Again Finn delved into himself, this time he chose to focus on a specific memory. The book had said that one's soul was forged by ones experiences so he took a break from his previous train of thought. It was a time he had stolen some candy from his father's wares. He was young at the time. And it was something he had done in the heat of the moment. He had told himself back then that the store wouldn't miss a few pieces of candy and it was effectively true. He never got caught and there was never any trouble because of it. He remember having felt bad for his actions but that didn't stop him from eating the candy.

  What had made him do that back then? An impulse thought for sure. What did that say about his character? Was he a selfish person, only considering what he wanted and not how it would affect others? Or did he consider and assert that no ne would be affected. Would he still make the same kind of choices today? He felt that he wouldn't, but he had never been in a situation where he really wanted something that he couldn't obtain by more scrupulous methods.

  He was unable to come to a conclusion as he felt a tapping on his shoulder and someone calling his name. Having learned from his experience with instructor Elmara, he refused to let his thoughts slip away. Instead forming another block of ideas. It was incomplete and he'd have to revisit the topic, but it was better than having to start over entirely.

  "Are you okay?" Nui asked and Finn noticed that some time had passed.

  "I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Finn responded.

  "It's just that it's been a while since you've been sitting like that and all the commotion didn't wake you," Nui said.

  "Commotion? What's going on? And where's Alice?" he asked after he had noticed that the young alchemist in training was no longer around.

  "She left for her classes some time ago," Nui explained dismissively while gesturing toward the arena where two people seemed to be gearing up for a fight. "As for the commotion. "Looks like these guys were itching for some action. I'm not sure what kind of dispute they have but surely it wasn't at a level where they need to resort to violence."

  Finn agreed with Nui's assertion. Unless they had known each other prior to the academy, two days was just too short a time to develop a negative enough opinion of someone to the point where your only option was to come to blows.

  A small crowd had gathered to see the fight, but not as many as you'd expect. Most people were perfectly content in continuing with their cultivation.

  "Is this one not worth watching?" Finn asked noticing the general lack of interest in the fight.

  "Most people will watch from a distance. The social landscape of the academy has yet to form so every wants to keep a neutral stance," Nui explained.

  The two watched the fight from their spot and it was immediately clear that it was nothing special.

  "Do you meditate?" Finn asked Nui after a few moments had passed.

  "Huh?" Nui said, caught off guard by the change in subject.

  "I can't say I know you very well, but I think you'd benefit a lot from meditation," Finn said, then he explained the basics for her.

  "I think you should join instructor Eliah's class in the mornings," he stated.

  "I don't know if I have time for," Nui started but Finn didn't let her finish.

  "Come on, just give it a chance. Instructor Eliah said meditation is important yet often overlooked by young cultivators. At least make sure you're not missing out on something important."

  He hoped that appealing to her competitive side would help win her over.

  "Fine, fine, I'll try it out a few times," she conceded. "But it better be worth my time."

  It was at this time that the arena's battle was finishing up. The victor stood over his opponents bruised and bloodied body, not that he hadn't sustained injuries himself. It was a spectacle lacking in skill or power and it looked like some random street brawl.

  "Fools," Nui commented. "They disrupted their cultivation over a petty squabble. It is only going to set them back a few days behind everyone else as they recover."

  "Winners got bragging rights," Finn shrugged. "Are you done with your cultivation?"

  "No, I'm going to go on for a while longer," she said.

  "Well I have something to catch up on. I guess this is where we part ways," he said as he stood to leave.

  "One more thing. Fred the guy in combat class, he got his points by hunting in the wilds. Turns out beast kills award points," Fred said entirely spilling the beans. "I would be careful though, it may be a little dangerous out there."

  He didn't wait for a response as he walked away and Nui didn't say anything else. It was obviously another attempt to get on her good side, but only time would tell if it actually helped. Nui would be an indispensable ally if he could become friends with her. She was already strong and talented. She was obviously a much stronger contender than him when it came to competing for resources but if they became friends he could learn a lot from her.

  Truthfully Finn wanted to do some more soul cultivation but he had come to the realization that meditation always put him in an unresponsive state. It was so bad that Nui thought that something might have been wrong with him. There was no reason he had to do it in the field, since meditation drew on mental energy, a resource provided solely by himself. He decided to do it in his room from now on, just to make sure his strange behavior wouldn't be noticed by someone. Instructor Eliah's words weighed heavily on him and he was afraid someone would put two and two together. He decided to get something to eat and turn in early for the day. He started up another round of soul cultivation and before he knew it, the day had passed and it was time to rest.

