Caeden and company were on one of the physical conditioning grounds near the Mess, the main building in the middle of Central Academies campus. They had picked this out as the most neutral location they could really use for the turnout they were hoping for. Being close to the middle, away from the Seats, made it more convenient for everyone while also sending the right message.

With them were twelve of Cat's spectral brutes. They were another type of specter she had made specifically for hauling around the equipment she needed to arm all her constructs. Giant, bulky, vaguely humanoid creatures that acted as living carts carrying crates full of equipment Caeden had made. They moved on four legs when loaded but could easily stand on two. Their backs were shaped into a divot so they could hold cargo easily.

All around, they looked like ghostly pale, giant gorillas with a wagon bed shaped into their back and featureless faces except for burning green eyes. Because of their excessive size, they cost Cat more shroud than her other specters. Right now, they were holding all the gear they planned on handing out to everyone who joined the Forged. It was an assortment of weapons with basic infusions and hundreds of copies of the ivory bamboo shirts he had designed. On their days off, Caeden had visited his uncle and worked with him to design efficient, consistent mass infusions for making all these weapons.

Now they were waiting for people to start showing up. It was late in the afternoon after most classes had ended. They wanted to give the news enough time to disseminate among the student population after their announcement in the Core Seat cafeteria yesterday. Despite all their planning, neither Caeden nor Lily had any solid turnout predictions. They knew each of the Seats had around a hundred students in their factions, so they were hoping to get around that many. In reality, they had no way of knowing how many people would come.

So they just waited.

"This is boring." Erik sighed. "What if no one shows up? I'm bored."

Caeden wanted to beat his head into a wall. Erik was one of the most reliable people he had ever met. He always had Caeden's back in and out of combat. That being said, sometimes he wanted to punt him bodily across campus, if only for some peace and quiet. Erik seemed to be allergic to silence. He also didn't do well with standing still.

Luckily, someone did show up. More than that, Caeden knew them and was happy to see them, even if he would have never expected them to show up. Walking toward them was the definition of an absolute unit of a man. He was nearly seven feet tall with biceps the size of a whole turkey. His torso could stand-in for a fridge in both mass and dimensions. Every single surface of his body was muscle on muscle on muscle.

"CAEDEN, MY FRIEND! GOOD TO SEE YOU!" An overwhelmingly cheery voice boomed across the empty space of the training field. Caeden walked out to meet him.

"Tracey," Caeden offered his arm up, the mountain of a man gripping his forearm and shaking like he wanted to rip it off, smiling massively the whole time. The bright white smile was infectious, and Caeden couldn't help responding in kind. "Good to see you. What are you doing here? I never would have expected you to come."

"Bahh, how could I not join when I heard my only good lifting partner was one of the founders? Besides, it sounds like fun!" Tracey slammed a dinner plate-sized hand onto Caeden's shoulder, laughing good-naturedly. Caeden and Tracey had become friends early on during the first two weeks of school when they found that no one else in their physical conditioning class could spot them when lifting weights. They always ended up lifting together as a consequence, which had evolved into something of a friendly rivalry. Each of them was constantly pushing the other to see who could lift more. It helped that both of them had shrouds they used to massively enhance their strength.

"So, I hear you're giving out infused gear, ehh? Where'd you get that from?" Tracey released his grip on Caeden and then turned to walk back toward the brutes and Caeden's friends, who were watching in mild amusement. They were all familiar with Tracey, of course.

"I made it all." Caeden laughed. He was sure that question was going to come up a lot. "Believe it or not, I'm a fully accredited master ethersmith. When they opened up the classes to us, I found out the school subsidizes everything a student uses during their cycle here at the Academy."

Tracey looked stunned. An expression Caeden had never seen on the big guy before. "...Damn."

Caeden nodded. "Yeah, It's supposed to be for training, so people new to the craft don't have to worry about the ether costs of learning. They never really expected a student to show up who was already a master smith. So I've been abusing the crap out of it, making as much as I can. We've stockpiled quite the arsenal at this point. What are you looking for?"

"The biggest axe you've got." Tracey smiled savagely. Caeden had never actually seen the man fight but imagined he was a force to be reckoned with. "I'm tired of all these family trash kicking my ass just because they have better gear. What am I supposed to do when they can cut through the weapons the school provides?" Tracey's massive mits curled into fists, frustration written across his face.

Caeden patted his shoulder. "I get that. Trust me, things are going to be different going forward. We've got a lot to talk about."

{}

After Tracey showed up, more students came pouring in. In fact, not even an hour later, they were looking at far more than their wildest dreams. The field was packed. Something Caeden hadn't even considered. There was way, way past one hundred students here now, wanting to join the Forged and get their equipment. They were lucky Caeden had been hammering out as much infused gear as he could, regardless of how much they thought they would need. He thought they had something like 500 shirts and roughly that many weapons, though the weapons were in a much wider variety.

The noise of so many people was a lot to handle. It was hard for them to communicate or coordinate with the mass of hopeful students to get that gear out. Fed up, Caeden turned to Tracey, who was wearing his new shirt and holding a two-handed axe with an earth infusion casually in one hand. "Could you get them to shut up?"

The big man laughed. "Sure thing, bossman."

"Caeden sighed. "Please don't call me that."

Tracey's full name was Tracey Loxodonta. His family was a minor one with strong ties to the military. Normally he would have joined the Ether Soldiers, but Tracey was a bit of a wild child by his own admission. Their family's signature shroud, and the one Tracey proudly held, was Elephant.

Tracey's already large body rapidly expanded. His bronzed skin tone, gained from all the outdoor exercise he did without a shirt on, took on a grey color, thickening into a tough hide as his bulk got even bulkier. Fully transformed, Tracey was a 20-foot-tall bipedal elephant-man with fully elephantine feet that could crush Caeden flat and human hands with fingers the diameter of Caeden's arm. Raising his head with his mighty trunk, Tracey filled his newly gigantic lungs with a deep inhale.

