Towers And Gods Light Novels Episode Seven: Test Administrators

E7: TEST ADMINISTRATORS

**\*I Have a lot of editing to do to this episode but will return to it when i finish the other episodes. The spacing is a bit horrid and there are parts i need to expand upon, rework completely, and I have to add chapter names and numbers to all of it.\***

Arc

Chapter: Frog Games

Team Black departs their separate ways after the dice game, leaving Victor alone in the common room. Eden going back to her room with Damien in pursuit. It is now nine P.M. which is an hour before curfew.

Wu is taking back the crate of strawberry idol water to avoid from anyone losing points. He thinks to himself that this is the right course of action, as Scopio is already mad at him.

He doesn't want himself or Damien to lose points due to the disappearance of the crate from the vending machine area. Brac follows after Wu, as if Wu had stolen his best friend from him.

He catches up to him in the hallway just before the cafeteria. "Wu, if I just take two, no one will ever know," Brac exclaims to Wu as he reaches out for the strawberry drink.

"Brac, I told you I would buy you some in the morning," Wu replies back with friendly frustration, not wanting Brac to lose points either.

"THE MORNING IS NOT NOW," Brac snaps back immediately.

"You just had one," Wu points out.

"I'm a big boy; I need more," Brac says irritated at Wu for not understanding his craving for Idol Water.

"Alright, here's what we are going to do: I'm putting the case by the vending machine; I brought it back. Whatever you decide to do has nothing to do with me," he says as he rolls his eyes at Brac.

He looks around as if he is addressing someone else in the room, but there is no one there as he says, "Scopio! I know you are listening. I have nothing to do with this. All you brother, all you."

Wu doesn't get a response from Scopio, but there are a couple of cameras in the hallway that they are in. They both feel eyes on them as if they are being watched by someone.

Brac brazenly looks at the camera while smiling, reaching down to the crate of delicious strawberry idol water. He cracks it open then takes out two bottles.

He waves at the camera and then just walks away as he cracks one open, beginning to drink from the water shamelessly. He completely disregards any thoughts or concerns of consequences.

With his conscience clear, Wu decides to go back to his room due to his fatigue. Brac triumphantly goes back to his room drinking his spoils of war in a victorious manner.

Meanwhile, Eden is in her room now, with Damien arriving to the door of their room. Even though he has a key to enter, he decides that the polite thing to do considering the circumstance is to knock.

While knocking he asks compassionately from the hallway side of their bedroom door, "Eden?..." There is no response though, much to his dismay.

"Is everything alright?" With no response still, Damien lets out a sigh, as he hesitantly opens their bedroom door. He enters slowly with no sudden movements or noise, careful not to disturb Eden further.

Damien gets a very strong smell of what he knows to be the lingering odor of bile from someone throwing up. He sees her curled up in her blanket on her bed, with her back facing the door.

"Oh jeez," Damien quietly says to himself, "Eden? Eden.... is everything alright? Anything that I can do?"

After a moment of silence, she responds without moving an inch or turning to look at him, "I'll be alright Damien. Thanks though."

"If there's anything that I can do, or even if you just want to talk about it. I'm here," Damien lets her know.

She shifts in her bed ever so slightly. She lets out an exacerbate sigh as she flips herself over to face Damien, still in bed though and laying down-- curled in her blanket like a cocoon.

She noticeably looks pale, her hair a tangled, frizzy mess. She appears to look ill and worn out to the very core like she had lived a thousand lives in the time that Damien had last seen her.

"I'm sorry about that Damien. I uh," She hesitates, her voice being weak and soft. Damien begins to speak but then stops to not interrupt her.

He then apologizes, "Go ahead, sorry," he says very softly and apologetic as if he had just committed the most heinous crime. You can feel his empathy and concern in his voice.

"N-No, you're fine. I just didn't think-- I hadn't thought about-- that for a very long time. And uh.. I uh.. I didn't think it was going to affect me that hard."

She pauses with an even more intense thousand-yard-stare as Damien can notice the bags under her eyes from crying, red and swollen. The sadness overshadowing her once smiling face.

"And it just kind of hit me like out of nowhere. I'm sorry I lost my composure. I'm sure that I worried all of out, so I'm sorry about that."

Damien sympathetically smiles at Eden, "You have nothing to feel sorry for." He tries to reassure her with his gentle smile.

"I have a lot to be sorry for," she replies with a look in her eyes as she recalls moments from the past.

"If anything, I'm sorry that it had to be brough up in such a way," Damien reassures her that she has nothing to be sorry for.

"I thought I was going to get a chuckle out of everyone, but I think I played myself. Life is strange," she says as she trails off back into a recollection of the past.

"That... I agree with," Damien also remembering things from the times before the tests began.

They both share a laugh together for the first time since Damien entering the room.

"Sure is weird how things end up, especially in the tower," Damien says now sitting down on the bed next to Eden while looking up at the ceiling with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, especially in the tower," Eden responds, letting out a very short and quiet laugh to herself.

"You know what makes me feel a little bit better sometimes?" He still looks to the ceiling with a smile on his face.

"What is that, Damien?" Eden smiles as she turns her head to look at Damien.

"Setting something on fire," he says as his smile gets even bigger, still not giving her direct eye contact. She instantly does a double take at what he is saying and sighs.

"Okay we've talked about this..I," as she is responding Damien and her talk over each other.

"But like, it does kind of feel good though," he defends his statement.

"..Damien." Eden just shakes her head at him, now starting to get lightened up by Damien's antics and humor.

"But what if we contain it to this trash can here," he asks as he readies a frog lighter that he seemly pulls out from nowhere. He fully is prepared to burn the motherfucker down.

"Damien, remember the rule I put in place yesterday about us being roommates?" she says with her arms crossed, looking at him, and him looking at her. "Yes," he replies, slowly lowering the lighter.

"Remember how I said no fire?" Eden reminds him.

"I thought that was more of a guideline than a rule," Damien says as he thinks of her words the day prior.

"No... that's.. it's- it's a rule. It's-it's a rule that we are going to have! We are going to have an allegiance in that." Her words stutter and fail her as she completely forgets about her pains,

thinking now of how to deal with Damien so she doesn't wake up to being on fire. Now her being more concerned that her fire will get burned off by Damien's shenanigans.

"And look, I don't want you losing points for any reason, especially if it's pyro-related. I don't think Scopio would be too happy with you setting tower property on fire outside of a test area."

She looks him directly in the eye, back to her leadership self, her voice no longer soft and worn. "So, let's um," she continues, as Damien interrupts her.

"I have an idea: what if I just started all of my stuff on fire then?" He stands up in excitement, still holding the lighter, looking to his things for the first thing that he will burn.

Her eyes get really big as she looks at him in confusion, "Why would you do that?!?!?"

"Because it's fire? It'll make us feel better," he says like it's an obvious thing to do in their situation.

"Oh, no it won't," Eden detests as she grabs his arm, attempting to stop his madness.

"Us plural," he says, including her in the inferno therapy session that is about to take place.

"Are you talking about you and Hresvelgr and leaving me out of the equation or..." Eden asks slowly, not knowing whether to be offended or not.

"No, no, no, no." Damien says apologetic, continuing "I don't even know where Hresvelgr is right now. Wait-- Where is Hresvelgar?" He asks as he realizes he doesn't even know.

"You sent him off to get more people last I remember. So..." Eden says as she trails off with an awkward pause.

"Oh no..." Damien says as he recalls what Eden is saying.

"You've got time before curfew. You might want to go find him," Eden suggests.

"Eh, it'll be fine. He's his own frog." Damien replies, now resting easy in realization that Hresvelgr couldn't get into much trouble in the tower on his own.

"But what if he's out passed curfew? Technically didn't Scopio rule that he could wear the crown so therefore he's part of you? So, if he breaks curfew, you're going to get in trouble?"

She poses the question as she thinks about it, "I mean Hresvelgr doesn't have points."

"Well, I considered it as Hresvelgr is his own entity, so he's considered a fourth member of my team on the crown game. Therefore, Hresvelgr would lose points, not me," Damien responds.

"But did Hresvelgr get awarded points? Did you ask him?" Eden asks Damien as they both wonder about it for a moment.

"That.." Damien says as Eden interrupts him asking, "Does Hresvelgr even have a Pocket?!"

"Hresvelgr has a lot of things that might surprise you," Damien says as he thinks of the surprising things that Hresvelgr has collected over the years.

"I mean, I do and don't want to know the answer to that question, but we are going to let that go for now," Eden says hesitantly.

"Yeah... Yeah... Let's just assume that Hresvelgr is okay," Damien says as he begins to put his mind at ease more and more.

"Do you want me to help you go look for him," Eden asks concerned.

"Uh, no?" Damien responds, confident that Hresvelgr is okay somewhere on the floor.

"I'm absolutely sure and for the record, I'm happy to see you more engaged."

(LOL he said engaged to Eden and she didn't even react to this possibly being a reference to her secret told from the Dice Game)

"Yeah, I think all of that has passed," she reassures Damien, now realizing how much he has taken her mind off of the bad things that consumed her.

"And also, maybe the food here kind of had something to do with it, because I never felt good after eating the breakfast this morning. So yeah, I'll blame it on that," she says trying to convince the two of them.

She chuckles to herself as she thinks of her excuse.

"Wait... we only had breakfast," Damien says, now realizing that he is hungry.

"Yes, it wasn't very good," Eden affirms.

"We skipped second breakfast, and lunch, and second lunch, and dinner, and second dinner, and third dinner, and fourth, and dessert?!" Damien says after coming to the realization that he hadn't had his normal meals.

He feels his stomach rumble even more at the thought of food.

"How, wait?" Eden says, as Damien quickly interjects, "Let me go get you dessert!"

"No, I.." She says as she hurries to grab by the shoulders before he can rush off. "I don't need any more food for tonight. I'm good. Plus, I think the cafeteria is closed so we're good, we're good."

She has a thought come to her mind, "How about you and I take a nice little evening walk before curfew together and we will go find Hresvelgr? Alright?"

"That sounds delightful," Damien says as he smiles and holds his arm out for her to grab for their evening walk, much excited to go for a walk with her.

"Okay," Eden says as she takes his arm. "Let's go, Damien." She smiles at him, thinking to herself about how much she appreciates Damien for cheering her up, ridding her mind of the bad memories.

As they are closing the door to their room after entering the hallway, Eden receives a notification on her Pocket. She looks at the name of who sent the message and reads it to herself.

Damien is about to say something to her, but then she abruptly interrupts him, "Um, uh- Damien? I think I know where Hresvelgr is.."

"Really, you know where a three-inch frog would be at this time of night?" Damien sounds confused as he responds to her.

"Yeah, I may have might of gotten some intel on him," she says nervously and hesitant about what to think of the message she just read on her Pocket.

"Um, we are going to need to go back to the common area. Victor just sent me a message that a bunch of regulars showed up being led by Hres, SO I think we may need to go collect him.."

She seriously doesn't know what to think of what could possibly be happening, but she is nervous to find out the answer to that, knowing how Damien is, only imagining what Hresvelgr could be up to.

"Alright, well I mean how many people could it be," Damien asks as he ponders how and what could even be happening, thinking that maybe it was an exaggeration or misconstrued somehow.

"He said a whole bunch, so let me make myself presentable quick," she says, rushing back into the room. Damien is confused as to what she is doing at a time like this. In an insanely short time, she returns,

looking like she just had a team of makeup artists work on her. She now looked like a completely different person, shining and glowing with elegance. They begin to walk down the hallway in pursuit of answers.

"Alright Damien," she says as she hugs him from behind, "Thank you, I appreciate it." She lets him go as she continues like nothing even happened, "Alright, let's go collect your frog," she laughs as she speaks.

She lunges out in front of him as they make their way to the common area, interested in what could possibly be going on with Hresvelgr and these regulars.

They hear a lot of voices coming from within the common room, but as they, not seeing Brac, Wu, or Gasu there, do see ten or twelve regulars in four different circles all throwing down dice playing games.

Some are shouting from losing or from excitement of winning, while others talk amongst each other as they play.

After seeing all the commotion, they notice Victor just sitting on a couch by himself, slumped down, almost shamefully hanging his head with his arms crossed while looking at the ground.

As they look around more at all the action going on in the common room, they notice in the middle of it all, is Hresvelgr doing his best to throw some dice.

"Hresvelgr!" Damien shouts as he is baffled and upset at the sight of it. "What's going on here?!"

Hresvelgr responds with a bunch of quick succession ribbits while he looks back and forth between his game and Damien.

"What do you MEAN RIBBIT RIBBIT RIBBT?!?!" Damien responds as if he understood everything that Hres just said to him.

"Oh, Damien, what is... Oh gosh," Eden says just flabbergasted and in shock. Words are lost from her as she tries to find the right ones to say.

"EVERYBODY STOP PLAYING, HE'S A CHEATING FROG!" Damien says, addressing all the regulars playing these games with Hresvelgr. He quickly turns his head back and forth as steam begins to roll out of his ears.

"Is this your frog," asks one of the regulars playing against him.

"No..." Damien says as he hesitates to answer, "He's his own frog. He's my best friend."

"Oh boy," Eden says under her breath directed at the situation and Damien's comments. "Uh, not to be a party pooper, but we have about twenty minutes until curfew everyone so mayyyybe we should wrap all of this up?"

She looks at Damien then back to the regulars, "Right?" She is so uncomfortable at the moment of saying this.

The regulars all kind of just look at her in silence thinking "and?" with one of them responding to her, "One more round, yeah, yeah, yeah," as he starts throwing dice around again and the other regulars follow suit.

Eden kind of rolls her eyes, "Oh boy."

The regulars continue to play, cheer, and shout, betting whatever they have on hand, whether it be weapons, items, food, articles of clothing, or random things they could obtain to bet with.

During all the action that is happening, Victor walks over with his hands in his pocket and a look on his face like he's seen a ghost, with a bit of guilt in his eyes too.

"Yeah, surprised me too. This little guy came down the hallway, with everyone just following him in a straight line. It was kind of creepy, not going to lie," he says to Eden as Damien just looks at all of it.

"Damien doesn't follow orders that well," Eden replies, with Damien kind of coming back to reality.

"Victor, what are they betting," as Damien looks at the random stuff in piles across the area.

"You tell me; some of them are betting food they snuck out of the cafeteria, pieces of clothing, it's very odd. Don't ask me," he says as he just shakes his head in utter amazement, being at a loss for words.

"This isn't as interesting as our game earlier though," Victor says, as suddenly Eden and Victor look over due to loud shouting. Damien is in a tug of war with Hresvelgr at that moment.

Both Eden and Victor looking at this situation with their eyes bulging out and jaws dropped.

"Hresvelgr! You can't sell my scissors! No! Hresvelgr, no! That's mine! It doesn't belong to you," Damien shouts at him as he struggles to get his scissors back from Hresvelgr.

Eden and Victor, staring in utter confusion, somewhat chuckling a bit now, Eden whispers to Victor, "I'm starting to wonder if Hresvelgr owns Damien, rather than Damien owning Hresvelgr."

He laughs while covering his mouth to hide his entertainment and agreement with this statement.

"Game's over! Everybody go back to your rooms!" Damien shouts as he tries to disperse the regulars from playing any further, while pointing toward their rooms.

The regulars stare at him with blank faces for a moment, then just immediately go back to playing like nothing had even happened.

"Ahhhhhhh, I don't know how to stop this, Eden!" Damien says as he places his head on her shoulder, basically in tears.

She rolls her eyes, "How about you collect your frog? He's your anima and we'll go back to our room! Whatever they bet is on them. It's not going to Hres, is it? Wait... Is it?!?!"

"If I can summon Hresvelgr, of course I can unsummon Hresvelgr." Damien says, as Victor, Eden, and Damien look at Hres, noticing that he has a rather large yet random assortment of items next to him.

Some of it being food, items, clothes, and even actual crumpled up garbage.

"Oh boy, Um. Uh, fellow regulars," she says as she awkwardly lets out a laugh, "Not to barge in again, but are these piles between you, are they going to you or are they going to the frog," Eden asks the regulars.

"What do you care; just leave us be," one of the regulars respond, not even bothering to look at her or stop playing in his response. "Come on, we are enjoying our time before the classes begin tomorrow."

"Um, Okay..." she responds awkwardly. She looks over to Victor and whispers to him, "Victor, are those your dice?"

"I just found them in the room. They don't belong to me," he responds, much to the dismay of Eden. Damien still just in shambles. "Just leave them be! It doesn't matter if they lose points. Come on!"

"Damien, collect your frog. We are going to go!" Eden says to Damien.

"Yes, we are going," Damien says dramatically, trying to gather himself.

"We're out of here," Victor says, as Eden declares, "Goodnight fellow regulars! Have a wonderful night. See you in class tomorrow!"

Damien removes his cape, throwing it over Hresvelgr, then Eden grabs Victor and Damien by the arms, taking off like a fighter jet with the boys dragging behind her.

"All the bets the frog has are now null and void, goodnight everybody," Eden shouts as they leave the common area, headed back to the dorms.

"Except this chocolate bar! This chocolate bar is ours now," Damien adds as Hresvelgr is struggling within his cape for freedom, putting up a pretty good fight for a three-inch frog. He ribbits in defiance at Damien.

"Thank you for the message earlier Victor, I appreciate it," Eden says now that they are free and clear of the calamity that is the common area.

"Yeah, no problem!" Victor responds, "I was just a little caught off guard, you know."

"Yeah, and telling us about Hres's escapades," Eden adds.

"No problem, but I am going to go to bed though," Victor says to Damien and Eden.

"Okay," she says grabbing his hand and giving him a hug.

"It's okay, don't beat yourself up. That was all on me," now referring to the dice game they had played earlier where her secrets had been shared.

"Right," he says while he smiles at her, surprised by the hug. He walks away, headed toward his room to get some rest for the next day.

Damien puts his hand on his mouth, stating his surprise, "Ohhhhh, is there something going on between you two?"

Eden rolls her eyes and facepalms herself, "Oh my gosh, Damien. NO! I can give hugs to people," she says like a question as she fumbles her words a bit.

"Doesn't mean there's anything romantic going on... I just gave you a hug!" Then she finally gathers her composure as she starts being sarcastically flirty with Damien.

She puts her arm around Damien, "Oh are we an item? No, we didn't do that.. Unless you liked it?" Coming to that last part, she comes to the realization that he may have.

She crosses her arms, no longer being sarcastically flirty. Damien can't even get a word out as he says, "Wait!-I-uh-hmmph--"

His face turns red and he's very flustered. "I'm going to bed!" he shouts awkwardly. "Hresvelgr, Bed!" He speeds into the room.

"He's in your cloak! He has to go with you," Eden says, laughing to herself at Damien's reaction. "Wait- we share the same room!" she shouts at him, coming to the realization.

She runs after him toward their shared room.

Chapter: Secret Deals

Meanwhile, Wu is walking into his and Gasu's room before curfew, to find Gasu sitting on the bed while intensively staring at his katana.

Wu stops in his tracks, confused by this, "Uh, Gasu?" He thinks to himself, "Ugh, damn he probably doesn't want to be bothered," but then ignoring his thoughts he shouts after not getting a response back,

"Gasu!"

