Qalish woke before the seventh bell.
The eastern window was still grey when he opened his eyes. Aiden was already awake on the other bed, sitting up against the wall, examining the scholarship uniform that had been delivered overnight. Black coat. Black trousers. A small slate-grey insignia at the left breast in the shape of a single rose petal - not the full bloom worn by the main intake. The scholarship mark.
Aiden held the coat up. Looked at it. Looked at Qalish.
"It is honest, at least."
Qalish managed a small smile. "Honest is good."
They dressed. The coats fit well enough — Black Rose's tailors had measured both of them by some method the boys had not been present for, and the coats settled across their shoulders the way coats settle when someone competent has cut them.
Aiden looked at himself once in the small mirror set into the wardrobe door. The uniform did not change his face, but it changed something around his shoulders. He was no longer a New Castle climber. He was, by every visible sign, a Black Rose scholarship student in his first week.
"Brother," he said quietly. "It has begun."
"It has."
The seventh bell rang as they were leaving the room.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
The public courtyard was full.
100 new students, spread across the polished black stone of the courtyard in loose clusters. The main intake stood toward the front in their dark wine uniforms, the small black-rose insignias glinting in the morning sun. The scholarship intake — perhaps 30 of them in all — stood toward the back in slate-marked black.
Qalish and Aiden found a space near the back without effort. No one moved to greet them. No one was actively unwelcoming either. The space simply existed where they walked into it, the way space exists in a forest where no one has yet decided the path.
Senior Instructor Mei Vorne stood on the low stone platform at the front of the courtyard.
She was the same woman Qalish had met at the New Castle selection ceremony 3 weeks ago — sharp-eyed, mid-forties, dark hair pinned back in the practical style of an instructor who had no patience for adjustment. She wore Black Rose's instructor robes today — the dark wine deepened to near-black, with the full bloom insignia worked in silver thread on the breast.
A second figure stood at her right, half a step behind.
Seraphine Aldis. Black Rose's field observer. The woman who had assessed Qalish at the 1 Star Monster Tamer ceremony two months ago and who had said, then, only one thing of consequence — the door exists. She was dressed plainly today, in the field-observer's quieter coat rather than the formal robes, but the calm of her presence carried weight that Mei's authority did not entirely cover.
Her eyes found Qalish at the back of the courtyard within the first ten seconds of Mei's address.
The look was brief. The look was a recognition. The look was the same look she had given him across the gallery after the Tower, the same look she had given him in the New Castle Association office two months ago.
I have been willing to wait. You are here now.
Qalish met the look. Did not nod. Did not acknowledge. Then she returned her attention to Mei.
He filed it.
When Mei spoke, her voice carried across the courtyard without effort.
"Welcome to Black Rose Academy. I am Mei Vorne, Dean of Admissions, and one of the 7 Elders who govern this institution. Some of you have already met me. The rest will come to know me well — Admissions is the door you walked through this morning, and Admissions is the door you will walk back through if you fail to remain here. I am the Elder you do not wish to disappoint."
She let that settle.
"You join an institution more than thousand years old. You will, in time, become what this Academy has trained before you to become — cultivators of the Eastern standard, recognised by every academy on this continent and certified by the only authority that matters in the East."
She paused. Let the weight settle.
"The Vermillion Empire."
A small ripple ran through the main intake. The scholarship students at the back did not move. The Vermillion Empire was a thing the noble children had grown up hearing about over dinner tables. The scholarship students had grown up hearing about it the way one hears about weather in another country.
"Gold Sand Kingdom is one of 7 kingdoms sworn to the Vermillion Throne in the Eastern Region. Our kingdom holds four Top-4 academies — Black Rose, Blood Dragon, Forestwood, and Fire Phoenix. All four are Vermillion-certified. All four send their graduates to imperial postings, imperial cultivation resources, and imperial passage between kingdoms. The Empire does not distinguish between us in title."
She let that settle.
