The mess hall within the hill fort was a cacophony of sound.

For once Palinus was grateful for the screen of noise as this was the most awkward meal of his life, it was worse than even taking meals at the temple and his mother making sport of embarrassing him.

"...mother is always talking about someone or other that she has met down at the temple…? But then every 7th day we go to the Grand Hearth and it's always so fun!? Weird that I've never seen you there, you go to a Vestral temple don't you?" Flavia talked almost constantly, and somehow made every sentence of her stream on consciousness monologue sound like a question.

The only clue that she had asked an actual question was the awkward pause as she stared at him and fiddled with her hair.

"Why don't you tell her about your mother?" Rufian prompted from beside him on the bench through a mouthful of bread.

"... oh, yes. My mother is a priestess of the 7th-" Palinus responded and was almost relieved when Flavia cut him off.

"Of course! I have met Appalina, she is amazing!? And so pretty…" Flavia blushed and poked at the food in front of her. Palinus could feel the heat rising to his face as he struggled to contain his own embarrassment.

Under the table Rufian punched him, making a gesture to say something.

"... she is, um… something alright." Palinus stuttered noncommittally.

Flavia blushed a deeper shade of crimson and around them several members of both teams pretending not to be listening struggled to contain their amusement at the pair's awkwardness.

"Um.. What does your mother do?" Trying to get Flavia talking again to fill the space Palinus stuttered out the first question he could think of.

Several sucked in breaths around them and the way Flavia's face twitched made him aware that he had not asked a good question.

"Oh, she manages the estate, directing the servants and things like that...." She replied with a strange expression.

Trying hard not to put his hand to his face in shame, Palinus berated himself silently. Of course, she was the daughter of a citizen on the 3rd Hill and would be from a wealthy family. His question just revealed the difference in their family situation, and it made him feel ashamed and out of place.

"I've… um. Got to go to the latrine." Palinus said as beat a hasty retreat, grateful that Rufian chose not to poke fun.

It was too much for Palinus, he had no experience with talking to girls. He would prefer to be back out in the battlefield than spend another moment trying to make awkward conversation.

The only option for him to hide was to go to the latrines.

The hill fort did not have plumbing, so the latrines were a series of holes cut into a polished wooden plank in a big room over a pit, and after a full day of use they were disgusting. Yet, he was grateful for the solitude and considered the smell a small price to pay to avoid further embarrassment.

The late afternoon was still uncomfortably warm as they finally formed up and marched back towards the training barracks. The five of them were near the back of a long column of several 1st cohort centuries with only the 9th century, including Flavia and her team, behind them.

It felt odd marching in their small group amongst the full centuries around them. Palinus felt exposed and isolated.

"I am ready to sleep for days…" Rufian yawned, apparently not feeling the same unease.

The girls laughed hollowly.

"You will definitely not be doing that," Seline commented. "Unless you managed to injure yourself."

"Hmm," Rufian seemed to consider the joke seriously as he looked down the steep slope beside the road down the hill. "Nah… I think I've had enough pain for one day."

"So do you have a girlfriend now Pal?" Vesuvia changed the topic and elicited a laugh from the rest of the team.

"No!" Palinus refuted instantly as his face felt hot with an intense blush.

The instant denial triggered a fresh wave of laughter.

"She just wants you for your attunement." Seline said with an edge of hostility

"Harsh Sel!" Vesuvia chided, giving her an oddly appraising look before breaking the tension with a joke "She also wants him for his money."

"So, what happens next? Did we do enough to earn a spot in the Rift Trials?" Bruchts asked.

The change of topic was a relief and Palinus was grateful for Bruchts. He also wanted to know what the girls knew, they had been at the training camp for quite a while before the boys had joined them.

"Well, we will be summoned to the Rankings if our tier has changed, which it almost certainly did. The 111s would have lost quite a lot of rating points with their loss to such a low ranked team. So they might even get-"

"We're not low ranked!" Rufian interjected, to a gale of laughter from the girls again.

"Vesuvia and I are still Unranked II for our individual ranks from our previous rifts but you three had no rank!"

"I didn't realise you had another team before?" Palinus questioned.

"We didn't have a proper team, they just lumped us in with some random conscripts with similar rankings." Sensing the blank looks on the boys faces the tone of Seline's voice shifted as she switched into her lecturing voice and explained the ranking system:

The major ranking groups in Erulea were labelled after metals with several sub rankings for each with the distinctions in the major rankings being the most significant.

