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7 mos ago
Current Graduation has happened - I am no longer a teacher. Won't have to work 12 hour days + weekends anymore, so maybe I'll actually have enough time for hobbies.
10 likes
9 mos ago
I sound like a broken record, but only 2 months left till I'm done teaching. Not sure what's next, but it feels like anything would pay more and be less stressful lol
5 likes
1 yr ago
Only 6 more months till the school years over. If I renew my contract, someone kill me lmao.
3 likes
2 yrs ago
Teacher update: I feel like a villain from a cartoon. The laughter of teenagers gives me migraines, and I no longer feel guilt when giving bad grades to kids that sleep through my lessons.
10 likes
2 yrs ago
First day as a Biology Teacher tomorrow - hopefully the kids will be able to read my handwriting.
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As Travis slammed his wooden sword against the side of the pirate's head, he could almost feel the helmet give way from the force of the blow. The pirate probably felt it too, considering he got knocked into one of his allies and didn't get up. When the second pirate was pinned under his friend's unconscious body, Travis quickly dispatched him as well - one hit to the head, followed quickly by a kick where Travis thought the ear was.

The others didn't seem very pleased that their friends were getting the crap kicked out of them. A loud screech rang out as one of them fired off their sound rifle, colliding against Travis's side with only minor pain. Another shot to the chest confirmed what he was thinking - he was almost entirely immune to their sound blasts by now, the blast only leaving him slightly unnerved. Noticing how it was ineffective, one of the pirates simply chose to thrust the butt of their rifle into Travis's face.

Pain exploded from his mouth as Travis fell to the ground. He wasn't expecting such a ballsy hit and lost his balance - that was kind of embarrassing. Almost immediately, he began to cough and spit, eventually hacking two teeth onto the floor of the car. They'd grow back, nothing to worry about. He did it on reflex - he knew what was about to happen next, and had learned that getting the shit in his mouth out of there was a priority.

As soon as he shut his mouth again, he could feel the teeth in his mouth fusing, becoming bulky and unwieldy. Almost like they were transforming into incisors or even just blocks of bone. He had experienced it dozens or even hundreds of times, but it was still uncomfortable as fuck. If he hadn't gotten those loose teeth out before the adaptation, Travis wasn't sure if he'd be able to get them out before he healed.

Travis opened his eyes. Three seconds. His forearms already were beginning to grow that brown, almost plate-like armor.

Thank god for adrenaline. Was starting to feel pretty good.

The sounds banging around the car were beginning to dull somewhat - the hairs that had grown all over Travis's body seemed to be working a bit too well at breaking the sound waves. Still, he could tell that the pirates were firing their rifles - it didn't seem like they were willing to waste any more effort on Travis while he was down though. Turning, he saw that they were aiming at Marcie. Smart move - she was probably a much softer target, and judging by the sudden chill in the room and the fact that the hole into the car had been frozen over, she was a more pressing target as well. As she got knocked to the ground from one of the blasts, Travis could feel a sudden chill near him.

"Tr... Take...!"

Even if he couldn't hear clearly, it didn't really take a brain scientist or rocket surgeon to figure out what Marcie wanted him to do. It was hard to get leverage on the ground, but even the best armors didn't fix human anatomy. Rolling over to the nearest pirate, Travis simply grabbed his leg and turned, pulling the leg backward. With his feet frozen to the floor, a sickening crunch ran through Travis's body as the Pirate's knee was forcefully bent in the opposite direction.

It took a spray of blood and a deep scream for Travis to realize that there was another person present - which is pretty surprising, considering he was by far the largest in the room. Easily towering over both the pirates as well as the heroes, Blitz was rushing through the rocketeers with incredible ease, simply running them through with his arms. While most heroes would probably be disgusted with the brutality and lack of care for human life that was being displayed, Travis simply thought 'Man, that's badass'.

"Mahn, tha's badash!"

God, it sucked trying to talk with weird fused teeth-blocks...

But it seemed like Travis didn't really need to worry about the rest of the pirates - some of them were fused, and those that weren't would probably get frozen or simply rammed through by the giant running around. Travis quickly got to his feet, prepared to jump in the way of any last desperate sound rifle blasts.

Before the sound of metal being cleaved through rang out through the entire car. Even with his hearing compromised, Travis could tell that probably wasn't a good sign.

Another giant man was walking into the car, and although this one wasn't as tall as Blitz, the giant glowing chainsaw he carried made him look even more intimidating than the guy covered in blood and organs. Travis had no idea who this masked villain was, but was extremely wary of his blade. He'd seen energy weapons before, but only in the form of knives and small blades. Even with his durability, Travis wasn't sure if he'd be able to take a hit from that and survive-

As the Chainsawyer began to move forwards, the tip of his weapon managed to lightly brush against another figure in the room - Viper. While Travis didn't notice him initially, the man's darker outfit almost immediately made Travis think he was a villain and the Chainswayer just didn't care about friendly fire.

Viper's guts and blood spilled onto the ground, joining the sizable pool that was already forming from Blitz's rampage.

'Yeah, let's not even try to tank that...'

Travis honestly had no clue how to deal with this. He might get away with minor injuries if he was lucky, but honestly, it was not worth the risk to try and use his power here. It cleaved through someone with only a glancing hit.

Plus, he wasn't sure if he regrew his limbs. And Cybernetics would really mess up his style...

