“Well, yeah. Haven’t you ever seen one before?”

Instead of answering, Gust froze. He thought back on Saith’s words about time being different on every layer, and they took on a new meaning. “What day is it?” he asked lightly.

“The 42nd of Rising Wood,” Theo replied simply.

Gust only sighed. “Why did I think I knew anything about this world?”

Now that he knew what it was, this chart made sense. There were ten months, one for the rising and falling version of each element, with 121 days each. As Gust looked more closely, he saw four boxes shaded with different colors which denoted the start of each season. “Your year is 1210 days long?” He asked. Gust knew the answer, but he just had to hear it.

Theo shrugged. “Sure, expect leap years.” When Gust covered his face with his hands, Theo continued. “Uh, we have those on odd-numbered years, skipping every fourth.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Gust thought. The strangely long year was a small adjustment, compared to mana. Autumn wouldn’t come for more than another month. On the 20th of Falling Water. Just saying the words in his mind made Gust’s head spin.

Instead of dwelling on it, he changed the subject. “Why do the Masters keep you cooped up all day? They must be afraid of how powerful you could be, else they’d let you take twice as many missions as Oba!” Gust was just joking, but it just made the other boy’s mood worse.

Theo scoffed. “I love Oba but he’s just… everything they want him to be. It’s hard to compare, you know? People like him never stop working. The Masters took away his daily responsibilities so he could be of better use to the school and now he’s just leaving me further and further behind.”

“Sure, but when he moves on to harder work, won’t they need someone to take his place? That could be you, man!”

Theo shrugged. “More likely Isaac. After Oba, he’s the strongest at the fourth level. You should have seen the two of them at the last tournament.” Theo shook his head. “I wouldn’t last two seconds. Never mind the higher students. Nathaniel’s terrifying.”

“Oh, right. You mentioned tournaments once. When’s that?”

Theo pointed to the first of Rising Metal on his calendar. It had already passed, so the next tournament wouldn’t be for several months. “Students of each level compete to see who’s best. And who the Masters should pay most attention to,” he added with derision. “Maybe if I won the second level, they’d let me out of here, but I barely get any practice in!”

“Do they not let you do any missions?”

“My place is here,” Theo said without a shred of enthusiasm. He placed his hand on the thick stack of papers that was the chore ledger. “I can barely keep track of what everyone else is doing, never mind bother with my own missions or cultivation. I get more merits than anyone else my level, but it’s not enough to make up for what I’m missing! It’s bullshit! Why don’t they just snap my fucking meridians while they’re at it!”

Theo slammed his palms against the table, then buried his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, man. I really am happy for you; you’re just like the rest of us now, right? It just… sucks,” he shook his head.

Gust nodded but didn’t know what to say. He worried his progress would put a target on his back, but he didn’t realize it would make other students feel so hopeless. He walked over to the ledger and flipped through a few pages. “How do you make all these decisions, anyway?”

There were several sections in the gigantic book. One part had an entry for each of the several hundred members of the sect. It detailed known strengths, weaknesses, spells, responsibilities, completed missions, and more. Another section listed the jobs to be completed every day, as well as the people assigned to those jobs.

Theo sighed. “The high students take care of themselves and send someone to update me once a month. Whenever someone wants to accept a mission, they let me know, but there are always urgent missions which the Masters want done, but won’t do themselves. Of course,” he scoffed. “So, I have to find someone and make sure everyone takes care of their regular work in the meantime,” he slumped back in his chair.

“Could you use a hand?” The more Gust looked through all the information, the more it looked like a puzzle. It reminded him of logic problems in math class, where the problem would provide a set of information, then ask you to figure out the rest. They weren’t exactly fun but Gust did find them satisfying.

It was a simple offer, but from the way Theo reacted, Gust could have been offering to save his life. “You’d do that?” Suddenly, he shook his head. “Forget it, you have the entire courtyard to clean!”

Gust waved a hand through the air. “As long as you promise not to give me more work, I don’t mind telling you Locke and I have been getting faster. Now that I’m a mage, we might be able to finish by midday.”

Theo made a choking sound, then grinned like he had just joined in on a conspiracy. “You son of a bitch! That’s why you’re advancing so fast, you have more free time than a fucking Master!” That was an exaggeration, but Gust didn’t bother to correct it. “Fine, I’ll let you help but this place is a mess. There’s so much going on I can barely keep my head straight, most days.”

“I can tell,” Gust quipped without moving his eyes away from the book.

Theo punched him in the arm. “Oh, shut up. Tell you what, to pay you back for this I’ll teach you a little trick of mine to help refine your Mage Hand.”

Gust perked up. “Really? You can do that?”

“What? Of course, I can. Not everything comes out of a library or a Master,” Theo chuckled. “Watch this.”

He abruptly patted his bag of holding and a quill flew out. He glanced at Gust’s waist and shook his head. “You’ll need to start carrying your bag around with you.”

Theo used his Mage Hand on the small, feathered quill. It slowly rose into the air and began to write Theo’s name on a blank piece of paper. It looked like a kindergartener used their non-dominant hand, but it was legible.

Theo’s brow pulled down and he squinted. “This… is much harder than you’d think.” He stopped and took a few deep breaths. When his name was fully written, Theo held it up proudly.

Gust blinked a few times at the sloppy handwriting. The way he said, “Nice,” was decidedly unimpressed.

Theo rolled his eyes. “Oh, why don’t you try it then? Lifting things and putting them down is easy enough, but the light touch required to write your name without snapping that quill required months of training. If I wasn’t stuck in this room all day, I probably wouldn’t even be able to do it.” He pulled a different quill out of a drawer nearby, “Actually, use this one. I like mine.”

Gust sneered, then focused on the quill. He held out his hands and cycled mana into them. As his Mage Hand manifested, Gust tried to put as little mana into it as possible. When he tried to lift the quill, though, it snapped immediately.

After another minute, and half a dozen broken quills, Gust was beginning to sweat and breathing heavily.

“Not so easy, is it?” Theo said with a smug grin. “It might seem like I sit on my ass all day, but even that can be a good workout when you know what to do.”

“Point… taken.”