Week four began with the diplomatic envoys' departure.
Wei Chen watched from the training grounds as the Fire Peaks and Eastern Empire delegations left through the main gates. Elaborate carriages, security escorts, the whole theatrical display of international diplomacy.
The special mission board came down the same morning. By afternoon, the standard weekly board was posted — back to normal operations. Grade E missions dominated. A handful of Grade D positions. No team opportunities this week.
Wei Chen selected warehouse guard duty. Three points, two nights. Same work he'd done twice before. Reliable income.
Chen Ling took delivery work — two points, one day. "Time efficiency," he explained again.
Xu Lan chose patrol duty — three points, monitoring the outer district for suspicious activity. "Matches my stealth skills," she said.
The warehouse job was exactly as boring as Wei Chen expected.
Two nights standing watch over textile inventory. No thieves. No excitement. Just hours of patrol, shadow manipulation practice to stay alert, and the rhythmic sound of his own footsteps.
But boring meant successful. No incidents meant full payment. Three contribution points added to his total.
Nineteen points now. More than enough cushion.
The third session with Lin Sha came on the fifth day of week four.
Wei Chen arrived at Courtyard Five carrying the three-point payment. Lin Sha accepted the tokens without comment, pocketing them efficiently.
"Shadow Blade while walking," she said. "Show me."
Wei Chen drew his knife, formed the coating, and began walking across the courtyard. The shadow held — not perfectly stable, but maintained. He could feel the constant adjustment required, the mental effort of keeping the technique active while his body moved.
"Adequate," Lin Sha said after he'd circled the courtyard twice. "Now jog."
Wei Chen tried. The coating flickered immediately, destabilized by the increased movement. He pushed harder, trying to compensate. The shadow held for maybe five seconds before collapsing entirely.
"Again."
He repeated the attempt. This time the coating lasted eight seconds before failing.
"Again."
Ten attempts. By the end, Wei Chen could maintain Shadow Blade while jogging for maybe fifteen seconds. Not sustainable for actual combat, but progress.
"Running will take longer," Lin Sha said. "The faster you move, the harder maintaining technique becomes. Your body's motion disrupts the shadow flow. You need to learn to move with the disruption, not against it."
She demonstrated — drew her own dagger, coated it in perfect shadow, and sprinted across the courtyard. The coating never flickered. When she stopped, the shadow was as stable as if she'd been standing still.
"Grandmaster-level control," Lin Sha explained. "Your body and magic move as one system. No separation. That's years away for you. But jogging? You'll have that stable within two weeks if you practice daily."
She pulled out a training dummy — reinforced straw wrapped around a wooden frame. Set it up in the courtyard's center.
"Next concept: edge sharpening. Shadow Blade isn't just coating. It's enhancement. The shadow makes the physical blade cut better. But raw coating is blunt application. True Shadow Blade sharpens the edge specifically."
Lin Sha demonstrated. Her shadow-coated dagger struck the training dummy's torso. The blade cut through the reinforced straw like it was paper, sinking deep into the wooden frame beneath.
She pulled the blade free. The cut was clean, precise. No tearing or resistance.
"Edge sharpening," she repeated. "You focus shadow not across the entire blade, but specifically along the cutting edge. Creates a monomolecular sharpness — the shadow extends the physical edge to supernatural thinness."
Wei Chen stared at the dummy. That wasn't just enhancement. That was transformation. Turning a decent blade into something that could cut through materials it had no business cutting.
"Your turn," Lin Sha said. "Form Shadow Blade. Then concentrate — pull the shadow tighter along the edge. Compress it. Make it dense."
Wei Chen tried. Formed his coating as usual, then attempted to focus the shadow. The technique responded sluggishly, the shadow shifting but not compressing the way he intended.
His strike hit the dummy. The blade cut through straw but stopped at the wooden frame. No penetration. Just a standard cut.
"Too diffuse," Lin Sha said. "You're spreading shadow evenly. I told you to compress along the edge. That means less shadow elsewhere, more shadow where it matters."
Wei Chen tried again. This time he deliberately pulled shadow away from the blade's flat surfaces, concentrating it along the cutting edge. The coating looked uneven now — thin on the sides, thick along the edge.
He struck. The blade bit deeper — not as deep as Lin Sha's cut, but noticeably better than his first attempt. The edge had found purchase in the wood.
"Better," Lin Sha acknowledged. "That's the concept. Now you need to practice until edge sharpening becomes automatic. Every Shadow Blade should be sharpened by default. Unsharpened coating is wasted potential."
She dismissed the training dummy. "Practice daily. Jogging with coating, and edge sharpening on stationary targets. Next week we'll combine them — sharpened blade while moving. That's when Shadow Blade becomes combat-ready."
