Before they charged Adam, Fritz stopped his team, calling them to gather around him with a sharp gesture.

  Adam smiled and Fritz supposed they had just passed one of his hidden tests. Likely one about not charging in without a plan. They huddled close as the light rain fell.

  "What do we do?" Cal asked.

  Fritz thought for a moment, considering their tired and likely mana-drained states after their personal fights with the man and attempting to form a cohesive plan. He decided to take their tutor's advice and assault him like they would any beast.

  "Protect Lauren while I sneak to his flank. Bert give me a minute to get into position then charge. Strikers, wait for Bert or I to create an opening, then strike with what you have. Rosie, you keep the back line safe. Cal lend some support where you can with your stones. How are your mana reserves?"

  Each of the team quietly informed him that, while they were tired, they all could use at least one or two more Abilities. Cal and Bert seemed the only two who weren't as drained, a product of their Traits and high Endurance Attributes. Bert was the one with the most tiring task, so it was well that he had aligned so many points in his recovery Attributes.

  The team looked stiff and nervous. Fritz wondered what he could say to ease their worry. He needn't have bothered.

  "It'll be easy. Just like the Raider," Bert claimed, keeping his voice low.

  "Easy?" Cal whispered incredulously. "We almost died. Some of us three times over."

  "But we didn't," Bert countered. "And this will be even easier. This fellow isn't looking to murder us. Or skin us after."

  "True as the rain," Fritz agreed. "And just like when we fought that beast, and the Aberrant Eel after, we will triumph."

  The team remembered their victories and Fritz could see some of the tension leave their collective shoulders, replaced with confidence.

  With a plan in mind, they started to encircle the man. Fritz cloaked himself in dusk and slipped into a wall's shadow.

  Adam guessed their strategy immediately, basic as it was, and moved to foil them, speeding toward Lauren. Rosie Interposed herself between the two, as was her task, then leapt at the man, shrieking. She forewent defence, attempting to bring him down by tackling his legs. He kicked her in the face and her jaw was forced shut with a wet crack, cutting off the piercing cry.

  As she fell, Fritz charged the man's left while Bert took his right. An orb of black enclosed Adam's head. Blinding the man with Illusory Shadow took what little Dusksong Fritz had left and sucked the very energy out of his body. It was worth the drain, Adam couldn't see Bert's Corrosive Spray coming. His flesh and clothes sizzled, and he yelled in surprise before activating a Treasure.

  The man's skin instantly took on a slimy sheen and the corrosive hiss ceased. A ring flared with light, momentarily filling Fritz's vision with white. Instead of slowing, Fritz threw himself forward, lunging at Adam's previous position and thrusting with his training sword. Even as Fritz's eyes quickly cleared, his attack was deflected and he felt the oncoming crushing blow of Adam's own blunted blade. He dodged and countered, timing his strikes with the stones and punches being thrown Adams's way by Bert and Cal.

  It was during this blitz that Fritz landed his first blow on the man, a jarring thump travelled up his arm when his sword's tip struck a point on the man's chest, just below the heart. The strike wasn't perfect, far from it, but it was more than satisfying when he heard Adam grunt.

  Danger Sense ached in warning, but Fritz couldn't keep up with both the man's skill and speed. Although Fritz dodged precisely, and could feel where the strike would land, the predictive pain never faded as it would have if he had avoided the blow. Instead, the sensation stuck, staying with him and only slightly shifting until its prophecy became the present.

  Thwack.

  Fritz dropped his training sword and clutched at his shoulder. His whole arm went numb, and another blow came for his leg. He leapt backwards, out of the sweeping strike, and as he tumbled he could see both Rosie and Bert lying on the ground nursing their heads.

  The was the unmistakable cry of Sever, and Lauren's fire roared, but those sounds were cut short as Adam sped through the battlefield. He knocked down Lauren, then George, in a series of blurring steps and swift, solid strikes to their centres. Only Cal was left standing and although the man could run quickly he couldn't outpace his betters.

