Isabe woke up the day with a pounding headache. She couldn’t go directly to talk to Oliver sino First Battalion student could access the Sed Battalion dormitory, but she kept up with all the otion through the chat. The rumors weren’t fio the Sed Battalion el—ohe versations started through their gaus, the entire Academy knew about it.

  Rumors or not, there were small pieces of truth mixed into what was being spread. Two of these “details” surprised Isabe. The first was the ranking Oliver had achieved, and the sed was his bat style. Reag a rank close to the First Battalion’s was tough, but participating in a battle using an Energy Pistol for le artillery was even more unusual.

  Of course, some officers and raraio bee artillerymen or even snipers, but it wasn’t a on strategy for cadets, especially one from the Sed Battalion. Precise h-powered shots ed a lot of energy, and in a long-field battle, someoh little training would rarely succeed.

  Isabe even thought about asking Oliver more questions, but she wasn’t sure how to do so without seeming like she was doubting his version of events. Luckily, she had another option.

  In front of the First Battalion building, there was a long wn where many cadets would rest between csses. It was no different for Isabe. Early in the m, before heading to the mess hall, she leaned against a rge tree that offered plenty of shade, waiting for her target.

  It wouldn’t take long. She knew all of her target’s movements by heart. Her target was always hungry, to the point where she woke up very early to be one of the first in the mess hall and enjoy all the treats.

  ‘Right on time,’ Isabe thought as soon as she spotted her target ing dowaircase in front of the First Battalion.

  Quickly, Isabe stood up, dusted off her uniform, and started following. With soft steps close to the wall, she sloroached. Hoping she wasn’t making any noise, she tried to speed up, getting just a few steps away.

  “Astrid! You glutton, what are you doing sneaking out like that?” Isabe shouted.

  Startled, Astrid didn’t know where the shout had e from until she saw her friend behind her.

  “Damn it! It’s like this every day,” Astrid said, bringing one hand to her chest from the shock. Seeing her friend, she furrowed her brows in pint.

  “Haha! Did you think you’d escape? I’m keeping an eye on that ‘diet,’” Isabe teased, making air quotes with her fingers as she spoke.

  The First Battalion mess hall was a trap. There was no limit on how much food you could eat, and it repared by renowned chefs. This made it hard for some cadets to trol themselves, but the Academy had probably never seen anyone like Astrid. She eve an arm on her gauo wake up early and enjoy the mess hall's bes as much as possible.

  “I don’t need someog over me! I need lots of carbs to ehe training,” Astrid shot a severe look at Isabe, wishing her eyes could shoot sers. Fortunately, that wasn’t her Boon.

  “Rex. I’m not here for that today.” Isabe raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, but her smile remained slightly mog. Before Astrid could respond, Isabe tinued, “Have you been following the group messages and the rumors?”

  “Of course, the only thing people are talking about in the First Battalion el is the i in my css,” Astrid replied.

  “So, expin to me how Oliver improved so quickly. Did he evolve during one of the csses?” Isabe inquired further about the boy.

  “Hmm, maybe. But his ge doesn’t seem like a level-up. He’s always fought that way. It seems more like he’s learning fast how to use what he’s best at,” Astrid answered, trying to recall her memories of the skirmishes she had with Oliver.

  The two girls tinued discussing different theories as they approached the mess hall.

  The entrance for First Battalion students was pletely separate. A long, spiraled wooden staircase led cadets to the sed floor. Uhe first floor, which had loal tables, the sed floor had small wooden tables that seated three to four recruits. The cssic decor ehat even an Heir couldn’t pin.

  Astrid had a usual table by the window, allowio watch the cadets hurrying in and out of the mess hall and the field in front of it.

  Si was still early, the aroma of food filled the room. Around them, a few groups of students were already having breakfast.

  The girls’ eyes lit up as they looked at their ptes, especially Astrid’s, who had taken some fluffy pancakes with plenty of syrup. Her mouth was watering. But just as Astrid picked up her fork, a loud artled all the cadets.

  “POW!”

  A few tables away, three boys with shaved heads were arguing. Two of them were standing, pointing at the third.

  “You’re a disgrace to the Patriarch! How are we going to report this? And worse, a Nameless idiot ruihe exercise!” One of the boys, a mountain of muscles, raised his voice, yelling at the third. Unfortunately, Isabe didn’t know them, except that they were from House Astor, and she knew better than to get involved with them—Astrid’s warning was still fresh in her mind.

  “Fuck you, and fuck you! You weren’t at the exercise, so don’t stick your noses between me and the Patriarch,” the third boy shouted back. Isabe lowered her head, trying to focus on her food, but Astrid was more ied in the argument. After all, she reized the third boy—Kyle, who art of her Ranger on bat css.

  “If you two want to keep arguing, stay here. If the Patriarch wants to demonstrate his ons, I settle this right now.” Kyle began walking away from the other tere clearly still angry. Without looking back or seeing if he was being followed, Kyle put on the bck mask that covered his nose and mouth, pressing a few buttons on its surface.

  Astrid, fag Kyle, observed the entire flict. But what caught her attention the most was what Kyle did at the end—the mask released gases over his face, which were theed through cables on the side of the equipment. As soon as the boy took a deeper breath, Astrid saw Kyle’s irises ge color—from light blue to red.

  She had heard of simir products before, but they were used in times of war. It wasn’t something that would be used daily.

  “What is he going to do?” Astrid muttered to herself.

  Kyle left the mess hall, followed by his panions. Astrid’s curiosity made her want to follow the boys, but her pancake was just too perfect.

  ‘Maybe another day. No one’s dumb enough to start trouble ihe Academy.’ She thought.

  “We’re going to be te again, An!” Oliver pio his friend.

  “I know! I know! It’s just… it’s hard to wake up after yesterday’s training. Cut me some sck,” An said, still looking sleepy and rubbing his eyes to wake up. His uniform was still poorly put on and slightly wrinkled.

  The two boys were on their way to the mess hall, but the ces of getting the best portions were long gone. No wonder Oliver was fuming.

  “Damn it!” Oliver pressed a hand to his forehead as he saw the length of the line.

  It seemed like every cadet had decided to go at the same time, with a line winding around the mess hall. The two boys made their way to the end of it.

  “This is the st time I wait for you,” Oliver pined again as they walked.

  “Someone’s in a bad mood. Look on the bright side…” An replied.

  “Which would be?” Oliver leaned against the side of the building, waiting for an answer.

  “… at least there’s still food?” An shrugged.

  Oliver took a deep breath, trying to keep the argument from esg. The two boys chatted for the few minutes while waiting for the line. But before they could ehe building, Oliver felt something strange.

  His arm was trembling, and his gau was slightly vibrating. Without even thinking or perf any and, a s appeared in front of him.

  | Hey!| Behind you!

  Oliver raised an eyebrow but turned and looked over his shoulder. To his surprise, the st thing he saw was a massive arm hitting him square in the face, followed by the sensation of weightlessness as his body flew through the air, crashing into the ground in front of the mess hall.

  “Shit!” Oliver shook his head, trying to recover. “What’s going on?”

  GCLopes