"It distinguishes between us in other ways."
A small pause. Her dark eyes moved across the courtyard once.
"Each of the four Top-4 academies has built its reputation on a different foundation. Blood Dragon — its martial tradition, its weapons forms, its production of frontline combatants for the imperial armies. Forestwood — its scholarship, its formation schools, its court-grade Heart cultivators. Fire Phoenix — its elemental combat traditions, the oldest in the kingdom. And Black Rose."
She let her own academy's name sit for a beat.
"Black Rose carries the Empire's recognition for one particular institution that exists nowhere else in Gold Sand — the Breeding Division at the back of this Academy. It is the only sanctioned monster-breeding wing in the kingdom that the Empire monitors directly. Most of you will never set foot in it. Most of you will not need to. But it is the reason this Academy exists, and it is the reason the Empire watches us. Remember that as you walk these halls."
She let it settle.
"This Academy is not measured in years. It is measured in Layers. Three Layers — Outer, Centre, and Top. You all begin at the Outer Layer. You progress when you are ready. There is no schedule. There is no calendar. There is no graduation date stamped on your application. You move through these halls at the speed your cultivation allows, and not one breath faster."
A small pause. Her dark eyes passed across the courtyard once.
"Every 6 months, the Academy holds the Outer Examination. Every Outer Layer student, regardless of path, competes against the others on a points-based ranking system. The top 100 remain enrolled. The remaining 100 are expelled, scholarships terminated, files closed."
She let that settle. The silence in the courtyard sharpened.
"One week after each Examination, the Centre Layer Challenge Window opens. Any Outer Layer student who survived the cull and believes they are ready may request a Layer Trial through their path's Instructor. The Trial is one-against-one combat — full bond, full ability, instructor's call ends the fight. Pass, and you climb to Centre. Fail, and you wait 6 months — until the next Window opens after the next Examination. The Window stays open for 7 days. Miss it, and you wait."
She paused.
"Look around you. The 100 of you who entered this courtyard today are the new intake. There are 100 more Outer Layer students already here — survivors of the last Examination, still climbing toward Centre. In 6 months, all 200 of you will be ranked together. Half will remain. Half will leave. The Outer Layer holds 100 active students at any time. The intake replenishes what the Examination removes."
Another pause.She lowered her voice slightly.
"This is not cruelty. This is honesty. The Empire fights real wars on a real frontier, and the kingdom you serve will one day depend on a cultivator who graduated from this Academy. We will not send them anyone who could not survive a half-year here. Most of your attrition will happen at your first Examination. Close the gap fast."
The main intake had gone very still.
"The Empire sends observers to each Layer. Imperial sponsorship is offered to standout cultivators at any Layer — though most sponsorships come from the Top. The difference, across a cultivator's career, is the difference between a kingdom and a continent."
Qalish kept his face neutral. Stella's voice at the edge of his awareness was quiet — no commentary, just the presence of a listener attending alongside him.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
"There are five Paths at this academy," Mei Vorne said. "You will not choose between them — that was settled the day your talent woke. Each of you has already been sorted, on assessment, into the Path your talent named. You may revise that placement once, before you attempt your Outer Layer Trial. After your first Trial attempt, your Path is fixed for the remainder of your time here."
She raised her hand.
"The Knight. The path of direct combat — you and your monster at the front line, close enough to feel the heat of it. You strike, it strikes, you cover each other on the field. Your body is cultivated as a weapon; your Crystal amplifies what that body can do; your monster fights beside you, not for you. The Knight Path produces the kingdom's swordsmen, spearmen, and frontline soldiers — those who close the distance and decide a fight with their own hands. More cultivators walk it than any other. It is the path of honour in the Vermillion martial tradition."
"The Guardian. The path of the shield. Where the Knight closes to kill, the Guardian closes to hold — you plant yourself between the danger and everyone behind you, and you do not move. Body and Crystal are cultivated for endurance rather than the killing blow, and your monsters are the kind that do not break: tank-line beasts bred to take a charge and stand. A line of Knights wins the field. A wall of Guardians is the reason there is still a field to win."
