It was something of a shock when I managed to get through the remainder of Resistance Training without getting arrested (not that Warram hadn’t threatened it once or twice).

Wildly enough, though, Warram was more than pleased with my offer for us to pair up. Considering I basically had an archmage-enforced restraining order against the guy, the only way he could take the class was if I didn’t snitch on him. If it meant appeasing me, it was well worth it to him.

On top of that, Warram and I were entirely in agreement on one front: We doubted we’d be able to find classmates that were more intent on “helping each other level.” Case in point, even well after the class ended, I found myself constantly thinking of fun new ways that I could help the good guardsman train up his Pain Resistance.

Of course, that went both ways. I imagined he’d pay me back tenfold, but I’d rather get burnt and stabbed by Warram than not have any strong resistances when I actually needed them.

A lot of the first class had been filling out forms so Lenda could make sure we had all the equipment we’d need. Some people had more obscure resistances, or resistance that were high enough that conventional means of leveling them wouldn’t work. I wasn’t anywhere near there yet, but the end result was that very little was done in the way of training.

Except for Warram, of course. That was the benefit of having as good of a partner as me. I’d helped him start training even on syllabus day!

Ultimately, though, Resistance Training and Warram were only a tiny part of my life, and I tried not to spend too much time thinking about them.

This, however, came with its own problem.

What exactly was I supposed to be thinking about? Or more exactly, how was I supposed to fill my free time when I wasn’t in class?

Having attended the first day in all of my five courses, I found myself at somewhat of a loss. It was only now that I realized just how much time I’d be having to myself this semester.

Part of that was the fact that I was only taking five courses instead of last semester’s six. Even more than that, though, the courses I’d wound up with had essentially no homework. Now that Dungeon Delving was going to be a practical course, there wouldn’t be studying and tests like there had been. No mandated at-home resistance training. Certainly no at-home mining. Perhaps I’d be tasked with doing some carving outside of class for the wood course, but that was further down the road.

On top of that, all of my spell training right now was done throughout the day. It wasn’t a task I needed to carve out extra time for.

Feel like I need to be doing something, though. And preferably something that can train up a skill. I amended that thought. Something that can train up a skill besides Drinking.

I scanned the rest of my skill list, trying to figure out what could be fun to level up without feeling like a job or taking a sixth course.

Eventually, I found it.

“I, uh, sorry. What?” Emin sat across from me, a spoonful of a couscous-like dish frozen halfway between his plate and his mouth. Even after a full semester of constantly grabbing lunch together, there were still plenty of restaurants we hadn’t tried, and today was no exception. “Restaurant” might not have been a fair description, though, as it was a pretty hole-in-the-wall sort of cafe.

“Just wondering if you’d want to go dancing sometime. There has to be places for people to dance in the city, right?” Considering that everyone in Sylum managed to get to level 10 the natural way, I had to imagine there were a ton of outlets to train up most of the more basic skills. It would have shocked me to find out there weren’t places to dance.

More than that, it was one of the few “fun” skills I had. And who didn’t want to be a good dancer?

The question seemed to fluster the bookish researcher, and I could imagine why. Nothing about him screamed “dance experience,” and he was likely shocked that I would consider asking him something so far out of his expertise.

“I, um. There are. A few. Mostly they’re over in the Divinity District.”

Divinity District? Are these religious dances, or why would you ever put them there? I’d avoided the entire district like the plague so far, afraid of getting roped into something god-related.

Evidently seeing the confusion on my face, Emin elaborated without having to be asked. “It’s like how the Diplomacy District has so much green space because there’s so few diplomats. There’s not nearly enough priests and churches to take up an entire 10th of the city, so it also serves as, uh, a cultural hub of sorts? A few theaters. Some art — though not much of the mana-enriched sort you’d see in the Noble District. At least two dance halls that I’m aware of.” He coughed, tilting his head down towards his food. “... not that I’ve ever been.”

Wait, I’ve been missing all the fun cultural stuff this entire time? Thinking back to my gallery trips with Verin, I was forced to revise that thought. I’ve been missing all the non-super-snooty, noble-targeted cultural stuff this entire time?

I wondered why the others hadn’t tried to drag me there before, but of course they hadn’t. Verin would prefer the Noble versions. Alara didn’t strike me as the type to sit still for an entire play or stay quiet in a museum. Emin wasn’t great at inviting me to things and tended to defer to me to make the plans.

