Bright was heading toward the administrative building to collect a physical form sheet—apparently the Academy still maintained paper documentation for certain processes despite their soul-force technology—when he literally bumped into someone rounding the corner.
"Sorry, I—" Bright started.
"You again!" Celestine Aurin's perky voice interrupted. "Are you following me by chance, Private Morgan?"
Bright blinked. "How do you even know my rank in the army? I thought those kind of things were at least a tad confidential, Ms. Aurin."
"Well, I have my ways," Celestine replied with a mysterious smile. "And call me Celeste. We're peers here. Rank formality is unnecessary."
She held her own form sheet—Artifact Refining selection clearly visible.
"Artifact Refining, huh," Celestine observed, reading his selection. "Do you know anything about it? It's not an easy thing to shape metal to your will. It requires theoretical understanding beyond just having cores and hoping things work out."