"The Sage. The path of range and support. You do not stand at the front; you stand behind it and reach over it — dealing death at a distance, or keeping the front rank alive. Mage or healer, as the bloodline you contract decides. Sage cultivators contract range-line and support-line monsters and weave their work into a formation. A Sage alone is the weakest fighter on any field. A Sage in a team is the reason the team comes home. The Empire's command corps is half Sage. Account for it."
"The Hunter. The path of the unseen. The Hunter holds no line and stands in no formation — the Hunter goes ahead of both, into the dark, alone. You scout, you track, you find what no one else has seen, and where you can, you end it before it knows it was found. Your monsters are bred for stealth, speed, and the single clean strike. It is the assassin's path, and the scout's, and the kingdom trusts very few to walk it."
"And the Tamer. The path of monster mastery. A Tamer does not fight — his monsters do, and a Tamer is, as a rule, the weakest fighter on any field he stands on. What he does instead is understand: bloodline, evolution, resonance, behaviour, the deep workings of what a monster is and what it can be made into. He raises and commands not one beast but a whole hand of them, from behind the line."
"The Tamer Path alone demands a 1-Star Monster Tamer certification from the Association before you may enrol — proof you have already passed material appraisal, species identification, bloodline reading. It is the only path that may apply to the Academy's Breeding Division. It is, and will remain, the smallest Path we field. Those who walk it know why. Those who do not should not pretend to."
She lowered her hand.
"Five Paths. Knight, Guardian, Sage, Hunter, Tamer. The First Monster Contractor named them — older than the Vermillion Empire, older than any kingdom that now stands in the East. The names have survived because they describe what a cultivator becomes, not merely what they do. One framework, handed down from the first carrier who ever bound a monster to a Crystal."
She paused. Her dark eyes passed across the courtyard once. Slow. Reading.
"You did not choose your Path; your talent chose it. Today, in this courtyard, you do one thing only — you register to the Path that is already yours. The tables are behind me."
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
The five registration tables were set up at the edge of the courtyard, one for each Path. A senior instructor sat at each, with a clerk beside them holding the path's intake ledger.
The crowd dispersed without ceremony.
Most of the main intake moved toward the Monster Knight table. The queue formed quickly — 20 students, then 30, then 40. Noble sons in dark wine uniforms, their house-sigil pins catching the morning light, taking their places with the easy weight of young men who had been raised to expect this path.
The Monster Sage table drew a smaller queue — perhaps 20 students, mixed main intake and scholarship. Healers, scholars, the second sons of houses without combat traditions. The instructor there was an older woman, kind-faced, who greeted each student by name as they reached her.
The Monster Tamer table was the shortest.
5 students were already in the queue when Qalish walked toward it. By the time he reached the back of the line, 2 more had joined. Total: 8.
The instructor at the Monster Tamer table was a man Qalish did not yet know. Perhaps 50. Lean. His hair was iron-grey, cropped close. He wore the dark wine instructor robe with two small additions Qalish had not seen on Mei Vorne — a single crystal pendant on a thin chain at his throat, and a leather wristband on his right wrist patterned with what might have been bonding sigils. His eyes were quiet. He did not greet students by name. He read the scholarship folder when handed one, asked a single question, then ticked the ledger.
Qalish took his place in the line.
Aiden had gone to the Monster Knight table.
Their eyes had met once before they parted — no words, just the brief acknowledgment of two boys whose paths had already begun to diverge inside the academy's walls. Aiden had given a small nod. Battle Instinct fits Monster Knight. We both know. Qalish had returned the nod. Monster Tamer fits the cover. We both know.
They had walked to different queues.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
The line at the Monster Tamer table moved slowly.
