Rebecca tramped along with the rest of the sect initiates, with the novices trailing along behind them like a reluctant tail. The walk to the fort was long, but with all the training she’d been through, the kilometers melted away. It was still early morning when they arrived, bright clear light sending long shadows across the fields and barracks they were led through until they reached the famed obstacle course.

  Growing up in the city, everyone was well aware of the training course all new army recruits were forced to run. Stretching half a kilometer, it was a grueling test of strength, speed, and stamina. Once a year the course was opened up for regular people to attempt and compare themselves to the soldiers. It was considered a point of pride for young men and women to get more than halfway before quitting. Actually reaching the end would get you free drinks for the rest of that month in any of the taverns in the city.

  Then Rebecca noticed the crowd. Laurel was standing on a platform at the beginning of the course, along with Major Kat. Behind them, spread out around the course’s length, Rebecca could see clusters of soldiers, some holding breakfast, others having brought out small camp chairs. No one had said anything about an audience!

  Gabrielle, of course, was eating it up. Rebecca could see her smiling and waving to the waiting people as she swaggered towards Laurel. Two could play at that game. She transferred Flint to Leander’s shoulders and marched up to the front, making sure she reached Laurel at the same time as Gabrielle.

  “Welcome all, we are here today to settle a challenge between Initiates Rebecca Evrard and Gabrielle Marchant of the Eternal Archive. The challenge is to be the fastest to complete a physical obstacle course as determined by the designated adjudicator, myself. Rather than build a new one from scratch, we have been graciously allowed temporary use of the infamous Fort Sarken Obstacle Course for the morning while it is not otherwise in use.”

  Rebecca shivered at the slight breeze that meant Laurel was sending her words to everyone directly through the air. The sensation always felt like the Sectmaster was standing right behind her. Laurel made some sort of signal to the major and the pilot began speaking, her words being projected as well.

  “Seems to be there are a lot of recruits with free time and an interest in our obstacle course. Who wants to show these young ladies how to complete this month’s setup?”

  About half the soldiers found a way to avoid eye contact while still looking at the major, while the rest eagerly started shouting to be chosen.

  “One, two, three, four,” Major Kat said, pointing out four eager soldiers in turn. “McKesson, I expect you to do the pilot corps proud.”

  The soldiers took places at the beginning of the course, to cheers and jeers from their friends. The starting line was set up for at least 10 people to run at once, so the four spread out. Gabrielle and Rebecca both stepped back to make sure they could watch the entire time.

  “On my signal, ready, go!” Laurel shouted. On the word ‘go’ she also shot out a small lightning bolt into the air, startling the crowd. Recovering quickly, the soldiers were off.

  They scrambled over walls and balance beams, swung across bars and hoops with only their arms, and jumped across wobbling stands in artificial ponds. Rebecca refused to be intimidated. So what? The soldiers were making it look easy, sure, but she had magic on her side. She mapped out where she might need to reinforce her legs so she could jump farther, or send mana to her arms to keep her from falling off the ropes and bars. Instead of worrying she dropped into some of the stretches they used during their normal lessons. It was time to focus. She had traveled the world and fought off evil wizards. This would be easy.

  The four runners crossed the finish line within a minute of each other to more cheers. The pilot Major Kat called out came second by a hair and Rebecca saw the major send the woman an approving nod. When the spectators calmed down, Laurel did that thing where she didn’t move but she somehow got everyone’s attention anyway.

  “Thank you to our volunteers! I’m sure my students will be generous in their appreciation.”

  A speaking look came their direction and both young women nodded. Laurel had made it clear that they would be responsible for every cost and courtesy for the amount of work their challenges were taking.

  “Now, as impressive as that was,” Laurel continued, “I don’t know if it’s fair for cultivators to run the same course. They have access to magic, after all, and the challenge should be raised accordingly.”

  The dread she had so successfully shoved down rose like bile in her stomach. Of course Laurel wasn’t going to let them just run the course as it was. Leander was off to the side nodding along like he agreed that cultivators should be running insane magical obstacle courses. If he had his way, this would probably be what they did each evening before dinner.

  With a wave of her hand, Laurel’s mana rolled across the field. With senses so much stronger than a year ago, Rebecca felt the master grab hold of the ambient mana and bend it to her will with barely a ripple beyond the obstacle course itself.

  As the crowd watched, stepping stones and platforms lifted into the air. Strong, sustained gusts of wind pushed ropes off to the side and changed angles. Jets of water plumed up from the crashing pools below. Running the course now would require using the wind to get between obstacles, and avoiding the areas that would push them off course. Rebecca eyed the new height. It would also require a lot of care if they weren’t going to get into a serious accident.

