A gesture from Beauty had Neferen sitting back down at her desk, Numbers One and Two vanishing like a haze on a hot summer day.

  “Our magic is like a muscle,” Beauty said. “The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Unlike your normal muscles from Earth, though, you will build your magic up, break through to a new—what we call—Rank, and see both a qualitative and quantitative increase. Yes, this same process will occur with your bodies as well.

  “Over the past week, we forced some of that progress through training in the arena. While we still need to measure the results, the fact you all reached—or exceeded—the thresholds we set out, means you moved at least from E-Rank to D-Rank in your endurance. No, before you ask, Oligy, I am not going to go into what each attribute means. Not only is it relatively intuitive, but you will also have entire classes dedicated to it.”

  Oligy, his hand half up in the air before Beauty cut him off at the pass, nodded, then put his arm back down on his desk.

  “Good,” Beauty continued. “As I was saying, simply using your magic over and over will increase its overall Rank slowly over time. That fact is why you all aren’t E-Rank-One. For those of you who find your magic somewhat stronger than average, it’s because you’ve been using that magic for one thing or another in your regular lives quite frequently.

  “However, that won’t be enough to meet the demands of being a Mistguard. Let me put it this way. Back on Earth, walking every day was excellent for your health. It was a low-impact activity that would produce numerous health benefits, and the more you did it, the more you could do. You could walk longer. Faster. Maybe even up a hill. That skill in walking probably didn’t translate so well to climbing stairs.

  “Oh, sure, there would be some crossover-benefits, such as better cardiovascular health, to prevent you from getting winded as quickly, but your legs would burn. Now, imagine if your goal was to become a marathon runner? Again, walking would have some related benefits, but it would never get you to the level you need to be, even though walking and running have a lot in common. You move your legs beneath you at varying speeds over long distances.

  “As a walker, you may be able to go ten miles with no problem. When asked to run it? You might be tapping out after a single mile.”

  Beauty paused for a moment, clasping his hands behind his back as he let the analogy sink in. After almost a moment of silence, he continued.

  “Similarly, for your magic, you will need to work it differently than you have been. As Cadet Neferan reminded us, as Mistguard, you will ultimately be called to fight. Against enemies some of you can hardly imagine, in most cases.”

  Beauty very specifically did not look in the direction of Det, Sage, and Eriba when he said that last part.

  “You will still have ample opportunity to practice your magic in general during your three years here at the academy. I would also strongly encourage you to spend extra time outside of classes on improving yourself. This is a small aside, but, if you only work on the skills you need in the Mistguard during class hours, you will become a passable member of our organization. That is the whole point of this education.

  “On the other hand, if you wish to be more than passable—if you wish to be excellent—you are going to need to, as Beast would say, work your asses off on your own time.”

  “Damn straight,” Beast said. “Me and Beauty, we didn’t become this badass by slacking off after class and watching movies all night.”

  This time, both instructors did look in Det’s direction. Luckily, he wasn’t the only one looking guilty at the accusation.

  “Now, now,” Beauty said. “We do understand this past week wasn’t representative of your penchant for hard work. The training you recently underwent was particularly exhausting, both physically and mentally. Forcing your endurance—and to a larger extent than you might believe, your willpower—as much as we did has had a toll. That takes time and rest to recover from. Now that the specific training is finished, though, you will find there are facilities, as well as sections of the arena, that can be booked out for additional practice.

  “If you’re interested, I have prepared a list of the facilities I believe may be useful for you, and you’re welcome to come to me at the end of class to get a copy.”

  Det nodded to himself and Beauty at the same time. If the days weren’t as absolutely draining as the week of hell was, he would definitely be putting in some extra hours. Even if the rest of his roommates stayed on the couch in the suite. Then again, by the expressions on Sage and Eriba’s faces, they had the same thought.

  “Excellent,” Beauty said. Let us return to the topic at hand, then. As I was alluding to earlier, we don’t need you to be walkers. We need you to be sprinters. To get to that point—and to increase the strength of your magic more quickly—we are going to push you. Get you to use your magic in ways you may not have considered possible before.

  “Through many cycles, the Mistguard have refined techniques that will not only accomplish the goal of making your magic stronger, but also more useful.”

  “That’s not the same thing?” Oligy asked.

  “In some cases, it certainly can be, Cadet Oligy,” Beauty said. “For an Artillery, for example, it could easily be argued that something like a stronger fireball is a more useful fireball. A bigger bang means more damage and destruction, does it not?

  “However, let’s consider a scenario,” Beauty said, and walked up to wall at the front of the room. It wasn’t like there was a chalkboard of whiteboard or anything like that there, so what was he…?

  A screen of glowing light—just like the television in the suite—appeared in front of the wall.

