"Hey, you three! Wait up!" Morgan called out to the three girls walking through a corridor. They all turned to face her.

"Ah, hello again," said the blue-haired girl politely. "I assume things were resolved on your end?"

"Yup! Just had to ask one of the guys a quick question," Morgan responded. "Well, I caught up to you like I said I would, but I might as well ask one more time: you don't mind if I tag along?"

"I have no qualms with it," replied the blue-haired girl. "I was the one who technically asked you first, after all."

"I don't mind either," the girl with glasses agreed. "The more people we have, the better, right?"

"Then it looks like we're all in agreement," said the blond girl. "Welcome aboard."

Morgan decided to take this moment to introduce herself. "By the way, my name's Morgan Daraen. I come from Heimdallr, and this one here is my partner." She lifted her weapon for the others to see.

"That's an axe...no, the blade more resembles a bardiche." The blue-haired girl leaned in closer to inspect it. "It looks more compact than the ones I've seen, however."

Morgan grinned. "Well you see, the small size is because…" She brought her hands to the center of the handle and separated it, revealing a longer pole concealed inside it. "Depending on how things go, I can switch between a one-handed weapon for close-ranged combat and a two-handed one for mid-ranged combat. Convenient, isn't it?"

"It looks well made," the blue-haired girl remarked. "Although, I can't help but be curious as to where or by whom it was made."

"I've got some connections, but I'll save that story for another time." Morgan pushed the two parts of the original handle back together, reverting the weapon to its one-handed form. "Well, you all know my name, so why don't you let me hear yours'?"

"Certainly," the blue-haired girl said, volunteering herself. "I am Laura S. Arseid, from the town of Legram. I use a sword in combat." She pulled a large two-handed bastard sword out from a strap beside her. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Morgan."

"Arseid?" Morgan pondered for a bit, the name sounding familiar. "Do you mean like the Arseid school of swordsmanship?"

Laura nodded and smiled. "The very same. I'm surprised you know about it, given your choice of weapon."

"Um, the what now?" the blond girl asked in confusion.

"It's one of two sword styles that are well-known in Erebonia, the other being the Vander school," explained the bespectacled girl. "I've never seen it myself, but I've heard that it serves as the general basis for the techniques used by the knights of the Empire."

"On top of that, the lead practitioner is said to be the strongest swordsman in Erebonia," Morgan added. "I know some people who practice the Vander style and they mentioned the Arseid school in passing." A realization then occurred in her mind. "Wait, so if your last name is 'Arseid', then wouldn't that meant that you're related to-"

"Correct," Laura affirmed. "My father is Viscount Arseid, Lord of Legram. However, though I may be a noble, I would prefer if you not use formalities. We are all students here, after all."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Morgan complied. "So who's next?"

"I'll go next," the bespectacled girl said, raising her hand. "My name is Emma Millstein, and I come from a remote region of the Empire. I was only able to attend Thors thanks to a scholarship, in fact." She bowed respectfully to Morgan. "I look forward to working with you in the future, Morgan."

"Wow, a scholarship, huh?" Morgan commented. "Now that you mention it, Instructor Sara said something about you being the top scorer on the entrance exam. You must be pretty smart."

Emma shook her head in modesty. "I wouldn't go as far to say that, though academics is probably one of the only things I have some sort of competence in. I wasn't trained in any sort of martial arts, for instance, so...I ended up getting recommended this weapon." She reached behind her and pulled out a staff with a quartz in the middle of its head. "It's called an orbal staff; think of it as a cross between a regular staff and an orbment. Truth be told, this one's still a prototype, so I don't know too much about it myself, but supposedly it makes for a more efficient way to cast arts when used in conjunction with an orbment."

"First time I've seen something like that," Morgan remarked. "You know, looking at you hold it now, it kind of reminds me of those magic staves used by witches in fairy tales."

Emma started laughing nervously. "A witch, huh? D-do I really come off like that?"

"Oh, don't you worry. I mean that in the most endearing way possible." Morgan joked, although a part of her couldn't help but feel that the mental image of Emma wearing a witch's hat and cloak was both interesting and strangely fitting at the same time. "And last but not least…"

The last of the girls perked up, taking that as her cue to introduce herself. "I'm Alisa R., from Roer."

