The day moved by the way most days do when you’re waiting for something to happen.

Combat theory in the morning, mana channel mechanics after lunch, a practical session in the afternoon where I displayed my power without hiding or worrying. I wasn’t going to play the edge-lord that hides in the background, there was no reason for me to.

I didn’t have many enemies, and I had an S-Rank sister. Hiding my D-Rank power was like hiding a water bottle in a super market.

The System stayed quiet through all of it. No choices or rewards had been given to me today. I was starting to take it personally by the time the final lesson of the day rolled around.

What made it worse was the fact that I was actively searching for a choice to pop up. But it never did, even if I flirted with Kira, or tried to pick up a fight with other students in my class.

Eventually, I gave up, focusing on learning how to use my class better.

Instructor Soren stood at the front in the same black uniform he’d worn the day before, the same flat expression on his face, the same disinterest in whatever drama happened to be playing out among his students.

He waited for the room to settle in their chairs before dropping a bomb..

"In one week, you’ll have your first expedition. You’re awakeners. You have powers that can topple down houses, kill creatures most of the civilian population will never be able to scratch in their lives. You can’t sit in a classroom and read about it forever. The academy has decided that the appropriate moment to put theory into practice is Monday morning."

The silence held for a beat. Then a hand shot up from the front row.

"Sir, what rank is the gate that we’re entering?"

"The majority of students in this class are E-Rankers. So, you’ll enter an E-rank gate. All of you."

A second hand. "Sir, what about the F-ranks in this class? Won’t they die."

The other E-Rankers chuckled, and the boy who raised the questions snickered, clearly having achieved his goal of putting down the weaklings in the class, and being the class clown.

"They go in with you."

A murmur ran through the room. I saw the two F-ranks in the back row stiffen at the same time, the bruised boy from yesterday going pale enough that the bruise stood out sharper. Soren caught the reaction without seeming to look at them.

"You also need to learn how to operate against creatures stronger than you, because there are no beasts weaker than you." he said, eyes still pointed at the front of the room.

"That’s not optional. It’s a survival skill that doesn’t develop in a textbook. However, you will not be permitted to enter without a team carrying you. Each of you will be assigned a group, and that group will be responsible for keeping you alive."

The bruised boy exhaled. Beside him, the F-rank girl with glasses sagged in her seat, her hand pressed flat against her chest.

I glanced at Kira, looking for a reaction. Surprisingly, she didn’t appear to be worried.

’She really is different from the rest of them. Even though she is one of the weakest in the class, she is still calm in the face of such danger.’

A group of three F-ranks alone in an E-rank gate was a death sentence. The academy forcing the E-Rankers to take them on meant they had a chance.

Another hand went up from the second row. "Sir, can we bring our own weapons? Potions, gear, that kind of thing?"

"Yes." Soren glanced at his notes on the lectern. "Treat it as a standard expedition. Bring whatever you believe will keep you alive. The academy will provide rations, and communication crystals. Anything else is your responsibility."

I raised my hand.

Soren’s eyes flicked to me. He looked, for the first time all lesson, faintly interested.

"What about the other classes? The other ranks?"

"E-rank classes go to E-rank gates," Soren said. "D-rank classes to D-rank gates. C-rank to C-rank. The pattern holds at the lower end because the difficulty curve is manageable, and the academy considers a same-rank expedition to be the cleanest measure of student readiness."

He paused.

"It breaks at B and A. The gates above C-rank are exponentially more dangerous than the ones below them. A full classroom of B-ranks in a B-rank gate would lose half its students on the first day, and the academy doesn’t want to lose so many star students. That would be a loss to humanity, not just this academy.

So B and A rank students are sent into C-rank gates in groups of two. No larger. They operate. They’re expected to handle the gate at their own pace."

I lowered my hand and sat back in my chair.

A C-rank gate, solo or in pairs, for B and A ranks.

Cecilia was an S-ranker.

"What about S-Rankers?"

"Like your sister?" Soren didn’t pretend not to know who I was asking about. "She’ll be entering a C-rank gate with an A-rank instructor escorting her, though she’ll be operating alone under exam conditions. The instructor is there in case something goes wrong with the gate itself. We don’t take chances at that level."

I nodded.

A C-rank gate, alone, with an A-rank instructor watching from a safe distance in case the gate did something unusual. That was the standard treatment for an S-rank. The academy wasn’t risking one of the most valuable assets in the school year on a gate malfunction.

The E-rank boy two seats down from me let out a quiet, amused breath. He shook his head, leaned back in his chair, and spoke loud enough for the row to hear.

"The S-ranker gets a bodyguard. The rest of us fend for ourselves." His mouth twisted into something between a smile and a sneer. "Talk about privilege for the strong."

Soren stopped writing on the board.

He turned around. He looked at the boy the way a man looks at a stain on his shirt, without expression, without much interest, just a quiet recognition that something inconvenient had presented itself.

"When you offer society," Soren said, "a hundredth of what Cecilia Frost will offer in the next month, you can have all the bodyguards you want. The academy will assign them to you. I will personally be one of them."

The boy’s mouth closed.

He looked at the desk in front of him and stayed there.

I laughed out loud, shaking my head. "What an idiot."

The boy’s head snapped in my direction. His eyes locked onto mine, and for a second the bravado tried to come back, the muscles in his jaw working as he opened his mouth.

"You—"

Then he looked at me properly. Remembering the two fights that had taken place yesterday, he decided to close his mouth. He turned his head back to the front of the room. He picked up his pen. He pretended very hard that the last thirty seconds hadn’t happened.

I rested my chin on my fist and grinned at the side of his face.

Soren went back to writing on the board.