The day was bright and sunny, same as any other.
The second-year students read their class designation. Chattered about the duel between Isaac and Silas that they spectated just a day ago, of how unexpected the outcome was.
Eventually, they split. Be it the commoner class, combat class, elite class, or higher class, they head to where they were assigned to.
The higher class chamber, in particular, was in the Academy's central wing, third door past the faculty corridor junction.
Sixteen tables were arranged in an arc, meant for sixteen students and no more to occupy. In comparison to the small number of tables, the room itself was huge.
When Cassiopeia arrived, there were four other students who were already present, spaced out from each other rather awkwardly.
Wordlessly, she took the table at the arc's right end. Sitting down, she placed her notebook on the table and opened it to a particular page. Sweeping a gaze across the room, she began to note something down with a pen.
Then, a shadow loomed over her.
"Cassiopeia Terra."
Cassiopeia looked up.
Princess Lyra Aetherion stood at the table's edge. Silver hair. Silver-blue eyes.
"Princess Lyra Aetherion," Cassiopeia greeted, formally.
"Lyra is sufficient." She looked at the table beside Cassiopeia. "May I?"
Cassiopeia looked at the set of table and chair. At Lyra. At the remaining empty tables distributed across the arc.
There are many other seats, thought Cassiopeia. Didn't decide to think further.
"Of course," she said.
Lyra sat silently, in a smooth motion.
"The Mechanism Room," Lyra initiated a talk, a moment after she settled. "Group 2 and Group 13 ran south together on the third day."
"Yes," Cassiopeia said.
"You were operating as a two-person group by that point."
"Seren Ashveil was disqualified on day two. Tomlin Greave on day one."
Lyra nodded. "Group 2 lost all three of its members in the third day. Thankfully, the seventh bell interrupted before the engagement concluded." She paused. "I've also been thinking about… the duel that took place just yesterday."
Cassiopeia set her pen down. "What about it?"
"We saw the might of S-rank: [Lightning Spear] a couple of times by now. Its magnitude, extent of damage, and most importantly, speed of discharge—" Lyra looked at Cassiopeia with a clear intrigue in her. "To think of countering such a skill with anything less than S-rank was thought to be an act of naivety. Yet, somehow… he managed."
"I am just as curious as you are, Lyra. And it isn't just us." Cassiopeia gazed at her pen. "On my way to this class, I saw numerous students talking about 'evolving' their skills the way Isaac did."
" They weren't the first to think of such, and they won't be the last either. The royal family conducted an experiment that investigated that exact question and deemed it impossible. No one was free from the rules of the 'ranks,' except… him."
The noise began to rise around the room as other students also began to break the ice among themselves, following suit of Cassiopeia and Lyra.
The two women talked. More people continued to arrive, one by one.
Then, the door opened, rather loudly and violently.
The sound echoed across the room. The ongoing chatters simultaneously paused.
Silas Fulgur walked in, seemingly in a foul mood.
He looked at the room.
The elites among the elites—they weren't like the others who cowered upon the eyes of Silas landed on them. Rather, they looked back at him, some in interest, some in respect, and some in daring manner.
As if unbothered, his gaze moved across the peers. It paused on Cassiopeia and Lyra, for two seconds.
Silas clicked his tongue in annoyance. Hands in his pockets.
Then, he proceeded to move past them. He walked to the arc's far left corner and sat, legs crossed and body leaned back.
Vane walked in right after. He was already writing as he entered. Walking, he took the table immediately to Silas's right and didn't look up.
The room had been silent for the span of Silas's crossing. Now, it resumed—not at the same loudness but at tones slightly lower.
Cassiopeia looked at Lyra. Lyra's gaze had tracked Silas's entry and held for a moment before returning to the table.
"So, you were saying," Then, Lyra said.
Cassiopeia returned to her notebook. The talk resumed.
The room had found its rhythm—eleven students now, the arc's tables increasingly occupied, the social geometry beginning to resolve into something more stable—when the door opened again.
This time it opened quietly.
The room went quiet first, before Isaac entered and closed the door back.
Isaac looked around briefly. Walked in without a visible response.
"Isaac."
Cassiopeia called him. She gestured with her pen, pointing at a table on Lyra's left—because she was already sitting at the right end of the arc.
Isaac crossed the room and sat on the suggested space, finding no reason to sit elsewhere.
The silence broke as he sat. The conversations resumed, as loud as before Silas's entry.
Lyra looked at Isaac with mixed feelings.
"Isaac," she said, in a greeting tone.