Each student before Qalish was questioned briefly. Any contracted monster currently? What rank? What bloodline? The instructor's voice was low and even — not unkind, but not warm. Several students had no contracted monster and had chosen Monster Tamer Path on the assumption that the academy would help them obtain one. The instructor listened to each, ticked the ledger, said nothing.
When Qalish reached the front, the instructor opened his folder.
Read.
Read again.
Then looked up.
His eyes met Qalish's for the first time. They were a pale, almost colourless grey — the eyes of a man who had spent decades reading bond resonance and had stopped letting his face show what the eyes saw.
"Viridis Qalish. New Castle. Scholarship intake. 1 Star Monster Tamer registration confirmed at the New Castle Tower selection ."
A brief pause.
"Crystal type."
"F Rank Typeless, sir."
The two students behind Qalish in the queue had been speaking quietly until that moment. They stopped.
A small ripple passed through the nearest cluster of students who had not yet dispersed. Heads turned. A boy near the front of the orientation hall — main intake, dark wine uniform, a small house-sigil pin Qalish did not recognise — looked at Qalish with the open, slightly disbelieving curiosity of someone confirming with his own eyes a rumour he had heard but not credited.
F Rank. Typeless. At Black Rose.
The story had travelled between New Castle's selection ceremony and orientation day. Most academies would not have admitted him. Three had not. The kingdom had watched Black Rose take him and had spent the intervening weeks deciding what to make of the decision.
Loen did not react to the ripple. His eyes did not leave Qalish's. The instructor had been processing students for 30 years and had long ago decided that the kingdom's whispers were not his business.
"The 1 Star registration carries weight independent of the Crystal," Loen said. His voice was even. "Black Rose recognises the certification. The 1 Star is the minimum credential for this path. You meet it. The Crystal does not."
"Yes, Master Loen."
"Bond depth assessment will be conducted . Be ready."
"I will be ready, sir."
"Master Loen will do," the instructor said. "I am the Monster Tamer Path's senior instructor and Layer Trial Instructor. You will see me often. I do not give second chances. I do not need to."
"Understood, Master Loen."
Loen ticked the ledger. Closed the folder. Slid it back across the table. He did not say welcome. He gestured, the small motion of a man who had completed an administrative step and would now move on.
"Next."
Qalish took the folder and stepped aside.
The main-intake boy who had been staring at him was still staring. The look was not hostile. The look was the look of someone running a calculation his information did not yet support — how does an F Rank stand at the Monster Tamer Path registration of Black Rose at all.
Qalish did not meet the look. Walked toward the path-orientation hall.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
The path-orientation hall was on the third tier of the academy's western wing, smaller than the main hall, carved into the cliff with high narrow windows that let in the morning sun in long slanted bars.
8 students stood in the hall.
Qalish counted them as he entered. 5 boys, 3 girls. Most in scholarship black with the slate petal. Two in main-intake dark wine with the full bloom — a brother and sister from a minor house whose family had specialised in monster cultivation for generations. The discipline had its own quiet aristocracy, and these two carried it.
8 students. 8 Star Tamer certifications, at minimum. The Monster Tamer Path admitted no one else.
Qalish stepped further into the hall. Found a spot near the back wall. Watched the others briefly. The two main-intake Monster Tamer students stood together near the front, talking quietly with the easy familiarity of siblings whose family had arranged for them to walk the same path before either had reached sixteen. Both of them, Qalish suspected, held 2 Star or higher — Tamer certification was not the sort of thing minor noble families let their children carry at the bare minimum. The remaining 5 scholarship students stood in scattered places around the hall — most alone, most quiet, the postures of young people who had walked into a room they had wanted to be in and had not yet decided whom to speak to.
