A few minutes later they walked through empty halls. The halls were wide and spacious, some walls were stone, others panelled in dark woods, the whole space reeked of the kind of wealth and power that no one in Oz’s hometown could ever imagine owning. Hell, he’d be surprised if there was anywhere equal to this in all the Scab-lands.

  Eventually they arrived at a large eating hall, one of several cafeterias on campus. He stood in line with Lily as she explained that he could come here from early in the morning to late at night and get some manner of hot food, all covered by the Noxarcer. The food smelt heavenly and Oz felt his stomach rumble, he genuinely had no idea when the last time he had eaten was.

  He ignored his diet. Oz was normally quite careful about what he ate so as to better manage his physique, but this time he was happy to get stacks of bacon and eggs, there was even some blood sausage. As he walked over to an isolated table he could feel Chops snuffling at him.

  “What do I do about feeding Chops?” Oz asked, even as he snuck the familiar a bit of sausage, or rather two bits. He couldn’t just feed only one head, he wasn’t a monster.

  “Chops doesn’t actually need to eat, but that said most familiars enjoy eating here and there. I’ll make a note to mention that when I get someone to take you through the basics.”

  Lily flared some magic and then explained that it would protect them from being overheard if someone did happen upon them, before continuing their discussion.

  “Well moving on, as to the healing you received you’re doing very well. Your muscle regrowth is commendable. Magically formed muscles can regrow wrong from time to time. You must've had good physique before your class?” Lily’s question disrupted Oz’s pondering .

  “I had an F-0 physique.”

  “You aren't lying to me, are you young man?” Her voice was sharp like a scalpel. Oz felt irritation rise, but the Other, always keen to be seen as correct, tried to snap back. He reined it in at the last moment.

  “No, I've held an F-0 strength for three months so far,” he said with a touch of pride. Exercise had been what he had thrown himself into to avoid thinking about the empty house.

  “Well then you must've been very dedicated in your training. It also makes what I'm seeing make more sense. Just because someone has a higher physical rating doesn't mean that their muscles are in shape. The magic compensates. So when your muscles started to heal in perfect condition it made me think a skill was involved.”

  “No, just hard work. Well, and Trollish Regeneration.”

  “You want to be careful of that given the damage to your soul. Your soul does a lot to provide the template for your healing. Until Brackham gives you the all-clear, I want you to visit me if you have any serious injuries. The healing might introduce some problems.” She paused.

  “Now I have to ask you about something, the Ambrosia.”

  “Miss Lily, I'm trying to stay calm and Chops is helping a lot, and you seem nice and all, but if one more person suggests I drank that filth I'm going to scream.” Oz tried not to growl as he spoke.

  “That is understandable, especially given the hard work in getting your body to the point it's at. I need to run you through a few symptoms to be on the watchout for. If anything pops up you need to come tell me.” She nodded at him.

  “Apart from tearing my soul up like a berserker in a tea house?”

  “Yes, that is actually the most significant downside. Before I start, what do you know about Ambrosia?”

  “Not much. The assemblies told me that it was like trying to plug an essence crystal into your soul, and that was before they mentioned it getting mixed up with all manner of hooch and sundry. I kind of just decided not to do it and didn't pay attention to the rest.” Oz shrugged.

  “Why ignore the information?”

  “I mean it was illegal, and I'd already decided not to do it, so it's not like I needed to know what it was rumoured to do, or what it was made of.”

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  “Didn't feel it was important to know what to do if one of your friends took too much?” Lily creased her brows, looking at him as she sipped a coffee.

  “Didn't have anyone like that,” Oz muttered.

  “People's stupidity can surprise you.” Not understanding, Lily pushed on.

  “Nah, placing limits to how much someone can disappoint your expectations isn’t wise. For me it's more a general lack of friends.” Oz replied gruffly.

  “Ah.” Lily’s voice was carefully neutral but she still paused her steps for a moment. A moment later her business-like tone returned. “Well you survived a dose that'd kill most people with your level of soul development. The essence within it is still dissolving into your system so if you gain an additional point here or there over the coming days don’t be too worried. Now we need to discuss some other potential side effects.”