"Wait, 'R'? Just an initial?" Morgan cut in to make sure she heard correctly.

"I do have a last name," Alisa said in a matter-of-fact tone, "but I just don't want to say it now. I have...personal reasons."

"Hmm…" Morgan tapped a finger to her chin. "Well, I won't press you on it; it's only the first day, after all. Besides, it adds a little bit of mystery to you."

"Th-that wasn't my intention," Alisa assured her. "Oh yeah, this is my weapon." She pulled out an oval-like object from behind her. After giving it a shake, the object expanded to form a familiar curved shape.

"A bow, huh?" Morgan recognized. "But I don't see any arrows…"

"That's because it doesn't need them, at least physical ones," Alisa clarified. "It's an orbal bow, kind of like Emma's orbal staff. It fires bursts of energy when I pull the string back, and depending on the type of quartz I have I can change the effects of the shots. Of course, since I don't have any on hand, they're no different from regular arrows right now."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Emma commented. "If I recall correctly, Roer is where the Reinford Company is based. Did you get your bow from there? I'm asking because my orbal staff was co-created by the Reinford Group."

"It was?" Alisa asked, slightly surprised. She turned aside and whispered "Why didn't I hear about this?" before turning back to Emma. "Well, it's true I got my bow from...somewhere in Roer, but I don't know much about the orbal staff. Just because I'm a local doesn't mean I keep track of every technological breakthrough, sorry."

"Oh no, it's fine; I was just curious," Emma responded with an earnest smile. "Anyways, since we're all acquainted now, should we keep going?"

"Of course," Laura agreed. "With luck, we may come across the others as well." With that, the four girls moved onwards in the dungeon.

Eventually they came across some of the monsters Instructor Sara mentioned were roaming across the dungeon. The group of creatures that were before them consisted of three flying cats with large feet. "It looks like we will have to fight in order to proceed further," said Laura, bringing out her sword. The other three proceeded to ready their own weapons. "They look weak, but stay on guard!"

"Right!" the other three said.

'Three flying units," Morgan thought to herself. "They look quick, but that probably means their defenses are low. I should use this opportunity to see how the others fight.' She rushed towards one flying cat and slashed it before it could realize what was coming. The feline tried to recover, but Morgan continued pressing her attack until the creature could resist no longer, finishing it off with a downwards slice. Feeling a rush of energy after having felled an enemy, she turned to look at the other girls. Off to the side, Laura was engaging another flying feline by herself. She circled the creature carefully in a state of focus, waiting for it to strike so she could attack back. The flying feline moved forward to deal a kick, as anticipated, and Laura deftly moved out of the way and cut it down with a single strike. Morgan noted that contrary to the size of the sword, Laura had no trouble swinging it with relative ease. Alisa and Emma, meanwhile, were teaming up against the last monster, having surrounded it on both sides. Emma got the monster's attention by swinging her orbal staff, conjuring several slow-moving purple orbs. The feline dodged the attack...right into the perfect position for Alisa to fire her arrow. A glint appeared in blond's red eyes as she released the bowstring, knowing full well that her arrow would hit its mark. It landed itself in the target's head and the monster fell to the ground, dead.

"I'd say that went pretty well for our first battle," Emma said.

"Sure did! Nicely done, everyone." Alisa raised her hand to give the bespectacled girl a high five.

"You know, I gotta say," Morgan said, "you're a bit different than I imagined you to be, Alisa."

The blond archer turned her attention towards the black-haired axewoman. "Really? What makes you say that?"

"I was under the impression that you were temperamental and prideful, but you're actually quite the team player. Color me surprised!"

"Wh-where did you get that idea?" Alisa's face changed from easygoing to flustered in an instant.

"Well, you seemed kind of...I don't know...cranky when I came down after all of you?" Morgan recalled. "Don't get me wrong, there are certainly better ways to start school orientation, but you seemed okay right up until that point, so I was wondering if that was your actual personality or if something happened to make you upset."

"Hmm, I see now," Laura mused. "I presume that is why you stayed behind to talk to those boys?"