The Chainsawyer began to race towards Marcie - either he followed the same line of thinking as the other pirates and saw her as the most dangerous, or he was just picking them off randomly. Either way, Travis didn't really have the opportunity to help her out - the pirate whose leg Travis just broke seemed to be made of tougher stuff than the others, and he along with the other surviving pirates was keeping him pinned, kicking him in the head and sides while forcing him down with their weight. One of the pirates laying on Travis was already aiming his rifle at someone (Blitz? Travis wasn't really looking), trying to take advantage of the sudden shift in battle the Chainswayer's arrival caused. Seemed like they had found Travis's second-biggest weakness - he wasn't super strong, so they could just pin him to take him out.

Blitz wasn't in Travis's line of sight, but he was the only one that Travis could think responsible for what happened next. Something flew directly into the Chainsawyer's chest, fast enough that Travis could barely even register what happened. The move seemed to distract the other Rocketeers somewhat, as almost everything seemed to stop for a brief instant.

However, the arrival of another hero was what really sealed the deal. Someone in a flamboyant costume ('with a very cool looking cape', Travis thought) entered the car, seeming to cause the very air in the room to fluctuate. Dawnbreaker entered a little before the Chainsawyer, but Travis and the pirates pinning him only noticed the man after the initial hit on the giant chainsaw-wielding freak. It was the perfect distraction, as Travis had just enough time to begin choking out one of the mobile pirates pinning him. He struggled briefly, but with his legs locked around him and the solid hairs digging into his flesh, it only took seconds for the tired pirate to fall unconscious. And with only two pirates pinning him, one of whom was partially frozen and had a broken leg, Travis finally managed to free himself from the veritable swarm around him.

Thank god Travis's hearing was messed up enough to miss what Dawnbreaker was actually saying, or he'd also be distracted by thinking of how cool it was.

The two pirates had finally moved on to another target, firing their rifles at Blitz. Travis yanked the rifle from the partially frozen pirate but didn't stop to deal with the other unloading on the huge hero. He had bigger priorities - getting Marcie away from the Chainsaw guy as quickly as possible. She was the only one who could really close the holes these weirdos made in the train car walls, and could painlessly incapacitate the Rocketeers... Well, painlessly compared to Blitz's method.

Thankfully, the gun that Travis stole wasn't one of the ones frozen by Marcie. He trained it on the Chainsawyer, ready to fire it the second the man moved. He yelled at Marcie over the conflict still going on in the train car, his voice coming out strangely from his mutated mouth and weakened hearing.

"Freecee te whol!"

God, it really sucked trying to talk with weird fused teeth-blocks. Hopefully, Marcie would freeze the hole in the train before more pirates came in - then they could have a breather and buy time for the other heroes to secure the civilians and arrive.


"The aquarium, eh? I've seen some mighty strange marine life. Once, I saw the Kraken tear a ship apart in the north Atlantic ocean. Terrible thing. Those poor sailors. Our ship managed to escape, but I wouldn't be surprised if that creature was still lurking beneath the depths. Twice as big as a whale."

Travis nodded his head as he listened to the story, picking up cards as they were dealt to him. He had been on a little fishing boat before with his friend Scales, so he could believe that a squid sank a boat. Of course, Travis didn't know that Pandora was probably remembering an event that occurred decades ago, or even a hundred or two years ago, and the ship was most certainly not a small fishing boat.

"Sound scary. I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever traveling the Atlantic."

The conversation, along with the game, stopped pretty quickly after that. Almost as soon as the cards had been dealt and the game was starting, an explosion sounded nearby, and the train silently began to stop, causing numerous free objects to clatter about the car.

This included anyone not buckled in, and Travis somehow managed to hit his head against the wall behind him. The wood exterior cracked with the force, but the damage to the car was superficial at best. And it wasn't even that for Travis - the sound of the impact was far more uncomfortable than the actual 'injury', causing Travis to wince slightly. Not even damaging enough to activate his power. Pandora grabbed the cards in Travis's hand quickly, silently returning them to their case before leaning back into her seat, seemingly undisturbed from the sudden halt of the train.

Grumbling slightly, Travis briefly forgot what could have caused the explosion. It wasn't until Pandora spoke up again about their 'guests' that he remembered - oh yeah, he's here to fight pirates and protect the Thorium, not to play card games. The thought quickly brightened his mood, and Travis climbed to his feet just as the train began to fully stop. Quickly after that, two heroes from the rear storage car entered, running to the point the explosion from earlier sounded.

Normally, Travis would immediately join them - not only would he get to show off in front of other heroes, but it would also be a good chance to save some civilians and look even cooler. Maybe get a medal or something!

...But Travis honestly had no clue how many heroes were actually in the Storage room with the Thorium. He only really remembered the big guy that had blown smoke in his face - for all he knew, the safe was completely undefended!

Travis didn't really care about saving civilians in the first place - the only reason he'd even want to is because they would thank him for it. But if he helped keep the Thorium safe and beat up some pirates... then everyone would totally think he was super reliable, right?

Maybe Alexandra Director Steele would even respond to his email about instituting 'Free Ice Cream Fridays' on the Paladin!

"You'd better not keep them waiting. I'm sure you'll do fine. Failing that, I'm sure you'll at least survive."

"Surviving is pretty good at least. Nice meeting you guys - I owe you two a game of blackjack later."

