It wasn’t a deep cut—barely a graze, really—but it was enough to slow him down. Oisin winced, giving me the opening I needed. With a swish of my tail, I darted upward, aiming for his exposed back.

My makeshift blade met flesh, and my heart thudded upon impact. Finally, a hit!

[Combat XP gained.]

Oh, good! Take that, Ariel. Take that, Oisin! Looks like I’m not as hopelessly weak as everyone says. Looks like Firth Ridire can hold his own in a spar—no, in The Gauntlet. A training I’m totally new to, but Oisin is definitely more than familiar with.

Ha! Ha, ha, ha.

How embarrassing for him.

Before I could outwardly gloat, though, Oisin grabbed me by the end fin of my hammerhead tail and slammed me into the ground. Hard.

[HP -30]

[Current HP: 50/100]

Ow.

My vision became stippled with little, black dots around the perimeter, and I felt the sweet lull of a dangerous nap tug at my mind. A nap I wasn’t sure if I’d wake up from. My tail in particular felt as if it had been crushed. And my lungs were definitely not in good shape.

“Enough. Round One is complete.” Ariel spoke, his voice sharp against my ears despite my haze.

He swam over to us, glancing at Oisin, then at me, his eyes narrowing every so slightly. With a ginger touch, he patted my back, disappointed but not angry. His fingers were cold—wet. And they left an imprint on my spine. Was he using a healing salve on me? “You made it this far, Ridire. But you’ve been surviving—defending. I liked your use of the coral, but nothing else stood out to me. I want you to fight. Offensively.”

[HP +45]

[Current HP: 95/100]

His words echoed in my head as I struggled to get back on my fins. Fight? Offensively? I could hardly breathe right now, but something in Ariel’s words spurred me on. Something about the way he watched me… like he expected more from me, made me feel far too ashamed to quit. And, well, strangely invigorated. I wanted to prove he wasn’t wrong to let me back into the military—to fast track me into his elite platoon.

I wiped the blood from my mouth and squared my shoulders, my grip tightening around my coral blade. The water swirled beside me as I readied myself, my blood pressure rising as I thought of all the ways my opponent would try to kill me.

“Ready for round two?” Oisin smirked.

I forced a grin, despite the searing pain in my side. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Oisin didn’t give me time to recover, didn’t even wait for a signal. He lunged at me again, fist raised in a whirlwind of brute force. But this time, I couldn’t just play defense. Ariel wanted me to fight, and I needed to give it everything I had.

I pushed off the seabed, water whipping past my face as I surged toward Oisin. Instead of going for a direct strike, I twisted at the last second, using the momentum to swing around his side. His massive arm swung wide, but I ducked under, stabbing at his ribs again.

[Adaptability Passive Skill XP gained.]

[Combat XP gained.]

I didn’t stop. I stabbed, slashed, and dodged, keeping as low and fast as possible, making it hard for him to track my movements. His hits were heavy, thudding hard against my squishy flesh each time they connected, but they were also slow, due to his bulk. I was starting to find my rhythm.

For a split second, Oisin’s guard dropped, mostly out of annoyance. I saw the opening and drove my blade into his shoulder with all the power my body could muster. He made a startled noise, which was soon followed by a grunt of pain. He thrashed wildly, attempting to push me off, his nails digging into my waist, but I held on, twisting the blade deeper. That was the point of this practice, right? To knock the other out?

“Enough.” Ariel yelled out again, halting our fight. “This round is over. I don’t need my two most novice fighters accidentally causing irreversible damage to one another.”

Oisin stopped his wriggling, ripping his nails out of my waist and shoving me back by my chest. I watched in horror as he ripped the blade from his shoulder, panting heavily at the sudden, painful exertion. Blood began to seep from the deep wound, and the metallic taste of it stung my gills. Gross. But, he seemed content. Oisin was grinning, impressed by the fight I had put up—what a masochist. I, on the other hand, was barely holding it together. My fingers and hands trembled from clutching the sharp blade so hard, and every muscle in my body screamed in protest. I could feel the sharp sting of exhaustion creeping in, but with a quick glance at the sun, I could tell it was hardly breaching 7AM.

Dear God.

The other soldiers surrounding us were watching with great interests, their faces laden with surprise and amusement. Clearly, they hadn’t expected me to last this long. Frankly, neither did I.

Ariel swam forward, handing us both two elixirs. I drank it without question, before immediately feeling a slew of discomforting emotions. Nausea. Pain. Dizziness. A strange injection of euphoria, and then…

[HP has been Maxed Out.]

Interesting.

“Not bad, Ridire. And, next time, don’t drink the entire bottle. A third is enough. It’s a military grade potion, you know.” Ariel said to me, before turning to address the entire platoon. “Now, onto the second part of The Gauntlet. A part some of you may be familiar with—and, if you are, you most likely remember it being the most important part of your military career.”

Most important part? What was he referencing?

Ariel motioned for the group to follow him. We swam deeper into the training grounds, the water growing colder and darker as the jagged rock formations next to us grew taller, more spindly, more voluminous, turning the once wide path into a narrow trail. All around me, the soldiers moved with grace, while I struggled to keep up, my limbs heavy from the previous fight.

“This zone,” Ariel said, gesturing to the archway, “is for my newer soldiers. Ones without their Skill Tree Path selected. Everyone else will continue sparring.”

