《The Sensible Knight》 The third son of Earl Radcliffe The YEAR 1197, Papal calendar. 300 years have passed since the last was defeated by the Makishima Kira who was summoned by Rockshire empire. After defeating the demon lord, the hero married his party members - human princess Ada Rockshire, elven princess Galadriel Undomiel, tiger princess Sheera and the half-dragon Rose. The demon kind had scattered after the death of the demon lord and were subjugated shortly afterwards. The hero expressed his disinterest in worldly affairs and settled down with his wives at the border of the human territory and Dragon Isles. Although he lived a slightly longer life due to his enormous mana reserves, the hero passed away at an age of 150. Overcome by grief, the elven princess willingly entered Eternal Slumber, the closest thing to death for the immortal elves. The elven community was enraged at the loss of such a prominent figure among their kin and therefore closed tied with humans. Rose simply left for the Dragon Isles. Sheera used her grief as motivation and united all beast kin and created a huge empire. She named it the Kira Empire, crowning herself queen. As the 12th century was coming to a close, the oracles of all temples around the world proclaimed the 13th century as the century in which a new demon king will rise. Tensions started to run high as human nations started to wage wars amongst each other rather than cooperating. The Rockefeller Empire, ruled by one of the oldest families of the continent, managed to maintain a strained peace. It is here, at the capital city of the Rockefeller Empire, called Sino, that we spy a young man wearing full body armour and doing basic exercises. His name is Maximilian Radcliffe, the 3rd son of Earl Radcliffe, the Radcliffe family one among the 15 earl families of the Empire. Maximilian is the 3rd among 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Being the "middle child", he received a little less attention from his parents. This matter was not helped by the fact that little Max was a quiet and obedient child and didn''t like to cause trouble for anyone and liked to stay by himself rather than socialise. This caused his parents'' attention to gravitate more towards their attention-seeking and more troublesome children. Max was neither was happy nor sad by this treatment and simply liked his lifestyle. When Max was 5 years old, he was involved in an accident in which he fell inside an abandoned well. He stayed there for 6 hours until he was rescued by his family butler. The well led to a natural cavern which was home to thousands of bats who continuously swarmed Max. In the beginning, Max was very scared but soon he got used it, rather it started to feel rather nostalgic as if he had seen this scene somewhere before. For the next few nights, he dreamt about a black-caped and black-masked vigilante hero who used the bat as his symbol. Max didn''t know why but he was very intrigued by this character, especially the extent of his knowledge. Thus Max started to study on his own. The earl''s library contained large amounts of books regarding geography, herbs, fauna, politics, finance, battle strategy etc. He began to devour these books so thoroughly that his tutor sometimes had to force him to take a break. He also started to remember strange information about exercising his muscles, called yoga. It involved breathing exercises and also included holding specific postures for an extended period of time. He started holding the horse stance with water filled bowls on his head, thighs and forearms. These actions gained him suspicious looks from his family and they started to avoid him even more, thinking he was getting eccentric. In this period of time, Max also remembered an art called gymnastics. He felt as if he had been doing gymnastics for a very long time and started performing routines filled with leaps, flips and cartwheels.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Years pass and our boy Max has grown to be a rather handsome 13-year-old. Doing yoga and gymnastics for 8 years cause him to develop a rather lithe body. His body is very flexible and his dense muscle give him an explosive strength. But his more than average height combined with his slim figure caused him to be teased by his brothers as the "scholar". Max didn''t mind the nickname and would give a small smile when teased. Max had graduated from middle school and was now free to choose his future path. Since he had no chance to inherit the family title, he expressed his desire to become a knight. He didn''t know why but he wanted to be called to "Dark Knight" and carry out justice. His parents agreed easily (A little too easily, but he didn''t mind). So, it was decided that from the next year, he would be attending the Royal Academy for mages and knights in Sino. He was sent to the family mansion in Sino a year earlier so that he could get used to life in Sino. Once he reached Sino, the bustling life and vibrant colours hit him like a hurricane and it took him quite a long time to acclimatize himself to the fast life of the city. Meanwhile, he started to dream about his second hero. He is a man named Saitama, a bald-headed caped hero who claimed to be a hero for fun. Opposite to Batman, this guy was a goof but defeated every enemy with the overwhelming strength of a single punch. Although not as righteous as the dark knight, his kind of strength was enviable. So our Max started to emulate his process for getting strong. 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, 100 pullups (added for muscle balance) and then a 10-kilometre run. The first day he did it, he collapsed in the middle of his run and had to be brought home by some kindly bypasser. One week later his knees gave away and he became bedridden. The pain made him question why he was doing such a foolish task. But our Max is not a quitter so after rehabilitating his knees for a month, he started again. This time he started slowly with all exercises reduced to 50 reps and 10 kilometres run changed to a 5-kilometre brisk walk. Every day, he tried his best to do 1 extra rep, to walk a bit farther, a bit faster. Week by week, month by month, he started to feel the little improvements in his body. Even though he did not gain godly strength, his breathing naturally grew deeper to accumulate more oxygen, his muscles became even denser to cram as much energy as possible. Max was never a miser with his meals and his meals were jam-packed with carbs and proteins. He also took muscle promoter and tendon strengthening medicine from the alchemy house. These medicines were generally used by knights and were quite expensive but it was not too much for Max who was the son of an earl. The tendon strengthening medicine made sure that his knee could maintain function even after the intense punishment he dished out to them. Max never forgot to stretch before and after his workouts so his flexibility did not decrease even as he put on more muscle. His body lost in fat what he gained in muscle. With his baby fat all gone, Max became a chiselled Greek god of a man with jaws so sharp it could cut butter. By the eleventh month, Max was so comfortable with the full routine (100 reps, 10k run) that