  Avo woke the next morning and checked his token for anything new. He saw a few messages from last night sent by Avo asking where he was. Other than that the only thing that had changed was his number of points. He now had three and he assumed it was rewarded for attending classes. He took a minute to perform some calculations. If he went to three classes each day of the week they had classes, that would make 12 credits a week, and a total of 48 per month. That was abysmally low, but he guessed it was too much to expect to get a decent amount of credits just by existing.

  Meditation class was nothing new. Instructor Eliah just had the class meditate some more about themselves, at least as far as Finn knew. If something changed, he wouldn't know since he was deep in his meditative state. He still didn't understand why he had such an easy time attaining a state of focus or why it was so difficult to break when it started but he felt like he should ask about it.

  "Excuse me instructor," Finn said, once the classroom has been cleared out.

  He explained the situation and asked her if she had any idea what was happening.

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  "When you sit down to meditate, your aura forms a protective dome around you," she explained. "It's obviously not impenetrable but it puts a dampener on all of your senses. I thought you knew about it."

  "I haven't experienced this before my first day meditating," Finn said. "Is there any way I can turn it off?"

  "You should be able to, but I don't know for sure how you would do that. Setting up that kind of barrier is a conscious act for most people," she responded. "But I don't see a point to turning it off. If you're going to meditate, you want to be in a state where you have a very specific stimuli or none at all."

  "I guess that's true," Finn said, not really thinking about it to that extent. It was a great boon to have a blocker like that, but it also came with a drawback which was the lack of awareness. He decided he would still try to find a way to turn it off. Maybe if he could figure that out, he could activate other hidden abilities he may have. He thanked his instructor and headed toward his next class.

  "Today we will be starting weapon training," instructor Matthias announced. "Each of you can choose a weapon from the wall behind me. After that, you will separate into groups depending on your choices and where I will give further instruction."

  People started to make their way over to the wall but Finn held back to see what kind of weapons would be picked. He spotted Avo picking up a broad sword and he felt it was a good choice for him. It would allow him to perform strong attacks while not sacrificing too much speed. Fred had chosen a pair of gauntlets and Mont a staff. He didn't know enough about their fighting styles to form an opinion. Nui had chosen a rapier. She picked it up, performed a few slashes and test jabs in the air. She seemed pleased and walked back to her seat but Finn got the feeling that she already had experience with the weapon.

  Finn didn't really know anyone else, and most people had already chosen after a few minutes. He got up and picked up his weapon as well. He picked a dagger. It was a simple blade about 10 inches long, but after a moment of thought he picked up another one. While he wasn't much of a fighter he had envisioned himself as a blade master, cutting his foes apart with dual short blades. He didn't have experience and since he had to choose right now, he'd go for his dreams.

  What instructor Mathias had in store for the class was defensive combat stances. He had posters depicting the various stances for all of the chosen weapon groups and he performed each one at least once for the students to see. Finn's movements were move about evasion rather than blocking anything. It was a style that wouldn't require much strength but speed and perception would be key to avoiding injuries.

  It was interesting that only basic weapon types were available. There were swords, short blades, axes, spears, staffs and staves, but there were no nun chucks or scythes. Perhaps instructor Matthias didn't know how to use those kinds of weapons. Or maybe they were too niche to warrant having their own course. The rest of the class was spent repeating the motions. It was an simple exercise

  At the end of class instructor Mathias explained that they owned their new weapons and would have to pay to repair or replace them. Previously some students walked around with a small bag of some fashion to carry their belongings but most were empty handed. Now most of them had a weapon somewhere on their person, sheathed of course, but a weapon nonetheless. It made for an odd sight to see armed students within the academies walls.

  After that was Energy control and there was one drastic difference made to the class. Instructor Elmara actually taught today. She explained what Nui had told him yesterday and with the explanation, most students managed to light their cards and Elmara moved on to the next topic.

  "The most basic use of energy is to infuse it into objects , but you can also use to it empower strikes or use special skills. If you strike your card with some infused energy, it will split vertically in two. Hold the pieces together and infuse energy along the split and it will repair itself."

  It was the next exercise for the class. It didn't seem too hard to do looking at the instructors display, but Finn had to assume that it would only work if a certain amount of energy was used. He put his card on his table and circulated energy into his arm, exactly like he did with the first exercise. Then he just slammed his fist down on the card, and released the energy in the instant his hands made contact.