Gasu snaps back to reality as he looks at Wu, surprised, "Wu? What is it?"

"Uhhh, so what happened back there... are you good?" Wu asks, hesitant if he should even be asking him. Gasu though, genuinely looks confused.

"Me? Yeah, why wouldn't I be good?" Gasu responds to Wu, giving him a sideways glance with one of his eyes slightly more closed than the other, question himself what Wu even means.

"Alright, you don't want to talk about it, right? I always knew that there was something like that going on, but I mean I'm here if you want to talk about it man." Wu reassures Gasu as he sits down on his own bed,

pulling out the gourd and beginning to take some drinks from it.

"Wu, everything I told Victor... Well, most of it..." Gasu pauses quite a bit, then looks at Wu again, "It wasn't true."

Wu spits out liquid he was drinking from his gourd at that moment, "Uh, excuse me?" Wu utterly confused now.

"The truth is, I don't actually know who killed my master. I just said that to scare him.

Wu tips down his sunglasses from his eyes, "Why would you lie about that? Where did you even get that information? Why do you even hate him so much if that's not true?" Wu's mind begins to overload with questions,

thoughts consuming his mind of all the different possibilities, reasons, and responses.

"Look, Victor.. He has information. Information that I need. I said that to see his reaction. I need to know the kind of people he's connected to. If he is connected to the kind of Khuns that I think he is,

Well," Gasu says as Wu interrupts him.

"So, this was never about your master?" His voice is high pitch and emits the levels of confusion that Wu is now experiencing.

"This interaction, no. My master was killed by somebody that I don't know, and I do intend to avenge him. -But not today." Gasu thinks back to the days of training with his master, missing these times in his thoughts.

"Are you still heading out in twenty minutes," Wu asks

"Yeah, why?" Gasu wonders why Wu wants to know so badly.

Wu takes a really big drink from his gourd, "Um, you're acting kind of weird Gasu. I thought-- I don't know man. I'm just going to need you to be honest with me here."

Gasu stands up from the bed, grabbing his katana then sheaths it. "Trust me, everything will be fine." As he says this, he starts to make his way toward the door.

Suddenly, Wu grabs Gasu by the shoulder. "You realize you don't have to bear everything alone, right?"

"Trust me Wu, your concerns, your worries.. They are wasted on someone like me."

"I don't believe that, but I'm not going to push you either. I'll be here when you are ready," as he lets go of Gasu's shoulder. Gasu nods his head at Wu in a friendly manner, then continues to walk out of their room.

Back in Brac's room, he sits alone, as he looks at the empty bottle of strawberry drink, wishing to himself that he had more. He ponders if he should open his last one or not, unaware of when he will next get more.

"Screw it," he says out loud to himself as he opens the last bottle of Idol Water, victoriously sipping from it: enjoying every taste bud perceiving the flavor that he enjoys so much.

Suddenly, he gets a notification on his Pocket, and as he does, Victor returns to the room. He seems to be shaken up by something as he shakes his head to himself. He walks in and sits on his bed without talking,

which Brac knows he likes to do often. He sits there, sipping from his drink, then says "Hmm. Long night for you, huh blue haired."

"Uh.. Oh, I just wanted everyone to have a good time and I feel like it kind of backfired is all," looking somewhat defeated as he says this.

"I mean you were there. Clearly Eden was upset and I expected as much from Gasu, but I feel like any chance of rekindling our relationship is ruined so. I don't know. I'm not sure what to think," Victor says,

smiling at the irony.

"Well, I think you and the prickly one, there was no chance of you rekindling your relationship. As a matter of fact, I think there may be something that I might need to go do in a little bit," Brac responds,

remembering his note from Gasu from earlier and their conversation.

Victor gets a look of confusion on his face as he wonders what Brac means. "Go do? It's almost curfew."

Trying to contain his actions as a secret, he says "I-I-I-I'm a guy of mystery; I like to go do many things."

"Well... Alright, do what you gotta do. I'm not going to stop you," Victor says, now not really caring what Brac is leaving to do. It's his points after all that are at stake if he doesn't return.

"Try not to stay up too late kid," Brac says to Victor, as he stands up and heads to the door, towering over Victor.

"Hey Brac, if you don't mind me asking, what was your father's name?" Victor asks and Brac abruptly stops at the door to their room.

"Caine, Caine Sung, why do you ask?" Brac turns his head to him to read his expression.

"Just wondering if I had ever heard of him is all."

"There is a chance that you might have. He was one of the most powerful rankers in the tower. But, I haven't seen him in a while, so I'm not sure how well that stacks up," Brac responds, as he now thinks of

Caine and how long it has been since he last saw the man he reveres so much. He hesitates in that moment, then opens the door and leaves without looking back or listening for a response from Victor.

The door slams shut behind him.

Brac heads to see Gasu to make him aware that his room is empty for him to talk to Victor. He notices that it is almost ten o'clock, not really caring about the curfew at this point.

While traveling to Gasu's room and Gasu traveling to Brac's room, they encounter each other in the hallway. They stop and look at each other, with Brac talking first.

"Alright, so you're just going to talk to him?"

"Yeah, I just need information, nothing serious," Gasu explains.

"I'm just saying, if you want to get serious, I still owe him a lick, so we can do something. It can be a prank, you know. Take his leg, he don't need it- he's from the ten families. Skorpio would never know,

I mean what would he do? He likes to stab people in the back. He's a scorpion for God's sake. So what do you say?" He says all this with Gasu just standing there listening and chuckles, finding Brac funny.

(Yes he says Skorpio, and scorpion even though it's Scopio and he's not a scorpion lol ah Brac things)

He begins to walk passed Brac and pats him on the shoulder while saying, "Maybe next time big guy."

Suddenly, they hear a ton of noise nearing them as regulars rush to get to their rooms before the ten o'clock curfew, scrambling for their keycards.

They are both very surprised to what's going on or where all these regulars are coming from or why. Then one of them slithers over to them, recognizing him as Kobra.

"Oh, hello there, it's almost curfew. What are you up to," he asks Gasu and Brac.

"What-ssss it-sssss to you-sssss," adding a snake tongue fluttering sound to the end of each word, mocking Cobra.

Kobra is confused and surprised by this, looking at Brac strangely. He tries to say something back but is at such a loss of words that he just slithers passed the two without engaging in further conversation.

Gasu's expression is also very shocked by what just happened between Brac and Kobra.

"Well, that went... better than expected," Gasu remarks.

"Well, since it's almost curfew, I pretty much left out my room to come get you. You may as well as go and walk back so you can 'handle your talk' with Victor," Brac says as he nudges Gasu and winks at him.

"You know, 'talk?' when really it could be.." Brac continues emphasizing the word 'talk' as he nudges Gasu more and more intensely.

Gasu puts his hand on his arm that he is nudging him with. "Brac.. If i could just give you a little bit of honest advice: You might benefit from being a little more... low key.. at times."

Brac looks at him for a moment with a serious expression on his face. "Low key has never really gotten me anywhere," putting his nose up in the air at the comment made by Gasu.

Gasu sighs, as he looks at Brac. "Okay, let's go."

Brac and Gasu head back to Brac's room. Brac opens the door, with Victor looking right at Brac. He waves to Victor, smiling. Gasu enters the room, with Victor having great surprise and shock to this.

Brac lets the door close behind Gasu, as Brac remains in the hallway. Gasu watches for Victor's reaction as he approaches him, pulling out his katana and pressing it against Victor's neck as he stands up from his bed.

"Alright Khun. We need to talk." Gasu's eyes are sharp as daggers, piercing into Victor's now widened eyes.

"Listen here Khun, first things first. Everything that I told you in that game, wasn't true. A Khun isn't the person responsible for killing my master. Quite frankly, I don't know who that is."

He notices Victor start to move a little, pushing the blade closer to his neck to signal him not to move any further. "However, I'm looking for a different answer and it's one I think you can give me.

I need you to tell me everything you know about Meldoy Sae."

"Mel- wait Gasu, can we.." Victor tries to get the words out as he is concerned for Gasu's katana against his neck. He holds his hands up on his sides. "Can we do it, a little more cordially man?"

Victor's eyes drift down to look at the katana held to his throat.

"That depends. Do you plan on lying to me," Gasu asks, as Victor can see the reflection of his scared face in Gasu's cold, blue eyes.

"When have I ever lied to you? I'll tell you what you need to know."

Gasu laughs at this response by Victor. "Listen here Khun, if I actually believed a single word that someone like you said to me, I'd be dead already."

Gasu looks down to the katana and then back to Victor with a smile, "I'm going to keep this sword right here, right next to your throat so you have a visual que. The second that I think you are lying to me,

you are dead. Don't think that I won't waste a couple points."

"The points you would lose might even get you kicked out of this floor," Victor points out to Gasu.

"It sounds like that would be my problem, not yours, doesn't it?"

"Gasu, I don't want to make you angry, but I don't want to talk unless you lower this sword. But I will talk. If I lie, then you can attack me, cut off my head, whatever you are going to do."

He looks back down to the katana on his neck, feeling it cut into his skin a little. "Look, lower the sword."

Gasu quickly pulls his sword away and puts it into his sheath.

"Much better," Victor says as he sighs from relief. "You want some coffee? Never mind, they don't serve us coffee." Victor sits onto his bed, motion Gasu to do the same with Brac's bed.

Gasu remains standing, walking over by Victor's bed, eyes still fixed on Victor's neck.

Victor lets out another sigh as he says, "Melody Sae. She's a Khun, I know that much. I know that she married into the family. And I know that she died. Me and the rest of my brothers and sisters--- are complicated.

Sometimes stuff like this just happens. I don't know exactly what happened, but I know that she's gone." Victor sighs as he thinks about the trails that Khun children must do to stay in the family.

"Who did it, Victor? Who's responsible?" Gasu's hand on his katana twitches a little, as he considers drawing it again.

"I don't participate in this kind of thing with my family. I went through the trials and tribulations, I went through the tests, I went through everything that I needed to get through.

And after all of that, I was done with politics-- honestly everything with my family."

Suddenly, with that line, Gasu explodes, taking his hand back and hitting Victor in the face. "I said don't lie to me!"

Victor sighs, "Look Gasu, I know about you. I've known this whole time." Gasu hearing this instinctively starts to grab his sword again.

"You know what I know, and I'm not here to bring up anything bad. I'm here to answer your questions just like you wanted. I've answered honestly from the very beginning," Victor says, looking at Gasu with no fear.

"I'm a nice, friendly guy. I'm not going to fight you or anything like that. From the beginning, all I've wanted was some strong teammates. And after finding out that you all are more than a little strong,

I've wanted to stick around. Is that so wrong? Does that offend you so? Because my hair is blue? Come on, Gasu."

"Alright, let's make a deal. You can stay with this team, and I'll even agree to work with you, IF you help me track down who killed Melody Sae."

"Not who killed Songhoon," Victor looks at him confused. Gasu's eyes twitch and wince at the sound of Victor saying his master's name.

"No, you let me worry about that. Besides it's your family connections that matter more in terms of finding out who killed Melody." As Gasu finishes talking, Victor sighs, reaching out his hand to shake Gasu's,

confirming the deal between the two. As Gasu grabs Victor's hand, he pulls him in close. He grabs him by the neck.

"Let me make one thing very, VERY clear: If I even think that you have a reason to betray this team, I will take your head off right where you are standing." Mr. Neymar glares into Victor's eyes.

"On one condition: if I think the same," Victor replies, maybe knowing something about Gasu that would lead him to think he would be capable of betraying the team.

Gasu smiles at him, "I welcome it." He loosens his grip on Victor. "Also, that girl: Eden. I don't know what you have going on but keep her out of it."

"There is nothing going on. Whatever you say man," Victor responds.

"Good, keep it that way. The less people entangled by these Khuns, the better." Gasu grabs his sheathed sword and puts it back on his waist while saying this to Victor.

"Good talk Khun, I'll see you tomorrow," as Gasu starts to leave the room.

"Hope we can get along soon!" Victor says to him while the door is slamming shut behind.

Outside the room, Brac tries to listen to their conversation, but can't hear a noise. Suddenly, the door opens up and Gasu walks out.

"Did you beat him up," Brac asks, wanting all the juicy details.

"In a manner of speaking," Gasu replies with a smile on his face. He puts his hand on Brac's shoulder. "Thanks again Brac.

"No problem man, just next time--- tag me in," Brac replies as he smiles and puts his hand on Gasu's shoulder as well.

Gasu smiles, "Yeah, next time."

Both Gasu and Brac head back to their rooms, when they get notifications on their respective Pockets.

'-10 points for curfew violation'

This leaves Gasu at 110 and Brac at 190.

"Ha! You didn't get me for the drink," Brac declares to himself as he enters his room. Victor gives him a sideways look.

Everyone is in their rooms now, trying to get rest for the upcoming day and classes.

8 AM

Everyone's Pockets start dinging in each regular's respective rooms. "Class in one hour, class in one hour!"

Everyone on Team Black's reactions is slightly different, as follows:

--Wu slaps his pocket. "They said thirty minutes before!" as he drifts back to sleep, planning to sleep until the last possible minute.

--Damien rises up with a smile, "another beautiful morning!" as he shoots up happy as can be.

--Eden throws a pillow at Damien, "Why are you so happy? You and Hres kept me up all night with your snoring/frogging. And Hres kept eating popcorn in the middle of the night!"

--Brac reaches to grab his strawberry drink to realize he's out, slamming his fist on the nightstand next to his bed.

--Gasu is up before the alarm goes off, sword already at his waist, but is so silent in getting ready that Wu hadn't even noticed he was awake already.

--Victor spent most of the night keeping an eye on Brac in case he wanted to take his leg as a prank or Gasu snuck in to take his head. When Brac slams his fist, it scares Victor a little bit.

In text form, each of them gets a notification to meet at the office. Some of the regulars sleep in, others go to the cafeteria to get breakfast before they meet at the office.

As they exit the cafeteria, they see a bunch of regulars heading to the office door, so they follow. As everyone on Team Black show up at different times,

they notice that Scopio stands at the front of the crowd, with his arms behind his back.

"Welcome regulars," as he sighs, "Today is the first day that your classes will begin. Behind me," as he motions to an elevator, "is an elevator that will take you each to your respective classes.

Each floor is dedicated to each position. Currently we are on the first floor. Fishermen, you will go to the second floor every day. Spear bearers, the third floor. Light bearers the fourth, Scouts the fifth,

and wave controllers the sixth floor. Any questions about it can be directed later, as we don't have much time today. Today and only today, I will be here to guide you in this process,

but in the future, it will be your and only your responsibility to arrive on time for class as well as making it to the proper hall and floor."

Scopio waits a couple more minutes just to make sure all the regulars are there.

At this time, Eden notices someone walk up behind her. "Well, hello there," Kal Silvers says to Eden in a mocking and confident tone. Eden's hair is still a mess, and she wears a hoodie sweatshirt.

She sighs, turning around irritated, "What do you want, Kal?"

"Just wanted to say hi. I'm so disappointed that we aren't in the same class, but I guess that's how it is. You know? But I think one of your friends are in my class. Wu, was it?"

"Mhm," she responds, turned away from him now trying to ignore him.

"Rumor has it that he lost a couple points sometime. I'd be worried if I were you, especially with someone like me participating in class," he says with a smug smile.

Hearing this and Eden being in an irritable mood, turns back to him and responds, "And just how many points do you have, Kal? Considering your extraordinary performance during the crown game,"

she says mocking him in a ruthless and sassy manner.

"That is something that I don't need to share, but it's a lot. Don't underestimate me, you know?" Kal responds, still smiling at her.

"Probably not as much as me, but sure." Eden smiles for the first time, raising her head at him, still mocking him.

"Yeah, because you cheated to win the crown game," he says to get a rise out of her.

"Oh, and how did I cheat, Kal?" Eden is unphased by his comments, irritating Kal even more.

"By doing it in a duel? I mean come on, how lame is that? It's a team game," Kal obviously thinking he should have won the crown game instead of Eden.

"Oh, that's right, because you couldn't even one-v-one my--" Eden says with sass as Kal interrupts her, now getting visibly upset.

"I was fighting them at the same time!" Kal says, his face getting red, his fist clenching, and his voice starting to crack.

"Yeah, but see, you started fighting Victor, and you couldn't do anything so I don't think you would have lasted against someone with an Ignition weapon in a one-v-one battle, so you know."

She waves her hand at him, kind of brushing his comments off like dust, "Maybe one day you'll catch up," she says mockingly as she flicks his nose underneath.

Kal gets very mad, readying his fist to strike Eden. Then off from out from the crowd of regulars, someone's voice chimes in.

"Yo, Kal." It was Wu's voice.

"Oh, hey Wu," Eden greets Wu as if Kal isn't even there or about to strike her.

"Morning Eden!" He turns to Kal, continuing, "Oh hey you shave this morning?" He gestures to Kal's upper lip where Wu had drawn a mustache on him while he was in the infirmary, noticing that it is not there anymore.

Eden laughs as Kal gets even more flustered. "What do you--" Kal begins to say, as his eyes widen. He begins to realize that Wu must have been the one who drew it on him.

"Huh. Okay, Okay. WU-- We'll see how this goes in class," Kal trying to play it off and ignore their statement about the mustache, even though knowing fully what they were referring to.

"What? Wu went to the infirmary to check on Leaf and saw you with your new facial hair. I thought it was to make you look more manly... Maybe? But I guess the look must not have worked.

Must not have worked Wu, huh?" She nudges Wu as she finishes talking, laughing out loud at Kal Silvers, Wu also chuckling.

"I just assumed you could grow a Stache, but I guess not," Wu replies.

"Poor, little Leaf. See we take care of our friends, even the people who aren't our teammates from the original game, so yeah... Didn't see you do much of that. But you enjoy your class this morning!

Wu, take care of Kal for me!" Eden says all of this very excited and elated. She turns around abruptly, causing her hoodie to fall down and her hair to smack Kal's face as she does.

With Kal silent, Wu says, "Alright buddy, let's get to the elevator! You don't want to be late for class, do you?"

Kal is just fuming with rage, about to explode but somehow contains himself. You can see his skin is very flush red.

Just before she leaves completely, Eden turns back around saying, "Oh and Kal, you might want to consider breathing. I think that really helps keep you alive."

He says nothing and continues to be red. Kal doesn't even move. "Oh, what's wrong? Shinsu got your tongue?"

"Alright regulars, from here on out: it is your responsibility," Scopio says as he opens the door to the elevator. Regulars begin to file in, taking the elevator up to their classes,

although it seems to be pretty quick. Eden makes a point to find Victor and links arms with him, since they are in the same class. She gives Kal a little wave, then hops onto the elevator with Victor

and a bunch of other spear bearers.

Chapter: Position Classes Begin!

Meanwhile, Damien is talking to Shion, much to her dismay. Talking about nothing else but his buddy Brac; Brac is super strong, cool, and that they should be friends.

He's considerate, and friendly, and loves strawberry water. He's a friend for life; you can always depend on him.

Brac is making fun of Bulwark the whole way to the elevator. How bald he is, how smackable his head is, calling him shield, built like a Buick, looking like Randy Savage on a bad day.