Oisin let out a small cheer, a small show of excitement. I turned to him, my eyes wide. What?! He was… he was new?

Gah. Why am I so bad?

“Here is where we test your physical and mental limits with more than just brawling.” Ariel continued. “Only those who complete it can stay with me. Those who do not will be honorably transferred to Shea—er, to Tara Sonas’ platoon. Many have tried. Few will succeed.”

Fantastic.

He turned to me, his arrogant grin telling. “You’re up first, Ridire.”

Right.

Ariel tapped a rune on the archway, and the stone started to glow with a bluish light. The water around us began to vibrate as the archway opened, revealing a vortex of energy and currents.

“Enter.” Ariel commanded.

With a deep breath, I swam forward, the light suddenly disappearing completely. I was totally and completely blind, forced to rely on my very low-level senses. I hadn’t even unlocked Dark Vision yet, for goodness sake. Ugh. As I continued to move, the world shifted. The water became denser, pressing in on me from all sides, the pressure increasing until my bones started to creak and crush.

But I had to push forward. I couldn’t panic, not now, not yet. If I panicked, I’d lose my spot. I’d forget where I am, I’d get completely turned around in the blank void, and I’d surely die from the pressure. The current was strong, pulling me in all directions, but I focused on moving forward, one stroke at a time. My hands acted as my eyes, feeling, patting, poking and prodding each square inch of land, telling me where the coral and rock outcrops were, where resting beds of sea anemones were, and where the safe travels were, too.

[Adaptability Passive Skill XP gained.]

[Pressure Resistance Active Skill XP gained.]

Even if these training sessions are killing me, I have to hand it to Ariel. They are certainly feeding my stats, more than I even thought possible.

My kicks were slow, my muscles burning with every motion, and my lungs screamed for relief. But, luckily, the cold dissipated, and the water heated up. And up. And up. And… up?

Ow!

Somehow, someway, I was suddenly surrounded by boiling, hot water, searing my skin to the point I could taste my bubbling flesh with each breath. I yelped, maybe even cried, but there was no escape. The heat was everywhere, and it was getting worse by the second.

Oh, oh please stop. How… how is this allowed?! How can Ariel just boil us alive with no repercussions?!

[Adaptability Passive Skill XP gained.]

[Passive Skill Level Up: Adaptability Level I]

Wha—it leveled up to one? So everything starts at zero? Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t view all the possible skills on my player profile. I hadn’t technically unlocked them yet, even if they weren’t special.

Regardless, I had to get out of here. I pushed through the pain, forced my tail to kick despite the pressure, its giant, lofty size working to my advantage for once. After what felt like hours, and my entire body being blistered, I broke through the current and into a hardly lit cave. I collapsed onto the cool cand of the floor, the pain slowly subsiding, and the weight of exhaustion settling in.

Was it over?

I dragged myself up, scanning the area. It was dark, the only illumination coming from faintly glowing crystals embedded in the walls. In the center of the cave stood a pedestal, and on top of it was a stone tablet with three symbols carved into it.

Pandora. Triton. Draíocht.

The paths!

Ah, now I understand why Ariel only let the fledgling fighters partake in this. Why we’d be kicked out if we couldn’t make it through. It was an initiation ceremony, the day where we would choose how our time in Neptune’s military would be spent. I guess he and Shea are different in that regard—Shea wanted us to try everything. Ariel just thrust anyone who was eligible for the Tree into the cavern, forcing them to pick.

I stared at the symbols, thinking over my options. Pandora would give me control over elements, something that was incredibly useful, but limiting at the same time. If you focused on lightning, and, one day, during a battle, Overworld skies were clear, you were screwed. Triton was Ariel’s path, and I had seen his fighting abilities first hand. The strength he carried was insurmountable, and he commanded great respect. Something I wanted. Something I needed to survive.

But… Draíocht. Draíocht was Shea’s path—the path of knowledge, crafting, cunning and magic. It was the path I had always been drawn to, too, thanks to my baker mother and my affinity for Herbalist’s Haven. It wasn’t necessarily the most practical—I could never leave the water, even if I built my own legs. And I could never maximize my physical strength, never surpass the limitations the system has in place for non-Tritons. But magic… it was everything. It really was. If you knew how to work the System, how to play your cards right, you could become immortal. You could create whatever you wanted, do whatever you wanted. All for the small price of being burnt to a crisp and redistributed back into the world once you die, which I unfortunately learned the other day.

I thought of Shea, his abilities, his strange approach. Perhaps now I understood why it was so silly he leveled himself the way he did. Magic can’t just be math. It’s impossible, at the end of the day. However, despite his choices, he still believed in me. Showed me crafting, encouraged me to figure my stuff out. And I did. So…

With a hesitant hand, I touched the Draíocht symbol.

Ding!

[Path Selected: Draíocht.]

[Congratulations, FIRTH RIDIRE.]

[WARNING: Path selection is permanent. Skills from other paths are now locked, unless given during a Special Quest Reward.]

Cool.

Alright, Shea, let’s do this! You’ll be the magic, and I’ll be the wielder.

A rush of yellow energy flowed through me as the symbol glowed brightly, branding onto my skin, leaving a permanent mark right on the bottom of my palm. I winced at the pain, but I welcomed it. For a moment, I thought I could see flicker of a hand—a hand made of mana. It rested over mine, pressing, pushing, and then… disappeared.

This was my choice, my path.

And I was ready to finally start my new life.