There are few exceptions to this rule. Inspect, Identify, and Inventory are sometimes referred to as universal Skills, since everyone gains them when receiving a Class. The three General Weapons Skills – Short Blades, Blunt Weapons, and Pistols – are also exceptions.
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Our final class of the day was Monster Basics, and the teacher was one of the melee instructors I had seen but hadn’t worked with. Her name was Sink, which I hoped was a callsign, and she was a Tier 3 Spearmaster. I hoped that G’hala was getting a chance to work with the muscular silver-haired woman during Melee Combat.
When she smiled, I noticed that her teeth were jagged and sharp, even more than Mason’s. It looked almost like a mouthful of fangs, like an orc’s. I wondered if it was corruption or if she was another race I’d never encountered before.
She explained that we’d be working our way through , going over each of the monsters covered there in more detail and discussing how we’d fight – or avoid – them. The first lecture covered goblins and hobgoblins, as they were apparently fairly common in the lower parts of the hills nearby the Academy.
Sink made sure to point out that most of the hobgoblins in the area were Tier 1, so we should try to leave them to the second semester students during an attack. I noticed that she didn’t say ‘if’ they attacked. Honestly, I was itching for some real action and wouldn’t have minded a monster attack. Especially if it happened in the middle of Leadership…
It was a long day. As I sat around the table eating with Raylan, Zaire, Jayce, H’ruk, and G’hala, I decided that I was glad there was an overpriced restaurant for the trainees to eat at.
After dinner, Raylan and the orcs went to the bar to have a beer. Zaire, Jayce, and I headed back to the dorms. I enjoyed another long shower, realizing that my fears of overcrowded bathrooms hadn’t yet come to pass. It seemed people were mostly making quick trips to the showers for a mana rinse during the breakfast and lunch breaks, then showering either after a few drinks at the bar or even in the morning before PT.
Back in my room, I was midway through my tenth consecutive successful cast of Fire when I was interrupted.
The voice was obviously Tara’s, and she sounded like she was in genuine distress. I still didn’t her, but I had accepted her into the Squad, so I felt like I had to go.
I sprinted out of the dorm and down the path, summoning my armor as I ran. I didn’t want to escalate anything, but since a lot of the students were just wearing their armor all day, I wouldn’t be out of place in it.
There was no immediate response.
I slammed the bar doors open and tried to dash through the noisy crowd towards the stairs. The moment I stepped through the curtains at the bottom of the stairs, the noise of the crowd suddenly cut off and I clearly heard raised voices coming from above as I ran up the steps.
“You are scaring the staff, now leave! That is an order!”
I almost ran into G’hala’s broad back as I rounded the top of the stairs, breathing hard. I heard footsteps racing up behind me and glanced back to see Jayce, also in their armor. I shoved my way past G’hala and squeezed between Raylan and a visibly fuming H’ruk. The Barmaid was standing defiantly with her arms crossed, blocking the way. In front of her, wearing civilian clothes but no less intimidating for it, was Blur.
The Blade Dancer turned her glare on me.
“Azure, remove your Squad from these premises immediately!”
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I felt rage rising up inside me, and I had to take a long, deep breath before replying.
“Why?” I asked, coldly. “I can’t recall being informed that recruits were not allowed in the restaurant, instructor.”
“You are being informed that you are not welcome by , recruit. Now move!”
H’ruk growled and I elbowed him in the gut as hard as I could. He stepped back with a surprised grunt, and I spoke quickly before he could jump in.
“As I’m sure my teammates already explained, we heard a call for help from one of our teammates! She told us that she was being confronted here in the restaurant. We’re not leaving without her!”
Blur’s eyes narrowed, and I felt the strange pressure that I thought was leaking mana. She looked around the empty hallway pointedly. The restaurant was all private dining rooms, with no common room. The hallway was currently deserted, with most of the doors closed.
“I don’t see anyone looking for your assistance, . You will leave , or I will report you to Head Instructor Thompson for disobeying a direct order from an instructor!”
I took another deep breath and I heard more heavy steps on the stairs. I glanced over my shoulder to find it was the hulking figure of JJ, with Zaire trailing behind him quietly.
