After some debate, they decided to send everyone back to their Seats for the night. It was the middle of the week, and everyone had classes tomorrow. Instead, they would reconvene on the next free day and figure out what to do with over four hundred students the four of them were now responsible for. Really, they just needed time to think. Caeden and Lily had massively underestimated the turnout they would get.

So the next three days were spent planning and bouncing ideas back and forth, trying to come up with a good solution. The ultimate problem they had was a combination of territory and unity. The other factions had both a territory to call their own and a sense of unity based on that territory. They were from a specific Seat. That was it. That one simple fact gave them a sense of camaraderie and relatability among the ranks. The Forged couldn't rely on that as a base. They had people from every Seat, after all.

An organization only lasted as long as every member felt they agreed with the direction of that organization and understood why they were a part of it. For the Forged, Caeden and Lily needed to come up with a way to inspire that sense of belonging and unity in their ranks, or everything would fall apart before it even began. David had proven that the Forged would be targeted merely for existing. If people didn't have a reason to stay, they would leave at the first sign of trouble.

They had already started on this path. Providing free weapons and armor was a solid incentive to stay. However, that was a surface benefit. The members of every Seat faction weren't fighting each other all over campus because they got some sweet gear. They all had a sense of pride in their faction and the notion that they were the best of the bunch. It fed their ego. For bored young adults with god-like powers, that was the only reason they needed to fight. That wasn't the direction they wanted to take the Forged.

When they gathered once more in the exact same physical conditioning field by the Mess, Caeden had a speech ready. They knew what they wanted the Forged to be about.

"Forged." Caeden's voice boomed out. He could use Physical Enhancement on his lungs and vocal cords to boost the sound. "Welcome back. We decided to end after just handing out equipment last time so that all of you might get a chance to use it. I'm sure most of you found the infused weapons and armor useful yesterday during your ranking matches. I'm also sure some of you are wondering what the catch is."

He paused for a moment, letting that thought settle into hundreds of heads. He looked out over the packed field, seeing more than a little fear. Most of these people were used to being abused and attacked by everyone stronger than them. "You're wondering what we want from you now that you have free equipment. Because nothing is ever free. I'm sure most of you expect us to act as the other factions do and joined out of desperation. We've seen them as well. Every single Seat pressuring and bullying everyone into fighting everyone else, all so they can claim to be the best. That's not what we want."

Caeden shook his head. Confused mutterings ran through the throng. He could almost taste the question in the air. What did they want? "We don't want some stupid pissing contest with every other faction as they desperately try to get ahead in some made-up game of prestige and honor while everyone under us shatters and breaks under the pressure of our expectations and demands. No. We want to fix the system."

That got people talking, the small mutterings rising to a dull roar. "The world we live in is dangerous and violent, with monsters on every continent and enemy nations coming for our heads. The Academy decided to build a system where only the best survive. They don't care about anyone who doesn't make the cut. That's just wrong. They're fine with all of you, all those who don't have the knowledge or the training to succeed, being broken under the heels of those born with advantages you couldn't dream of.

The Forged is for you; the people left behind. Left in pieces to rot while the others fight meaningless battles over nothing. The Forged will take what's broken and make something better. We're going to teach you how to abuse the system, just like all the other factions do, and we'll do it better. Do you want to know why?"

Caeden could see it rising in the crowd, a sense of indignation and suppressed anger at things they couldn't change. A long dead, and buried hope for something better underneath it all. They were watching him, looking for a way to survive, to succeed. "We're going to do better than they ever could for two reasons. First, because they have no idea what it's like to lose, over and over again, until you forget what it means to win, and then keep going anyway. They don't know what failure is or what real sacrifice means."

The anger and resentment were rising all across the field. With it came something new. A gritty, beaten sense of pride. Not the empty, vacuous pride the Seat factions fought for, but the pride in real actual effort and perseverance. Pride in one's own achievements, in surviving. There was a lot of nodding and some yells of agreement with what Caeden was saying.

"Second, and most important. WE ARE TOGETHER!" Caeden roared. "Look around you! Everyone here has suffered as you have! They know your pain! We come together, not for some empty pride, but to survive and thrive! WE ARE TOGETHER!" Caeden yelled once more, thrusting his fist into the air. Many took up his cry, screaming along with him. "WE ARE THE FORGED!"

This time, everyone was with him, all crying out in a unified voice, shouting against everyone and anyone that would tell them they were useless, or inferior, or broken. They were the Forged.

They would take what was broken and make something better.

{}

Caeden's speech was a resounding success, and what followed only cemented that. He explained how the Academy didn't provide information to the students and forced them to go looking for it themselves and how the families cheated by telling their children these secrets ahead of time. There was a lot of justified anger following that revelation, as many students realized that the game had been rigged from the start.

Caeden gave a basic explanation of mnemonics, embodiment, and infusion. He explained how the four of them had been spending their time growing the abilities they felt comfortable with as quickly as possible. For many, it was a revelation. Most students had come to the Academy assuming the school would attempt to promote their growth as efficiently as possible. That the place was instead designed to draw out the best and brightest and only let them succeed was enraging.

Many had been spending time in classes that gave them minimal benefits under the assumption that they were learning critical techniques and information. Instead, the school wanted everyone to form their own curriculum to suit themselves, which was almost counterintuitive. The idea was obvious when you thought about how unique shrouds and their shrouded were. How could a school possibly develop an efficient curriculum for such diverse abilities and personalities? But most of those gathered here hadn't questioned the curriculum and assumed the school was teaching them in good faith.

