"A condition?" Marth wondered.

"Up until the competition, every moment of free time you have, during every waking hour, you must spend practicing your projections."

"Every waking hour?" Marth thought for a minute at what this meant. "You mean you don't want me playing Chess in the lounge? I can handle that."

"I don't want you to study." Tsubasa frankly replied.

"I can't even study?" Marth was shocked at Tsubasa's words.

"We've got no time for classroom material. What you need to learn in our short time before the competition will come straight from me."

"But Tsubasa, there's so many books in the library that could give me an edge." Marth pleaded. "I don't want to limit my chances because I hadn't read up on past competitions. Not to mention the physical strain that projecting non-stop will have on me. Are you trying to wear me out?"

Tsubasa closed her eyes and put a pained look on her face.

"Marth, I know this may not make a lot of sense right now, but I need you to trust me and stick with my plan."

"She wants me to trust her, the ultimate tease?" Marth mumbled to himself.

"Can you do this for me, Marth?" Tsubasa asked.

Marth cloesd his eyes, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, you are the second pillar of St. Ezreal's. If you say this the way to train, I'll take your word for it."

"Thank you Marth." Tsubasa nodded her head. "I promise this will all make sense soon. Now, before we get to Place Cards, I have to ask. Have you given any thought to who you might want on your team?"

"Well, there are only so many of my peers I've actually had the opportunity to meet, but somehow I think most of them would turn me down."

Shizuma Miyu sat naked on a stool in front of a row of faucets in the girl's bathroom. Her platinum blonde hair was let down to above her shoulders, a contrast from her usual side pony tail.

Her bare shoulders and curvy hips were quickly drenched by water as she poured a bucket of hot water over her head.

"Ahtchoo!" A sneeze came from Tanaka Aoi, sitting to the left of Shizuma. Naked as well, her thin figure was partially hidden behind her long brown hair.

"Tanaka, hurry up and get washed so you can get in the warm bath. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold!" Shizuma said as she filled another bucket of water.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Tanaka closed her eyes as she waved her hand.

Shizuma stood with the bucket of water, pouring it over Tanaka's head as the water covered her body and fell to the floor with a splash.

"Miyu! My hair!" Tanaka covered herself with her arms, with her unplaced shower cap held tightly in her hands.

"Sorry, sorry!" Shizuma took a step back, red in the face as she held the wooden bath bucket against her chest. "I'm such a clutz!"

"Well, it's too late now. I guess I'll be washing it today." Aoi made the compromise, setting her showercap next to the faucet.

The two girls took turns washing eachother's backs, using a large sponge to scrub suds of soap against their sparkling wet skin.

Marth crouched near the ground, holding out both palms towards an empty place card sitting in the dirt. A single white colored summoning circle formed a centimeter in front of Marth's hands, containing elements of enclosed trees. The summoning circle slowly rotated, and a second blue summoning circle formed directly atop the card, spinning slowly in the opposite direction. "Emminential Provenance, I place within, Resonant Wave!"

As Marth spoke the words, the two summoning circles accellerated their spin. A cracking sound of elelectricity rang out as an arc spanned the gap between the two circles, transferring to the card as the card let out a bright white light. The summoning circles quickly faded as the light from the card dissipated, leaving behind an imprinted piece of art.

"Congratulations, you've made your first place card." Tsubasa watched over Marth where he crouched.

Marth's stare was locked on his creation, too distracted to regard his teacher's praise. The unique painting shown on the card resembled a rippling pool of water as if disrupted by a dropped steel ball bearing.

Marth picked up the card, holding it in front of him as he inspected the art up close.

"Sensei, how is the art determined? As I sealed the projection within, I had something else in mind." Marth thought back to his Resonant Wave mishap with Sato Hanna at the center fountain in the campus yard.

"Nobody knows." Tsubasa crossed her arms as she explained. "There is a belief that some etherial intellect exists universally in Astral space, and that by creating Emminential Provinence, that consciousness is tapped, and art from it spills out into the card."

"Deep." Marth continued to stare into the card as he slowly flapped it like a bird's wing between his fingers. "So the art is from god?"