Morgan rubbed the back of her head. "Hey, can't blame me for wanting to know about something I missed out on. They gave me a summary of what happened, but they didn't say anything that would imply anything else from the truth. With that said, however, I was led to believe that what happened seemed like an accident at worst." Morgan turned to Laura and Emma. "You two saw it too, right? Mind if I ask for your opinions on this?"

Laura and Emma took a moment to look at one another. "I was a bit surprised when I came to and the first thing I saw was...that," Emma finally said, a faint blush appearing on her face, "but regardless of which way one looked at it, it didn't look like it was intentional."

"Furthermore, his hands were raised up to the side so everyone could see them," Laura added. "I apologize if I come across as blunt, but I severely doubt he would do that if he had any ulterior motives. If anything, it looked like he was trying to catch you and cushion your fall."

Morgan nodded. "Yeah, that's what the other guys said, too." She turned back to Alisa. "Now, I'm not saying that you were in the wrong, but it would be best if you didn't hold a grudge against Rean - that's the guy, by the way. This class already has enough tensions as is with Machias and Jusis."

Alisa looked like she was about to say something in response, but instead she heaved a big sigh and slumped her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess you're right. When I look back on it in hindsight, I probably reacted a bit too out of hand. All the evidence was laid out for me but my body just kind of...acted on its own. I've never exactly been the best when it comes to thinking logically in the heat of things," she admitted.

"If you were able to realize that, then it seems there is nothing else for the rest of us to worry about," Laura said. "Still, an apology on both accounts would be prudent before we set this little debacle behind us."

The blond archer looked aside. "I'll...consider it. Uh, hey! We've been standing still for a while now! Why don't we move onwards?"

'What a way to change the subject,' Morgan thought. She, Laura, and Emma didn't say anything else in protest, though, so the group continued further into the dungeon.

Eventually, the girls came to a fork in the road. They decided to take a left and headed down a flight of stairs. Once they reached the bottom, they encountered some more monsters, this time a group of slimes with skin that was resistant to physical attacks but susceptible to orbal arts, thus providing the girls a good opportunity to use their new orbments.

"ARCUS activate!" each of the girls said. Auras started emanating from each of their orbments.

"Take this!" "There!" "Ha!" "Now!"

A mass of water and a bolt of fire flew forward and defeated one slime. A collection of golden magic orbs barraged another before a beam of lunar light was unleashed, eradicating it.

"I'm not particularly adept with orbal arts," Laura remarked once all of the monsters were defeated, "but it would be best to familiarize myself with them regardless."

"I don't have much experience with battle orbments myself," Emma said, "but I think I'm getting the hang of using them. This orbal staff also helps a bunch."

"Still, I wonder if there's something else that separates the ARCUS from other orbment models," Morgan wondered. "Communicators aside, it doesn't look all that different from a standard battle orbment. Alisa, you have any ideas?"

The girl from Roer shook her head. "I'm just as in the dark as the rest of you. I did hear rumors that the Reinford company was developing a new type of battle orbment, but they didn't go into specifics. It must be something major, though, otherwise we probably would have been given standard-issue orbments."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure our instructor will answer our questions in due time." Laura looked around the area where they fought the slime monsters. "It appears this way is a dead end. We should go back the way we came."

Laura led the group back up the stairs. Once they arrived back at the fork in the road, however, they came across a familiar group of male students.

Grinning, Morgan ran up to the group of boys and waved at them. "Hey guys!" she called to them. Rean, Elliot, and Gaius turned to see the black-haired girl heading their direction and greeted her. To Morgan's surprise, Machias was them as well. "Nice to see you all still hanging in there. Also, is it just me, or did you guys add another member to your team?"

"That we did," Rean confirmed. His expression then changed from friendly to panicked once the rest of Morgan's group caught up with her. "Ah…"

Alisa's brow furrowed once she recognized the black-haired boy. 'Looks like that apology won't be coming along naturally…' Morgan thought to herself.

"Hm, it seems you've cooled your head, at least," Laura spoke, looking at Machias.