he started to add pieces on standard knight armour while training. First the mail shirt and tunic, then gloves, greaves, shin and thigh guards, then chest plate and finally the helmet. The whole set added almost 50 kilos to his weight. Even with that, Max managed the 10k under an hour. He even started to perform rolls, cartwheels and flips in the armour as the start of the school came near. This brings us to the present day as the 14-year-old Maximilian Radcliffe eagerly waits for a new chapter of his life to begin at the Royal Academy. The incident The morning found Max to be wide awake, too excited to fall asleep last night. When he heard the grandpa clock sound 5 times, he jumps off the bed. Freshening up quickly, he began his morning stretches. He didn''t want to tire himself out so he did not do any strenuous exercises. Taking a cold bath banished any form of drowsiness. Dressing up took an entire hour, half of which went towards choosing proper clothes. Grooming himself took 2. He wanted the first day to be perfect. Staring at himself in the mirror, Max found himself harbouring narcissistic thoughts. Quickly banishing any such thoughts, Max went down for breakfast. Today he wanted to have a light breakfast so that he does not feel sleepy afterwards. Checking himself in the mirror for one last time, he went to the stables for his horse. The weather was nice outside and he did not want to take a carriage. His mansion was close to the academy so he didn''t take any guards since the locality was posh and security was top notch. His horse''s name was Thunder. It was a huge 6-foot tall warhorse, which retired after getting injured. Max bought him some time ago from one of his father''s friend. It was said that during his prime, Thunder''s charge sounded like real thunder. Even though he was injured, he made a complete recovery under Max''s care. He had a shining black coat with a white star mark on his forehead. Even though he is relatively old, the bulging muscles show that this old horse still has some miles left in him. Max set Thunder at a comfortable gait and began to enjoy the surroundings on his way to school. Even though he had passed through the same path many times, the intensity of activity still managed to surprise him. Officials going to their offices, newspaper boys shouting on the streets, roadside taverns and shops opening etc. When people saw the earl''s insignia on Max''s clothes and the sword at his waist, they naturally parted to make way for him. Max leisurely led Thunder through the streets. "Aah.... so peaceful", thought Max. But heavens seemed to have some different plans today. A quarter mile away from the school gates, Max came upon a commotion. A carriage belonging to Earl Morgan''s house was blocking the whole road. The Morgan house had just recently been elevated from baron to earl due to the engagement of the eldest daughter to the 2nd prince after he cancelled his engagement to the duke''s daughter. "What an otome game like scenario", thought Max, without knowing the meaning of either otome game or scenario. As he drew near the scene of the commotion, he saw the driver of the carriage arguing with a boy about the same age as him. The boy was dressed in commoner''s clothing and had a cheap looking sword on his back. Commoners are not allowed to carry swords, the only exception being adventurers. Becoming an adventurer at such a young age meant that this guy''s origin was not simple at all, especially considering the unusual black hair and eyes that was the same as the previous hero. Behind the boy stood a girl with auburn hair and blue eyes. The girl was frail looking and was shyly tugging at the shirt of the boy to stop him from arguing. The girl was neither drop-dead gorgeous nor did she have any makeup on. She was the type that grew on you the more you looked at her. Suddenly warning bells began to sound in Max''s mind. Like the oracles of temples, scenes began to play in Max''s mind. They seem to predict how this situation would unfold. The scenes that entered in Max''s mind made him frown. A part of him was telling him to completely avoid the situation since it was troublesome. But an even larger part of him was telling him to step up now so that he can spare everyone from trouble later. Just then he saw a white-haired butler speaking to someone inside the carriage with a respectful and apologetic tone. Max''s instinct told him the person inside was most definitely female and that the situation was about to escalate. So without wasting any time he took a deep breath and shouted in a stern voice, "What is this ruckus, how dare you people block the path of Maximilian Radcliffe, have you all got too much spare time. Do I need to throw some people in the dungeon to show you all the worth of time? " The crowd was startled by the sudden loud voice, but when they turned, they saw a huge warhorse covered in armour with the insignia of the house of Earl Radcliffe and on top of it was a handsome young man in the typical attire of high ranking nobles looking down on them with cold eyes. Most people living in the neighbourhood knew Max by his face even if they never talked to him. Adding to that the insignia of one of the top Earl houses and ornamental sword at the waist of the boy was enough to disperse any interest the crowd had for the scene. They immediately scattered. Max urged Thunder forward and asked the driver, "What the hell happened?". The driver immediately gave a low bow and replied, "Reporting to young Lord, this boy intentionally cut the harness of the carriage of Lady Aisha Morgan".If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Max raised an eyebrow at this. The situation seemed to be more troublesome than he previously thought. He turned his gaze towards the young man. The boy seemed to be looking defiantly at him. Sighing, Max got down from his horse and addressed him, "My name is Maximillian of House Radcliffe. Intentionally harming the property of a noble is a severe crime. You must have a very good reason for your actions. Say it". The boy immediately replied, "I acted out of self-defence. I saw a high-speed carriage barrelling down the street towards me and had no choice but to act so. " The driver shouted indignantly, "Don''t lie! It was you who jumped in front of the carriage." The situation seemed to again go out of control as both parties adamantly stuck to their point. It was at this time that Max noticed that the girl behind the boy had minor injuries and her clothes were also dirty on one side. Max seemed to get a picture of what happened. Most probably the speeding carriage caused the injury to the girl. Unable to bear his companion''s injury, the boy must have lashed. Knowing this, Max fixed his gaze on the girl and asked, "Miss, can you tell me what happened here?" Suddenly been spoken to, the girl was flustered and could only give out some broken sounds. The boy on the other hand suddenly panicked and said in a raised voice, "What do you need from her? She is not involved in this." Max replied in an irritated voice, "Shut up! I am not talking to you. Don''t speak out of turn commoner!". To which the boy replied in an indignant tone, "How rude! Is this how a noble should be? Terrifying