Kai awoke to find himself not breathing. Resting on his face, Asteria slept soundly. Raising his hand to his face, he pushed the suffocating fox off. She slid off his face and down onto the bed where she continued her even breathing as if being pushed didn’t even register. Asteria had been by the foot of the bed when they had gone to sleep but sometime during the night, she made her way up and onto his face.

Still coming to terms with his new room and situation, he twisted his head to the side and stared at the device on his dresser. The device was able to tell time and judging by half the bars being filled in, it was already midday.

He shot up. Midday? Shit. Guess we were more tired than I thought. With a short stretch, he hopped out of bed.

Out to the world, Asteria remained soundly asleep. Placing a palm against her side he shook her. Nothing. There wasn’t even a hitch in her breathing.

“Asteria wake up.”

He waited but she remained in blissful and oblivious sleep.

“Fine. I’ll go get some food and leave you here. You snooze you—” A crimson eye opened and instantly met his own. “—lose.”

As if to reiterate the missing of breakfast, a low rumble echoed across the room. Asteria at least had the shame to advert her eyes.

Letting out a helpless smile, Kai said, “Let’s go get some food.”

The two worked their way down to a cafeteria they had spotted the night before. The cafeteria itself was reminiscent of his previous academies. Food was piled into large pans with a line of beings waiting to get some. That was where the similarities ended. The cafeteria had a separate ramp similar to the main towers which led to multiple floors above where more tables and food were available.

Comparable to the assembly hall, some tables were occupied by only one race, while others were mixed. The same goblin from yesterday’s orientation sat alone at one of the tables. Truthfully, he didn’t look all too different from the other goblins he had seen so far, but the bloodthirsty aura he radiated was a sure sign that it was the same one from the day before. The aura decreed he wanted to be left alone. If his aura didn’t get the point across then his manners certainly would as he shoveled food from his plate into his mouth using his hand.

Kai felt his stomach revolt when food dropped off the goblin’s hand and onto the table, only for him to swipe it off the table and shovel it into his mouth. He wasn’t the only one because the goblin glared at a few others that had the nerve to make a horrified face at the goblin’s lack of manners.

Getting in line, Kai grabbed two plates. After spending a year with Akane, he had long learned his lesson about only getting one plate of food. With two plates of food, he had a few minutes of peace to eat before Akane finished her own and moved on to his. Normally he would end up getting a minimum of five full plates of food for Akane. He wouldn’t take any chances with Asteria being the daughter of the gluttonous demigod fox. Even with her body the size it was, he knew it did not equate to the size of the void in their stomachs.

Food in hand, he moved with purpose. Asteria’s whimpering was growing louder by the minute.

He stopped short of the tables. His vow to make new friends and gather information echoed in his mind, but now that he was here in the moment, he found himself at a loss of whom to sit with.

There were so many options scattered about, not counting the ones on the floors above. He could play it safe and sit with other humans. A group of such was seated to his left with two open spots of six. His eyes met a young man with a familiar face and black hair from that same table. He glanced at his friends and said something soft enough that Kai couldn’t hear. A moment later they all turned their heads to check him out.

I guess I stand out with a fox around my shoulders. Either that or he had been ousted as a transfer student already for being an unfamiliar face.

Kai’s eyes shifted to the next table. It was comprised of a mix of races with only one open seat available. They were laughing happily, unaware of Kai’s inner plight. Their levels were scattered but were much closer than his own than the group of humans next to them.

He quickly looked at other tables and considered his options. A few more seconds dragged on, making him feel like he had already been standing there long enough to uncomfortably draw attention. Why does this have to be so difficult?

Fuck it.

He silently walked up to the table of mixed races.

Immediately all conversation halted, their eyes on him as he stood off to the side.

“Hello,” Kai said with a faint smile, though it probably could have been described closer to a grimace. His body felt tense. Even with two lives, meeting new people never became easier.

None of them spoke up at first. After an uncomfortable, few seconds of silence, a lithe imp with dark red skin spoke up. “How can we help ye? Stranger?” Its voice was unusually gruff for a creature its size.

“I was wondering if I could join your group for lunch?” He kept his voice even, not giving away his nerves. “I’m a new student,” he added.

A look of amusement passed between the group. “Anyone with sense would know that. Haven’t seen a human with a fox all last year.” His stubby red finger tapped the table. “Look human... I can appreciate the courage it took to come and introduce yourself, but we aren’t interested. We are already a set group. Find yourself another table.” The Imp’s tone was friendly, but his denial was blunt.

Kai could only lamely nod.

The table filled with humans started snickering and slapping the table finding his plight hilarious.