The green-haired boy sighed. "Yes, I've calmed down now. I apologize for my previous outbursts."

"I'm not sure if we're the ones you should be directing those words to, but apologies accepted." Laura folded her arms. "At any rate, I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves to each other yet, haven't we?"

Rean nodded in agreement. "You're right. We should at least get acquainted with ourselves while we can."

The eight of them each took turns in introducing themselves. Throughout the impromptu meet-and-greet, though, Alisa kept glaring hostilely at Rean, and when it was finally her turn to give her name, she responded to the group with an "It's a pleasure to meet ALMOST all of you." Whatever talk of considering apologizing to the black-haired boy seemed to have left her mind altogether. Once they were all acquainted with one another, Elliot brought up the idea of travelling in a group. However, since there were still two students who remained unaccounted for, they all decided it would be best to remain in their separate, gender-divided groups instead to cover more area. Machias in particular seemed hesitant on letting a group of girls wander around a dungeon alone, but after Laura reminded everyone that she carried a large two-handed sword, the bespectacled boy ate his words.

"So then, shall we be off?" Laura asked the other girls.

"Wait." Morgan put her hand up and directed her gaze towards Alisa. "Alisa, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh? What would I be forget-oh." Alisa suddenly remembered their conversation. "Uh, can that thing, er, wait?"

"Come on, we're all here now. Who knows when we'll get another chance?" Morgan kept pushing, eventually looking at Rean. "Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Gentleman?"

Feeling the uneasy stares of everyone being directed towards him, Rean nervously scratched his head. "I suppose now's a better time than ever…" Taking the initiative, he started walking over to Alisa and stopped in front of her. "Alisa."

"Yes?" Alisa asked.

"That trap door was obviously designed so we wouldn't get hurt from the fall," Rean began. "If I hadn't tried to play the hero, none of this would've happened. So with that said…" He bowed a full 90 degrees, surprising everyone. "I'm sorry for what happened!"

Silence hung in the air for a moment before Alisa spoke up. "Wh-why should you be apologizing?" Rean straightened himself, a confused expression on his face. "It was just an unfortunate accident, anyone could have seen that, and yet even after you tried to save me, I ended up losing my head and slapping you! If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you." Alisa then proceeded to bow a full 90 degrees.

Now it was Rean's turn to act surprised. "L-look, let's just call it even and just put this behind us, deal?" He outstretched his hand.

"Deal." Alisa shook it, causing the other students to breathe a sigh of relief. "That aside though," she began, "now that we've established that what happened wasn't your fault, I forbid you from ever thinking about this again. Ever! Forget it ever happened!" She then directed her gaze to the other teens present. "This applies to the rest of you, too! Are. We. Clear?"

"Y-yes, perfectly!" Rean stammered. The rest of the class gave their consent as well, although some of them felt that deliberately trying to avoid thinking about the event only made it harder to forget.

Alisa cleared her throat. "Anyways, I think we've stood around long enough. Let's get moving!" She walked further down the hallway in a huff. Laura and Emma excused themselves and left to follow her.

"Well…" Morgan said, putting her hands on her hips. "I didn't expect the outcome to look like that, but hey! It's the result that counts, right?"

"Hey, Morgan?" Hearing Rean say her name, she turned to face him. "Thanks for that. If you hadn't brought it up, I don't think we would've been able to make up as soon as we did."

"Oh, that? I just wanted to give her a little push is all." Morgan then lowered her voice. "Between all of us, Alisa actually really wanted to apologize this whole time."

Rean raised his eyebrow and gave a small chuckle. "Really? Wouldn't have expected that."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" Machias asked. "Maybe one of us could accompany you-"

"I appreciate the chivalry, but we can handle ourselves just fine," Morgan interjected. "We've got four and you've got four; the numbers makes things fair. Besides, I'd be more worried about yourself right now; don't you still have some unresolved business with Duke Albarea's son?"