“Neat.” I was a bit surprised the gods were okay with having their churches next to dance halls, but what did I know? There were probably gods of dancing and revelry that would be offended if their churches weren’t next to such things. “So? How about it? Dance hall?”

Somehow with the question repeated, Emin only appeared more baffled. “But- Uh. You want to go dancing just with me?”

Oh, guess he’s wondering why we don’t make it a group night out. I shrugged. “Probably not Verin’s scene, and nights out with Alara tend to end with questionable choices and a new level in Drinking.” Not to mention that I’d already danced with her once at the ball. She did know how to dance, but with the musculature difference, it always felt like I was a second away from getting crushed or having my foot broken if she stepped on it. “Don’t know if you have any interest in dancing, but it feels like the sort of thing you go to with a friend instead of alone, you know?”

With the full explanation, he seemed far less taken aback. And maybe a little disappointed? Weird. Guess he’d rather go with the others, too.

“Ah. Well, then. Regardless. I suppose, sure?”

Incredible! Dance partner acquired!

You are listening to some foot-tapping dance music!

+2 Dexterity

+2 Charisma

+3 to Dancing skill

“This is incredible!” I swung my hips with as much rhythm as I could muster, letting myself drown in the all-encompassing music. It was a live performance, with a host of musicians on a central, circular stage playing unfamiliar instruments. Enhanced and amplified by magic, the tunes filled the space more thoroughly than even microphones and speakers could have ever managed.

The style was unfamiliar, but considering that I’d never been a dancer, that mostly just meant “different from Sylum ballroom dancing.” As to be expected, the dancers here were a bit less restrained. If the level of grace I was seeing all around me was any indication, I imagined a good deal of them had a lot more levels in Dancing than I did, too.

The venue itself was shockingly similar to something I might have found on Earth, though it blurred the lines between a darker, sweatier club scene and something slightly more spacious, like an older school swing hall. The lights were low enough that my darkvision was in play, sending a clear message that this was a place of sound and movement first and foremost, with sight only secondary.

“P-perhaps Alara has the right of it.” Emin moved along with the beat in sharp conservative motions, ultimately looking fine if a bit stiff. “Some events do warrant a bit of drinking. Do you think they serve drinks here?”

I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. He’d be fine; he just hadn’t hit his groove yet. My Identify Skill ability had been going crazy since we’d walked in, so I was well aware just how many skills were packed into the music being played. Everything from overt stat increases to subtler boosts in coordination. There was even a fascinating skill which let your words get heard no matter how loud the music was, letting you have conversations without screaming over the songs. Between all of that, I was confident Emin would be more than fine once he got over the mental hangups of dancing in a crowd.

Still, if he really needed it.

“Open your mouth!” I commanded.

Bewildered but acquiescent, Emin tentatively complied.

For my part, I took a break from my dancing to summon up a ball of Springtime Spritzer directly above him. “Drink it!”

He eyed the floating booze warily before putting his lips to it. After a single sip, his eyes lit up, and he sucked the rest from the air greedily.

“That’s quite handy. Thank you.”

The current song ended, a momentary lull ensuing. Before the next one could start, everyone began to move, pairs of dancers approaching other duos nearby.

Huh. I guess it’s kind of like when I danced at the ball? It looked like it was normal here to switch dance partners fairly frequently, making the entire event far more social than I’d anticipated it being.

Right as I was having that thought, a pair of dancers approached us. Apparently unaware of this added twist, Emin’s gaze was rapidly darting around the room, almost as if looking for a way out.

“Care to switch?” A strikingly tall and thin man offered me his hand as his partner, a significantly shorter woman, moved to Emin. I wondered how they’d even been dancing together, as she barely came up to his chest.

I arched a brow in my current partner’s direction. “You wanna? Should be fun to meet some new people.” Plus, I was sure we could always find each other if we needed to.

“I- Uh. I mean, well, it’s-”

His indecision was overruled as the short woman tugged on his sleeve. “Come on, new friend, help us out. We’re a bad height match — I feel like I’m dancing with his belly button. Plus, you’re cute and I want to know what’s up with your whole general ‘dark’ vibe and eyes. It’ll be fun.” Having decided that, she started leading him off as he squawked out something unintelligible.

