Chapter 39: Practice

The east grounds were clearer the following afternoon than they had been during the group registration as most students were either in still recruiting members or running their own drills elsewhere. Ethan arrived first with Bef already out and Lila showed up a few minutes later.

When they reached, they saw that Nora was already there.

She stood near the center with her sleeves rolled up past her elbows. She looked at them, no greeting, just a nod when they came within speaking distance.

"You’re on time," she said.

Ethan was about to open his mouth to reply when Lila’s own reply cut him off. "Let’s get this over with."

Ethan didn’t waste energy on trying to say anything. He called the Iron Golem from storage, stayed silent for a few moments then spoke

"Just the basics," Ethan said. "The golem holds the front, Bef scouts and sends info back."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"

"Gimme a sec." He thought in silence for a few more moments befor speaking again. "Lila goes for meele attacks and Nora handles restraining, whatever we find and helps where she can. If something break, fall back to the golem and reset."

Nora gave a short nod and they started training.

Ethan kept the first sequence of movement basic on purpose: advance, hold, move left, fall back.

The Iron Golem took the center with heavy steps. Bef ran a wide arc on Lila’s side with its eyes fixed forward.

Lila’s flames stayed tight and controlled around her arms. She used it more like a short range attack than something grand while Nora worked with thin blood threads on the ground.

It functioned.... Barely.

The timing was off by with a gap that would get one of them injured against fast opponents. Twice, Nora adjusted her angle without calling it, forcing Lila to increase the intensity just to keep up. Once, Lila pushed a wider burst of flame than needed and Nora had to dissolve a construct early to avoid the heat.

"If you’re going to adjust, say so. Don’t change and leave the others struggling to keep up." Ethan said after watching them for a few moments.

Lila clicked her tongue and nodded, and Nora simply reset her position without saying anything.

They ran it again and this time it was better. Not good, but better than the last run.

Ethan worked with short bursts of Death Link during the session, flickering into the golem’s higher field of view to track spacing, then dropping the connection before the drain could build.

The double perspective was cleaner than a week ago, though it was still imperfect, it was better than last time.

"The Golem works in the center. Bef scouts for possible exists."

It only grew messier...

Nora’s blood constructs snapped out in tighter patterns aiming to pin movement.

Lila’s flames hit hotter, forcing it in the golem’s lane, forcing Ethan to adjust with barely any room to gather his bearings.

When Nora overextended a bind, Lila had to cover the gap. When Lila’s timing drifted early, Nora’s follow-up landed on empty space.

"You’re cutting in front of my line," Lila said gritting her teeth.

"You’re filling the space I already marked," Nora replied in a calm but slightly agitated tone.

"Then mark it out loud."

"Then don’t assume the lane is yours by default."

Ethan raised a hand before it could turn into more than that. "Call your changes just loud enough for each other to hear."

They ran it twice more. Though the friction didn’t disappear, it stopped actively breaking the formation.

By the final sequence the three of them were moving like people who had at least agreed on moving in one direction.

"That’s enough for today," Ethan said rubbing his eyes as the strain began accumulating.

The Iron Golem went still and Bef moved back toward Lila almost automatically and sat. Nora dissolved the last of her blood constructs and flexed her fingers— face only slightly pale from the continuous use.

Ethan dismissed the golem back into storage and stood still for a moment, letting the residual strain in the control link settle. Then he opened the system.

```

[Name: Ethan Shaw]

[Age: 19]

[Awakened Class: Necromancer]

[Rank: E]

[Level: 3]

[EXP: 191 / 300]

[Death Energy:420/500]

[Control Capacity: 54]

```

The gains were modest as he noted that the coordination work had cost less than the spar with Nora, which made sense. No sustained combat pressure meant he could go on for longer.

Though he noted that the reason he was feeling strained was because he had to give sudden commands to the golem whenever either Lila or Nora responded late, it was an overall fruitful result.

He scrolled through the skill list, and left the screen open at his side while he checked the Beowolf’s condition.

Behind him, Lila and Nora watched in quiet, their backs resting against the wall.

"I was surprised you joined," Nora said.

Lila glanced at her. "What?"

"The group." Nora repeated. "You understand what it means to walk into an evaluation with two restricted-class users. Most Rank A students would have taken a cleaner team."

Lila was quiet for a second. "I know that. He tried to talk me out of it too."

"If he did, then he probably told you how easy it would be for you to get a decent score if you joined another group."

"I don’t care."

Nora studied her for a moment. She wondered what would make someone like her who was popular enough to join any group she wanted be so stubborn about staying with him.

"Do you have feelings for him?"

The question landed so hard that it felt like the whole world stopped for a moment. Lila’s shoulders stiffened but she didn’t answer immediately.

She also didn’t look toward Ethan. Instead she turned to Nora and asked:

"Is that a problem?"

Nora looked at her for a moment and turned back to Ethan. "No, not at all. If anything, it would be reasonable if you did."

Lila raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"He doesn’t perform strength for an audience. He doesn’t spend energy making sure to prove that he’s not harmless. He makes decisions and then accepts the consequences without regret."

Nora turned to her. "In an academy that rewards appearance as much as ability, that kind of consistency is rare. Especially in someone the system already treats as a problem. So I understand if you may have fallen for him..."

Lila stared at her.

This was the longest conversation they had ever had, and it was about a guy that Lila was allegedly head over heels for. "...You’re not what I expected," she said slowly.

Nora shrugged. "Most people say that when I stop being the product of a rumor and become a person standing in front of them.,"

Lila almost smiled, a small half-smile that worked to eas the tension a little bit.

"Don’t get used to it," she muttered. "I still don’t trust you."

Nora’s lip curved. "Understandable."

A few meters away, Ethan closed the system and turned.

He had expected to find them angled away from each other and a tension so intense looming over them. Instead they were standing closer than before, and... having a conversation?

Holy shit. They’re even laughing...

Ethan blinked. "That is new..."