The thought of Jusis irritated Machias slightly. "I don't think that-"

"Morgan! We're going to be leaving without you!" Alisa's voice rang down the hallway.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" She looked into Machias's eyes. "Look, I'm sure you have a good reason for hating nobles, but if you keep acting like that someone's going to get hurt eventually. Just...try and rein yourself in until we find the instructor again? Because we're going to need all the people we can get if we want to get out of here, and the monsters aren't going to wait to listen to your views on social prejudice." Morgan folded her arms and narrowed her eyes slightly. "You can at least tolerate that much, right? Mr. Son of Imperial Governor Regnitz?"

Machias's eyes widened like a cornered animal's. Rean and Elliot looked to him with shocked expressions. Gaius, meanwhile, merely raised an eyebrow.

"W-wait, you guys didn't know about this?" Morgan asked, starting to panic.

"Well, not at first glance…" Rean said.

"Now that I think about it, I thought the name Regnitz sounded familiar…" Elliot mumbled, sounding ashamed that he didn't recognize the name sooner.

"Shoot...uh, this is a little awkward, isn't it?" Morgan nervously scratched her cheek. "I, er...I gotta go!" And with that, the black-haired girl made her swift exit, leaving Machias to explain about his origins all by himself.

"Just what is a place like this doing here on campus, anyways?" Alisa wondered aloud as they walked. Little of note occurred since they separated from the male students. The girls would encounter some monsters, beat them down and occasionally cast some orbal arts, and continue on their way.

"I have been wondering about that myself," Laura responded. "While I certainly can't deny that this dungeon provides many benefits for training, the fact that there are monsters so close to the main school buildings is rather concerning."

"Even if this is a military school, I doubt this place would be used often for combat training," Morgan commented. "Soldiers are usually meant to be fighting other humans, not monsters."

Emma, meanwhile, remained silent as they talked.

"Hey, Emma, is there something wrong?" Alisa asked. "You've been silent for a while."

"Oh, it's nothing really," the orbal staff user assured her. "I was just coming up with some possible theories in my head. None of them seem to make sense right now, though. What I'm more concerned about is that we weren't able to find the silver-haired girl anywhere."

"That is true," Laura agreed. "We have been wandering around for quite some time now and yet we haven't found a trace of her."

Morgan recalled the time when she saw the silver-haired girl hanging above the trap door with a grappling hook. "She looked like the small, quick type based on her build," she thought aloud, "and with the dungeon looking the way it is, I wouldn't be surprised if she's just hiding somewhere. Let's see, if I was playing hide-and-seek, where would I look?"

As if on cue, a deadpan voice said, "How about right behind you?"

All four of the girls jumped and looked behind them. Lo and behold, the silver-haired girl decided to show herself.

"Geez! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Alisa exclaimed.

The silver-haired girl shrugged her shoulders. "Your fault for letting your guard down."

"Well, I certainly can't deny that," Laura admitted.

"Or maybe she's just really that good at sneaking up on people…" Morgan whispered to herself. The fact that the silver-haired girl was able to mask her presence so well was enough to convince Morgan that perhaps they didn't need to be concerned about her well-being.

"At any rate, I'm glad to see that you're alright," Emma said earnestly.

"Of course. Like what she said," the girl pointed at Morgan, "I'm small and quick. These things can't lay a finger on me."

"Just how long have you been following us?" Laura wondered, asking the question that was on all of their minds.

"Only for a bit," was the girl's curt reply. "Oh yeah. Fie Claussell. That's my name."

"Fie? That's a cute name," Emma mused. "It's very nice to meet you. I'm-"

"Emma, right? And the rest of you are Laura, Alisa, and Morgan."

'Did she take a peek at the roster or something?' Morgan thought. 'Then again, from the looks of things, Fie seemed to know the instructor. Maybe she found out from there…'

"By the way, that path leads to a dead end," Fie stated, pointing in their direction. "You're almost to the exit, though. Keep it up." She turned to leave.

"Wait, does that mean you've already been to the exit and then come back?" Morgan asked.

"Maaayyybe." Fie looked back to give the girls a sly smile. "Well, see you at the end." The silver-haired girl broke into a sprint before the others could ask her any more questions.

'Wow, she really is fast. Is she secretly an assassin?' Morgan then turned to the other girls. "Is something wrong, Laura?"

