‘First-year barracks’ wasn’t a wholly correct way to describe the aodations. Teically, there weren’t any policies mandating that a person bought their way out of the shared living spaot that Natalie knew of. So there could be sed-years, or fourth, for that matter.

  But any reasonable person would get out of the barracks as soon as possible. Even the most long-suffering didn’t want to be crammed in with dozens of other students, especially in what wasn’t so much a room as a long hall lined shoulder-to-shoulder with beds and lockers.

  Natalie had arrived te, retively speaking. Tinford was in the far south of Valhaur, and the five-hour train-ride was lohan the vast majority of students had o travel.

  Walking slowly in, wearing her backpad lugging her suitcase in one hand, Natalie sed her surroundings, looking for Jordan. There were no guarahey’d be roomed together. sidering the size of the barracks, though, there weren’t horrible odds. Natalie didn’t have an idea how big Te’s yearly student-intake was, but surely not more than a few hundred.

  Which still meant roughly eight barracks of this size. So not great odds, either. But random ce might bless them. Natalie tried not to get her hopes up, because she doubted they’d nd the one-i dice toss. She’d never be so lucky.

  Peering around, hopes defting, she didn’t see Jordan’s bck hair tied up in a bun. And even worse than that … something else caught her eye.

  Hair, of a more distinct, reizable quality.

  White hair.

  Natalie barely didn’t groan. Sofia. Of course she’d gotten pced in Sofia’s barracks.

  And, as Natalie finished looking around the long hall with growing dread, she realized something else. All of the beds were cimed. Not all had their octs present, but all were cimed. Literally. Every single one, besides a single. Natalie was the st of the barracks suite to arrive—and Sofia had been sed to st.

  And guess where the only open bed was?

  Natalie couldn’t quite fight off the groan, uanding the fate that had befallehe student—a shirl with brown hair—gave her an odd look, which foratalie to pose herself. It was best she didn’t earn a reputation for etricity that fast after arriving.

  The event was aniot ce. As the st to arrive because of their long trip from Tinford, she and Sofia had received the two least-desired beds of the grouping—the ones in the middle of the rows, and directly beh the cooling glyphs engraved into the ceiling. Not only would the hum of magic be the most audible there, she and Sofia would be getting bsted with cold air whehey were active. sidering they were in a Valhaurian summer … pretty often. Not to mention the foot traffic, being sandwiched in by everyone.

  Natalie sighed. Holy, all of the above didn’t bother her. She’d been braced for misery, ing to Te. Hardship was one of the appeals, even. She was starting her future as a delver … and delvers didn’t have easy lives. This was more or less what she’d expected.

  But why Sofia?

  Well. Looking on the bright side, it wasn’t like Natalie would be at the barracks often. She’d be out training, studying, or otherwise being productive. With forty roommates, she doubted anyone would be spending much time here, besides for sleeping.

  As Natalie walked down the long barracks hall, she took in the living spa greater detail. There was an ey of design in the yout … because how else would they cram everyone shoulder-to-shoulder?

  Each student had a slightly elevated bed (where underh, it seemed, shoes were going), a locker, and a chest at the foot of their bed. Not much ste space, healie’s—and everyone else’s—limited luggage. The locker, one of whiatalie could see inside as she walked toward her iable fate, was fairly deep, and had a rod plus provided hao hang clothes from. There was a mirror inside, and a glyph for produg light. Also, several drawers of varying sizes. All in all, about what she’d expected. Simple aodations.

  The chest probably wasn’t worth mentioning. There were locks and keys for each. It was where anything valuable would go. Though, Natalie doubted there were many thieves at Te. Of the mundane sort, she meant … there might be a few [Thieves] of various sorts.

  As she’d already mused over, only a tiny portion of their studentbase were in Natalie, Jordan, and Sofia’s situation … which was to say, not obsely rich. The kinds of people qualifying usually had geional wealth—and training—behind them, helping them reach this point. Why would they steal anything?

  But still. A lockbox was o have, for peaind. Even if she didn’t have anything valuable moarily, she had seal belongings whose safety she’d want ensured.

  The bed was tiny, though enough to fit a single person fortably. The sheets were made with crisp edges. Natalie wondered how long that would st—the sharp, anized dition of everything here. Sure, Te had policies for keeping their living spaces in good dition, but they weren’t, to her knowledge, overly strict.

  The simirities to a military academy were visible, but Te wasn’t suot actually. She might be required to make her bed in the m, but there wouldn’t be drills, or instructors iing for the smallest infra. That wasn’t, ultimately, what Te was here to ence. ity wasn’t the goal. ity was the opposite of the goal. They waudents who stood out as starkly as possible.

  Despite the cramped yout, the quality of everything was outstanding. The barracks sparkled, floor to ceiling. There wasn’t a single scuff-mark or patch of discolored paint. Te was the premier training academy in all of Valhaur … and likely iop five for the world. Funding wasn’t a problem. How could it be? The students who left this campus, having graduated, were a colle of professionals who powered a staggering amount of the Valhaurian ey just by themselves. Monster crew in strength expoially, and so the stro adventurers hoisted society up on their shoulders, essentially, with the loot they dragged back from a delve. And a det portion of that esteemed echelon of society came from Te.

  Low- and mid-rank adventurers were just … kind of there. Trying to reach those heights. Certainly useful, but a mid-rank monster core provided a sliver of a fra of what a high-rank core did.

  Te’s goal was to create high-rankers. The best. Heheir exag standards, and the systems they’d designed, carefully, to forpetition—and thus growth.

  Like being stu a shitty, cramped barracks, and having to buy your way out through their token system. Tokens, which were earned in a variety of ways … but most notably, the obvious. Delving.

  Or academic excellence. And academic excelle a delving academy meant, most promily, bat prowess. So more or less the same thing.

  Sofia had her suitcase id out across her bed, and she was unpag her belongings into her locker.

  Natalie arrived to her bed. Sofia looked up and saw her.

  She grimaced.

  “Preag to the choir, Sofia,” Natalie said sourly, thumping her own suitcase onto the only open bed. “Preag to the choir.”