The warriors lined up at the front, pushing past everyone else to be the first to try their skills.
It was almost creepy how they all swung an identical attack, and sent perfectly matching arcs of energy flying across the field, tearing deep furrows in the grass where they impacted.
"That’s Cleave. The basic attack of the Warrior Class. I think it’s actually pretty strong, look what it did to the dirt." Reggie boasted.
Kalli cleared her throat. "Guys? I think you’re supposed to use it the other way. Not vertical, horizontal, so it hits a whole line of enemies."
The warriors looked startled for a second. They had just followed the default directions for the skill.
Behind them, the mages laughed quietly. It appeared that the warriors all had sothing in common. And it wasn’t a talent for deep introspection.
The line of warriors attacked again, sending out a wave of energy parallel to the ground, and the students cheered.
That looked much more effective, and if there was a wave of monsters attacking, they would hit them all at once. In fact, they were already making plans for how to use this effectively, including standing in a circle to hit everything at once, keeping an entire area clear while the mages and other classes did whatever they did.
It would also be extrely helpful in the hallways.
"Now the mages!" Kalli instructed.
That was a much more chaotic order, as the mages hadn’t all gotten the sa skill.
A barrage of spells ensued, from streaks of lightning and fireballs to ice shards and even an explosion of spikes from the ground in the distance.
"Wow, that is pretty impressive. That’s way cooler than what I can do," one of the girls whispered as she stepped beside Kalli.
"What can you do?"
"Uh, I can heal minor injuries? That’s what the thing said to when I picked the class. I’m in the sports dicine track, aiming to be a team therapist when I graduate. My dad owns the Howlers."
Kalli nodded, not knowing what sport the team played.
The mages changed, and another group of casters took their place, casting another dizzying array of spells at the field that had the majority of the soldiers coming their way to watch the spectacle.
"Where is your teacher?" A soldier demanded as he approached the group.
"She left the class just before the attack, and we haven’t seen her since. What’s going on in the city? Did the attacks really stop? Are people going to find the survivors?" Kalli demanded.
"The governnt is on that, Miss. We will recover the other Heroes from the Academy and bring them back for their own safety. Don’t worry, everything is under control."
If he could sense that Kalli wasn’t buying his line, he didn’t show any of it.
He didn’t have to.
The carefully blank looks of the enlisted n under his command were enough to tell her that his story was one hundred percent bullshit. They had nothing under control, they were just desperately scrambling to keep so semblance of normalcy while everything fell apart.
And the Marimgar Academy was the epicentre of everything.
At least in this city.
"What can you tell us? Do you at least know what we’re up against? The ssage on the wall said that this was a preview, and the real thing would co tomorrow." Kalli pushed.
"That’s classified."
"Then declassify it. We’re supposed to be the ones who can help, right? Don’t you think that we need to know what we’re going to be expected to do?"
"Sorry, Miss. That’s above my pay grade."
Kalli sighed. "I suspected that might be the case. Well, then we will just have to train harder. Can your people at least make sure that there is a proper al at the end of the day? I don’t see any staff here, and your guards have the whole Academy locked down."
As far as she had seen, there weren’t any kitchens in the dorms. Though, she hadn’t gotten to see her room yet.
"The cafeteria was breached, and will be unavailable for so ti. We have a cleaning team on the way. However, it won’t be ready tonight. We have ergency al packs available from the ergency managent agency.
They might not be what the Noble Scions of Marimgar Academy are used to, but they will have to do."
Now Kalli understood. He saw them all as a bunch of rich kids playing pretend, and didn’t take any of their questions seriously. She really couldn’t bla him, even if she was one of the students that he was looking down upon.
Even though he was only a few years older than her freshman class.
Kalli patted him on the shoulder. "Don’t stress about it. After the day we’ve had, I doubt that even the most picky among us would turn down food."
"What’s your na, student?"
"Kallista... De Marimgar." She replied, stumbling montarily over the unfamiliar family na.
"De Marimgar, eh? So, which is it? Politician or cri boss?"
Kalli didn’t know how to answer that, but the officer took that as a response on its own. Clearly the family na was a generic fake, now that she thought about it. She was nad after the Academy and the city it was in.
The healer standing beside her giggled softly. "I’m going with the daughter of a cri boss. She’s too calm under pressure to be a politician’s daughter."
"And you are?"
"Yara De Marimgar."
The soldiers smiled, while the other students laughed.
"You’ll find that there are a few more of the sa na in this class." Reggie joked.
"Why would you bother? We all know that your father is the Mayor," the officer asked.
"Not , obviously. I’ve been on the news too many tis to pretend to be anonymous. That’s not true for Yara, or Kalli, who is a fresh transfer student. But there are two other girls that go by the sa na."
Kalli wondered about that for a mont. Then realized the truth. The wealthy families kept their daughters hidden away from temptation until they were properly engaged, while the sons needed exposure to make connections and take over the family business.
Only those from shady backgrounds or very privileged upbringings would use the generic ’De Marimgar’ last na.
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