The training courtyard had filled before sunrise.
Word had spread through the dormitories the previous evening that the ranking board would go live at first light, and first-year students had responded with the specific energy of people who had been waiting for something to be made official. By the time the sun cleared the academy walls the courtyard was packed — students pressing toward the far end where a massive stone wall stood covered in dormant runes.
Lysander stood near the back of the crowd with Taro beside him.
The runes activated without announcement. Names began forming in rows of glowing silver text, building from the top down, each placement generating its own reaction from the students nearest to it.
Rank 1 — Cassian Dreadmoor.
The response was immediate and unsurprised. Several students near Lysander exchanged looks that said they'd expected this and had been waiting to have it confirmed. Someone behind him muttered something about the War Goddess blessing.
Rank 2 — Leon Valerian.
More noise. Leon was standing somewhere ahead in the crowd — Lysander could tell from the direction the reactions were coming from. The sun blessing's placement at two generated genuine discussion rather than just acknowledgment.
Rank 3 — Arion Drakensoul. Rank 4 — Valeria Frostborn. Rank 5 — Kael Stormhart.
Each name landed with its own weight. The top five were all either major noble heirs or holders of significant blessings. Expected, mostly, but seeing it written made it real in a different way.
Rank 8 — Elara Moonveil.
Taro glanced toward where Elara was standing in the crowd. She hadn't reacted visibly. She was reading the board with the same attention she brought to everything — noting it, filing it, moving on.
Rank 14 — Taro Stormfang.
"YES."
Taro's shout cut across the courtyard loudly enough that several nearby students turned to look. He pumped his fist once, tail moving with emphatic energy, then caught Lysander looking at him and composed himself to approximately forty percent of his actual enthusiasm.
"Top fifteen," he said, more quietly. "That's solid."
Lysander returned his attention to the board. The names continued down — fifty, sixty, sixty-three.
Rank 63 — Lysander Vale.
A few students near him glanced at the name. One said something to another in a low voice. A third shrugged. Then the board continued building and the attention moved with it.
Sixty-three. Mid-range. Unremarkable. Exactly right.
He was still looking at the board when a presence stopped beside him.
Cassian Dreadmoor had moved through the crowd with the unhurried efficiency of someone accustomed to spaces making room. He stood beside Lysander and looked at the board for a moment — at rank one, then at rank sixty-three — with an expression that was difficult to read.
"I expected you lower," he said.
"You said that at the banquet," Lysander replied.
"I'm saying it again." A pause. "Rankings mean nothing without proof. The trials start today." He gestured toward the open arena beside the courtyard where students were already beginning to gather. "Every rank on that board is a challenge waiting to happen."
Lysander looked at him. "I know."
Cassian studied him for a moment with the direct assessment Lysander had come to recognize as simply how he engaged with people. Then he looked toward the arena.
"I'll be watching," he said. Not a threat. Just information.
He turned and walked toward the arena without waiting for a response. Several students moved aside without being asked.
Taro watched him go. Then looked at Lysander. "He keeps doing that."
"I know."
"Is it annoying?"
Lysander thought about it. "Not yet."
High above the courtyard, from the window of the administration tower, Headmaster Arcturus watched the scene below. The ranking board. The students clustering around it. The movement of the crowd as the dueling challenges began to form.
His attention settled briefly on one name near the middle of the board.
Rank 63. Lysander Vale.
The name the exam instructors had flagged. The student whose entrance exam results contained a gap — a boss monster killed, a supervisor noting the kill wasn't clean but was undeniably real, no candidate stepping forward to claim responsibility.
He turned from the window.
"Keep an eye on that one," he said to the instructor standing behind him.
The instructor made a note.
Below, the first challenge of the ranking trials had already begun.