  “This is your Artillery,” Beauty said, tapping the screen a few times for the image of a ReSouled cadet—complete in their black and red uniform—to appear on one side. Much like a fighting game from Earth, the figure dropped into a kind of bouncy, fighting pose on one side. A few more taps from Beauty created a bland, pure white opponent on the opposite side of the screen. “As I was saying, a fireball.”

  A gesturing swipe on the screen—that looked suspiciously like a quarter-circle forward—had the ReSouled on the left lunging forward and… throwing a fireball. Predictably, it shot across the screen to strike the defenseless, white figure. There was a satisfying explosion that threw the training dummy into the air, before it crashed back down to the ground, then stood up like nothing had happened.

  “That is our baseline,” Beauty said, and pointed to a health bar at the top of the right-hand side of the screen, above the training dummy. “Let’s call that ten damage.” Giving how much of the health bar was missing—about ten percent—it made sense. “Continuing with this analogy, as Oligy asked, isn’t stronger more useful?”

  This time, Beauty made a half-circle-forward gesture on the screen, and when the ReSouled lunged forward this time, the resulting fireball was more than twice as large as before. This time, when it struck the training dummy, the explosion launched the thing into the air so hard it bounced off the top of the screen, before crashing back to the floor. It even took another second to get back up, one hand going to its head—stars whirling around it—and staggered side to side. After a second of that, the effect wore off, and the dummy returned to its normal neutral pose.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Above its head, a quarter of its health bar had disappeared.

  “That, a stronger fireball, did twenty-five damage,” Beauty said. “It would take four of those—compared to ten of the original—fireballs to defeat this particular opponent. A significant improvement, and significantly faster. That could, unquestionably, be considered more useful. However…”

  Beauty moved to the middle of the screen between the two fighters, and sliced a finger straight down. In the aftermath of the gesture, a wall stood between the opponents.

  “What if this is the situation?” Beauty said. “Let’s see what happens.”

  A quarter-circle-forward gesture launched the original fireball to slap uselessly into the wall. It didn’t even shiver under the attack, and the training dummy behind it didn’t move a muscle.

  “Again, that’s our baseline. Now, is stronger more useful?”

  The half-circle-forward motion fired off the much larger and more powerful fireball… to have exactly the same effect on the wall. In other words, no effect. The training dummy might’ve even been picking its nose in boredom.

  “Oligy?” Beauty prompted.

  “Didn’t do any better, sir,” Oligy said.

  “Sir,” Neferan said. “That just means it isn’t strong enough. A more powerful fireball could punch through the wall, couldn’t it?”

  “An excellent observation,” Beauty said. “There is a very valid expression that goes, ‘Nothing else matters in the face of overwhelming power’. With a powerful enough fireball, this wall—and the opponent hiding behind it—would prove no obstacle at all. The amount of power that would take, however, is beyond you at this point.

  “Instead, something that is far more within your reach, is something like…”

  This time, Beauty did a forward-then-quarter-circle-forward gesture on the screen. In response, the ReSouled threw another fireball, but this one didn’t go straight across the screen. Instead, it went up at a steep angle, bounced off the top of the screen—above the wall—then shot back down at the opposite angle to smash into the head of the training dummy. Just like the first fireball in the demonstration, the attack sent the target falling to the ground, ten percent of its health missing.

  “Now,” Beauty said. “Given the situation, this fireball only did the same amount of damage as the first, baseline attack. It is no stronger than the first fireball—and significantly weaker than the second fireball—but how would you rate it in terms of usefulness?”

  “It hit the other guy,” Oligy said. “Which the big fireball couldn’t do. So, really useful.”

  “Given the situation, this ricochetting fireball was the perfect tool for the job,” Beauty said.

  “And something your asses should watch out for when it comes to duels,” Beast said. “You better believe Incoming Trauma is teaching her class how to do exactly that at this very moment.”

  “Incoming… trauma?” Trium asked, then flinched when Beast’s eyes landed on her after asking a question.

  “The Artilleries’ instructor’s name.” Beauty explained. “Capital I, capital T.”

  “Her name is Incoming Trauma…” Oligy said.

  “It is a very apt name,” Beauty said.

  “They went on a date, once,” Beast said with a laugh.

  “I stand by my earlier statement,” Beauty said, his hand absently touching the scar running down his face. “Back to the lesson, though Beast makes a good point. As we practice how to make your magic both stronger and more useful, remember your fellow cadets—and your future opponents—will be doing exactly the same thing.

  “Enough of that, for now. Instead, let’s move on to a far more practical and immediate example that will help show you not only how you can increase the Rank of your magic, but also improve it iteratively.”

  “As Cadets Neferan and Aria were kind enough to show us with their earlier display, both of their magics has strengths and weaknesses. Cadet Eriba,” Beauty said, the cadet in question somehow simultaneously sitting up straighter and trying to hide at the same time.

  “Sir?” Eriba said, voice barely above a whisper.