Despite some strange sounds coming from the adjacent car, Travis immediately began running to the back of the train. Worst case scenario, he would end up getting ignored and have to sit out the entire fight... which would really suck, actually...

At least he wouldn't be the only one - Pandora didn't seem eager to get into a brawl, considering she hadn't even moved from her seat. Maybe she just had some really long-range power? Travis didn't really think to ask before leaving.

Thankfully, it was too late for Travis to reconsider doubling back - he was already running at full speed to the back of the train, and after passing a few cars, managed to burst through the door. The lingering scent of strawberry smoke was still thick in the air, but thankfully it was fading quickly now that the source was gone. Travis could probably handle it... Well, he'd actually have to, since he noticed that a hole had already been carved out of the storage car, and pirates were already beginning to storm in.

Perfect! Travis's plan had worked! Now he just needed to beat up a dozen or two pirates, all of whom were armed, and could probably just fly away with their jetpacks and shoot him with their weird rifles...

Okay, it might have been a bit optimistic now that he was thinking about it. Maybe he could bluff though! What would Scales say in a situation like this...

"Alright, good job guys. I'll give you guys one chance to sur-"

A sonic blast ripped through the air, colliding with Travis's shoulder and sending him careening into the side of the car. A miss - they were probably trying to pop his head like a grape. Time seemed to slow as Travis slammed into the wall - the collision didn't hurt enough to build a resistance, but that sound shit was pretty crazy. Thankfully his arm wasn't broken. Would probably be bruised later, but he would heal it in an hour or two.

What mattered more was what began happening to Travis's body. Hairs sprouted from his injured shoulder radially, spiraling from the wound until they covered every inch of his body. Stiff bristles, more akin to small spines than actual hair. They were tightly packed, causing Travis to look more like some macabre pincushion. If someone missed them growing, they might think he had gotten a few thousand splinters somewhere during his landing.

3 seconds have passed. Travis got to his feet, seemingly unbothered by his now injured shoulder. He was right-handed anyways.

"That hurt, asshole."

Travis leaped forwards, yanking the wooden sword from his pant loop. The guy that initially shot him had been the one to carve out the hole - and as a result, the closest guy to smash over the head. He shot once more, but the second blast only paused Travis for a fraction of a second. The direct chest shot was even less damaging than the glancing blow from earlier, only causing a slight increase in the number of spines across his body. The shooter was rewarded with a powerful blow to the helmet - the armor might keep him up, but even the best helmet in the world wouldn't protect someone from what was a glorified baseball bat to the skull.

"I'm still walking, bitch! Woooooh!"

Travis was definitely out of his league - the fact he hit one of them so hard was really just blind luck and surprise. Considering the Rocketeers had access to his dossier, then they probably had some tranquilizers or gas to take him out.

Or, y'know, other guns. Gross roach spines sure as hell wouldn't stop a bullet, and a well-placed one could probably take Travis out before he could adapt.


The woman in front of Travis seemed to finally register that he was in the car with her, an eye peering open to look at the young man. Her expression didn't seem to change in response to his presence - or, at least not in a way that Travis could recognize. She looked like she was only a few years older than him, making her apathetic attitude a little weird. Maybe she was just really used to this kind of mission like Travis thought.

When she said his name, he was visibly shocked and nearly missed the snide comment. Unlike Pandora, Travis clearly did not read the profiles of the other Heroes on the train. Hell, he didn't even know that was an option - he had mostly stuck to either solo missions, or large 'clean ups', neither of which warranted learning about whoever he was working with. Travis thought briefly about asking how the woman knew his name but decided to just slide past it. It made sense that someone would look into who they're going on a mission with.

"Glad to hear, I have a pot roast waiting for me when we're done. Bit optimistic cleanup time though, I'd think that rockets would leave a bigger mess."

Despite the serious tone of her voice, Travis assumed that Pandora's comment was a joke, and responded in kind. Though, if this lady could see the future, that would explain how she knew his name...

Before he could pursue this asinine line of thinking any further, another person entered the car. Travis didn't see her walk past him towards the storage room, but considering he was coughing and had smoke in his eyes, he realized he must have not even seen her.

Marcie seemed to have been like the other woman in the car, choosing civilian clothes for this mission... Then again, Travis didn't have a costume and was also in his regular wardrobe, so he couldn't really bash her for that. Marcie definitely seemed a lot mousier than the people that Travis was used to dealing with though. She awkwardly asked if she could sit down, and Pandora permitted it a few seconds later, Travis nodding in agreement for no reason.

A few seconds of silence passed as everyone got seated, and Travis started to get nervous. When he first walked in, the lady in here was just sitting with her eyes closed - and Marcie didn't exactly strike him as a conversationalist. Was he going to have to sit still and do nothing for however long it too for the Rocketeers to show up? Hell, the Rocketeers might not even show up - If they know about the Hero presence on the train and are smart, they would probably just let it go. Then Travis would have to sit in silence for who knows how-

"You two ever play a game called Twenty-One? You might know it as Blackjack."

Thank god, that would at least make things move by quicker. This lady was probably cooler than he gave her credit at first. She retrieved a deck of cards from her bag and pulled a small table out the side of the car (weird, the car that Travis was in earlier didn't have any tables). She then began to shuffle the cards with ridiculous deftness, explaining the rules to the game as she did so. Travis kind of blanked out as she talked, focusing on her cool tricks instead - she was either a master at sleight of hand, or her power let her mess with cards.

