Arianna watched as the trainees sparred, their movements careful, hesitant. They were still too cautious with one another—no real injuries, no need for healing. Not like when she had sparred with Cassis. She smirked at the memory of his stunned expression when she had finally revealed her new battle style.
She had spent a long time thinking about how to maximize her strength with her new class. Then, it had all clicked into place—every skill she had gained was designed for her to take blows, to absorb the force of her enemies' attacks and turn it into her own advantage. Her Body Reinforcement, which she had deliberately held back during their spar, would make it harder to injure her, but the force of the attacks would still be there. Force Absorption allowed her to not only heal instantly but also store the energy for later use—fuelling her Water Shield, powering her Warcry, or keeping her Body Reinforcement going.
And if her Water Shield counted as part of her body, then that would make things even better. Force Absorption might work on it, too. Another thing to test.
She shuddered slightly, remembering the pain of that stomach wound. Of course she hated pain—she feared it like anyone else. But last night, after Cassis had fallen asleep, she had forced herself to take a hard look at her own weaknesses. She had spoken with such certainty in front of Camden, Liam, and Cassis, confident she could stop him if he ever lost control again. But the truth was, he was strong. Far stronger than she was now. If she wanted to keep that promise, she had to become stronger, too. And that meant unconventional methods.
The answer was her new fighting style.
Now, all she had left to do was incorporate her Water Magic into it. If she could do that, she might actually stand a chance at stopping Cassis—if only for a little while.
"Ow!"
Arianna’s head snapped up, eyes locking onto the injured trainee. Finally.
A small grin tugged at her lips. Time to show off a little. Without moving from where she stood, she reached out with her magic – her reach having increased drastically with her Mana Manipulation –, casting a healing spell from across the training ground. The energy cost was quite a bit higher at this distance, but it was negligible compared to the steady influx of mana thanks to running her advanced mana patter throughout her torso and arms. Though the spell took out a chunk of her mana reserves they were soon filled again.
The wound vanished in seconds.
The trainees noticed immediately. As soon as they realized how effortlessly Arianna had healed their injured comrade, a shift occurred. Their movements became sharper, their strikes more aggressive. They no longer held back, no longer hesitated. Injuries started accumulating—small cuts, bruises, the occasional sprain—but Arianna simply grinned and healed them all with ease.
Cassis finally called a halt, instructing everyone to check their skill progression.
Arianna took the opportunity to glance at hers as well.
- Dodge had risen to Beginner.
- Parry and Deflect had finally reached Intermediate.
- Force Absorption had gained the Beginner rank.
- And Heal—her most-used spell—had advanced to Expert.
She grinned. That was really good progress. If she kept training like this, she would grow stronger at an incredible pace.
Excited murmurs spread through the trainees as they examined their own gains. Arianna could see the realization dawning on them—the reason Cassis had pushed them so hard to spar. They already had the skills; they just needed the system to recognize them.
It was different for her. Unlike them, she had no formal combat background—she wasn’t a soldier. For her, learning these techniques was an entirely new process. But the system assisted her in ways she didn’t fully understand yet. Without it, she doubted she would have been able to adapt so quickly.
Cassis clapped his hands once, calling for order.
“It’s almost noon,” he announced. “We’ll take a break for lunch. After that, we begin mana training.”
A ripple of relief passed through the trainees. They were more than happy to pause and invited Cassis and Arianna to join them at the cafeteria.
Arianna nodded enthusiastically—she was always happy to make new friends.
Cassis hesitated for a moment, uncertainty flickering across his face. Then, with a small sigh, he followed along.
Lunch with their trainees and Faith Morgan – Brice had declined coming along – was pleasant, though still somewhat formal. They conversed, asked a few more questions, but there was a clear sense of structure—a lingering stiffness from their military discipline.
Only Faith, as she insisted to be called by her first name, brought a bit of life to the conversation with Arianna. While talking with her Arianna found out that Faith wasn’t military. She had been assigned by the government to help Brice with more clerical and organisational duties.
At one point, Arianna inquired about the variety of ranks among their trainees as they all also had different ages. It turned out that the soldiers present today had shown exceptional aptitude during the first wave. They were among the highest-levelled soldiers that the military could spare—all nearing Level 10.
That bit of information thrilled Arianna. She was genuinely glad they were training these particular soldiers now. It meant they had a solid foundation to work with.
Excited, she told them about advanced classes that would become available upon reaching Level 10.
That immediately grabbed their attention.
But when they pressed for more details, all she could say was that the classes had hidden requirements, and that the system took into account everything they had done since its arrival.
One of the soldiers grumbled at the lack of specifics, but most of them seemed grateful for the insight.