Unranked I, II, III, III+

Bronze I, II, III, IV, IV+

Silver I, II, III, IV, V, V+

Gold I, II, III, IV, V, VI+

Platinum I, II, III, IV, V, V+

Diamond I, II, III, IV, IV+

The names for the rankings were apparently different in the Silvanian Kingdoms and amongst the Stonemen but there was a qualitative difference in the power invested by a rift to summon a higher rank in a real rift so the naming conventions were arbitrary while what they measured was functionally the same. This meant that most rifts would be relatively fair and balanced.

"So what ranking are the 111s and how much would they be affected by losing to us?" Bruchts asked.

"They are mid bronze, and the loss might pull them down a segment or two. So on top of maybe not getting picked for the Rift Trials this week again…" Seline paused to let Vesuvia chuckle evilly at her cousin's misfortune. "They might even get overtaken as the 111s if their rating tanks enough and lose their position."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The speculation escalated Vesuvia's chuckle to a full blown cackle.

A stern looking officer told them off and issued a lash to Vesuvia as they marched which ended their chat as they made their way back to the barracks.

In a haze of mental and physical exhaustion, Palinus daydreamed of winning a place to the rift trials and getting on a boat to somewhere exotic.

Their return to regular barracks life was surreal.

When they finally made it back, they found the rest of their century had already long since returned. It was good news as they didn't need to wait for their turn in the baths and latrines. But the bad news was that the amenities were filthy with mud, blood and other filth.

The boys stripped off and jumped into the baths regardless and tried to enjoy the cool water as they scrubbed themselves clean.

"Ha hem." A cleared throat drew their attention.

They whirled around from their ablutions to find Marius standing with a pile of fresh tunics waiting for them.

"When you are done making yourselves pretty, I grabbed some fresh tunics for you to take to wear to the ranking." He said.

"Thanks Marius! I managed to tear mine up pretty badly." Rufian admitted, he didn't mention that he had caused the tear himself to show off his chest and was trying to pass it off as wear and tear from the battle.

"Hmm, imagine that." Marius said with a sigh and rolled eyes. He pushed on with what he had come to actually talk about. "Well done in the battle, you have turned quite a few heads today. I expect you will be happy with the results of the ranking."

"We didn't do enough to win…" Palinus replied with a sigh.

"Ha!" Marius barked a laugh, "You were never likely to win but you tried to carry the whole cohort and nearly did it! Quite the effort."

"Wasn't a chance to win why the censor pulled strings for us to be stationed where we were?" Palinus said, voicing a suspicion that had been bothering him.

"He did want you to be in the action, and you were! You exceeded expectations with your win against the 111s." Marius replied, avoiding answering directly. "You'd best hurry if you want to avoid some lashes."

The response from the portly soldier dodged admission but it confirmed to Palinus that there were layers to the set up in the battle today. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, he knew they had set them up so he could acquire his Saturnine Veil calculus - but had they set them up for all of their achievements of the day, and did that diminish them?

He wasn't sure how that revelation made him feel and Palinus remained deep in thought as they joined the groups of rift teams marching towards the big amphitheatre.

They were amongst the last to arrive and as they walked down the stepped tiers to their assigned seating they felt several eyes watching them with a range of expressions. The curved stone bowl of the theatre made the whispers of gossip carry through the crowd.

"There are a lot of teams here today," Seline whispered anxiously as they moved through the crowd seated around the curved amphitheatre. "There must have been a lot of changes to the rankings..."

It wasn't long after they sat on their stone benches that the murmuring of the crowd died down as Tribune Asterius stood up on the podium. The young tribune greeted the audience energetically with raised hands and winks as he began to speak.

"Today the proud tradition of the Inter-Cohort Battle wrote another chapter! Your centuries made the most of the high essentia environment to use artillery to dramatic effect and more importantly to us rift delvers it meant we didn't have to wait for rifts to form, and they formed with plenty of essentia… You were able to secure more than twice the number of kills! You gathered an extra 50% of essentia for yourselves and that essentia also formed significantly more loot!"

The mention of loot sent an appreciative wave of whispers through the audience.

"Now, before we can get to the good stuff… we need to observe the tradition. I invite Primus Pilus Laudanus to present the rankings!"

The veteran in his flashy golden armour marched crisply onto the podium and cleared his throat as he flourished a tablet of albumstone.

"Today I, Primus Pilus Laudanus, announce the estimated ranking changes for the Erulea Training Legion.

Cohort one, Century one Rift Team one -

Former ranking: Bronze IV.