Turning his back, Kai felt his face heat up slightly. Without thinking he found himself sitting down at the nearly empty table of the seething goblin. By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. He was already sitting.

The goblin looked stunned with his mouth held open in shock and confusion. His hand hovered in mid-air while filled with food.

“Sorry,” Kai muttered making quick eye contact with the large silver-eyed goblin before pushing his utensil into the food. He apologized despite not really doing anything wrong. He had hoped the simmering goblin would ignore him. The last thing he wanted was to stand out on his first day like during his first year again. And it was already too late to move as Asteria had already begun devouring her food.

The goblin blinked slowly and grunted. Surprisingly he returned to his food without a fuss. His aura still exuded don’t come near me vibes, but it wasn’t overwhelming to the point of being uncomfortable.

A few minutes of silent eating were broken when the goblin spoke up. “Why?” His voice was unusually soft for the rage he leaked.

Kai took a napkin from the middle of the table and patted his mouth. “Why what? Why did I sit at your table?”

The goblin nodded while taking a napkin and wiping his eating hand.

Kai remained silent for a minute. Taking the cue from his distraction, Asteria tried to claim the rest of his food after already having eaten her own only to be rebuffed by Kai’s hand anticipating this action. “I don’t know. I simply did,” he replied to the goblin.

The goblin gave him a look of consideration and then snorted and stood up and left.

“Great going Kai,” he muttered to himself sarcastically. He ran his blocking hand through his hair. No longer thwarted, Asteria dashed over to his plate and began devouring the remaining contents.

“Everyone!” a voice shouted from the cafeteria entrance. “Ayre challenged Zail!”

A great wave of commotion happened across the cafeteria at once. Many of the students stood up and began rushing out of the cafeteria at once, leaving their food half-eaten or barely eaten on the tables.

Very curious Kai following suit. He grabbed Asteria whose face was still attached to his plate. She let out a high-pitched whine as he ran after the other students up the ramp.

“My food,” she wailed.

“You ate more than three people’s worth.”

“I’m still growing. I was promised lots of food.” she cried. “I’m going to tell mom!!”

Ignoring the threat, he felt his Lightfoot ability at work as his speed increased as he ran up the ramp. He nimbly dodged passed one of the beings in the back of the group.

A minute later, he entered the fourth plate and followed the others to a large building without any windows. More and more students had joined in, making for a massive group of running students all heading in the same direction.

As he reached the top of the stairwell, Kai was surprised to find it was a miniature version of the coliseum he had fought in a few days prior on Eris with some differences. Unlike the one on Eris, this coliseum was completely closed overhead. It had raised seating that was already filled with a thousand others and still growing. In the pit below, two young students stood across from one another on a smaller raised platform, no longer than 50 meters across each way. An older woman with the academy’s emblem on her armor stood between them.

Five minutes later the crowd had increased to a few thousand, though the number of students showing up had slowed significantly.

“Today, I will arbitrate the battle between the challenger Ayre, and the challenged Zail.” The adjudicator between the two students began, nodding first to his left where a female high elf covered in bronze armor kneeled and prayed with one hand out, flat on the ground. In her other hand was a scimitar of ethereal quality that lay flat against the front of her helmet.

On the adjudicator’s right was an imp no bigger than the average gnome. He wore a simple robe that appeared a size too large for him as it covered his feet entirely with plenty of fabric to spare. The imp’s face was completely composed and void of emotions. His beady black eyes were intensely focused on his opponent and nothing else.

[High Elf – Forging Level 96]

[Imp – Forging Level 100]

The adjudicator in the middle of the arena raised a hand and silence followed. “Should the challenger Arye, win, she will be granted Zail’s ranking on the leaderboards, which at the current time is rank three. And should the challenged Zail, win, he will receive 1382 prime points from the challenger as put forth as the stake for the bet. Standard battle rules apply. You may begin.” With that said, the adjudicator vanished from the arena.

Familiar blue mist burst out of the elf, spreading across the small arena until nothing except the mist could be seen. Both fighters had vanished from his sight. It appeared denser than the mist in the Illusionary Misty Region as it was more concentrated.

Kai had hoped to see what he might have fought like had he chosen mist magic and not gravity during his magic selection, but with the mist’s blocking the view of the fight, he found himself disappointed. Not by the lack of vision, but by the fact that the elf had to resort to tricks against her opponent.

A dwarf that had been standing at the railing before them, sighed and sat down between Kai and a lion beastkin with an impressive man in the next seat over. “You think Ayre could ever win a fight without covering the field in that—” An orange glow from within the mists shot across the field of battle stopping the speaker cold. “—confounding mists of hers,” the dwarf asked.

