The second discipline was The Crucible.
It was exactly what it sounded like.
A place where you get put under a lot of pressure and heated up until you either get stronger or you break.
The arena was a deep, circular pit with a floor of packed black sand.
The walls were lined with more of those creepy silver runes, which I guessed were for healing spells or, more likely, to keep us from killing each other.
Probably.
The air smelled like old sweat, blood, and fear.
My favorite.
The rules were simple.
You fight until you yield, or until the instructors stop it.
No killing.
Everything else was pretty much fair game.
This wasn't about fancy techniques.
This was about breaking the other guy's will.
I leaned against a pillar, watching the first few matches.
It was brutal.
The instructors paired people up in the worst possible ways.
It was all about stress-testing us.
