With Elena's rebuke still ringing in his ears, Alarion dutifully devoured the remainder of his brunch while the adults stepped aside to converse.

Sadly, he'd already consumed most of the meal, which meant it was not long before he was left with nothing to do but sit awkwardly across the table from Sierra.

To her credit, Sierra made it easier than most. Alarion was rather mute by nature, not one to strike up a conversation. Whether she shared this quirk of personality or was doing her level best to ignore him, Sierra lasted ten minutes before breaking the silence.

"Stop looking at me."

"I wa-" Alarion began, before his mind caught up to his mouth and cut the dishonesty short. "I didn't mean to."

"If you did not mean to, then do not."

"I wasn't even really looking at you. I was thinking and lost my focus," he retorted. "I wanted to apologize without upsetting you further. But I don't know how."

Sierra's stone expression tightened as she turned his way. Rebuke was on the tip of her tongue, but something in his expression softened her mood. "There is no value in retreading that ground. The Assessor has made her point. I was foolish to have been so angry in the first place."

"You still seem angry," Alarion observed.

"Because you won't stop-" Sierra uttered a loud huff through her nostrils before turning fully in her chair to face him. She offered a lithe, leather-clad left arm, her palm slightly curved toward her. "My name is Sierra Feln."

Alarion gave her an odd look. "We've done this already."

"We have. But we are doing it again. This is a Vitrian custom, Tuluus. A formal reintroduction to end a feud with both sides saving face." Her eyes flicked to her arm, and after a brief pause, Alarion took the hint, moving his own to join her. "Like that, bend your fingers in slightly. Now push the back of your wrist into mine."

He obeyed with slight reluctance and was surprised to find her slender arm easily withstood the pressure as he pushed the back of his wrist against hers. Her arm was firm. Unyielding. In a heartbeat, Alarion's mind drifted to ZEKE effortlessly catching his blade.

"Sierra Feln." The girl repeated.

"Alarion." He replied with an extra push of his arm that did not make her so much as budge.

Sierra was strong.

Or he was just that weak.

"It warms my heart to see such an attempt at peace."

Sierra nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of ZEKE's voice. Her cheeks reddened as she withdrew her arm and stood to greet Elena and ZEKE, but not before sending a profoundly nasty glare Alarion's way for not warning her of the pair's return. "Madam."

"We need to get started," Elena replied without preamble, her voice entirely lacking the Steelborn's teasing tone and word choice. "Ezekiel, if you would be so kind."

As ZEKE began the chanting necessary for the [Display Status] spell, Alarion moved up alongside Elena. Regardless of his social skills, or lack thereof, he could recognize something was wrong. "What happened?"

Elena pursed her lips, looking down at her charge, then back to ZEKE before sighing. "Politics."

Alarion's gaze remained firmly fixed upon her.

"We did not expect anyone outside the House to learn of your existence as quickly as they have." Elena conceded, realizing they'd get nowhere until she gave some measure of an intelligible answer. "We were mistaken. As a result, there are… conflicting opinions on how we should best proceed."

He considered the words. "Are you going to send me away?"

That his worried mind went there, rather than to the much more present risk of life or limb, was enough to make her frown.

"No, Alarion," Elena answered. Then she winced as she realized she would need to correct herself. "Not anytime soon. Eventually, you will be inducted, as are all Awakened citizens of the Empire. Since you are not Vitrian by birth and lack marketable skills, your induction will be to the Auxillia, which means mandatory military service."

"For how long?"

"The term is three years, after which you should be free to choose your path in life. We would welcome you back with open arms."

Should. That nasty little word lingered in the back of Alarion's mind. He should be free to choose his path. If his term of service was not extended by war. If he is not punished for insubordination, or overheld for substandard performance.

If he survived at all.

Induction of non-Vitrians was a messy business that few saw the end of. Soldiers found their skill set useless elsewhere and continued their terms indefinitely. Or found themselves crippled. Artisans found it difficult to set up lucrative shops without the blessing and financing of Vitrian Banks. Alarion was special, that much was true, but it was a perilous and winding road from induction to true agency.

Elena hadn't sugarcoated the risks when she told him of his future during their travels from Ashad-Vitri, but part of him wished she had.

"Display Status." ZEKE broke back into the conversation with the strength of his appraisal skills. Once again, Alarion's status floated before them, though with a few quick gestures, ZEKE diminished the full details down to a list of Alarion's skills:

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General Skills Known Stealth – Level 2 – Progress 85% Detection – Level 4 – Progress 1% Thrown Weapon Mastery – Level 3 – Progress 98% Imperial Greatsword Mastery – Level 1 – Progress 0%

Class Skills Known

Self-Motivated – Level 1 – Progress 91%

"That Aptitude of yours is truly absurd," ZEKE remarked as he reviewed the information. "You've leveled up your detection skill since last we looked, no doubt, off Mistress Sierra's clumsy attempts at stealth."

The girl in question raised an unamused eyebrow.

"We all start somewhere, young mistress. No need to be ashamed. But there is no use in being overconfident either if a rank amateur is catching you."

The rank amateur in question raised both eyebrows.

"You've also made substantive progress on your thrown weapon skills, though I suspect most of that came from the bright idea that cost us a training dummy, rather than the minuscule gains from battling in the Void Arena. Take that as a worthwhile, if expensive, lesson. Novel skill usage and experiences are worth far more than rote repetition."

"Didn't my Self-Motivated quest also involve the Void Arena?" Alarion asked.