Master Loen entered the hall. The conversation died.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
"8 of you," Loen said. He stood at the front of the hall, not on a platform — just on the polished black stone floor with his class. "Five Paths run through this Academy. The Knight fights at the front, blade to claw, on a beast bred for close work. The Guardian plants himself between the danger and everyone behind him, and contracts the kind that do not break. The Sage stands at the back and deals the killing or mends the wounded through a beast of range — mage or healer, as the contract decides. The Hunter goes ahead of them all, unseen, and ends a threat before it knows it is hunted. And then there is the Tamer. Your Path — the smallest the Academy fields, and the smallest you will find it at every Layer you climb."
He let that settle.
"You are also the Path with the highest attrition. Most of you will not reach the Centre Layer. A few of you will reach Top. Some will leave Black Rose entirely within months — and you should understand why. The other four Paths each master one beast and one art: to strike, to shield, to range, to stalk. You will master none of those. A Tamer is, as a rule, the weakest fighter in any room he stands in, and this Academy will not pretend otherwise. What you do instead is study — what a monster is, how it bonds, how it breaks, how it becomes more than it was born to be — and you carry not one beast but a whole hand of them, each its own art. The Monster Tamer Path is not the path that beats you out; it is the path that asks you, every day, whether your bond is strong enough to be worth carrying. Most carriers eventually say no. Those who say yes leave this Academy — whenever they leave it — with what no Knight, no Guardian, no Sage, and no Hunter will ever match. The first man to stand where I stand built this Academy out of that answer. Remember that on the days it is hardest."
"And understand how you came to be standing here at all. No top Academy takes a student below Level 20 — not Black Rose, not one of the four. Below that line there is nothing in a person yet to read; only a Crystal and a pulse. It is in the climb to 20, and the C-Rank band that comes with it, that a personal talent wakes in nearly everyone who will ever carry one — and a talent is the thing that names your Path. Yours woke, and it said Tamer. You did not choose this hall. Your talent chose it; the assessors only read what it had already written. The same is true of every Knight, Guardian, Sage, and Hunter drilling in the halls above you. We do not make you what you are. We find it."
He looked across them. 8 faces, 8 different futures.
"Your training begins tomorrow at the second bell. The schedule is in the folders you carry. The four core subjects are Bloodline Studies, Bond Cultivation, Monster Care, and Field Tactics. You will also attend two cross-Path classes alongside the other four cohorts — General Cultivation and History of the Vermillion East. These are mandatory at every Layer."
A pause.
"I am your senior instructor for all four Monster Tamer Path subjects. I am also your Layer Trial Instructor. The Centre Layer Challenge Window opens one week after each Outer Examination, and stays open for 7 days. During those 7 days, any of you who survived the Examination may request a Trial through me. I administer it personally. I do not delegate the assessment. I do not give second chances within a single Trial — surrender is permitted, mercy is mine to call, and a failed Trial means waiting until the next Window opens, 6 months from now. Miss the Window, and you wait the same 6 months. Choose your moments carefully."
He let it settle.
"3 of you arrived with bonded monsters of meaningful depth. Stand to the front."
Qalish stepped forward. Two others moved up beside him — a small girl in scholarship black with dark hair in a low braid, and one of the main-intake boys, the brother of the sibling pair. 3 students whose bonds had visibly matured. The remaining 5 had brought their monsters with them as every Top-4 student did — all carrying the standard pair that Level 20 allowed — but the bonds were still shallow, the resonance still forming.
Loen's eyes passed over the three of them.
"You will be assessed in Week Two on bond depth. The assessment will determine your starting tier within this Outer cohort. The Monster Tamer Path measures resonance, not power."
He let it land.
"That is all for today. You may withdraw to your rooms or explore the academy's permitted grounds. Tomorrow at the second bell. Do not be late."
The class dispersed.
Qalish stepped back. The small girl who had stood beside him glanced at him once — a brief, careful glance, not unkind — and walked away toward the hall's exit. The main-intake boy left with his sister, the two of them speaking quietly together. Within a minute the hall was nearly empty.
Qalish picked up his folder and walked out.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
The corridor was quieter on the way back to the dormitory.