and opposing commoners and flaunting their statuses...". The boy seemed to start a tirade about the nobility out of nowhere. Max decided that this cannot be allowed to go on for any longer. He suddenly lashed out with a hook which connected cleanly with the boy''s chin. The boy did not expect to be sucker punched out of nowhere and immediately lost consciousness. Max caught the collapsing boy. He had his Adventurer''s card in his front pocket. Max took it out and read the name on it. "Shin, huh....". Then he turned to face the girl who had turned from flustered to pale and said, "Don''t worry miss, he is not hurt. But I need you to cooperate with me if you want it to stay that way". Potential The girl was obviously scared but still managed to control her feelings, something Shin could take a page out of. She bowed to Max and said, "Good Morning to you my lord. My name is Karen. How can I help you?". ''Oh, this girl is good..'' thought Max. Outwardly, he kept a stoic face and asked, "Karen, tell me truthfully. How did you get hurt?" Karen replied, "I was crossing the street when this carriage suddenly came out of nowhere with tremendous speed, forcing people to move out of the way. I was caught unawares and had to jump out of the way. I scrapped myself in the process. Shin got angry at this and cut the harnesses." Even though he expected this, Max still felt a headache coming. He turned to the driver with a glare and said, "Where''s the fire!" The driver lowered his head and apologized, "I am sorry my lord. Lady Morgan wanted to wait for her fiancee at the school gate, so I was asked to move with the greatest possible speed." Hearing this, Max gave an exaggerated sigh. He knew that he couldn''t let Shin go scot-free but he also didn''t want to hurt him too bad because the other party was also responsible. When he was thinking about a way out of this situation, he saw a group of town patrol coming towards them. A bulb went on in his head as Max quickly called them over. He chased away the driver and asked the captain of the squad to come forward. The captain was a middle-aged man who looked like a drunkard. Stealthily passing him 2 gold coins along with his insignia Max said aloud, " With the authority of house Radcliffe, I find this man is guilty of harming a noble''s property. Throw him in jail." Then he added in a low voice so that only the captain and Karen could hear him, "Keep him in for 5-6 hours, then let him go. And also tell him when he wakes up that he owes me one." The guard captain didn''t fully understand the situation. But since he had already received the coins, he happily saluted Max and took Shin away. Max then turned towards Karen. She seemed to be a little more relaxed and was looking at him intently. "You don''t seem to be from this city, do you have a place to stay?" "Yes my lord, we come from a little village at the border. Shin came to visit his family friend. We have already paid for rooms in an inn", Karen replied with a slight blush on her face. "I see. Here, take this as compensation for your troubles... No, I insist... Now go back to the inn and wait for your friend''s release ", Max forcefully gave a gold coin to Karen who tried to refuse it and sent her away. "Now then, how to deal with the noble lady". Max turned towards the carriage as found a noblewoman standing under the umbrella held by her white-haired butler. ''How typical..'' thought Max as he gave a short bow as he said with a wry smile, " Not the way we planned our morning, was it Lady Aisha?" "Certainly not, master Radcliffe. Sorry for dragging you in our troubles" the girl gave a curtsy and replied with a slightly prideful voice. The girl had blue hair, blue eyes with blue lipstick and blue eyeshadow on. Along with her expressionless face, she gave the vibe of an ice-queen. ''I wonder if I broke her flag for Shin'' thought Max as he waved his hand to tell that it was okay. He looked towards the carriage and found that the horses had run away. He turned towards Aisha and asked, "What do you plan to do now?". Even though the school was only a quarter mile away, one cannot really expect a noble lady to walk the distance. Aisha replied with a slightly coy voice, " I was hoping that you would escort me on your horse". Max raised his eyebrows in surprise as he gazed towards the girl for 4-5 seconds. When she called out to him again, he replied, "Sorry, I didn''t mean to stare. It''s not that I don''t want to give you a ride, but I don''t have a fiancee so arriving at the same time on the first day of school might be a little suspicious."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Aisha''s eyes widened in realization. Hiding a small blush she replied, " For such a handsome man to be single, you should be careful of the foxes Master Radcliffe. But don''t worry, my fiancee is an understanding man and it is a personal request on my part. You wouldn''t deny a lady''s request, would you? " Smirking a little in amusement, Max replied, "Wouldn''t dream of it. It is a pleasure of mine to accompany such a beautiful lady as yourself". Both of them got on the horse, with Aisha sitting behind Max in side saddle, timidly putting a hand around his waist. Checking his pocket watch, Max found that they still had an hour till the opening ceremony. Putting his horse in a deliberately slow pace, the two of them spoke nothing to each other. It was a childish competition for seeing who could keep their composure better. As they rode, the sandal perfume that Max wore and the rose perfume Aisha wore mixed together to form a heavy atmosphere which made her to subconsciously stick closer to Max. Soon enough the gates of the school became visible. Aisha gave a disappointed sigh but quickly hid it with a small cough. The academy had 4 gates- one for school authorities, one for commoners and small nobles, one for Duke and Earl families and the last one was reserved for royalty. As Max rode towards his gate, he saw an opulently dressed older boy walking towards his horse. Feeling a slight tug around his waist, Max had an idea about the identity of this man. Stopping his horse, he allowed the man to approach him. Max recognized him as the second son of Duke Cannes, Robbert Cannes. He was well known as a talented but arrogant young man but also for his evening activities. "Shit! Did I just take the ''young master'' bullet for Shin", cursed Max under his breath. Robbert was frowning by the time he reached the horse. Before he could say anything, Aisha called out to him, "Robbert, meet Maximillian Radcliffe, the third son of Earl Radcliffe. He saved me today and also escorted me to school." Robbert''s frown grew deeper as he got Aisha off the horse. "I thank master Radcliffe for helping my fiancee. I am Robbert Cannes, from the house of Duke Cannes. Aisha, I hope you will tell me the nature of the incident from which Master Radcliffe graciously saved you." Aisha gave him a small nod. Turning back to Max, she again thanked him and then left with Robbert. Releasing a breath he didn''t know he was holding, Max thanked his stars as he handed his horse to the dedicated handler his family had hired. Soon enough, about one thousand students stood in a giant field, reserved for welcoming