"Hm?" The blue-haired swordswoman had a look of suspicion written on her face. "Oh, it's nothing. I just can't seem to fathom her way of thinking. If she knew the way out, would it not have been better to let others know instead of wandering behind them?"

"That would make things more efficient for a team, yeah," Alisa commented. "But there are people who work better individually than they do in a group. Maybe she's one of them?"

"I suppose I hadn't thought about that," Laura said. "It seems I'm still a bit narrow in my point of view; now that simply won't do. I came to this academy to broaden my horizons, not lock myself away in my own perspective. Perhaps the next couple of weeks will ease things up between us."

"Well, first we'll have to get out of here, but that's a good way to look at things," Morgan complimented. "So, do we head back? She did say that this way leads to a dead end."

"We might as well," Emma concurred. "Fie must have gone through this place earlier if she was able to tell us that, and I think I'll trust her opinion." Laura and Alisa didn't give any objections, and so the group of female students started walking the other direction.

After some more walking and talking, a loud roar echoed through the hallways of the dungeon.

"Wh-what was that?!" Alisa asked in a frightened tone.

"That sounded like a very dangerous monster," Emma replied, her voice shaking.

"It came from...that way!" Laura pointed up a flight of stairs and drew her sword.

"Wait, you're going to go towards it?!" Alisa questioned.

"Some of our classmates could be facing it right now!" the swordswoman answered. "We must help them right this instant!" Immediately, she broke off into a run.

The three remaining girls looked at each other.

"Heh, we haven't even sat in a classroom together and we're already looking out for each other," Morgan quipped. Moments later, a smile crept on her face. "But you know what? That's what I like to see!" She drew her weapon. "You two coming or what?"

Emma took a moment to breathe and brought out her staff. "I'm ready. I'll support you as best as I can."

Alisa took out her bow. "We've already made it this far; might as well go all the way."

Morgan grinned before noticing someone else running towards them. "You wanna join us, too?"

Emma and Alisa turned to see the newly-arrived student. "Might as well," said Fie. She took out weapons that Morgan never saw before: a pair of small guns with blades attached to them. "Besides, I told you I'd see you at the end, right?"

"Hey, you know what they say: the more the merrier!" Morgan led the way up the stairs. Upon reaching the end after running through a corridor, they found Laura locked in combat with what appeared to be a four-legged dragon with blue scales and golden wings alongside Rean, Elliot, Gaius, Machias, and Jusis. 'They must have picked up Jusis along the way,' Morgan figured.

"Morgan," Fie said, grabbing her attention. "Cover me with an art."

"On it." She then turned to Alisa and Emma. "Alisa, hang back and fire arrows. Emma, help me with arts."

"You got it!" "Of course!"

Alisa let loose a volley of energy shots, each of them hitting the dragon. After getting the monster's attention, Morgan followed up with an art, shooting it with a mass of water. Emma finished casting her art and unleashed a luminous ray to barrage the monster further.

Rean turned to look at the attackers as they rushed in to join the fray. "Hey! You made it!"

"Sorry we're a bit late," Morgan apologized, "but we're all here now, and that's what counts, right?"

"So, any ideas on how to beat this thing?" Machias called from across her. "We've been giving it everything we had, but as you can see, it's rallying at an alarming rate."

"But with this many of us," Rean said, "if we can just find an opening…"

"An opening, eh?" Morgan asked, grinning. "I think I've got one idea." She called out to the girl waiting at the bottom of the staircase leading to the exit, "Fie, you ready?"

"In position." Before anyone could think, a volley of bullets fired from behind the dragon, catching it off guard. It tried to turn around and retaliate, but Fie was already in motion, jumping above the monster and landing near its back legs. "Too slow." She stabbed its right hind leg and pulled the trigger, causing the monster to reel in pain and crumple. "There's your opening!" she called to the rest of the class.

"Thanks!" Morgan said. She outstretched her hand and let out a rallying cry. "Let's go, everyone! Give it everything you've got!"