  In a desperate attempt to keep the man away, Cal produced his flail and swung it. It was for nought. Adam slipped under the soaring ball, and in a heartbeat Cal joined the rest of the team sprawling on the clover.

  Adam looked them over as they groaned and grumbled. The man bore an expression of both contemplation and frustration. He began to pace.

  "Utterly dreadful," he grumbled. "I'm half-hungover and all-too-rusty and you could only inflict a couple of scrapes and only one decent strike."

  He stopped stalking to and fro, then glared at the team. They glowered back at him in challenge.

  "Get up and run. Nine laps around the yard," he barked.

  The team staggered to their feet and did as he ordered.

  "Faster!" He yelled when their staggering gaits didn't meet his standards.

  And so began a regimen of running and rebuking as they stumbled and sprinted around the yard.

  Cal finished first, his Powers being particularly suited to such things. Bert was next on his heels, followed by George, then Fritz. Rosie came second to last but was able to complete the laps minutes before Lauren, who was the slowest and most easily exhausted.

  Just because Cal was able to finish running first didn't earn him any respite. As soon as he stopped, his chest heaving, Adam ordered him to start going through more selective exercises. The others were forced to join as they themselves ended their last laps. Adam had a slew of stretches and strength-straining lifts that he coached them through as they finished one course after another.

  The morning dragged on. None were spared the tortuous training, nor the taunting tirades that were levelled at them when they failed to meet Adam's expectations. Fritz felt as wrung out as a rain towel, barely listening to the man's incessant criticisms. Whether it was about their poor postures, sloppy stances or even how they somehow swung their arms wrong when they ran.

  Nothing seemed to be good enough.

  One by one they dropped, eventually too exhausted to continue moving. They lay there panting, heaving, coughing and spluttering in the light rain as Adam ranted about their many and multifarious flaws.

  "Slow, weak and already out of Stamina," he said. "Completely inadequate! With your Powers you should have no issues completing all that I asked of you, and more, in under two hours."

  They didn't bother trying to argue, being far too tired to reply.

  "I'm starting to think you're liars. There's no way you Climbed to the sixth floor of the Mer Spire let alone its precipice with all that you lack. Must have relied on powerful Treasures and potions."

  That comment got them back on their feet, yelling, cursing and swearing at the man, all while he smirked, seemingly delighting in their outrage. The bastard.

  "If you have the strength to shout at me you have the strength to run," Adam proclaimed. "Another three laps."

  They groaned and swore some more.

  "With your training weapons! Then you can break for lunch!"

  With the prospect of a rest on the near horizon, they groggily gathered the blunted blades and bulky batons and began to jog, then run in staggering strides.

  The man nodded once, seemingly pleased, then turned and strode into their house without another word.

  They ran, some fell, though they didn't stay down for long. And none tried to shirk the full three laps as Fritz had warned them not to through heaving breaths.

  "This...is...still...a...test."

  "Arsehole," Cal growled.

  "Bastard," Rosie coughed. "Hate him."

  "Tyrant," Lauren bemoaned, panting.

  "Squidbedder," Bert grumbled.

  Only George didn't curse, he was concentrated on surviving the last few laps. Which was understandable as he had done everything in his armour and that would be a true torture, even with his Armourclad Acclimation Passive.

  Eventually, they were done and they dully trudged into the house, wiped the mud, the blue and teal clover stains and the water from themselves with rain towels. While they did so, Fritz worried. He feared. His mind was filled with the biting berating and his chest was filled with the dreadful feeling of failure. Both his exhaustion and his trepidation pulled at him, trying to force him to the floor, but he kept moving, kept leading his team forward.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Fritz motioned at his team to follow, and they walked into the dining room where they found the table set and some food already laid out for them. Adam sat at one end and was already partaking in a blood lime, cutting it and piecing it with a knife and fork as proper as any noble. They glanced around suspiciously, but took their seats and began to eat a lunch of bread, fruit and ration bars.

