Within a day or two all of the cadets were in passive outposts, resting up.

  I understand they didn’t make a connection to a foreign goddess giving them the ability to stay awake for more hours than a day typically allows.

  But I didn’t like that one bit.

  I needed them to be steadfast, ready, and always replenished.

  Even without my divine buffer’s presence I have operated at peak capacity.

  Before Nythris graced me with her presence I took my training more seriously than this.

  It did not matter.

  Luckily, the one thing that did separate me from them is while I was asleep I could still use my sensory abilities.

  They were dulled but within around a twenty foot radius I could subconsciously detect my surroundings.

  So I could rest right in the middle of town if I wanted to, and it didn't matter.

  As for Jerek and Rona, they seemed to hold out better than the cadets did. I’m not sure if it was resilience, or if they simply cared more about the fight than the cadets.

  Either way, it was nice to know Jerek and I had another person watching our back that was around our strength.

  Days within the town seemed to drag. Much longer than the usual limp.

  After getting these powers it’s made the world slow down and I perceive things faster than I did with eyes.

  Which means I come to conclusions faster too.

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  The problems within the town swirled within my head.

  From war, to vice, to everything in between.

  A pool of incoherent thoughts was drowning my subconscious.

  And I felt no emotion from it whatsoever.

  All of the things I had done, and all of the things I was projected to do drove me numb.

  And the worst part is I knew I was doing it.

  Not in the moment, but still.

  The way I grew cold to my environment was very different from when I was in school.

  Even in training with the cadets.

  Just today, a cadet threw a spell at me in training and missed spiraling to the town.

  Without even thinking I erupted a rock barrier to catch the fire.

  I had launched a civilian of the town by erecting that barrier.

  I could have focused myself and flawlessly prevented injury. But even now I was hazy.

  My internal priority was overlooking everything else.

  Internally I was helping them train, but from an outsiders perspective I launched a civilian at a building.

  Very few questioned me, but everyday that I did things like that I spread more fear into them.

  They didn’t respect me, they had no reason to. But the only way that I was going to earn that respect was if I actually did something for them. There was nothing I could do until after my fight with Torian.

  Just a lose-lose situation.

  To just about everyone else I was in the wrong with most of what I was doing.

  But what else is new.

  For the first time since school I felt Nythris’s presence.

  I wasn’t able to converse with her but I was able to feel her gaze.

  If I was doing things she didn’t want me to do, she’d likely meet me. At a bare minimum in the dream world.

  Her lingering presence was comforting actually. It felt just a little less alienating.

  Either way.

  Walking down the streets, eating food, conversing with my own friends or cadets.

  No matter the activity the pressure and strain from everything surrounding me beat down on me like the sun above me.

  Looming, constant, and persistent.

  Even the good kind of pressure, like that from Nythris, was keeping me in suspense. Too much was at stake right now, and too much could fail.

  Even with knowing all of that, I still pressed on.

  I trained, I encouraged, I drank. Everything I did was another step further.

  In the short time until my personal deadline I kept improving myself and my team.

  As much as possible.

  The length people have come since my arrival is immense.

  Rona had far better control over her mana.

  Jerek could basically block any attack thrown at him.

  The cadets were not on par with the Iron legion, but were far better than the regular soldier.

  And as for myself?

  I can’t lose.

  Not because I’m cocky, but I say that because I won’t allow myself to.

  My conviction will not tolerate it.

  I won’t let what I’ve lost get the best of me.