“No chance. Her skill set is all about deception and obscuration,” his beastkin friend said. His eyes shifted as if watching something in the mists that Kai could not see.

“I know,” the dwarf let out another sigh. He wasn’t even bothering looking down into the mist-filled arena anymore, instead tinkering with a cube in his hands made of green metallic material.

“Who do you think is going to win?” Kai asked, injecting himself into the conversation.

Without a pause, the dwarf answered, “Zail, no question.”

“I’m not so sure. Ayre left for three weeks and only just returned this morning. She must be confident to challenge Zail again.” The beastkin growled lightly. His eyes never left the mists.

“She was rank sixteen when she left, now she is twenty-eight. She should have challenged someone closer to her original rank when she got back. Skipping ahead to the undisputed third-ranked individual is plain stupidity.” The dwarf picked at something in his teeth. “Still, you really have to admire her. She has more grit than most dwarves facing their first symbel of magic. Those were the days. I don’t think I was sober for an entire month.”

Plumes of orange and yellow flames soared out of the mists and crashed into an invisible barrier covering the arena, stopping them completely. There was now a constant hue of orange inside the mists, turning the once blue mists orange-tinged.

Down the line of seats, they could hear other spectators making bets.

An idea came to Kai. “I’d wager one prime point that Ayre will defeat Zail. Ah, but I’m currently out of points until tomorrow.” Kai thought to see if they would accept the wager if it meant gathering more information.

“Hah! How did you manage to spend all yours?” The dwarf laughed heartily.

Kai shook his head. “I didn’t. I only transferred in yesterday.”

“A transfer student,” the beastkin hummed, but it came out more like a purr.

“Okay, I’ll take your bet. My name is Thrane of the Clan Granite and that is Gladriel,” the dwarf introduced. He put down his trinket and looked at Kai for the first time since the conversation began. For such a fresh-faced dwarf, his rust-colored beard was already down to his waist.

“Kai Cineris.” He stuck his hand out.

The dwarf looked at the appendage puzzled.

“It’s a handshake. A sign of agreement to the terms set forth,” Kai explained.

“I know what a handshake is, bunderhead. You think I live under a rock or something?” he crossed his arms with a frown. “I guess you haven’t read the packet yet.”

“No,” Kai admitted. “I spent the day exploring after orientation yesterday.” At this point, Kai had stopped paying attention to the fight below. Not that was anything to see.

“It’s all in the packet, but simply, either today or tomorrow, a point bracelet will be delivered to your housing unit. It is comprised of innovative enchantments that are keyed to your aura signature that works with will and intent to record, add, or subject prime points during the course of your stay in the Prime Academy.”

“That sounds… fictional” Kai said skeptically.

“I know right.” Thrane slapped his knee. “None that I know of have been able to reverse engineer the enchantments. In any case, the bracelet works in such a way that you can personally transfer points to another’s if you were to make a bet and lose or buy something. We can transfer the one prime point next time we meet.”

“And what happens if one simply doesn’t?” Kai asked. The system of transferring points seemed based on an honorary system of trust, hoping that one would uphold their word.

Thrane let out an evil chuckle. “Well, that’s where the enforcement division comes into play. Take my word. Never. Never get on their bad side.”

A feminine yell called out from inside the mists.

“With new points being granted tomorrow, Ayre must really want the points granted from the third rank. Before she left, she would receive the same number of prime points as a person in rank ninety-nine. It’s the bracket comprised of ranks one hundred to eleven. Only by entering the top ten would her points increase significantly. Even more so if she can defeat Zail and take his third rank. She’d likely earn more prime points in two months as the third rank than she would in six months as rank sixteen. The risk is justified to challenge Zail. Still, she could have worked her way up slower even if it meant waiting one month.”

Kai suppressed a smile. Intentional or not, the dwarf Thrane had proved to be a treasure trove of knowledge so far. What he found most interesting was the strongest second-year students were already at the boundary of the third realm.

On his lap, Asteria had fallen asleep, likely digesting the food in her non-bloated stomach. She cutely curled her front legs around her face as if to block the light and noise.

More and more flames streamed from the mist’s boundary. The battle had picked up in intensity.

“It seems our new friend won the bet,” Gladriel calmly said.

Ten seconds later, both flames and mist vanished signaling the end of the fight.

On the field of battle, the elf hunched over, hands on knees, breathing deeply, but still standing, while the Imp lay bloody and unconscious on the floor.

“By the Holy Nine, she did it,” laughed Thrane.