The sun was shining down on the lawn when Dia finally mustered up the strength to leave her room. The others were gathered around the table on the garden as usual, and a nice fire burned merrily underneath a wire mesh. Tens of shimmering skewers had been placed on the wire, and a fantastic aroma was rising from them.

“Hey, you’re up.” Schwarz glanced at her, and then did a doubletake. “Wait, you’re up? Oi! Guys! Dia’s awake!”

The others, who had been training or eating, immediately woke up from their stupor and charged towards her. At the forefront was President Cadenza, who was positively burning with curiosity, but thankfully, no one picked Dia up and threw her into the air like some festival.

“What happened to you?” the older Cadenza asked. “Why did your Second Tutorial take so long?”

“How long did I take?” Dia asked, yawning once.

“You took three weeks!” Risti replied. “I thought my old man did something shady to you!”

“Tell Risti that I didn’t do anything other than teaching you lot about the Second Tutorial, or she’s going to keep calling me ‘old man’,” President Cadenza added.

“Yeah, he didn’t. It was something that happened to me instead,” Dia replied, before looking at the others. They were all radiating a weird feeling, as if their existence had been heightened, and with a jolt, Dia realised that everyone had also become a mid-ranked folder.

“What’s wrong?” Schwarz asked.

“Everyone…is a tetra-folder too?” Dia asked.

Farah shrugged. “Unbelievable, isn’t it? But President Cadenza was quite right. I encountered my own fears and relived my past, but it wasn’t that bad when I compared it to the things other people experienced. There weren’t any phobias that came with old age or anything, and my own childhood…well, it resolved itself quite well.”

“Never had a really big phobia,” Risti added. “I’m a sheltered kid that follows my dad around to do random things for the Folders’ Association.”

“Or so you say, anyway.” Schwarz eyed her once, and then shrugged. “We all got through this intact, so don’t worry about. Rather, we were worried about you. You were sleeping soundly and making weird slurping noises. If not for President Cadenza, we would have sent you to the nearest physician or something. What happened?”

“My Second Tutorial was weird,” Dia replied. “Like, really weird. I don’t even know how to describe it. Remember that Salvation Star ski—”

“Stop!” President Cadenza shouted, his voice tinged with pain. The others’ reactions were far worse; Schwarz had fallen onto his knees, while Farah and Risti were holding onto their ears. Nero, who had been drinking, had spilled his drinks, and Dia’s eyes widened involuntarily.

“What’s going on?” Dia asked.

“Authority,” Risti’s father replied, his voice a low groan.

“Authority?” Dia blinked. “But I talked about that skill last time, though? Why did it suddenly affect you guys now?”

Nero got up slowly. “The skill must have changed in significance after you became a mid-ranked folder. Ugh. I did not expect to be hit by this while drinking on a leisurely morning. Are the rest of you guys fine?”

“My ears feel like a pin was driven into them,” Risti replied, groaning slightly.

“I feel like I was stabbed.” Schwarz fell onto his side, twitching a few times. “Damn it. Dia, you…never mind.”

“It’s not really her fault, after all.” Farah rubbed her ears. “Bah. Feels like someone poured hot water in them.”

“S-sorry.” Dia lowered her head. “I didn’t think that my skill would become something like a taboo or something.”

“Well, it’s not so bad, since we already knew most of the contents when you first told us about it back then,” Risti replied. “I can still recite the effects!”

“It’s the purpose of that skill that caused the problem, I think,” Dia replied. “Anyway, my Second Tutorial lasted for an entire month, and I…gained a few benefits from it.”

Schwarz yawned. “You and everyone else. There’s no need to show off, okay? We all got a new skill or evolved an existing one.”

Dia thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, and a new skill, I guess…”

The bartender looked at her. “Wait, you got a new skill and an existing one evolved?”

“I suppose?” Dia replied. “Also, my Mana Control Proficiency increased to Expert.”

“Tch.” Schwarz made a face. “Didn’t know that was possible.”

“I also got mine to Master,” Risti replied. “I don’t think that’s something exclusive to her. But the way you said it, Dia, it’s as if you got something else out of it. What exactly happened during your Second Tutorial?”

