Chapter 173: New Names on the Board

By breakfast, almost everyone was talking about the new rotation teams.

The lists had gone up that morning, and the central plaza was already packed when Arthur got there. Students crowded around every board, calling names back to friends who couldn’t see over them.

Arthur stayed near the edge until Emily pushed her way back out of the crowd and came over.

"That bad?" Arthur asked.

"For you? Yeah."

Arthur pushed into the crowd and started looking for his name.

His rotation was on one of the center sheets:

Arthur Vance — Ranged / Scout

Alicia — Melee

Felix — Vanguard

Cedric — Mage

Nessa Hale — Support / Field Medicine

Arthur knew three of the four names well enough. Nessa was the only complete stranger, which was probably better than getting an entirely unfamiliar team.

Alicia found Leon a few boards over.

"Where are you?" Alicia asked.

Leon pointed toward another sheet.

Alicia read the names, then pulled a spare leather strap from her pocket and shoved it into his hand.

"You forgot this again."

Leon looked at the strap. "I was looking for that."

"Of course you were."

They split off toward their own groups.

Arthur checked the next board and found Emily’s assignment. She was lumped in with Leon, Elara, and two mages he didn’t recognize.

Emily read through her own team again and looked over at Leon as he walked past. "Great. Two frontliners who both hate backing up."

Leon glanced at the sheet. "You’ll manage."

Elara looked from Emily to Leon and rubbed at her forehead.

Arthur scanned the medical-support rosters for Chloe. Her name wasn’t on the early deployments; she was scheduled for a later rotation at the end of the week.

A dark-haired girl Arthur didn’t recognize was standing with Felix and Cedric when he reached the training courtyard. Her academy jacket had been shortened at the sleeves, and most of her belt was hidden under pouches, bandages, and a few small glass bottles.

She looked at the enormous slab of metal strapped to Felix’s back.

"You’re Felix, right?"

Felix glanced over his shoulder. "Probably."

She snorted and looked toward Arthur. "Nessa Hale."

"Arthur."

"Yeah, I know who you are."

Nessa unfolded a route sheet across one of the stone benches.

Old Bracken Mine wasn’t anything special. The academy had been sending students through its upper tunnels for years. Their route had three marked mineral deposits they were supposed to collect from before coming back out. The notes warned about tunnel crawlers, stonebacks, and the occasional cave hound nest.

Felix looked over the page. "So basically walk in, grab rocks, kill whatever gets annoying."

Alicia tapped one of the narrower passages on the map. "Assuming your shield fits through there."

Arthur leaned over the map with the others. A few of the marked tunnels were narrow enough that Felix’s shield would nearly fill them, and several bends gave Arthur almost no distance to work with.

They moved to one of the marked training lanes to figure out the spacing.

Felix planted his boots, holding his heavy shield forward. Alicia tried to step around him to strike a practice dummy.

Her shoulder clipped his arm.

"Move left," Alicia told him.

"There is no left," Felix said. "I’m the wall."

They nearly ran into each other twice more before Alicia found a better spot just off Felix’s shoulder. From there she could step past the shield to strike without having to squeeze around him first.

Cedric pulled a defensive construct together while the others argued about positioning.

Nessa was checking the supplies on her belt when she asked, "How long can you hold that?"

Cedric looked toward her to answer.

The edge of the construct flickered.

He caught it before it collapsed completely.

Nessa glanced at the flickering edge. "You lose it when someone talks to you?"

Cedric grimaced. "Not as badly as I used to."

"Keep Cedric in the middle," Arthur said. "Fewer things pulling his attention everywhere."

Nessa stepped in behind Cedric and tried moving with them through the lane. Felix stopped suddenly near the dummy, forcing everyone behind him to bunch up.

Nessa nearly walked straight into Cedric.

"Okay. Give me more room than that tomorrow."

Felix glanced back. "Noted."

They reset and tried again.

Felix turned around and looked at Arthur. "What exactly are you going to do if something gets past Alicia?"

Arthur looked down the narrow practice lane.

Felix had a point.

There wasn’t much room in Bracken to keep backing away and shooting. If something got through Alicia and Felix, Arthur would probably have it in his face before he could find another angle.

He’d need the Necrotic Dagger close at hand. Shadow Step would help, and Mirage Shot might buy him room, but he was going to have to get used to fighting much closer than he preferred.

Emily passed the training courtyard with her own team near the end of the afternoon. She didn’t stop long, just leaned over the low stone wall, grabbed the front of Arthur’s shirt, and gave him a quick kiss.

"Don’t die in the dirt tomorrow," she told him, then kept walking.

Arthur spent the evening going through his inventory in his room.

He laid Whisperwind on the bed, followed by the Necrotic Dagger. He pulled out standard health potions, a heavy coil of rope, and a few light crystals.

Arthur checked the light crystals one by one before putting them back. The mine had academy markers inside, but he wasn’t interested in finding out how reliable those were halfway underground.

He kept the explosive arrows and the rest of his long-range gear deeper in his inventory. Bracken’s tunnels probably wouldn’t give him much reason to pull any of it out.

His phone buzzed while he was putting the rest of the gear away.

Nessa had made a temporary group chat.

Nessa:Gate Three. Seven tomorrow morning. Bring your own food and water.

Cedric:Got it.

Alicia:I’ll be there.

A message from Felix appeared underneath asking whether anyone knew if Bracken smelled as bad as people claimed.

Nobody answered him.

Arthur put the dagger back into his inventory and left Whisperwind beside the bed.

He dropped his phone onto the nightstand and went to sleep.