The next day grew increasingly uncomfortable for me. That strange static feeling kept getting stronger, and if nothing else it was really distracting.

  Cassie had stayed with me for the whole time, only dipping out to fetch us some food. We hadn’t figured out how to conjure stuff with the Arena yet, so she had to go and get some real food. I did appreciate the company, although we weren’t really up to much interesting.

  To distract myself from the weird static, I had briefly shifted each of my limbs in sequence to the tentacle thing I’d created during Ren’s test, both as practice and to get more used to it. I had a feeling that I was going to need to.

  I had discovered, as a consequence of this, that I was getting notably faster again. Even the day before it would have taken me maybe ten seconds to shift an entire limb, which was far faster than before and so on.

  Now however, it was maybe three seconds. For an entire limb. When I had first gone through my awakening I had needed to remain focused and still for an entire minute just to change surface features. I couldn’t imagine what that changeling Ren had mentioned was capable of, or a true fey for that matter.

  Cassie had clearly been enjoying the high mana concentration more than I had, thankfully. She’d spent the last day firing of small spells at near constant intervals, just for the sake of it. For once, she had so much mana that she was the one randomly reacting to stuff. I’d complimented one of bigger spells and I swear that her hair filled with static for a second. It was adorable.

  Regardless, we weren’t alone for long. Not half an hour after Ren had stormed o- I mean left to be a professional, a woman had stepped through the portal. She was huge, although that may be a reductive term. She was also wearing enough metal to clank when she stepped through the portal, including a sword that I refused to believe cut anything before it squashed it.

  “Hey,” she said, like we were all doing completely normal and reasonable things in a regular location, rather than trapped in a pocket dimension because of a wizard’s oversight.

  “Hello,” Cassie said slowly. I assumed that she was also struggling with the same assumption I was. Ren had said that someone would come in to observe, but I had a bit of difficulty imagining this woman doing anything that didn’t involve violence.

  “The boss sent me,” was all we got by way of explanation before she suddenly sprang forward and grabbed Cassie, who was closer to the portal, by each shoulder and threw her at me.

  Both of us rolled along the ground, unprepared and disoriented by the jarring impact. I didn’t know about Cassie, but I was definitely bruised to say the least. I pulled myself to my feet and glared at the giant woman.

  “And that was for…?” I asked, more than a little infuriated. I briefly turned away to heal Cassie’s scrapes and bruises before marching over to the armoured woman.

  She had the nerve to shrug. “Practice. Your first lesson.”

  By all that is sacred, if this woman says ‘expect the unexpected’ I’m going slapping her.

  “Let me guess, ‘expect the unexpected’? ‘Always be alert’?” Cassie remarked, clearly thinking along the same lines I was.

  The woman shook her head. “Nope. Lesson one is don’t stand right next to someone who just attacked you.”

  Before she even finished talking she grabbed for me. The moment I saw her move I started shifting, and by the time she had a proper grip on one arm the other one had taken the shape of my newest tool.

  With my tentacle arm I reached around her leg and held on tight, waiting as she lifted me. My plan had been to wrap around her, swing back when she tried to throw me and figure something out from there. Unfortunately, this giant woman was exactly as predisposed to violence as I had first assumed.

  With one hand holding me aloft, she took the other and grabbed my tentacle. Then she began to squeeze. It felt like my entire arm had been caught in a door, just unrelenting pressure on both sides. I hissed as I tried to cover it in chitin, but that did little except add sound effects to my torment.

  I heard a crack as Cassie tried to help, but despite the fact she was standing in full metal plate the giant seemed unaffected. After almost a second of squeezing she must have gotten bored, because with a sharp yank she wrenched herself out of my grip.

  As I flew through the air I felt a blinding pain emanating from my tentacle. A few moments before I met the ground a distant part of my mind registered that my tentacle couldn’t be in pain, because it was gone.

  Only as I skid to a stop did I realised why my tentacle was missing, and why it hurt so much.

  Oh, you fucker. That hurts!

  More on reflex than any conscious decision I flooded the area with vitae, draining my reserves quicker than ever to regrow my arm. Normal, this time. There was less mass that way, and it was a good starting point.

  After a few seconds I dragged myself to my feet again, groaned from the pure catharsis of having my briefly missing arm back, and turned back to the armoured giant. She was standing, grinning smugly as Cassie cast bolt after bolt of lightning at her to no avail.