Travis wasn't really sure how someone with card tricks could fight crime, but this lady seemed pretty cool, so no sense in being a dick about it. Hell, his friend Bomber kept talking about some chick that fought crimes without powers and posted videos of it online, so she could always just be a badass or something.

Travis leaned closer to the table, thankful to have something to distract himself with.

"Oh I'm happy to join in, I do get bored easy! We're not putting cash up though, right? I'm pretty trash at card games."

It was true - Kat and Bomber kicked his ass every time they played cards, though the latter did it mostly by counting cards. Noticing Marcie in his peripheral vision, Travis realized that he never really responded to her introduction.

"Oh Marcie, I forgot to give you my name - sorry about that. I'm Travis."

Leaning back to the table, Travis spoke to both Pandora and Marcie.

"You guys do anything cool lately? My friend Scales took me to Castleburg Aquarium yesterday and we saw some weird-ass fish."

Travis loved pointless nothing questions like that - it padded out conversations when he had no idea what to really talk about. Throw a couple of those out, and eventually, someone either gives up and humors him, or snaps at him to shut the hell up. Or in this case, a band of jetpack pirates interrupts their blackjack game.

Anything was fine by him, honestly. Travis hated the silence more than anything else.


'God this sucks.' Travis thought to himself. 'I thought there was supposed to be explosions and badass fights, not waiting on a stupid train for an hour...'

That was a bit of an overstatement - Travis, like the other members of the mission, had only been on the N-train for about 10 minutes. It's just that, unlike them, Travis had no patience whatsoever. Usually, when he rode one of the E-trains, Travis would talk with one of his friends or listen to music on his phone or something. But since this was a cargo train and he had to wear this stupid earpiece, both of those options were out.

...Well, Travis probably could listen to music since he wasn't on a public transit train. Most people only really use earbuds to avoid annoying other people.

Instead of thinking that though, Travis chose to pace around his car, occasionally lounging on the cushions and chairs. Usually, in those old action movies, the bad guys struck immediately - what was taking so much damn time!? Were the Rocketeers stuck in traffic or something? They have freaking jetpacks!

Travis stood up from his chair, leaning against the wall to look out one of the windows. The East Flank stared back at him - homes, restaurants, laundromats, and all other kinds of buildings flew past at speeds that made it near impossible to recognize any singular structure. If the pirates crashed the train or Travis fell out somehow, even with his durability he'd probably end up as paste on the pavement below.

Travis dropped the line of thought - too morbid. He wasn't going to get knocked out of the train, he was going to kick a bunch of ass. No point in thinking about what ifs, right? Instead, Travis began focusing on his reflection in the glass. A young man in black cargo pants, a white hoodie, with a crappy plastic mask around his neck looked back. There was a cut on his neck from his shave this morning, though Travis hoped that the wooden sword hanging from his belt loop would distract anyone from noticing. He really needed to work on his costume - he'd already been in HERO for a week, and he was wearing stuff he dragged out of his closet. Who knew getting a costume that wouldn't get wrecked up every fight for the few dozen dollars he'd saved up would be so difficult...

Hopefully, this mission would pay out some big bucks. The thought of asking if the food on the train was covered by HERO crossed Travis's mind, but before he could think of who he could even ask, a loud static sound pierced his ear. A second or two later, the Assistant Director's ('You think he'd mind if I called him Ray?') voice rang out through the earpiece, telling the Heroes to watch over their actual objective instead of sitting wherever.

Travis smirked slightly - Finally! Something to do! He quickly got to his feet and began walking towards the back of the train. He had initially chosen a car near the front, thinking that the Rocketeers might attack the rails in order to stop or derail the train. As he walked through, he was starting to think that was pretty dumb - while they destroyed the M-Train, gold was a lot less explosive than Weapon-Grade Thorium. If they tried to derail the train or force a stop, they would risk it getting damaged or blowing up... Probably.

Travis wasn't really sure what 'Thorium' was exactly, but 'Weapon-Grade' made it sound like something that was dangerous to drop.

Finding the final door, Travis was pleased to see that most of the other Heroes assigned to the mission had already shown up. He wasn't sure which ones were assholes yet so he was kind of nervous about making first impressions, but it was probably a lot less boring than hanging around an empty train car. Travis pulled out his HERO ID card and unlocked the door, walking inside just as an absolutely massive man blew a huge cloud of smoke from his vape in Travis's direction.

Travis immediately walked out, coughing into his hand violently.

'Why is his vape pen so huge!? ...And why'd he go with Strawberry?'

Travis had never done well around smokers. Second-hand smoke seemed to irritate his throat and lungs especially quickly thanks to his power, and while the man had never been an asthmatic, he found himself struggling to breathe whenever he was in a room with someone smoking. Thankfully, he didn't need to deal with it too much - his father's drug of choice was injected rather than smoked, and the only one of Travis's friends that vaped, Bomber, did so far from Travis whenever they hung out.

Even though it pissed Travis off a little that he just embarrassed himself in front of the other heroes, he decided to shrug it off. After all, they were kinda doing something important right now - it made sense to try and relieve some stress. Hell, he didn't even see Travis walk in, so he didn't do it maliciously. No reason to hold a grudge over that when they're on a mission...

At least, until that big guy does it on purpose. Then he'd definitely be filed under Asshole.

