Students were already inside the classroom, while there seemed to be eleven standing outside. That meant they were late. And by the teacher's rules, anyone who was late had to take a punch from him—and they didn't look like small punches, either. Students were being flung into walls, leaving dents, or collapsing right then and there.
"Hey… don't you think he's going too far?" Joey whispered to Riven, who could only nod as he watched the last student drop to the ground after being punched.
"This will teach you not to be late to my class," Mr. Kain said. "Now, for the rest of you—"
He paused. His eyes narrowed when he spotted two familiar faces.
"Ah. You two made it into the top five students. You get my praise—but that's all you're getting. Something I want you to understand is this: don't let it get to your heads. Any of these students could surpass you in just a week of training. I advise you both to work hard and not fall behind."
With that, Kain walked away.
"Talk about a downer," Riven whispered.
"Now all of you will get the same weapon you picked yesterday," Kain continued. "As for our new students, you can go to the weapon wall and pick whatever weapon you want. But note: once you pick a weapon, you're stuck with it. You cannot change it. That weapon will become your lifeline—and will be one of the main things you'll need to pass my class."
He pointed to the weapon wall. Riven and Joey walked toward it. When they arrived, they saw a long list of available weapons:
Gauntlets
Swords
Daggers
Rapiers
Greatswords
Maces
Spears
Crossbows
Axes
Shields
And more…
"What weapon will you pick?" Joey asked.
"I don't really know. I never thought I'd use a weapon—just my bare hands," Riven replied.
"So why not take the gauntlets? They're more hand-to-hand combat than anything else."
Riven thought about it, then nodded, grabbing a pair of sleek black gauntlets.
"So, what about you?" Riven asked.
"I was thinking about a spear or dagger… Matter of fact—no," Joey said, changing his mind and grabbing a sword. "This won't be my permanent weapon, but for now, it'll do."
This made riven think and say "Hey Joey, you know I could always swap out your ability for a different one, right? Like maybe Nico's fire, or Jude's ice. You think of yourself as a support, but you can be supportive in other ways than just muting sound."
"I'll think about it later," Joey responded with a smile.
Before they walked away, both used the Lock-On skill on their weapons:
[Level One Beast: Black Iron Gauntlet]
Strength: +5
Speed: +2
Durability: +3
[Level One Beast: Bane Sword]
Strength: +3
Speed: +5
Durability: +2
When they saw this, they both paused at one phrase they didn't understand: Level One Beast. What did "beast" mean in this context? What was level one referring to?
Joey was about to use Lock-On on other weapons to compare stats, but before he could, Kain appeared behind them.
"Good, you've picked your weapons. Now we can continue with class," he said, visibly annoyed at how long they were taking.
"Today we'll be having Combat Practice. You are not allowed to use your Evolution Abilities. This orb right here will alert me if anyone does. If you use your ability, you will be punished."
As he said that last part, the students who had only just recovered from his punches visibly stiffened, clearly terrified.
"Now, since you two were in the top five, I'm guessing you'll be all right—even though you're one day behind. Okay, okay—" Kain didn't even let them respond before continuing.
"There are twenty of you, and we won't have time to get through all of you today. So if you don't get called, you'll be called tomorrow. Keep that in mind. First match: Josiah Blade vs. Sierra Dixon."
The two students stepped forward onto a raised platform that rose from the ground. Josiah wielded two daggers; Sierra had a crossbow.
"Begin!" Kain shouted.
Josiah rushed forward. While everyone watched the fight, Kain kept his eyes mostly on the orb to make sure no one cheated.
Sierra fired three arrows. Josiah managed to cut through most of them, but one hit his leg. He screamed in pain but pushed through, pulling the arrow out. When he looked up, Sierra had the bow pointed at his head.
"Winner: Sierra," Kain announced, jotting something down on his chart.
"Next match: Joey Cross vs. Kyle Fang."
Joey gulped when he heard his name, but someone was there to reassure him.
"You got this. Just try to cut the dude's leg and you'll be done. Your strength went up a bit—same with your speed. You should be able to easily slice him in the leg," Riven said, patting Joey on the shoulder.
