Wulf brought his new equipment back to the dorms and set it up. Kalee needed potions to help her in combat, and he could make those, now. Overnight, he’d soaked the Low-Coal yeti hairs in vinegar, creating a highly-concentrated tincture that was already at High-Coal when he got to it.

  Watering it down would normally lower its quality, but he needed to split it across twelve vials (ten for Kalee, two for himself), and he only had so much tincture. Having a mouse-sized sip in each vial wouldn’t do any good, either.

  But, thankfully, mana-water didn’t dilute the strength of potions.

  So, testing out his new burn-box, he melted down the yeti’s ice spikes into mana water, then distributed it evenly, before adding yeti-fur-tincture evenly into each vial. His new rack could hold twelve vials, and he filled them all nearly to the brim. They turned a pale gray—the vinegar had nearly completely disintegrated the yeti hairs.

  He shuddered, thinking about how bad they would taste, but Kalee had probably dealt with worse.

  Then he began distilling them. With the burn-box right beneath the first flask, phoenix down simmering, he stirred until the mixture thickened—this time, with a glass stir-stick. Already, it worked better than a quill. Created less bubbles, and in fact, ended up destroying plenty of bubbles, too, given the stir-stick’s enchantments.

  Before his abilities took effect, he’d raised the potion to a Middle-Copper Tier. But, instead of activating the potion, he waited. He still had a flask with a High-Coal poison potion from earlier in the week, which held enough potion to activate his aura and activate all the potions at once.

  So he repeated the process, bringing all twelve vials to near-completion—to Middle-Copper Tier. He could raise them one more if he did this right, but he’d have to apply his catalyst slips quickly.

  Bringing his box of catalyst slips over, he cracked it open, ready. Then, he gulped down the poison potion as quickly as he could. It was a nausea potion, and he nearly puked his guts out instantly. He probably would’ve if not for his resistance Mark.

  Once he had the nausea under control, he guided his aura into each and every one of the potions, until they all began changing. Then, as quickly as he could, he sealed all the catalyst slips to the vials with a patch of clay (stolen from the garden). He made sure to put them on backward.

  Some, he put on too soon, and though the potion activated, he failed to raise it a Tier with his ability. But for half of them, he raised them to High-Copper.

  But, best of all, none of them transmuted.

  Twelve messages scrawled across his enchanted paper on his bracer, alerting him that he’d completed a bunch of potions. The last message read:

  Yeti’s Might Potion (High-Copper Quality)

  Grants the user a middling increase in strength for two minutes.

  [By crafting a potion, you have increased your mana. Advancement progress: 50%]

  “Excellent,” Wulf muttered. “One present for Kalee, coming up.”

  For the rest of his Seventhday, he hung out around the dorms with Ján and Brin, and went on another run with Irmond. Secretly, Wulf was hoping to encounter Kalee somewhere, but he had no such luck.

  Still, he’d find her at combat training tomorrow. It could wait a day.

  When he and Irmond returned to the dorms, they spent the evening in the common room, sitting beside the brazier with Ján and Brin. The three of them spoke much more than he did, but he eventually offered a couple inputs. He was socially drained from the day’s activities.

  Plus, the upcoming demon attack put a damper on his mood. An old memory blasted through his mind—of standing at the edge of a crater, looking over the ruins of Arotelk, Ján and Brin by his side.

  None of them had been star students, and they hadn’t striven to be on an Oronith crew before the attack. It changed everything, though. Even many years after the attack, the anger remained, and they agreed to help out in his crew.

  But last time, he’d been the reason they lost their innocence. They hadn’t been prime Oronith crew material. He hadn’t needed to drag them down with him.

  If he stopped the demon attack, none of that would happen. They could be normal acquaintances, but he wasn’t pulling Ján and Brin into it again. He’d seen them die once. Not again.

  Irmond, though? He was a lot more driven. He wanted it. The boy was ranger Material. Well, if he wanted to come, if he truly wanted to crew an Oronith, Wulf wouldn’t object.

  ~ ~ ~

  The next day, at the end of his last lecture—Introduction to Artificing—the professor was going off on a tangent, and Wulf was anxious to leave. The sooner he left, the sooner he could eat lunch, and the sooner he could make it to combat training.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “...Which is where the origin of the main four Classes came from,” said Dr. Ysari—a younger man with bronze skin and ram horns sloping along the back of his head. “Four millennia ago, when the first demon war scoured the world’s surface, the Fieldfather—the most powerful wizard of that early age—created the Field. His four initial Classes—Warrior (later Pilot), Mage, Ranger, and Artificer—he believed, were the optimal classes for Ascendants.

  “So! Though Artificing has long been considered the least important of the four Classes, remember that the Fieldfather thought differently—and we have done wonderful things as Artificers, no? Without our weapons, the Oroniths would be fighting hand-to-hand.

  “Of course, now, there are many more than four Classes, but receiving anything other than the main four at Awakening is incredibly rare…”

  Finally, with a sigh, he added, “Dismissed.”

