Oz sat in the library room, scowling at the walls. Actual scowling, not resting murder face.

  The walls didn’t react, but he hoped they realised he knew they were up to something. He could tell the space had grown. There were things you expected with a magical building, and rooms changing size wasn’t worrying. What he didn’t like was that it was trying to be subtle about it.

  What was once a space for four had shifted just a little, offering just enough space for six people and a dog to fit in. The table was longer, there were more chairs. The bookcases on the walls were gone, to try and trick him into thinking this was all mundane interior design. Someone who hadn’t been brought up by a paranoid dwarf who insisted on Oz being aware of room dimensions would maybe have thought furniture had been shifted around a bit to free up space.

  Oz was certain the room had grown. He just didn’t know why or what to do about it.

  "Can you stop glaring at the walls? I’m worried the paint will start to peel." Loxa grinned from across the desk. She and Pilt were the first ones to join them with their testing complete. They were now waiting on Bless and Trev.

  "I’m telling you the room’s different!" Oz grumbled, patting Chops, who was sniffing around the walls in an act of moral support.

  "I don’t disagree, but so what? Isn’t that better? Seems like this is going to be our hideaway for a bit."

  "I have to agree. Noxarcer is a known dimensional dungeon, that’s part of how it functions so well. The campus is huge but all folded together. I think I read that no one’s managed to map it all, but if you include the dungeon below it would be several miles square. The core apparently likes to change things up regularly," Angie started to explain.

  They enjoyed a few minutes of discussion about the oddities of Noxarcer. Strangely, being told that the building liked to rearrange itself didn’t soothe Oz. The Ozzer also objected to being subject to the whims of an ancient eldritch being. Strangely, the others didn’t seem to question it too much, so he let it drop. After a lull in the conversation, Loxa brought up a far more tangible concern.

  "So who else was ‘made friends with’ today?" Loxa asked. Pilt chuckled.

  "Some of my ‘acquaintances’ tried to follow me here. The librarians didn’t appreciate them hunting me through the stacks. I hope they learned their lesson." Pilt grinned.

  Angie explained the issue with Dorgan and Ren. "Other than the elf, no one else was too bad. In the end that girl Stella was actually really helpful. We both had supportive spellcasting. She pointed out the Starers for me."

  "She’s probably trying to get in close," Pilt suggested.

  "No, she didn’t ask a single thing about Bless the entire time we talked. She actually told me the last thing she wants is to be on Bless’s team. She wants her family to have as little reason to bother her as possible. Part of why she ducked out of Dorgan’s team. Decided getting nagged for not ‘maintaining relations’ was better than actually keeping them up."

  "May fate favour her on that," Pilt said quietly.

  "Your family going to flip their shit when they find out?" Loxa asked.

  "No, well maybe a bit, but Ratkin have a very generational approach. I should support and be supported by my cousins. Only problem is my cousins are... well Loxa, you would call them arseholes or worse."

  "What would you call them?"

  "In front of my family ‘misguided’. Personally I think of them as tail-knotters. Knotters for short. The kind of nasty work who’d bind everyone together in mediocrity. Cause problems and then claim it’s everyone’s responsibility to help them."

  "Knotters sounds good." Loxa chuckled.

  Before they could explore the insults in more detail, the door handle shifted, opening to reveal grinning Bless, Trev hiding in her shadow.

  "Hey, we’re here. All classed up and ready to go." She whispered through the open door, not willing to risk the wrath of the librarians.

  "I can’t wait." Loxa jumped up, and everyone began to clear out. Before they could leave, the quiet voice of Trev piped up.

  "Did this room get bigger?"

  A few minutes later they were at a training room. It was behind one of hundreds of doors to boxy rooms that were in the basement of the Noxarcer. Or at least they had to go down some stairs and there weren’t any windows. Oz felt like he was underground and chose to trust his dwarvish instincts.

  They followed Angie to their assigned door. The other students they saw were all a bit older, and they received a few surprised looks. Still they pushed on and slipped through the door after Angie did something Oz didn’t see to unlock it.

  The training room wasn’t anything special. A large stone box with some pillars spread about. A few partitions broke it up. On the near side were some weapons racks on the sides of the room, but otherwise it was mostly unadorned. What drew Oz’s attention was the multitude of different mannequins on the back wall. Different sizes and shapes, they hung from hooks in their backs from bars of metal that danced with magic.

  "I can’t believe there was one available." Bless grinned as they spread out in the room. They each carried duffel bags with their equipment in them. Oz headed towards one of the partitions and started to unpack his gear.

  "So I read they all got booked up, so I actually filed the paperwork the morning of the opening assembly," Angie called, disappearing behind the other partition with the rest of the girls.

  "I didn’t see you pick anything up?" Oz played that day back. He’d been in Angie’s company for most of it.

  "Oh well you couldn’t book until the first day, but you could actually get the paperwork in advance, so I had it prepared. I put in a session today and on Fifthday."

  "Well aren’t you adorably organised!" Loxa laughed, as they all started to change. "So what can we actually do here?"