  “I’ll catch you when you fall off!” Laurel announced with a smile. When, not if, Rebecca noticed.

  Rebecca chanced a quick glance at Gabrielle, but other than wide-eyes and raised eyebrows, the other girl was keeping any concerns well-hidden.

  “Fall off once and you go back to the beginning of that obstacle. Fall off the same part three times and you go back to the beginning. First one through the end wins.”

  The only way out was forward. Both initiates took positions at the starting line. Rebecca could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. The crowd faded away as she spread out her spiritual senses and focused entirely on the course in front of her. Three, two, one, lightning. The signal came and she was off.

  *********

  The girls were running before the flash of lightning faded from Laurel’s eyes. The first part would be easy, and in fact both scaled the short wall without slowing. That was where the easy part ended. The next step was to jump from the top of the wall onto platforms that were slowly floating up and down in the air. Both girls made it, infusing mana into their legs. Rebecca almost overshot and Gabrielle underestimated the power she would need, but they got there. They sped up through the rest of the platforms, learning the timing and jumping with more confidence.

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  Then they reached the hard part. Some of the platforms were at angles, and some were too far for a regular jump, and required the girls to use the wind currents Laurel was controlling to get there. It was probably the place they were most likely to fall, but if they used their spiritual senses, and didn’t hesitate, they’d be able to feel the mana and make it to the next wall.

  “Feels a little mean to change it on them at the last minute,” Kat drawled beside her.

  Laurel thought the overtly magical display might finally get a reaction from the woman, but not even a twitch in expression had crossed the major’s face when Laurel had transformed the course.

  “They’ve both been training as cultivators for over a year. They can jump and climb and run better than most soldiers if they use their mana. Really they should be thanking me for improving their challenge.”

  “Oh yeah? Just did all this out of the goodness of your heart?”

  “Of course. Anything for my beloved students. If it means the next couple of teenagers that come into conflict think twice before setting up a tournament gauntlet of challenges I have to watch, so much the better.”

  Kat snorted. “At least it’s fun to watch. Be careful though or Maria’s going to have you over here running the special forces through the cultivator version for fun.”

  “Good point.”

  *********

  Gabrielle was stretched to her absolute limits. Her spiritual senses were set on keeping track of the mana flows Laurel created, while she was simultaneously reinforcing her body and calculating angles and force to get between the platforms. Now she was staring out at the next section. It would be even worse. Rings were suspended from floating bars by pieces of chain, and she would have to swing herself across with just her arms. Because Laurel was a sadist, some of those rings were being held out at strange angles by unrelenting wind. A small part of her wanted to stop and give in but she crushed that down mercilessly. She’d worked for everything she had, including in the sect. Not like the brat that coasted off of being a favorite. There was no way she would give in.

  Gabrielle leapt.

  For a moment she hung suspended. Then the magical wind pushed her close enough to grab the first ring.But she couldn’t stop there. This obstacle was all about momentum. Without pause she swung out her opposite arm and grabbed the next ring. Another and another and another until she was at the next mana-manipulated area. All her focus was on the next ring. It was too far to keep a hold of the current ring so with all the momentum she could muster, she threw herself forward. Her body was pushed by the air, her fingertips just brushed the ring, and she fell short.

  “Son of a whore’s bitch!”

  There was just a moment to panic before she felt Laurel’s mana infuse the air around her and deposit her at the start of the rings. She was in the perfect position to watch Rebecca make the same transition, and catch the ring instead of falling off. Clapping and whistles reminded Gabrielle they had an audience. There was no way she was coming in last with half of Verilia watching. She launched herself back at it.

  *********

  Rebecca noticed when Gabrielle fell. It was her chance. She would dominate this and every other challenge. Everyone would know she belonged in the sect, and that no one could bully her into thinking otherwise. Her athletic skills came from real battle and travel through the wilderness. Not like Gabrielle who had just sat around the sect except for a few days of danger on a vacation to the countryside. She made it to the end of the rings. Next up was a bunch of rope swings over water spouts. In order to extend her lead she didn’t stop to look at the pattern like she had with the rings. Instead she jumped and grabbed the first rope, kicking off the floating wooden wall.

  On the fourth swing, she felt it as she let go too early. But she had enough reach to grab the next rope. As her hand closed over the closest knot a jet of water slammed into her face. Her concentration broken, her mana stopped cycling to her hands and she dropped. At least she managed to keep the scream inside as Laurel deposited her back at the beginning of the ropes. Face dripping, she glanced behind. Gabrielle was almost done with the rings.

  This time she sacrificed a few moments of her lead to map out the water spouts, and then she went again.