Deciding that there were probably enough people keeping watch over the safe, Travis chose to walk a few cars down. The Rocketeers wouldn't go straight at the Thorium, most likely targetting one of the other cars in order to minimize the chances of damaging it... Then again, Travis didn't really consider that the safe that contained the material was probably designed to take as much damage as possible without harming the fuel inside. He was mostly just looking for an excuse to wait somewhere else till the action happened.

Thankfully, Travis's breathing was already getting back to normal. If he was lucky, the pirates would only have rockets, and not tear gas. When he decided to stop, Travis found himself in a car alongside one of the other heroes he saw at the station - an attractive woman in trousers and a red dress shirt, with hair tied up in a bun. She looked more like someone about to go to work or some dinner party than fight a group of flying pirates.

Travis was just happy to have someone to talk to, oblivious to the fact that the woman had her eyes closed when he walked in and probably wanted nothing to do with him.

"Do you know how long these things usually take to start? I've only done the 'get cats out of trees and clean up Ambleweeds' kind of missions."


@Hitman@canaryrose
Finished - sorry if it's a little long. Let me know if anything needs to be changed.



Despite the rocky start, Toma seemed to get a lucky break for the rest of the run. The instructor that was shooting the students had moved onto other targets - whether that was because he found someone better to shoot at or Toma had gotten closer to the herd was anyone's guess. Toma just chose to consider himself lucky that he managed to only get hit with two arrows.

Unfortunately, the person that pushed Toma was quickly assaulted by several of the other students. While a part of Toma was pleased that his peers were attempting to punish someone for being an asshole, he couldn't help but feel some pity for the man. At the end of the day, Toma didn't care what happened to him. And Toma was just pushed to the ground - this student was embarrassed in front of their entire class...

But Toma did decide that interacting with that guy might not be the best idea. Getting pushed down during a race was one thing, but adventurers have gotten into bad fights over loot. And some adventurers were so bad, some of the residents in Toma's town called them 'Murder Hobos'. The teachers already said that having fights without proctors was banned, and while Toma wasn't afraid of getting in a brawl, he would never risk his spot at the school - hanging around a guy like that was just begging for trouble.

Other than the student that pushed him, Toma didn't focus on most of the other students during the run - he couldn't see Alexis running, Finn was far up in the front. He didn't know anyone else, so they just didn't stand out much. Some students were wearing armor over their uniform as they ran, causing Toma to fear that he might need to buy some. He definitely didn't have enough gold to get anything nearly as good as what the Dwarf and Human (?) girl had.

Toma quickly started focusing on another student, who had come to run alongside him.

"You ok there?"

A girl, darker-skinned than Toma. Her skin looked a little off, almost like it had the texture of bark...

Was she a 'Wood Elf'? Toma had never seen one before, but that would definitely explain the name... Or maybe she was a human with weird-looking skin? He knew someone from his village with horribly dry elbows - maybe it was something like that, just way less gross? Either way, asking something like that wasn't really appropriate during a run. As he was about to speak, the instructor must have decided that she deserved an arrow for slowing down, and launched it straight into the young woman's shoulder. Toma was quite surprised when she managed to take the blow - heck, she took it better than he would have. Weren't girls supposed to be dainty?

She must have noticed Toma breathing a little harder, or maybe she could tell that he was starting to lose some steam. Whatever the case, she grabbed his arm and began to drag him along, helping to speed him up a little.

"C'mon, there's no time to lose!"

Toma coughed a little in surprise, raising his voice to be heard over their pounding feet.

"S-sure thing! Thanks for the help!"

She did look a little weird, and she probably wasn't human - but it could be worse, right? She wasn't an orc, or goblin, or whatever the heck that snake lady was. And besides, she seemed more than capable of keeping up with the other students - and despite that, decided to slow down near the back of the class in order to help someone she didn't even know.

At least she was friendlier than one of the humans that Toma had met here so far.



Toma hadn't been counting the laps, but they had run around a lot more than he was used to before class even started. He probably would have taken a seat the second they stopped if his classmate hadn't helped him, and even with her assistance, Toma was sweating bullets. Some of the more agile students seemed completely unfazed by the laps, while others were even more tired than Toma was despite not getting shot once. Hopefully, they occasionally warm up with a march or lifting heavy things instead of always doing laps...

His uniform also was a little... wet. He managed to spill on it when trying to get a drink from his waterskin during the run. Thankfully, he had brought an extra, and his bag was nearby - he quickly retrieved the bag from where he dropped it at the beginning of class, before slwoly jogging back.

Sir Baleth had gone to the center of the large arena they were in and had begun explaining the purpose of the mannequins that were standing there since the class started. If the Toma from yesterday was asked to fight them, he would probably ask to take on several all at once. After all, how dangerous could a wooden dummy be?

After seeing so much magic in such a short time, however, Toma had learned that looks could be very deceiving.

Soon, the attractive drow woman from the feast was invited to fight the mannequins, leading the others by example. Toma was just thankful that she'd be fighting magical dummies rather than the students - she could take out her Drow sadism against them instead of Toma or his peers. Toma, like many of his classmates, was somewhat distracted by her figure... Although, the purple skin and exotic curved swords made him quick to lose interest.

'Still a monster, at the end of the day...'

Upon touching the mannequin, the construct began to rise, almost as if awakening from a half-asleep state.

“Greetings Maya Jhalavar, would you like to begin training regiment 56A?”

Yep, definitely magical... Toma was amazed that it was possible to make such creations, but he was a little less impressed than the day before. Athena's crystalline form was a lot more interesting than this wooden imitation of a person.