  "We can use our skills. It can even release some of those golems for us to train against. We won’t be able to call on anything too powerful or dangerous. It’s all stuff rated at the max top of E-tier until we’ve started the combat sessions. Apparently a representative should be coming by to read us all the rules."

  "Also it’s private. Noxarcer will stop anyone from spying on us," Bless’s voice added into the mix.

  "I’d say it’s overkill, but given how our day went," Oz muttered. He could hear some distant angry muttering from Bless. She’d been informed on the walk over of the overly friendly advances they’d received today. It’d put her in a bad mood until Oz had got to the point where he’d knocked down a classmate.

  That got a laugh out of her.

  "Miss Angie, I have to commend you on your preparedness. I was warned about the rooms being booked out quickly, having family to warn me, and I still didn’t act in time," Pilt called out as he finished stripping out of his uniform next to Oz, who noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Ratkin’s fur continued unchanged beneath his clothes.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  He mentally grabbed Ozzer as he realised what was happening and gave him a kick. Just because Pilt wasn’t a girl didn’t make staring any better. Wanting to know about the different physiologies didn’t excuse being rude.

  He focused instead on getting his gear on. His outfit was a bit different to the usual kit. After the initial tests Noxarcer generally distributed uniform gear to its students, offering established variants on light or heavy armour that were mass-produced to ensure fairness.

  Gear that they could then over time customise and develop to match their combat style and class.

  A nice concept, one [Hoodlum] violently disagreed with.

  Not only had testing found that it didn’t approve of any of the standard armour, it didn’t seem to like ‘classical’ armour at all.

  It was only by following the Ozzer’s prodding that Oz had assembled his current outfit. A heavy-duty leather jacket for couriers who travelled at high speeds, and dark blue trousers made of something the Ozzer insisted on calling denim. Both were made from magically enhanced materials so they could match up with gear.

  [Hoodlum has maximum connection with Modified Leather Jacket]

  As he pulled it on he heard a muffled noise behind him.

  "Err..."

  The voice came from a figure Oz had almost forgotten about. Their ranger was right beside him, ducking under one of his outstretched arms. He was wearing nondescript grey gambeson and trousers with knives and a quiver at his waist, and a bow at his back.

  "Pardon Trev, kind of missed you there." Oz said, noticing a moment later that Trev’s eyes were fixed on his outfit.

  "This must be your style limitation?" Pilt asked as he shrugged on the lighter armour of a mage. His armoured robes were a very light shade of grey, which was as close as Noxarcer was willing to allow for the traditional white of healers. He carried a staff and adjusted his gear carefully.

  "Yes. It doesn’t like uniforms, not unless I’m half out of them."

  "What’s the drawing on the back?"

  "Oh, that helps my style click with it." Oz responded, scratching the back of his head. It wasn’t a lie. The plain leather jacket had been acceptable, but using some [Paint Spray] and scuffing it up had helped make it work even better.

  That said, it hadn’t been necessary to draw the image pulled from the Ozzer’s ideas of delinquency. He’d experimented a lot with graffiti and found the art form relaxed him.

  So he’d created a stencil and, with some half-remembered techniques from the Ozzer, had produced a stylised image of three sets of scowling eyes on his back. One set of vibrant orange for him, and two electric blue pairs for Chops.

  "It looks like you have a three-headed beast on your back," Pilt observed.

  "An angry beast," Trev whispered.

  "That’s what I was going for." Oz nodded, pleased to hear it but not about to show it. He instead focused on adjusting his axes.

  "I assume you got sign-off on the armour, but you do know you’re not allowed to use gear you didn’t make yourself?" Pilt remarked.

  "Yeah." Oz said, looking confused.

  "You made those axes as well?" Pilt didn’t sound like he was accusing him of anything, just confused.

  "I make all my runic equipment. My skills won’t work with them otherwise." Oz was also confused. He was at a place full of exceptional people. Sure AP had talked his runes up, but was it really that surprising?

  "Ah, so that’s why her family. Sorry, ignore me." Pilt then chuckled to himself, waving him off to finish dressing.

  "Hey you boys done playing grab-arse?" Loxa shouted. "I wanna get this show on the road."

  Oz walked out to find the girls fussing over Chops. They were all geared up. Bless stood out the most. Being a Valkyrie, her armour was her own. Living metal that resembled plate armour. While each Valkyrie’s armour was unique in exact form, hers was different in a way that stood out.

  Spell circles were dotted all over her, growing out of the metal.

  She had a sword at her side and looked more like she was ready to run up and stab you than be a traditional mage. Oz felt that suited her fine.

  Angie’s gear he’d already seen. She preferred medium armour that was set up to adapt as she shifted forms. In full werewolf she’d have a lot of gaps to exploit, but that was the price she’d have to pay. At higher tiers she could justify magically adaptive armour, but right now this was the best solution.

  Finally there was Loxa. She looked to be wearing a very similar set of gear to Trev. Her weapon was a spear with a sword for a tip, a naginata the Ozzer said, before noticing the other difference in her outfit. Where Trev’s shape was lost somewhat to oversized black gear, on her it clung tight. Oz had to, for the second time in a few minutes, kick the Ozzer.

