They reached the main courtyard. Afternoon sun filtered through the tree canopy, dappling the stone paths in gold and shadow.
And there it was.
The job board.
Corren had seen it before, walked past it a dozen times without really looking. Now he stopped, staring at the wooden frame covered in posted notices.
"What are you doing?" Lyra asked.
Corren didn't answer. He walked toward the board.
Two sections. Left side: Student Board. Right side: Hunter's Guild Contracts.
The Student Board was full of safe, sanctioned work:
Tutoring: 50 valys/hour
Library Assistant: 30 valys/shift
Cafeteria Work: 25 valys/shift
Garden Maintenance: 20 valys/day
Corren did the math automatically. Twelve-hour days for ten days. Maybe 3,600 valys total.
Still needed 246,400.
His eyes drifted to the right side.
The Hunter's Guild Board was sparser. Fewer notices, but each one printed on thicker paper official contracts with guild seals.
E-RANK BEAST EXTERMINATIONLocation: Shadowfen Woods (3 hours from capital)Target: Veil-touched wildlife, aggressivePayment: 800 valys per coreDifficulty: LowNotes: Suitable for trained students. Emergency beacon recommended.
D-RANK RIFT DIVETeam of 4 requiredPayment: 6,000 valys per coreDifficulty: MediumNotes: Experienced hunters only. High coordination required.
C-RANK BEAST HUNTSolo possiblePayment: 18,000 valys per killDifficulty: HighNotes: Extreme danger. Multiple fatalities reported. Emergency beacon mandatory.
And at the bottom, printed on darker paper:
RIFT SALVAGE OPERATIONNo questions askedPayment: 25,000 valys per tripContact: [Address in Lower District]
Corren stared at the E-Rank posting. His hand moved without conscious thought, reaching toward it.
"No." Lyra's voice was sharp. She stepped between him and the board. "Absolutely not."
"I need the money."
"You need to survive long enough to spend it." She crossed her arms. "You can't fight Veil-touched Beasts. You can barely manifest your Veil."
"Then I'll figure it out while I'm fighting." Corren gestured at the posting. "Eight hundred valys per core. If I get ten cores, that's eight thousand. It's not enough, but it's something."
"It's suicide."
"Maybe." He met her eyes. "But sitting here waiting for a miracle isn't going to pay tuition either."
Lyra's jaw worked. She looked at the board, then back at Corren. Her expression cycled through frustration, concern, and finally settled on resigned determination.
"Fine," she said. "Then I'm coming with you."
"What? No…"
"You need someone who can actually fight. And before you argue about charity or pride or whatever noble suffering you're planning, shut up." She stepped closer, voice dropping. "I'm not helping you out of pity. I'm keeping you alive so you don't waste my investment."
Corren blinked. "Investment?"
"I dragged you to the entrance exam. You think I did that for fun? I saw something in you that day you passed the barrier something everyone else missed." Lyra's expression was fierce. "If you die in Shadowfen Woods before I figure out what that something is, I'll be annoyed. Very annoyed."
Despite everything, Corren almost smiled. "That's your reason?"
"That's my reason. Also, you're my friend, and I'm not letting you get eaten by mutated wolves alone." She turned back to the board, examining the E-Rank posting. "Shadowfen Woods. Veil-touched wildlife. We'll need supplies."
"Lyra..."
"When do we leave?"
Corren looked at her. Really looked. The set of her shoulders, the determination in her eyes, the way she'd already shifted from arguing against the plan to planning the execution.
She reminded him of someone who'd already decided the outcome and was just working backward through the logistics.
"Tomorrow morning," he said quietly. "Before anyone notices we're gone."
"Good. That gives us today to prepare." Lyra pulled the posting off the board, folding it carefully. "Come on. We have shopping to do."
They spent the afternoon gathering supplies with the grim efficiency of soldiers preparing for deployment.
Corren's contribution: 50 valys spent at a surplus shop in the lower district.
Basic first aid kit (20 valys; mostly bandages and cheap antiseptic)Two emergency flares (15 valys each; the kind that barely worked)Rations borrowed from factory surplus (free, but stale)
Lyra's contribution arrived in a series of packages delivered to the academy gate by a nervous courier.
Proper weapons (twin daggers, lightweight but quality steel)Medical supplies (real ones—surgical thread, burn salves, painkillers)Camping gear (compact tent, sleeping rolls, water purification tablets)Two communication crystals (palm-sized, crystalline constructs that glowed faintly)
"What are those?" Corren asked, pointing at the crystals.
"Emergency communication. Veil-powered." Lyra handed him one. "If we get separated, channel a small pulse of Veil energy into it. I'll feel it through mine."
"My Veil barely stays active for ten seconds."
"Then don't get separated." She pocketed her crystal. "Also, these were expensive, so try not to drop yours in a river or something."