  Oz was, after the talk, more convinced that anyone who took Ambrosia needed their head looked at. He did his best to pay attention to Lily but he found himself looking around at the Academy, which would likely be his home for some time if he understood what was going on correctly. His fortunes had changed so abruptly he was still catching up.

  He kept feeling the urge to go stare at the Ranger Corps handbook. Oz found that study was less about absorbing information and more about wrestling his brain into submission long enough to get through a paragraph. Then the bell rang and the fight would reset and they would get ready for the next round.

  It was exhausting and he had only got through it by forcing it into his routine.

  “And if you start tasting ‘a rainy morning in which you overslept’ you have to come to me immediately,” Lily explained, and Oz managed to nod before his brain caught up with the most esoteric health guidance he had received so far.

  “How will I know what that tastes like?” Oz blinked.

  “I’m told it’s unmistakable. That is thankfully everything, now we must get along to the Archchancellor’s office, but not until you’ve eaten a bit more, your body is going through a lot of changes. Let me get you some things.”

  Oz was brought another tray of food. It was significantly better than Greywater’s school canteen, which managed to routinely deliver sustenance while failing to deliver recognisable food.

  “I'm not sure that'll work with my diet,” Oz said, even as he had to wipe the drool from his mouth.

  “Oh, young man, did no one tell you that it will be easier to maintain your physical fitness now? Magic will help manage your body.” Lily said this as she calmly consumed an incredibly sugary-looking dessert that likely contained more sugar than Oz allowed himself in a week.

  “Well that just seems unfair,” Oz muttered. That didn't stop him from grabbing another plate. Maybe there were some upsides to all of this after all. He enjoyed exercise, he did not enjoy diets. He also took some significant pleasure in providing another strip of bacon to Chops, especially hearing the excited whinging as he snapped it in two and threw it to the pair of heads.

  “Good boy, boys? Is he two minds or just one? It seems like one, but maybe I’m wrong.” He looked to Lily, hoping she might know.

  “Ah, an interesting question. I looked him up for you. He’s almost certainly an offshoot of Cerberi. That would make him a single intelligence. There might be a little difference in how the heads act but you might as well think of that as a preference for using your right hand for certain tasks over your left. Fascinating creature.” Lily chimed in, and then to illustrate her point, scratched the leftmost head behind the ear. Oz then watched as two sets of eyes rolled up in apparent bliss.

  “Are you a fan of dogs?”

  “Not particularly, but we have all sorts of souls come through this academy, and had a two-headed giantkin a while back whose condition was similar. Are you up to seeing the Archchancellor now?”

  “I think so.”

  They walked out of the canteen, Oz feeding some last scraps of sausage to Chops as he digested the various threats and learned he was now likely allergic to three specific alchemical compounds. Lily reassured him that it wasn’t too much of an issue as they tended to only be found in poisons anyway.

  What he had noticed was the general absence of people. The cafeteria had at most twenty people in it, and the halls were deserted.

  “Miss Lily, where is everyone?”

  “Oh, the term doesn’t start for two weeks. Anyone you’re seeing now was most likely a third year, they never really left between terms, there’s too much to do. The more junior ones are people from a far-flung realm who arrived a bit earlier than they expected, which is something we accommodate for, better they arrive early than late.” Lily explained. She seemed very happy to talk about the Academy.

  She also went on to explain the basics of the Academy. It was a three to four year programme. The first year was a foundational year, focused on getting everyone used to their class, giving them experience acting as both templates in dungeons and starting them on the paths of keepers and champions.

  Oz tried to pay full attention as Lily explained the next few years, but he kept getting distracted by the art on the walls. Greywater was a perpetual artistic desert, so the scattering of portraits, battle scenes and landscapes were enough to hit him like a flash flood.

  Oz only realised they had reached their destination when the art stopped changing, and Lily quietly left him to admire the rows of portraits after extracting from him a promise to come for a check-up tomorrow.