All the students yelled in collective agreement. A faint blue light started glowing from each of them as they all moved in to attack. Emma and Elliot alternated between releasing orbs from their orbal staves and casting arts. Machias let loose a large round from his shotgun and blew a chunk of scales away as Gaius moved in to stab the monster with his spear. Alisa kept shooting arrows while Fie joined her in firing her bullets, occasionally dashing in quickly to get a good slice in before moving back out. Meanwhile, Jusis, Rean, Laura, and Morgan were slashing and hacking away at the monster with their bladed weapons. The beast could do nothing but roar in pain as it received attack after attack. Eventually, Rean put his sword in his sheath and closed his eyes. After a moment of concentration, he opened his eyes and quickly unsheathed his sword, delivering a critical blow. Not a moment later, he yelled "Laura!" All the students halted their attacks and stepped backwards as the blue-haired swordswoman moved in for the finishing blow. With a great swing, she decapitated the dragon and landed gracefully onto the ground.

The dragon's head fell to the ground and hardened to stone before disappearing in a purple glow. Moments later, the body vanished the same way. 'So it wasn't a dragon, but a gargoyle?' Morgan thought. She pushed the thought from her mind, however, as she joined the other students who were exchanging high-fives in celebration.

After the joy from defeating the monster together subsided, the students began to wonder about the blue light that appeared at the end of the battle. Moments later, Instructor Sara made her appearance and, as promised, answered any questions the students had. She explained about how the ARCUS units could perform what was called a combat link with other devices, allowing their holders to act in perfect sync with each other, and how the ten of them were chosen based on their aptitude for the device. The act of combat linking reminded Morgan of a strategy her father mentioned a long time ago that involved pairing up units to boost morale and better the chances of surviving in battle.

"I think that pretty much explains the hows and whys of your situation," Instructor Sara said after all the students' questions were exhausted. "But this program isn't cheap to run, so we're not about to force anyone into it if they don't want to be here. If you do decide opt out, you'll just be placed in the class you would've been assigned otherwise. But to those of you who want to stay, I should warn you that Class VII's curriculum will be tougher than any other class' coursework, both physically and mentally. With all that out of the way, that leaves you all with an important decision to make…" She paused for a moment before finishing her statement. "Will you stick with Class VII, or not?"

The students all looked at each other in silence as if waiting for someone to make the first move.

Morgan closed her eyes and thought of the words someone said to her many months ago…

"I wish to create a new faction, a light that can break through the storm clouds that continue build over our nation day by day. This faction will aim to do as my group of comrades and I did and unite people from all backgrounds, regardless of status, ability, or even country, to push back the impending darkness. But in order to do that, I must first change the foundations of the world from the inside. In cultivating new minds who can think and act independently to face tomorrow's challenges head-on, they will become the ones who can push this philosophy into the future and turn a divided nation into a united one."

He stretched out his hand. "So what do you say? Will you not lend your aid and join me in this idealistic quest of mine?"

'I see now...so this was your plan all along?' Morgan thought, still remembering the earnest yet determined look in his eyes. 'Alright, I'll play along with you and your ideals. I owe you guys a lot, after all.' She moved forward. "I'm in. Whatever this class has to offer, I'm ready."

The female instructor gave an approving nod. "First to leave the assembly, first to enter the schoolhouse, and now first to join the class. Any reason why you're such a go-getter?"

"Not in particular…" Morgan replied. "But I've already went through the trouble of going through this orienteering exercise. If the rest of the year is like this, it shouldn't be that bad."

"It's only going to get harder from here on out," Sara warned again.

"'A good tactician knows when to back out of a fight they can't win,'" Morgan stated confidently. "As far as I can see, though, this doesn't look unwinnable, so I won't back out."

"I like that confidence," complimented the instructor. "So, do we have any other takers?"

Slowly but surely, the rest of the students started to join. First was Rean, followed by Laura, Gaius, Emma, Elliot, Alisa, Fie, and, last but not least, Jusis and Machias.

Sara applauded at the result. "Well how about that! A perfect ten out of ten! With that, I'd like to congratulate all of you on being the first ever Class VII!"

Sara said some more closing words afterwards, but Morgan was distracted by something that caught her eye. At the top of the staircase leading to the exit stood two people: Principal Vandyck and a middle-aged man with blond hair wearing regal red clothes. The latter of the two locked eyes with Morgan and winked. She responded with a smile and a small nod.