The next thing Caeden did was the real show-stopper and immediately got every Forged thinking. He started organizing everyone into groups based on what Seat they were from, what types of combat they wanted to pursue, and what kind of shroud they had. Instantly, everyone in the Forged had a group of like-minded students that were near them and had the same goals. They now had practice partners and people to bounce ideas off. More than that, because the Forged was such a large group, if they wanted to practice against another type of shrouded, they could invariably find them here.

Caeden was constantly reinforcing the idea of mutual protection and support. They weren't trying to fight the other groups. That was playing the same game they were. No, the objective of the Forged was to be left out of the other factions' conflicts and to defend each other from attack. It was an easy idea for them to pull off because the Forged, as a faction, had no territory. Most of the battles between the other factions were based on them carving out a fourth of the school grounds around their Seat and saying other factions had to pay to enter. Then they would fight over borders just because they wanted to pick a fight.

Since the Forged wouldn't be claiming any territory or asking for tolls, the other factions would have fewer pretenses to attack them. They could focus on closing the power gap the first few months of school had opened. But, it was a given that the factions would come up with reasons to attack the Forged and its members despite all that. They could only limit attacks, not completely end them. For that, Caeden and Lily had brainstormed a solution.

They needed someone at each Seat to manage and defend the less powerful students in the Forged. For reference, from a quick round of questions and raised hands, Caeden found out that over half of their members had a control of one or two and an Invasion Pressure of under 1,000. They were easy pickings for family-raised powerhouses like those in the Seat factions.

To that end, Caeden had everyone from each group run through a series of mini-duels. Quick and simple fights to single out the strongest from each Seat. Those that emerged at the top would be their four division commanders. They would act as a mouthpiece for the students from their Seat and interact directly with Caeden and his group. That way, Forged from every Seat had someone close on hand who could reasonably handle themselves in a fight to fall back on if they were getting harassed.

This gave birth to the division commanders. Funnily enough, one student from each Seat proved to excel above the others by a fair margin. Caeden would bet they ranked in the top 100 students within a few months, now that they had better equipment and better training methods. Many students that occupied the top ranks were there by virtue of better knowledge and infused gear rather than actual combat ability. Now that these four had the opportunity to close the gap, it wouldn't be long before they ousted the less skilled high-rankers.

They ended up with two creature shrouds, one modifier, and one object shroud. From the Core Seat, Tracey Loxodonta won with overwhelming might. He had an incredible knack for infusion, specifically defensively. He could make his elephant hide so durable that he could shrug off attacks even Caeden would want to dodge. Of course, his speed wasn't anywhere near what Caeden could manage, and he lacked range, but those limitations could be made up for with better equipment and proper strategy.

The Entropy Seat revealed an interesting character. Demaro Aurora was from a minor family in a similar position to Tracey's. They were better off than some islanders but weren't part of the upper echelons and all that entailed. His shroud was Black, as in the color. All of his family seemed to produce variants of the visible spectrum as modifiers. Based on his domain alone, Caeden wouldn't have been impressed. He was even physically unassuming, with a short build, only 5'6" and on the skinny side. Underestimating him would have been a massive mistake, because Demaro was the purest example of why domain didn't matter.

He used a similar strategy to Lily and modified the air around him until it was pitch black. That wasn't what made him formidable, though. Demaro had apparently received training before coming to the Academy. He was incredibly skilled with a variant of the single-edged sword called the katana, a variant that Caeden had never seen. It specialized in cutting power of piercing attacks. His skill with the weapon was frightening. Even more, he had developed his infusion skills to a respectable level, despite having an aura shroud. He was formidable, despite lacking a combat-oriented domain.

Perhaps an even more surprising division commander emerged from the Bronze Seat. Jared was a continental, just like Caeden. In fact, the continent he hailed from was one of the 'breadbaskets' like Arturus, Caeden's home continent. They were both major food producers. Jared himself was more heavyset than anyone Caeden had seen in the Academy. Not overly heavy, but he definitely had some weight to him that wasn't muscle. He had an embarrassed, timid demeanor that made him feel non-threatening.

His shroud was Powder. He had built up his control of it back home in the bakery his family ran, producing vast quantities of flour. It was a broad domain, capable of producing any substance in a powdered form. During the mock fights, he surrounded himself with a sphere of powdered glass that he kept suspended in the air. It was nearly invisible and devastatingly damaging. They were lucky Erik was on hand, as several of Jared's opponents were heavily injured trying to get to him. His control over his shroud was in the 7th tier, even higher than Caeden's. He was on equal terms with Erik.

The winner from the Sun Seat was obvious the moment she stepped up to fight. Evelyn held the Raptor creature shroud, and she used it to devastating effect. An aura user, unlike Tracey, she had a flight of various birds of prey with her, all monsters of different elemental varieties and with different powers. Everyone she fought didn't know what hit them. The birds would come in on steep dives with elemental-enhanced claws. At such high speeds, it was difficult to dodge. With seven birds all coordinated through Evelyn, there was no escape.

With the four division commanders set up to meet with their Seat's Forged every night and touch base, and the commanders set to meet with Caeden's group twice a week, they now had a solid chain of command and an easy way to keep track of which other factions were trying to attack them more. Caeden was glad he and Lily had gone over this for a few days. Setting up a system to govern and regulate four hundred people in a way that protected them and helped them grow was daunting. There would definitely be problems, but hopefully, they were on the right path to making the Academy a better place.