Dr. Selene Ward agreed to lift Adrian’s medical suspension under three conditions.
First, he would remain connected to a core monitor throughout the entire test.
Second, he would completely deactivate Calamity Beast.
Third, Lyra would stop the training the moment any sign of Class Conflict appeared.
Lyra added a fourth.
"For the next six hours, you will do exactly as I say."
Adrian examined the training chamber Meridian Academy had assigned them. It had reinforced walls, a floor capable of absorbing B-Rank impacts, and a transparent barrier behind which Selene would monitor his vital signs.
"You could have started by inviting me to dinner."
"To the center."
"Always so direct."
Lyra drew her sword.
Adrian walked to the center.
The door closed, and the protective barriers activated. Selene raised one hand from the observation room.
"Calamity Beast is isolated. Starbreaker and Rift Hunter have an initial stability of sixty-one percent. You may begin."
Adrian activated both classes.
Starbreaker’s golden core responded near his heart. Rift Hunter’s blue core awakened beneath his ribs.
Strength coursed through his muscles as Rift Sense expanded his perception throughout the chamber.
[Active classes: 2.]
[Starbreaker + Rift Hunter.]
[Class Conflict: None.]
[Synchronization stability: 61%.]
Lyra appeared in front of him.
Adrian barely had enough time to raise his arms.
The flat of her sword struck his ribs and sent him rolling across the floor.
"First mistake," she said.
Adrian rose with one hand pressed against his side.
"You hadn’t explained the exercise yet."
"Neither will a battle."
"A battle usually tries to kill me. I thought you had different plans."
Lyra attacked again.
Adrian opened a Rift Step and disappeared before the sword could reach him. He emerged behind her, concentrated Starbreaker into his arm, and threw a punch at her back.
Lyra leaned aside.
His fist passed over her shoulder.
She caught Adrian’s wrist, pivoted on one foot, and threw him to the ground.
The barrier registered the impact.
"Second mistake."
"That was the same mistake with different consequences."
"You used Rift Hunter to move and Starbreaker to attack. Two separate actions."
"I used them less than a second apart."
"Speed doesn’t make them a single action."
Lyra released his arm.
Adrian stood.
"So you want me to attack while crossing the Rift."
"I want you to stop thinking of your classes as tools you switch between quickly."
She raised two fingers.
"Starbreaker governs your body. Rift Hunter governs distance. As long as you continue giving an order to one and then the other, they will never be synchronized."
"The system says I can activate two at once."
"Activation isn’t mastery."
Lyra stepped back three paces.
"Attack me."
Adrian concentrated strength in his legs, opened a rift in front of himself, and crossed through it. This time, he kept Starbreaker active during the transition.
The golden core accelerated.
The blue core responded by attempting to alter his exit point.
The two currents collided.
Adrian appeared half a yard above the floor, his body turned in the wrong direction.
Lyra struck him in the abdomen before he could fall.
Adrian flew several yards through the air and crashed onto his back.
[Class synchronization attempt failed.]
[Core pathways overlapped.]
[Minor channel strain detected.]
"Third mistake," Lyra said.
Adrian stared at the ceiling.
"I’m beginning to detect a pattern in your teaching methods."
"Get up."
"You could point out the mistakes before they happen."
"Then you would learn my decisions, not your own."
Adrian rose again.
Selene spoke through the communicator.
"Channel strain increased by four percent. Don’t force both cores to use the same pathway again."
"I noticed."
"I’m saying it because you apparently need several people to explain that feeling pain does not constitute progress by itself."
Lyra resumed her combat stance.
"The doctor is intelligent."
"Don’t encourage her."
Selene deactivated the communicator.
Adrian breathed and examined his cores.
Until now, he had attempted to combine the classes by channeling their energies toward the same point. Starbreaker concentrated mana within his muscles; Rift Hunter circulated it through Rift Step’s spatial routes.
When he forced both currents into his legs at once, they competed.
He didn’t need to mix them inside his body.
He needed to let each fulfill a different function within the same movement.
Starbreaker would provide the momentum.
Rift Hunter would alter the path.
Adrian took a step.
Force descended from his hip into his foot. Before it touched the floor, he opened a Rift beneath his sole.
His leg passed through space, but the rest of his body didn’t follow correctly. He lost his balance and appeared on his knees two yards away from Lyra.
She rested the point of her sword on his shoulder.
"Dead."
"That position usually requires a little more trust."
The sword descended and flattened him against the floor.
"Dead twice."
After the first hour, Adrian had fallen thirty-seven times.