  I staggered over to Cassie and put a hand on her shoulder, shaking my head when she turned to me. She hesitated, but paused in her casting for now.

  Right, what do we have. She’s strong, durable and surprisingly fast. She can tank Cass’ weaker spells like nothing, outmanoeuvre me in close range, and is taking the time we’re giving her to do… nothing. Yeah, I have no idea how to deal with this.

  Seeing our lack of movement, the giant spoke again. “Boss didn’t overestimate your healing. Good.”

  I scowled at her. “Do you rip everyone’s arms off, or am I special?”

  She chuckled. “Just you.”

  Apparently done with talking, she began to walk towards us. Not run, not even briskly stroll. She walked, unhurried and unconcerned. I had to admit that it was definitely made more intimidating by the fact that she did have a decent amount of my blood on. Part of me noted that my blood was green again, although that didn’t help me much here.

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  In response, Cassie and I began to walk backwards matching her pace. She didn’t speed up or anything, so I guess she mustn’t have minded.

  Cassie turned slightly to me and whispered as we walked. “How long can you keep her attention?”

  I considered this. If I focused purely on not getting pinned down and being irritating enough to draw her focus away from Cassie? I didn’t have high hopes. “Maybe ten seconds?”

  Cassie grinned. “Do that, then. I have a gift for our new friend.”

  With no further comments Cassie suddenly broke left, sprinting away from both of us and leaving me to deal with the giant. I groaned, but stopped retreating.

  “Brave friend,” the giant smirked.

  “Dumb foe,” I retorted, moving towards her. I shifted both of my arms chitinous, doing the same for my legs. I couldn’t go all the way with my legs, but outer protection was still nice.

  As soon as I was in reach the giant grabbed at me, missing by a hair as I suddenly switched directions. I lashed out with a clawed hand, only managing a set of barely noticeable marks along a plated gauntlet.

  The giant grabbed again, and again I dodged, this time ducking under her grasp. I aimed for a padded joint on the back of her thigh, grinning as I felt flesh part under my talons and hot blood gush over my hand. The wound wasn’t deep, but it was there.

  The giant clearly hadn’t considered that I would actually wound her, because for a moment she stopped grabbing for me. I kept moving, unwilling to to give her any opportunities.

  When she next moved she struck like a snake, with speed that seemed highly improbable for her size. In less than a second she landed a harsh punch directly to my chest, forcing all of the air from my body and briefly pausing my train of thought as my mind was consumed by a blinding crack.

  Rather than be allowed fall backwards I was held in place by an armoured glove as I coughed, green blood spilling from my mouth. I tried to take a breath, which was a mistake. My ribs were cracked, fractured and screaming from that single blow. Again I flooded my body with vitae, drinking in more of my reserves. I’d used almost half in the last couple of minutes.

  I sighed with relief as my bones knitted together and the small puncture in my lung sealed up. I glared at the giant again, but said nothing. Surprisingly, she didn’t make a move either, just watched.

  For a moment I was distracted by her vitae. It was dense, more so than Neil or Noren or me, somehow. It was evenly spread throughout her body, and brought to mind the singing of steel through a bloodied battlefield. I shook my head to clear it. I needed my focus.

  I considered my options. I could try and drain her vitae, but I needed direct contact for that. I considered attempting to break her grip, but even if I somehow managed that it didn’t get me much. She wasn’t doing anything right now, just staring.

  An idea struck me as I saw Cassie over her shoulder. She looked like she was nearing the end of whatever incantation she was casting, which meant I would probably have a window of opportunity for something in a few seconds.

  My idea was going to hurt a bit, but that was fine. If all went well it would hurt her more, anyway. Technically I hadn’t done this before, but I saw no reason that it wouldn’t. More importantly, it would get me an in.

  As I made the necessary alterations to my body I glanced at Cassie, which drew the giant’s attention. Right as she turned to look, Cassie pointed with her wand and fired a ball of lightning. It crackled and screeched as it flew, crossing the distance rapidly.

  Before it even hit the giant it reached out and blasted her with lightning, a fierce crack sounding out across the formerly calm field as the strike landed with more force than I’d seen from Cassie’s magic before. Then another crack sounded, and another. The closer the ball got, the more frequently the giant was struck.