"I think of it as a single consciousness that we are all a part of. Maybe that's god to you." Tsubasa spoke the words.

Marth flipped the card to it's opposite side. Freshly imprinted, the academy's detailed emblem was laid.

"Tsubasa, how is this possible?" Marth waved the card at his sensei. "I thought you said the Acacemy's emblem was uncounterfeitable due to it's required atomic-level accuracy."

"You are correct, the emblem is uncounterfeitable to all but the most talented espers. The reason you were able to set it in the card is because I have granted you access to it's data stored in the Astral net. Simply recalling the concept of the emblem opens up the complete blueprints of the emblem to Emminential Povinence."

"Astral Net, that's like the internet for Esper's minds." Marth had read about this. "Are you saying you've just given me access to St. Ezreal's massive archive of research?" Marth's eyes lit up.

"No, Marth. I've given you access only to what you need right now. The Academy's emblem, and Esper-to-Esper communications."

"Aww, I don't even get the Academy's NEWS feed? Even guests get that."

"Remember our deal, Marth." Tsubasa reminded.

"I know, I know. two weeks of constant projection practice." Marth pouted.

"I need you to be laser focused." Tsubasa urged. "It's the only way you can win."

"Sensei, I thought you were saying there is more than one way to victory. Are you saying that dosn't apply now?"

"Don't twist my words, idiot! When it comes to Esper battles, that sentiment applies absolutely." Tsubasa shook her head. "But think of the big picture here. You're a provisional first year student, about to go up against experienced second and third year Esper teams. As you are, you wouldn't last thirty seconds in a match. In this arena, you're as smart as a brick."

"Ouch." Marth reeled back. It wasn't every day that his intellect was compared to building materials. Marth forgot the inqult quickly. "Hey, did you just say I'm a student?"

"Provisional student." With her eyes shut, Tsubasa shook her head.

"So you're saying there's a chance!" Marth grinned from ear to ear.

Tsubasa opened one eye, and couldn't help but smile a little.

"Well, you're definately capable, however the deciding factor won't be your talent, but your persistence. If you can get through this, you might just end up with the most unique induction story the Academy has ever seen."

"Sensei, Why no fourth year teams?" Marth's questions shifted to serious.

"It's rare for a fourth year student to participate. If they hadn't been recruited in their first three attempts, most of them move on to focus on studies for other careers."

"You mean there are other jobs for Espers besides being a hero?" Marth hadn't thought of such a thing.

"Yes of course. There are jobs in administration, manufacturing, research and development..." Tsubasa began the list.

"You mean work with Admirite?" Marth butted in.

"Yes, that's part of it, yes." Tsubasa explained. "Pushing the boundaries of what is possible is always a pursuit. Also there are medical and educational positions, of course. So what do you say, Marth, how about a nice maintenance position? The grass in the yard is starting to look a little long."

"Hah!" Marth laughed. "You ought to know by now that I'm aming for the top! Pillair number one!" Marth boasted.

Tsubasa walked up to Marth, with something clutched in her hand, she reached it out to Marth. Marth held out his hands and Tsubasa delivered a tall stack of empty place cards.

Tsubasa took a step back and put her hands on her hips.

"You're falling behind, get back to work!!" Tsubasa ordered.

"Yes, sensei!" Marth crouched again, placing one knee in the planet's dusty regolith. He sat the stack of white cards on the ground, separating the top card and setting it next to the stack.

"Emminential Provenance, I place within, Resonant Wave!"

Tsubasa watched over Marth as he projected summoning circle after summoning circle, placing projections one after another into the fresh Place Cards.

"Blink if it helps you, there's nobody around to interfere."

Marth placed Resonant Wave into a Place Card.

"You can speak faster than that. Just mind your pronounciation."

Marth placed HYPER-DRAGON-EYE into a Place Card.

"Put the finished cards in your pocket, getting them dirty will make drawing them difficult later on."

Marth placed Atomic Relegation into a Place Card.

"Again! You'll need lots of those." Tsubasa guided Marth as he placed multiples of his repertoire into cards.