After the second, Selene stopped counting aloud.
Lyra didn’t slow down. Every time Adrian attempted to attack, she found a new way to knock him down. She struck him with her sword, her sheath, one leg, and, on one particularly humiliating occasion, a single finger pressed against the center of his chest.
Adrian kept getting up.
Starforged Body absorbed part of the punishment, but Lyra understood the ability better than he did. She struck immediately after one layer distributed an impact and before he could generate the next.
Rift Hunter offered no advantage either. Lyra had witnessed spatial techniques for centuries. The moment a rift appeared, she identified its exit from the direction of the mana.
War God’s Instinct would have allowed Adrian to follow her movements more effectively, but Lyra had temporarily blocked the shared ability.
"You’re using my instincts as a substitute for your own," she had said. "Today, you will learn without them."
Adrian emerged to her left through Rift Step.
Lyra was already waiting.
He canceled the exit before completing it, opened a second rift, and emerged behind her.
The sword changed direction and struck his shoulder.
Adrian fell for the hundredth time.
"You’re enjoying this," he said from the floor.
"I’m correcting your mistakes."
"You smile more when you correct the ones involving my face."
"Your face remains intact. That demonstrates restraint."
Adrian sat up. His uniform was covered in dust, his lip was split, and he had accumulated enough injuries that Calamity Heart would have considerably increased his strength if Calamity Beast had remained active.
Using it, however, would have invalidated the training.
"Do you hit all your students like this?"
"I have never accepted one before."
Adrian smiled despite his split lip.
"Then I’m also your first time."
Lyra knocked him down harder.
Adrian’s back struck the floor, and the defensive barrier lit up beneath him.
Selene activated the communicator.
"That raised his heart rate."
"The impact or my words?" Adrian asked.
"Both, though for different reasons."
Lyra raised her sword.
"Stand."
"You could admit that was a good line."
"I could hit you again."
Adrian rose.
"That wasn’t a denial."
Lyra attacked.
This time, Adrian didn’t open a Rift.
He used Starbreaker to deflect the sword and turned with the impact. Lyra changed the angle, but Adrian had already placed Hunter’s Mark on her right shoulder.
The mark showed him the shortest path.
He didn’t attempt to travel it yet.
He waited.
Lyra delivered a second slash.
Adrian retreated and allowed the blade to pass in front of his chest. Starbreaker controlled the movement of his legs, keeping his center of gravity stable.
Rift Hunter remained active without interfering.
Two classes.
Two functions.
One movement.
[Synchronization response detected.]
Adrian took another step.
Starbreaker concentrated its force into his supporting leg. Instead of releasing it into the floor, Adrian contained it in the instant before propulsion.
Rift Hunter opened a rift beneath his forward foot.
He didn’t send spatial mana into his muscles.
He sent the physical momentum into the Rift.
The fissure trembled.
For the first time, it neither absorbed his movement nor altered the orientation of his body. It preserved the force generated by Starbreaker while eliminating the distance.
Adrian vanished.
Lyra turned toward the usual exit point.
He didn’t appear there.
Hunter’s Mark had traced the shortest path to her shoulder, but Adrian altered the Rift while passing through it. He didn’t select a new exit after entering. He allowed Starbreaker’s movement to determine the angle before Rift Hunter folded the space.
He appeared inside Lyra’s guard.
His fist stopped a few inches from her abdomen.
Lyra looked down.
"I reached you," Adrian said.
"You didn’t strike."
"The doctor said we should avoid unnecessary damage."
Lyra moved the pommel.
Adrian was already opening another Rift.
The blow passed through the space he had occupied, and he appeared five yards away without losing his balance.
[Stable combined action detected.]
[Starbreaker maintained physical momentum.]
[Rift Hunter successfully folded movement path.]
[Class synchronization achieved: 3%.]
Adrian studied the percentage.
"Three percent."
"One correct action doesn’t compensate for a hundred mistakes," Lyra said.
"Then I only need to repeat it."
"That is what you were trying to do from the beginning."
"Now I know what I’m repeating."
Lyra raised her sword.
"Again."
The fourth hour was worse than the first three.
Lyra now understood the new technique.
She began blocking the shortest routes and forced Adrian to alter his exit points while preserving his physical momentum. Every adjustment increased the strain between his two cores.
If Rift Hunter took too much control, Adrian lost force.
If Starbreaker dominated the movement, the Rift collapsed before he could pass through it.
Adrian failed nine times before completing a second execution.
Then he failed seven.
Then five.