A sudden sense of foreboding overcame Caeden, and he infused his ears even as he covered them. Then Tracey extended his long trunk into the air and trumpeted. DA-DA-DAA! The short series of blasting notes boomed through the field, instantly silencing all conversation as those closest to the blast had an intense ringing in their ears following the three-note call.

"There you go, bossman!" Tracey's voice had changed, deepening even further from its baritone to something that caused Caeden's bones to vibrate as he spoke. He had a tuck-filled grin partially obscured by his elephantine trunk. He probably hadn't even noticed his trumpet blast deafening everyone nearby. Tracey was the very definition of a meathead, but he was such a kind and friendly guy you couldn't help but like him.

Caeden shook his head, unable to hold back a smile. "Thanks." Turning to the crowd, he held back a sigh. Now he had to do something he wasn't looking forward to. Caeden formshifted to his full golden body and addressed the hopeful students. Over the past few weeks, Caeden had finally managed to use Physical Enhancement as an aura, though he could only do so in small amounts. In this case, he used it to enhance the sounds his voice made, amplifying them. It wasn't anywhere near as effective as Tracey's elephant call, but hopefully, it would let people on the far side of the field hear him in the silence.

"Greetings, and welcome to all those who wish to join the Forged! We will be distributing armor and weapons shortly. To assist with that distribution, we require everyone to form an orderly line leading toward me. Have no fear; we have enough to supply everyone here. If your preferred weapon is not among our stock, approach one of us, and we will compose a list to be provided in the future. There will be one weapon and one piece of armor per person." Caeden deepened his voice, another trick he'd picked up, and spoke in a commanding, formal tone.

As his notoriety developed among the student populace, the people had ascribed a certain character to him. Apparently, he was seen as stern and brutal, with little emotion or sympathy. Someone who viewed others as beneath him. A cold, calculating man who would use his own body as a projectile to win a fight.

Of course, Caeden objected to that characterization of him. Everyone else thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately, playing into that stereotype of himself had proven effective. When Caeden went to ranking days projecting the air of authority and superiority people ascribed to him, he found they were more likely to surrender in a fight instead of pushing on. He could literally intimidate people into giving up on reputation alone. Lily had encouraged him to try taking on this persona, and now he felt stuck with it. After all, when people surrendered more quickly, it meant Caeden had to hurt them less, which he was all for.

So here they were, with Caeden forced to act the part. It was so antithetical to his normal personality that he sometimes had difficulty applying it, but the students had certain expectations, especially those here. Lily had explained that while the students found his persona intimidating, the ones trying to join the Forged would be comforted, reminded of the power that would be backing them if they joined.

Instantly, everyone began sorting themselves out. Caeden wasn't sure if it was simply being given directions or the impact of having one of the top ten ranked shrouded in the Academy giving you orders, but everyone fell into line and there was no arguing about who went before whom. They just got in line. Unfortunately, that line was so long that it started to loop around the field, which created some confusion.

Seeing this, Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll go handle it. Just stand here and look impressive, gold boy." She snickered as she walked away, carrying Snowball along with her. Sky was perched on her shoulder, staring down everyone who looked her way.

Many students she passed stared and whispered. Lily had her own reputation. Though she was in second place, her fighting style led to her being seen as a mysterious figure. Adding to that, Lily was surprisingly guarded against students outside their group. Caeden had figured her immediate friendly response to them had been out of a general sense of friendliness, but he couldn't have been more wrong. This sense of mystery around her was amplified by the fact that the two months since school started had been very kind to Lily's appearance. The formerly borderline anorexic girl with a shy, defensive demeanor had vanished entirely. Lily had blossomed into a beautiful young woman who strode confidently through a crowd of her peers, completely uncaring of their presence.

Her increased beauty led to increased attention, which mixed with her mysterious persona to create an image of unapproachable glamor. Rumors, completely fraudulent ones, told of students approaching her with confessions of love, only to be frozen solid. Ultimately, Lily's persona culminated in the title granted by her admirers and detractors alike, Ice Queen.

Unlike Caeden, Lily embraced her title and leaned into it, as it meant people left her alone. To Caeden, it appeared Lily had achieved her own ideal environment. She had a small group of close friends whom she saw and interacted with regularly, and everyone else fucked off and left her in peace. He was happy for her, immensely so. She had yet to truly talk to him or anyone else in their group about what exactly had happened to her before coming here, but the effects it had on her seemed to be a distant memory. He was hoping the Forged would help keep things that way and keep her brother far off.

With Lily's sharp commands smoothing out any problems in the line, distribution went smoothly. Caeden remained in his full formshift and did his best to look regal and aloof, even if he felt incredibly ridiculous. That feeling only intensified with all the awe he observed in every student who passed him, holding the gear he had personally forged.

After nearly a half-hour of things going smoothly, something finally went wrong. A commotion started near the entrance to the field with some kind of shouting match going on. At first, Caeden assumed some argument about new students coming in and seeing the line had happened. That was, until a group of people with Seat pins shoved their way in, beelining for Caeden. Besides the pins, all of them had the sword and shield design of the Metal Knights sewn into their robes in bronze-colors stitching, standing out prominently against the black and white of the Academy colors.

At their head was none other than David Mercuria, leader of the Metal Knights and 5th in the school rankings. He was of average height and build, with strong, blocky features and tanned skin tone. His dark black hair was cut short and close in a way that made Caeden think it wasn't something he put any time or care into. His expression was a mix of pride and indignation. Caeden didn't think he was here to congratulate them on forming their new faction.