  Even as resilient as she was, she couldn’t hold out completely unscathed against such a barrage. She turned slightly and raised an arm to shield the rest of her. In her moment of distraction, I unleashed my plan.

  From where her remaining hand gripped my bicep I shifted my arm to contain a jagged spike of bone, thrusting up out of my arm and piercing her hand. I gritted my teeth as it sliced through my skin, but it was worth it to feel it slice into her palm. Despite this her grip only tightened, which was a mistake.

  From that spike I wove a string of coiled, barbed tendons, hooking into her flesh and guaranteeing me contact. Then I began to drink.

  Her vitae was like a fine wine, aged and processed to perfection. Part of me was made ravenous by it, luxuriating in her taste, in the smoothness of her essence. For just a moment I let myself indulge in this strange appetite, like a sommelier with a flawlessly aged vintage. Then I cracked down on the impulse and focused wholly on draining as much from her as I could.

  I revelled in the first sound of pain I had heard from the woman, satisfaction filling me even as I drank deeper. I could feel my reserves swell in moments, all that she had cost me replenished and more. I almost thought I could feel her surprise in the tides of her vitae, and I could barely stop myself from drinking at this point.

  Distantly I felt my body be moved, but through my coiled tendons I held contact, a macabre line directly to her very life. I continued to drain.

  I only stopped when the giant tore my tendons from her palm by hand, cutting our connection. I staggered back, a happy smile on my face even as I slowly returned to myself. I felt slightly drunk, and very healthy. My reserves were back to full, even more so than before. I felt as though I had been stretched, forced to adapt to the sheer density of her lifeforce.

  The giant, for the first time, was smiling. Not smirking or grinning, but genuinely smiling. “You…” she muttered, before turning to Cassie. She was standing stock still, seemingly controlling her ball of lightning manually. “STOP!” She roared, snapping Cassie’s concentration and causing the ball of lightning to dissolve into sparks.

  I watched as Cassie collapsed to the ground, barely catching herself on the way down. Snapping from my stupor I hurried to my feet and bolted over. When I finally made my way to my friend she was sat heavily on the floor, shaking slightly and covered in sweat. Yet she was grinning.

  “Did it,” she choked out between gasping breaths. “Knew I could…”

  “Cass?” I asked, shaking her gently by the shoulders. I swept my vitae through her, discovering that she was fine physically, albeit exhausted.

  She smiled up at me. “I cast it!”

  “Cast what? The ball lightning?” I asked.

  “Mage! Why did you lie on your application!” Boomed the giant, who had somehow managed to sneak up behind me as I checked on Cassie.

  She shook her head. “Didn’t lie. Just managed it.”

  The giant’s eyes lit up. “Oh? Congratulations are in order, then.”

  I looked between them. “Okay, will someone please explain what’s going on? What did you do, Cass?”

  Cassie grinned dopily at me. Even as wiped out as she was, she looked ecstatic. “Ball Lightning’s second circle, Lia. I cast a second circle spell!”

  I gasped. “Really! That’s great! I’m so proud, Cass. When did you even start looking at second circle spells?”

  She shrugged. “Like a week ago. Wanted to see if I could do it. Turned out they're less complicated than I thought, just really expensive.”

  It dawned on me. She must have burned through most of her mana to cast that spell, which was why she was so drained.

  “Oh, so you cast it here because-”

  “Because I’ll recover quicker here too,” she finished. “Yeah. Probably a while before I’m whipping them out constantly, but at least I can do one.”

  Suddenly the giant spoke up. “Come. You can rest while I give you your performance review.”

  I only then remembered why Cassie had needed to cast her newest spell. “Hold on. You were attacking us like three minutes ago.”

  She grinned again. “I’ll explain everything. During your performance review.”

  I turned to Cassie, who just inclined her head. I huffed in response, but decided against doing anything foolish. If the last several minutes had taught me anything, it was that this giant armoured woman was way to big for me to hit. As of right now, anyway.

  I realised that the fight had distracted me from the awful static sensation that had haunted me all day, which was a plus. Of course, in realising that I noticed the sensation again, which sucked. I groaned, drawing looks from the other two.

  I waved them on. “Fine, fine. Let’s go get our performance reviewed, shall we?”