Golems are a specific type of automaton, generally distinguished from synths and robots by a more primitive appearance and the variety of possible materials used in their construction. While robots and synths are almost largely metal, often with some amount of plastic mixed in, golems can be made from everything from stone to ice to metal or bone.

  The weapons or Spells needed to defeat a particular golem depend heavily on its material nature. However, it is generally the case that golems are slow and powerful. You are advised to utilize evasive tactics rather than to try and confront one directly. They are rarely capable of anything more advanced than charge and smash, so use that to your advantage. If there is a more intelligent foe nearby commanding the golems, consider eliminating them first to sow confusion.

  - Bonnie, Level 41 Beastmaster,

  It took a while before my head stopped hurting, and I missed the next several fights. Most of them didn’t last very long, as only a few of the Mages had shields and no one seemed to have any real defensive Skills. It was dodge or get hit, and there seemed to be more getting hit than dodging going on. The first fight I was able to really watch was Zaire against Arlo.

  It was hard to believe how fast things moved when I was watching from above. Zaire put his first Earth Spike to Arlo’s side, and he guessed right as Arlo opened with a dodge that took him right into the spike. It caught him in the knee and knocked his legs out from under him even as he put at least one shot into Zaire’s barrier.

  Arlo fell and rolled onto his side for a moment, then was tossed backwards as a spike punched out from underneath him. Unable to penetrate the combination of his barrier and the shield collar, it flipped him over and he scrambled backwards onto his feet. He was firing and still moving backwards when a spike thrust out of the wall behind him and he screamed in pain.

  He fell forwards off the spike as Wolf shouted “BREAK!”, and I looked down to see Zaire down on one knee, clutching a wounded arm. The Healer, a tanned, fit woman wearing a black leather jacket over a t-shirt and jeans – ignoring the hot sun – hopped down off the wall from her position midway between the two fighters, sprinting over to Arlo in a burst of sand. She attended to Zaire afterwards, then consulted with Wolf, who declared Zaire the winner.

  I cheered along with Alex and Alyssa and surprisingly Jayce, who was standing not too far away. The cyborg’s voice was as strange as their appearance. It almost sounded like two voices, one male and one female, somehow layered on top of each other.

  Alex lost his first match, to Clarice unfortunately, and Alyssa went down against one of the Lightning Mages in the group of trainees. One of the other Archers – a trainee who I’d seen standing with Clarice – took down the Arbalist, who simply couldn’t reload in time to be competitive. A few fights later, the Archer was up against Arlo and went down in a hail of bullets to the legs. Finally, my name was called again.

  “Azure! Clarice! You’re up next!”

  I grinned viciously.

  Clarice had a staff, which meant no shield. She must have thought I was going to start by dodging again, because she didn’t move – but neither did I. I ripped through my magazine, putting the first shot into her lower legs and letting the recoil drag the barrel a bit higher for each follow-up shot. A single Fire Bolt sizzled harmlessly overhead, and then Wolf was calling for a break even as my fourth shot punched her right in the chest.

  She went down hard and the Healer was already leaping off the wall by the time Clarice hit the sand. My friends shouted encouragement as I turned. Having no desire to shake her hand, I just climbed back up the stairs and high-fived Zaire instead. The asshole was shaking from pain, fury, or both as she struggled to her feet. One of her friends ran down the stairs to help her up and out of the pit, and both of them glared daggers at me as they emerged.

  I smiled right back at them as I slowly and deliberately reloaded my gun before storing it.

  A few fights later, Alex got matched up against one of the Arbalists and scored a close win, sinking an arrow into her shoulder as she aimed her second shot. His barrier had been just strong enough to stop the first one, but I was sure the second would have taken him out of the fight.

  Alyssa’s second fight was against the Wind Mage, and ended with her screaming in pain with an invisible spike through one knee. I shuddered in sympathy as her brother ran down to help the hobbling Fire Mage up the stairs, every step obviously agonizing. Tears were streaking their way down her face as we helped her sit, but she barely made a sound. When I asked her softly if she was all right, I was surprised by the hard look in her eyes as she nodded.

  It seemed no one was fighting more than twice, and everyone had finished well before lunch. Wolf gathered us up in a circle facing him, the Healer, and the other two instructors.

  “Alright everyone, good job on making it through your first fights without quitting. The prize for the best fight of the day goes to Jayce and Azure for the very first fight – one eagle each!”

  I smiled in surprise as my friends – and Arlo – congratulated me, then accepted the transfer from Wolf.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  “Don’t expect us to hand out prizes daily, most instructors will give out one or two a month at best. They can be anything from cash to mods to items to whatever they feel like. While some of them will tell you in advance, others – like me – won’t. Now, let’s talk for a moment about why I’m giving them the prize. Any ideas?”