new students. After the speech of Headmaster Marvin, who looked exactly like Dumbledore to Max, the students were ushered in a large hall with a huge crystal in the middle. The crystal was surrounded by the teachers Max saw on stage a little while ago. A tall man who looked like a knight stepped forward and said in a loud voice, "All freshmen, get ready for your first potential check". The Irregular After every student took their seat, the knight began to explain. "This crystal here will release pulses of mana in a moment. You all have noticed the piece of parchment in front of you. It is a magic parchment, it records different values regarding your body. Close your eyes and try to empty your thoughts. The more you concentrate, the more accurate results you will have. If everyone is ready then we will begin......NOW! " Every student closed their eyes in meditation. Max also closed his eyes and began to concentrate on his breathing. Forgetting everything else, only breathing in....breathing out. After what felt like 10 minutes, the knight''s voice rang again, "Okay, it''s done. Please check the parchment and then turn it over to the counter on my right before you exit. The classes you can apply to will be decided based on these results. The list of your classes will be sent by tomorrow morning. After submitting your parchment, please exit on my left. There are no more activities for today. You are free to tour the academy or go home." Max heard the people around him (nobles) speak in excited voices to each other. Something along the lines of "Hey, my strength is 20, it synergises nicely with my earth attribute", or "Hey I have greater fire affinity with mage potential, just you wait, I''ll be the greatest pyromancer, haha"..... Max looked at his own parchment
Name Maximillian Radcliffe
Age 14
Gender Male
Race Human
Physical Attributes :-
Strength 30
Dexterity 50
Endurance 50
Vitality 30
Mana Capacity 100
Affinities :-
Fire none
Water none
Wind none
Earth none
Light none
Darkness none
Ice none
Lightning none
Space none
Potential Calculation
Warrior Potential Abnormal
Mage Potential Adept
Affinity Inept
Final Verdict >> [IRREGULAR]
Max''s jaw dropped......WHAT THE LIVING FUCK!!!!!! The results were beyond his comprehension. Was there a mistake somewhere? He was not too surprised by his physical stats. He had been training since five, and there are geniuses every year with abnormal warrior potential. What blew his mind was the contradiction between his mage potential and affinity. He had crazy mana reserves, 10 times that of an average human. He also had "Adept" mage potential- the third greatest after "God" and "Dragon", which were too rare anyways. Whereas his affinities were beyond "TRASH", more like it broke beyond the level of trash and become something "UNIQUE" because he had never heard any person without a single affinity. Most had poor affinities to most attributes but he had NONE..... This was unprecedented. Max had no idea how the academy was going to react. Students slowly started leaving, while Max kept sitting in a daze. Soon all students left, except 4 students- Max, a couple of girls and another boy. The other three were stopped by the faculty. When the teachers were going to speak with them, one of them noticed Max still in his seat. Frowning, the man called out to him, "Hey, stop dreaming! Come hand your parchment and leave." Max slowly stood and came to the front walking like a zombie. Everybody else in the room thought that Max had got terrible results and was shocked out his wits. The girl with red hair snorted in contempt. Max handed his paper to the teacher who called out to him and said, "Read this please!" The teacher felt a little pity and patted Max on the shoulder as he glanced through his parchment. First, his eyebrows arched up in surprise, but a moment later his eyes opened so wide that it seemed that his eyeballs would fall out. Others got curious by his reaction. The knight who was in charge of the procedure asked him to hand the parchment as other teachers took a peek. Loud gasps of surprise sounded as every teacher looked at Max as if he was a monster. "How can this be! It''s impossible! ", cried out a man in spectacles and traditional mage robes. He was the head of the magic department. "We need to report this to headmaster", said the knight in a stoic voice but his eyes were dripping with incredulity. The four students were quickly herded to the headmaster''s office.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Headmaster Marvin was sitting behind his oak desk when the group came in. He first looked over the parchments of the other three. "Hoho, we are blessed with some very extraordinary talents this year. First of all, Princess Reina - I had heard that you are the only person who has been able to wield the ancestral sword Fang in the last 5 generations but I didn''t expect your strength to be so monstrous. 50 points of strength along with perfect fire affinity which is known for its destructiveness, it is no doubt that you have a very bright future ahead of you." The red-haired beauty bowed her head, and said, " Thank you for the compliment, headmaster Marvin. I will try my utmost to answer your expectations". Marvin beamed her a smile. Then he turned to the gold-haired girl, "Miss Helen Keller, the daughter of the head of Mage regiment Ross Keller. I was in the same regiment as him years ago. To think that his daughter is the first ''Dragon'' mage potential in a hundred years, that lucky bastard! Even I am jealous of your talent". Helen blushed and bowed her head in gratitude. "Onto the next one then, Master Fred..... you seem to be an all-round genius eh? 30s in all physical attributes with the rare fire and lightning perfect affinity. Also adept in magic potential... I heard that you were an orphan before you were adopted by commoner parents. Looks like you can really find diamonds in the rough." The boy he spoke about had brown hair, average face and toned body. But Max felt something wrong with his eyes. His eyes were not what you''d expect on a 14-year-old''s face. It was a deep abyss, filled with darkness as if he had experienced some very traumatic events in his life. The headmaster also seemed to have noticed it as he held his gaze for 5 seconds before Fred gave a deep bow to him. Marvin sighed and moved on. "Last but not least, let''s see what we got here......huh......WHAT!?" Marvin almost screamed as he went through Max''s parchment. "Let''s see... Maximillian Radcliffe, the third son of Earl Radcliffe. Your House is not famous for producing warriors or mages. Even so... 30 points of strength and vitality, 50 in dexterity and endurance. Your warrior potential is the best I have seen in the past decade." "What!?" princess Reina was shocked to find someone with so high dexterity and endurance. She began boring holes in Max through her stare but Max ignored it. He knew that the worst had yet to come. "But that''s not the most remarkable point", Marvin continued, "blessed with TEN times the mana pool of normal humans with adept mage potential, you should be the cause of envy for every mage born in the last century ". This made Helen and even Fred gasp in surprise. Every person in the room had their