Then came the next question.
"Do you and Mr Walker already have advanced classes?"
Arianna exchanged a brief glance with Cassis before nodding.
“We do,” she admitted, keeping her tone neutral. “I have Warpriest, and Cassis has Warlord.” Those were not their whole class names but similar enough not to raise any suspicions.
That, of course, led to even more questions. What were the requirements? What did those classes entail?
Arianna smiled and lied through her teeth.
She listed around four vague and completely made-up prerequisites, carefully choosing things that the soldiers wouldn’t be able to fulfil just yet. She hated lying, but keeping their full capabilities under wraps was necessary. For now, secrecy was strength.
As she spoke, she caught Cassis watching her with the faintest hint of amusement. He gave a subtle nod of approva, glad she handled it this way.
After lunch, the trainees were given an hour of free time. Most chose to shower and rest—Arianna and Cassis included. Faith seemed to want to talk more but Arianna wanted to make the most of their training time. She promised her to hang out in the evening.
Once refreshed, they gathered again in the training hall—this time, for mana training. Cassis wished her luck but told her in no uncertain terms that he was not good enough to teach anyone about mana. According to him he would only be a hindrance to her. With these words he sat down in a corner and started meditating on his mana pattern.
Arianna was a bit miffed about it but also felt the truth in his words. He wasn’t great at mana but she was annoyed he put himself down like that. From what she had seen he struggled with the mana exercises the same way she struggled with the physical training.
But it was good he wasn’t giving up. She’d also continue training her skills and stamina.
Shrugging she began the mana training session by explaining the basics to her trainees—the nature of mana, elemental affinities, and how different elements interacted.
It was the same lesson she had given before to Cassis’ family and their friends.
Once the trainees had a general understanding, she instructed them all to sit down, close their eyes, and meditate.
"Focus on your energy flow," she told them. "Try to sense it. Try to see the colour of your mana."
Meanwhile, the two mages who had already discovered their affinities were given a more advanced exercise.
Arianna guided them through the process of meditating to absorb ambient mana, something that would make their future spellcasting more efficient.
Then, she made her rounds—helping each trainee individually.
As expected, the mages and clerics had the easiest time. It took only a short while before all of them could see their mana. Sure, she had to encourage them and spend a little time helping them see their mana but they were good students who soon got the hang of it. For some reason though, they all started massaging their temples when she was finished with them.
Stolen story; please report.
Compared to the magic classes the warriors and rangers struggled.
Arianna frowned slightly. The system really did support different classes in different ways. In the morning, the warriors and rangers had gained the most skill progress during their sparring matches. Now, in the afternoon, it was the mages and clerics who advanced faster.
She was curious if her new class now helped her with her skill progression, too. And what about Cassis’ class? Did it support his mana training. So many things to test.
But for now, she concentrated on the more physical classes. She sat with each of them, using her mana to guide them. Too often her encouraging words of “Now do it like this”, “Hold on for a bit”, “Just a few more seconds”, and “Good job. Let’s do that again” were met with groans.
She just didn’t understand why mana training was so hard for some people. Cassis somehow got it into his head that she was a genius but that couldn’t be true. Her necklace had helped her, and she may have a bit of a talent for mana manipulation, but others could achieve the same things. They just had to get a bit more flexible with their thinking. She should try this with Helen again. She seemed like a flexible enough person.
Still, by the end of the training session, everyone had managed to perceive their mana—even if some had only barely caught a glimpse of it.
Satisfied, Arianna dismissed them with a promise and a smile.
"Tomorrow, we'll work on drawing in ambient mana. That will help you meditate more efficiently. Of course, I’ll help you just like today."
In response, the trainees groaned, some of them holding their heads in exhaustion.
Arianna sighed. "Seriously, what's wrong with people? It's just meditation."
That was when she caught whispers among the soldiers. One word stood out.
"Demon."
She paused but chose not to ask. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. When she glanced at Cassis who had come out of his corner at her announcement, he was smirking.
"What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
His smirk widened slightly. "Your training wasn't that bad, huh?"
Arianna huffed. "Yours was worse, and you know it." After all, people actually got hurt during his training. During hers they just had to think hard.
Cassis just chuckled.
Arianna wanted to say more but was interrupted by a system message.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the profession: Mentor]
[Do you wish to accept it?]
Arianna was quite surprised. She didn’t know exactly what a Mentor was as a profession but could guess since her actions had unlocked it. From what she remembered professions weren’t as rigid as classes and you could have and level as many as you had unlocked. You would even get one level in your class for every five levels of your profession. So, there was no reason not to accept it.