The last thing Brac says is that the best thing he could have done is die in the crown game. The whole time Bulwark grumbles to himself, mostly trying to ignore Brac completely.

Damien looks to Shion saying, "Look that's him right there! That big guy berating that other guy!"

She just shakes her head at Damien, not really paying much attention.

The students continue to get onto the elevator, entering a hallway that leads to a singular door. Through the door, is the classroom which looks much like the meeting hall, but much smaller.

The classrooms are all the same as each other with around ten seats. Down the steps is the teacher's desk. In each class, they all see their teachers on their respective floors in their individual classes.

Nissan is reading a book, Charity is standing with her hands behind her back somewhat bouncing with energy, H-1 is just standing there looking around, Brooke sitting behind a desk smiling.

As for the fishermen don't see their teacher, because Scopio is behind them.

In the fishermen class, the students start looking for seats. Brac hesitates to find a seat, looking amongst the people in the class with him. Among his class he's seen Boris and Shion before,

but don't really know them that well. He does see Bulwark in the very back though, which he knows quite well, so he sits directly next to him so that he can bully him during classes.

In this class there are other students such as Jicklee, Luke, Gyeon, Hoxus, Pant, and Clior. As Brac sits down next to Shield, he can tell that his muscles flex as his body tenses up.

Bulwark looks over to Brac saying, "If I had my brother Boulder, this would be a different story." Brac thinks for a second of the person his team fought that Victor had slain.

He remembers him as being a bulky guy around the same size as Brac, but with a huge club big as Victor. Then the thinks of how Boulder had played wack-a-mole with Victor's chest, and he laughs.

He struggles to recall what happened after that, with the image of Victor shoving his spear through Boulder's heart. With that, he starts laughing out loud very uncontrollably.

"You look like a Boulder," Brac says, as he continues, "Look, we're not going to do this today. Let's get through the first class and see how things go."

Bulwark looks at him with a confused look but goes back to looking forward, still tense as his veins bulge out of his arms and forehead.

Scopio slowly walks to the front of the room, looking at all the students. "Hello everyone, as I've previously introduced myself, I am Scopio Balroch. I will be the Fisherman Instructor for this week.

The fisherman class is a class built on physical combat. Shinsu does play a large part in how we fight and operate," he says as he starts pacing back and forth in the front of the room,

every once in while turning to address the students again. "But at the end of the day, it requires a regular with a very stead-fast attitude, a regular with a sturdy body, and a regular who is

skilled on the battlefield in order to be a fisherman. The fisherman is the epiphany of all positions, well rounded, able to suit whatever role they need to, able to be in the front of the group,

tanking attacks as they need to in order for the rest of their team to perform their duties. They are also incredibly strong and able to fend off any opponent that comes their way."

"There are other roles that may fill the fisherman position, but it is the fisherman's duty to be at the center and heart of the team." Scopio pulls out a skinny, long red needle.

"This is a needle. It is the most common type of weapon in the tower and for good reason. Can anyone tell me why needles are so frequently used, by both regulars and rankers," Scopio questions the class.

Brac nudges at Bulwark, whispering "Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him," over and over. When Bulwark doesn't say anything to Scopio though, Brac raises his hand and shouts,

"Well since Boulder doesn't want to tell you," which the outburst from Brac surprises Scopio, but he continues to answer by saying, "it is used because it's the easiest weapon to cut through shinsu."

He doesn't wait for Scopio to respond, quickly looking over to Bulwark, nudging him. "See Bulwark, I did your job for you. All you had to do was say---"

Scopio interrupts Brac, "No whispering in class, Mr. Bronson." No one notices that he called Bulwark by his brother's name, Boulder, mocking him in a way, since he assisted in his demise.

Brac quickly raises back to attention, flustered saying, "I was giving a private lesson. Yeah, a private lesson!"

Scopio rolls his eyes and puts one hand on his forehead like he is experiencing a headache. "Leave that to me, or I will deduct more points from your total." He pauses as he takes his hand off his head.

"That is correct. The needle is primarily used because shinsu can often be a pain when using other weapons, but when using a needle, it is able to cleanly, thoroughly, and easily cut through shinsu,

allowing needles to fluid. A needle is also very light, simple to use, and no advanced functions on standard needles and thus is a commonly used weapon by starting regulars."

He hesitates as he looks at his needle. "However, my weapon of choice is also a needle, so that is proof that rankers can also perfect the use of a needle. Today, I'll hand out each of you a needle."

He snaps his finger and instantly every student has a red needle pop up on their desks.

"This weapon is what you will be using throughout the remainder of your time here on the second floor. I know many of you prefer to use other weapons, however it is my job to teach you the basics and foundations

of being a fisherman. To do that, you will be using needles. A needle is the most basic and simple way to teach you the basics of being a fisherman. Any questions about this?" Scopio pauses for any questions.

Brac doesn't have a question, but looks at Bulwark and says to himself, "He's going to use it as a toothpick." Then Brac continues to look forward. No one else in the class has any questions for Scopio either, so he continues, "This class, you will be doing many activities that require physical training, and so when you come to class, be prepared for action. The rest of this morning and this afternoon's session will be lecture based however." Which Scopio continues giving a lecture on different things and techniques related to being a fisherman, as well as a couple of things on how to operate a needle.

He especially mentions the fluidity and how to use a needle as an extension of the user's body. The class goes on for three hours in a similar fashion.

In the spear bearer's class, they walk into the room. Eden and Victor watch the placements of the other regulars' seats before they sit down but stay together. Victor sits down at the end of a row, with Eden

sitting in the spot next to him. There really isn't anyone else important to them in the class, so they don't really care about the other student's seating arrangements.

Nissan straightens his hat out a little bit before addressing the class. "Well, hello everyone! As I said yesterday, my name is Nissan Terces. I'm very excited to be the spear bearer instructor, because

the spear bearer position is quite a fun one! Who can tell me the basic duties of being a spear bearer?" Nissan pauses after this introduction to see if anyone knows the answer.

Lake raises her hand, "Yes miss Lake," Nissan points her out of the crowd.

"Well usually a spear bearer is the ranged attacker, someone who is allowing his team to create an opening, then using either a spear or ranged weapon, they are able to considerable damage from afar," Lake says.

"Well, very nice, miss Lake. Anyone else know why the spear bearer is so vital to the team," Nissan asks the class, looking for participation from others. Nobody does answer his question though.

"Nobody? The spear bearer is a diverse class, and while you are not wrong about being a ranged attacker and a ranged fighter, spear bearers also have to be able to adapt. If your fisherman dies, or maybe a scout

sneaks in and you don't notice it, a spear bearer has to be ready to attack at close combat. As a spear bearer, you can't rely on just your ranged weapon. We have to sometimes take the role of Fisherman, or

even fend off a scout or two. That is why," Nissan picks up his spear while talking, "most of us spear bearers use spears. It's not exactly required, but the spear is the perfect weapon as it allows you to

fight from afar if you need to, and also fight at close range. Some of you may not be used to this kind of weapon, some of you may be used to weapons that are only from afar," he says as he looks and Vlazer.

"But that's what this class is all about. I'll be teaching you both facets of being a spear bearer. For that reason," he picks up a pile of identical, basic spears, and begins handing them out while talking.

"For the duration of your time here on the second floor, you will be using a spear. Now, I know, some of you are not used to a spear, maybe it's your first time even touching a spear, but this weapon will

allow you to bring out your potential and learn the fundamentals. Any questions about that?" Everyone is examining their spears in silence, not answering Nissan either from lack of desire to answer,

or from not knowing it.

Victor whispers over to Eden, "Well, lucky me." He smiles, having practiced most of his life with a spear. Eden looks back over to him, chuckling a slight bit.

"You have a bit of a head start. This is a little cumbersome," she says referring to the spear she holds, at least in comparison to her light-weight arrows. "I don't really know what to make of this."

The spear is still pretty light, but Eden thinks to herself that she is unsure how you are even supposed to hold a spear. She tries to recall how Victor holds his spear in battle, but can't quite remember.

"Spear bearers... this is more for my personal enjoyment, but I really want to know: Why do you think I chose you all," Nissan points to the entire class, "to be in this position?"

Eden can tell that he's the kind of teacher that wants an interactive class, even though none of the class wants to do so. The classroom continues to be silent.

"Any guesses? Anyone?.. It's okay if you are wrong. I just want to hear from you," Nissan says to the class, seeking more voices from the class. Eden raises her hand.

"Yes! Miss Eden?" Nissan is excited that someone finally broke the stalemate between himself and the class.

"Um, I'm guess it has to do with kind of the ranged and close fighting that I did during the crown game which filled the prerequisite of what a spear bearer should be?" Nissan looks at Eden with excitement.

"One-hundred percent! That was one reason, but there was a more important reason." Nissan finger points back and forth to students from across the room, looking for anyone to answer.

"No one? Alright, it was because each of you provided both precision and power, but not one over the other." He looks around, "Some spear bearers think they can show up and just throw the spear as hard as they can,"

he makes the motion of throwing a spear really hard, "and take the enemy out in one hit. Then other regulars think, 'As long as I hit my target, I'll be fine' both of those answers are wrong. It requires a balance of

the two. You have to hit your target but kill them with one hit. It's not fifty-fifty in precision and power, it's a one-hundred percent power and one-hundred percent precision. And each of you showed that during

the crown game, and that is why I chose you for this position." Eden looks somewhat confused as she looks to others in the class who didn't land many attacks or showed much power either.

The class continues with Nissan talking, excited about spear bearer class. He asks a lot of questions of the class with smiles, talking about spear bearers as the coolest thing. This continues for three hours.

Meanwhile at the beginning of Damien's class, he walks in to see his teacher. He gives Charity a big wave as he enters the room, with her waving back with excitement.

Damien is looking at the other students, trying to decide which person to sit next to so he can make a new friend.

Damien sees the cloaked figure with the scythe from the King of the Sea Test and decides that is who he is going to sit next to.

"Hey, I remember you from the King of the Sea! Damien Frog, it's nice to meet you!" Damien says as he hears a chuckle from under the cloak, without him even looking over at Damien. Then he hears a chuckle from the cloak.

The chuckle is odd and kind of menacing, but Damien doesn't pay any attention to this detail, acting like the guy is perfectly normal. Damien laughs with the cloaked figure.

"...Yeah, and this is Hresvelgr. He will be doing my notes for me," Damien says as he looks to Hresvelgr to show him off to the cloaked figure. Hresvelgr is a little unsure of this individual but walks forward anyway.

Next to Hresvelgr is a froggy pencil and a notepad with light colored Hresvelgrs on the paper. Then suddenly the hooded figure slowly reaches out his hand at Hresvelgr.

He touches Hresvelgr in a petting fashion, then Hresvelgr suddenly jumps up and scurries back over to the other side of the desk, furthest away from him while hiding behind Damien's arm.

"Don't worry! He's a friend," Damien says while Hresvelgr shakes out of immense fear.

"Sorry about that! He's not normally like this with people, but I'm sure with time, he will get more accustomed to you," Damien says with an awkward smile as he pets Hresvelgr, trying to calm him down.

"That's fine," the hooded figure says. This being the first time Damien hears it speak, it sounds like many voices overlaid over each other. It is very odd, like a voice he can't place.

Damien can't tell if the voice is male or female.

"That is very interesting. I don't think I've ever communicated with someone like you before," Damien says, still being friendly as can be and somewhat excited. He's oblivious to all the signs that he shouldn't be

talking to this person or be near them. "What part of the tower do you come from?"

It was then that Charity starts talking, "Welcome, all the regulars, to my class!" Her voice is cheery and energetic. She bounces up and down as she talks, "I've been counting down the minutes, this is so exciting!"

She pauses as she thinks of what she was going to say, then continues talking, "Today, we are going to be talking about the light bearers position!" She looks around to see if anyone is as excited as her.

Damien lets out a joyful shout of ecstatic excitement, which is returned by Charity only.

"So, I'm definitely warning you right now that the light bearer's position is definitely the hardest to learn about in the tower. I mean wave controllers kind of have it hard because they have to learn about shinsu,

and all this stuff, bangs and everything, but the light bearer has to learn about light houses. Lighthouses are pretty tricky. Does anyone want to comment on what a lighthouse does and how its functions?

What do you think is the main purpose behind a lighthouse?" She says all of this very quickly, not putting so much as a breath into her elongated statements.

"Damien!" she calls on him for the answer.

"Ah! Um, gathering information and stuff on the battlefield, Ma'am," Damien responds, nervous and intensely serious like he's in boot camp or something.

"Exactly! Totally," Charity says back to him.

"Wait, I got it right?" Damien questions how he got it right, knowing very little about being a light bearer.

"We-were you just guessing," she asks, confused by his response.

"Y-Yeah," he responds, hesitating.

"You're exactly right! The light bearer is the tactician, the information gatherer, the light bearer is the support of the group! And the support of the team is so much fun because if you don't

know, as you continue to climb the tower, you are going to be able to update your lighthouse," she says as she brings out three of her own lighthouses, shifting and changing as they float through the air.

They become a keyboard, changing size back and forth, changing their shapes, being manipulated to a high degree by Charity with little effort.

"You can do almost anything you want with lighthouses! It's just so cool! You can support your team by powering them up, you can slow down enemies, you can even learn," she says as she steps to the side as

the lighthouses scatter, teleporting to the other side of the room, "--to teleport!"

She walks back to her spot at the front of the class.

Damien in shock and fascination says, "Oh my God!"

"You can do that," Charity affirms, "If you put enough time and effort into it."

Damien turns to Hresvelgr, "Hresvelgr, are you getting this down?! Hresvelgr?!"

"Mr. Frog, please... I know you are excited, but could you please keep it down a little bit," she asks very politely Damien after his little outburst.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry," Damien responds as he bows his head to her over and over while he apologizes.

"You're totally fine- totally fine!" She pauses with a very big smile, still bouncing while she talks, "You're going to get your own lighthouse, but unfortunately not yet because it takes a little while

to get used to controlling a lighthouse and I don't want to force too much on you so tomorrow I'll give you your own lighthouse! It's going to be so fun! You can customize the color of it and everything!"

Damien notices as he looks around that the other students are just staring at her with blank, uninvested faces. Everyone in it seems to be very unexcited to be there.

Fluxvalk has not moved even slightly since the incident with Hresvelgr.

"The lighthouse has so many functions and I'm so excited to teach you all how to use them! One of the most basic ones is that you can increase the lighthouse's size and even enter it.

You can set up your own terminals. You can basically use your lighthouse to connect to one another and be the tactician of your team, telling them what needs to be done. You can get a better view of everything

that is going on! Now, question everyone! Who is most likely, in your opinion, the one that you would want to work with the most as a light bearer? Who do you think is the most useful other position?"

Charity excitingly waits for an answer, but Damien quickly jumps up shouting the answer.

"The Scout," he says loudly with a salute to her while answering, taking his class very seriously with so much excitement.

"You're right yet again, Mr. Frog! The reason is the scout is able to use their observer to connect to the lighthouse and provide footage for the light bearers without giving away the light bearer's position."

She's very happy with the responses from Damien, going on and on about the different ways that lighthouses can be used. She talks about how amazing they are and how wonderful it is being a light bearer,

with it being the best position out of all of them. She talks for the remaining three hours of the class.

In the Scouts class, Wu arrives to see his classmates. He sees many people that he recognizes, including Stecsa and Kal Silvers. He debates whether he should sit next to Kal to make fun of him, or to sit next to

Stecsa who is his friend, with him choosing the latter.

"Oh, hey," Stecsa says in response to seeing Wu walking toward her to sit down.

"Sup," Wu responds friendly with her, "Eat breakfast?"

"Uh, no. I was too nervous. Oops," she responds, still a little bit anxious to see what class is like, especially H-1, the scout instructor.

"Really? Why," Wu asks.

"This is our first day! What if we mess up? What if we say something we aren't supposed to say," she says nervously panicking in anticipation of class starting.

"Stecsa, breathe. We'll be fine," he reassures her. "It's just class."

"Just class," she says back to him, taking deep breaths as she tries to calm down thanks to Wu's helpful advice. "You're right."

"Just class," Wu repeats to her, motioning her breathing motions."

"I'm sure our teacher's going to be really nice too," she says, mostly trying to reassure herself of that fact.

It was at that moment that H-1 is looking around to all the regulars. "Hello everyone, I will be your scout instructor for this week."

Her voice is somewhat robotic, somewhat synthesized by something in her mask. Her voice is very monotone. Wu notices right away at how tall she is, as well as how long her blonde-hair is.

The regulars all think to themselves, wondering if H-1 is a robot of some sort. The students notice that she only moves her head when speaking, her body unflinching- unwavering.

"The scout position: A scout is simply a secondary fisherman like many people seem to think. The scout position is the most important position in the tower. Does anyone wish to explain why?"

A moment of silence passes, then Wu look at her, then over to his classmates, somewhat baffled as to H-1's appearance. He raises his hand as he begins to speak.

"Can I ask what's up with the helmet, H-1?"

H-1 stares through her mask at Wu, "This is no time for unnecessary questions, Mr. Wu."

"Okay, I'll answer your question, but can we talk later at least... Maybe," he says as he checks her out up and down, down to up. He thinks to himself 'DAMN'

"If you wish to meet with me about a question, you may do so after class." H-1 doesn't seem impressed, though it's hard to tell with her emotionless voice and expression.

"I'll definitely need some tutoring, so I'll be sure to come by," Wu says flirtatiously.

"Does anyone have any serious questions or serious answers," H-1 says, completely ignoring Wu for the time being. She looks around the room, waiting for a response, as Wu continues to raise his hand.

Kal raises his hand, looking over to Wu with a smile. "Well, it's obviously because the scout is really good at fighting. Without the scout, I mean the team doesn't really have any physical attackers.

I mean what are you going to do, you know?" He is so confident with his answer, as if there is no other correct one.

"That is incorrect Mr. Silvers," H-1 says to Kal, much to his surprise. "Would anyone else like to answer?"

Wu laughs at Kal loudly and uncontrollably, irritating Kal even more. "Silence in the classroom," H-1 says to Wu.

Wu starts to whisper the answer in Stecsa's ear, then forcibly raises her hand. "Stecsa knows," Wu claims.

"Miss Webb, would you like to answer," H-1 says to Stecsa. Bug remains completely frozen in her chair. She tries to let words out but nothing, but a stunned noise comes out instead. She pulls her hand back down,

"N-no, no answer," she says, shaking now from nervousness. H-1 sighs with a robotic filter to this noise. It almost sounds like air brakes on semi-truck releasing or engaging.

"The scout is the information gather of the team," H-1 responds after no one answers. "While they can take on the role of the fisherman, that is not their primary goal. Without the scout,

you do not know what lies ahead. Without the scout, you can not properly prepare for an ambush. Without the scout, you will not know what your objective is for the game. A scout, scouts ahead before the game or

the battle begins. They can also do this during the battle, before the primary fighting starts. The scout is essentially a mixture of all positions for this reason, so if you thought you were going to get out

easily, you are sorely mistaken. You will have to work four times as hard as anyone else in any class." H-1 pauses for a moment, her head moving from side to side, examining the classmates.

