Breakfast. Training. A Nice Ass.

The sun glared through the large windows of the dining hall, casting a warm glow over the tables filled with chattering students. Ethan, Penny, and Alice made their way to their usual spot, trays laden with breakfast food in hand. The air was filled with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the sizzle of eggs on the griddle.

Alice waited patiently until all three were seated before diving into her questioning. "So, how did the testing go last night?" she asked. Despite her hesitance in the moment, she had been eager to hear about it since they parted ways the night before.

Penny's face lit up with excitement as she recounted the events of the previous evening. "It was amazing," she said, her voice filled with wonder. "Ethan and I tested the Imbuement, and it worked incredibly well. My shadow minion grew significantly in size after just one application. The only issue we discovered is that we weren’t able to repeat it. We’re planning on trying again and seeing if there’s a cool down on how often we can be Imbued.”

Ethan nodded in agreement, a smile playing on his lips as he listened to Penny's enthusiastic explanation. "Yeah, it was pretty impressive. We measured the height of her shadow minion before and after the boost, and there was a noticeable difference. If we can keep this up, Penny could potentially reach the capabilities of a C-grade shadow mage in about a year."

Alice's eyes widened in amazement. "That's incredible," she breathed. "I can't believe how fast the progress is. This is going to be huge for our team. Can you imagine it, us cutting our way through D-ranked monsters as if we were C-ranked?"

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, it’ll be pretty intense. Once we figure out the full extent of my abilities nothing is going to stop us."

Alice nodded thoughtfully, her mind racing with ideas. "We’ll need to find out exactly how much Essence is created. Yesterday felt totally different depending on what we did. Did you find anything that worked really well?"

Penny agreed enthusiastically. "Absolutely. And yea, there’s this one thing he did with his tongue- AH!" Penny yelped as Ethan poked her in the side.

“Not so loud.” He said, nodding his head to the table nearest them close enough to overhear their conversation.

“Sorry. As I was saying, when he did this one move..” Penny continued where she left off, quieter than before.

Ethan took a sip of his coffee, his expression thoughtful as he listened to the girls brainstorm. They chatted back and forth until breakfast was over, Ethan happy to let the two of them talk. As they were finishing up, Ethan spoke up. "Those are all great ideas. We should definitely keep exploring and documenting everything.. Well, almost everything. That last suggestion was a little wild." He ended with a laugh.

Penny looked at him, deadpan. “I wasn’t joking.”

Alice couldn’t keep a straight face and burst into laughter, causing the other two to join in with her.

The trio finished their breakfast, the air filled with excited chatter and laughter as they discussed their plans for the day. Despite the initial awkwardness of his class Ethan felt glad that the dynamic of their friendship hadn’t been hurt. He had worried that things between him and Alice would be.. Awkward. Seeing her in good spirits this morning made him feel relieved.

As they were putting their trays away, all three received notifications on their phones to appear for a meeting with the team’s advisors after lunch. The message instructed them to eat lightly and come dressed for training, whatever that might mean.

"Dressed for training?" Penny asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What do you think they mean by that?"

Ethan shrugged. "I have no idea. But we'll find out soon enough. Telling us to eat lightly sounds pretty ominous, though."

A few hours later, they made their way to the designated meeting room, a smaller space located in a building on the edge of the campus. The building was older and slightly run-down compared to the rest of the campus, the seclusion giving it an air of mystery.

As they entered and found the right room, they found trainers Harris, Lee, and Thompson waiting for them. The advisors greeted them with nods and handshakes, their expressions serious but welcoming.

"Good afternoon," Trainer Harris said, his voice firm and authoritative. "We're here to go over a preliminary testing regime for your team. We want to establish baselines for everyone so that we can assess the growth of the party accurately."

The trio nodded in understanding, eager to get started. They broke down into pairs, one team member with one advisor to go over the testing in more detail.

Thompson approached Ethan, her expression thoughtful as she spoke. "Ethan, I’ll be blunt, I need you to be open with Harris and Lee about the sexual nature of your class. I haven't revealed anything, but continuing to do so will hinder how effective we can be in helping you. While I understand that you didn’t ask for this level of responsibility, it nevertheless has fallen to you."

Ethan took a deep breath, considering her words carefully. "I understand," he replied. "I'll consider it, but I plan on speaking to Alice and Penny about it before making a decision. We’re already working to document everything we test and I’ll be able to tell you more when we do."