"Understood. Thank you for the instruction."
Just make sure you keep paying — first official payment is due next week. Twelve points. Don't be late."
That evening, Wei Chen sat in his room and counted his contribution points.
Nineteen total. Warehouse guard twice (six points), caravan escort (ten points), Lin Sha session payment (minus three points).
Next week: first official monthly payment to Lin Sha. Twelve points.
After payment: seven points remaining.
Tight, but manageable. And he still had three days left in the month for potential additional earnings.
Wei Chen pulled out parchment and updated his financial tracking:
Month 1 Summary:
Missions completed: 3 (warehouse, warehouse, caravan escort)
Points earned: 19 total
Points spent: 3 (Lin Sha session)
Current balance: 16 points
Next payment due: 12 points (Week 1, Month 2)
Projected balance after payment: 4 points
Four points reserve was minimal. One failed mission or unexpected expense would wipe it out entirely.
He needed to maintain consistent mission completion. No failures. No gaps in income.
The next morning, Wei Chen found Chen Ling and Xu Lan in the common hall after breakfast.
"Month one ends in three days," Chen Ling said. "Rankings update start of month two. Anyone thinking about that?"
Wei Chen had been thinking about little else. "Constantly. We're currently fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six. Question is whether one month of decent performance moves us up."
"Decent isn't exceptional," Xu Lan pointed out. "We completed missions successfully, but so did most other students. Rankings reward standing out, not just being adequate."
"We did the caravan escort team mission," Wei Chen countered. "Grade D, forty points, completed without incident. That's noteworthy."
"Noteworthy for us," Chen Ling said. "Not noteworthy for the Sanctuary. Top-ranked students complete Grade D missions regularly. Some even take Grade C work. Our team mission was competent, not exceptional."
Wei Chen absorbed that. Chen Ling was right — their success was relative to their current position, not relative to the overall student body.
"So what's realistic?" Wei Chen asked. "Movement from fifty-four to what? Fifty? Forty-five?"
"Fifty would be optimistic," Xu Lan said. "Forty-five would be miraculous. We're new students with one month's performance. The ranking system accounts for sustained competence over time, not single month achievements."
"Four to six ranks movement," Chen Ling estimated. "If we're lucky. That would put us around fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two. Still bottom half, but climbing."
Wei Chen thought about that. Rank fifty. Not impressive. But better than fifty-four. And if they could move up four to six ranks every month...
"Three months to break top forty," Wei Chen calculated. "Six months to approach top thirty. One year to potentially reach top twenty."
"Assuming consistent performance," Chen Ling said. "Assuming no major failures. Assuming we keep improving while others stagnate."
"Big assumptions," Xu Lan agreed. "But possible. The question is whether we're willing to work that hard for that long."
Wei Chen met her eyes. "Are you?"
"I don't have a choice," Xu Lan said simply. "Failure means going back to the orphanage. So yes, I'm willing to work that hard indefinitely."
"I'm motivated by efficiency," Chen Ling said. "Climbing rankings opens access to better missions, better resources, better opportunities. It's logical to invest effort now for greater returns later."
Wei Chen nodded. "Then we agree. Consistent performance. Team coordination when possible. Avoid failures. Focus on steady climb rather than dramatic leaps."
"Boring but effective," Chen Ling summarized.
"Exactly."
The last three days of month one passed in routine training and preparation.
Physical conditioning with Yan: Wei Chen's placement improved to fifteenth. Not dramatic progress, but measurable.
Combat training with Feng: Wei Chen demonstrated Shadow Blade with edge sharpening. Feng approved the technique but noted the coating still broke too easily during movement.
"Work on stability," Feng instructed. "Speed comes later. First master maintenance, then add complexity."
Personal practice: Wei Chen drilled Shadow Blade while jogging until he could maintain it for thirty seconds consistently. Not perfect, but functional.
Mission work: No additional missions taken — the three-day gap was too short for most postings.
By the end of month one, Wei Chen felt a strange combination of satisfaction and restlessness.
Satisfaction from measurable progress: nineteen points earned, rank fifty-four maintained, team coordination established, Shadow Blade improving.
Restlessness from knowing the gap: top students were still leagues ahead, rankings wouldn't change dramatically overnight, real advancement required months or years of sustained effort.
Wei Chen extinguished his candle.
One month down. Many more to go.
The path was clear: steady, consistent, incremental progress. No shortcuts. No lucky breaks. Just work.
Boring but effective.
Wei Chen smiled slightly in the darkness.
He'd survived month one. Proven he belonged here, at least marginally.
Month two would test whether he could do more than survive.
Whether he could actually climb.