Joey nodded and walked up onto the platform. Kyle stood across from him with a spear in hand, already in a solid stance.
Everything went quiet until—
"Begin!" Kain shouted.
Joey took Riven's advice to heart and rushed in. Thanks to the sword and his stat boost, he was able to speed-blitz Kyle, getting behind him. He dropped low and sliced through Kyle's Achilles tendon. Kyle fell to his knees, screaming in pain, unable to stand back up.
"Winner: Joey Cross," Kain declared.
Joey walked back down, high-fiving Riven.
"Thanks for the advice, man."
"No problem."
The orb still hadn't glowed—meaning no one had used their Evolution abilities. As the fights continued, more students were sent to the infirmary, while others won, lost, or even drew.
As the period was nearly over, Riven heard his name.
"Riven Harlow vs. Reed Greystone."
Riven's eyes lit up. He jumped onto the platform, facing off against Reed. Reed raised his shield, while Riven bounced lightly on his feet.
Kain narrowed his eyes. "Boxing," he muttered.
"Begin!"
Riven rushed in. His speed wasn't quite as fast as Joey's, but his punches were heavier. When he struck, Reed blocked with the shield—a strange choice of weapon. Reed then shoved Riven back with the shield, forcing him to stumble before catching himself and bouncing again.
Thanks to the training Dad gave us, I'm a novice at most hand-to-hand styles—but he didn't only teach us boxing, now did he?
Riven stopped bouncing and raised his hands higher.
MMA, Kain realized.
Riven rushed in again. This time, instead of going for the body, he went for Reed's face. Reed blocked with the shield—only for Riven to twist and kick Reed's leg out from under him. Reed flipped backward and hit the ground hard.
"Winner: Riven Harlow," Kain said.
"That training wasn't useless after all, Dad," Riven muttered as he walked off the platform and high-fived Joey.
"There was no doubt in my mind," Joey replied.
As the rest of the fights ended and the bell rang, Joey bid Riven goodbye and headed to his next class—even though he didn't have a healing ability.
Riven thought to himself:
Maybe I should sneak into his healing class, watch people using healing abilities, then copy one… maybe even replace the pink-haired guy's ability with it.
Riven was just about to make his move when someone stopped him.
"Those were some good moves back there, boy. Who taught you that?" Kain asked.
"My father, sir. I got into a little altercation, which caused me to Force Evolve in the first place, but my dad still wanted me to know how to fight. We had training videos of people doing martial arts. My father walked me and my twin through it and taught us MMA and boxing. I didn't think it would be helpful, but… here we are."
"Twin, huh? That must mean he goes here too, or does he go to the other academy?" Kain asked.
"No, he goes here. Actually—unlike me, he's a natural Evolver."
"Hm. I hope to see him in one of these classes. Now go to class," Kain ordered.
Riven nodded, then ran—not to his assigned class, but straight toward Joey's.
When he got to Joey's class, Riven spotted the young man sitting at a desk. Riven's eyes darted around the room until they landed on a girl with green hair. She was showing off a green glow to her friends—it was her healing ability.
Riven watched it closely, and within seconds, he felt his system register the evolution. With that done, he quickly slipped out of the room and headed to his own class.
Mentally, Riven pulled up his system, navigating to the Party Tab. He attempted to replace the pink-haired man's Mute Evolution with the green-haired girl's Healing Evolution. But just as he confirmed the swap, a prompt popped up:
[User wants to replace an Evolution. User must use 2 Attribute Points or 100 System Points.]
Riven had a theory something like this might happen. Fortunately, Wren hadn't been in the party when he combined everyone's attribute points together—meaning she still had her original 4 points. He used 2 of hers to complete the switch, replacing Mute with Healing.
⸻
Back in the classroom, Joey suddenly felt a change in his body—then he heard a familiar voice echo in his head. It was Riven. He told Joey what he had done and apologized to Wren, but she responded casually, saying she didn't really care.
Thanks for the save, Riven, Joey said in his mind.
No problem, Riven replied, then ended the telepathy link.
Just as he did, he reached his classroom—right before the bell rang.
"Welcome, Mister Harlow," the teacher said. "To Physics."