Qalish walked alone — Aiden was still at the Monster Knight orientation, which would run longer. The afternoon sun fell across the cliff-face windows in long bars. The lanterns in the corridor had not yet been lit for evening.
He reached the dormitory. Slid his key token into the door. Closed it behind him.
Sat on the bed.
The room was empty. Aiden would not be back for at least another hour. The dormitory wing was quiet — most students were still at their respective orientations.
Qalish locked the door.
Stella manifested beside the window.
The gathering of starlight took perhaps two seconds. The midnight-blue hanfu settled. The silver in her hair pulsed once. Her sleeves drifted. She inclined her head a fraction.
"Carrier."
"Stella."
The exchange was brief, formal, the rhythm of people who had decided on the shape of their interactions and would not waste words.
"The Vermillion Empire," Qalish sent. "I had not heard of it before this morning."
"It exists in the records you have not yet been permitted to access. You will hear more of it as you climb the Layers. For today: the Empire's observation matters less to your immediate goals than the academy's internal politics. Imperial sponsorship is a Top Layer concern. Your Outer Layer concerns are bond depth, MP accumulation, and the Breeding Division quest."
A small pause.
"You have not surfaced the quest panel in 3 weeks, Carrier. Would you like to read it now."
Qalish nodded.
The panel surfaced cleanly.
[ Active Quest — The Door Exists
Objective : Gain Entry into Black Rose Academy Breeding Division
Progress : 0/1 ]
[ Rewards : +50,000 Monster Points
Hidden Reward (?)
Secret Title (?) ]
[ Path Gate : Monster Tamer Path enrolment — COMPLETED today
Entry Gate : Breeding Division independent assessment — available on request ]
[ Note : Application may be filed at any time after path enrolment. No Layer requirement.
The Division administers its own assessment, separate from Path classes and from
Layer Trials. Test details unavailable until application is filed. ]
Qalish read it twice.
"Seraphine told me the door existed. She didn't say how to open it."
"Now you have part of the answer. Monster Tamer Path is the path gate. The Division administers its own assessment, separate from Path classes and Layer Trials. Test details unavailable until you file."
"And when can I file."
"Anytime."
Qalish paused.
"Tomorrow."
"Yes. But not tomorrow. The assessment is rumoured to be unforgiving. Most students prepare months before applying. My recommendation — climb to Centre Layer first, build Bloodline Studies foundation with Master Loen, then file."
Qalish sat with that for a moment.
"Stella."
"Yes, Carrier."
"I want to apply early."
A pause. Her sleeves drifted slow.
"Define early."
The silver in her hair dimmed a fraction.
"Why."
"Foxy's Lust Rune. I don't know anything about it. The Original Guardian said the word. The Man in Black said the word. You told me she carries it. I don't know what it means. I don't know what it does. I don't know what it costs her to carry it. The Calamity Bloodlines are not in any text I've read, and I cannot ask Master Loen without revealing what I know. The Breeding Division's catalogue handles undocumented bloodlines. The Lust Rune is undocumented. The Breeding Division is the only place in this kingdom that might have the reading."
A longer pause.
"You are correct, Carrier. The Breeding Division would have the reading. Or part of it."
"Then I file early."
"The risk is failing the assessment. A failed application closes the door. The Division does not give second attempts within the same enrolment."
"Then I don't fail."
Stella's hologram steadied. The silver in her hair returned to its quiet pulse.
"Understood. Revised plan — file within the first month if the readings support it. Until then, build the foundation. Bloodline Studies with Loen. The early classes will tell us what the Division expects."
"And the bond assessment in Week Two."
"Demonstrate Foxy at perhaps 50 percent of her actual depth. Null at perhaps 60 percent. Place mid-tier in the class. The Monster Tamer Path measures resonance — Loen will record it in the academy registry, visible to several noble information networks. Median is invisible. Top draws attention. Bottom draws contempt."