Current ranking: Bronze... II."

There were gasps throughout the crowd.

It didn't take Palinus long to find where the 111s were sitting nearly directly across from them on the other side of the amphitheatre down in the front seats. Their response to the news was mixed with Marnus cringing visibly, Arruns and Agrippa glaring daggers at Palinus and the team, while Vel maintained his usual composure and Bakano was unreadable as ever.

The primus pilus didn't pause as he continued to read the rankings.

"Cohort one, Century one Rift Team two -

Former ranking: Bronze II.

Current ranking: Bronze... I."

The second rift team were the arrogant team that they had battled in the first rift and they looked just as annoyed at Palinus and the team as the first rift team. Their expressions of impotent rage paled in comparison to the first and amused Palinus, he could hear Rufian chuckling beside him as he enjoyed their misfortune.

The methodical reading of each of the team's ratings dragged along, it seemed like nearly all the rift teams in the training legion had changed ratings. The response to the changes were generally muted and Palinus began to understand why when one of the 1st cohort rift teams cheered a jump in their rating elicited a response from the unamused primus pilus of cracking whips and yelps of pain.

Tuning out the long list of announcements it was some time later when a nudge from Seline sitting beside him roused Palinus from his thoughts as the ratings of their century began.

"Cohort two, Century seven Rift Team one -

Former ranking: Unranked III+.

Current ranking: Bronze... I."

From just in front of them Augustus and his team seemed pleased at their new ranking and the blond-haired boy turned around to smirk at Seline. They must have had a good win defending the forest fort to gain the rating jump to the next tier despite their loss to the 111s.

"Cohort two, Century seven Rift Team two -

Former ranking: Unranked.

Current ranking:" Primus Pilus Laudanus paused and double checked the information on the carved table, "Bronze… II."

The response to the announcement was silence at first as the crowd digested the information. The murmurs started as whispers before building to full blown conversations as hundreds of eyes sought and stared at the team.

Still turned to smirk at them, Augustus's mouth hung slack, and he turned back as if slapped. The expressions of their various opponents deepened as the team responded in their own way to the attention. Feeling like he needed to acknowledge the looks Palinus waved weakly, Rufian did not hesitate to raise his fist in triumph as Vesuvia blew kisses.

"SILENCE!" The Primus Pilus spoke with some sort of essentia enhancement and the crowd of conscripts instantly complied.

"Cohort two, Century Eight Rift Team One -

Former ranking: Unranked.II

Current ranking: Unranked III"

Without pause the serious soldier resumed reading the rankings and with only two centuries to follow was quick to finish.

There was a susurration of anticipation around the amphitheatre as the last teams rankings were read and from the backstage area several chests were wheeled into the floor in front of the conscripts being managed by several amicustos and assisted by several groups of soldiers including Armicustos Cico and Decurion Marius who were pointing to the chest in front of them and giving a thumbs up to signal that they had some good stuff to hand out.

They couldn't help but join the escalating buzz around the room as they speculated on what they might get.

"This concludes the rankings changes for the Erulea Training Legion!" Laudanus finished with the tablet and tucked it under his arm. He stood to attention and waited for a beat as the conscripts also stood without order.

*Thump* as one they saluted with hundreds of fists pounded into hundreds of chests.

"Thank you Primus Pilus Laudanus!" Tribune Asterius took to the podium again. "Can the following teams please stand up.

Cohort one, century one, rift team one

Cohort one, century three, rift team one

Cohort two, century seven, rift team one

Cohort two, century seven, rift team two"

As their team was called Palinus's heart began to beat out of his chest. The team exchanged quizzical expressions as they stood.

They had no idea why they had been called, this was outside of the normal sequence of the rankings that Seline had described. She looked just as confused as the boys who were attending for the first time.

"It is at this point that we would normally quietly advise the team who has been chosen to leave for the Rift Trials. Today there will be a divergence in the routine, once we have distributed the rewards for the battle…"

The tribune paused for effect.

"All four teams you see standing in front of you will be heading to the rift trials!"

Starting with the tribune everyone began to clap for the teams as whispers once again spread through the teams who remained seated. As if sensing the question filtering through the crowd Asterius explained.

"The four teams will be marching with myself as part of a century to the rift trials which this year will take the form of a series of live duty exercises conducted in the border forests of the Silvanian Kingdoms and Stonemen Clans. They will be tasked with covering some of the defence of our northern land." his voice grew deadly serious. "They will be covering the duties of one of our Legions, because… the First Legion are marching towards the capital."

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