As if to prove Toma wrong, several of the mannequins seemed to awaken simultaneously. Each was armed with various weapons, and Toma was particularly intimidated by the one wielding a large hammer. It resembled the ones he used to plant fenceposts into the ground - and while he never got hit by one, he knew they were a lot more powerful than they looked.

The woman removed her blades, and before Toma could even process it, the fight had already begun. If Sir Baleth was telling the truth when he said graduates of the academy struggled to handle two of the mannequins at a time, then Miss Jhalavar must have been a genius with those strange swords of hers.

Even considering his lack of skill, Toma could tell that the drow was quite impressive with her weapons. She seemingly danced between the blunted spears and swords, weaving around and parrying hits rather than taking them head on - a very effective strategy if she were in an actual fight to the death. As she pushed away the large maul that came crashing towards her skull, Toma realized that she was not just skilled - she must have been much stronger than he expected in order to accomplish something like that, unless she knew some technique to help her deflect the hit.

Could women be strong like that? Or was it some enchantment on those exotic swords? It would make sense that drow women were stronger than the men...

It didn't really matter, however. Even if drows were exceptionally strong and agile, there was no way Toma could simply attribute his instructor's abilities to her race. She was an incredible fighter - the only person Toma could think of that rivaled her skill with the blade was Tarkus, the paladin that he had known all his life...

No, she was more skilled than even him. Tarkus took blows directly to gain an opening to strike - and while that was effective at times, he was in constant pain from his scars during his last few years. Miss Jhalavar dodged the blows entirely, choosing to counterattack and parry rather than let herself be struck.

The fight had taken maybe 30 seconds. 45 at most.

“Right, who’s ready to start?”

Toma couldn't help but grin, his breathing finally having returned to normal after the run. Finally, he'd actually be allowed to fight!



As it turned out, Toma was terrible at fighting. His sword was on the ground near Sir Baleth, and Toma was instead wielding one of the spare blades that was offered for those without their own equipment. Using the enchanted blade counted as 'using magic', and under threat of receiving another blunted arrow from the masked instructor, Toma was now relying on his own skill with this rented blade rather than the skill his own sword gave him.

'If only I knew where the off button on that thing was, I wouldn't have to use a different sword...'

Toma groaned as the mannequin he was fighting slammed the pommel of its longsword into his stomach, before sweeping Toma's legs out from under him. The young man fell to the ground, and when he opened his eyes, the blunted tip of the mannequin's blade was pointed straight at his throat.

“Toma Enow, would you like to decrease training difficu-”

Toma cut off the mannequin as he rose to his feet, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.

"Nope, no, I'm good. Just uh... wasn't watching my feet, I guess."

At least Toma was doing better than some of his more magically-inclined classmates.

As soon as he was ready, the fight started once more. Swing, miss - it dodged to the left and the sword only cut air. It retaliated with its own strike, and Toma could feel it clip him on the shoulder as he tried to pull away. The paladin tightened his grip on his sword to avoid dropping it.

'Give it more room, the blade is longer than you expect...'

Seeing Miss Jhalavar fight taught Toma a valuable lesson - while taking attacks was certainly easier and the opponent might not expect it, avoiding them entirely was a lot safer in the long run. Tarkus was pleased at the attention his scars gave him, but was almost always complaining about the pain they brought him in his daily life. Toma would like to avoid that if he could...

Suddenly, the Mannequin lunged forwards, attacking in the same manner it did in the last fight. It held its sword in one hand, using the free arm to try and shield its body as it closed the distance between them. It was trying to get in close and slam the pommel of its weapon into Toma's stomach again.

No time to dodge, it was already too close - Toma was forced to parry instead. He moved his crossguard against the mannequin's blade, locking the blades against one another. Overpowering the mannequin was a lot easier than all that footwork stuff - it wasn't used to his strength yet, and while it adapted fast, Toma could hold it off for a brief time.

'Legs!'

Toma had expected it - that was the only reason he managed to sidestep the mannequin's attempt to sweep his legs. With its balance compromised, Toma pushed his blade harder against the dummy, causing it to fall to the ground.

Breathing heavy, Toma relaxed slightly, standing tall at his victory. Suddenly, the prone dummy swung at Toma, catching the paladin off guard as its blade slammed against his knees. Once again, he fell to the ground, only for the mannequin to climb on his body and hold the dulled sword against his throat.

“Toma Enow, please remember to 'kill' any mannequin you are training with in order to win. Mannequins repair themselves shortly after combat, so there is no risk of damaging academy property.”

Toma groaned. 'Can't I savor my win a little bit before getting punished?' Rising to his feet once again, Toma shook off the sand from his clothes. Hopefully, these mannequins were around outside of class hours - if Toma wanted to catch up to his classmates, he'd need all the practice he could get.



Fighting, as it turned out, was a lot more exhausting than Toma had thought at first. Even when the fights only lasted a minute or two at most, they took an enormous amount of energy. And that wasn't even considering how sore Toma was from the various hits he had taken from his opponents' blunted sword. By the end of his seventh round against the mannequin, he was on the ground panting.

“Would you like to take a small break, Toma Enow?”

Toma was a little shocked - they were allowed to take breaks, just like that? It made sense - someone wouldn't really get better at fighting if they could barely hold their weapon... Maybe Toma assumed the class was more totalitarian than it really was?

