The second day of classes was both similar and different from the first.

It started out much the same, a line of tired students lining up for the sweet, sweet nectar of the gods they called coffee. Or that was what Emyr hailed it as with devout reverence when Alistair placed a mug in his hands. Liliana and Alistair dutifully dragged their two friends along with them, first to the cafeteria to get breakfast, where they were blessedly left alone this time, then to class.

Everyone settled into the same seats, and the more perceptive of them noted that their names were engraved on the desks. A neat thing, but Liliana wondered how easy it was to change, when the Academy didn’t expect most of them to keep their seats.

Homeroom started soon after the last of the students meandered into the room, Professor Vereign nodding slightly when he saw that all of them were sitting quietly. He spent the first half of their homeroom reminding them of the deadline for elective selection and the club fair that would be held during the last two days of the week, then giving them the rest of homeroom to finish any homework.

“Psst,” Liliana hissed softly at Emyr after Professor Vereign had settled down to do paperwork.

He didn’t seem to mind if students talked, at a very low whisper. Anything above that would earn a reproachful glare, and if the student didn’t stop, a sharp barked call of their name.

“Hm?” Emyr hummed, tilting his body just ever so slightly to let Liliana know he was paying attention to her, even if his eyes never left the notebook he was jotting down notes in.

Liliana tossed a piece of paper to him and he ignored it for a moment, finishing his sentence before he grabbed it and opened it. Emyr read over the note quickly before he tucked it into his notebook, producing a blank piece of paper that he wrote on quickly. In minutes, it was folded and tossed onto Liliana’s desk.

Liliana opened the note and smiled down at it. She and Emyr hadn’t had a chance yet to sit down and talk about what they’d learned about other students yet. Liliana was too busy trying to fill every minute, not spent eating or sleeping, with training or learning.

She’d remembered, or more aptly, Polaris had remembered for her, that note passing was a popular thing in the high school dramas she’d watched once upon a time. Truly, Polaris loved watching her memories of those and any other dramas she’d watched. She had considered taking him to see plays before, the closest thing she could get to a movie in this world. His fixation with the shows she remembered could be at times detrimental, but now it was useful, like with the idea of note passing. It was both an experience she should get to experience and a useful way to trade information with Emyr.

Good info on Mildenhall. Didn’t know she was an Earl’s daughter. Means she’s likely from the South, as we don’t see them in the North often, even for the Royal’s balls there. Same reason we don’t go South. Have seen her hanging around Zindru a bit though, so it’s telling.

You should know, Zindru is the son of the Southern Duke Zindru. Heir too, set to take the Duchy when his dad passes, which, seeing as the man is over 300 years old, isn’t that far off. He’s fairly popular in the southern circles from what I’ve seen because of his rank. Not a bad ally to have. He’s fairly even-tempered as best I can tell. Don’t have anything else on him yet. Seems to like the company of Eaglebow though, so maybe we’ll see an engagement when they come of age?

Liliana slid the paper into her own notebook that existed solely for the purpose of information on classmates. She tapped her fingers against the wood of the table for a moment as she considered the request she wanted to make. Emyr was amazing at gathering information, a gift that wasn’t to be underestimated. But she wondered, if she asked him to gather intel on Diana, would fate tug at the strings of his life and draw him into her orbit?

She found herself wondering, as she often did, how much fate mattered. How strong its pull was. Or if it even existed, if the game was fate, or if it was just some person’s interpretation of events that the gods had seen happen and were trying to stop. Would things have happened the same as the game if she never came here? Or would Emyr and Alistair have never befriended Marianne, Diana and Zir’elon? Or if they did, was it not because of fate and just because originally their personalities had meshed so well?

She couldn’t see the Alistair she knew now getting along with arrogant, prejudiced Zir’elon. Couldn’t see her sweet, sometimes over-protective brother befriending anyone who looked down on her. In fact, after she’d told him of what had happened the day previously over breakfast, her voice hushed to avoid it getting around the class, he’d looked ready to spring to his feet and challenge Zir’elon to duel then and there. Even now, she could see him shooting suspicious, dirty glares at the Dæmon prince.

