The sun beat down, Zoe reached up and wiped the sweat out of her eyes. With every step, her legs felt more like rubber. Her lungs burned as she finally finished her last lap. She moved as quickly as she could over to the water fountain and began to drink as much water as she could before falling to the stone step and wiping her face once more.

  She glanced at Leon. He looked as if he were the one that had just been asked to run ten laps around the track. From the moment that class had begun, he had been in a foul mood. Zoe had an Idea of what it was, She had heard that a lot of the girls and some of the boys had talked to some of the upper management about not being given time to change, and he had got his ass chowed out.

  Zoe whipped the sweat from her forehead and turned to Ivan, who sat next to her, "You need to work on your speed if you're ever going to keep up with me! I mean, you were a whole five minutes behind me." Ivan said. He had finished a good two minutes ahead of her.

  "I'm just not good with heat." Zoe, as she fanned herself. Her eyes looked down at her uniform. A pair of leggings and a simple blue shirt. Her mind drifted back to her almost empty bank account.

  She thought, leaning back and stretching while shifting into the nearby shade. She felt a wave of relief as soon as she was out of the sun's direct light.

  "I, for one, am glad that we got time to change today. Even if it meant we have to deal with grumpiness over there." Ivan said, leaning forward, watching the last students come around the track.

  Zoe let out a sigh as she remembered that the changing room was a nightmare. She had no clue where to look, so she just shut her eyes and moved as fast as she could.

  Then a high-pitched whistle pierced the air.

  Zoe's eyes snapped to Leon just as his whistle fell from his mouth. "Everyone, head inside. Now that the warm-up is over, it's time to start real training!" Leon yelled as he headed back for the main gym.

  As Zoe stepped back into the gym, she felt another wave of relief now that she was fully out of the sun's blazing heat. She quickly took her spot over by the wall as everyone lined up.

  Leon looked over everyone, then seemed to think for a moment before he looked at his clipboard. “Ok, everyone, come grab a weapon and find a sparring partner like last time,” He posed for a moment. "Except for Theo Evered and Tania Cross, you two are free to leave. There is nothing I can teach you.”

  Zoe quickly glanced over as she saw the man form before stepping out of the crowd. He had a bandage wrapped around his hand.

  She then shifted her view, looking at who must be Tania. Her long, blue hair was pulled back just as before. Her eyes glazed at Theo with clear disdain.

  Both Theo and Tania left the gym, the door closing behind them with a strange sense of finality.

  Zoe quickly partnered up with Ivan once more and began to spear.

  After a few rounds of sparring, they were taking a breather before their next round when she heard Leon speak.

  “You,” He posed for a moment, thinking,” Ivan, you keep overreaching, leaving you open, giving her clean shots.” Leon turned to Zoe, “As for you Zoe, you are only looking at your target; it makes it easy to read your moves and impossible to read their moves once you start.”

  Then, without another word, Leon walked away to the next group.

  Zoe thought.

  “That was a good point.” Ivan thought out loud. Zoe whipped her head around, Zoe thought as Ivan seemed to ready himself for another round.

  Zoe did her best to keep her mind running on anything but the situation around her as she pulled her Uniform out of the locker and quickly changed.

  She almost ran out of the room as she finished changing. Zoe let out a sigh,

  She paused, She was sure mages existed after some thinking; she was sure that Ms.Divisk was one, given how her voice seemed to be beamed right into their head.

  She quickly made a note, She began to run through anything she had not learned enough about and made a simple list of what she wanted to look into as she walked to her last class for the day.

  The moon hung low in the sky as Zoe flopped down on her bed. It was like heaven after the long day of training she had. She quickly pulled out her phone and looked at the long list of things she needed to look into.

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  “Studying time!”

  Two hours later. Zoe was scrolling mindlessly. She had gotten distracted about half an hour into her ‘studying’ and lost track of time.

  Her eyes glazed up at the clock on her phone, she thought, realizing how late it was.

  She quickly opened her notes app and began to write out what she had learned to make sure it stuck and to help her get back on track.

  So the Hunter Academy was founded with the goal of helping people awaken and become hunters. To this end, it was basically free to join the basic courses. But they offered lots of other services, one of which was housing for students at good prices. The only downside really, was that if you failed to become a hunter, you would have to repay all of the waived fees.

  Really, it does not seem like a super bad deal. Admittedly, the training seems rather rushed, but it looks like I joined the last open class.

  As for mages, it seems like they do exist, but how to become one is a closely guarded secret, which also seems to be the case for everything around mana in general, really.

  Zoe looked back at one of the articles she had been reading about magic, reading the line that caught her eye once more. A quote from a mage they had interviewed.

  “Why is magic and by extension mana such a closely guarded secret of mages? It's dangerous, that's really all there is to it. For a number of reasons, any mage will realize immediately.”

  The little information on how to become a mage she did find was to climb the tower and raid dungeons.

  Zoe let out a sigh as she rolled over on her bed and stretched out. Her eyes glanced out the window at the moon. It hangs low in the strange sky.

  The last thing she had managed to look up was about the tower. Apparently, she was on the bottom floor of the tower. Which was a massive city that housed 70% of the people who lived in the tower.

  The photo she had seen of the tower was from the outside. It was massive and seemed to reach beyond the clouds. Looking at it had given her a strange feeling like butterflies in her stomach. Looking at it, she could not help but think

  Every story had a different answer, but most never even got that far for it to be revealed.