attention fixed on Max which made him uncomfortable. "But what is wrong with your affinities. THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED....", Marvin was starting to get agitated. "I have seen people with poor affinities to all attributes but NONE?! Is it even possible?" Fred and Reina gasped at this while Helen seemed to sigh in relief. Marvin began pacing around in the room seemingly making a decision. "I need to investigate this... I need more information. Master Radcliffe, could please cooperate with me in some experiments in the coming few days?... I promise you no harm will come to you." Max pondered for a while before nodding. He might as well take the chance. While he wanted to become Dark Knight, magic is not something he could ignore. "Thank you for your consideration... okay...calm down...", Marvin steadied his breath. "Now with that out of the way, let''s make some arrangements for our geniuses. Fred and Helen, I want you to work with Mr Lucius (head of the magic department) here to improve your magic. Ah, but you cannot skip your other classes.... agreed?" Both Fred and Helen were ecstatic and bowed to both Marvin and Lucius before leaving with Lucius. "Princess Reina and Master Radcliffe, my daughter will be joining us this year. She is taking a break from her work. You must know her, Miriam is my and this country''s pride, the Sword Saint, the Scarlet Swordswoman. She has not taken any squires yet. I want both of you to apprentice under her. Any objections?" Both Max and Reina couldn''t believe their ears. The Scarlet Swordswoman was one of the top geniuses of their kingdom. At the mere age of 18, she managed to single-handedly put down a rebellion attempt earning herself the moniker. At 20, she became undefeated in the whole kingdom. To apprentice under her would be any knight''s dream. They immediately accepted. That night as Max lay on his bed, he thought back on his eventful day. He was both apprehensive and excited for the future that awaited him... Master Knights were very famous in the kingdom. All children dream of being a knight at least once in their lives. But being a knight was not so easy. Every knight must be able to afford and maintain their own set of armour, sword and warhorse at the standards set by the kingdom. Only affluent people or strong people with a patron could afford to be a knight. When a child, or more likely his/her parents, decided that he/she wanted to become a knight, they would go to live in the household of a knight when they were seven years old. There they would serve the knight as a page. As a young page, he/she basically was a servant for the knight, performing tasks such as serving meals, cleaning his clothes, and carrying messages. While working for the knight''s household, the page learned the proper way to behave and good manners. Nobles were not required to be a page and could directly become a squire. Around the age of fourteen, the page would become a squire. As a squire, the young man would have a new set of tasks. He would take care of the knight''s horses, clean his armour and weapons, and accompany the knight to the battlefield. Squires had to be ready to fight. They trained with real weapons and were taught fighting skills by the knight. They had to be in good shape and strong. Squires continued to practice their horsemanship, perfecting their skills at jousting and fighting from the saddle. Most future knights worked as a squire for five or six years. If a squire had proven his bravery and skill at battles, he would become a knight at the age of twenty-one. He gained the title of knight at a "dubbing" ceremony. At this ceremony, he would kneel before another knight, lord, or king who would then tap the squire on the shoulder with his sword making him a knight. At the ceremony, the new knight would take an oath to honour and protect his king and his subjects. He would be presented with a pair of riding spurs and a sword.
Max got a letter in the morning stating that his master would be arriving at her mansion at noon. He was told to take some minimal belongings and arrive there at 12 sharp. He was also told to deal with any previous duties that he may have as he would be living with and following his master for the next 7 years. Max had already sent a letter home the previous day informing his family about his situation. He packed 3 sets of training and equestrian clothes each. He also took 5 sets of formal suits, 5 sets casual wear and ample numbers of undergarments. After that, he left the mansion to the steward and climbed on Thunder (his horse). He was now leaving his identity as the third son of an Earl behind to start his own path as a knight. Soon he reached his master''s mansion. Being a Sword Saint has its own benefits, one of them being state-sponsored. All expenses are taken care of by the King''s treasury. So it was surprising when Max came upon a quaint, 2-storey brick mansion. It wasn''t the least bit gaudy but aesthetically pleasing and humble with a fountain at the front, wood to the left and a lake to its right. Upon arriving, he was informed that the Sword Saint Miriam was currently visiting the royal palace and that she would be back shortly along with the princess. Max decided to wait outside the front door for his master.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Half an hour later, he spotted two horses coming towards the mansion. On one of the horses, he could spot the familiar red hair of princess Reina. Beside her on a magnificent white horse was the blue-haired sword saint. Miriam. She has a perfect affinity with the water attribute and was known as Water-blessed during her time at the academy. Her sword style was known as the '' River Styx '' style. Bystanders describe her sword style as a torrential river, washing over the enemy''s defences and taking away their souls like the River Styx. Along with her demon sword with a scarlet blade, the Scarlet Swordswoman is the terror on a battlefield. Max waited for the two ladies to dismount and the horses to be taken away by the stable hands. Miriam stepped forward with Reina following behind her. As soon Miriam got close, Max went down on one knee, "Greetings to the Sword Saint. I, Maximillian Radcliffe wish to follow thee through thine battles and share thine burdens in lieu for thy knowledge till the day I become a capable knight. Will thou let me carry thy shield and take me as thine squire?". Miriam observed Max for a while before curling her fingers below his chin and raising his face so that she could look into his eyes. "So, you are the Irregular I heard about from my father. Hmm....you are more handsome than I thought. Good! Now rise, Maximillian, from today you are my squire. You will follow me and train under me until the day I see you fit to wield your sword for the Kingdom." Max stood up and followed Miriam and Reina into the mansion. He was assigned to live in one of the servant quarters. The princess too, apparently by her own decision. For the first week, they were taught how to clean weapons, tend to horses and do other menial jobs. During this time Miriam didn''t interact with them much. Every morning, she went to the academy and returned late in the evening. Max wakes