She sighs again. "Does anyone know the primary item that scouts use?"

Wu nudges Stecsa and whispers, "Stecsa, this is your chance. I will tell you the answer, just raise your hand."

Stecsa shakes a bit from her fear and anxiety building up from the previous embarrassment that Wu had caused her. "If you are wrong, I'm going to kill you. If you are wrong, I'm going to kill you," she repeats,

her voice shaking and full of insecurities. She slowly raises her hand hesitantly.

"It's called an observer, Stecsa. Just say it. Don't fuck it up..." Wu says, feeding her the answer while coaxing her to speak.

"Yes, Miss Webb," H-1 calls upon her once more.

"Ob-Ob-serve-er," She lets the words one syllable at a time.

"What was that Miss Webb," H-1 asks, not understanding her the first time due to the shakiness of Stecsa's voice.

"Observer!" This time Stecsa responds with volume and confidence in her voice, forcing it out like she had been holding in her breath.

"That is correct," H-1 says as Stecsa lets out a big sigh of relief and H-1 continues, "The Observer," pointing to hers for the class as it floats next to her, with it having a robotic and metallic appearance,

similar looking to her mask but much smaller, almost looking like a badge from a Pokemon Gym. "The most important item that belongs to a scout. Even if you do not have your weapon, prioritize your observer.

The observer is not the same as a Pocket. Without the observer, you cannot give your data to your light bearer to plan accordingly. Without the observer, you will not know if there are traps up ahead.

Without the observer, you cannot use certain functions as you climb the tower, such as camouflage, holograms, assisting lighthouses, teleportation, and there are even some observers that can do combat.

Is everyone clear about the importance of this item?"

There is a pause, then Wu, again raises his hand while talking before being called on. "Can you touch on the combat functions really quick? Or..."

"The observers are not primarily combat based. There are certain observers, some that are old, some that are new that do have some combat functions such as projectiles. Some can even turn into monsters.

Do not underestimate the observer." Everyone starts to get the feeling that H-1 really likes her observer. Maybe a little too much.

"Got it, when do I get mine," Wu says back to H-1, excited to see what kind of observer he gets.

"You will all receive your observers tomorrow. Today, I will prepare you for when that comes."

H-1 starts lecturing the class about observers, how to make it float beside you, control it, and what it means to be a scout. Classes are usually boring, but H-1's voice stays the exact same tone the entire three hours

of class, making this one exceptionally boring, somewhat like watching a very old documentary where they go out of their way to get the most boring, monotone people to do the voice over. Only in this case, it's even worse.

In the wave controllers' class, there are only five regulars in the room. Gasu looks around at his four classmates, the ones in particular being Bell, Jeda, Bill A. Bartimus III, and Sponge. Each of them are spread out,

sitting in their respective locations. Gasu decides to go straight to the back in the furthest location possible from everyone else, not particularly being close to any of those present for the class today. After sitting

down, there is a pause while Brooke, the wave controller instructor, gets situated.

"Well, welcome everyone to the wave controller class," as she's speaking, Sponge is sitting in the very front, dying from the anticipation of her every word, eating up every moment of it. He lets out sights and gasps

as she speaks, clearly having a crush on her or just being very, very interested in learning how to manipulate shinsu so his bubbles don't pop from a gentle breeze.

"I know some of you may know me," she turns her head to Sponge as she continues with a big, dazzling smile on her face. "For this week, I really am just your wave controller instructor. I don't want any of you to treat

me any different. My name is Brooke. I'm a wave controller, and shinsu will be the topic of this class. Shinsu makes up the tower." Brooke paces around the room as she talks, every movement, every word seeming to be

full of theatrics and glamour. She definitely carries herself like a famous idol. "Without shinsu we wouldn't be alive. Shinsu is air, it's water. It helps make up the creatures, including ourselves. You can use

shinsu to do anything." She begins to make these purple shinsu baangs that float around the room, making different shapes and having different movements to them. "If you learn to control shinsu, you may very well be,

the greatest asset to your team." Then with a flick of her wrist, all the baangs dissipate into light and fade away as purple glittering snowflakes. "Some wave controllers are more supportive, like myself. Others are the

power houses of the team. It is up to you, and you alone, to decide how you fit into this role."

Gasu notices that as she says that she looks at him in particular. "So obviously, this, if you didn't realize, is the hardest position. Even creating a single baang is hard for many individuals. And it's okay if you don't,

because at some point we will be giving you tools that will help you use shinsu. You're only here for a week, and sometimes it takes YEARS to create a baang. So, we don't expect you to perform on your first day. Any

questions about what we have discussed so far," she says as she angelically peers around the room, like a set of angel's eyes viewing into the very fabric of everyone's souls. Gasu raises his hand. "Yes, Gasu?

"Is it possible at all to switch classes? I just don't really think that the wave controller is right for me," Gasu asks, not sure why he is in this class. Brooke chuckles at his question.

"Talk to me after class," Brooke says with her trademark smile as she winks at Gasu. He lets out a frustrated sigh, feeling his talents could be better utilized elsewhere.

"Shinsu is more than just the air around you, It's everything. A baang is a basic unit of shinu. If you can control this or you can control multiple, you can overcome your enemy's wave controller. For example, if you can

create three and your opponent can only create two, you can block their two bangs, while sending your third to attack them directly. You don't have to control bangs to control shinsu, but it is the best way to do so.

Myun, is the size of the baang. Some regulars are really good at some things in some aspects of being a wave controller, while others learn other aspects. You need to learn to balance these. If your Myun isn't as strong

as your Soo, which is your concentration in a baang, it's alright. Take your time to learn. Take your time to learn all these different styles." The students are captivated by Brooke as she's very graceful, friendly, and

charismatic. Her voice like sweet velvet on the ears, not speaking too loud or too soft with a tone that invites the listener in. She's not overly friendly either. She lectures the class about the specifics of shinsu,

how to use it, the various abilities you can learn by using shinsu, and the differences in types of shinsu abilities. This lecture goes on like this for three hours.

As all the teacher's lectures draw to a close, every regular's Pocket signals a notification.

Pocket: LUNCH TIME

The teachers each respectively tell their students to be back in one hour for class to resume. In Damien's class, he tries to spark up conversation with Damien.

"What do you like to eat Mr. Fluxvalk?" He awkwardly waits for a response, with Fluxvalk slowly turning to Damien. He still can't see under the cloak, even though they are facing directly at him.

"I like to eat anything really," he says with a smile, indicating he may eat people.

"Well, lunch should be great then! If you aren't too picky," Damien responds, starting to head for the hallway.

"Not at all," Fluxvalk says with a bigger grin than before.

"I hope they have fruit salad. I want a variety of sweet things," Damien says while walking down the hallway and talking to Fluxvalk. He looks back, stopping in his tracks. He notices that Fluxvalk is no longer behind him.

Damien figures that he must have gotten ahead of him in a hurry to get some lunch, but he thinks of how rude it was of him to take off while was conversing with him.

The regulars all make their way to lunch, as it is burgers and fries today. Team Black group up in the cafeteria, opting to sit with each other. Damien entering the lunchroom, notices Fluxvalk right away at a table,

eating some food already. Putting this thought to the back of his mind, he sees Shion, which he excitingly invites her to sit at their table, while Wu invites Stecsa. They all sit down to begin eating and some conversation

follows.

Stecsa puts her hands on her head as her elbows crash to the table out of frustration. "Ugh, I'm exhausted already. These classes are insane!"

"What are you doing in your class," Eden asks Stecsa, curious what the other classes are like.

"It's just lectures... and it's so boring!" You can hear the frustration in her voice as she lets out another powerful sigh.

"You should have seen her. She was so nervous. She got a question right though," Wu teasingly comments to Eden and the group.

"I was not nervous," Stecsa denies, almost sounding offended. Then she pauses for a moment as she looks for what excuse to use. "I was just a little sick was all," she forces out as a response.

No one is really buying her story though, especially Wu. "Whatever you say, Stecsa," he responds sarcastically, letting out a sigh as he speaks. Eden giggles at their conversation.

"You agree with me though, right? Like the scout class kind of the worst," Stecsa says to Wu.

"Well, her voice is a little kind of--- not really saying anything different BUT promise when we get to know her a little better, she'll be awesome," Wu says as he smiles, thinking of his tutoring with H-1 already.

Stecsa scoffs at him a little bit, "Okay. How are you guys," she now directs her conversation at everyone else, trying to avoid any more talking about stupid scout class.

Damien excitingly raises his hand and stands up while doing so, "I'm going to get a thing called a lighthouse!"

"...Very good Damien. It's what light bearers use," Eden says sarcastically for making an obvious statement that everyone in the group already was aware of.

"It allows me to manipulate the battlefield," Damien says, not acknowledging Eden's comment, while she says "Mhm." the whole time he talks, "and use that information to help my allies!"

He pauses for a moment, trying to think of what else a light bearer does. He looks at the notes that Hresvelgr wrote, trying to recall what he even just learned for the first half of class.

"And uhh... it's really important. And teleports."

"Teleports," Stecsa, Wu, and Eden say back in confusion.

"Yeah, that's a thing that happened in my class!" Damien declares. "Oh?" Eden says literally surprised that lighthouses can do that.

"That's so cool! I wish I was in your class..." Stecsa says, thinking to herself about how much she regrets being a scout.

Brac thinks to himself, hearing that Damien is going to be able to learn how to teleport, "...The frog is going to be a difficult one to deal with now."

Damien sneezes, sensing that someone is talking about him. "What are you muttering about over there, Brac?"

"Nothing, nothing. I've got this uh, this twig..." as he holds up his needle to show everyone else.

Damien looks over to Shion, "Isn't that great? Isn't he great," referencing his conversation with her before classes began.

"Uhhh, sure. I've got a needle as well," she says as she puts it onto the table. "This is what us fishermen got."

As Shion puts her needle on the table, Brac brings out his harpoon, slamming it on the table. "But see it's not this," showing off the harpoon.

"Look at this magnificence! It's just- It's just- You can throw it, you can go to it, like it's so--  AHHHHH, why did they give me this little needle," he says as he pushes the needle off the table onto the ground.

His face grows very sad looking at the skinny weapon laying on the floor.

Wu turns over to Gasu, nudging him, "So... how is Brooke's class," he says in a teasing manner, raising his eyebrows at him as he says it.

"I want to know too," Damien declares to best buddy Gasu. Brac just looks at Gasu, thinking of all the Idol water he must get for free in that class.

"Uh, it was alright, I guess. I don't know. She's pretty normal."

"What do you mean normal," Wu asks, skeptical that Gasu could resist her charms.

"She's an idol, dude," Damien chimes in.

"Have you seen her Gasu? Are you blind man," Wu adds to his previous statement. Worried about Gasu at this point.

Damien pulls out a bottle of strawberry idol water from his froggy bag and points to the picture on it. "She's this person!!! THIS PERSON! And you say her class is normal?!" Damien says this in utter shock and disapproval.

Gasu notices the hostile energy coming off from Wu and Damien at the moment, feeling hesitant to answer. "Uh, well, she's just a normal girl. I- I don't know what else to say. She's definitely not like that chick on the bottle."

"Alright, alright! I see you, Gasu. You're just trying to play it cool. I got you man, no worries," Wu says indicating that Gasu is in fact into Brooke, causing his concern to drift away.

Victor hearing this kind of just chuckles, starting to nod. "We do have a whole week here on the floor, so who knows what can happen, right?"

Eden shakes her head in agreement.

Damien does as well, turning quickly to Hresvelgr. "You get the notes from the light bearer's class, I'm going to go to the wave controller's class."

The whole group start chiming up from Damien's comment, all saying "I don't think that's a great idea," basically at the same time in unison.

"No, don't do that," Eden says on top of her previous statement with the rest of the group.

Damien hears Hresvelgr start to ribbit at him, saying in his frog tongue, "No you can't go to the wave controller class! Who's going to write the notes?"

Victor decides to stop the conversation short, as he says, "Anyway, we don't have much time, we should probably just focus on preparing for the rest of the day, because we have another four hours."

Wu smiles, turning to Eden and Victor, "You guys have extra time after that, don't you?"

"We haven't been summoned so; I don't know if that is happening today. Plus, I have to get used to this thing," she says as she points to her spear shamefully, with it being jimmy rigged to her quiver of arrows on her back.

"I keep getting stuck in doorways. It's annoying," she says as she lets out an exacerbated sigh.

"Oof, I feel you there on the spear," Victor says.

"I'm not used to this, Victor," Eden responds, putting her head in her hands out of frustration of just thinking about it.

"You'll get used to it with a little more mastery, a little more practice. Although, I like my spear a little bit better. Kind of sucks that I can't use it," he says, thinking of how much better his spear is.

"Yeah, I think my arrows are a little more efficient and a little more my speed, but hey... I guess we'll figure this out." Eden says, as Wu speaks up while she's still talking, but no one hears what he says.

"Huh," Eden says in a low, cartoonish voice.

"There's nothing wrong wtih learning new skills," Wu repeats himself.

"That's true, could be valuable for us," Victor agrees.

The group continues to eat as normal with conversations across the table between everyone. The friends all enjoying each other's company with the added bonus of burgers and fries- the staple meal of any regular.

Before any of them realize it, there is only ten minutes left until their classes begin again.

Victor gets up from the table, "We should probably get going," as he nods to the others to do the same.

"Yeah, let's go," Eden agrees.

Chapter: A Flower Blooms, Many Souls

The regulars all return to their respective classes, with classes going about the same as before: Lecture City. Most of them are mostly just bored of the classes, wanting to have some practical hands-on training.

There is no activity, but the students all get a better grasp on their teacher's personalities, as well as more about their respective positions and skills required. Some of them are soaking up knowledge in droves,

while others are slacking since it's so boring and not up to their pace in the action department. This continues until class is near over.

In the wave controller class with Gasu, Brooke addresses the class. "Oh, and just so everyone knows, hopefully by tomorrow, we are going to have an additional wave controller in the class, just as a heads up.

She's a very sweet girl, make sure you don't scare her away. Alright, have fun with the rest of your day, and we'll see you tomorrow!" Brooke returns to her desk, as regulars begin to get up and leave the classroom.

Gasu stays behind to talk to Brooke, approaching her as soon as the other regulars in his class have exited the room.

"Hey, Gasu. What's up," Brooke says with her phenomenal charms and looks, not really seeming to affect Gasu at all.

"Hey, Um. Listen. I just don't really want to waste your time. I'm not really suited for this wave controller stuff, so if I could just go to the fisherman class or something, I'd be okay with that." Gasu seems to be

growing nervous, whether because he doesn't want to get stuck in a class he doesn't want, or due to Brooke's appeal, casting a spell on him like magic.

"You know Gasu, Ari Regulus is the one who decides the positions, and even though us testing administrators do have a lot of say in that decision, you are the only one he was insistent on being in this class. So...

I don't really think we can make that happen." Brooke responds with her voice changing tones slightly due to the situation.

"Did you say the administrators get a say in who goes in which class?" Gasu asks.

"Testing administrators do, yes," Brooke responds.

Gasu thinks for a moment, then sighs. "Guess I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"Well, Ari Regulus chose you for a reason. Maybe if you learn how to use shinsu, you can use it alongside your current fighting style."

He lets another grumpy sigh, as he ponders this situation for a moment. He feels very conflicted with her response, not knowing how to answer.

"Okay, alright- I'm going to go," Gasu says as he turns immediately and starts to leave the room.

"See you tomorrow, Gasu," Brooke says in her angelic tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Gasu says in response, not really caring more about further conversation.

Meanwhile, in the scout's class, H-1 is holding some papers, putting them on the desk. "Class is now over. Tomorrow you will receive your observers. You must be on time otherwise you will lose points. Have a good rest of your day."

Wu coughs a little bit like he's clearing his throat or trying to get her attention before she forgets about his question earlier. "Miss H-1? Uhm, I feel like I didn't get a lot of the things you were saying today.

Can I maybe just stop by your office for like ten minutes so we can talk?"

"That is fine. I will see you there," with her walking off immediately after answering Wu's question.

In the light bearer class, Charity wraps up class as it comes to a close. She is still so full of energy, bouncing up and down for the conclusion of the first day of class. Meanwhile, the students seem to be drained of

life, aside from Damien who looks like he could go for another ten days straight without sleep, feeding off Charity's energy and vice versa.

"Alright everyone, tomorrow you are all going to receive your lighthouse, so be super excited and prepared because it's going to be awesome! Alright?" She says this so fast, that most of the students don't even catch her

response.

Damien though, excited from class and being normal Damien, waves to her as the regulars are getting up to leave. "Take care, Miss Charity!"

"You too Mr. Frog!" she responds back like she's just drank her three-hundredth cup of coffee and consumed her fifth ton of energy bars.

"What a class, ay Mr. Fluxvalk. What do you do with your free time?" Damien asks the cloaked figure.

"Free time you say," Mr. Fluxvalk responds, confused at the idea of free time, or just not wanting to respond right away until a proper response has been identified.

"Yeah, what do you do," Damien says, feeling awkward by Fluxvalk's behavior.

"...Many things," is Fluxvalks only response. This unsettles Damien a little bit.

"Uhhhhm, name one?" Damien responds, hesitating to even ask.

"Speaking with you," Fluxvalk responds.

"Do you mean that is something you enjoy doing?" Damien says, kind of given a boost in confidence by this. (Not that he needed it!)

Fluxvalk pauses for an exceptionally awkward, long time. "You are climbing the tower for your father, right?"

"Um, uh... H-How do you know that?" Damien asks, bewildered and disturbed that his classmate would know something that was never said in its vicinity.

"Dominic Frog?" Fluxvalk simply says, with a smile under the cloak showing through.

Damien is shaking to his very core by this. "How do you know that?!"

"I'd like to speak with you more," Fluxvalk says.

"Um, yeah... sure," Damien says, still impacted by Fluxvalk's previous statements.

"Maybe tomorrow, after class," the voice from under the cloak asks in an unsettling manner.

"Okay?" Damien responds.

"I want to get to know you better," Fluxvalk mutters in a menacing way.

"How do you know that though," Damien repeats his previous question.

"Tomorrow, after class," Fluxvalk again repeats.

"Give me some kind of proof," Damien asks, not sure if he really wants to hear it.

"I just did," the voice with a shuddering sound claims, as Fluxvalk gets up and begins to walk out of the classroom, leaving Damien very confused and concerned about the chain events that just occurred.

Damien is drained just from the conversation when just a few minutes ago, he felt so lively and full of energy.

In the spear bearer class, Nissan is also finishing up class. "Alright, well I think that was a very productive class. Thank you all for contributing to the class. I think we all had a very helpful discussion and

make sure you all practice with those spears! Because we are going to be using them a lot in this class. See you all tomorrow!" Nissan tips his had to the regulars to signal them that class is now dismissed.

Victor sits in his chair, somewhat dozing off a little bit. Eden slightly elbows him, whispering "stay awake!"

"I'm awake, everything is good," Victor says as he jolts up from his nap. "Is class over? We're done right?"

Eden awkwardly responds, "Yup, we're done." She is kind of embarrassed to be seen sitting next to him at this moment, drool still can be seen on the side of his face.