Thompson nodded respectfully. "That's fair. Now, let's move forward with the initial testing planned for you. What we have planned initially won’t be affected by you keeping your secret, but that won’t be the case for long."

After reviewing the initial plans that had been built for them, the trio spent the rest of the afternoon undergoing physical training under Trainer Harris. They were put through a series of insane exercises designed to push their limits and establish baselines for their strength, agility, and endurance. Harris barked orders at them, his voice echoing through the training room as they lifted weights, ran obstacle courses, and performed various drills. The trio grunted and groaned with effort, their muscles burning from the exertion.

Finally, after what felt like hours of non-stop training, Harris called a halt. "Alright, that's enough for today," he said, his voice gruff but satisfied. "You've done well. But remember, this is just the beginning. We need you fresh to finish getting a good baseline for you, so expect more."

The three headed back to the dormitory, splitting up to go clean up from working out and plan to grab dinner afterwards.

While alone in his room, Ethan took a moment to reflect on how crazy the last two days had been since receiving his class. His life had taken a totally different trajectory than he had ever possibly imagined. High-rank classes were so rare that he never even bothered dreaming of anything above B-rank.

He thought about the responsibilities that came with being an S-rank, even ignoring that he had a class that essentially **** him to create a harem, the expectations from society and within the guilds were huge. He knew that he had to navigate these challenges carefully, balancing his relationships with Penny, Alice, and the inevitable two other bonds that would round out their team. It all seemed a bit overwhelming when he gave himself time to just think about it all. A few days ago he was planning on building a mid level dungeon raiding team. Now he was being groomed to build a team that would be tasked to clear the toughest dungeons that appeared with his harem. Just saying it that way made it feel ridiculous.

When they met up for dinner, they decided to head off campus to get something special in celebration of them all finally having their classes. They chose a cozy restaurant known for its delicious food and warm atmosphere. As they sat down at a table, the waiter handed them menus, and they began to peruse the options. The air was filled with the aroma of savory dishes and the soft hum of conversation from other diners.

Penny's eyes widened as she spotted someone familiar across the room. "Mei!" she exclaimed, waving enthusiastically. Mei, a friend of Penny’s who was two years ahead of them, looked up and smiled in recognition before making her way over to their table.

"Penny! It's great to see you," Mei said, pulling out a chair to join them. "And Ethan, Alice, it's been too long."

The trio greeted Mei warmly, eager to catch up on what she had been doing since they last saw her. Mei filled them in on her recent activities, working as a ringer for teams that needed a substitute offensive mage.

"Mei, we heard about your team," Penny said softly, her voice filled with sympathy. "We're so sorry for your loss."

Mei's expression darkened briefly before she **** a smile. "Thank you. It was tough, but I've been focusing on my training and trying to move forward. I spend any time I’m not raiding in the training halls, honing my magical abilities."

Ethan nodded understandingly. "That's impressive. We're all just getting our classes resolved, and we're still figuring out how to best use them. Alice and I got ours a few days ago, and Penny has had hers for about a month now."

Mei looked at each of them with an assessing gaze. "So what did you all get? Please tell me you’re going to create a team together, I remember all of you talking about it. Let me guess.." She looked at Penny first. “Some sort of mage?” Looking at Alice next she guessed. “Fencer? I remember you doing really well in the class.” Settling on Ethan last she took a moment to think. “Hmm.. I’m not getting defender vibes. Some sort of sword master class?”

Penny and Alice broke out laughing at the unintended innuendo for Ethan’s class.

“What’s so funny?” Mei asked.

Penny had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter. “It’s an inside joke, calling Ethan a ‘sword master’ for how his class must be based around his ‘sword’ for how great he is with it.”

Mei got the joke as Penny explained it, her cheeks turning red as she began to laugh. “Okay, so I was right at least to some degree!”

Ethan put his face in his hands, playing up the embarrassment for the ladies' laughter. “You were actually really close for Penny and Alice.”

“I got Dark Weaver, D rank.” Explained Penny. “So you were spot on with the mage guess.”

“And I got Shock Blade, D rank, which is about as close to fencing as I could have asked for.” Added Alice. “I’m surprised you remember the class.”

“Well, you were kicking ass and taking names! Of course I remember. You were schooling people with a year's worth of fencing experience on you.” Mei said to Alice. “And I should have said shadow mage!” Mei laughed, “I had a feeling but hedged my bets.” Mei turned to Ethan last. “Okay, and you, Ethan? It must be something good if you’re saving it for last.”