up 5 in the morning, has a light breakfast, cleans the stables, change the feed and groom the horses before releasing them to graze. After that, he cleans Miriam''s and his own equipment, followed by the Saitama workout (100 pushups, 100 crunches......the whole shebang). After that, he takes a bath and sees off Miriam. The rest of the morning goes by doing any other job required of him or studying the materials from the academy. Max''s main focus was Advanced Magic theory as he tried to understand his body''s condition. He takes a 2-hour nap after lunch. In the evening, he does his gymnast routines followed by some basic sword swinging and spear thrusting. Next comes yoga and meditation, the latter performed in the presence of special elemental stones provided by headmaster Marvin for his experiments. Max had to write a report every day regarding any changes in his physique. This became his schedule for the first month in the mansion. Princess Reina was assigned to more personal duties like washing clothes and washing Miriam''s back while bathing. Therefore, Max and Reina did not interact much, even though Max caught her sometimes spying on him during his training. Luckily, she did not try to emulate himso Maxdidn''t have to stop her from hurting herself. After the first month, Miriam called Max and Reina to the training grounds. "My cute squires! Both of you seem to have settled in your duties by now. So it is time to start your training. As you both know, the sword style I created is known as the River Styx style. My source of inspiration came from a trip to the Great Evergreen forests when I was young. There I saw how the rivers cut through the land, sometimes meandering around the rocks, sometimes carving through sheer force. I was awed by this natural phenomenon. So I tried to incorporate the principles in my own fighting styles. You see, during the hundreds of fights I fought in my lifetime, I found out that the most important aspect in a fight is neither strength, nor agility, nor endurance nor weapons. Can anyone of you tell me what is the most important factor in fighting?" Max was pondering on her words when Reina raised her hand and replied, "It''s distance." Training and Spirit Awakening "Correct answer. The most important aspect is your position with respect to your opponent. Even a small angle can cause an attack to miss or get glanced by the armour. To get dominance in positioning one needs superior footwork and body control. We are going to drill these two areas exhaustively." After saying her piece, Miriam began to demonstrate footwork techniques and movement drills. Max felt that they resembled his gymnast routines but were still more complex than them. After only one circuit of all the drill Max felt soreness in muscles he didn''t think he had. The princess was not faring any better either. Miriam told them to take it easy and also recommended supplements that targeted joint integrity and ligament strength. Weeks passed in a similar manner and Max spent his time between his duties, drills and studies. The two squires were required to complete a number of topics like troop formations, ballistics, basic architecture and engineering, macroeconomics etc. While they did not have to attend classes, they did have to complete assignments which were sent to the academy for grading. Any doubts that arose were cleared by the professors through correspondence. Max and the princess sometimes helped each other while studying. This was the only time they interacted with each other as both of them were kept busy by their schedules. The headmaster sometimes visited the mansion to conduct experiments on Max. So far none of the previous experiments had shown any visible results. Headmaster Marvin was getting frustrated. He thought that it would be a huge waste if a person with mana capacity 10 times normal was not able to become a mage just because of his affinities. As a last-ditch effort, he decided to do something drastic. Spirits and devils were creatures that resided in planes that were very close but parallel to the mortal plane. They were often attracted by the mana and life force in the mortal plane. Devils use seduction or manipulation to ensnare sentient beings and invade the mortal plane. Monsters and demons are the results of previous incursions which were only stopped by paying huge sacrifices. Spirits, on the other hand, prefer to cooperate and protect people. They have close relations to diving beings as devils have close relations to the netherworld. The previous hero had contracted a top-level spirit, rumoured to be the daughter of one of the Elemental Emperors. All spirits known to humans assume fairy-like appearances and generally have an affinity similar to mana affinities. There are various levels in spirits at the top of which are the 5 Elemental Emperors. To contract a spirit one requires great aptitude in magic as well as lots of luck. Normal people generally went to the church for spirit-awakening ceremonies but high-level mages have their own methods. On successful bonding, one''s affinity will rise tremendously but their mana reserves need to be shared with the spirit to manifest them in the mortal plane. Usually, the loss of mana capacity is more than made up for by the rise in affinity. One person can only go through one spirit awakening ceremony in their entire life. Two months after Miriam showed Max and Reina the movement drills, Marvin summoned Max to the academy. He was ushered in through a secret entrance and led to the mage tower. The mage tower in the academy was very famous and trained almost 100 mages every year. The top floor was reserved for the tower master who was Marvin himself. When Max arrived, he found Marvin hunched over an extremely complex magic circle. He seemed to be doing some calculations so Max decided to wait for him to complete. Eventually, Marvin straightened himself and noticed Max. He beckoned Max. Pointing to the circle he said, "I am out of ideas. As much as it pains me, this is my final attempt. If you are able to contact a spirit, one of your affinities will rise and you can become a mage. If not then I guess you will have to continue on the path of the warrior". Max understood his implication and nodded. He also expressed his gratitude to the headmaster for doing so much for him. Marvin waved his hands saying that it was his duty as the headmaster. He then asked Max to step towards the centre of the circle and sit cross-legged. After that Max was asked to close his eyes and meditate. Marvin slowly started feeding mana to the circle while muttering some incantations. As time passed Max started to feel a slight itch at the back of his neck but chose to ignore it. What he didn''t know that a spider tattoo was being etched on the nape of his neck. Once the tattoo was complete, it started to absorb mana from the magic circle. All the mana provided for the ceremony was being absorbed by the tattoo. Marvin felt something was wrong and tried to stop the ceremony but suddenly the mana stones he was using went berserk and a whirlpool of mana started coiling around Max. After that, a blinding light filled the room. Max only had time to feel a large pressure in his brain before he passed out.