  That was until the door to the kitchen opened and the scent of smoke wafted through, along with the prim figure of Cassandra in a white apron and bonnet. She held a bronze platter stacked high with long, thick, red sausages. Seemingly they had been grilled judging from the lines of black across them and they sweat with hot juices. She delicately placed the dish in the centre of the table and they dug into the hill of meat with gusto, spearing the sausages with their forks and piling them on their own plates.

  They were delicious, fatty and smokey with a hint of some foreign spice.

  "What are these made of?" Cal asked rudely through a mostly full mouth.

  Adam frowned.

  "They're redroast sausages, a recipe I picked up in Steletso, near the Steel Spire. I have a friend who makes them for me."

  "They're good!" Bert cried.

  "They're not as good as the real thing. We don't have the same mana-dense meats or vegetables here. That and the king is a prick and hoards the good stuff for him and his chosen nobles."

  "These are yours?" Fritz asked, having thought the delectable, filling food was something maybe Cal had procured.

  "That's right. When I saw the barren nature of your pantry I couldn't simply sit by and watch you eat only those foul rations and simple bread. It would lengthen the span of your recovery, for one. And for two, it would just be sad to see."

  "I'm surprised you care so much," Lauren said. "After our miserable performances and our what was it?"

  "Complete inadequacy," he repeated jovially.

  Lauren sniffed, turning her head away from the man, though she continued to eat, as ravenous as anyone had ever seen her.

  Adam laughed. "You'll have to do better than that to belittle me. I've been snubbed by the very best, and the worst."

  "Lauren raises a pertinent point," Fritz said. "Why are you treating us to this wonderful meal? And why do you care about our recovery."

  "Hmm? Why?" The man asked. "Because I'm your tutor."

  The table went silent and the dread that had been building within Fritz's chest was washed away by a tide of relief.

  "You've decided to take us on?" Bert asked eagerly as the rest stared on in surprise.

  "Correct," Adam said.

  "What?" Cal asked. "Then what was all the insults and cruelty?"

  "Had to take your measure and test your mettle," he said simply.

  "And what of it did you discover?" Fritz asked

  Adam set down his own cutlery and searched their faces, a pensive expression was cast over his features and he ran his hand through his short, unevenly-shorn beard.

  "You're an odd team. Rosie and George have the most commonly seen kits, though I would be hesitant to call some of their Abilities truly common. The rest of you are rarities. Especially Bert, Lauren and Cal. You three have some truly rare Powers."

  "Not me?' Fritz asked, somewhat surprised.

  "Shadow is cast by rain clouds and there is darkness in the deeps. And as such, the Mer and Rain Spire occasionally allow such powers to be chosen. So shadow-aligned Abilities are uncommon but not unheard of. Fire, Vitality, Acid and Space, though, now those are rare in Rain City," Adam explained.

  The team nodded along, exhausted and enthralled by the man's collected cadence. Fritz worried that they may have revealed too much of their powers, but set his fears aside for now. What was done was done and they needed this man's aid to grow more powerful, he couldn't regret it.

  "And that's why you're going to teach us?" Rosie asked. "Cause they got lucky with their powers?"

  "No. That's not why," he said seriously.

  "Then why?' Fritz asked. "It's not like you'd take us on just because I'm a noble. You seem to despise them."

  "I do and I don't. Many tend to idleness and arrogance. And I can't stand how they squabble over and squander what they have. Though I might have instructed you if you had a noble's wealth and lavished me with gold," Adam admitted easily. "Don't look at me like that, a man has got to eat. And drink."

  Fritz suspected the second was his main reason to take on such students.

  "Then why?" Lauren asked with a hint of exasperation, as the point was being dragged out beyond her patience.

  "Because each of you have grit and drive. More bones and balls than any of the noble scions I've been teaching of late. And it'll be a challenge, something I've sorely missed."

  "A challenge?"

  "Yes. To beat out your innumerable bad habits, polish your lacklustre skills and sculpt you into Climbers that can take on any Spire."

  Cal grumbled something.

  "What was that?"

  "I said: we aren't that bad and we don't need you. We Golden Climbed the Mer Spire. By ourselves. With no Guide."

