back at the academy

Riven woke up—but instead of being on a tree branch like he was starting to get used to, he was in his bed. The bed itself was never too comfortable, but after two days of sleeping in trees, it was the best sleep he'd had in a while.

After taking a long-awaited shower, the boy brushed his teeth and stepped out of the bathroom. When he did, he saw three other boys waiting like they were ready for their turn.

"Dude, why are you taking so long?" Harkel said, rushing inside and pushing Riven out before taking his own shower.

Riven didn't get mad at him for doing that. It had been a while since any of them touched hot water. After all four boys had showered, they walked out of their dorm room, heading to school for breakfast. School had been out for three weeks since the administration needed time to come up with an excuse to explain how so many of their students, spouses, and family members died.

When the squad made it to the cafeteria, they saw Leo, Tessa, and Wren already sitting down, eating something. It wasn't breakfast food—it looked more like afternoon buffet items.

"Where's the breakfast?" Harkel asked.

"They're making us eat the buffet food so it won't go to waste," Tessa answered.

When she said that, the boys looked around the cafeteria and were saddened by what they saw. The cafeteria originally held over a thousand students. Now, only 372 remained—including their group. The realization hit hard. That many students lost in just two days.

"So what now?" Leo asked as everyone finished up their food.

"What do you mean?" Tessa replied.

"I mean, what now? Do we just wait for four weeks until they make whatever decision they're going to make?" Leo asked again.

"No. I have a couple of ideas," Riven answered. "One of them is inviting new friends into our group." When he said that, they all looked toward Nico's group. Riven walked up to them while the rest of his group headed to Wren's training room.

"Hey," Riven started.

"Is there something you want?" Nico asked.

"Yeah. Meet us at Wren's training room—you know, the one where I gave you those potions," Riven said as he disappeared.

Everyone from the battle knew most of Riven's group had a second evolved ability, but what they didn't know was that Joey now had three evolved abilities—or more accurately, two evolved abilities and one affinity.

The five then walked into Wren's training room, where seven people were already seated—just like the first time their groups met.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Nico questioned.

"Look… there aren't that many students left. And truthfully, I don't think we can trust a lot of people with the secret we're about to tell you. But you always swore you'd keep our secrets—even though we kinda did lie to you," Riven said, with the last part catching them off guard.

"What do you mean, you lied to us?" Nico asked.

"I mean… I'm not an alchemist who found a way to make awakening potions," Riven said.

"So wait, what did you give us?" Jude asked, feeling around her stomach.

"Oh no, no—they were awakening potions. But I didn't make them using alchemy. I'll explain."

Riven then explained everything about the system. He knew that if they were going to trust these people, they needed to be honest with them.

The twelve students sat in a circle, crisscross-applesauce style.

"Wow," Luka said.

"I know, right? That's exactly what I said," Leo replied.

"No, like wow," Jude said, really showing the magnitude of what they just learned. But one person wasn't amazed—they were angry.

Skye stood up and grabbed Riven by the collar. It looked like she was about to hit him, but before she could, Jordan quickly pushed her back using ink—not to hurt her, just to separate them.

"Why? Why didn't you just give the students the weapons? With those, most of them could've survived. Yet you wanted to put a price on it. Do you know how messed up that is?" Skye shouted.

"I know… That's why I regretted doing that. And why I also gave you guys that level four wand. But I knew that wouldn't be enough. I didn't have enough system points to keep giving gear to students without worrying about my own," Riven said. When he said "my own," they knew he meant them—he said it like they were family. That touched the six of them.

"Skye… I know you're angry, but we have to move on. Let those students rest in eternal peace. We need to survive, and one way I see that happening is by joining their group. With this, we can get as strong as them," Nico said, trying to be the voice of reason.

It got through to Skye, and she sat back down in the circle.

"So I guess you didn't just bring us here to tell us this, right?" Luka asked. Then out of nowhere, all five of them saw something appear in their vision—top left corner of their irises—name tags, health bars, and stamina meters. They also saw something hovering in front of Riven's face, and then the same appeared in front of theirs. They were now bonded party members.

"Woah, this thing feels unreal," Kira commented. The others couldn't do anything but agree.

"Now treat it like flipping a switch, and it should disappear," Riven said, helping them learn how to bring up or dismiss their system interface.

They followed his instruction, and the system vanished. Then Riven handed each of them a vial filled with white contents—though this time, there were specks of gold swirling inside.

"Drink it. It will immediately allow you to awaken into your second level. Thanks to the shop tab upgrade. Also, since you're bonded party members and doing this together, you'll have a true awakening form—just like us," Riven said.

"Wait… by 'us' are you trying to say—?" But before Nico could finish, her question was answered.

Wren, Leo, and Tessa all activated their True Awakening forms, proving Riven's words were true. Seeing this, all five of them drank the vial down.

While they were doing that, Riven checked all their updated stats:

⸻

Nico Grey – Level 19

Strength: 21

Speed: 25

Durability: 18

HP: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

Kira Thomas – Level 8

Strength: 10

Speed: 15

Durability: 15

HP: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

Luka Thomas – Level 15

Strength: 20

Speed: 19

Durability: 18

HP: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

Jude Walker – Level 16

Strength: 25

Speed: 19

Durability: 24

HP: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

Skye Vank – Level 10

Strength: 13

Speed: 16

Durability: 10

HP: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

⸻

This didn't surprise Riven. He had always expected his original group to have stronger stats than Nico's, but now that they were one team, he could help them grow stronger—faster and more efficiently. The best part was that none of them had any unassigned attribute points, meaning they were all in sync.

"So… what now?" Nico asked, her body now surrounded in a fiery red aura.

"Well, you guys should get to know each other better. Me and Joey need to talk with Mr. Sable. He said he wanted to speak with us," Riven said as he and Joey began walking out. As they did, they heard the two (now one) group talking and getting along.

"So what did Sable want?" Joey questioned.

"Heck if I know. He just walked up to us in the cafeteria and said, 'Can we talk?' in a super mysterious tone," Riven joked.

"I know you might be doubting yourself about telling Nico and her group, but honestly, I think it was a good idea. We're gonna need more help—especially if we're gonna sell those weapons and make a killing off of them," Joey said. Riven agreed. Ever since Joey got his Light Affinity, he'd been more upbeat and cheerful than usual.

They both knocked on Sable's office door, and the man signaled for them to come in.

The two boys entered and sat in the chairs in front of his desk.

"I'm glad to see you two are well. I know you might be confused about why I wanted to speak with you, so I'll make it quick and to the point. First, I have a question: Why didn't you try to tell one of the other teachers about how the Broken Veil created those wolves?" Sable asked.

This told Riven that Sable had listened to what Ashley said. Riven kept it honest, giving the same reason he had given Jude back on the tree branch.

"Hmm… I didn't tell the Academy either, truthfully—for the same reason. But let's leave that there. Another thing: I owe you two. If it weren't for you, I probably would've lost my life. So, if there's anything you need—I'll try to get it for you."

Riven immediately shot up from his seat. "An Aetherial Core," he said, staring directly at Sable.

"An Aetherial—how do you even know what that is?" Sable asked.

"It doesn't matter. Just get it for me. I want it for… collection," Riven said.

"Good. Because you do know it's pretty much useless… unless you're trying to make a portal. But you're not doing that… are you?" Sable asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Whatttt? Of course not," Riven said with a smile.

Then he looked at his crafting requirements to open a portal to Earth.

⸻

Portal to Earth – Requirements:

• [0/1] Aetherial Core

• [11/5] Bonded Party Members

• [0/100,000] Pure metal