She mentally clicked accept. Before she did anything more, she told Cassis over their private party chat that they hadn’t used for a while now. “I’ve just unlocked the Mentor profession.”
The answer came fast. “Interesting. Earlier I got a system message about unlocking the Instructor profession.”
Their actions were different while teaching so it made sense they got different professions out of it. Cassis was doing more physical teaching while Arianna concentrated on the mental aspects and mana.
Cassis continued. “Let’s talk about it once we’re in my room.”
Arianna agreed.
With that settled, they headed to dinner with the soldiers. Faith, who had been busy all afternoon assisting Brice, finally joined them at the table. To Arianna’s mild surprise, Brice himself was also present, though he, like most of the soldiers, seemed exhausted from the day's work. Cassis, as usual, remained quiet, eating in his usual efficient manner.
Arianna, however, saw an opportunity. If she could get closer to Faith, she might be able to learn whether Brice had found the slave collar yet. With that in mind, she turned to Faith with a bright smile.
“How was your day? You looked busy earlier.”
Faith sighed but smiled. “Exhausting. Commander Brice had me reviewing reports and recalculating supply costs. At least numbers don’t argue back.”
Arianna tilted her head, intrigued. “Did you study accounting?”
Faith nodded. “For a few semesters, yeah. Then I switched to economics.”
“That’s really cool,” Arianna said. “I’m actually an accountant. It’s way more interesting than people think, isn’t it?”
Faith chuckled. “It definitely is. But I don’t want to bore you with the details of my work. Well, I’m actually not allowed to talk about it. Still, no matter how great accounting is, you can do real magic now. That’s even cooler.”
Arianna smirked. “Well, you’re right. I never thought I’d be able to heal injuries so easily.”
They continued their conversation, shifting between mana theory, economics, and everyday things. Brice remained quiet, eating with the efficiency of a man too tired for small talk, while the other soldiers occasionally chimed in but mostly focused on their food.
After dinner, Faith turned to Arianna with an eager look. “Hey, want to watch something? There’s a series I think you’d really like.”
“What kind of series?”
“Romance.”
Cassis, who had been listening silently, immediately stood. “I’m out.”
Faith laughed. “Figured. Anyone else?”
Brice and the other soldiers shook their heads, uninterested, leaving just Arianna and Faith.
“Sure,” Arianna said. “Let’s do it.”
They found a comfortable spot in one of the fort’s common areas, Faith setting up the show on a tablet she had brought. As the episodes played, Arianna found herself genuinely enjoying it. The romance wasn’t over-the-top, and the characters were surprisingly well-written. Occasionally, they paused to discuss a scene or make jokes about the leads’ decisions.
After watching two episodes, Faith stretched. “Told you it was good.”
Arianna grinned. “You were right. Thanks for showing me.”
“Anytime. We should watch more tomorrow.”
“Definitely.”
With that, they said their goodnights and parted ways.
Arianna made her way to Cassis’ room and knocked before pushing the door open—only to freeze in place. Cassis was in the middle of changing, his shirt halfway over his head.
They both stopped, eyes locking in mutual surprise. Then, with the same calm efficiency as always, Cassis pulled on a sweatshirt and raised an eyebrow.
“Did you have fun?” he asked, as if nothing had happened.
Arianna cleared her throat, stepping fully inside and shutting the door behind her. “Yeah, actually. I like Faith. We get along really well.”
Cassis nodded. “Good.” Then he added, “But we still have work to do.”
Arianna settled onto Cassis’ bed, crossing her legs as she activated the privacy sphere. A faint hum filled the air as the magic took hold, ensuring their conversation remained unheard by anyone outside the room. Cassis, who had been leaning against his desk, arms crossed, raised an eyebrow at her.
“So,” she began, twirling the privacy sphere between her fingers. “We’re teachers now.”
Cassis groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah. I just quit my job as a history teacher yesterday and today I get a profession.” He exhaled sharply. “Instructor. Great.”
Arianna smirked. “It’s still funny to me that you were a teacher to begin with, but I think it suits you surprisingly well. And the system agrees with me.”
He shot her a dry look. “What about you, Miss Mentor? Going to start giving your demonic lectures to even more people?”
She shrugged her shoulders exasperatedly. “They’re not demonic. I have no idea why people keep saying that. But if it helps them survive, maybe.” Sobering slightly, she tilted her head. “But seriously, these professions are actually pretty powerful. I looked over the details again, and the boosts we get? They’re just … wow. It’s a pity most abilities are locked.”
Having said that Arianna read her profession details to Cassis.
The Mentor profession focuses on guiding others through mental and magical growth. Mentors help students refine mana perception and spellcasting, ensuring they grasp deeper concepts beyond just raw power.