“Whatz goin on ‘ere? Whatcha doin, Blurry? I kin feel your aura from the bar!”
The Blade Dancer looked at the Berserker with a disgusted expression.
“I am handling the situation, JJ. Please leave, and take these disrespectful students with you.”
“Why?” he unintentionally echoed my first question. “Maybee they’ze hungry!”
He peered around at us, then pointed a thick finger squarely at me.
“Look at ‘er, she’s a scrawny one! I bet she’s starved!”
I was about to reply indignantly when one of the doors opened and a smirking Yuri emerged, followed by several members of his Squad. The door swung slowly shut behind them as they strutted towards the developing confrontation.
“Well, look here everyone, it’s the freak show!” He grinned viciously and I had to restrain myself from summoning my gun.
“Where are Tara and Arlo?” I snarled back, my teammates making rough sounds of encouragement behind me.
“Whatz tis? Someone is missing?” Between the two questions, JJ shivered, and suddenly his voice and eyes were clear and cold.
“One of our teammates sent a distress call over the Comms, sir, and she said she was being trapped here at the restaurant by Yuri! But when we came looking for her, this, uh, that is instructor Blur here refused to let us in!”
I barely caught myself before I called Blur a fuckhead to her fucking face.
“I am with this situation already, JJ,” Blur said, her voice ice cold, the pressure still flowing out from her, then looked at me again.
“I’ve had enough of your insolence, recruits! I think busting you all down to the basic track for a while should remind you that when an instructor says jump, you – ”
“JUMP!” a new voice barked, and Blur whirled in surprise, her feet leaving the floor. I grinned in relief as I saw that Wolf had stepped out of a door further down the hall, behind Yuri’s crew, who were all spinning around in shock.
I definitely hadn’t been spooked myself, of course. Wolf laughed as he came sauntering down the hallway and I took satisfaction in seeing Yuri’s team quickly move to make way for him.
“Ho, that was a good one!” he chortled. “Should have seen the look on your face, Madeline!”
“My name is Blur!” the Blade Dancer snarled at him.
“Whatever you say, dear,” he mocked her, then before she could respond, he yanked open the door that Yuri’s team had come out of. After a quick look inside, he closed it again.
“Now , perhaps we should take a little walk over to the administration building together? Then you can explain to the Head Instructor why students just walked out of a room and left one of students sobbing in the arms of another? And why was it that you just to be preventing the rest of students from looking for them? Hmm?”
I expected Blur to yell at him, but instead her face went completely blank like a statue. She glanced at Yuri, who had stiffened, then back to the grinning Wolf.
“I’m sure this was all just a misunderstanding, Elias. Students can be quite emotional sometimes. And you can hardly blame me for telling these recruits to leave after they threatened the Barmaid!”
This time it was G’hala who growled behind me.
“We did make any threats to her or anyone else!” she barked, and Wolf raised an eyebrow.
“Did you personally hear any threats, Maddy?” JJ asked from just behind me, his voice also chilly. The Barmaid, realizing things had gotten out of control, was trying to back away from the confrontation without anyone noticing.
Blur, seeing an out, decided to put the blame entirely on the Barmaid. Her calm facade broke as she stared at the brown-haired non-combat Classer.
“Julia said that they threatened her. Isn’t that right Julia?”
“They, uh, they did! They were standing over me and glaring and looking like they were going to hurt me! That’s what monsters like them do, they hurt people! Just look at those disgusting fangs!”
JJ shouldered his way past me and stared down at the white-faced Barmaid.
“You,” he said coldly, “should start looking for a new job. And you,” he added, turning to Blur, “should take your students here and leave. In fact, I think you should walk them back to their dorms, just to make sure there’s no further trouble. Am I clear?”
Blur nodded, but her expression clearly said ‘fuck you’. She walked straight at me, and I had to scramble to the side to avoid being run over. Behind her, Yuri sauntered down the hallway like he didn’t have a care in the world, his Squad trailing behind him. Clarice and Marta sent satisfied grins my way as they stalked by. I wished I was clever enough to think of something cutting to say to them as they passed.