My first obstacle came a few days later, we were halfway to Goldstein's week deadline on our first assignments. Meeting him in the mornings to brainstorm on what we had accomplished the day before and what we could accomplish to solve the assignments we were given. I was nowhere near creating a marker and getting nowhere.Marcie had decided to focus on spatial teleportation focusing on transporting herself and equipment. She'd settled into a support mage role as she experimented with her magic. Studying the enchantments on the cottages and around the school, so she was often in the labs or crafts room. Experimenting and brainstorming with the other students so we really only saw her in the morning and when she came back for dinner.Sidney had turned part of her room into an animal nursery, small for now only accommodating her Stonekin Teguan and an extra beast if she found one. The corral had transformed to a rocky scene with sand in places shadowed by smooth rock. It was connected to her room by a medium sized pet door as well as the kitchen and living room. She had decided with Goldsteins advice in mind to let her Teguan roam around the cottage to get more familiar to the outside world and to us, the little thing was ravenous, eating twice it's body weight every day and in the last three days it had grown from the size of a small chicken to the size of a large monitor lizard. Sidney chalked it up to the latent magic that was from the school. She determined it'd be strong enough to be considered a mage companion by the end of the week if it accepted the bonding process.Travis and I were spending most of the days training, there was an auditorium with a pressure pool that Travis soaked in for a few hours in the morning then we turned half of it into a shallow side and did combat drills with him underwater and me on solid ground. He was getting better. Getting creative with his defense but he still lacked good combat awareness, some of the other silver band water mages agreed to help him brainstorm and practice, most likely to get a look at the competition.I was on leave from Phoenix Metallurgy for the first two weeks of class and simply popped in once or twice during the week to get any updated news. I spent most of my free time practicing with my magic and attempting to understand how to create a marker. Travis seemed to know about it so I decided to grill him about it after training.I swung an arm in an uppercut motion before slamming it into my palm, mimicking a shark breaching the water. My chaos erupting from the sand underneath the knee high water, before falling like rubble into the water. Travis was treading water from his waist down and raised a hand in a sweeping motion, the water reacting in a wave that swept above him and swept my magic aside. I nodded before intensifying the chaos that rained from above and taking aim at him with a spear made of chaos, the water mage that was helping us today was a sea elf named Verona, their silver band just visible against seafoam green robes, and their voice echoing through the gym "Today's lesson, multitasking. You're going to have to learn to push your stress to the back of your mind when in dangerous environments and keep a tight hold on your magic. Samuel on your go."I nodded as I continued the onslaught of rubble, letting the chaos move and change at will keeping a tight enough hold that it wouldn't excessively hurt him. I'd learned that unlike with fire where you had to keep a tight hold on it or else it would get out of it, and earth where you had to mold it to your exact needs. Chaos was best wielded with a simple guiding hand but a stern will. Like fire, if too loose a grip, it would run wild but too heavy your will at molding it and it wouldn't respond fluidly. If that makes any sense. It read what you needed and wanted in that moment and responded to it.I sent a large piece of chaos down on top of Travis who responded by sending water spikes at it and shattering it before sending the pieces to the sides, as his focus waned a bit, I let loose the spear of chaos floating besides me that shot straight towards him just as more rubble rained down. He saw it out of the corner of his eye and sent a wave up to knock it off course before diving down into the water. I shook my head as I cracked my knuckles and two more spears materialized and went flying at him, slicing through the water with ease and arcing back around as he dodged them before leading them towards the surface and shooting them with blasts of water as they flew by.I stopped the rain of chaos as Verona clapped before nodding at me and saying "You'll need to react faster than that Travis, I doubt that you'll find yourself on a one on one in the depths. You need offense just as much as defense. Samuel, amp it up and this time I'll be helping you alongside my bonded companion. A great nurse shark."Ancient ink like markings appeared on Verona's face and glowed the same color as their robes before a disc of light appeared gushing water out and letting a large shark with similar markings crash into the deep end of the pool. The large yellow skinned shark let out a curious growl that reverberated through the water as it swam around the pool eyeing both Travis and I, before floating facing Travis and gently swishing its tail back and forth. Verona's voice echoing through the gym again "This is Totania, my great nurse shark. Don't let the name deceive you as evident, her species is related to both the nurse shark and great white shark lines. An ingenious breed I helped discovered in the underwater islands of the Philippines before the islands were re-colonized by a race of sea elves and they sunk the rest of the islands. This breed has the inherent ability to use healing magic but also can be dangerous beings of the sea, capable of utilizing water magic to move and attack in various ways that don't come to us bipedal creatures. Now