By the fifth hour, he could pass through two consecutive points without breaking the synchronization. Starbreaker kept the energy circulating through his legs and torso while Rift Hunter constructed the route outside his body.
Lyra continued knocking him down.
The difference was that she now had to move to do it.
Adrian opened a Rift against one wall, emerged horizontally, and used Starbreaker to propel himself from the surface. Lyra avoided the first punch, but he opened a second exit in the middle of his trajectory.
He disappeared before passing her.
The Rift returned him from the opposite angle with all his previous momentum intact.
Lyra blocked his fist with the flat of her sword.
The impact shook the chamber.
The barrier beneath their feet cracked.
Lyra retreated half a step.
Adrian landed, turned, and opened another rift. This time, he failed to stabilize it. The two classes lost their rhythm, and the Rift closed around his sleeve.
The fabric was severed.
[Class synchronization interrupted.]
[Synchronization peak recorded: 8%.]
"Almost," Adrian said.
"You nearly lost an arm."
"But I made you retreat."
Lyra looked at the mark her boot had left on the floor.
"Half a step."
"I’ll remember that when I tell the story."
"If you exaggerate, we’ll train for another six hours."
"A full yard. Perhaps two."
Lyra attacked before he could finish.
Adrian was already moving.
The final attempt began with three minutes remaining in the six-hour session.
Adrian could barely close his right hand. Starforged Body had reduced the damage but couldn’t eliminate fatigue. His mana channels burned, and both cores had begun responding more slowly.
Selene reviewed his readings.
"One more execution. Then we stop."
Lyra didn’t object.
"If you fail, don’t attempt to force the exit. Lose the attack before you lose the arm."
"You’re starting to worry about me."
"I don’t want to explain why my first student lasted less than one day."
Adrian smiled and adopted a low stance.
Starbreaker entered his legs.
Rift Hunter spread through the surrounding space.
He didn’t force the classes to merge. He kept each core within its own rhythm and connected only the results of their abilities.
Lyra advanced.
Her sword closed every direct route.
Adrian stepped against the floor.
Starbreaker’s force should have launched him forward. Instead, it disappeared into a Rift the size of his foot.
The energy traveled through space without losing speed.
Adrian appeared to Lyra’s right.
She turned.
He took a second step before his body had completely emerged. Another rift captured the new momentum and added it to the first.
Lyra slashed toward the exit.
Adrian changed it.
The third Rift opened directly beneath her.
Adrian emerged upward with the accumulated force of three steps. He twisted his torso and launched Starbreaker Fist against the descending sword.
Fist and blade collided.
The impact produced a circle of fractures in the air.
Lyra was driven backward.
One step.
Two.
The tip of her sword carved through the floor before bringing her to a stop.
Adrian crossed through one final Rift and landed on his feet at the opposite end of the chamber.
Both cores remained active.
There was no blood.
No fissures in his channels.
No Class Conflict.
[Stable Class combination completed.]
[Class synchronization achieved: 11%.]
[Combined technique created.]
[New technique: Riftbreaker Step.]
[Riftbreaker Step]
[Stores Starbreaker momentum within a spatial fold and releases it through a chosen Rift exit.]
[Consecutive steps increase accumulated force and spatial strain.]
[Current safe consecutive steps: 3.]
Adrian looked at Lyra.
"Two full steps."
She examined the small crack that had appeared in her training sword.
"Acceptable."
"In your language, that must mean you’re deeply impressed."
"It means you are no longer completely incompetent."
"I’ll accept that too."
Selene entered the chamber carrying a portable scanner. She examined Adrian’s channels and compared the results with the previous readings.
"No new injuries. The strain between the cores decreased by nine percent during the final execution."
Adrian closed the panels and deactivated both classes.
"Then my license remains active."
"After twelve hours of observation."
"Six."
"Ten."
"Eight and a decent meal."
Selene stared at him.
"You aren’t negotiating rights to a dungeon."
"It worked last time."
The chamber’s communicators issued an alert before she could respond. It wasn’t a medical message.
Every screen throughout the academy changed simultaneously.
Meridian’s emblem appeared above a regional map divided into eight sectors.
[MERIDIAN ACADEMY ANNOUNCEMENT]
[Regional Academy Tournament approaching.]
[Representative Selection Evaluation authorized.]
[Eligible candidates: Local Rookie Ranking Top 50.]
[Evaluation begins in seven days.]
A list of candidates appeared beneath the announcement.
Evelyn’s name occupied ninth place.
Adrian’s stood at forty-third.
[Candidate confirmed: Adrian Vale.]
[Objective: Become a regional representative.]