  As she lay in bed, her mind wandering, her eyes fell closed, and sleep followed.

  The next day had passed faster than the last. As she stepped out of class, she was unsure what to do for the rest of her day. There were only a few more days left till she was set to enter the first tutorial floor, and she felt as if she had made little to no progress.

  Her eyes glanced back out the window, looking at the sun that hung low. She thought, her eyes staring out the window as she spaced off.

  Ding!

  She snapped out of her daydreaming and looked down at her phone, which sat on her desk plugged in.

  It was a text message from Ivan. The text read “me and some friends are reviewing the strategy guide for the first floor. Want to join?”

  Zoe looked at the message for a moment, She thought, not remembering anything like that ever being mentioned in class. She quickly sent a message back.

  “Sure, where are you?”

  “1st floor of the Library.”

  With that, Zoe forced herself up, stretching and looking out the window, seeing the sun on the horizon line.

  Zoe shook her head, forcing herself to stop letting her mind wander, and grabbed her bag as she headed out the door.

  Zoe pushed the large, brownish-red door open as she stepped into the library. She strained her neck as she stepped inside, looking up at the floors above. Just from a quick look, she counted at least four.

  “Watch out,” a voice called out as they moved past Zoe.

  Zoe quickly moved out of the way and turned to the person. “Sorry, I got-” and they were gone. She let out a sigh and looked around. Not seeing Ivan anywhere, she sent him a text.

  “I’m at the doors, don't see you.”

  “Omw”

  The air was rather cold, well, not for Zoe she was rather fond of cold temperatures, so this was rather nice.

  Then she saw Ivan with his fluffy hair, waving to her as he walked over. “We have a table in the back.” He said with a soft smile. When he saw Zoe begin to walk over, he too began to walk.

  “Thank you for inviting me.”

  “It's nothing I, one of my friends, thought it would be a good idea to go over it as a group after all two heads are better than one, but then we figured four heads are even better!”

  As they turned a corner around a row of bookshelves, the round table came into view; it was rather secluded from the other tables tucked into its own little corner of the library. Sitting at the tables, she saw two others. One was rather… rotund, he seemed to have a cheeky smile on his face.

  Zoe turned her head to look at the other. The man’s eyes seemed wide for a moment. Then a smile spread across his face. He went to speak, opening his mouth then, “So you're Zoe, Ivan has been talking all about you. I’m Nate, and this is Vince.” Nate interrupted.

  Ivan pulled out two chairs and sat down, which Zoe followed. “ Vince is a second year, so he can give us some tips not in the guide.” Ivan said as he handed Zoe a small packet.

  Zoe flipped through it quickly, surprise showing on her face,

  The guide explained the basics of the first test. It would be up to ten rounds of battles with a different creature for each round. While the exact monsters were different for each person. There are a few rules for one, each round to be stronger than the last. As well they was a list of the most common creatures for each rank, and as long as one managed to clear the fifth round, they would be able to back out any time and pass the floor, but they could not retry the floor, and rewards were based on how far you made it.

  Zoe looked up, and while Nate and Ivan seemed to be talking about some of the monsters that were listed to have appeared. Vince was looking at her, but the look in his eyes sent chills down her spine like he was looking right through her. It lasted only for a moment, as soon as they locked eyes, he looked away.

  “So, in conclusion, I think that I should be able to clear up to the Sixth floor as long as I don’t have to fight a slime or jelly,” Nate said.

  “For me, I think I should be able to reach around the seventh floor as long as I don’t have to fight a golem.” Ivan turned to face Zoe. “What do you think?”

  Zoe thought for a moment,

  Zoe was reminded of when she had drunk the goblin blood she had not expected, but it worked as a better energy drink than anything else she had ever had.

  “About the same,” Zoe said with a shrug. Zoe remembered she had read something along those lines so many times it was grounded deeper in her mind than one plus one is two.

  For the first time, Vince spoke. “If you can, you all should aim for the tenth floor. It's one of the few places you're sure to get an inscription potion.”

  “Inscription potion?” Zoe whispered out before realizing it.

  “What don’t you know what an Inscription potion is?” Vince asked, turning to her with wide eyes that only lasted for a moment.

  Ivan spoke up, rubbing the back of his head. “I have not heard of it either."

  “It awakens a person's Inscription. Oh, an Inscription is basically the core of any awakener's power set. But the basics are it's a skill that grows alongside you, like let's say you have the Battle master Inscription, a rather common inscription, while it will be similar to someone's inscription, it will not be the same. Then, as you move up the floors, it can be strengthened by certain items until it ranks up, then it will gain a new ability.” Vince said before stopping and thinking for a moment.

  "Short version, there are super cool powers that are perfect for you, depending on your skill set, personality, and past!" Nate added.

  “I guess it kind of makes sense since now that I think about it, the first guaranteed drop of an inscription potion for just passing a floor is on the tenth floor, so they might not tell you about it until then. Anyway, if you can, you should try to pass the tenth round on the first floor. It's sure to give you a big head start.” Vince said with a smile.

  “Other than that, have you all picked out what weapons you're going to use? If so, you should make sure to pick them up from the school supplier. If you don’t have much to spend, they will sell them on credit. And you don’t have to worry about paying back until you leave or pass the tutorial floors.”

  Zoe felt a pain deeper than she expected at those words,

  “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to do that!” Ivan said, rubbing the back of his head.

  Zoe glanced out the window. She thought.