Max''s POV I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the now-familiar ceiling of the servant quarters in Miriam''s mansion. I wonder how I got here and what happened at the ceremony. I have very little expectations but I was not going to get any answers while lying in bed. I got out and moved sluggishly towards the washroom to freshen up. As soon as I reached the mirror, my heart stopped. Even though I did not have arachnophobia, seeing a spider with a 2-metre diameter behind you suddenly would startle most people. Forcefully suppressing the urge to squeal like a little girl, I turn my head but find the opposite wall empty. What? Did I hallucinate? I turned back to the mirror and found the spider in the same place unmoved. What the fuck? Am I going mad?This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Greetings Contractor!" A mechanical female voice replied. It sounded like SIRI but I had no idea who SIRI was. "Good morning? Who are you? What are you?" "I am Nyx and I am your contracted spirit." "According to records, all spirits are humanoid with elemental affinities. You are neither. Are you a devil?" "That information is incorrect. And no, you cannot contact a demon through spirit awakening ritual. Different planes." "UH... you are challenging my world view here. Could you please elaborate?" "Sure. But it will take some time." As I continued through my morning routine, Nyx explained to me about the ins and outs of the Spirit Realm. Turns out, the spirit realm is not as homogeneous as humans think it to be. It is made up of different tribes of spirits, the elementals being one of them. What the elementals did do was finding the gate to mortal realm first. In the beginning, they kept it a secret from others but eventually, word got out. This resulted in some political sword-crossing and negotiations after which they gained the exclusive rights to the mortal realm in exchange for massive payments in mana and soul power harvested from here. Some tribes like Nyx''s were not happy with this result but were outvoted by the other tribes. So they secretly made an alliance. Nyx was acting as a scout for checking out stuff before others made further plans. Nyx also told me that she was a high-level spirit atpar with the Elemental Emperors. She was the former Matriach of Arachne tribe where they change matriarchs in a thousand-year cycle. Her term ended recently and she really wanted to see the Mortal plane. For a high-level spirit like her, it was apparently quite simple to pass through the blockade put up by Elementals unnoticed. She also told me that Arachne tribe members have no attributes to their mana, so when she first sensed my unique pure mana, she immediately latched on to me, making the ceremony go crazy as the manifestation of an Emperor level spirit could be very straining for the ceremony. Luckily I was not injured by it. "Well, I get your story. Although most of it is unbelievable for me now, like you being at the same level as Elemental Emperors. Like, even the hero only contracted only the rumoured daughter of one. But that can wait for now. First, can you tell what does contracting with you mean for me?" Before Nyx could reply to that question, someone entered my room. When he saw me awake,he was surprised for a bit but quickly regainedhis composure. I recognized him as one of the servants living on the same floor, his name is Raj. I sometimes chatted with him when I first started to live in the mansion. "Congratulations on your recovery milord, you have been unconscious for an entire day. I suggest getting some breakfast. Lady Miriam sent me to check up on you but it seems I don''t have to report myself." As if on cue, my stomach gave a loud grumble. Embarrassed, I followed Raj to the dining table. "I have a request contractor. Please don''t reveal my existence to your fellow humans as it will be detrimental to my mission." I gave Nyx a mental nod through our telepathic bond. I never planned to drop such a bomb on them in the first place. As I reached the table, I surprisingly found Marvin and Miriam already there. When they saw me, they immediately bombarded me with questions about my body and if I felt any changes. I told them that I was fine but felt no changes. Marvin did some test for my affinity but found it unchanged. Depressed, he left the room with Miriam who was consoling him. As I dug into the bacon and bread that was served for breakfast, I continued the questionnaire session with Nyx. "Contractor, I..." "Call me Max." "Change acknowledged. Max, by assessing your memories, I found...." "Wait,wait...time out...you can see my memories?" "Arachne specialize in mind magic. Don''t worry Max, I will teach you how to guard yourself properly against such probes in the near future." "I don''t know how I should react to that.... but mind magic?" "Yes, continuing my previous statement. I find the magic currently used by humans to be very limited. Why do you limit yourselves to origin magic when it is the most difficult to learn?" "There are others?" "Yes, magic can be broadly classified into three types - Origin magic: One where caster use their mana to create another object/energy form, Domain magic: Magic used to control the surroundings of the caster. This includes empathy, hypnosis, telemetry, telekinesis etc. Lastly, there is augmentation magic where the caster manipulatesthe soul and astral body to augment the physical body in order to perform supernatural feats." "Hang on, you are saying that hypnosis and telekinesis are real? Most mages scorn them as parlour tricks with no real basis." "Yes, this is what surprises me. Humans in this plane are surprisingly unguarded against any mind magic. Their thoughts are so loud that I have to subconsciously suppress my sensitivity or else I would go crazy." "That''s....a lot to take in... So....what can you teach me?" "Me? I have lived long enough to have knowledge about all kinds of magic though as an Arachne, I specialise in Domain magic. Let''s start by getting you decent control over your consciousness. It won''t do good for me if my peers find my contractor to be so laughably vulnerable..." Learning Magic Six months passed after Miriam first showed her squires the footwork for her sword style. One day she brought both of them to the lake at her mansion. Both squires were given snorkels so that they could breathe underwater. After wearing weighted vests both of them were made to stand in water such that their heads were submerged. Next Miriam asked both of them to go through basic sword forms and some of her own sword forms that she had demonstrated beforehand. The two of them were close enough that doing any movement made by one of them created turbulent flow in the water which affected the other''s movement. This way it was as if they were facing multiple opponents making random and unpredictable movements. Days became weeks as both of them slowly started to develop their preferences. The princess who used a large sword chose a compact sword style which aimed to make the smallest movements to get inside the opponent''s defence while gaining momentum by using the flowing style to land heavy strikes. Max, on the other hand, chose a more technical and defensive sword style which included outmanoeuvring the opponent and using their momentum to land slashes and cuts in the gaps of their defence. He chose a one-handed longsword and shield as his primary style. He and the princess developed styles that countered each other so Miriam had them duel multiple times, most resulting in draws. Reina and Max came to know each other better through these duels and became friends. They often shared stories of their childhood and experiences of the capital.
Max''s POV I am learning the basics of magic from Nyx for the past six months now. On the first day, Nyx produced three balls of magic. They were black, white and orange coloured. Nyx told me that it was to check my affinities for the three kinds of magic. The white one was for origin magic. As soon as I came near the white ball, it ran away from me as if it was repelled by me. Nyx explained that I have no aptitude for origin magic and should give up on it. Although it hurt a little to be told that I will never be able to perform the same magic as other humans, I was not going to let this get me down. So I moved on to the next which was the orange one. It was augmentation magic. As I came near, the ball got attracted to me and began rolling across my palm. Nyx explained that it means that I have an average aptitude for augmentation magic and should be able to perform it with enough practice. Lastly, as I came near the black ball, it had a reaction that was the complete opposite of the white ball. It raced towards me and got absorbed into my body. I felt a peculiar feeling in my body. Nyx told me to follow the feeling as it passed through my body. The magic coursed through my entire body starting from the top of my head to my toes and then it returned to where my heart was. After fooling around with the sensation for a couple of hours, I was able to concentrate the feeling on the top of my palm and produce a similar but pea-sized black ball. Seeing this Nyx praised me