Corren turned the crystal over in his hands. Smooth, cool, thrumming with faint energy. "How expensive?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Lyra..."
"I said don't worry about it." She started sorting through the medical supplies. "Besides, you're going to pay me back with your share of the cores, remember? Even split."
It wasn't even close to even. Corren knew it. Lyra knew it. But arguing would just waste time, and they both understood that some debts couldn't be measured in valys.
Evening found them in the academy library, the actual library
Lyra had commandeered a corner table, spreading books and papers like she was planning a military campaign. Which, in a way, she was.
"Veil-touched Beasts," she read aloud from a bestiary. "Created when Rift energy leaks into the natural world. Normal animals exposed to prolonged Veil radiation develop mutations—elemental affinities, enhanced physical capabilities, aggressive territorial behavior."
She turned the page. Illustrations showed twisted creatures—wolves with wooden spikes, deer with crystalline antlers, birds wreathed in flame.
"They're stronger than normal animals but weaker than true Rift Beasts. The energy hasn't fully transformed them. They're..." She searched for the word. "Incomplete."
"Does that make them more dangerous or less?" Corren asked.
"Both. They're unpredictable." Lyra tapped a passage. "Normal Beasts have instincts. Rift Beasts have patterns. Veil-touched are somewhere in between; animal enough to be erratic, mutated enough to be lethal."
Corren took notes, filling another page in his growing collection of information he desperately hoped would keep him alive.
Common Veil-touched in Shadowfen Woods:
Thornwolves (E-Rank)
Pack hunters, 3-7 individualsWooden spike protrusions along spinePrimary attack: Charging slash with spikesWeakness: Eyes, throat (between spike growth)Core location: Chest cavity, beneath ribcage
Mistcats (E-Rank)
Solitary ambush predatorsGenerate obscuring mist (radius: 15 feet)Primary attack: Leap from concealmentWeakness: Sensitive to loud sounds (disrupts concentration)Core location: Base of skull
Ironback Boars (D-Rank)
Territorial, aggressiveMetal-hardened hide (front and sides)Primary attack: Charging gore with tusksWeakness: Underbelly, joints, eyesCore location: Behind shoulder blade
"D-Rank," Corren said, staring at the boar's illustration. "The posting said E-Rank zone."
"Postings can be outdated. Veil-touched evolve quickly if exposure continues." Lyra frowned at the page. "We should avoid anything D-Rank. Stick to the outer forest where E-Rank creatures spawn."
"Eight hundred valys per core," Corren murmured. "We'd need thirteen cores just to cover my portion of supplies."
"Then we get fifteen. Twenty." Lyra closed the book. "We're not going in blind and we're not going in stupid. We hunt smart, pick targets, set traps, retreat if anything looks wrong."
Corren nodded, but his mind was still doing the math. Twenty E-Rank cores. Sixteen thousand valys. Still needed 234,000 after that.
The number was impossible. But then again, three days ago, passing Gladius's barrier had been impossible too.
Maybe impossibility was just a starting point.
Lyra left first, slipping out of the library as evening bells tolled. She'd muttered something about needing to inform her mother she'd be gone tomorrow. A half-truth that would hopefully avoid a full interrogation.
Corren stayed, reading until his eyes burned and the words blurred together.
Finally, he closed the last book. Gathered his notes. Started the walk back to his rented room in the lower district.
The academy grounds emptied at night. Just him and the sound of his boots on stone paths. Gothic spires loomed overhead, dark against darker sky.
He thought about Gladius's lecture. About secondary effects and creative applications.
About Cinder learning in seventeen minutes what others took years to master.
About the Rift trial in three days.
About 250,000 valys.
His hand drifted to his pocket, feeling the outline of the bill through fabric. Then lower, to where the communication crystal rested, cool and solid and evidence that someone believed he was worth keeping alive.
Tomorrow, they'd enter Shadowfen Woods.
Tomorrow, he'd find out if desperation could substitute for talent.
Tomorrow, he'd either earn enough to keep trying, or die trying and solve the tuition problem permanently.
Corren reached his room. Unlocked the door. Stepped into the familiar smell of mildew and cheap soap.
He set his notes on the rickety desk. Hung his jacket on the wall hook. Sat on the edge of the bed that was more springs than mattress.
And pulled out the bill one more time.
250,000 valys. Due in 9 days.
He stared at the number until it stopped meaning anything. Then he folded it carefully and tucked it back into his jacket.
Tomorrow.
He lay back, staring at the water-stained ceiling, and tried to sleep.
His Veil flickered weakly in the darkness cracks spreading like fault lines through glass, light bleeding into nothing.
Fragile. Porous. Broken.
But tomorrow, he'd make it mean something.
Or die trying.