  "Looking good. You weren’t kidding about the style issue. And the rest of you look nice and professional. Give us a twirl!" Loxa shouted and then gave a whistle. Beside Oz, he felt Trev try to vanish. She laughed and continued.

  "So when can we start stabbing stuff?"

  "After you’ve had your safety briefing." A new voice cut in. All of them turned to find a dungeon fairy floating in the middle of the room looking at a clipboard. "Now Miss Angeline Goodwether and associates, you’ve booked this training hall for the next two hours. You can..."

  He started to explain the rules, never looking up from his clipboard. He sounded like his soul was being destroyed with every extra sentence. The others seemed utterly shocked to see the fairy. Again Oz felt confused. Was this so much of a surprise?

  Also, wasn’t this fairy’s voice familiar?

  "And so until you’ve been signed off by the combat teacher you cannot access template opponents or use avatar. As an additional safety precaution your weapons will be warded to reduce damage unless you’re in the arena proper. As such your training is restricted. While the administration has learned it cannot stop you from testing your powers against each other, it is heavily suggested that you only attack the golems." The fairy gestured to the golems on the back wall.

  "There are multiple types of golems to simulate different attackers so you can explore your skills. They are designed as training dummies that can move and attack just enough to explore your abilities. The golems can additionally simulate wounds, which allow the healers to explore healing effects."

  The fairy sighed.

  "If you do decide to attack each other and inflict injuries significant enough that Noxarcer decides to involve the healers, you will get sent to Redglass Hall for discipline."

  "What about..." Angie piped up. But the fairy just looked up and shot her the dismissive look of the soulless bureaucrat who had a script to get through and a quota to meet. He looked smug for a split second as he put her hand down.

  That was until his eyes met Oz’s.

  Oz gave a little wave to Gol, the fairy who’d revealed Maizette’s name to him in the Gauntlet. The little golden eyes went wide and his next sentence was fumbled. His mouth opened and shut and then, after staring at his clipboard for a moment, he turned back to Angie.

  "I’m sorry, what was your question?"

  It seemed fairies could sweat, or at least that’s what Oz assumed the sudden outbreak of sparkling beads on his skin was.

  "Oh thank you. Will the golems work with observational skills?" Angie smiled, seemingly unaware of the fairy’s sudden burst of terror.

  "Yes they will. They’re basically a very sturdy but limited template. They are built to deal with a wide range of skill types. For instance if they hit you the damage will be minimal but enough to trigger reactionary skills." His voice sped up.

  "Now onto the last feature. Your kit bags were archived when you entered. When you exit return everything to your bag. Damage or loss of consumable items will be restored by Noxarcer’s power. Trying to cheat this to create copies of existing items will not be tolerated. The dungeon always knows."

  "Is that everything? Great! I’ll be off."

  And with one last look at Oz, Gol disappeared into a puff of sparkling dust.

  "I cannot believe they have a dungeon fairy on admin! To think they can use such a valuable resource for such a mundane use." Pilt muttered.

  "It has to be a punishment duty. He probably messed something up. They are very prideful and don’t like doing anything too repetitive. Something about saying the same things over and over again really irritates them," Angie chimed in.

  "He seemed focused on you." Loxa poked Oz. She was annoyingly observant, like her guardsman father.

  "Probably doesn’t see too many familiars like Chops, and my gear’s pretty unique." The Ozzer lied for him smoothly. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his compatriots, but the whole disaster with learning Maizette’s name was between him, her and the dungeon.

  "Nah I recognise that. You intimidated him." She grinned.

  "I didn’t use a skill." The Ozzer supplied before Oz could stop him. Never volunteer information!

  "So you did intimidate him somehow! I’ve had years to see people jump around you. That fairy was scared of you. What did..."

  Loxa’s smile faded as she finally spotted the worried look in his eyes. She must have realised too late it had something to do with his secrets.

  So to change the subject she attacked him.

  The elf closed the distance between them like she was pulled there. Her shadow stretching out behind her, the butt of her spear rising up to strike him in the chest.

  Oz dodged right, his hand already slapping the attack away. She was faster than he was by a good measure, but she just didn’t have the experience he had with surprise attacks. His counter, as usual, wasn’t to do anything too fancy. He just leveraged his sheer bulk to shoulder-check her.

  A counter that she used to kick off and launch herself away from him, grinning as she somersaulted in the air and landed on her feet.

  "Hey now!"

  "Well fuck me, aren’t you a solid slab of warrior. I thought the boys were underselling it but there isn’t an inch of give in you, is there?"

  "Look I think we should all calm down and..." Bless began, her voice perfectly reasonable. It was only Oz’s enhanced perception, which could see the flow of magic to her circles, that warned him to dodge.

  "Are we fighting?" Angie screamed.

  "No actives! Boys vs girls!" Bless shouted as she retreated back, trying to open up space as the magic circles on her arms began to glow.

  "But..." Angie began to protest, only to just dodge an arrow that came from what appeared to be a completely empty corner of the room.

  "Fine! Let goo—rwl," Angie shouted as she wolfed out.

  The fight was upon them.