... Or maybe he'd get a worse grade if he took a break...

"... Yeah, I'll just get a bit of water. Be right back, Mannequin."

Toma would fight better after recovering his strength. His stamina was far better than his sword skills, so he needed to focus on getting better at fighting, rather than getting better at fighting while exhausted...

And it also gave him time to think up a good name for the Mannequin he was fighting. He was probably going to spend a lot of time with the mannequins during the class, so having something better to call them by would make things more convenient.

...The only question was, what did these mannequins eat?

Probably a good question for the magic class.

Toma quickly took a sip from his waterskin, careful not to spill anymore on himself. Many of the students around him were either tired or taking breaks, but several were continuing to fight without any sign of stopping. Toma spotted his roommate, Finn, and thought about walking over to say hi... but decided against it. It might have just been Toma's imagination, but he was beginning to think that Finn was upset with him...

... No, Toma couldn't think of anything that he did to make his roommate upset. Maybe he woke up badly? Toma didn't get a good look at Finn this morning - even when he tossed that flaky bread on his bed.

It was probably just Toma's imagination.

Noticing the girl that had helped him during his run, he felt a small pang of guilt. She had helped him during the beginning of class, so he should thank her, right? Toma briefly abandoned his mannequin and started walking towards his wood classmate, retrieving his second waterskin from his bag and holding it out to her.

"I don't think I thanked you for the help earlier - I appreciate it."

She'd probably like water right? She looked like a plant, and plants loved water... Well, except when they get too much. Toma cringed slightly, remembering a time in his youth when he had drowned all of the herbs in his mother's potager. Thankfully, she told him off before he could do the same to Tarkus' own garden...

Did he ever apologize to her? Toma couldn't remember. Not that it really mattered. That was back in Whitelot - the academy felt a world away from his old village... even though it was only a weeks' travel away, two at most.

'Keep talking, don't act weird.'

"I should probably introduce myself. My name is Toma."

Suddenly, a thought crossed Toma's mind. While he didn't think his classmate was really made of wood like the mannequins were, and they looked nothing alike, Toma couldn't help but connect them. They were both humanoid, looked wooden, both could beat him up... Maybe they ate the same things...

"...If you don't mind me asking, what are your favorite foods?"

If Toma was lucky, he wouldn't have to wait till magic class to name the mannequin.

If Karya was lucky, Toma would get called back to his mannequin before he took up too much of her time.
Toma was used to waking up early - back on his family's farm the Rooster, Egg, was far louder than his father had been and was eager to crow hours before sunrise. While Toma wasn't very fond of the bird, his journey to the academy had shown him how much he relied on Egg to wake him up in the mornings. More than once he slept in until 9 AM (So late!), and Oats wasn't very eager to wake Toma up to continue their journey. One of the reasons Toma had gone to bed earlier than usual last night, along with limiting how much he drank, was because he wasn't sure if he'd awaken on time for classes.

Luckily, Athena was more than capable of fulfilling Egg's role as an alarm clock.

"...report to the Hall of Combat with any equipment that you require. If you do not have the appropriate equipment it will be provided for you on site."

Athena definitely said something before that, but in the time it took for Toma to wake up and fully remember where he was, he only managed to catch the last part of her announcement...

Well, at least he heard the important part! Assuming the announcement was about their first class, Toma hopped out of his bed, stretching his arms and legs. More than a few crumbs from his late-night snacking cascaded to the floor as he did so.

"Morning Finn - I'm not taking a shower, but I'm going to clean up the bathroom real fast if you need to."

Toma was used to taking showers maybe once a week, and while he wanted to bathe at least once a day to fit in with his wealthy classmates, Toma didn't really feel comfortable taking one and risking being late for class.

Besides, he took a shower last night - surely that'd be good enough until lunch. What mattered more was getting his uniform ready.

But when Toma walked into the bathroom, ready to clean his uniform of leftover donkey feces as quickly as possible, he found... nothing. Well, nothing out of place - the room looked just like it did the first time Toma saw it, with no sign of his sullied uniform in sight, the floor cleaner than the bowls that Toma had in his pack.

Toma had only ever heard of magic from the stories that Tarkus told him - and while the old Paladin seemed so fond of the fireballs and rays of light that spellcasters used so often, Toma was starting to grow infatuated with this 'convenience magic' or whatever it was that the academy used to amaze him. Maybe he could take a magic class and learn some of these tricks? A cleaning spell would have given him so much more time to play when he was younger.

Walking out of the bathroom, Toma checked the drawer - and as he expected, Toma found a perfectly clean uniform. He couldn't tell if it was a new uniform, or it was cleaned so thoroughly it just appeared new. Either way, it fits him perfectly, and Toma began packing one of his smaller bags with any equipment he felt he needed for class. A few filled waterskins, some snacks, a candle or two, a flint...

What did you need for class? Toma had never been in formal education, so he really didn't know what to bring. His hand hovered over one of his few vials of holy water, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Tarkus only left him a few of those, and he wasn't eager to accidentally drop and break them.

Pulling his bag over the same shoulder as his baldric, Toma made his way to the door. Suddenly, he remembered his roommate - reaching into his pack, he pulled out one of his bread rolls and tossed it at the foot of Finn's bed.

"In case you get hungry and don't have time to get breakfast - I'm going to stop by the stables and visit Oats, but I'll say hi to you in class."