She couldn’t see Emyr, who was loyal to a fault, who held a grudge like no one else, befriending Zir’elon either. In fact, once he’d heard of the events, his eyes had imperceptibly narrowed, lips twitching into a small, wicked smirk that promised something far more painful than a simple duel. Marianne, sweet, fierce Mari, had sniffed and frowned, but Liliana suspected the princess could be as vicious as the boys in their group if she so chose. Her little show during Battle Training the day before certainly led one to think so.

But Diana? She had done nothing to any of them, nothing that would give a reason for the others to not befriend her. She was… nice. In a sickeningly sweet kind of way, that made Liliana’s skin crawl like she’d just had fire ants dumped on her. It sounded insane to say someone was too nice. Marianne was perhaps the sweetest person she’d ever met, and Liliana adored her. But Marianne’s sweetness was tempered with a sharp wit, a sweet tongue that hid carefully crafted insults and a vicious streak a mile wide, if someone knew the right buttons to press to uncover it.

Suffice to say, Marianne’s sweetness felt real, because it wasn’t all she was. But Diana, it felt like that was all she was. Like she’d taken the word ‘nice’ and decided to make it define her being. She was outgoing, talking to anyone she could with a bubbly attitude that would draw most in. Liliana had never seen her get angry, or say a single mean thing, looking always happy to be there. Even when the nobles snubbed her or spat out derisive insults at her.

No one. Absolutely no one could be that nice all the time. Liliana refused to believe it. It wasn’t possible. Perhaps, by having Emyr look into her, she could uncover whatever Diana was hiding behind her thick veneer of niceness. Because she had to be hiding something.

Still, to be safe, she’d hold back on sending Emyr off after Diana until Liliana had something more to go on than a gut feeling. It would be safer to send him after someone he was already inclined to dislike. So Liliana pulled out another price of paper and wrote down her request.

Look into Zir’elon for me. And his brother, if you can. I’m more concerned about Zir’elon. Any dirt, any weaknesses.

Liliana folded and sent the paper to Emyr, who swiped it from the air and slid it onto his notebook, looking over it quickly. He nodded, an infinitesimal movement no one not looking for would miss. Then he balled the paper up and a slight flash of flame appeared before vanishing. He opened his fist and ash fell from it; her note gone, all evidence of her request gone. Best not leave incriminating notes lying around.

“Do I want to know?” Marianne asked softly from where she’d watched the note passing exchange from over her essay she was checking again.

“Plausible deniability Mari.” Liliana informed her. Marianne sighed but shrugged. Liliana watched her frown over her essay for a moment before she snatched the paper away.

“Hey!” Marianne hissed at her.

“You’ve revised and rewritten this enough, anymore and you’ll come full circle from perfect back to abysmal.” Liliana informed her as she tucked the essay under her books. Marianne glared before sighing and giving up, a bit of relief mixed in with her exasperation.

“Plotting?” Alistair asked in a whisper, leaning close to Emyr, so close his breath blew the strands of dark blue-green hair Emyr had left loose today.

Emyr jolted, body going ramrod straight and his pen jerking harshly against his paper, leaving a long, severe line across it. Liliana snorted, covering her mouth to hide the laughter that wanted to burst forth. Oh, those two really were hopeless.

“Em? Are you alright? You look flushed. Do you have a fever?” Alistair asked, his voice heavy with concern as he leaned closer even as Emyr tilted his body away from his friend, nearly falling out of his chair as he scooted to the edge of it in the effort to put space between them.

Liliana watched on, eyes dancing with amusement. Emyr sent her a panicked look, eyes wide in desperation, and Liliana sighed.

“Ali,” Liliana called out quietly, drawing her brother’s attention.

He leaned away from his friend, though concern was still clear on his face. Liliana would’ve called his actions flirting. If it wasn’t blatantly obvious Alistair had no idea what he’d done.