"Sweet! Let's go! Ugh. I hope they have some food." He thinks for a second, then realizes something, turning to Eden. "What do you want to do tonight? We could play more games?"

"No, we're not gonna--" Eden begins to say, but then Victor quickly adds in, "Not the dice game, not the dice game," waving his hands back and forth quickly in front of him.

"I actually was going to ask you, if one of us doesn't get summoned by Mr. Regulus, maybe you can show me how to use a spear better? Because I'm not so sure about it," Eden reluctantly asks Victor.

"Sure, I'd be happy to do that," Victor replies, surprised she'd ask for his help.

"Alright," Eden confirms.

"So, training hall later?" Victor smiles as he thinks of what he will teach Eden.

"Sure!"

"Maybe we can invite Boris along. I feel like Boris is, you know, probably off in his own world."

"Yeah, we need to check in on that guy, huh?" Eden thinks, having slightly forgotten about Boris.

"Yeah, he was like a part of our team and everything!" Victor says with excitement of getting the crown game team back together.

"And then he just totally ghosted us," Eden says with a bit of sadness in her voice. "Let's go find at dinner. Let's rope him in and make him part of the team!"

"Good idea, good idea," Victor says, glad they are on the same page.

In the fisherman class, Scopio quickly and abruptly ends class. "Class is over, go enjoy your dinner, see you tomorrow," quickly rattles off, then sits in his desk, seemingly ignoring the students.

The regulars begin to get up out of their desks, Bulwark being the first one getting up and trying to get out of the classroom as soon as possible.

"About time you were fast on your feet," Brac says sarcastically. Brac looks toward Scopio, thinking his name is Skorpio, questioning whether a needle is actually worth it as he thinks about challenging Scopio to a fight.

Ultimately, Brac decides that he's not about to get his ass kicked, then walks out of the room, with Shion and Brac being the last students out of the room. As they walk out of the room,

Shion actually initiates conversation with Brac.

"You know your buddy Damien actually thinks pretty highly of you," Shion says trying to start up conversation.

Brac is quick to put an end to that friendly conversation, as he says, "You mean the frog who dropped a nuke on me?"

"Yeah.. there's only one frog on this floor so..." Shion is visibly feeling awkward now, but still is curious what Damien sees in Brac.

"The frog who stabbed me with a pair of scissors and left one with a gushing wound.... INSIDE ME," Brac says with intensity and fury in his voice, partially irritated too at the thought of Damien.

"Are you guys friends or am I misunderstanding this...." Shion nervously responds, feeling even more awkward than before.

"Yeah, we're cool," Brac quickly responds, now devoid of emotions. "Good battle, I just want to fight him again," He continued after an awkward silence, Shion's face expressionless.

Not knowing what to say or do, Shion just stops conversing with Brac, remaining silent for the rest of their walk to the cafeteria, where the group all meet back up after their classes.

Their Pockets read the time: 5:O5 P.M.

The meal for the night is noodles with some sides of various kinds. They all sit together again, except for Wu, who heads to the infirmary instead. Everyone does notice that he isn't present,

seeing Wu walking toward the infirmary. Eden, noticing this the soonest, pulls out her Pocket.

She sends him a text message over the Pocket, "Wu, I see you are going to the infirmary to check on Leaf, would you like us to grab you some food?"

Wu reads this message instantly as he approaches the infirmary. He texts her back over the Pocket, "Yeah, I'm just going to swing by and see how she's doing. I'm good on food for now."

"Keep me posted," Eden messages back.

When Wu arrives to the infirmary, he notices that every bed is empty, except for Leaf's bed at the very end of the room. There Leaf laid, in the exact same position she did the day previously.

This hurts Wu's heart, not knowing if she's going to be okay, but remains strong for her. All he can do is hope for the best and be there to support her when she wakes up.

Wu notices that Damien's strawberry water that Brooke signed was still sitting on the end table next to her bed, untouched. Wu sees this, reminding him of everything that had happened,

the events that followed after, and the conversation that Wu had with Damien. He recalls all the fun times he had with Damien such as lighting a jungle on fire and the excitement.

He thinks of smashing a guy's skull in with a staff, the awkward sight of Damien crashing into the sand with his scissors, covering Eden and him with a wave of flying sand. He thinks of

all the good and all the bad, knowing that those memories are all a part of them now, strengthening his and Damien's relationship. Wu knows in his heart that no matter what happens,

they will make it through this together.

Wu notices that she does look better than she did the day prior. "Hope you are up tomorrow so you can make it to class. You won't believe who your teacher is going to be!" Wu continues to speak,

hoping his words reach her and at the very least, hoping it helps soothe her in her restful sleep. "Either way, I'll see you then..." Wu pats Leaf on the head gently, reassuring her that everything will be alright.

Right when Wu pats her on the head, her eyes start to flutter open.

"Leaf? Leaf? Can you hear me?!" Wu is both shocked and swallowed up by happiness at the same time. Leaf's breathing gets a little heavy, as her eyes open more and more with each flutter.

"Mr. Wu?" Leaf responds weakly.

"Um, Uh, Water," his words stutter and shaky as he is emotional and overcome with joy. He just grabs the water, not finishing his sentence, opening it for her. He gives her some of the water.

Leaf starts to drink the water, as Wu sits there in silence for a moment, too dumbfounded by her revival that he has trouble finding the words to say.

Finally, Wu does say something as Leaf is sipping strawberry water, "Leaf?"

"Strawberry water..." Leaf says with a weak voice.

"Did you see this? Look at the can," Wu says as he points to the label on the front, signed by Brooke.

"It's Brooke?" Leaf says confused, not seeing the signature that Brooke had left.

"Yeah, but notice anything... special?" Wu responds to her with a growing smile, waiting for her reaction to seeing her signed bottle of strawberry water by her favorite singer and idol, Brooke.

Leaf inspects the bottle, still groggy from her multiple day slumber.

"Did you write on this, Mr. Wu," Leaf asks him, still not realizing what she was looking at.

"No, actually... so, remember the frog that I told you wouldn't hurt you, then hurt you, and then I felt really bad," Wu responds in quick succession and nervousness filling his voice as he describes Damien to her.

"Anyway, he got it signed by Brooke, herself."

"What?... But Brooke, Brooke..." Leaf still is weak and sleepy even after finally having woken up.

"Don't worry about it for now. How do you feel?" Wu shows his concern for her still, even more now that she can talk to him again.

"I'm okay. I feel fine. Are classes starting soon," Leaf asks, still thinking about climbing the tower after what happened.

"We just had our first day, but if you are feeling fine, at least you'll be able to make it tomorrow," Wu reassures her.

"If I missed class then that means..." She trails off, scared of what might happen or being failed on the testing floor.

"Don't worry about it. I have a feeling that your instructor in particular, will be on your side," Wu responds, smiling because he knows that her favorite idol is also her instructor.

"Okay, okay," she says as she nods weakly, "I'm... So tired," she says as she begins to drift off more.

"It's okay, just get some rest. I'll check on you in the morning, and Leaf? I'm so sorry for putting you in that position. I'll never let it happen again..." Wu has sorrow and regret in his voice, as he genuinely

is upset at himself for letting something so terrible happen to her. As he is saying this though, he notices that she has drifted back to sleep.

Wu pats her head again with a big, protective smile. He tucks her back in and puts the lid back on her strawberry water for her.

While still in the infirmary, Wu uses his Pocket to message Eden, telling her that Leaf has woken up and is alright. Wu doesn't receive a response from her though.

Suddenly, Wu hears muffled, quiet footsteps in the background. These footsteps get louder and louder--- closer and closer. The infirmary door swings open.

"She's awake?!!?!" The footsteps were Eden, appearing immediately to check on Leaf. Wu smiles, then nervously chuckles.

"I just put her back to sleep," Wu whispers to her, trying not to disturb Leaf, who is still sleeping next to him.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry, sorry," Eden responds being apologetic.

"But yeah, she was awake," Wu confirms the answer to Eden's question.

"Oh, that is so good," Eden says as she releases a sigh of relief.

"Did you... Did you just leave your food?" Wu is confused to how she got there so fast.

"Yeah, there's more than five people watching it, it'll be fine," she responds as she could care less about her food right now.

"Is Brac one of them?..." Wu awkwardly asks, as he probably already knows the answer. He is picturing the scene of Brac shoveling her food the moment after she stepped away.

As Eden realizes her mistake, she droops her head a little, but then shrugs it off. " Oh well, if he eats it... considering I got sick from dinner the other night, it's fine. I just wanted to make sure she was okay.

I was really relieved to hear that she woke up!"

"She's good," Wu reassures her. Then they hear impossibly loud, maniacal laughing coming from the cafeteria, almost like it was coming from outside the door of the infirmary. They both look to the door,

recognizing this was Brac laughing from all the way from the cafeteria. Eden's food was surely gone, they both realized at the same time.

"Oh no... I guess dinner is over for me!" Eden says this with an awkward chuckle, brushing it off as no big deal.

"Speaking of last night, are you feeling better? The way you left--- I didn't get to ask you about it," Wu asks, concerned for his friend and team leader.

"Yeah," she sighs, as she continues saying, "The food didn't really agree with me and... I hadn't talked about that stuff in a really long time. It affected me a lot more than I thought it would. I was trying to make a

lighthearted joke, and it.. kind of bit me in the butt, but it's alright." Wu can tell that she might not still be over it, as her voice sounds kind of ashamed and yet sad as she recalls the events from the other night.

"Fair enough. I was going to make another joke just now, but it's probably not in the best taste," Wu says carefully to not get hit by Eden out of anger.

"Oh, go for it," she says as she smiles and rolls her eyes.

"No, I'm just glad you're feeling better," as he nudges her.

"Oh, come on Wu!" she nudges him back, urging him to tell his joke. "Don't hold back..."

"So... uhhh....... Your husband?" Wu hesitates, thinking about not making the joke.

"...What about him," Eden asks, curious as to what Wu is about to say, but also half of her not wanting to know either.

Wu kind of mumbles some things with her only really understanding part of it as Wu says, "You know, you got a new spear..." more mumbling ensues from Wu, "You know... what's he packing," he says, finally finishes his question.

Eden gives him a very quizzical look as there is a really long awkward silence between the two. "Um, I don't know what you mean by that but..."

"Almost got you, I was just messing with you. I just wanted to know if he, you know.. was vibing or anything like that," he says with a big teasing smile, almost about to burst into laughter but trying to remain quiet for Leaf's sake.

Eden is super confused and embarrassed by this. "Um...No...No he wasn't."

"Hmm. Okay, fair enough," Wu says, going back to acting like they are having a normal conversation. "Well, I'm glad you came to check on Leaf. I've got to go, I've got.... tutoring..." He says with a very menacing smile.

Wu's mind pictures H-1's sexy metallic robot body telling him what to do. Eden is confused, wondering what he means.

"Wh-y-Wha-...It's the first day of classes?! What do you need tutoring for? It was all basic information," Eden says even more confused by this than she was Wu's question about her husband.

"No, no. Nothing she said made sense, trust me. I need tutoring," he says, avoiding eye contact with Eden as he says this even though he's wearing sunglasses in doors.

"Wait a minute..." Eden says as she ponders his behavior for a moment.

"Uhhhh.... Gotta go, bye!" Wu tries to head out before she can ask any more questions, but then she uses her brute force to grab his shirt and hold him in place as he runs in place attempting to run away from her line of questioning.

"Woah, Woah, Woah. Do you just want 'extra time' with your teacher," she says in a very implying manner as she grins from ear to ear, winking when she says, 'extra time.'

Wu is visibly nervous, still trying to get away from Eden while trying to not give her eye contact. "No, I. I mean you can ask Stecsa! I didn't know any of the answers to the questions."

"...Stecsa just said at the table that you were the one who told her how to answer the questions and kept volunteering her. You were volunteering her and feeding her the answers! What's this all about, Wu," Eden says, accusatory of Wu.

"Alright, fine you caught me," he says as he covers his face, trying to hide his shame of digging the teacher. "Wouldn't you find H-1 pretty mysterious too? I just wanna get more information."

"Mmmm. My teacher is also fairly mysterious, but I'm not going to his office after hours," Eden mentions, smiling at Wu because he fancies his teacher.

"Your teacher? Who's your teacher," Wu asks, forgetting who the other teachers even were other than Brooke and H-1.

"Nissan. He's--" Eden begins to answer, but then Wu cuts her off while saying, "Nissan? I talked to him yesterday! I went to his office too. We're boys now! You see? It's not impartial to anybody in particular,

I'm just going to see my teacher." Wu says, trying to act like he doesn't have anything for H-1.

"You're lying!" Eden accuses of him as she is now irritated.

"Ask him yourself, I was there," Wu says proudly, thinking he's gotten away with it as it is bulletproof evidence that he in fact just needs tutoring.

"No, no, no, no. This whole, 'you wanting to hang out with H-1'---- I saw the way you looked at her when she was introduced. I'm not blind," Eden reassures him, not letting him weasel his way out of this conversation.

Wu stutters for a moment as his face begins to turn red, embarrassed. "You my friend, are getting flush in the face," Eden says mockingly. Wu chokes a little as she says this, with her continuing,

"You need to learn how to hide that emotion a little bit better, huh?" She is poking and prodding at him as he gets several more shades of red, further getting nervous and ashamed.

At this time, a nurse walks into the infirmary, interrupting the two of them and their conversation. "Are you all visiting or...."

"Yeah, yes!" Eden responds to the nurse, very nervously. "Yes, we were. We were just checking up on her and she actually came to a little bit so you might wanna---"

The nurse is shocked by this while responding, "She did?"

"Yeah," Wu and Eden say in unison.

The nurse suddenly rushes over to Leaf's bedside, administering some medicine and checking her vitals.

Eden cheekly looks at Wu, "You go have fun at your tutoring session," her smile growing bigger by the second.

Wu hesitates at first while he responds, "Yeahhhhhh......." Then quickly transistions into a very loud, condensed, fast response. This response is much too fast for Eden to respond to. "ALRIGHT BYE!"

He starts running away from Eden as fast as possible.

"Wai-- okay Bye!" she says, caught completely off guard by Wu ditching her like that.

Eden returns to the table in the lunchroom while Wu scurries off to H-1's office for some extra tutoring. When Eden returns, she immediately notices her plate is completely empty. Her plate had been viciously licked clean.

She looks straight at Brac, knowing full well from earlier who had done it. Damien sees the fire rising in her eyes and shinsu, letting out a sigh before he addresses her, afraid of if she will violently lash out.

"If it wasn't going to be him, it would have been Hresvelgr," Damien informs her, hesitant of her response.

She lets out a sigh, "I figured the moment that I left that it would be clean when I got back. It's fine, I had enough earlier." She sighs again, "Ugh, did anyone ever see Boris? I keep looking for him and I don't see him."

Victor points over to a table in the corner, "Oh yeah, he's over there." Eden looks over to the table that Victor pointed to, Boris sitting all by himself. He's as far away from all the other regulars as he can be, staring into the distance,

as he consumes his food slowly.

"...Why didn't you bring him over, Victor."

"He's Boris? What did you want me to do?!" Victor responds to Eden, as he pictures getting a sword to the throat from another person so soon. "He only listens to you anyway."

"...Call him by his name and tell him to have lunch with us," Damien responds like he's asking a question even though he's making a statement, which to Damien was the obvious thing to do if Victor wanted Boris to join them.

"I guess I could have, my bad," Victor says, still not willing to be the person to approach him.

"Alright, I'll go to be the envoy. Be right back," Eden says as she dismisses herself from the table, heading toward Boris to extend a friendly hand to him.

"Hey, Boris!" Eden calls out to him with a big smile as she puts her hand on the table to address him with a friendly voice.

"Hello Eden," Boris says with a monotone voice, almost sounding depressed yet somehow empty of thought or emotion.

"Okay. Do you always talk in that tone or are you just perpetually angry like Gasu or---" Before Eden can finish asking him, he interrupts her.

"I'm nothing like that punk," still the same monotone, depressing voice as previously.

Eden is floored by this statement, completely caught off guard. "Umm!...I'm drawing some similarities. Um, what's going on?"

Boris sighs, "The only good thing about tonight is that we weren't summoned by my uncle."

"Oh, you can't still be sore about that," Eden responds supportive yet frustrated.

"I'm not going, you know," Boris instantly responds, obviously still sore about the prize from the crown game being special training with his uncle Regulus.

Again, Eden is almost dropped to the floor with shock as she fumbles her words, stuttering. "Wh-what, wh-wh-what?!?! What do you mean?!"

"I'm done with the Ari family," Boris says, now not even eating his food, staring at the table with one hand holding his head up; elbow firmly sitting on the table.

"Look, Boris, I know the Ten Great Families have a strangle hold on everything that happens in this tower, BUT you have to remember that at the end of the day, people are just people, no matter where they come from."

She pauses as she thinks for a moment, then continuing, "If you can learn something useful from him, that suits to your advantage."

"Don't get me wrong, Eden. The Ten Great Families are not the problem: It's the Ari Family. In fact, I respect the Ten Great Families, AND Jahad for what they did when they were climbing the tower. It's the Ari Family-- I can't stand them!"

"Alright, what in particular," Eden says as she moves closer, quizzical and not as boisterous now, "to the Ari Family concerns you so greatly?"

"You know what? I just finished dinner, so I'm just going to go back to my room..." Boris says as he begins to get up from his table in the corner.

"Boris!" Eden calls out as he turns his back on her.

"I'll talk to you later," he says, beginning to walk away from her.

Truly concerned for Boris and his mental state, wanting to know more about this mysterious man from the Ari Family of the Ten Great Families, settles with saying, "Boris... At least tell me what room you're in."

He pauses for a moment, no longer walking forward. "It doesn't matter..." He begins to walk forward again without looking back at her. Then she can hear him say under his breath, "Room Two."

"Alright," Eden smiles. "You have a wonderful evening and catch me on my Pocket if you need me for anything else."

Boris can hear what Eden says as he continues walking away, but doesn't look back, not saying a word to her. This just makes Eden wonder about him even more.

Meanwhile, Wu is heading to H-1's office. He arrives to the office doors, remembering that Nissan's office was the furthest to the left, then the one with stickers, then Scopio's. As keeps walking, he notices H-1 is

in the next office, shuffling through some papers while glancing at them. Wu knocks on the door, peering through the glass into her office. "Miss H-1? You there?"

The door automatically opens on its own. "Come in, Mr. Wu," H-1 says in her monotone, synthesized voice. Wu gleefully enters the room, sliding more so than walking. He takes a seat, smiling as happy as can be.

"So uh, I thought you could give me a little bit more advice about this whole scout thing. Not really the role I had in mind, but I guess it makes sense. I'm just curious as to how you knew that it made sense."

Wu notices that she still hasn't looked up at him since he entered the room. She's still glancing at papers and putting them in different piles. "I only offered some insight. Mr. Regulus was the one who made the final decision."

He pauses at her response, then starts talking again. "Okay, I'm not concerned with the old man. What was your insight?"

She looks up at Wu for the first time. "Your quick."

"That's it? My speed? Hm, okay," Wu says, at first being surprised, but then quickly accepting it as a compliment, smiling once again.

"Pretty much," H-1 responds straightforwardly.