  It worked and his card split vertically on his desk. His antics drew a few looks but they soon focused on their own cards again and some thumps were heard as a few tried to mimic his actions. Finn repaired his card and split it again a few more times, just to make sure he got it. It was no problem after the first time, but Finn felt himself get more and more exhausted after each try and a new thought occurred to him.

  Expending all that energy was inefficient for repeated strikes. It would be much better if he could make the strike and retain the energy he gathered. He tried out his idea, but this time the card wouldn't split, no matter how many times he hit it. Eventually he felt the energy dissipate from his arm as it got harder and harder to keep it contained and he had to give up for the moment. He was just too drained too keep trying. It was something he'd have to work on in the future.

  He wanted to ask Nui for some tips since it seemed like she was experienced with the subject but by the time he had finished his own attempts she had already left the classroom. He had missed her in his focus and he hoped that he could find her sometime later that day. Soon the class period was over and Avo rushed to the other side of the classroom to find Alice. He had thought of an idea and it needed testing.

  "Hey Alice," he called out once he found her.

  "Finn? Hi. What's up?" she asked.

  "I just want to ask for a favor. Avo said taking out his token and holding it out to her. "Can you hold on to this for me?"

  She looked pretty confused as she took the token and gave him a quizzical look. "How long am I supposed to hold it for?" she asked.

  Finn got a little closer and talked quietly. "I want to see if there's a way to cheat the system," he explained, and Alice's eyes widened in understanding.

  "You're trying to get more points!" she exclaimed.

  "Keep it quiet," Finn reprimanded, but it was true.

  When he saw his point gain that morning, he thought about how exactly they determined who went to class. Instructors never took attendance so he guessed it had something to do with the tokens.

  "I'm not sure how it works and I hope it won't cause any trouble," Finn said.

  He felt pretty confident that even if the staff didn't approve of his actions he could use the "I didn't know excuse " at least once. But if it worked out, he could use the method to near double his point gain. The reward outweighed the risk in his eyes.

  Alice's eyes seemed to gleam over his idea and she pocketed his token with excitement.

  "Ok," she agreed. "When do you want it back?"

  "Let's meet up in the cafeteria after your last class," Finn said.

  After the plan was set Finn made his way to the field. He wanted to do his soul forging, but he knew that he would most likely miss his appointment with Alice if he were to do that, so he settled on body tempering. Now that he knew he would be using a dagger, or at least dual blades for the foreseeable future, he would mainly focus on improving his dexterity and perception. He completed a little over two infusions before it was time to meet up with his friend.

  "How were your classes," Finn asked once the two were seated together.

  "We are going over the basics. Memorizing useful materials and apparatus. If things move along accordingly, we should start moving on to procedures in a week or two," Alice said.

  Finn nodded as he took his token back from her.

  "I'll let you know if this works tomorrow," he said to his accomplice.

  Finn got something to eat and made his way back to his room where he started his soul forging again. He had figured out a schedule of sorts. He would attend his class and after that he would spend one or two hours soul tempering. It would put him behind his other classmates in combat technique, but it should be enough to keep up a passing score. After that he would get something to eat and soul forge since it would carry him straight into curfew time.

  On the days when he had no classes, he visited the library if he found something interesting or spent the free time cultivating. There was an issue with the half hour time space between each class, but he didn't really have a solution for that. Unfortunately, the experiment with his token failed and it looked like he couldn't cheat the system for points that way. It had only taken a few days for him to realize he was becoming addicted to the sensation of improvement he got when he made steps forward.

  The first combat exercise, the stat test was a wake up call for him. His performance was more or less what he expected but being average wouldn't be enough in this place. He was working hard but that did nothing to stop the anxiety that started to hit him whenever he found himself sitting still doing nothing, like he was wasting precious time. The times between classes were the worst. It was much too short for any cultivating and he would often visit the library, forcing himself to read something if nothing truly interested him.

  On a positive note, Nui seemed pleased with the addition of meditation classes to her schedule and it did wonders for her temperament. Additionally, where instructors Mathias and Elmara didn't seem to care much for the students other than the top performers, instructor Eliah was always down to give a few extra pointers or explain something he was unsure about in the time after class. The other instructors weren't as accommodating and they spared no extra time to answer his questions, regardless of how pertinent it was. Finn had fallen into a rhythm in short order but things would get a little more intense at the start of the next week.