“Well, I suppose we should listen to your Second Tutorial too, right?” Schwarz agreed, his voice abnormally loud. “I’m not that curious, but it’s definitely a good story to tell, I suppose?”

“No, I don’t think you guys can hear it,” Dia replied. “I suppose I can talk about what I got, though.”

“Okay, so what did you get?” Farah asked, curious. “Also, we were preparing breakfast. You just happened to wake up at a good time.”

Dia nodded. “Thanks. Incidentally, have you guys been training for the past few weeks while I was in deep sleep?”

The others averted their eyes from her in unison, and she sighed. “Come on. It’s important that you guys get used to fighting for long periods of time. Wouldn’t it suck if you guys ran out of breath or had a muscle cramp while fending off enemies? That would be one heck of a shame, right? Imagine dying because your arms cramped up.”

“We’re tetra-folders,” Schwarz replied. “I don’t think that’s poss—”

“Actually, it is,” President Cadenza replied. “While your body’s durability and endurance does increase with every mana circuit, there are some things that remain an eternal weakness. The joints, key areas of the human biological system like the groin, and the spinal cord are still very…vulnerable. And if you were to get the Rulers to fight on the spot without any preparation, they would only last ten minutes or so before they’ll start suffering from all sorts of ailments.”

Those words shut Schwarz up, and he muttered something about being a bartender and how he wielded glasses and not swords. The others weren’t that…receptive either, but good advice was never made out of nice words anyway.

“Anyway, you guys were curious about what else I received, right?” Dia asked. “I’ll have you know that I gained more than a thousand years of lifespan from my Second Tutorial.”

“Oh, a thousand…what?” President Cadenza, who had a sage-like expression on his face from the earlier spiel, froze. “A what?”

“A thousand years of lifespan,” Dia replied. “I’m going to draw more mana circuits in the meantime and see how far I can go.”

“In a week? 5.91 at best,” President Cadenza replied. “But…why do you get a thousand years of lifespan? What did you do?”

The others had similarly envious looks on their faces, but they had no idea about the trials and tribulations she struggled through just to get that boon down. Dia thought back to the past month of shovelling lifestones down her throat, and then shivered. “You do not want to know.”

“Why is there dread written all over your face?” Farah asked, curious.

“You’ll know if you tried to eat an entire vault of lifestones in a month,” Dia replied. “I don’t want to see them for the time being. Ergh. I feel like throwing up just by seeing the green light.”

“…Well, you still have a lot here,” Farah observed. “It’ll be best if you finish them up too.”

“I’ll think about it.” Dia turned to the skewers with a rueful smile, which were almost done. “I’m going to take some here, if you guys don’t mind.”

“Ah, yes, go ahead.” Schwarz made a sigh. “I suppose you don’t want anything made with lifestones for now, right? Would you prefer some soft alcoholic drinks instead?”

“Anything that’s not sweet, yes.” Dia made a face. “What have you guys been up to in the past few weeks anyway?”

“Mostly focusing on taking in more lifestones too,” Schwarz replied. “That’s why we’re all eating sour and savoury stuff. I’ve moved on to forming my fifth mana circuit, though, like Risti. Farah is still…”

“Eating lifestones.” Dia shook her head in an exaggerated motion. “If you guys aren’t reacting viscerally to those green things yet—”

She fell silent, and then touched a pocket. When she shook her head earlier, Dia had felt the presence of a small bag. She didn’t remember putting that bag before she began the Second Tutorial, so the only explanation was that…

This bag was from that one month.

“Dia?” Schwarz looked at her. “Something wrong?”

“N-no, nothing.” Dia picked up a few skewers. “I’m fine. Anyway, as for the Trial of Aeons…”

“It will begin in a week. We’ve come up with a few plans while you were asleep, and all of them primarily involve staying put here,” Risti replied. “For starters, Claud’s preparations were fairly extensive. This is probably the best stronghold we have, short of the actual Moon Mansion. We’ve added a few things too. For instance…”