Travis. Let's see if you can last a minute and a half without a touch."He gaped and protested "Without a touch? Against Samuel and your familiar? That's impossible!"Verona smirked and laughed, their eyes glowing a soft green, mirroring Totania's eyes as they spoke "Oh please, you're in Goldstein's class. You'll do fine. I should add, Totania's species are amongst other shark species that can be traced by the the ancient beginning of the world's creatures. Put bluntly, with the introduction of magic, certain species have the potential to become as large as the ancient Megalodons. She's simply a child in terms of size. Just thought you'd like that visual when she kicks your butt."I laughed softly as Travis sighed and waved her off before floating towards the middle of the pool, I stepped out and onto the poolside as the pool morphed to be about sixteen feet deep all around. It was about 35 yards long. Totania crooned softly, the water vibrating around her before she dove down into the pool, easily disappearing in the water. I cracked my neck, kickstarting my chaos that rose up from my skin to the ceiling in imitation of clouds and softly started to imitate rain. Verona waved a hand and actual rain clouds start to pour rain down, I nodded and formed my chaos into raindrops that varied in size, causing the gym to be drowned out by the noise. Travis scowled and tensed his body as he floated waist deep. He suddenly dodged to the side and Totania's large dorsal fin broke the water before quickly disappearing again. Travis stilled as he seemed to concentrate when I sent a large wave of chaos as a feint that was going to part around him. Travis dove under the wave where I lost track of him, I searched the water when he surfaced again with a quickly forming bruise on the side of his chest and him cursing "Gah! Jesus that totally isn't fair. I can't react in time to things I see underwater, and with that sharks speed and I'm guessing water camouflage because that yellow just disappears in the very clear water. It's impossible to locate her, and when you do. She's already moved."The mentioned creature surfaced and splashed him with her tail before making her way to the side of the pool. My chaos returned to me as I crossed my arms and said "Then stop looking with your eyes, you've got four other senses to use."He got a thoughtful look and was about to respond when Verona cut him off "Aht. That's enough for today. I'd say you have plenty to think about. I need to get some time in as well, you're not the only water mage you know."Travis scoffed before climbing out and walking over to his clothes, slipping his shirt on and slinging his robes over his shoulder, Verona patted Totanias side and waved us off with smile as we left.As we walked back towards the cottage, we talked about the training when I asked "So what's your history with markers? When the professor asked you about it, you had a sour look."He sighed softly and shook his head "Its...complicated. I had an...old childhood friend that became one of the Lost. I haven't seen them since. It's still pretty raw for me."I nodded as he continued "Still, I'll help if that's what you're asking. Creating a marker is pretty difficult regardless of who you are. Even some council mages can't use them without regard for their own safety. First things first, you're gonna need a place much more private than the gyms. And latent in magical energy like the school. You'll quite literally have to meditate until you have an epiphany. Then we'll get the the hard part."I snorted and shook my head "Oh sure, having an epiphany isn't the hard part."He shrugged "Hey, you're the one with the assignment. Got any ideas for my own predicament?"I shook my head and we bounced ideas off each other until we got to the cottage. We walked in and spotted Sidney reading on the couch and Marcie nowhere to be seen. She looked up with a smile as we walked in, her Teguan shifting from the nest of blankets it had made on her lap to sniff our direction before falling back asleep.I waved as Travis groaned and flopped on the couch next to her before sitting opposite her. She tilted her head and asked "Whats got your panties in a bunch?"I chuckled as Travis gave her a deadpan look and begrudgingly replying "We've both hit a wall with our assignments."She raised an eyebrow and closed her book setting it to the side before saying "Well I'm no help to you Sam. Creating a marker is definitely above my abilities. But for Travis, I have an idea."He groaned and waved her off "Please Sid, not the animal talk again. Like I said last time, I'm horrible with animals."I raised an eyebrow at Sidney who giggled softly and explained "Travis and I met in junior high, right before the full integration of magic into schools and the creation of the academies. He's always been lacking in combat since it's never been interesting to him."I chuckled with a nod "I see, where did you guys grow up?"Travis swiped Sidney's book and opened it as he replied "Ashearus. I was born in old world Switzerland."Sidney narrowed her eyes and softly smacked Travis's arm as he scooted away with her book before replying "I was actually born in Norway then grew up in Belgium. The northern part of Ashearus now."I nodded and asked "How'd the continent merging affect you guys? I grew up on an island archipelago, we went through a semi-harsh hurricane and when it cleared we didn't learn of what happened until a few days later when people started to gain magic then a government correspondent came and broke the news."Travis nodded and remarked "Most of the continent merging was during the battles that wiped the cities off the map, big name capitals of countries, London, Beijing, Paris, Washington D.C, Berlin, Tokyo. Just to name a few. I was never a big history buff. That's something to ask the Professor."Sidney nodded "Yea, my family was sheltered in one of the few bomb shelters