"It did, but not directly," ZEKE explained. "Combat skills grow slowly in the arena because there is little real risk or stress. You can always try again. Your questing power had a time limit, other restrictions, and was outside your control, all of which reintroduced the prospect of failure."

"In general, there are three key factors that influence how you accrue progress towards your classes and skills," Elena said, continuing ZEKE's line of thought. "Stress, difficulty, and novelty. Trying a different way of throwing a weapon at a safe target is not stressful or difficult, but it is new. Fighting an opponent far below your strength will earn you little to nothing, unless you need to take them alive, or defeat them quickly under time pressure. Mining a stone wall might be something you've done a thousand times, but you will progress faster if you are trapped and running out of air."

Alarion mulled over their words briefly before asking the obvious. "Can't you-"

"Yes," ZEKE cut in before Alarion could finish the question. He exchanged an annoyed glance with Elena, whose mood brightened ever so slightly at the exchange. "Whatever fanciful idea you have floating in your mind may work. There are Awakened who have trained their bodies in volcanoes, or those who hunt only the most bizarre and dangerous creatures to further their progress."

"Not that you can game the System," Sierra said, somewhat timidly interjecting her voice into the conversation. "Tying up a loved one and 'defending them' will not fool it into granting you power. I have heard it said that the System is beloved of the Four Mothers, for it holds a fragment of each, but that Lal Viren, She Who Knows Challenges, gave the greatest piece of herself."

Alarion nodded. His curiosity slaked, the young man turned his attention back to his status, where ZEKE had projected the first of Alarion's skills:

Stealth [Common](Level 2)

Description: You have gained the most basic proficiency in Stealth that is worthy of recognition. A long road to true mastery lies before you, but your new skills may yet help you carve your way to those unseen heights.

Requirements: None

Type: Passive

Effects: Gain a slight decrease in visibility when attempting to hide. Gain a slight decrease in audibility when attempting to move silently. Slightly decrease the awareness of others when attempting to go unnoticed in social situations.

Growths: PER +2. AGI +2.

"So, Alarion. What can you tell me about this skill?" ZEKE asked.

"Besides the fact that the description is almost identical to my new Mastery skill?" Alarion inquired, before adding, "The system is lazy."

"Yes. Besides that." ZEKE replied in a tone so dry it could have soaked up an ocean.

"It has a common rarity, which seems to be the lowest. My best is rare, but I've also seen uncommon and exceptional. It is level 2 out of at least 5. Probably more, since I doubt my detection skill is almost at the maximum." Alarion pondered briefly. "The growths at the bottom show what bonuses I get when it levels up. They're more or less the same as my other general skills, just varying in type. But they are a lot lower than my class skill."

ZEKE said nothing. Instead, the Steelborn crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned back slightly on his heels, studying Alarion as intensely as the young man had studied the status screen.

"What?" Alarion asked after the silence had become awkward. Elena was giving him a similar look, though hers was tinged with that same lingering smile, a joke at ZEKE's expense.

"Have you been tutoring him?" ZEKE asked Elena.

"I have not."

The machine man looked to Sierra, then thought better of the idea, given the fraught relationship between the girl and his pupil. With no other ready excuse, his emerald lenses turned back to Alarion.

"I'm stubborn. Not stupid." The youth replied to the unspoken implication. "And I've had plenty of time to review my status."

"Fair enough," ZEKE conceded with open palms. "I had an entire lesson to review each of your skills, but that seems moot. Stealth helps you sneak. Detection helps you spot and hear the hidden or the unseen. You are familiar with the effects of your masteries?"

Alarion thought about it, then asked. "Do they always give you… knowledge?"

"Hmm? Ah. Yes!" ZEKE affirmed. "Most active skills will impart a basic understanding when first using them. Mastery skills typically fill in the gaps in the user's knowledge and skill base, in addition to the mechanical benefits. Normally, this isn't all that noticeable. To get mastery skills, you have to have achieved enough proficiency that it is just cleaning up the edges of the technique. Getting it from an imbuement item sounds unpleasant."

Alarion's brows knitted together. "It didn't feel that bad?"

"He meant for a normal Awakened. Remember, your Aptitude is absurdly high, allowing you to process all the information more easily," Elena explained. "If I were to use an imbuement item, I would have a headache for hours or days. I am told Steelborn must enter a defensive shutdown mode for months to use an imbuement book for a skill. A class book might kill them outright."

"We've covered your questing power extensively," ZEKE said, returning them to the topic at hand, rather than his own shortcomings. "Which just leaves us with the details before your skill selection. First off, you are correct. Like classes and enchanted items, skills also have an associated rarity. In ascending order, these are: Common, Uncommon, Exceptional, Rare, Epic, Ancient, Legendary, Mythic, Enigmatic, and Unique. As you can tell by the strength of your existing skills, common rarity skills provide minimal benefits, both in terms of their direct effects and their growths, when compared to skills of higher rarity."

"They also tend to be worse than equivalent class skills," Sierra said, earning her a glance from ZEKE, before the latter nodded for her to proceed. "You and I both have a stealth skill, but mine is a class skill called Shadowdance. It does everything yours does, while also giving me a powerful bonus when hiding in shadows. Even when yours grows to uncommon, it will pale in comparison to mine."

Rather than take the bait, Alarion replied with a question.

"Then I just need my detection to become exceptional. Right?"

"Self-improvement for its own sake is always an admirable goal," ZEKE interjected before the back and forth could morph from banter to bickering. "But we still have much more in this lesson."

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