Oats seemed to have been quite annoyed to be awoken so early in the morning - and when he realized that his master didn't come with treats this time, he ignored the young man's attention and went back to sleep. Toma was just glad that the stables at the academy seemed to be as well cared for as the rest of its facilities. Making sure his donkey didn't wake up and being extra careful to avoid another manure pile, Toma made his way for the Hall of Combat - he wasn't used to the layout of the school yet, but luckily the map-scroll from yesterday was still working.

Despite his detour to the stables, Toma was still among the early arrivals. It was to be expected - he left the feast earlier than he would have liked, but from what he saw, more than a few students were drinking pretty heavily. Toma silently thanked his past self - he could handle his alcohol better than most his age, but he was no dwarf. Maybe if most of the students were hungover, the teacher would go easy on them and Toma could catch up to the others...

Eventually, everyone arrived, and Toma quickly realized that he was one of the few that brought a bag. Hopefully he wouldn't get in trouble...

Several of the senior staff were present. The man, Vermont Baleth, had a name that Toma recognized somewhat. He had no clue where he recognized it - he had never met the man before, and he hadn't spoken during the feast. Toma was a little too distracted to remember. Next to Baleth was the Drow, putting Toma a little on edge. While she was attractive quite attractive, Toma had heard many stories about how the Drow treated other races, especially the men - although, according to his father, 'Drow men had it the worst.' The masked man... Well, Toma didn't feel as creeped out by him.

"...The third rule, is that anyone who fails this class will be removed from the school for at least a year. So don't fail. And the fourth rule....is that you'd better keep up."

It took nearly a second for the young Paladin to realize what was happening. Almost instantly, he dropped his bag and quickly grabbed a waterskin from it, before immediately running after his instructor. While the threat of expulsion was intimidating, Toma was actually a little relieved - if it was a writing assessment, Toma would have been in serious trouble. He wasn't the fastest. Hell, he wasn't even the fastest back in his village. But when it came to Stamina, Toma felt confident that he wouldn't be the last person in the class...

Toma was right. After a few minutes of running, he was near the middle of the herd of students, but he could already see a few students near him beginning to slow down. It helped that among all the students, it seemed Toma was one of the few that had water. Hell, many of the students probably didn't eat yet, and Toma felt he had energy to spare. Even with those advantages, the Instructor was still leading the pack, dressed in full plate and running in the sand. Toma was really starting to wonder if the man was as old as he looked...

Suddenly, a pained gasp from near the back of the group. Toma turned his head, just as he heard someone ahead swear loudly. A human student was lying on the ground, clutching their side. Next to them was a large mace, and they had seemed to have modified their uniform somewhat - it seemed he wasn't a runner, and his larger weapon had slowed him down. Toma would have thought the taller student would be faster, but maybe he wasn't taking the class as seriously. Or he was teasing one of the students in the back...

It almost seemed like everyone slowed down except Baleth had slowed down, if only to gawk at the audacity of the masked instructor. As he began to reach for another arrow from his quiver, everyone began to speed back up again, redoubling their efforts to keep ahead of one another.

Toma frowned. Looks like this wasn't going to be easy as he thought - endurance wouldn't help if he ended up near the back and was being pelted by arrows. Even if they weren't tipped, they could easily make a student slow down and get left behind. At his current pace though, Toma wouldn't have to worry - he didn't need to be at the head of the group, just ahead of the slower students.

Toma turned around, quickly racing to the student that got knocked down. Toma grabbed his arm and yanked the other man to his feet as he spoke.

"C'mon, hurry - grab your mace after class, you don't need the weight."

As soon as the injured student got to his feet, he pushed off of Toma, knocking the paladin on his ass.

"Thanks for the help, dumbass! See you in a year!"

Toma looked to his side - luckily, the student had taken his advice and left the mace behind. Toma could already see the student catching up to the others, running much faster than before. Toma began to get to his feet, but the masked instructor loosed another arrow. It struck Toma in the side, knocking the breath out of his lungs and causing him to fall again.

Toma learned his lesson and got up faster, ignoring the burning in his chest. He broke into a faster run, eager to catch up to the class that had gained a respectable distance on him. After maybe a dozen seconds, another arrow was nocked. Toma suddenly remembered a story Tarkus told quite often - he had once known a Paladin from his order that would slice an arrow out of the air if asked. Toma unsheathed his sword as he saw the arrow was about to release.

Light, Justice, Vigilance... Light, Justice, Vigil-

Toma swung the sword, and it cleaved through the air with ease. A half-second later, the arrow hit Toma in the legs, knocking the man to the ground again and making him drop his sword. Of course it didn't work - even if it was a pretty lucky first try, Toma was far too unskilled with a sword to do something so advanced. And even if he could pull it off the speed Toma lost wasn't worth it if it just resulted in him falling. Getting to his feet was harder this time - even if they were blunted, an arrow from a good bowman could move very fast. And this instructor was a very good bowman.

Toma grabbed his blade and kept running, sheathing it as he did so. He was closing the distance pretty quickly, but even after such a short run, he was breathing heavily. If he was less tough, he'd probably have worse than a few bruises. Toma would have to make sure he didn't get knocked down again - a few more good hits and he'd slow down too much to catch back up. Looking ahead, it seemed the student that fell earlier was near the middle of the group - he and Toma seemed to have traded positions.

When Toma saw the instructor ready another arrow, he internally groaned.

'Why the hell did I do that...'
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