Wu puts his staff on the table, "So, just my swiftness is all that did it? I mean there's nothing else? You know that my fighting style isn't really all that suited towards being a scout."

H-1 looks at him for a long duration. "You're interesting."

Wu is surprised by this comment from her. "Really? So are you. You're probably the most interesting person I've met since I got here. What's under the mask, H-1?"

(NOTE: I like how he says this to H-1 when she literally hasn't done anything but talked in a monotone, synthesized voice while hardly ever moving or showing emotion other than irritation toward Wu for disrupting class.

When literally he's met Damien and Brac who make every conversation an... interesting encounter to say the least lol)

She just stares in what Wu assumes is his direction for an absurdly long time. "...That is none of your business, although I will answer if you allow me to do one thing."

Wu is confused to what that would be but is willing to try anything for H-1. "And... what would that be?" He is very curious.

He again feels like she is staring at him for an extended duration. She gets up out of her chair, walking around the desk. She then kneels on the floor next to him.

"Miss H-1, what are you doing? I-I-" Wu is very stunned and flustered by this action, but it doesn't stop there as H-1 then puts her hand on Wu's chest. "Um, Uh... I mean.."

Wu experiences some kind of heat coming from H-1's hand on his chest. It feels almost like a wave of warmth is passing through him. "What are you doing," Wu finally asks, looking to her, then to her hand, and back at her.

"You have... four... no. Five others." H-1 says, startling Wu. He jumps back immediately.

"How do you---" Wu says then pausing. He scoffs then begins to say, "And here I thought you wanted to have a good time. I knew you knew something more. Who else knows?"

"I didn't know until just now and I still don't understand fully. But I do know that there is something special about you, Kesseki Wu." H-1 still looking at Wu, motionless with her hand held up where it was when she touched him.

"Just call me Wu. How could you tell? What did you just do? Is that part of being a scout too? I've never met a scout like you." Wu is both startled and confused, rattling off questions so fast.

"No, it is only fair that I answer you, I suppose." H-1 says, then pausing. "I am a prototype made by the workshop. That is why I am able to do some things those other rankers cannot."

Wu is surprised about this, pondering the meaning for a moment. "Huh. So, by prototype you mean you're not human?"

"I am human, but you do not want to see what lies underneath this mask," H-1 says, confident that what is underneath would terrify Wu.

"Well actually, if I'm being honest, that's the whole reason I came here. I was going to kind of.. take off that helmet of yours when you weren't paying attention, but now I'm even more curious. I mean, even if you don't

understand, I'm not going to tell you. You know my secret, so I feel like it's only right if I know yours." Wu is confident that he wants to see what's under H-1's mask, the mysteries that it contains underneath.

"I do not fully understand your secret, Mr. Wu," H-1 points out.

"And I don't fully understand yours. Just show me what's under the mask, H-1."

H-1 looks at him for a long time again, the long stares being something she has been doing during their entire encounter. "Maybe some other time," as she gets up from the kneeling position she had been in this entire time,

"I'm assuming you don't have any other questions?" H-1 says as she goes back behind her desk.

"Actually, I did have a real scout related question, but it feels nice to get to know you better. Feel free to touch my chest anytime, by the way," He slips that last sentence into the conversation under his voice,

"Um, can you show me your observer if that's okay?"

"Perhaps tomorrow in class, Mr. Wu, I have work to get to." H-1 picks up her papers as she says this, beginning to continue her work.

"Alright. I'm assuming you're not going to tell anybody about what you saw."

"I have no reason to." H-1 confirms.

"Not even those who made you at the workshop," Wu asks her.

"We're done here, Mr. Wu." She seems pretty serious now, though it's hard to tell as her voice remains monotone and at the same volume as usual, but something tells Wu that she means this.

"Al-alright uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," Wu says as he leaves H-1's office. He thinks to himself as he leaves, "That was the weirdest thing that has happened to me in ages."

Chapter:

It's nearing 5:30-5:45, as most of the regulars have left the cafeteria and have dispersed amongst the floor. Brac, Damien, Shion, Eden, and Victor head to the training hall. Gasu goes to the training hall as well, but seeing

all of the people in the training hall, turns back around, heading elsewhere. Some time has passed, and Wu is just now returning to the cafeteria. He notices that there are a few regulars scattered about, but he suddenly hears

some noises coming from the training hall. Curious, he decides to peek his head in to see what the other regulars are up to.

He sees everyone from his group of friends talking and preparing to train.

"Yo, what's up guys," Wu addresses the group as he approaches them.

"OH hey," Eden lights up as she sees Wu, thinking of what could have possibly happened during his 'tutoring' while he was with H-1, alone together in her office. "How did your tutor session go?"

"Uh, let's just say I learned a lot," Wu says, trying to avoid the subject.

"Hmm. Care to elaborate," Eden says being way glibber than she normally is. Wu notices this, deciding to respond accordingly.

"Eden, I'm being serious," he says as he chuckles a little bit.

"Mhm, I am too, I am being so serious," Eden says.

"I really did learn a lot," Wu tells her, trying to shut down the conversation with no success.

"Really," Eden says out of curiosity and sarcasm then continuing by saying, "Like I said, care to share with the class? I know we aren't in your 'class' class but I'm curious."

"Yeah, we're all curious," Victor says to Wu, waiting for him to share his experience he had with H-1.

"I mean to be a well-functioning team, we have to know what the other teammates know... so we work well, right?"

"Exactly, come on man: The details," Victor says now, almost feeding off of Eden and vice-versa at this point.

"Victor is on my side on this one," Eden adds, both of them chuckling and making Wu squirm in his head.

"Uh. Victor... j-just just be quiet Victor. Nobody asked you," Wu responds, not impressed by Eden and Victor at this point.

Shion, confused about what is even happening at this point asks awkwardly, "...Did I miss something or?...."

"Oh, Wu would you like to fill Shion in," Eden teasing and mocking Wu intensely at this point with a big grin on her face while she pokes at him.

"Nothing happened! What are you guys doing in the training hall," Wu says frustrated, embarrassed, and nervous at this point just as flustered as can be by their line of questioning.

"Wu went to go see if the teacher had good knowledge," Brac says to Shion, with a blank expressionless face. Then after a pause smiling and giving her an awkward wink.

"I mean is that what they call it nowadays," Eden asks sarcastically, implying he went there for some other reason than the search of knowledge.

"She really is a good instructor. I just wanted more information." Wu is just defeated at this point as he cries this out in exhaustion.

"More information about what, Wu? Eden just throwing more gasoline on the fire at this point.

Wu, more frustrated than he has ever been in his life, pulls out his gourd and starts to drink from it in giant gulps. "I just wanted to see what you were all doing. I'm going back," as he throws his arms,

shaking his head as he begins to leave.

"Oh, stick around Wu, come on!" Eden still just egging him on.

Shion interrupts Eden attempting to stop Wu from leaving, "Wait, so we have Eden, Victor, Brac, Damien, and me, so we could use one more person so we could each have a training partner."

The regulars all agree with Shion, looking to Wu to see if he is going to stay and train.

"Alright, I guess all I did was sit around all day," he says in his calm voice but then immediately getting more intense as he finishes his sentence saying, "But I'm only staying if Eden stops teasing me!"

"Who says I'M teasing," Eden says still in a teasing, sarcastic tone. "I'm being serious, one hundred percent." Eden is definitely not being any percentage of serious right now and everyone knows it.

"Fine," Wu says under his breath in frustration, "I'll tell you later, can we just train," he says, immediately regretting as he says that he'll tell them later.

"Alright fine, it's a PROMISE," with Eden saying promise in a very sing-songy way, emphasized for his audible displeasure.

"Okay, Um. Brac! Would you mind training with me?" Shion says as she walks up to Brac. "We are both getting used to these needles," she continues as she holds out her needle, showing him it.

"Sure, but don't... I don't know how to use this that well and I hope I don't hit you too hard," Brac responds confident that he will hurt Shion.

She chuckles, "Don't worry about that, I can hold my own," she also says certain of herself. She rolls up her T-shirt sleeves up to her shoulders, getting psyched for her sparring session with Brac.

Victor looks over to Eden menacingly, "Eden, ready for some spear training?"

"Victor, let's go! I gotta figure out..." She pauses as she looks at her spear attached to her quiver. "I keep getting stuck in doorways. Can't they make these a little bit smaller?"

Victor kind of just looks at her shaking his head a little and chuckles, "I mean we'll eventually get an arms inventory. It'll be fine."

Eden, frustrated says, "But they can't come soon enough." She sighs as they head off to do spear training.

"Damien, looks like it's us. I owe you a fight anyway," Wu says, looking to Damien with a smile.

"...Wait me?" Damien responds surprised, not knowing who Wu is talking to.

"No, no, Hresvelgr" He facepalms himself as he looks at Damien serious again, "Yes you. Let's go."

"I was kind of hoping I could get a little more Confiteor practice in," Damien kind of says under his breath to himself, "But alright! Let's get started!"

As the regulars separate into their different pairs for sparring sessions, Gasu is heading back to his room. As he is strolling through the hallway, he isn't expecting anything to happen.

He is just minding his own business, thinking to himself. Just another normal walk through the hallway it seems. Gasu does hear noises coming from other people's rooms and the common area, stuff like that.

Nothing really sticks out to him though until he sees someone directly in front of his door. It's the hooded figure that wields the scythe from the King of the Sea game.

"Can I help you," Gasu says nicely by his standards. There is a long pause, as the hooded figure seemingly ignores Gasu while still facing in his direction, seemingly mocking Gasu to his face.

"Look buddy, I just asked you nicely and next time it won't be so nice. You've got three seconds to get out of my way." Gasu says as his hand nears his sheathed katana, ready to grab it to strike at a moment's notice.

"...Gasu Neymar," the hooded figure says slowly, menacingly, with the many layers and echos to its voice filling the hallway. It's like nothing Gasu has ever experienced before, not being able to tell if, who, or what

it is.

"And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with," Gasu asks the hooded figure before him, standing in front of his room.

"Someone who knows." the voice vaguely says.

"Knows what?" Gasu responding confused.

"It's love... Right?"

"The reason you are climbing this tower... It's love, right?" The hooded figure smiles egotistically under the hood.

Gasu's hand instinctively touches his katana now, "Alright, I'm done asking nicely." Gasu starts to feel dread in away, almost fear in a sense, seemingly from nothing.

"I just want to talk for one more minute."

"You have thirty seconds," Gasu responds to the hooded figure, starting to really get pissed off.

"Love is so ironic." The more that the voice talks to him, the feeling of creepy tingles in his skin, an almost bone wrenching chill, intensifies more and more. This is a feeling Gasu never feels, making him on edge even more.

The hooded figure takes a couple of steps toward Gasu. As he does, the fear really starts to sink into him, biting down like a dog that just won't let go.

"What's going on, what are you doing?!" Gasu says, not used to this feeling that is happening to him. It's beginning to become hard for Gasu to even form words, move, even breathe.

"Love keeps you away, and yet you have come back for it. You lost everything because of love. Now you are fighting so hard to keep it away. Isn't that right, 'G'-jog." The hooded figure smiles even more with the last word of his sentence.

Gasu snaps out of it instantly as he hears G-jog, running toward this hooded figure with his katana now drawn, attempting to cut him. Right as he is about to slash this person, they fade away into nothing, seemingly as if they never were.

Suddenly, Gasu feels the feeling of goosebumps on the back of his neck, eyes piercing into the back of his head like heated daggers. Fear now Gasu's blood.

"We'll talk again soon," Gasu hears from behind him. He turns his head to look but can't completely turn around. His feet are frozen to the ground, almost part of the floor now due to the pressure and sheer cold he feels across his body.

The hooded figure appears to be walking away from Gasu very slowly, so slowly in fact, it almost appeared to be slow motion as if hours were passing each second. Gasu couldn't even blink out of worry of what would happen if he did.

"Hey! Get back here," he is able to now shout out, barely able to get the words out as a bead of sweat run down his face. His eyes are wide as dinner plates, adrenaline running through him trying to counteract whatever has overcome him.

Then the figure turned a corner, disappearing from his view.

"What the hell just happened," Gasu says out loud, him being the only one there. The feeling is for the most part gone, but he clutches his chest as his skin crawls. He is able to move now, but nothing feels back to normal.

This encounter just raised many questions for him and even more worries. Any trust he did have for anyone would be shattered in an instant without any effort at all.

"...How did he know." Gasu wipes the sweat from his forehead and chin. He breathes heavy. Gasu tries to pursue him, running very fast down the hallway yet--- not as fast as he normally could for some reason.

When he turns the corner to see if he is there, the hooded figure is just gone as if he never existed.

Gasu continues to huff and breath heavy, still unable to catch his breath. "What's... going... on..."

"Uhhhhh...." he hears from next to him. Gasu looks over to see Sponge standing there, somewhat behind him. He looks at Gasu very awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say from Gasu's strange behavior.

"You okay Mr," Sponge asks, concerned by the way Gasu looks and acts.

Gasu, on the edge and still freaking out internally from the hooded figure pulls his sword to Sponge's neck.

Sponge looks at Gasu, scared-- shocked beyond comprehension and yet, not near as scared and shocked as Gasu is in that moment, his mind spinning in circles out of control.

Sponge puts his hands up, showing Gasu that he has nothing in his hands. He lets out a very terrified noise as he can't get any words out. His scream seems like it should be immensely loud but comes out almost as a whispered noise.

"ahhhhhhhhhhhhh....." finally able to get a word out, talking very fast but at a whisper. "Don't kill me, please please please, I need to climb the tower. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, sorry."

Gasu after a few moments retracts his sword. "What are you doing here," Gasu asks him intensely. Sponge so scared now runs away from Gasu as fast as he can.

Frustrated and hungry for answers, he sighs deeply, loudly. He puts his hand to his face and grasps it tight. "What is going on," he asks himself.

Back in the training hall, everyone is playfully sparring. Eden is trying to use her spear while Victor is trying to show her how to use it. Three seconds into their practicing, Victor accidentally knocks the spear right out of her hands.

The spear is sent flying across the room, also not hitting a single fish just like Brac's harpoon from episode one. She grunts and then sighs out of frustration.

"UGH, I hate this thing," Eden exclaims very passionately, certain she doesn't want to use a spear.

"It's okay! You will get used to it. Isn't that right Brac," Victor says, trying to reassure her that she will get better with time and practice. "Your harpoon is basically a spear. You got used to it right?"

As Victor looks over, Brac and Shion are sparring with their needles and Brac responds, "...It took a lot of pain, but yes I did get used to it." His needle clashing with Shion's as they go back and forth.

"See?" Victor says to Eden, not comprehending the first part of Brac's sentence. He looks back over to Brac who is still sparring with Shion. "P-Pain?! Pain?...pain, what," his voice slowly fades out as he asks, wanting to know what Brac means.

"Victor! You want me in pain?!" Eden is not encouraged when she hears this from Brac.

"I-I No! I- That's what Brac said, I- I- didn't say that," Victor responds stuttering and messing up his words.

"That's what I heard," Eden responds, crossing her arms.

"That's Brac's words, not mine," Victor says with a nervous smile on his face as he looks at Eden, trying to reassure her that everything will be fine.

"Mhm, Mhm. Sure," she says sarcastically as she goes over and gets her spear. She returns over to Victor with it, now ready to try again. "Go again," she says as she gets into position.

Damien and Wu are in the background using needles to spar, going back and forth trading blows. Wu starts to easily overpower Damien very quickly, then knocking Damien's needle out of his hand.

"Well played Wu, well played," Damien says dejected.

"What's going on Damien? You aren't moving as well as you normally do?"

"I have a lot on my mind. Um, another round," Damien asks Wu as he retrieves his needle.

"Sure," Wu responds politely as he takes notice to Damien's odd behavior. "Something is definitely bothering Damien," Wu thinks to himself. They continue to spar for fun and glory.

Brac and Shion are still sparring on their first round, impressing the others as they notice from time to time, catching their attention more and more, as well as other regulars. They continue blocking and countering

each other's attacks. Brac thinks to himself of how at times it feels like pure strength as he crosses needles with her-- as if he were pushing against a brick wall. As the fight continues, Brac starts to get the upper hand,

pushing her back. Shion holds up her hand to stop Brac's advancement.

"Sorry, I need a breather," Shion says as she pants from exhaustion.

"You fight well," Brac says impressed. "Even for something that I don't use that much, you are still keeping up with me."

"It's hard. I'd rather use my hands," Shion responds as she sighs, making it obvious that she also hates using needles like Brac.

"Uhh, I'd rather use my harpoon, but beggars can't be choosers," he says as he looks to his needle, pretending it was his beautiful and trusty harpoon. He looks back to Shion. "Let's continue," he asks.

"Sure, sounds good to me," Shion says as she readies her needle again, sweat dripping off her but roaring to go now that she had a moment to rest. It was then that Slyrx, Vlazer, and Kal enter the training room.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," Kal Silver's voice can be heard from behind them all.

Eden doesn't even turn to look at Kal, looking at Victor instead. "Was somebody talking, Victor? I could have sworn I.." she hesitates dramatically, then continues with her voice maintaining a sarcastic and mocking tone.

"No, I think it was just the floor squeaking."

"I think it's raining outside or something? I don't know," Victor responds to Eden, shaking his head with his eyes closed as she shrugs his shoulders with a big ear-to-ear grin.

"Mayyyyyybeeeeee!" Eden agrees, nodding her head up and down while grabbing her chin with one hand still on her spear. "Oh well! Let's keep going," she declares to Victor, readying her spear.

"Yeah, for sure," Victor says as he readies his spear to prepare to spar some more with Eden.

Meanwhile, Wu and Damien are dramatically clashing needles, and the others just hear Damien's voice start shouting, "Who ever is talking, shut up! We're trying to fight!"

"Oh, Oh is that Vlazer I see? You learn to aim yet," Wu mockingly asks, still sparring with Damien.

Vlazer, visibly pissed off by this comment from Wu, raises his voice, "I'll have you-" He pauses, as he lowers the volume of his voice, "I fixed my gun, so you'll see me in action soon enough!"

Brac, in the background still sparring with Shion, just turns and looks at them, letting out a monstrous yet rapid single "HA!" and then immediately goes back to sparring as if he hadn't interacted with them.

"Aren't you supposed to be using an actual spear though," Eden asks rudely, "Like the rest of us?"

Vlazer scoffs at her comment. "I'm sure they are just saying that. You know for the final test, we are going to be using our real weapons anyway," he says very confident that he will crush the final test.

Eden and Wu basically say in unison the same thing, asking Vlazer how he knows that for sure.

"If your aim is as good as your predictions, I wouldn't trust you well," Eden says, dropping a juicy burn onto Vlazer, making him visibly upset as his jaw drops and eyes bulge. Wu laughs out loud while hearing this

while still sparring Damien, but being engaged in their conversation.

Victor also laughs at this. "Ohhhhhhh, shit," he says in response.

Kal is just keeping his cool with a smile while everyone is laughing at them. "Don't let them get to you guys. They are nothing but worms anyway."

Eden turns, hearing Kal's voice. She is completely surprised to see him. "Oh, Kal! You're here?!?! Ah! Ooo, shocking you're actually going to put in the work?"