  Wulf, who’d been sitting near the back of the theater, at the edge of a row, bolted to his feet and walked to the door, then ran outside.

  He scarfed down lunch at the mess hall, changed into his gym clothes, then ran to the training gym. He only had to wait a few minutes before training began.

  Immediately, Instructor DeLark paired them off—they’d be practicing rolls and throws today. Wulf tapped his foot inside his boot, waiting.

  Finally, with a pained sigh, DeLark paired Wulf off with Kalee. “You two are about the only ones good enough to be with each other, anyway. And High-Woods, the both of you.”

  Sure enough, sometime over the weekend, Kalee had advanced to a High-Wood, too. Her badge now had three notches through its center.

  But today, she looked more serious than normal. Sure, she never really smiled, but her stare was more intense, her braid was tighter. She’d tied her shirt back with a spare hair-tie, keeping it out of the way. Her consumable constructs were nowhere to be seen.

  “Am I in for a beating?” Wulf whispered.

  “Depends how well you do.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll give it my all. But we need to talk after training.”

  “I’m not sure if I like the sound of that,” she said, thrashing her tail.

  “It’s not bad.”

  “Can you tell me what it is?”

  “No.”

  She sighed.

  The session went about as expected up until the end. Wulf tried his hardest, as did Kalee, and they remained even. DeLark taught a repertoire of throws and rolls that Wulf and Kalee both already knew, then let them practice on their partner. But, within the last five minutes, he announced, “Practice! Use what you learned today, and grapple your partner into submission.”

  Wulf tightened his fist. Some of the potions he’d consumed over the past weeks had been strength-enhancing, and though their main effect had worn off, his Mark made parts of them linger as his base strength. Plus, he had a little bit of extra speed from the yeti-hunting expedition.

  His muscles hadn’t gotten any larger, not from his strength enhancing, but it didn’t matter. The Field didn’t work like that. An Ascendant could grow stronger without looking the part, though often, the two went hand-in-hand.

  But this life, he had no plans on bulking up too much.

  When DeLark signalled them to start, Wulf darted to the side. For the first time, he tested his speed in a true fight. He wasn’t significantly faster than Kalee, but he was faster. Her face still read of shock when he dipped to the side, dodging her outstretched arms.

  They grappled for a few minutes, throwing each other, and neither tried any direct strikes, not like a punch or a kick. Though Wulf was significantly bigger, Kalee must’ve gotten a Mark to increase her physical strength, too. With the right technique, she still managed to throw him a few times.

  By the time the session ended, neither had come out as a clear victor, but DeLark looked at both of them and gave a respectful nod today. It was as much of an acknowledgement as any, Wulf supposed.

  As the students filed out of the gym, Wulf motioned for Kalee to follow. He brought his haversack outside, then walked around the side of the gym, where no one would see, then opened the pouch.

  “I have your potions,” he said, then presented her with ten potions: four High-Copper Tier, six Middle-Copper. “Use them wisely.”

  “Are these all…yeti potions?” She winced.

  “Yes.”

  “You found a way to control your output?”

  “Yes.” He picked up a potion and handed it to her, and she assessed it with her bracer. “By the Fieldfather, Wulf! This is High-Copper!”

  “Keep your voice low.”

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “Now I don’t feel like I’m getting the bad end of this deal.”

  “They’re not all High-Copper,” he said. “Some are Middle.”

  “All the same, I was thinking I might be trying a little too hard, considering how it seemed like the constructs I was making for you would turn out.” She lowered her head. “Then, I apologize for doubting you. I’ll have your end of our bargain done by the end of the day.”

  “Thanks,” he said, then handed her the rest of the potions. In the bottom of his bag, the only object left was the pouch of Master Arnau’s ashes.

  Kalee raised her eyebrows at the sight. She saw it too.

  Wulf pulled the haversack shut quickly, but it wouldn’t help.

  “Was that…from the future?” she whispered. “That was demonleather. Unless it came from a couple thousand years ago, and somehow didn’t decay.”

  Wulf nodded. “I’d appreciate it if you kept that quiet.”

  “I will. We both have our secrets.”

  “Thanks.” He pulled his haversack over his shoulder, then said, “The attack is gonna be sooner than we know. Even though we’re trying to help…perhaps we should warn someone. What if we could get the faculty to help us?”

  It was a long shot, but they’d need all the help they could get.

  “Better yet,” she said, “some crews from the central branch are coming on in a few days to make a display for the first year students. Supposed to motivate us. Their professors will be…Gold-Tier. Maybe more. And they’ll be here a little while. If we can get the idea in one of their heads?”

  “That didn’t happen in our last life…” Wulf remarked.

  “It sounds like Dr. Langold, Thalin, and some others went and reported that this generation has some especially promising students, and the central branch is always looking to scoop up pupils from the smaller branches.”

  “It’s a plan, then,” Wulf said. “And I’ve got a tournament fight to attend. See you during the demonstration in a few days, then?”

  “I’ll be there.”