[Star Essence: an energy source used to power weavepod travel across the stars. Warning: illegal to mine. The Federation has prohibited the mining of these substances for about 200 years plus, one reason being that in its unrefined form, as it's usually used, it can cause soul disfigurement and may result in permanent weaves (no return).

Warning: other information from this article is restricted from public viewing.]

Inside a crowd of people, Enzo scrolled through an interface of information detailing a resource called star essence.

This resource seemed to be very important for weavepods and weaving in general, but only under Federation approval. This was strange because right there in Astoria, it seemed like that was exactly what was being mined.

'Vegar must be insane.'

Enzo thought to himself, if he was caught, the Federation would wipe out Astoria in the blink of an eye, but what gave him the guts to do so?

'It makes sense though, the reason everywhere is so airtight.'

A thousand men had chased them three nights ago; this was a result of Vegar panicking. If they used this as evidence and presented it to the Federation, then Astoria was done for. Unfortunately, Sword Cleaver just wanted to sell it rather than turn them in.

"Hey, you! Why aren't you paying attention?" Suddenly, from the front of the room, a man in a training set pointed at Enzo, calling out his HUD usage.

"Ahh, sorry." Quickly turning off the interface, Enzo looked back up at what was in front of him.

Right now, they were in a combat training class taught by an instructor named Seth. He was the lead training instructor of the first years.

"It's fine, Jacob," Master Seth waved his hand at the man in the training set, then continued his lecture.

"There are four main principles to battle, as we believe in the North. One is to disable your enemy, two is to unarm your enemy, three is to annihilate your enemy, and four is to evade your enemy.

These four are pre-battle considerations that might very well make or break your goals," Master Seth explained.

The four principles of battle were something Enzo had learned about from Mister White. They were considerations born from a myriad of reasons.

Was your mission clearly stating that the enemy had to be captured? Is he important for further negotiations and payments? Is the person you're supposed to be protecting a loose cannon that needs to be tamed? These considerations went into disablement.

Is your enemy's weapon too dangerous? If you fight, will that give him an edge over you? Or will it be used to hurt those around you? These considerations went into disarmament.

Is your enemy disposable? Is he too dangerous to keep alive? Is there a grudge? These considerations went into annihilation.

"Most important of all these, and what I will be teaching today, is the principle of evasion, because no matter how strong you are, when faced with an enemy too overpowering, your ability to get out alive is what will determine everything."

Master Seth spoke calmly, looking over the group in front before calling out the other instructors.

.

.

.

Time slowly passed, and soon the class was over. Enzo and the rest of the club members left the training room and went straight to the armory.

"Enzo, my boy, come on in. I'm almost done with your weapon."

As soon as he entered the armory, Master Dunn Haste's face lightened up as he pulled him to the back of the room.

It had been more than a week since Enzo requested his weapon. These things were quite easy to make with the technology they had in this day and time, but Enzo's unique design had really pushed him.

He spent days reading through a myriad of articles on liquid metalloids, tried to incorporate the spinning mechanism without its friction causing problems, while increasing the power of each revolution.

If he said it was easy, then he was probably lying through his teeth.

"Almost?" Enzo smiled gleefully as he approached the smithy deeper in the armory.

"Master Dunn, don't forget ours. We've been patient too," at the back, Zeke commented begrudgingly.

Master Dunn was a professional amongst professionals, but ever since he got engrossed in Enzo's design, he had been forced to shelf a lot of orders or pass them along to his lessers.

For Zeke, this wasn't good enough, so he remained firm that Master Dunn create his weapon, even paying to supplement the materials needed.

"Ohh, you guys, yeah, I'm done with yours." Barely glancing at them, Master Dunn disappeared into the workshop corner and quickly rampaged through his works.

Five minutes later, he was back with three boxes.

"Zeke Burn, here."

After placing the boxes on the table, he reached into one and threw a hand-sized capsule made from metal at Zeke.

Catching it, Zeke smiled joyfully, then pressed a button.

A second later, a full-blown staff expanded in his hand, growing a few inches above his head.

"Oooo!" Zeke laughed excitedly and spun the staff rapidly, causing wind to flow through both poles, making a strange sound.

A few seconds later, before their very eyes, both ends of the staff ignited, engulfed in skyfire flames.

"Nice!" Zeke complimented, admiring his weapon. This would do some real damage.

"Raven, these are yours." Master Dunn pulled out two short daggers, black and white, presenting them to Raven.

Her polarity powers also extended to weapons as she grabbed them and made them float in front of her, spinning in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions.

"Last but not least."

Finally, Master Dunn Haste brought out a sword with a silver blade, a hilt made from wood, and inscribed with strange words that doubled as vents.

At first feel, it felt light, and as Enzo moved it, the blade gently swayed in the air — not too firm but not shaky at all.

And for the final test of finality, Enzo pressed a button on the side….

Grinnn

The blade spun with a silver light that illuminated the room.

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