  “Because she’s your pet student?”

  I barely heard the whispered comment, but I’m sure it was as clear as a shout to someone with Tier 3 Perception like Wolf. He darted forward too fast to follow, and then suddenly a girl was flying through the air and crashing backwards into the pit behind us with a shriek.

  Stunned, the entire group turned and dashed towards the edge to see what had happened. A couple dozen feet away from the wall, Clarice’s friend was picking herself up out of a small crater in the sand.

  Name: Marta Eleson

  Class: Archer

  Tier: 0

  “Miss Eleson,” Wolf’s voice was icy cold. “Do not, under any circumstances, question my integrity or that of any other instructor here at the Academy. If you have an issue with our decisions, go see Head Instructor Thompson and try complaining to her. Is that clear?”

  “You asshole!” she replied heatedly from below. “You are going to pay for that!”

  “I most assuredly will not,” he cut off her next comment before she could get started. “You will find that your instructors have a lot of freedom to… discipline students here as we see fit. Both recruits trainees. I suggest you keep your mouth shut unless you want me to recommend you for the basic track. I answer only to the Head Instructor and the Guildmaster, not your daddy or whoever you think is going to come riding to your rescue.”

  He walked, apparently totally calm again, back to where the rest of the instructors were standing and I realized they hadn’t budged an inch during the whole scene.

  “Let’s try this again, students. Why did I award a prize to Jayce and Azure’s fight? And why to both of them?”

  Arlo stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Innovative tactics, sir.”

  “Explain.”

  “Recruit Jayce used their shield cleverly, with a tactic that took advantage of the rules of the match.”

  “Correct. Normally students need to watch a few fights before we see them start to twist the rules like that. Now, what about Azure? Why a prize for her?”

  “Because she won?” asked Alex tentatively.

  “Incorrect. Winning is often not enough to get a prize. Other ideas? No? What was the very first thing she did in the fight?”

  “She dodged!” someone called out.

  “Also incorrect. The first thing Azure did was store her weapon, she dodged. This is something you’ll all be trained to do in the coming weeks. Most ranged weapons are bulky – bows, crossbows, staffs, and so on. Your mobility is reduced when you’re holding onto something that big, but storing and retrieving a Class Weapon is very, very fast. Who taught you to do that, Azure?”

  “Uh, no one really,” I replied. “I guess I’m just used to having it in my Inventory and being ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice in case of an ambush, so it seemed natural. I wanted to dive out of the way because I didn’t think she’d expect it, and I couldn’t do that while holding my gun.”

  “Very good, improvisation at work then. Now, you’re all dismissed for lunch and a few hours afterwards while the instructors assemble and discuss your performances. Squad Hard Limit, stay for a moment. The rest of you can get going – just be ready to gather when you hear the assembly signal.”

  It was only Zaire and me who stayed. I guessed Alex and Alyssa realized they hadn’t performed well enough to get a shot at the advanced track. Wolf waited until the other students had walked off before he explained.

  “Since you’ve already been put in the advanced track, there’s no harm in telling you both that I would have recommended you for it anyway, based on your performances. Since I won’t need to do much in the big afternoon debate, we’ll be meeting individually. I want to go over each of your Skills and Spells so I can make sure I steer you in the right direction. Bring your full Squad to the bar after you’ve eaten and I’ll meet you there.”

  Lunch was interesting, because apparently the instructors had taken over the restaurant and none of the trainees had been allowed to enter. There was a lot of complaining going on from their tables, with Clarice, Marta, Yuri, and others not bothering to hide their opinions on the food, which I thought was pretty good. It wasn’t anything like the inn’s burgers, but it was better than a lot of meals I’d eaten.

  Even though the restaurant was closed off, the bar was open, and it seemed like a popular choice again. I saw a roughly equal number of recruits and trainees headed there, so I assumed a bunch of the recruits had found something else to do. I caught more than a few dirty looks from Clarice, Marta, and Yuri, who were all seated at the same table.

  We sat around, drinking water, for probably another half hour before Wolf emerged from the stairs and stomped over to us with a pitcher of beer. He gestured for me to join him in a booth, then pulled out a privacy ward similar to Mason’s and activated it.

  Our discussion went quickly at first, as I’d already decided I wanted the volatile instructor on my side and didn’t hold anything back. He’d already identified Quick Step from seeing me use it in my fight, and Variable Load from my demonstration the day before. When I mentioned Tactical Reposition he grimaced.

  “Oh, it’s a good Skill, don’t worry about that,” he explained when I noticed his expression. “It’s just a cast-iron shitshow to train it. Skills that only trigger in combat will Level with a lot fewer uses than a Skill you can train every day – but you have to be in combat, or at least, you’ve got to you’re in combat.”

  Fire Mage Clarice Eleson

  Archer Marta Eleson