Tuesday morning featured clearer weather, yet academic pressure remained intense. The first-year common room was crowded before sunrise as students hurried to prepare for Professor Ashcroft’s essence flow quiz.

Patricia sat cross-legged on a couch with her cultivation manual open on her lap, softly muttering formulas. Around her, at least twelve other students did the same, forming a gentle hum of nervous repetition.

"Essence flow follows the path of least resistance unless actively directed," she recited. "Conversion efficiency drops as the complexity of transformation increases. Multi-element techniques require—wait, what’s the exact wording?’’

"—a proportional increase in control precision to ensure stability," David said from his spot on the floor, where he had somehow assembled a nest of textbooks and notes. "It’s on page forty-seven."

"Thank you. You’re a lifesaver," Patricia said as she quickly jotted down the correction in her notes.

Marcus entered the common room looking exhausted. "Can anyone share notes on essence resonance patterns? I get flow mechanics, but resonance still confuses me."

"It’s similar to harmony in music," David explained patiently. "Different essence types possess natural frequencies, and when combining elements, it’s important to choose frequencies that complement each other rather than cause interference."

"That explanation helps exactly zero amount."

Emma handed him her notes, saying, "Here." She explained, "I drew diagrams because visual learning often aids in understanding resonance concepts."

Marcus eagerly took the notes and sank into a chair to review them. Throughout the room, similar scenes unfolded—students assisting one another, exchanging resources, and collectively stressing over the upcoming quiz.

Someone asked, "Why does Ashcroft make his quizzes so hard? We’ve only been studying this for three weeks!"

"Because he teaches advanced cultivation theory and expects us to truly understand it," Patricia said without looking up from her manual. "Unlike Professor Larkin, who simply expects us to memorize and regurgitate."

"Hey, Professor Larkin’s tests are quite manageable."

"Exactly my point."

A second-year student entered the common room and posted something on the announcement board, causing several first-years to immediately rush over and see what it was.

"Oh no," one groaned. "The preliminary brackets for the Inter-House Competition have been posted."

This news caused a ripple throughout the room. Although the Inter-House Competition was smaller than the Inter-Academy Competition, it played a crucial role in determining the house rankings for the year and was regarded with great importance by the students.

Someone asked, "When are the preliminaries?"

Next week, immediately after the Inter-Academy Competition ends, the second-year who posted the brackets looked serious. "This means anyone not participating at the Inter-Academy level must begin preparing right away."

Great, as if the academic pressure wasn’t enough already. Marcus put down Emma’s notes and asked, "Does House Ascendant stand a chance? We’re always at the bottom of the rankings."

Patricia noted that half of our house members are too antisocial to join team events. She added that if everyone participated and coordinated, we would do well.

Good luck persuading Kai Wraith to join the house competitions.

"We don’t need Kai Wraith. We need people who are actually present and willing to work together." Patricia stood up, apparently deciding the quiz preparation was as good as it would get. "I’m going to breakfast. Anyone coming?"

A small group joined her, leaving the common room still packed with students frantically studying.

---

The dining hall during breakfast was its usual chaos, but with an added layer of tension. Students whispered about the Inter-House Competition brackets while trying to eat and review notes simultaneously.

At one table, a group of third-years was having an animated discussion about competition strategy.

"—need to focus on team coordination events," insisted a girl named Catherine. "Individual combat is where we always lose points because we don’t have enough top-tier fighters."

"Speak for yourself," countered Gregory with mock offense. "Some of us are perfectly adequate fighters."

"Gregory, you placed middle of the pack in last year’s combat rankings. That’s literally the definition of adequate, not top-tier."

"I prefer ’consistently reliable’ to ’adequate.’"

"Those are synonyms in this context."

Their argument continued while friends around them alternated between eating and studying. At the next table, a more serious conversation was happening.

"I heard Henrik is being released from medical today," reported Sarah Vex quietly. "But he’s not cleared for active teaching yet. They’re assigning someone else to lead his classes until he fully recovers."

"Do we know who?" asked Thomas Crane.

"Probably Captain Morris. She’s been covering some of his sessions already." Sarah pushed food around her plate. "Have you talked to the counselors like they suggested?"

"Once. Wasn’t helpful." Thomas’s expression was carefully neutral. "They kept asking how I felt about the expedition. I said I felt fine. They said that was denial. I said no, I actually felt fine. They said I was avoiding confronting trauma. Circular conversation that went nowhere."

"Maybe give it another try?"

"Maybe I’m actually fine and don’t need counseling." Thomas’s voice had an edge. "Not everyone processes things the same way. Some of us can experience dangerous situations and move on without needing therapy."

Sarah looked like she wanted to argue but decided against it. "Okay. But if that changes—"

"I know where the counseling office is. Thank you for your concern." Thomas stood abruptly. "I need to get to class."

He left, and Sarah exchanged worried glances with another student at the table.

"He’s not fine," she said quietly.

"No. But you can’t force someone to accept help they don’t want."

---

In Professor Ashcroft’s classroom, first-years filed in with visible dread. The quiz papers were already on the instructor’s desk, waiting ominously.

Professor Ashcroft was a middle-aged man with graying hair and the patient demeanor of someone who’d explained the same concepts hundreds of times. He waited until everyone was seated before speaking.

Good morning. As outlined in the syllabus, today we’re evaluating your grasp of essence flow mechanics with a practical problem-solving quiz.

Students began reading their manuals with different levels of confidence. The quiz consisted of three pages of progressively more complex scenarios that needed calculation and explanation.

Patricia read the first question and felt relief—this was manageable. She’d actually studied the right material. Around her, other students were having different reactions. Some looked confident, others panicked, a few immediately started frantically flipping through their manuals.

Marcus, two seats away, was quietly muttering calculations while jotting down notes. David looked entirely composed, solving problems with systematic accuracy.

The classroom remained quiet, with only the sound of quills scratching and pages turning. Professor Ashcroft was seated at his desk, reviewing research papers and periodically glancing around the room to observe.

Patricia worked through the quiz steadily, double-checking calculations and referencing her manual when uncertain. The questions were challenging but fair—everything had been covered in lectures or readings.

She finished with ten minutes remaining and used the time to review her answers. Satisfied she’d done her best, she sat back and waited for time to be called.

When the forty-five minutes ended, Professor Ashcroft collected the quizzes efficiently.

"Results will be posted by Thursday. For those concerned about their performance, I’ll be holding office hours tomorrow afternoon." He set the collected papers aside. "Now, let’s discuss the practical applications of what you were just tested on..."

The lecture that followed was actually interesting—Ashcroft used real combat scenarios to demonstrate how essence flow mechanics affected technique execution. Patricia found herself taking detailed notes, her quiz anxiety replaced by genuine engagement with the material.

---

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