  "Likely a fluke," Adam said. "It can happen." His tone was one of dismissal, but his eyes glanced to Fritz for a moment as if he suspected him of harbouring some hidden Senses.

  "Still, if we were as inadequate as you say, we'd be dead. Not living good and dry," Cal argued, then he turned his appeal to Fritz and the rest of the team. "We're strong. And we can get stronger on our own. I don't see why we need him."

  Adam sighed. "You're right. You aren't a complete waste. But you could be better, far better than you are right now. A year, nay, three months under my tutelage and you could complete the Rain Spire without casualties. You'd prefer that, wouldn't you? Or would you rather see your team die one by one, suffering, screaming, bleeding out? Just because you didn't want to do the hard work or couldn't take the hard words?"

  Cal looked to his sister, his eyes darting to where she had been stabbed by the bittersteel dagger. His face fell.

  Fritz had remained silent this entire time, watching his team as they slowly came to accept Adam as their tutor. He could see some doubt lingering over them. They recalled all the close calls and deadly perils they had only barely survived in the Mer Spire.

  When Fritz thought he could feel their wills coalesce into an air of determination, he spoke for them, taking his rightful place as their Captain, leader and Lord.

  "We thank you for taking us on, we won't disappoint you," he said.

  "Can't disappoint me more than you already have," Adam said.

  Fritz smiled blandly, the man was still grating, still offhandedly cruel, but he endured it for now, there were worse things. There were worse people.

  "We will endeavour to meet your expectations," Fritz said.

  "Good. It'll be hard, but as you well know it will be worth it," Adam claimed.

  Fritz nodded.

  The team resumed their meal, shovelling it down as delicately or indelicately as they cared to.

  "Hey, Adam?" Rose asked, still chewing.

  "Sir," Adam insisted amiably.

  "Sir," Rosie repeated.

  "Yes?"

  "Who's that?" She asked, motioning at Cassandra with her fork. The maid was stood in the corner ready and waiting to be called upon.

  The whole team turned to look, seemingly noticing her for the first time. They must have been too distracted by their hunger and exhaustion to register her presence. Though perhaps it was her quiet and unobtrusive manner that caused them to overlook her.

  Her grey eyes went wide, fearful of all the attention she was suddenly receiving.

  "What? You don't know her? I found her idle in the servant's quarters and put her to work," Adam stated.

  Fritz coughed, a little embarrassed he'd forgotten to tell his team about their new maid.

  "This is Ms. Cassandra Netter, our live-in servant," Fritz announced. "I hired her on yesterday and she started this very morning."

  She quickly curtsied, shaking only slightly as she held the posture.

  "Oh. Nice to meet you," Rosie said.

  The rest of the team gave similar greetings as Fritz motioned for her to rise out of her curtsy.

  "Ms Netter can't speak, so try to be mindful of how you ask your questions," Fritz said.

  A downing look of disbelief came over Bert and he looked at Fritz incredulously. "So she's 'not one for talk?' Really, Fritz?"

  Bert's face was every bit as amusing as he'd hoped it would be.

  'Really," Fritz said, smiling blandly and hiding his glee. "She's not deaf or slow, in fact, she's quite quick and will likely prove her competence swiftly. Isn't that right?"

  Cassandra nodded and signalled, "Yes. Thank you. I will work hard."

  He wasn't so sure about reading the last part right, but his Awareness intuited it for him, vaguely.

  The team looked to each other with some scepticism, but if they had any objections they didn't speak them.

  Adam frowned at the scene and began to sign to the maid, he had a good grasp of the language and soon the two were conversing quickly. Eventually, he nodded and smiled gently. Fritz didn't know he had it in him.

  "Good," Adam said. "This will also help your team. Very clever of you Lord Hightide."

  "Of course, "Fritz said, accepting the compliment easily, though, he had no idea what the man was referring to. It was one of the first bits of praise Adam had doled out, he wasn't about to question it.