  *********

  Laurel watched her students with a mix of pride and resigned disappointment. They were both performing exceptionally, rising to the challenge like true cultivators. The earnestness with which they approached these challenges was almost beautiful in its naivete. She just wished it wasn’t in opposition to one another. This whole event was a reflection of just how much trust she had in the sect founders, and all the elders that had come before and returned to the stars. Direct competition like this would help the girls purge the kind of insidious resentment that had built up to this point. Probably. Hopefully.

  The girls were in the final hundred meters. This part was usually some sort of sparring when the soldiers ran it; officers standing between their eager soldiers and success. Instead of finding cultivators for them to fight, Laurel would be trying something different. As they stepped onto the field, the air resistance around them increased. When they tried to run, the air pushed back, slowing them down even further. Laurel could pick out the sweat beading along their hairlines, and the panting breaths as they struggled for each meter of ground.

  Both girls cycled their mana to try and resist the pressure. She couldn’t have that. A cultivator always had supreme control over mana within their own bodies. Except when a much stronger cultivator decided to push back against that control. Laurel let the presence of her cultivation smother the field. No mana would move except at her own will. The initiates stumbled at the same time when the trick that allowed them to get this far was ripped away suddenly. Gabrielle ended up on one knee when Laurel made the change. Only for a moment. The young woman staggered back upright and went back to running. Another zing of pride flashed through Laurel.

  Ignoring anything else about her situation, for all the people she’d ever met and places she’d seen, Laurel wouldn’t change her students for anything.

  *********

  Rebecca desperately gasped for breath. Laurel had done something to the air, it was like running through soup. The faster she ran, the thicker it got. Gabrielle was somewhere off to her left but even turning to look felt like too much effort. None of her mana would do what she told it to. She couldn’t use it to breathe easier or send it to her legs to make her run faster. It was all she could do to take the next step. And the one after that. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to stop. She refused. There was no way she would fall at the final moment. Just 50 more meters. Then 20. 10. The line was right there and with everything she had left, Rebecca flung her whole body across it.

  For a few moments she just stayed on the ground, her hands and knees propping her body up while her head dropped forward. She just breathed. But only for a minute. Her limbs were shaking in protest but Rebecca had spent too long cowering to stay on her knees for long.

  She staggered upright and looked around. The soldiers were still cheering, and the rest of the sect was crowded around the finish line or running the rest of the way towards her. Gabrielle was standing off to the side getting a big hug from Helene. Rebecca ignored it all and looked for Laurel. She found her and the major about halfway down the course, walking towards them like they had all the time in the world. Which they did. They weren’t fighting to defend their place in the sect. Not that the major was in the sect. Whatever. The last few minutes it took them to arrive gave Rebecca a chance to calm down. Leander joined her with an approving nod, by which he probably meant something like “cultivators never give up”, but she was too tired to parse it correctly.

  The supervising women arrived. It was Rebecca’s moment. She threw her shoulders back and tried to make the gracefully determined expression Annette had mentioned in their etiquette lessons. Gabrielle joined her

  “I’m proud of both of you.”

  The first words from Laurel were just for the two of them.

  “Thank you everyone for coming to support our initiates today. I can announce that the winner of this challenge was Gabrielle Marchant. As a thanks for letting us use your equipment, I will be running the magic-infused version of the course for the rest of the morning if anyone would like to try.”

  Laurel kept talking but Rebecca couldn’t hear it over the ringing in her ears. She lost. How could she lose? The only silver lining was that Gabrielle refrained from rubbing it in as she turned towards her own friends. Then Leander was there with Flint. The little guy hopped up on her shoulder and chittered in her ear, like he could tell she needed some comfort. She brought a hand up to stroke his fur. Flint understood and he didn’t need words. For a minute she let herself be comforted. A nudge from Leander’s elbow in her ribs brought her back to the present.

  “The next stage of your challenges is finding and foraging cultivation resources. You will each have one week to leave the city and find, and properly harvest, as many different items you can find. Plants, minerals, whatever. Beast parts will be allowed within reason. Don’t just slaughter everything you find.

  “You can do this as one long excursion, or day trips while you sleep in the sect, I don’t care. However, for your own safety I don’t want you going alone. That being said, we don’t want your friends helping you out. Helene, you will be accompanying Rebecca, Leander you will go with Gabrielle. You have one week from now, then you will be due at the sect house with whatever you’ve found.”

  Rebecca firmed up and forced herself not to cry. Fine, she lost the race, but who cares about a race anyway? Real life wasn’t a race. But real life did involve finding interesting magic things in the wild. She would win the next one and all the ones after that.