"Princess Lyra Aetherion," Isaac said.
"Lyra." She corrected in a friendly manner. "We ran south together on the third day. I don't believe we spoke beyond the immediate situation."
"No, I suppose not," Isaac nodded.
"I was just asking Cassiopeia about [Condensation]," Lyra said. "Specifically, the applications that were unheard of. She suggested I ask you directly."
Isaac looked at Cassiopeia.
"It seemed efficient," Cassiopeia said, without looking up from her notebook.
Isaac returned his gaze to Lyra. "What do you want to know?"
"I heard about your feats through rumors," Lyra said. "About the frictionless residues you generated to induce slips."
"[Condensation] was applied as a lubrication layer," Isaac said. "The deionized application removes ionic content from the water's surface. Zero ionic content produces a friction coefficient that the terrain's surface wasn't designed to accommodate."
Lyra processed this. "And the Atticus case. I heard bits about the humidity spike."
"Humidity spike?" Now, Cassiopeia, who wasn't aware of this, leaned in.
"That's a different application," Isaac met their curiosities. "[Condensation] is the simultaneous manipulation of pressure and temperature. Reversing the direction and magnitude of those two factors enable me to perform 'evaporation' with [Condensation]. I simply repeated this procedure until the atmospheric humidity reached saturation."
Lyra let out a light chuckle out of disbelief. "You make it sound easy. Yet… no one but you managed to perform such a feat with that skill."
"I had to accommodate," replied Isaac. Said nothing more.
Lyra blinked at Isaac, who took interest off of her.
She found this behavior interesting. After all, anyone would've been enthusiastic to grasp this chance to make connections with the royal princess of the Kingdom.
Now, seated on her left and right, Isaac and Cassiopeia were in a peaceful silence that doesn't involve any further conversation.
She found herself chuckling.
They truly were different from others.
After some time passed, an elderly woman, old-aged but wisdom in her eyes, entered the class at a confident but relaxed pace.
She walked to the central floor space and looked across the sixteen students flatly.
"Greetings, higher class of the second-year." She spoke. "I am Senior Professor Maren Solke, the head of second-year combat evaluation. This year, I have been assigned as the main professor of the second-year higher class. You may refer to me as professor Solke or Master Solke."
Her gaze moved across the arc—left to right.
"First, congratulations on your success. However, do note that this is just the beginning. You will have to consistently prove that your current standing wasn't a mere luck."
The room was silent, be it due to tension or out of the respect for the professor.
"Such is the duty of the higher class. You, the top sixteen students, are the representatives of the entire second-year. When the kingdom assesses the second-year cohort, it begins with this room. The standard you maintain here is the standard the grade is measured by."
She moved to the south wall, where a posted document held the challenge system's parameters in the Academy's standard institutional format.
"Specifically, there is a bi-monthly challenge system. You know it. If you don't, note it." She said it the way facts were stated when repetition served confirmation rather than information. "The three top-performing students of elite class may challenge three members of their choice from higher class. The same condition applies at every level—combat class's top three may challenge elite class, and commoner class's top three may challenge combat class."
She looked across the room.
"As I mentioned, bi-monthly. The challenge window opens every two months, at the fourth week. Three challenges maximum per window. Submitted through the Registrar's office. Accepted by the challenged party within forty-eight hours or forfeit by default."
Isaac already knew about this. It was the infamous, meritocratic system that the Academy prided upon.
As long as one was capable, it was possible to rise in ranks.
"The sixth month will be an exception for the higher class exclusively. Instead of the standard challenge window, a public tournament will be held among the sixteen second-year and sixteen third-year higher class students," Maren continued, "Thirty-two competitors. Single elimination bracket. Public broadcast to the kingdom's major centers." A pause. "It is a custom that has been held annually for 63 years. It is the primary public demonstration of the Academy's output and, by extension, the kingdom's future military and institutional capability. You will compete should you maintain your status as a higher class student by then."
The room received this.
At the left corner, Vane's pen had stopped moving. Cassiopeia grimaced, feeling the pressure. Lyra maintained her posture, although her lips made a slight quiver.
Isaac simply listened, processing the information. This one—the tournament—wasn't new either. He remembered the performance of his previous brother, Caspian Valerius, in this exact tournament mentioned.
"Now, we move on. Today, we will go through the generic history. Take this as a refresher."
She opened her ledger.
"The kingdom was founded under the First King. What he carried, what he built, and what it cost—everything began there."
Her gaze moved across the sixteen students one final time.
"Pay attention."