  "Now. Once everyone has eaten, I'll give you all some private tutelage. We can make a personalised plan suitable for each of you, and your oddities and specialities. I'll start with the Lord Hightide, we have much to discuss."

  The team nodded, sparks of eagerness coupled with worry leaping from them.

  "Sir, I think I'm too tired for all that," Rosie grumbled, yawning.

  "Me too, Sir" Bert said echoing her yawn.

  Fritz silently agreed. Now that he had something in his stomach, sleepiness was starting to take hold.

  Adam looked them over with a keen gaze.

  "Right. It was your first day and you're not used to all the exertion yet. You should have your full faculties about you when I teach. Or as full as can be expected," he said. "I'll see you all tomorrow at dawn. Lord Hightide, if I could have a moment of your time before I leave?"

  "You have it," Fritz said standing as the tutor did.

  Fritz led the man to the lounge and closed the door behind them.

  "What is it you wished to discuss?"

  "Many things, but they can wait for tomorrow. Mainly I'm concerned about remuneration."

  "Remuneration?"

  "If you can afford my expertise."

  "I thought you said you owe me a debt."

  "Not one large enough to tutor you and your team without recompense. However, I will lessen the burden to a third of what I usually demand."

  "And why would you do that?"

  Adam scratched his beard.

  "I want to see you all improve. You could all be great," he admitted.

  "Even Rosie?" Fritz asked, attempting a joke.

  Adam stared at him seriously, not laughing.

  "Each of you holds potential," he said. "It just needs to be brought out further. A Gold Climb is no jest."

  "I thought you said it was a fluke," Fritz argued.

  "I lied. It was to keep them humble. Overconfidence kills too many for me to let it take root so early," he explained. "And it was no fluke, you have one of your father's Senses. Likely more. I could tell by the way you fought."

  "Just how much could you tell," Fritz asked, feeling the sudden spike of worry in his chest.

  "More than you fear," the man said as he moved the collar of his grey shirt to display a dark smudge on his collarbone. Fritz might have thought it a bruise if it weren't for the obvious blackness of the ink. "We match, no?"

  "You have one too," Fritz said, shocked that the man bore the Nightshark's fang.

  "Yes," Adam confirmed. "I tried to get it removed outside of Rain City."

  "There's a way to..."

  "I couldn't find one," the man said. "I know that it's possible, though not the theory nor the magics required to remove it without harm."

  It was disappointing to hear that he didn't know anything further about removal, but knowing that the black fang could be destroyed was a boon and half.

  "Then you also know about..."

  "The secret. Oh, yes. Silver Climbed."

  "Do you work for her?" Fritz asked, worrying he'd inveigled himself further into the Nightshark's taloned grasp.

  "Not anymore," Adam stated. "We parted ways some time ago. One dark, bloody day."

  "And she just allows you to walk around?"

  "Hah, no. That bitch is part of the reason I'm stuck here. That, and the King's grudge."

  "Why hasn't she tried to murder you?" Fritz asked, choosing the more pressing of the questions in his mind.

  "She has. I'm just hard to kill," Adam said. "I'm stronger than any of her enforcers, and she herself can't contend with me."

  "Then why don't you deal with her yourself?" Fritz asked.

  "Because it's one thing to fight off an ambush and another thing entirely to attack a fortress," Adam said, sighing. "Anyway, we've digressed. Back to business. Usually, I charge one gold triad per day from each Climber, and at a third that's three silver."

  Fritz nearly choked.

  "For the six of us, that's two gold triads a day!"

  "That's right. Though I need not come every day," Adam said.

  "Seems a steep cost."

  The man nodded. "We all have expenses, Lord Hightide. And I don't work for free. No matter your title or potential."

  Fritz nodded slowly and reached for his purse. It was exorbitant, but he judged it necessary.

  "Today was an exception," Adam said. "Tomorrow we can truly start."

  "Tomorrow then, Sir," Fritz said.

  Adam smiled and held out his hand, Fritz took it and they shook.

  "Good. Prepare yourself, Lord Hightide."

  "For what?"

  "For greatness."