Kal looks at Eden, unimpressed by her reaction. "You knew I was here, Eden."

"I had no idea, did you see him, Victor? I never saw him, did you see him," Eden says turning to Victor.

"You know, I just noticed him now, but I guess he is kind of.. you know.. He's a skinny guy so it's easy for him to not get noticed," Victor responds.

"Yeah, he IS pretty small," Eden confirms.

During their comments, Kal is in the background saying things but none of them know what he is saying or acknowledge him.

"He does look different when he's clean shaven, huh. I'll give you that," Wu shouts over from his and Damien's bout, still intensely sparring.

"Very true," Eden comments.

All of them are just layering insult after insult directed at Kal, overlapping each other and many of them becoming indistinguishable who is saying what. The burns just continue as they all rattle them off while stil sparring.

Suddenly, Damien also shouts over to them while sparring Wu, "If you wanted to talk Kal, you could have common area, NOT THE TRAINING HALL!" He is very frustrated not just because Kal is annoying him, but also because he keeps losing to Wu.

Shion also speaks out, "Guys, we are here to train, aren't we? Not to argue?"

"Who said we were arguing? Let's continue Victor!" Eden gets back into a stance for spear training.

"Don't mind if I do," Victor responds.

Kal, Vlazer, and Slyrx all go off to a different corner of the room. Their training is off putting though, as they will train for a moment, then stop to giggle and look over to Team Black and their friends sparring, then continuing.

They repeat this process many times, not accomplishing much training at all.

"They just wanted a free show. I guess, you know... we can give them some charity work tonight," Eden says, noticing that they have their eyes fixated on their group.

"Actually, it would be more interesting if we train against them. We are all familiar with each other's move sets, but we don't know much about them. Maybe Kal can actually back up his words." Wu says all of this to Eden while still sparring

with Damien. The frog man is very serious and frustrated at this point, not even sparring anymore while Wu is just casually sparring and still talking to everyone else like he's just chilling bored.

"Maybe," Eden says as she ponders this thought for a moment.

"Yo Kal," Wu shouts over to Kal and his group.

"Hey, what's up Wu? Finally admiring my glory?" Kal shouts back to them as he smiles and laughs with his friends.

"Well... that remains to be seen. Maybe we should go for a quick round," Wu asks Kal, kind of doubting Kal's skills completely.

"A quick round huh?" Kal looks over to his friends "One-on-one this time?" He looks specifically at Eden and Victor.

"Oh? Kal, you want to actually have a one-on-one duel? I thought you just tried to roast me earlier, saying that was a cheap way to end the crown game. NOW you want to do a one-on-one duel?" Eden is still mocking Kal as she talks, with her

tone not being able to be described as anything else, but the 'Kal Tone' used by Eden to express hatred, sarcasm, pity, shame, teasing, shaming, and ignoring him all at the same time.

Kal waits patiently for Eden to finish talking. "Are you done, Eden?"

"I'm never done," Eden says back to him.

Kal chuckles, "Apparently not, you keep running your mouth."

"Oh, but I've actually backed it up. That's the thing," Eden replies, smiling because she knows it's true.

"Haven't you realized or questioned, why Boris was on my team out of all the teams?" Kal ask them, confidently implying that it was because Kal was so strong, stronger than all other regulars there---- yet again.

"The poor schmuck probably just got a bad pull," Eden replies.

Kal kind of just rolls his eyes, ignoring her again, "It's because I'm stronger than him and I have what he wants."

"And whatever could that be, Kal?" Eden says, as Wu chimes in also, "What are you talking about, Kal," at this point Damien and Wu no longer sparring.

"You told me that he was the strongest one on your team," Wu continued. "Now you are going to make up a nonsensical comment?"

"I was talking about me, idiot," Kal responds like an elementary school kid.

"I also seem to recall you bragging about him being the member on your team 'from the Great Ten Families' then all of a sudden during the crown game, you seemed to have somebody else from the Ten Great Families."

Eden pauses, looking to Kal's friends then she continues to talk, "Slyrx, Vlazer. Are YOU frome the Ten Families? Or was he just, you know, good at talking out of the other side of his mouth?"

The two of them pause, eyes widened, looking at Kal as they just make random flustered noises instead of words.

"Oh no, no no, don't look at him. Don't let him talk for you," Eden shouts to them.

"If you beat me, I'll tell you what I meant by that comment," Kal says confidently to Eden.

"Well, everything you've said so far is a lie, so why would I even trust it's true," Eden responds.

Kal looks over to Wu, shouting, "Wu! You and me!" He grabs a needle and moves toward Wu. He holds up the needle to Wu, "Using needles?"

Wu chuckles at Kal. "Eden, you okay with this? I feel like you want to have a go at it too, but I can teach him a lesson."

"I don't think he deserves to fight me yet, have fun," Eden says while sitting down on a bench, crossing her legs to watch their sparring match.

"Alright, sounds good," Kal confirms.

As Wu and Kal get into position, his friends are cheering him on.

"Yes, go Kal cheerleaders! Keep egging him on," Eden says to them mockingly. During this, Kal is distracted, turning to Vlazer and Slyrx giving them a thumbs up and a smile while nodding his head up and down like 'Yeah i got this in the bag'

Wu just reaches over and slaps the needle right out Kal's hand with it falling immediately to the floor and bouncing over to the side away from him.

"WOOOOOO, Good job Kal, way to start," Eden again, mocking Kal.

Brac seeing this, shakes his head. "Mr. Peanut is not going to survive," he says, having no faith in Kal at all.

Kal, quickly grabs the needle like nothing happened, holding it back up to Wu. "You ready Wu?"

"Whenever you are," Wu says back, drinking from his gourd.

"Someone gives us a countdown," Kal requests.

Eden very quickly says in a blink, "Three-two-on-go," before anyone can even react to his request.

Kal goes in, flustered by everything that has happened leading up to this point and during.

Wu quickly sweeps Kal's shin, making him grimace in pain. He hops for a second on his leg that wasn't hit, saying "You're asking for it."

Kal strikes at Wu, but he blocks the attack with the needle with ease. Wu swings back at him to counter, but Kal blocks it this time.

Kal swings at Wu hard, but he side-steps the attack, going for another strike on Kal, but due to the excitement and Wu's inexperience with a needle, Kal smacks the needle out of his hand, knocking it to the ground a few feet away.

Kal holds the needle up to Wu. "Not bad Kal, not bad," Wu says in acknowledgement. Kal is panting heavily from this skirmish.

"I win right," he asks. Wu hesitates for a second, then reaches out for Kal's needle. Kal, not expecting this, struggles with Wu over his needle.

Kal does manage to keep his needle, but in the struggle, Wu is able to gain some distance from him, now closer to his needle.

With this, Kal goes for another strike on Wu and completely misses, but so does Wu's as Kal blocks the attack, then he parries, hitting Wu in the arm. This leaves a bruise.

"Fighting with a needle is harder than I thought," Wu says. Wu goes for a strike on Kal, but Kal hops backward out of the way, laughing at Wu.

"This is your teammate, Eden?" Kal strikes Wu again in the torso this time, dealing a little more damage on Wu. Kal is getting pretty tired at this point though.

Wu uses body reinforcement shinsu now, taking things up a notch. This time his attack lands on Kal as he forces his opponent's needle out of the way of his strike in the same motion, causing Kal to cough for a second from the hit.

"Not bad," Kal comments on Wu's attack, but then goes for his own, hitting Wu on the side of the head, but some damage is reduced from his shinsu body reinforcement.

"Using shinsu, huh?" Kal states.

"I guess you could say that," Wu responds.

"Just give up! I win. I've used needles all my life."

Wu kind of laughs. "And what does that mean to me, Kal? You're dancing around like a fool out here. I haven't even gotten started yet."

Vlazer and Slyrx are cheering for Kal in the background.

Wu goes for an attack on Kal's hand, but he manages to block it barely. Kal's counterattack misses though as Wu strolls out of the way.

This time, Wu knocks Kal's needle out to the side, causing Kal's arm to fly out of the way. He swings his needle right into the side of Kal's head, dazing him for a moment.

As everyone is watching this going on, they all are just watching calmly. Eden was more amused with the fight at first, but now is just watching patiently to see who the victor is.

Kal is visibly breathing heavy, looking pretty worn out from their duel so far. This is ironic as Wu has been dueling Damien time and time again since he entered the training hall, where as Kal hardly did any kind of training, except with his mouth.

He completely misses Wu, his attack being much too short. He stumbles a little bit.

"What's the matter Kal? Don't have a lot of stamina," Wu jesters.

"I've got plenty of stamina," Kal responds, still panting heavily.

Wu goes to strike Kal, hitting him again in the side of the head.

"Do you yield Kal?" Eden asks him, noticing that he is too fatigued to continue. Kal, hearing this, puts his needle where a sheath would be and kind of closes his eyes.

"No cheating!" Eden says to Kal, with Vlazer and Slyrx quickly responding in anger, "He's using shinsu," referring to Wu.

"..And," Wu and Eden both say nearly in unison. "Whatever you want to do, Kal," Wu says to him.

Wu reinforces his body with shinsu again, going to attack Kal but Wu misses, barely missing him. Wu gets the feeling though that it might have been better that he missed, as he senses something off about Kal.

Kal keeps holding the same position, Wu unnerved by this.

Wu is about to get behind Kal, but then a voice calls out to him. "Mr. Wu?" Suddenly, he is thrown off balance by Leaf's voice. Kal retaliates, using his needle to take advantage of this situation, smacking Wu in the face.

Wu, having heard Leaf's voice, loses all interest in the fight now, patting Kal on the shoulder. "You got this one, I'm done."

Then he walks away.

Kal, panting and exhausted, is shocked by this. He starts cheering, throwing his arm up into the air over and over again as he cheers. "I won? I WON!!! I WON!!" Vlazer and Slyrx cheer with him as well.

No one really cares in Kal and his gang.

Eden rushes over to Leaf as well to join Wu. "Leaf! Hey!" She is very glad to see Leaf up and walking around.

Leaf, still in her bed gown, looks at Wu. "Is everything okay, Mr. Wu?"

"Oh, don't worry about them," he says as he looks back to notice that they are jumping up and down and giving each other hugs and high-fives, "Oh whatever," he says under his breath as he looks back to Leaf, again being cheerful.

"How are you feeling," he asks her, smiling.

"I feel... really good. I feel like I will be ready for class tomorrow," Leaf says, giving him big, adorable eyes.

"That's really good! Did you find your room," he asks, wondering if she has a roommate.

"Yeah, the nurse told me. What was it again.. Hm. She told me my roommate was Stecsa, from my King of the Sea team."

"Do you want us to walk you there," Eden asks Leaf, happy to go with them.

"Yeah," she says after hesitating, shy talking to Eden. She looks at Wu.

"We'll go with you. By the way, I don't think you two have actually talked yet. This is my friend Eden," Wu says, introducing them.

"Hi," Eden says, getting down on one knee so she can be on Leaf's eyesight level.

"Uh... Hi, I-I'm Leaf," she says, being kind of shy and hesitant to meet a stranger. "It's nice to meet you." Leaf begins to yawn, even though she's been bedridden for a while.

"I know you're tired but let me introduce you to the rest of my friends really quick. I'm sure they will take good care of you," Wu reassures her.

Wu, Eden, and Leaf walk over to the group, with Leaf holding Wu's hand as they walk over. Wu starts pointing out his friends as he introduces them. He points to the big blue man. "That's Brac, I think you've met him before."

"Yeah, the nice man. Hi, Mr. Brac!" she says as she waves, happy to see Brac again. He says his greetings back to her

(I couldn't really understand what he says other than "what's up") "What's up," Brack says.

Wu whispers to Eden, "Nice when you give him strawberry drink." She laughs at this comment.

Shion comes over, "It's good to see you Leaf." Leaf recognizes her right away.

"This was my leader during the King of the Sea! This is Shion, she's really nice," Leaf says, excited to see her again.

"Oh! I didn't know that," Eden remarks. "That's awesome," Wu adds.

"It was me, Stecsa, and Leaf. A couple others: Amari and someone else," Shion replies.

"And last, but not least, this is Damien," introducing Leaf to the frog man who hurt her during the crown game.

Damien gives an awkward half smile, waving to Leaf. "Damien is the one who got you the signed can," Wu makes known to Leaf.

"Oh!" She looks at Damien. She hesitates at first but then says, "Thanks!"

Damien just nods his head.

Victor starts to wave, confused as to why Wu isn't including him, but he ignores Victor.

"And-- and Victor," Eden says.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you there, Victor," Wu says, still not really giving it much thought. "My bad, Victor."

Eden gently kicks Wu in the shin, Wu taking the signal to introduce Victor. "Victor, come over here."

Victor waves at leaf, then bows to her. Afterward he looks at Wu, shaking his head, feeling betrayed and underappreciated.

"Alright, well we are going to take Leaf back to her room now, guys," Wu says as he addresses the group. He puts his hand on Leaf's shoulder, ready to guide her to see her room for the first time.

"Also, there's not anyone else worth meeting here, so just keep your distance, Okay?"

Leaf looks at Wu, then looks around the room, then back to Wu, kind of pausing with hesitation. "U-uh, O-okay."

Kal is in the background behind the group with his buddies, whispering and cheering still. Slyrx is patting Kal on the back, with Kal still out of breath from his and Wu's sparring match.

"Leaf, do you feel strong enough to walk back to your room, or do you need one of us to carry you," Eden asks.

"I'll be fine. I can walk," she answers back kindly in a very soft, tired voice. She yawns once again.

"Are you sure," Eden asks, wanting to make sure she doesn't overdo it.

Leaf nods, "Yeah."

Shion shrugs, "Well I guess that's enough training for today."

"Yeah I think so, it is getting pretty late, huh," Eden comments as her, Wu, and Leaf are walking away.

Damien walks over to Kal, saying "Good.. good win, man. But it doesn't feel like you won though, did you?"

Kal thinks for a second, then answers saying, "Ohhhh, it feels so good," really confident in himself now. "I've wanted to show him up for so long."

Damien puts his hand on Kal's shoulder. "You know, if you just dropped the antagonistic way that you speak to people, I'm sure that people would treat you more like a friend." He actually means this when he says it to Kal.

Kal kind of scoffs at that notion. "I don't want friendship. I want to climb the tower."

"What about these guys," Damien asks as he points to Slyrx and Vlazer, "Are they not your friends?" They look over at him, waiting to see what his response will be.

"They are my allies," he says thinking about it for a moment. Slyrx and Vlazer are kind of surprised to hear this answer from him.

"Anyway, we are out of here. I don't have any time to waste talking to a frog," Kal says as he holds his nose up in the air at Damien, starting to walk away from him.

"Alright, well I wish you and your allies the best of luck," Damien replies with no hostile feelings in his voice.

As Kal is leaving, he notices Brac standing in his path. "Mr. Peanut. Next time don't forget your Stache," he says with a blank facial expression, then leaves the room.

Kal is confused about what Brac is referring to, but later in the night he will wake up suddenly realizing the burn that Brac just gave him.

Their group begin to separate, with Brac having already left the room. 0Shion goes back to her room as well, while Damien stays in the training hall. Wu, Eden, and Leaf head to her room, while as for Victor?

Well, no one really cares because he's just a filler character to the protagonists of this flipping story so don't worry about it.

The trio appear at Stecsa and Leaf's room. Just as they arrive, Stecsa opens the door, surprised to see the three of them. "Leaf! It's about time! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, she was released from the infirmary," Eden says.

"Oh well, thank goodness. Uh, come on in. There's a bed all for you," Stecsa says as she gestures Leaf to follow her into the room to show her which bed, helping to get her situated.

"Stecsa, take good care of her, okay," Eden says.

"Don't worry, I got her," Stecsa reassures Eden.

Wu puts his hand on Stecsa's shoulder. "Take EXTRA good care of her, otherwise tomorrow in class, I'm going to make sure you get called on all day."

Stecsa immediately starts shaking, nervous as she was in class in front of H-1, now stuttering her words as she responds, "Y-Y-Yesss s-s-sir!" She closes the door behind her very quickly, trying to avoid any more contact with Wu.

As Stecsa is shutting the door, Leaf is trying to talk to Wu saying, "Goodnight Mr...." Then the door shuts, interrupting her sentence.

Eden kind of looks at the door, confused and somewhat curious, quickly turning to Wu. "What did..."

"Don't worry about it," Wu responds. "Eh, she'll be fine. Stecsa's got her.

"Yeah, Stecsa seems like a good girl," Eden responds.

"Eden, I need you to stop teasing me so I'm just gonna--" Wu starts to say, with Eden quickly responding, "I'm not teasing you!?" Eden almost seems offended by this.

"The tone of your voice says otherwise. Can I just--- I'll just tell you what happened." Wu looks around to make sure no one is listening to their conversation.

"So, when I said that I learned some things, I really meant it. I'm not joking, nothing happened. She didn't do anything to me, I promise." Eden is kind of nodding her head to Wu's comments, as Wu continues to explain.

"So, she has an ability to read people somehow and apparently she's been augmented by the workshop."

"Really?!?" Eden reacts to this with much surprise in her voice.

"That's what she said. I couldn't get any more out of her than that," Wu explains, looking frustrated that he couldn't learn more.

"Huh. Did she go into this ability of how to read people," Eden asks, curious of what he even meant by this.

"No, but I can promise you that it is pretty accurate. She only got basic information though. She didn't get the whole gist of it but still. It was spooky. It was like she saw into my soul," Wu says as he thinks of the moment H-1 touched him,

and what she said to him following that, leaving that part of the story out of the conversation.

"I don't mean this to be prying but is there anything you want to share about what she got a read on you for," Eden asks, still confused about what he is referring to when he says that she can read people.

"If you don't want to, I understand. It honestly kind of freaks me out a little bit."

"There's nothing that you got to worry about. Let's just say, I have a few tricks up my sleeve," Wu responds, choosing to remain a man of mystery.

"Okay? Good tricks I hope," Eden says cautiously.

"Uhhh, I guess.. All I'll say is it's something that could have aided us quite a bit before, but if I'm being honest, I have a rule against using it," he says as he trails off, looking to the floor kind of shamefully.

"Understandable," Eden says. She doesn't really fish for more information involving him but does ask about H-1. "Anything else about her? I mean, being augmented by the workshop..."

"The obvious. You saw her, I mean come on Eden," Wu replies, hesitating for a moment. He continues saying, "---You were kind of right, I went there for other reasons, but like I got information."

She lets out an uproar of noise as she responds, "Yeah, you're- you're... Okay. Well maybe her reading ability isn't so out of left field, because I mean.. You know."

"Well now that you mention it, maybe it has something to do with human emotion," Wu proposes, pondering it in his thoughts for a moment, thinking of different ways she could use or trigger her ability and what that ability does exactly.

"Maybe... I mean your motives were a little transparent, but that's okay. You know, I've been there," Eden says as she elbows Wu, breaking him away from his deep thoughts about H-1's ability.

"Uhh, right. Well, just keep this to yourself for now, please?"