“You know he’s jumpy in the morning. All that caffeine makes him jittery,” Liliana chided gently, and Alistair’s face relaxed as he settled back in his seat. The mystery resolved.

Emyr was sitting back fully in his own seat, though he’d moved further from Alistair, Liliana noticed. His shoulders were rising and falling faster than normal as he regained his composure. He shot a thankful look at her before ducking his head back down.

They didn’t speak much more before classes began. The day proceeded on and Liliana could sense that, while the routine hadn’t settled yet, it would soon. She craved it, in a way she hadn’t expected. The monotony of a school day, where your entire day was scheduled out predictably. Once electives and clubs were selected, all of them would settle in, getting used to the way their lives would proceed for the next four years. She really couldn’t wait.

Liliana was likely alone, or in a minority, in that. It seemed as the day went on, more and more of her classmates were growing frustrated. The first day of real classes had not been a fluke, in fact based on the growing list of homework and essays the Professors had been going easy on them. By the time Battle Training rolled around, Liliana had five chapters assigned to read in the textbook for World History. Two sheets of math problems to solve for Math, and an essay on the differences between Skills, Spells and Abilities.

The assigned reading was no trouble. She could finish that quickly enough even if it was dry, but she had a feeling it was going to lead into a longer paper sometime soon. She’d have to note what topics were covered and checkout relevant material to prepare. Or there was a quiz or test coming. Either way, preparation would be good. Not that she minded the extra reading she was assigning herself.

She liked history. On Earth, history had intrigued her because it was like reading stories, but about real people rather than fictional. In this world, it was better, because there was magic, great mythical beasts, and it was still real. In fact, because of how long people lived in this world, or could live, their history was far more accurate, many books and even their textbooks written and updated from first person sources. The people they read about were sometimes still alive, and that was wild to Liliana.

Math was less interesting to her, but not necessarily difficult. If she was honest the math lessons were behind what she learned around this age on Earth. Once you understood the formula, it was a simple matter of plugging the numbers into the equation and getting the answer, though it did make her miss calculators something fierce. Math was much harder when you had to work it all out in your head or on paper, rather than having a piece of technology do the heavy lifting for you.

Fundamentals were as interesting to her as History, but in a more practical way. They used Spells and Skills every day, and understanding the why behind them was a fun mental exercise for her. She found herself with more questions than answers the more she listened in that class, so researching for the essay wouldn’t be a chore. She was probably in more danger of forgetting to do the assignment in her search for information.

This time, when battle training came around, the students were more prepared, or most of them were. Many had taken the break between classes to go to the bathrooms and change into better suited clothing. Not all of them, Liliana noted. A few seemed to have not gotten the memo and were still dressed in their uniform when Rauk came to collect them. It truly seemed that Guérin was serious about having nothing to do with them until enough of them showed they were worth his time.

“There are changing rooms and showers downstairs by the training room. Tomorrow I expect all of you to be dressed and standing outside the doors to the training room by the time the bell tolls,” Rauk informed them before he led them out like a very prickly mother duck leading a trail of upset ducklings.

There was no fighting this time, to a mixed reception. Many of the students who had lost were relieved, and those who had won or wanted a rematch were upset. But none of them could hold on to the anger or relief for long. They didn’t have the energy to spare. Rauk led them through the same exercises as the previous day, then in a new form of torture he set them all in front of a training dummy and ordered them to use their lowest leveled attack Spell or Skill against the dummy continuously for the rest of the class. They were there for an hour and three students had ignored warnings to rest before their Mana bottomed out and had to be escorted to the Infirmary for Mana exhaustion.

Liliana hated Rauk a bit by the end of the class. Consistently draining your Mana was never a fun experience, but she knew she did it to herself often enough she couldn’t be that upset. Still, it was a special kind of exhaustion when you drained your Mana pool again and again for a long period of time. It made something inside of you ache, like an exhausted muscle pushed almost to the breaking point. But it wasn’t a muscle you could ease with a heated bath, it was your Mana core and your channels.