“It’s a new support class, I think I might be the first one to receive it.” Ethan responded.

Mei’s eyebrows went up in interest. “First person to get a class? That must mean it’s high ranked, right? What is it, B ranked?” She asked Ethan.

“Uh, well, it’s high ranked. It’s a support class that can create bonds with party members to boost and heal them. The benefits of the bonds are.. Pretty great.” Ethan explained.

Penny spoke up next. “He’s selling himself short. The bonds are absolutely amazing. We’re going to be a kick ass team thanks to him.” She gave Ethan a playful elbow. “Once we find two more to round out the team we’re going to be a **** to be reckoned with. Dungeon monsters won’t even know what hit them.”

Mei gave Ethan another look. “You totally have that swordsman look about you, but I think I could see you being the tactician type, taking care of your team.”

The girls broke out in laughter again as Mei made another innuendo. Mei cocked an eyebrow and glanced at the two before looking back to Ethan. “Okay, I’m totally missing something.”

Ethan opened his mouth to say something and caught himself before saying anything. A second later he spoke. “I’m.. not sure we can explain it. Team secret, I guess you could say?”

Mei narrowed her eyes and nodded. “Uhuh.. Team secret. Gotta be on the team to be in the know, do I? This the big reason you think you’re going to be the next superstar team, Penny? Mei asked.

Penny got herself together from her giggling fit with Alice. “Yea, you could say so. We can’t really share outside the team, but I think it’s going to be the thing that lets us make a difference.”

“Have you talked about what your team is going to need?” Mei asked.

Penny nodded. "Absolutely. We actually had an initial strategy session earlier today with our advisors.” Penny looked at Alice and Ethan was a questioning expression. Both gave her an affirmative nod. “And we're actually considering adding another member to our team. Mei, would you be interested? I don’t want to over promise, and we haven’t had a chance to have a real discussion about it yet as a team, but you’d probably be a good fit for our team dynamic. Shadow mages don’t have the greatest offensive power and Alice probably won't be much use at range, so an Elementalist like yourself would compliment us well.”

Mei's eyes widened in surprise, but a smile spread across her face as she considered the offer. "I'd love to," she replied enthusiastically. "Should we find some time to do some arena practice together? It’d probably be a good idea to run a few rounds together and see if we mesh."

“I’m pretty sure our advisors have our next few days planned out.” Alice said, looking to Ethan and Penny for confirmation. “I think we could probably find some time after dinner over the next few days? It’s later but there are normally a few open arena slots around that time mid week.”

Mei smiled. “That sounds like a plan. Penny, I already have your number, so I can just text you the times I’ll be free?”

“That sounds great. We’ll find a time to get together.” Penny replied.

“Okay, well I won’t overstay my welcome, I’m going to head back to my table before they send out a search party looking for me.” Mei excused herself from the conversation, saying goodbye to the group.

“This is a pretty perfect coincidence, right?” Penny asked Ethan and Alice. “An experienced Elementalist would give us that ranged firepower we’re lacking.”

“And she’s got a nice ass.” Alice added in. Ethan looked at her in shock.

“What?! It’s not like I didn’t see you checking it out as she left.” Alice challenged Ethan. “Besides, it’s not like it isn’t actually relevant to your class.”

Penny laughed again. “Okay, you have a good point. If we’re going to add someone to the team it doesn’t exactly hurt if they’re attractive, right, boyfriend dearest?”

“Nope. Not answering that one. Not falling into that trap.” Ethan refused to engage with Penny and Alice’s teasing. “I do like the idea of having someone who’s been on some raids before on our team, though. What happened with her team was horrible, but it seems to me like she’s not let it get her down. The opposite, really, if she’s been raiding as a ringer and focusing on her training. We could really benefit from having someone with her experience and drive on the team. You all know the statistics about new raiders. Most casualties happen in the first few years. Having her along would help us avoid that fate.”

Alice nodded seriously. “You’re right, that was a good call, Penny. I hadn’t thought of offering her a slot on the team, but I’m glad you did.”

“Ohh! Looks like our order is coming out!” Alice looked out across the restaurant to a server walking with several plates.

The group continued their dinner, the air filled with laughter and excited chatter as they discussed their plans for the future. Mei joining the team would be a huge boon if the arena practice went well. The only real roadblock would be figuring out how to introduce her to Ethan’s class.

The night ended on a high note, with the trio heading back for the night in high, if exhausted, spirits.