Professor Valerie led Karl and Dana out of the field and behind the gymnasium building, where she had a military sedan car parked, with a driver waiting for them.
"Climb on in, time is wasting, and I am under orders to have you back here before dark." She instructed as she settled herself into the front passenger seat.
It was obviously a sanctioned trip, as she had just been introduced as their instructor, but it seemed odd to both of them that they would be taken off school grounds on the first day by their new Professor for small group combat, or whatever she intended to teach them.
No words were spoken until they were out of sight of the Academy grounds, and then the Professor turned back to look at the students in the back seat.
"What we will be learning is not for the ears of the general population of the Academy, or for the busybodies watching the security footage. As you were informed earlier, I am from the Bureau of Elite Development, a division of the National Security Agency, and I will be teaching you the essentials of how to operate as a pair.
It is not guaranteed that you two will be working together after graduation, but the Bureau sees promise in you both, and we intend to guide your growth. There are certain things that the Academy can't or won't do for you, but I am under no such restrictions.
Have you both managed to get a grasp of the new abilities that you were taught over the weekend?" She asked.
"We have." Dana replied, somewhat stiffly.
"Excellent. Today we are going to introduce you both to some real experts. Sergeant Rita isn't bad, but she coddles the students too much in the first and second years." The Colonel insisted.
Karl considered rebuking the woman, as the Sergeant was an excellent teacher and she had put in significant effort to help him get this far, but it was probably wiser not to anger the Colonel and get Rita into trouble with her superior through no fault of her own.
The car stopped at a warehouse ten minutes away from the Academy, on the outskirts of a small town. The door opened, and the driver parked off to the side, next to a military bus.
"Follow me, and meet the rest of the teams." Valerie informed them, then straightened her uniform with a gust of wind magic and strode away.
"You get used to her." The driver whispered as Karl and Dana were getting out of the vehicle, and the smile on his face helped assure them that this wouldn't be as terrible as they had been fearing.
The Colonel led them into a side room where ten other pairs of Elites were gathered. A few of the pairs were clearly soldiers, but most were in civilian clothing.
"Welcome back, Colonel." They greeted her in unison, all giving sharp salutes that made Karl and Dana feel out of place in a room full of professionals.
"At ease everyone. Meet the new students, Karl and Dana. According to the Academy Board, Dana is slated for an abbreviated career as an entertainer, followed by an extended career using that fame for messaging, while Karl is designated as a test subject for his unique class. Someone at the top sees promise in it, and they want to exploit it."
The two students stood there stunned at the blunt revelation that their entire lives were actually being planned in that level of detail only weeks after they had started at the Academy. It was disconcerting to say the least, but from the responses of the others here, it was either not unusual, or it was not going to pan out the way that the board wanted it to.
"So, they've come to us for what? An introduction to Elite Society? Or did you have other plans?" One of the men in civilian clothing asked.
"For small group combat training. They both made it to Awakened Rank already, and there is a good chance that both of them will hit Commander Rank before they graduate." Colonel Valerie explained.
"Oh, so we're going to pull rank and drop them out of their life plan? Now that does sound fun." One of the women in military uniform laughed, and nudged the man standing beside her.
"You know they're looking at us like we're working for Central Intelligence, right?" The partner replied with a huge smile on his face that made him look much less frightening.
"Oh, yes. Introductions are in order. Everyone here is an investigator for the Bureau of Elite Development. We not only guide promising young Elites, we also ensure that the others are living up to their duties, and solve problems when an Elite reaches a bottleneck in their growth.
The Department normally operates in pairs, so that information won't be lost if an investigator is compromised. That means they are the perfect people to teach you paired combat skills.
They will also cover a number of other subjects during the semester that we will be working here, and if I determine that more intensive study is needed, one of your regularly scheduled days may be shifted to this training centre." The Colonel informed them.
The woman standing next to Dana wrapped a friendly arm around the girl's shoulders and smiled. "Relax, she might be a bit intense, but I'm certain that you will have much more fun here than you did in that regular training class."
Dana giggled, and the woman gave her a questioning look before Valerie spoke again.
"I am not certain that we can guarantee such a high level of enjoyment. Did you know that their last mission turned into the elimination of a Goblin Tribe that was looting an abandoned town? Compared to that, I fear that our training sessions might be a bit dull.
But we do have some advantages that the other Professors do not. For example, Nala is an Inscriptionist. Once you have mastered the spells that you are working on, she will be able to make you copies of new skills to be directly learned.
Also, I have arranged for an outing in the near future to look for infant monsters with high potentials to compliment Karl's Windspeed Hawk. The Bureau of Elite Development is intensely interested in the possibility that you might be able to contract more than one monster and gain additional powers from the process."