that stood up to the force of the bombings. Coming out to ruins was expected, what we hadn't expected was coming out so soon and to so many people already being there to help us. The news was shocking especially concerning the gods. There's still some of my old neighbors who worship Christianity."I nodded and Travis sighed softly in defeat, I glanced over at him and he held up the book that read 'The merging of old world species into new worlds magical creatures by Geo Ledhoffen.' and said "If I were to entertain the idea Sid, I'd want something that's good on both land and water, can fulfill the defense that I'm lacking in, and can obviously withstand the trench."Sidney's eyes sparkled as she snatched the book away from him and quickly thrummed through it and remarking "Withstanding the trench isn't something that you can pick out of a book like this one, they'll have to train just like you. So it's important we find you one fast. On that note, some amphibians that are well known, the crocodilian species of course, salamanders, turtles, otters, and capybara amongst others. Now, we can get rid of crocodilians and capybara. They won't be any help for the trench being river animals. That leaves turtles, otters and salamanders, the book states that the sea species of these animals can definitely check the boxes you want. Otters are more aggressive being predators, while salamanders are known to have more of a support role. Most sea turtles have been observed using defensive magic but the larger they get, the harder it is for them to leave the sea." She read off the book before flipping a few pages and turning it to show us, a picture of a sea otter, as she said "I think you should go with an otter species, they're versatile in the water and can use their aggressiveness to defend and attack. They live in decently sized groups of around seventeen otters on average."Travis nodded and asked "They're sea otters though, won't a group of them be out at sea?"Sidney shook her head and replied "Actually no, they're called sea otters since they mainly hunt off coasts. Give or take a few miles. Back before the war, they were found off the coasts of America and Russia. Rarely though, some groups traveled between the countries of Russia and Alaska every year or so." I nodded with a soft smile and remarked "Aren't otters like the size of small dogs? Around five feet?" Sidney giggled softly and smiled "Some."Travis nodded "You saw Totania Sam, magic works wonders."I nodded and stood replying "True enough. Well, while you figure out how you're going to conduct a familiar contract with a sea otter that we aren't even sure inhabits the coast of Forga, I'm going to head to the arenas, see if I can't get top five on the obstacle course."They nodded and set to brainstorming their next move, I stepped into my room and grabbed my armor off its stand, slipping my bracers and greaves with some jeans and a t-shirt, then grabbed my warpicks slipping the sheaths through my belt loops before heading towards the door. Just as I opened it, a body walked into me. I glanced down to see golden sand-colored and sky-blue eyes looking up at me with bewilderment, I smiled and remarked "Well now, there she is. Busy Marcie?"She rolled her eyes and shook her head "Not really, but I assume you are." She tapped my bracers, making a 'tink' sound continued "Off to train more?"I nodded and she tapped my chest, raising an eyebrow when she hit flesh, I chuckled and said "I sent my breastplate to Irons and Pots for some tuning, the crystal had a few more cracks in it and they wanted to test out some new enchantments and oils or something. They should be at the arenas for their weekly test day."She nodded and replied as she slipped by me greeting Travis and Sidney with a smile "Well don't be out too long, it's our turn to cook and you're picking up groceries from Nan's remember?"I rolled my eyes as I nodded "Yea yea, I remember, you know the schools cafeteria serves dinner." Her response was a laugh and the sound of her door closing.The arenas weren't busy when I walked in, a few green bands were talking by the front desk. Their uniforms were a charcoal ashe color, apparently all Pixonia's student staff wore the colors to easily identify themselves. There wasn't really a standard uniform color, as long as you wore your band and amulet, your robes could be any color other than charcoal ashe grey. Though, students usually stuck to black or dark blue, gives a sense of unity. The gold and green years were the exception, their robes usually had some sort of color that symbolized their magic, something to do with their magical aura bleeding the robes. The more in tune you were with your magic or the more you used it, the more potent your aura could be. Like Verona, her robes were sea green most likely due to the large amount of time she spent with her familiar, even now some of Sidney's clothes had started to bleed a slate color from her handling her Teguan, mostly around her arms and chest where the lizard cuddles her.I checked in using my amulet and the student nodded remarking "The battle arenas packed today, Irons and Pots, one of the specialist classes, has rented out an arena to test some new equipment and the students have been let out of their probationary period and are eager to establish themselves in the rankings."I nodded "Thanks for the info."They nodded and leaned back in their chair as I made my way towards the arena that Iron and Pots had rented. Contrary to what the green band said, the group was similar to the Phalanx, named for their skills and choice of alchemy and smithing. As i walked in, a familiar face greeted me, Benjah the elf who I had helped after I had first enrolled. He was part of Irons and Pots and the main person who I had talked to regarding my armor. He waved me over with a smile before gesturing to the bustling arena, they had turned the arena into a