"Understandable. Thanks for confiding in me and letting me know. And yes, the teasing will stop," she pauses, then emerges a brilliantly evil smile on her face as she says, "Unless we're alone and then I might roast you. You know... Just for funzies!"

She lets out a friendly chuckle as she laughs as his misery as his shoulders and head drop in shame and sorrow.

"Fair enough... Fair enough," Wu responds.

"I'm glad Leaf is okay. That is a huge weight off from both of our shoulders," Eden says.

"Yes, me too, me too. Hopefully Gasu keeps an eye on her during class tomorrow. I'm going to talk about that with him when I get back," he says, with Eden agreeing that it is a good idea.

"Please do! He's so reclusive. It's getting annoying at this point. I love him but like, jeeze," Eden says, thinking of how irritated she gets at Gasu for pushing them all away, being prickly like a cactus.

"I think he just keeps a wall up. He has more secrets than even I thought," Wu suggests his opinion of the matter.

"You thought I had a lot of secrets," Eden replies, "I can't even get through to him." She sighs. "I've tried so many times. I just..." You can tell she is frustrated as she trails off thinking about him.

"You got to keep trying. He needs somebody," Wu says, kind of reassuring Eden. He's glad that they had this talk, thinking about his pal Gasu and what he was up to at the moment.

"I've been there more than he knows and being able to talk can actually help more than it hurts, to somebody trusted of course, but you know," Eden says, speaking from experience.

"...You're telling me. I didn't talk to anyone for the first fifteen years of my life," Wu says, shocking Eden to death.

"Really? Like you didn't speak, speak, or you didn't confide in people," she questions him.

"A little bit of both. I didn't really have the opportunity to interact with anybody," he reveals about his earlier life.

"So, you were alone," Eden asks with empathy and compassion in her soft, soothing voice.

"Yeah and trust me when I tell you that being alone forcibly so, makes you crave nothing more than doing whatever you want, whenever you want, with whoever you want," Wu explains to Eden, describing why he is the way he is.

"Hmm." She takes in all this new information about Wu that she didn't know before. "Well, I definitely know what it feels like, and I don't wish it on anyone."

"Well, I've got you guys now so let's try our best," Wu says now cheering up the mood.

"Definitely," Eden agrees. "It definitely is a bond to the soul."

"Well Eden, have a good night!"

"You too and see you tomorrow. Get some good rest," and the two part ways.

As Eden is heading back towards her room. She's not heading there directly but is walking in that general direction, just going for an evening stroll. She's walking up some stairs and suddenly at the top of the stairs, she sees someone.

She can tell it is the hooded figure once she gets up a little closer. She gasps as she realizes, the figure is standing right outside of her room.

Goosebumps instantly cover Eden all over, her not wanting to face this person. She is very curious about them though. "Um, can I help you?"

"Eden, correct?" The voice gives her the chills as it sounds like several people talking at once, with the voices themselves sounding so strange with it being said with only one voice from one mouth as far as she can tell.

"..Uh, yeah," she responds, really confused at what is happening at that moment.

"Revenge. That's why you want to climb the tower, right?"

Eden instantly feels her body quiver with a chill like she was in a winter breeze. She is consumed by the feeling of dread and fear, almost too afraid to move or talk. She can't tell what it is causing this, but it almost feels like a presence

that is causing this--- Like there's something under the hood that she should be afraid of. Incoming danger screaming throughout every fiber of her being. Her hands shaking, sweaty even. Her throat feels dry like she drank salt water and then ate cotton.

"I'm climb- I'm climbin-" She pauses, trying to fight to talk as her words keep getting cut off by this overwhelming sense of terror that has fallen upon her. "I'm climbing the tower for many reasons. Why do you want to know?"

Her words getting harder and harder to come out.

"Selfish, that is why I was drawn to you. Selfish, but it fits you. And what have you done with that revenge, but replace that family you lost?" Eden is starting to cry and breathe heavily. Her legs shake, her back feels like she's going to fold in half.

Her eyes widen more and more like a deer trapped in headlights, but much, much worse. Especially now as she realizes that this figure, is much, much closer to her than she had initially realized.

"What would Farland say?" As the figure says this, Eden screams in pain a little, struggling to try to talk, move, heck even have a decent happy thought, but all she can feel, and think is dread; she feels overwhelming fear.

For a moment, she can feel her body just move instinctively as she breaks out of whatever hold she was in, trying to palm strike this figure in the chest. Before Eden even realizes what had happened, she couldn't see the hooded figure anymore,

but could feel its existence behind her, almost like a sixth sense, but it being debilitating to experience.

"We'll talk again soon," The figure says smiling, then begins to walk down the stairs.

Eden drops to her knees, almost ready to throw up. She is so shaken; her face wears her emotions like make-up; trepidation smeared across her face like soft butter across a slice of bread. So much of in fact, you can't tell where the terror begins and her face ends;

the two becoming one as if just one uniform entity. Her skin is pale as a sheet that hasn't seen the light of day in hundreds of thousands of existences-- No even whiter. Pure, unadulterated white.

Eden struggles to her room door, almost feeling like she's going to shatter like brittle glass being hit back and forth like a baseball between two sledgehammers. She shakes, vibrating seemingly from nowhere, as it begins to dissipate.

She knocks on the door, hoping Damien or Hresvelgr open the door, waiting for someone --ANYONE-- to come to her aide. Her heart drops out of her chest, through the ground beneath her. There is no answer. No one is coming to help.

Meanwhile, Brac is going back to his room with Victor tagging along.

"That was some training, huh," Victor says, trying to strike up some small talk, as we all know Victor LOVES to talk.

"Eh, it was good enough," Brac says thinking it could have been better. "The little girl, she surprised me. I wasn't expecting her to be so quick."

"Leaf?" Victor is confused. Leaf is the only little girl he can think of.

"No, not Leaf," Brac responds. Victor now realizing that EVERYONE is little compared to Brac, so when he says little girl, he meant Shion, who is in comparison to Brac, very little. Victor himself looks at Brac, dwarfed in comparison.

"Ohhhhhh," Victor says realizing who Brac was referring to. "Shion! Don't underestimate her man, she is-- she's scary."

"Ehhh, She's okay," Brac says, kind of not agreeing with Victor's statement about her.

As Brac and Victor are walking while talking, heading toward their room, Brac sees the hooded figure walk passed him. Brac starts to feel an odd feeling that he has felt before. The man with the scythe. He instantly recalls his feeling that he experienced when he was younger.

Brac doesn't say anything to Victor, as he is frozen up with shock and somewhat fearful of the cloaked one. Once the cloaked one is gone, Brac starts to get back to normal.

"That guy gives me the heeby-jeebies," Victor mentions.

"I don't want to go near him yet," Brac says as he notices his handshake for a second, then it stops as he composes himself.

"Yeah," Victor kind of chuckles in agreement. "Can't blame you. Anyway, I'm pooped for the night. Um, want to just head to bed?"

"Yeah, but I've got a question for you, Victor."

"Yeah, what's up," he responds to Brac, cheerful but tired.

"What did you and Gasu talk about," Brac asks.

"That was..." Victor pauses for a moment then continues as he pictures Gasu's katana to his neck again, "private, sorry." Victor kind of just rubs his neck a little as he answers Brac, where Gasu's blade had nicked his skin a little bit.

"Private huh? You know I offered to break your legs for him, and he denied it?" Brac says this like it's casual conversation between the two of them, but Victor feels the intimidation radiating from Brac, as he wants to know what they talked about in their room.

"Uhhhh," Victor looks at Brac, then kind of plays it off like Brac is joking. "Funny one, funny one Brac. You're always one to crack good jokes."

Brac chuckles, each one booming from how powerful his laugh is. Then he suddenly stops, going back to being serious as he immediately says, "I'm not joking. I offered to crack your legs for him, and he said no. So, I take it, he didn't want violence.

He wanted to commute. Now, what did you two talk about?"

"Oh, you know. Tonight's not the night man. It was just some personal drama. You know how- you know how Gasu is," Victor kind of fake laughing off the conversation, now kind of nervous as tensions are rising.

"Man's got thorns everywhere. Just don't worry about it, you know?"

"Yeah, he normally doesn't talk, but what did you talk about with him?" Brac is very curious, not giving up in his attempt to secure some kind of information from Victor.

"Alright, Brac.. I don't want to talk about it."

"Sleep with one eye open buddy," Brac says with a big smile as he pats Victor on the back with some force but like in a friendly manner... just not so friendly.

"Right..." Victor awkwardly says.

In the training hall, Damien is still there, reflecting on things. He thinks of how glad he is that Leaf is okay, but he didn't feel like he deserved to be there when everyone was crowding around her.

Damien responded to someone that messaged him, but didn't get any sort of response. He checks the time and for a response, realizing he has to go to a spot to meet this person who had sent him this message.

He makes his way toward his own room, everything seeming normal. It is about nine o'clock at night so there isn't much movement through the hallways at this time. As he walks up the stairs to his room, he sees Eden,

spralled on the floor in a horrific state. He rushes to her side, concerned for her safety and well-being. She doesn't look so good.

"Are you okay," Damien asks as he is attempting to help her up safely.

"D-Damien, Damien. Who was that scythe guy?" Eden is so gut wrenched that she can hardly get words out. "Who's the guy in the hood?..."

"...Fluxvalk, he's in my class." Damien is curious why she is asking at a time like this.

"What do you know about him," Eden asks, talking like she is in immense pain as there is strain in her voice.

"Not much, but he knows about my dad though," Damien says.

At that time, Gasu stumbles upon Eden and Damien, seeing Eden very distraught and drained, like her very life force and shinsu had been sapped out of her like squeezing a wet sponge until it is dry.

He can tell that she has shed a lot of tears, with her eyes being blood-shot red, bags under eyes that are swollen and irritated. Her eyelids narrower, closer together than normal as they strain to stay open.

Tears still drench her face, rolling down to her chin, then dripping off onto her body and hands as she tries to wipe them.

"I really have no clue who that guy is," Damien says to Eden, wishing he knew more.

"He knew about my husband," Eden cries out, still shocked and stressed about the entire encounter with him digging up old wounds of hers that she wanted nothing more than to forget.

Gasu awkwardly enters their conversation, not sure what to think anymore at this point. "Are... Are you guys talking about that hooded guy?"

"... Y-yeaaaahhh," Eden's voice shakes and cracks as more and more tears roll down her face. Her crying intensifying even more just by talking about it. "I-"

"Damien, bring her inside. All three of us need to talk," Gasu tells him, also still shaken from his encounter with the hooded figure.

"..alright," Damien says with a sad voice, wishing this wasn't happening to his friend. He thinks about his father, and this person who knew of him. He wondered if he was getting closer to finding him, or even if this person was the one responsible for him disappearing.

Eden's body remains limp, but Damien picks her up without Eden even reacting to him. She continues to cry her eyes out as they enter their room together, with Gasu heading in first. They had a lot to talk about. Damien pauses just before he enters, still holding Eden.

Suddenly, across the second floor, Damien, Brac, and Wu all feel eyes staring into the back of their heads, piercing their very souls. They could all feel a pressure at the same time that greatly disturbed them.

When they all turn around in their respective locations on the floor, there seems to be no one there.

END OF EPISODE 7

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End of the Chapter Notes:

Wu shows that he is responsible enough to return the stolen strawberry drinks and cares about his teammate's points, meanwhile Brac shows his addiction for strawberry drink.

Damien and Eden had a really good character-building moment! This really showed how empathetic and caring Damien is of those he considers to be friends.

It also shows that Eden and Damien both have things that they look back on with regret and pain, taking different approaches to deal with it, as Damien deals with humor and smiles,

while Eden deals with being tough and sassy, ignoring those things often.

Damien admits he likes to set things on fire to make himself feel good LOL

Hresvelgr likes to collect things, things that even surprise Damien. Damien considers Hresvelgar to 'Be his own frog'

Wu shows that he cares about Gasu

Gasu doesn't really know who killed his master and he lied about him having a clue that the killer had blue hair and blue eyes (hinting a khun) it was just an attempt to scare Victor,

as Gasu wants information from Victor, which is why he told Brac that he needed him out of his and Victor's room so that Gasu could talk to Victor alone.

Brac doesn't care about his points or curfew and thinks Scopio's name is Skorpio and that he's a scorpion. Brac's idea of a prank is taking Victor's leg.

Brac is a bully sometimes.

Brac brings up that his father is Caine(same one who taught him how to use Wavewalker) and that he is one of the strongest high rankers. He hasn't seen him for a long time, so he doesn't know if this is still the case.

Gasu wants to know about Melody Sey. She is a Khun. Also, Gasu really doesn't trust Victor.

Victor says he knows about Gasu (he doesn't say what, but says that Gasu knows what he means, and that Victor has known the whole time)

Victor and Gasu make a deal to find who killed Melody and make a second deal that if either of them suspect that the other is betraying Team Black, they will cut the other's head off.

Brac and Gasu's relationship has improved a bit from the interactions between them over Gasu's interactions with Victor in his and Brac's room and the events that lead up to it.

Notifications for classes are sent out an hour ahead of time, each class taking place on a different floor starting with second floor for fishermen, ending with sixth floor for wave controllers.

Scopio is there to guide them on the first day but only the first day of classes. He appears to be rushed for time.

Wu and Eden bully Kal for a bit after he accuses her of cheating and annoying her. The mustache incident is brought up!

Cal says that Wu lost points at some point on the floor? Not sure what he's referencing yet, but I guess maybe it is my oversight.

The people in the fisherman class will be using needles regardless of what weapons they normally use, in the spear bearer class, people will be learning how to use spears.

The people in light bearer position will learn to use lighthouses and can even learn how to use them to teleport.

Something is off about Fluxvalk.

Wu, may or may not have a thing for H-1 or really doubts his abilities to be a scout (I think it's the former, lol)

H-1 really likes observers

Sponge really likes Brooke

Brac doesn't like his needle, and is jealous of Damien who is going to learn how to teleport

Stecsa doesn't like scout class, wishing she was a light bearer like Damien.

Damien confirms that Hresvelgr can indeed talk to him

Eden doesn't like being a spear bearer

Damien and Wu are into Brooke, meanwhile Gasu couldn't be bothered by her, thinking she's just a regular girl.

Fluxvalk knows why Damien is climbing the tower

Victor is going to be training Eden how to use a spear, also he is now scared of dice games with Eden (probably Gasu as well)

Brac actually considered fighting Scopio, calling him Skorpio again lol made me laugh.

Brac also admits that he's cool with Damien and wants another fight, much to the confusion of Shion, who probably is put off by Brac's comments

Leaf wakes up from her slumber while Wu visits her.

The group are still on the second floor.

Eden cares about Leaf a lot, showing up to check on her the moment she finds out she's awake. Also, she knows that Wu is into H-1.

Wu has 'Four or Five others'

H-1 is human, but was made by the workshop and can do things that other scouts and rankers can't due to this. She is a prototype.

Wu tells Eden that he will tell her about his conversation with H-1 later (maybe one on one? or just saying this to get her off his back? IDK, we will have to see!)

Eden and Victor get some spear training in, Shion and Brac get some needle practice in, and Wu and Damien finally get a chance to fight.

Fluxvalk says Gasu is climbing the tower for love and that he tries to fight it away. He also calls him 'G'-jog

Additionally, Gasu experiences a state of panic, shock, fear, and paralization all in one from Fluxvalk.

The group gets a burn fest going on Kal Silvers, Slyrx, and Vlazer. (well not really Slyrx, he's kind of just there silently observing the other two get roasted though not wanting to get dragged into the roast fest.)

Kal and Wu have a duel in the training hall, with Kal winning due to Wu giving up to go see Leaf, who is now out of bed.

Kal claims that he holds something over Boris, which is never revealed because Wu lost the duel by default.

Wu introduces her to all of his friends.

Shion was Leaf's leader during the King of the Sea test, and Stecsa is going to be Leaf's roommate. Let's see how Stecsa reacts to finding this out. Last I knew, she liked having a room to herself.

Wu discloses some information to Eden, explaining that what H-1 had said to him has something to do with something he can do that could have aided them in the past, but a rule he has keeps him from using it.

He also tells her that he didn't speak for the first fifteen years of his life to anyone, not having the chance to interact with many people in his youth.

The figure approaches Eden, bringing up the name Farland. It says that Eden has lost her family and she climbs the tower for revenge. It also calls her selfish.

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Characters in this Episode(by order of appearance, repeated if appearance as a group other than main characters or the main characters are included in a group they aren't usually in):

Damien -will learn how to use a lighthouse.

Eden -will learn how to use a spear.

Hresvelgar -learned that he is scared of Fluxvalk. Also, we learn that he can write notes for Damien.

Victor -will get more training in a spear, becoming even stronger with it.

Gasu -will learn other shinsu techniques.

Wu -will get an observer

Brac -now will be learning how to use a needle.

Random Regulars playing dice games with Hresvelgr.

Kobra -will get a lighthouse. Was deeply insulted by Brac.

Melody Sae - Not sure if the spelling is correct, but she is mentioned. She married into the Khun family and died. Gasu wants Victor's help to find who killed her.

Songhoon - Gasu's master who is mentioned.

Scopio  --His weapon of choice is a skinny, but long red needle.

Kal Silvers -Was made fun of by Wu and Eden, as well as embarrassed in class by answering wrong.

Jin Shion - now will be learning how to use a needle. She is confused to Damien and Brac's relationship after her interactions with the two.

Bulwark - now will be learning how to use a needle.

(Fisherman Class students appear: Ari Boris, Jin Shion, Bulwark, Jicklee, Luke, Gyeon, Hoxus, Pant, Clior, and Brac with Scopio being the teacher)

(Spearbearer Class students appear: Khun Victor, Vlazer, Slyrx, Langley, Iskal, IIIijit, Tael, Lady Lake, Eden)

Nissan Tercess -

(Light Bearer Class students appear: Kobra, Fluxvalk, Nam-Seon, Kam, Zohne, Damien)

Charity -

Fluxvalk - The cloaked scythe user who was part of the game in the king of the sea. He has an echo to his voice as if multiple people are talking. He has a terrifying precense that scares Hresvelgr and Gasu.

He somehow knows things about Damien and Gasu without ever having met them (To our knowledge thus far) Maybe mind reading?

(Observer Class students appear: Wu, Tabs, Penn, Beakin, Mosu, Kal, Stecsa)

H-1 -Wu has a thing for her, H-1 has a thing for observers

(Wave controller class students appear: Sponge, Bill A. Bartimus III, Bell, Jeda, Gasu)

Brooke -

Leaf - Wakes up again but goes back to sleep.

Nurse -comes into the infirmary and tends to Leaf.

Sponge -is threatened by Gasu when he is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Slurks, Blazer, Kal -enter the sparring area while our main characters are there training.

Amari is mentioned, which is the one who coughed up blood and died on the way to the crown game, possibly from the hooded figure known as Fluxvalk.

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Kill Count:

Eden and Wu: Roasted Kal like some almonds

Gasu: Killed the underwear Victor was wearing during their conversation

Fluxvalk: Killed any chance of Damien having good notes during class.

Kal: Can't even win without Wu surrendering even though he rolled an absurd number of ones.

Brac: A whole lot of strawberry drink and Eden's dinner (The real slayer of the episode)