  “If you could suggest one reason why Cadet Neferan’s magic was caught by Cadet Aria’s, what would it be?” Beauty said, his tone the same as ever.

  “It didn’t see the spirit,” Eriba said immediately. “It was too small and sneaky.”

  “Excellent observation,” Beauty said. “That was the crux of Cadet Neferan’s trouble. Neither he, nor his magical duplicates possessed the necessary perception to spot something like Cadet Aria’s earth spirit sneaking up on it.

  “Several times, Cadet Neferan has mentioned his doubles have all his skills and strength. Now, Cadet Neferan, I ask you…” Beauty turned directly on the man sitting ramrod straight in his seat. “Why would you limit your magic duplicates to only your level of skills, strengths, and abilities?”

  At first, Neferan’s face screwed up in confusion at the question, then the implications of it seemed to hit him, and his eyes widened at the same time his mouth opened. There weren’t any words coming out of it, but even Det could see his mind racing a mile a minute behind the blank stare.

  “Now, Cadet Det,” Beauty said, snapping Det’s attention back to the instructor. “What about Cadet Aria’s magic? What was it lacking?”

  Lacking? He asked Eriba why Number Two got caught. Because it didn’t notice the spirit. Which means…

  “The little spirit wasn’t strong enough to do anything to Number Two when it caught him,” Det said. “Whether it had more physical strength, or some kind of ability it could use, either of those things would’ve let it make the most of reaching him without getting noticed. Then punted.”

  “Exactly,” Beauty said. “Good critical thinking, from both you and Cadet Eriba.”

  At the praise, the baby-faced cadet in the front row scowled. Whatever he had against Det, Eriba, and Sage, getting the teacher on their good side wasn’t helping it.

  “But, how, sir?” Neferan finally spoke up. “How can I make my duplicates—One and Two,” he said and stared specifically at Det. “How can I make them better than me?”

  “Quite easily, in fact,” Beauty said. “With practice. And, oh my, how convenient…” Beauty put his hand to his lips in faux-surprise. “That practice is exactly the topic of today’s lesson.”

  “Will we finally get to the lesson, or is it going to be another speech and explanation first?” Beast asked from the desk, her finger tap-tap-tapping on the wood.

  “Would you like to teach the lesson?” Beauty turned and asked the woman.

  “You bet your ass I would!” she said, jumping to her feet and slamming both hands back down on the desk. “Time to give these fresh, new asses a workout!”

  “Absolutely not,” Beauty said. “They won’t be ready for your style of teaching until at least the end of the week.”

  “You just said…” Beast retorted.

  “I asked if you wanted to. I never said you could. Please have a seat.”

  “Spoilsport,” Beast grumbled, but sat back down.

  “Cadet Neferan,” Beauty said, turning back to the class. “And the rest of you as well. When you utilize your magic, how do you release the energy that activates it?”

  “What do you mean?” Neferan asked.

  “You create duplicates of yourself,” Beauty stated the obvious. “Where do you push your magical energy to manifest those duplicates? From your fingers? Your head?”

  “From all of me,” Neferan said.

  “All at the same time?”

  “Yes,” Neferan said.

  “The same speed?”

  “Yes.”

  “At the same consistency and level of energy?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ah,” Det said, the prompting from the instructor sliding the missing puzzle piece into place.

  “Cadet Det,” Beauty said. “You sound as if you figured something out.”

  “I think you’re saying that if we focus our magic on something specific while we create it,” Det said. “Like, if Neferan pushed more energy into Number Two’s eyes, he could make it see better. If Aria experimented with how she manifested her spirit, she could maybe give it an ability, or make it stronger.”

  “Bravo,” Beauty said. “That is precisely true, though simpler in statement than practice. When we, as ReSouled, first learn to use our magic, it’s much like an on-off switch. We push our energy instinctively into the ability. We learn how much we need, maybe even how to put more energy to get more bang, depending on what the ability is.

  “That process works for us, and, usually, for our first twenty years of life, it’s more than enough. When we look for ways to improve our magic, we tend to look for innovative ways to use it, not innovative ways to create it.

  “It’s like if you were given a sword and told you needed to learn how to fight with it. You would train and practice. Learn to swing. Improve your footwork, and your strength. How many of you would think to go back a step and learn how to forge the perfect sword for you? A weapon appropriate for your size, strength, and preferred method of combat.

  “For somebody who prefers to strike from the dark, a claymore may not be the best weapon.

  “This training for your magic is like that,” Beauty said. “Right now, you all have the sword you were given when you realized you were ReSouled. Beast and I are going to help you take that sword apart, piece by piece, and reforge it a little at a time.

  “With our instruction, we will sharpen your blade, make it part of an arsenal at your command, and train you to be masters of it all.

  “How does that sound?”

  “What are we waiting for?” Det asked immediately. His heart pounded in his chest in anticipation of how he would grow. This was why he’d joined the Mistguard in the first place. He was ready.