market, stalls on one side with stands showing off various armor and weapons from full suits and individual pieces of armor. Benjah exclaimed. "Right on time! What do you think?"I chuckled and crossed my arms "It's quite the turnout. You all do great work."He laughed and nodded before motioning for me to follow him, he led me behind a stall and towards what looked like covered armor stands. He pulled the cover off one in the middle revealing my chest plate and helmet. The mane that was black now sparkled with bits of red and gold. The chest-piece with it's familiar crystal shined, they had added golden inlay to it, the black metal sparkled in the light. I nodded and asked "What's with the gold?" Benjah chuckled embarrassed and answered "Well the others figured that you'd enjoy looking a little similar to your partner. So they added the gold inlay and repaired the crystal with what we had on hand after repairing the minor damages. You're going to need a bigger crystal soon though."I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow "Partner? You mean Marceline?"Benjah nodded and looked at me questioningly as I groaned. I shook my head and he continued "Yeah, it was something along the lines of outfitting two of the strongest first years and the Phalanx with similar armor to present a united front. Speaking of that, what are the colors of the phalanx?"I gazed at the armor thinking, a small smile spreading on my face "Black iron and gold lacquering does look quite nice doesn't it. Gives a nice, fierce warrior vibe. Like the old world's Asian terracotta warriors."Benjah chuckled and nodded "Yeah I can see it. We'll go with that then. I'll let the others know. Hey as long as you guys keep up in the rankings, we can keep you guys with the latest stuff accessible to us."I chuckled and nodded as I moved towards the stand and pulled my chest plate off the stand and began strapping it on over the t-shirt i had on. I finished strapping it on and stretched a bit. I nodded in satisfaction and grabbed my helmet and turning to Benjah who smiled and asked "So whats on the agenda today? Gonna hit the obstacle course?"I shook my head as I thought about it "Well I was but what you said reminded me about a place where I found my crystal. And I believe that it may be just the perfect place to help with my assignment."I smiled and bid my goodbyes before jogging back towards the cottages. Sidney and Travis looked up from their phones with a curious look. I grinned back and said "Get your gear. I've got something you guys may like. Where's Marceline?"Sidney raised an eyebrow and replied "She should be out of the shower, I'll go get her."Travis stood and stretched "Nice armor, so what's this surprise? Thought you'd still be at the obstacle course."I shook my head "It's an interesting spot I found before I enrolled. That's all I'm saying. We ought to spend more time together besides working on our assignments anyway."He nodded before slipping into his room to grab his gear. A few minutes and we were all on our way out towards the forest. Sidney was wearing her brown and green armor over her robes, it was similar to mine, with greaves and bracers but her chestplate was smaller and favored flexibility and mobility, she also had a helmet that covered her mouth and nose and framed her eyes and a satchel that seemed to be on an arm strap and hooked to her hip securely, her teguan trotted beside her fitted with some basic armor that Irons and Pots had whipped up, a helmet that had nose holes, body and tail armor and little shin guards. The lizard was still about the size of a monitor lizard but quickly approaching the larger size. She couldn't tell how big it would become but it currently was at her knees and could almost reach her shoulder if it stood on it's hind legs. Travis's was similar to mine but was designed after a water race I couldn't remember the name of and of course Marcie had on her sky bird armor with her khopesh on her waist. Sidney had a spear on her back and a whip on her waist and Travis had a hammer. We made our way towards the forest passing other students who were out and about. Finally passing the gates I laughed as I once again dodged the question of where we were going from my companions. "Look guys, I just think you'd each enjoy it for a variety of reasons. I'm not saying anymore because we're almost there." We made good time, passing through the forests easily enough and passing the grove where Marcie and I had trained and finally finding the cave that I had fought the young chimera about a month and a half ago. The cave seemed unoccupied, it still had the same bones that I had seen last time. I sent my aura out into the surrounding area and grinned when i found what I was looking for.I chuckled as Travis cleared his throat then gave me a deadpan look "A cave? Come on Sam, I had higher hopes than that.""This is the cave where I fought a young chimera. From which I made parts of my armor from. I figured that Sidney would find the spot interesting considering her assignments. And for us, I figured that would offer some decent training. Besides, I need an epiphany and what does that better than a life or death situation." I gestured towards the woods where I could feel it approaching, Sidney's Teguan chirped loudly then put itself between her and the cave as the sounds of crunching bush reached our ears. I stood as the creature stepped into the small clearing in front of the cave, it was holding a deer in its jaws and stopped with a deep growl when it saw us. We all had different reactions as the monster rose to its full twelve foot height, Marceline and I grinned and unsheathed our weapons in anticipation, or also put our helmets on in my case, Sidney squealed and stepped back, and Travis groaned softly while muttering "I should've known, I just had to open my mouth."The adult chimera dropped the deer carcass and snarled in response.