A pause. Her sleeves drifted once.
"One more thing. The Outer Examination ranks all 200 Outer students together — your intake plus the 100 existing survivors. Bottom 100 expelled. You must stay inside the top 100."
"And the safe band."
"Rank 40 to 60 of 200. The middle of the surviving half. High enough to clear the cull line. Low enough that no instructor flags you for advanced attention."
"40 to 60."
"Yes. The first Outer Examination is in 6 months. I will surface a running projection of your rank as the months pass. Warn you both ways — toward the cull, and toward visibility you cannot yet afford."
"Understood. And the Layer Trial windows."
"The first Window opens one week after your first Outer Examination — roughly 6 months and one week from now. The Window stays open for 7 days. After that, the next Window opens 6 months later, again one week after the second Examination."
Qalish paused.
"Recommendation."
"Skip the first Window. The first Examination will consume your attention, and the week of recovery afterward is too short to recalibrate for a Trial. Attempt at the second Window — roughly 12 months from now, one week after your second Outer Examination. By then the cohort will have thinned, you will have a clearer reading on what Loen looks for, and your bond depth will be substantially deeper than it is today. Until then, build foundation. Bloodline Studies. Bond depth. Stay invisible."
"And if the Breeding Division knowledge demands earlier."
A pause.
"Then we adjust. The Breeding Division application is the priority you set. The Layer Trial waits on the application. We move when you say move, Carrier."
"Understood."
"One further matter. Two days from now, the cross-path classes begin. General Cultivation and History of the Vermillion East. All five Paths sit together in those halls. You will encounter the rest of the Outer cohort there — main intake and scholarship together. Most of your exposure to the academy's noble politics will happen in those rooms, not in Monster Tamer Path. Be prepared."
Qalish nodded slowly.
The conversation was brief, efficient, the rhythm of a tool and its operator settling into a working pattern.
Stella inclined her head once.
"Tomorrow at the second bell, Carrier. Rest tonight."
Her hologram dimmed and withdrew to the quiet presence at the edge of his awareness. The room returned to its plain late-afternoon light.
— — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — — —— — —
Aiden returned an hour later, tired but quietly pleased. The Monster Knight orientation had been long — more than 100 students, 3 senior instructors, weapons assessment within the first week. Aiden was already booked for an introductory weapons assessment 2 days from now.
He sat on his bed. Pulled off his coat. Stretched.
"How was Monster Tamer Path?"
"Smaller. 8 students. Master Loen is the senior instructor. Bond depth assessment in Week Two."
"8?"
"8."
Aiden whistled softly. "You will be in a small cohort for as long as you stay there."
"Yes."
A pause. Aiden's eyes settled on him.
"Brother. There is something you should know about the Monster Knight orientation."
Qalish met his eyes.
"What."
"There is a boy named Aldous Caelmore. Front row, dark wine main intake, house-sigil pin. The Monster Knight Path senior instructor greeted him by name. His house was named. Three other families sat in the front row with him — Caelmore-allied, by the way they sat together and spoke during the instructor's address. Coordinated."
"Coordinated."
"They have already arranged their Outer Layer alliances, brother. The Monster Knight Path is half spoken for before any of us has held a weapon. Aldous is at the centre of it. The other three families are arranged around him like — like a small council that has agreed on its leader before the year begins."
Qalish absorbed that.
"And cross-path."
A pause.
"You will see him there. He will see you. The kingdom's story about an F Rank Typeless at Black Rose has already reached the Aldous table. Whether he chooses to acknowledge you or not, he will be aware of where you are."
Qalish nodded slowly.
"Understood."
Aiden lay back on his bed. Looked at the ceiling.
"This is going to be a long climb."
Qalish almost smiled. The expression did not quite reach his face.
"Yes."
The afternoon sun moved across the cliff-face window. The lanterns in the corridor outside began, one by one, to light.
The second bell of tomorrow morning was already on its way.