Profession Boosts:
- Learning Speed Boost: The Mentor’s teaching of spells and mana is more effective and students learn faster. (Restriction: The student’s spell/feature rank is two or more ranks lower than the Mentor’s and the spell/feature can only be taught up to advanced)
- Locked: Mana Guiding: The Mentor can freely change their mana into its non-elemental form and with it guide students by infusing them with the Mentor’s non-elemental mana.
- Locked: Spell Analysis I: Allows the Mentor to accurately analyse the Mentor’s own spells and to teach those to the students.
- Locked: Spell Analysis II: Allows the Mentor to accurately analyse a spell which is being constructed by someone else, consequently helping the students learn from their mistakes.
- Locked: Spellbook: The Mentor may now have access to the mental spellbook of analysed spells and use it for further study and teaching.
“So you – and me actually – get a learning speed boost first, which makes perfect sense,” he said when she finished. “Our professions gain experience and level up by successfully teaching students, so the system makes sure we can do that efficiently.”
Arianna sighed, crossing her arms. “I’m kind of disappointed by the second ability, though.”
Cassis raised an eyebrow. “I can guess, but why exactly?”
“Because it’s something I already figured out on my own,” she grumbled. “I know new abilities unlock only every twenty levels…”
Cassis leaned back in his chair, considering. “Maybe that just means it’ll be even easier for you then. Right now, you’re limited in how much non-elemental mana you can use to guide students and how long you can guide them. If the system is reinforcing that ability, you might get better control or efficiency out of it.”
Arianna tilted her head, thinking it over. “I guess that makes sense. It’s not much of a power-up on its own, but the abilities that come after are worth levelling up for. And the extra class level every five profession levels is a great boost.”
“Exactly,” Cassis agreed. “Now, my turn.”
Then he read the description of his new profession to her:
The Instructor profession is for those who train others in physical skills and combat techniques. Instructors refine their students’ stamina, reflexes, and martial abilities, ensuring their bodies adapt efficiently to new techniques.
Profession Boosts:
- Learning Speed Boost: The Instructor’s teaching of skills and features is more effective and students learn faster. (Restriction: The student’s skill/feature rank is two or more ranks lower than the Instructor’s and the skill/feature can only be taught up to advanced)
- Locked: Weapon Mastery: The Instructor is not bound to the weapon(s) specified for the Instructor’s class and may learn and teach all skills pertaining to all weapons.
- Locked: Skill Analysis I: Allows the Instructor to accurately analyse the Instructor’s own skills and to teach those to the students.
- Locked: Skill Analysis II: Allows the Instructor to accurately analyse a skill which is being used by someone else, consequently helping the students learn from their mistakes.
- Locked: Skill Transference: The Instructor may transfer one of the Instructor’s Master rank skills to up to five students at two ranks below the Instructor’s skill rank for a limited amount of time.
“Wow, those are some awesome abilities. I’m happy for you.” Arianna looked at Cassis and smiled.
Cassis nodded: “I’m really looking forward to the next ability. That will be a game changer as some monsters are weaker to blunt force damage than to slashing or stabbing damage. This will round out my fighting abilities a lot and I can finally get system recognized skills for my abilities with other weapons.”
After a moment, they shifted the discussion to the restrictions of their professions—rules they now instinctively understood. As Arianna listened, she frowned in surprise while Cassis didn’t have much of a reaction.
"Wait… these are pretty much identical," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Except yours says 'skills' and mine says 'spells.'"
"Of course they are," Cassis mumbled. "Figures the system would make us follow the same rules."
They reviewed the restrictions together:
- They could only teach a sapiens of equal or lower level than themselves.
- They could only teach a sentient of equal or lower rank than themselves.
- They could only teach skills/spells and features that had reached expert rank.
- They could only analyse skills/spells of expert rank or lower. (At level 100, they would be able to analyse master-rank skills and spells, but never legendary or myth-rank.)
- They could only teach skills/spells and features up to advanced rank, and only if they were two ranks above their student's rank.
Cassis crossed his arms, leaning back against his chair. "These restrictions are annoying, but at least they make sense. If we could just teach anyone anything, it would be too easy."
"Yeah," Arianna agreed. "It’s going to take work, but that’s fine. More interesting for me is that we seem to be able to teach sentients. I know in the other timeline some mutated animals became intelligent and there were even beast tamer like classes. Can we teach those animals, too?
Cassis thought about it. “It seems like that. Now that would be interesting.” He grinned, possibly thinking about it. Arianna also had a picture in her head: her trying to teach a giant dog or cat how to control their mana. She had to grin, too. That would be an experience. It would be even funnier if the animal was better at it than some humans.