And thus, Class VII was born.

Author's note: Hello all. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you didn't, well, eh. I tried.
I updated the summary regarding this, but I will be inserting some changes here and there to the narrative. Such things are inevitable in fanfics, but the presence of an additional member right off the bat makes it almost necessary that some things be switched around. The scale of these changes will range from minor to medium-sized, but nothing plot-changing. In other words, though there will be changes, the story will still mainly follow the path of the original game. The main story of Cold Steel will still focus around Rean; Morgan's sort of there to provide some what-if scenarios and shake things up with her overall presence. Think of her as the tactician to Rean's lord...

Anyways, here's one last segment to end this chapter. Again, thanks for your time, have a good day and all that.

The students of the newly formed class were given a brief tour of the main buildings in the campus and the various shops in Trista as they made their way to their dormitory past the train station. Upon arrival, Sara assigned each of them to a room number, boys on the second floor and girls on the third, before retreating into her own room on the first floor.

Morgan walked up the stairs with the rest of the girls to the third floor, where they split off to find their rooms. The floor was divided into two parts by a lounge area with doors on each side opening to the hallway. Morgan found her room to the right side of the staircase with the numbers "302" posted above the doorway. Across from her was a single door that led to the floor bathroom while the room next to her, marked with the numbers "301", appeared unused and empty at the moment. It lead her to wonder why Instructor Sara didn't join them in settling down upstairs.

Opening the door to her room, Morgan immediately noticed that the packages she sent to the school that contained her belongings, as well as, to her surprise and relief, the lute case she left at the old schoolhouse, were all placed in the middle of a large checkered carpet that spanned nearly the full length of the floor. Along the far side of the room were two windows that opened to a small balcony outside and a display for her weapon. A desk, bookshelf, and chair were on the left side of the room while a bed, nightstand, drawer cabinet, and closet were on the right side. On the side closest to the door was also a vanity with a sink and mirror.

Morgan immediately began going to work and started opening the packages and sorting her belongings. One medium-sized package contained some extra clothes, so she put them in the drawer and closet. Another contained school supplies like paper and writing utensils, so she put those on the desk. A large, heavy package contained the textbooks she ordered for her courses, so Morgan had to take each one out individually to put onto the bookshelf. A small, light package contained her toiletries, which she put in one of the vanity cabinets.

There were two packages left, each with the words "FRAGILE" labelled on them. She first opened the larger of the two, which contained miscellaneous items like a desk lamp, an alarm clock, and an orbal radio she received in Heimdallr. She placed them in various locations before turning her attention to the smaller package. Gingerly removing the wrappings, she opened the box and peered inside. To her relief, both of the objects she placed in it seemed untouched. Truth be told, there was little need for her to put the "FRAGILE" label on this particular parcel, given the nature of its contents, but she couldn't help but feel a little bit paranoid at the time.

The first object was a combat orbment. Opening the cover revealed a collection of quartzes of different colors all placed in a circle surrounding a large green quartz in its center. Given the small area of her room, Morgan figured it would be best to save checking if the orbment still functioned for another day.

The second object was a book with no title on its cover. It showed evidence of being used before, as there were some note marks sticking out of it in random places along with spaces where the pages were folded into dog ears, but it was still in very good condition. Morgan opened the book to the first page and inspected the words written in familiar cursive:

Property of: Robin, Grandmaster of Ylisse

"I wonder…" she murmured to herself as she stroked her hand over the written letters. "If you saw me now, would you be proud of where I am? Sometimes, I think it was because of the devil's luck that I was able to survive for this long. I've worked hard to get better and repay all the people who've helped me get this far, but a part of me keeps feeling that I haven't done enough. Is this what you and Mother felt like back then?"

She set the book on her nightstand and began to take off her uniform, starting with her blazer and then her dress shirt. Before she unzipped her skirt, she walked over to the mirror and turned around so she could see the mark that was permanently tattooed onto the small of her back: a curved U-shape with a tear in the middle.

"Father...Mother...I hope I can do this."

Hmm...I wonder who Morgan's mother may be?