“Instructor Carol? Aren’t you busy with the new recruits?”

The brown haired instructor shrugged, while driving away “I am but you are about to join the Academy before your journey of assimilation. I will personally train you today and tell you what you can expect from the others, especially the Great Families. They will send some new Blessed under them and I heard even some of their own blood will be joining. Remember, no matter how much you dislike them, you will need allies and a strong team to survive that place.”

“I understand.” With that, he stared out the window.

The city passed by, full of buildings and sky-scrappers with ad-zeppelins. Some of the city projectors were relaying the news of the upcoming warp campaign and some added propaganda of the Great Families portrayed as some kind of protectors of humanity. If only that were true and as simple…

Shaking his head, he took out the black rock and studied it for a few moments. After what felt like a few instances, the car stopped and they already reached their destination: The Central Blessed Intelligence Agency.

After getting out, they went straight for the training complex, heading for the simulation room underground . “Just the normal routine, 3 rounds each. After that, a spar”. With that Instructor Carol activated the simulation chamber. Rowan didn’t mind the normal simulation challenge but it was not that helpful to him since those virtual constructs did not contain the complex nodes of an actual living being. 

‘Well, it’s not like I will always be in a situation where I could understand the patterns provided’ 

Going to the armory, he picked a training spear and headed to the center ground. After repeating a few warm-up steps, he proceeded with the simulation training, which wasn’t much.

The real value of today’s training would come with the duel with Instructor Carol.

The virtual construct resembled some kind of a humanoid creature with long arms ending in sharp black claws, their face covered with tiny black scales obscuring everything except their eyes, which looked like glossy black ink. Their lower body resembled some kind of worm with black scales covering it.

They were one of the few identified inhabitants of The Beyond, the ‘Scavengers’. It’s said that a single one is strong and fierce enough to face five normal Blessed at once.

Of course, facing these virtual construct would not be same as facing the real ones. 

Bringing the spear in front of him, he lunged at the nearest VC and pierced it while pivoting his left foot and swinging at the nearest approaching one and jumped back to create some distance while preparing for his next attack.

Rowan usually preferred range weapons instead of melee weapons. Studying his enemies, figuring out their weak-spots or creating one while relatively staying at a safe distance was his preferred style. Which was not to say he was bad with melee weapons, especially with a spear or a longsword. He had been trained extensively in many different kinds of combat by his mom and her former companions. 

He continued to train with the simulation for a while until the last display of the Scavengers dissolved in a glitch. After some breathing exercise, he went near Instructor Carol and slightly bowed, “ I am ready for the duel, Instructor”.

Instructor Carol nodded “Good. Land 3 strikes for the win”.

With that, each of them took their battle stances and waited. After a heartbeat, They lunged at each other. Rowan had to make the most out of this duel since he can see compositional patterns and nexuses of a living being, especially clearly for those who had a connection with the Beyond. 

Instructor Carol was extremely agile and fast in an inhumane way. Rowan knew she was already holding back in this duel but he still couldn’t completely follow her movements, which made it even more difficult to study her. After leaving his side open, he thrust his spear , near where Instructor Carol might appear. Sure enough she did and right after, Rowan swung his spear in a wide arc. He thought that might at least do something but Instructor Carol only jumped in a graceful arc and landed a blow on his back with her training sword.

“ Too wide, control your swings”. Gritting his teeth, Rowan nodded and continued to try and land a hit while trying to observe her at the same time. 

After a few exchange of blows, he started to notice something different about his opponent. It seemed liked the patterns provided was changing, albeit in a subtle way, based on the intensity of the activated ability before it’s activation.

To test this, he timed his swings and thrusts with controlled movements and some faster but less controlled ones. Indeed, after suffering a few more hits and scoldings from Instructor Carol, he confirmed it.

Those hits that were easy to counter and avoid, she didn’t seem to activate much of her ability, only a fraction of it, but doing the opposite for attacks which were relatively hard to avoid. Which was an obvious thing to do but the invaluable insight he gained was the change in the nodal patterns.

With this new insight, He managed to lure her into using her ability early before he landed his intended blow. 

“Well done. 2 more strikes. Try to predict where I will show up” Instructor Carol nodded with approval . 

Feeling a bit confident, Rowan continued to study and predict her movements and the patterns. Soon enough, he landed another strike…or a scratch. He didn’t know if that counted so he looked at her.

Smiling faintly, Instructor Carol said: “1 more to to. Keep it up”.

‘Nice! Now to finish this and visit mom to give her back that damned rock’.

Brandishing his training spear with new found confidence, he lunged at Instructor Carol.

And right at that moment, in front of him, there was a ripple in space and a warp opened up swallowing him whole.