I shot him twin thumbs up as he moved away in something of a daze. “Good luck! Don’t do anything Alara wouldn’t do! Find me if you need me!” The next song started to play, and I turned my attention to my new partner. With the beat and a host of skills urging me on, I let myself get lost to the music.

Dancing has reached level 5!

Something I’d forgotten was just how much Endurance I actually had. It felt kind of understandable given how little I’d done anything remotely athletic in the past year besides fighting, but I had to keep reminding myself that my physical stats weren’t just turned on during duels and dungeons.

Having passed the first Endurance threshold, however, I was rapidly discovering that I could functionally dance forever.

And so I did.

Tall man gave way to a host of other partners, some of whom I chatted with, some of whom I danced with wordlessly. Much as had been the case at the ball, most of my partners tended to be men, but a fair number of women made an appearance as well.

Each dance brought me further into the hall, and I noted belatedly that there were certain sections following different routines — areas where there was still partner dancing, but no switching, and areas where larger groups all danced together. I noticed a few pairs from our section move over to the no-switching section, evidently having hit it off.

Dancing has reached level 6!

Despite mostly dancing with men, I was both surprised and delighted to say that nearly all of them had been exceptionally normal. While I hadn’t been a huge clubber back on Earth, I’d gone once or twice and found people to be… grabbier. In contrast, the focus here seemed more about the actual dancing and less about being irredeemably horny, which I added as a point in Sylum’s favor.

Of course, there was always one, but the nice thing about someone grabbing my ass was that I could summon knives now. Not sure what the “threatening people with knives” policy was here, I made sure to do it only briefly, and only when I didn’t see any bouncers nearby.

The not-so-gentle gentleman excused himself rather rapidly.

All in all, though, what shocked me the most was just how much fun I was having. There was something indescribably blissful about having the energy to just keep going and going, moving my body in ways that would have been impossible for me mere months ago. If there was any downside to how much I was enjoying myself, it was only that I was letting myself get so lost to the music that I was slipping up with my training aids once in a while. As it turned out, the time I’d felt like I was abnormally light on my feet was not because I was a dancing god, but was because I was actually starting to float off the ground.

Encumber has reached 4!

Dancing has reached level 7!

The skill levels came at a feverish pace, buffed by my usual learning enhancements on top of Watch and Learn which was having a field day as I did my best to observe and emulate all the dances around me. While Dancing was listed as a social skill, I was half-convinced that the movement-related learning boost I’d grabbed from mastering Mana Feet was also coming into play.

Throughout the entire experience, I did my best to keep a loose eye on Emin, something which proved fairly trivial to do with my Perception, even with the throng that often separated us. I tried not to eavesdrop on his conversations, but still wanted to make sure I hadn’t abandoned him to some hellish fate he needed to be rescued from. Much as hoped, however, he seemed to start enjoying himself pretty quickly, or at least looked a bit less frightened than he had before.

Without access to the same levels of stamina that I had, he did appear to be rapidly tiring, however. As another song ended, I dragged my current partner through the crowd to catch him.

“Excuse me sir, but may I have this dance?” Despite not having seen anyone else do so, I opted to bow deeply, eliciting some strange looks and a chuckle from Emin. Or, with his current levels of dance-induced exhaustion more like a half-chuckle, half-wheeze.

When we got to dancing, I was happy to see his moves looked far less stiff. That, however, wasn’t the only noteworthy change.

“Find someone nice, or how’d you get that one?” I tapped my cheek to refer to the mark in question.

In addition to looking more disheveled than I’d ever seen the man, he was also sporting a ridiculously, vibrantly red lipstick mark on his face. It stood out so heavily that I even wondered if there was some sort of skill involved.

At first confused, he brought a hand up to his cheek, a bit of the red coming off on his fingers. On seeing it, the confusion only grew before all at once, understanding took over. Had I chosen to turn on my Heat Sight, I was fairly confident I would have seen his face jump a few degrees in an instant.

“I- She- It-” Emin took a momentary pause from dancing to let out a world weary sigh. “It’s been there all this time?” He groaned. “A woman I was dancing with told me I reminded her of a lost puppy. When we switched partners, she kissed me on the cheek.”

He fixed me with a pleading, puppy-dog look. “Tess, you don’t think I seem like a lost puppy, do you?” The exhaustion really getting to him, he started to pant.

I forced a smile onto my face and failed to stifle a nervous laugh. “N- Noo! Not at all, Emin!”

Deception has reached level 4!