Still, [Soul Slash] had gone up by 2 levels, up to level 22, and Liliana had used [Battle Clarity] at the same time, to double her benefits as they drew from two different pools. That had gone up to level 6, gaining 3 levels in the class. So she couldn’t really deny the results.

It was a starving class S that descended on the cafeteria at lunch. Liliana had gotten two servings of a roast quail with local greens and fruits as her sides. They had small buffs to Intelligence and Wisdom that would help her abused Mana core.

“I need to start allocating more points to Wisdom and Intelligence,” Liliana muttered as soon as she’d eaten enough that the sharp pain in her stomach had eased.

“Not a bad idea. You need all the wisdom and intelligence you can get. You’re sorely lacking on those fronts.” Emyr quipped smoothly.

To anyone listening, it wouldn’t be an insult, just an observation of a weakness in her build. But Liliana knew he wasn’t talking about the stats, and the small bird bone she threw at his head showed her displeasure.

“I’d say you’re missing quite a bit of wisdom if you’re mocking me, or did you forget a stiff wind can drop your Health to zero?” Liliana asked.

“What are you talking about? Wisdom is my highest stat.” Emyr asked, tone as innocent as it could be, which only showed how fake it was. Emyr was never innocent.

“I thought you were a physical class?” Marianne asked, slipping into the conversation before it could turn nasty. Emyr frowned at her for ruining his fun, his love language was insults Liliana swore it.

“No, I’m supposed to be a spell blade but ah,” Liliana coughed, flushing slightly as she looked away.

“She forgot.” Emyr said bluntly, a mocking smile on his lips. Lilian’s head whipped up as she glowered at her friend, her fork raised in threat.

“Well, it’s not like you’re too far in.” Alistair was the next to stop the impending fight.

The three of them were well used to each other, and truly, all three of them regularly slipped into the role of mediator for the other two when arguments brewed. It was an excellent system that worked well for them. Marianne was fitting in well to their dynamic, as if she’d always been part of it, and Liliana would never outwardly admit how happy she was that her friend worked so well with her brother and best friend.

“Yea,” Liliana said, frowning at her food. The four of them ate some more before anyone spoke again.

“Don’t you have that skill that boosts your Wis and Int?” Emyr asked, an olive branch Liliana took easily, and just like that, their snipping was forgotten.

“Yea, it scales off my Charisma. But it can only do so much when my Int is as low as it is. I fell into the trap of dumping into the stats my class is already boosting.” Liliana whined with a pout.

“I think you’ll be alright, that’s the point of the Academy, isn’t it? To teach us where we need to improve before we go too far and can’t fix our mistakes.” Marianne patted Liliana on the shoulder consolingly.

Liliana sighed but smiled. It was true. She had drifted off her path, but not so far she couldn’t find her way back. She was only Rank 6, she had plenty more Ranks and levels to fix her error.

“Where are you going?” Marianne asked as Liliana got up, her food finished. She looked over in question at her friend, who had grabbed the back of her uniform.

“Um, to the training room?” Liliana asked hesitantly.

“Oh, no you don’t. We’re going to check out the electives today.” Marianne’s voice was an order, and her ruby eyes were sharp. Liliana slowly sat back down, shoulders slumping.

“But Mari…” she trailed off, voice sullen.

“No. You have four years to lock yourself in that training room until you work yourself to the bone. Today you’re going with me to check out the electives.” Marianne’s voice and face said she’d drag Liliana kicking and screaming if she had to. Or well, she’d probably get Alistair to do the dragging, as Marianne wasn’t exactly what anyone would call physically strong.

“You’re going to drag me to the club fair too, aren’t you?” Liliana asked, defeated.

“Someone needs to remind you what sunlight looks like.” Marianne said primly, but she was smiling.

Liliana sulked, but didn’t really fight it. She knew it was true. Left to her own devices she’d work herself to exhaustion, she knew she needed someone to drag her away even when she didn’t want to be. She was just lucky she had friends who cared enough to do that for her.