and told that I had beyond excellent aptitude for domain magic. I felt a wave of elation and ecstasy upon hearing that I had not been abandoned by magic. But at that time didn''t completely comprehend how excellent my aptitude for domain magic actually was as I had never experienced it myself. In the beginning, Nyx taught me about special meditation techniques to connect with my astral body. Even though I had no previous experiences in this field, I was able to grasp it after 2 months. The change in my perspective was enormous after I did unlock my astral body. It was like the creation of an extra sense. I was so disoriented that I had to feign illness for an entire week just to get used to the extrasensory information that my brain was getting bombarded with. Nyx explained that all living beings with suitably developed consciousness are connected in a sort of web of collective consciousness that connects us to one another. This is why people with high perception as sometimes able to guess the feeling of other people even without saying anything. Nyx told me that it is not hard to get information from the ''web'' which she called Akashvani. The difficulties rose while processing it. The knowledge is always fuzzy with a lot of noise added in. To condition the brain for processing the knowledge, Nyx taught me divination spells. The conventional knowledge in the human world about divination spells was that they were strange spells used by mystics to know about the future and the past. Nyx told me that divination spells were nothing fancy like that. They acted as a filter, editor, compiler and finally simulator to make sense of existing knowledge and predict future events based on different possibilities. I quickly picked up these spells with the help of Nyx. Turns out that contracting Nyx had its own benefits. Like contracting with elementals increase one''s affinity to one of the elements, contracting Arachne increases a person''s consciousness power and also strengthens the astral body. Due to Nyx being an existence like the Elemental Emperors, my consciousness was the strongest in the Mortal plane.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Next, Nyx taught me self defence from mental magic. For this Nyx told me that I had to consolidate my consciousness and create my mental domain and then create defensive measures. She told me that cutting myself off from Akashvani or brute defence was not effective. I had to learn to accept mental probes and then capture it in my domain where I was omnipotent. Instead of fighting the probe, I have to create ''stories'' and ''mazes'' that confuse the probes long enough for the probe to dissipate. After weeks of imagination what I came up with looked something like this - Each island had its own stories and mazes. Even my memories were fragmented and spread all over the islands. This way only I knew their location. In the beginning, creating layers in my consciousness felt tedious and unnatural to me. But Nyx told me that creating one''s mental domain was essential for mental magic and that all my efforts would bring fruits soon. By the time I completed my domain, even Nyx was shocked by the complexity and the details. She told me that even her own domain was not this complex or vivid. I too was shocked by my imaginative capabilities. I vaguely remembered learning about such fantastical landscapes described in ''Xianxia'' stories but I was not sure where I had heard such stories. Anyway, the results of creating my domain were truly immense. Firstly, I got a photographic memory. Even though I had a pretty good memory earlier, my recall capability was not unlimited. But now I could stow away all the data I received and then recall them whenever I wanted without placing burdens on my short term memory. Next, I could freely access the Akashvani without the fear of getting probed by other strong spirits like Nyx. In the last month, Nyx began teaching me empathy and telemetry. Nyx told me that living and non-living entities have thoughts attached to them. Telemetry accesses thoughts attached to non-living entities due to their interactions with sentient creatures while empathy accesses the thought continuously generated by living beings. Most thoughts are not in the form of sentences or legible words. It is a combination of words, images, feelings or even colours. Nyx suggested that the best way to get used to reading intentions was during my duels. I started by reading through the feints that Reina tried to make and even force fake intents to make feints of my own without moving a single muscle. Of course, I did it in moderation in order to hide my capabilities form others. Recently Reina has begun to open to me and we sometimes speak to each other about our pasts. She seems to be a decent person to be around. She is very devoted to her duties to the Empire and is hard-working and diligent. I look forward to being friends with her. Visiting the Academy Max''s POV It has been a year since I went to live in Miriam''s mansion. My sword style is getting sharper and more polished. I am making progress with mental magic too. Recently I am having these dreams about some strange people again. By now I have become used to such things. All I know that this strange knowledge I dream about always helps me rather than hurt me. This is the first time I have dreamt about multiple people at the same time. Some of their names are Dynamo, David Blaine, David Copperfield and Derren Brown. What I know about them is that none of them possesses any magical powers but could create miraculous events using tricks and mind manipulation. Sleight of hands, vision manipulation, hypnotic suggestions, focus manipulation, optical illusions and many such concepts put me in awe of these individuals. I began to extensively research these topics. I couldn''t find much information in books except for some records of a vague experiment done decades ago by an eccentric academician. So I had to perform my own experiments. The servants of the mansion became my test subjects. I spent weeks fanatically researching these tricks, so much so that I had to be reprimanded for not completing my assignments a few times. As I got used to the tricks, the feedback I got from my test subjects also become more amusing. Wonder, excitement, eagerness and in some of the more timid ones even fear. As I read their reactions, I got more experience in reading surface thoughts. Seriously though, it is a great pain figuring out what someone is thinking. Every person has different methods to visualize their thoughts. The most annoying ones were the ones who thought in colours. This pattern generally occurred in more naive and younger females or very young children who couldn''t formulate complex sentences. I had to spend some time figuring what colour corresponded to which emotion. Even then the colour scheme was not consistent among all them. Generally, the deeper shades corresponded to stronger emotions like greed, lust, rage, consternation or despair. Brighter shades correspond to glee, pleasant surprises or anticipation. The lighter shades were more troublesome as they corresponded to lighter emotions - both negative and positive. I had to spend hours in public places observing thousands of people to finally come up with this colour scheme. The next worst on the list of troublesome thoughts would be emotions and images. Usually; bards, artists, angsty teenagers, promiscuous and fickle people think in emotions or images. The problem with this was there was no definite thought structure and their thoughts were highly susceptible to external stimulus. For example, the older girl who loved to tease younger boys. She teases for the sake of teasing and the sense of superiority it gives her. If you ask her if she has any romantic feelings for her targets, you will find out that the answer is not constant. It may depend on her mood and a thousand other things that I couldn''t be bothered to explain or think about.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The best targets for mind-reading were the intelligentsia. They were educated enough to form complex but rigid thought structures in their minds. They subconsciously form opinions and prejudices on most topics based on their acquired knowledge. These biases act as axioms upon which they build their daily thoughts. This helps them to think and make decisions faster but also leaves them particularly susceptible to mental magic. This was why I liked these type of people as they were the easiest to read. In the end, the average middle-class adult used a combination of the aforementioned thought types to live through their daily. Reina was a combination of complex structures and colours while Miriam had some simple structures but depended heavily on images. This made me trust more in Reina but be a little guarded against Miriam. Marvin did not visit us anymore so I could not get a grasp on his thoughts but this problem was solved when Miriam suddenly asked us to accompany her to the academy.
We arrived at the academy early in the morning. Miriam left us to our own devices as soon as we reached the gates. I asked Reina if she had anywhere specific she needed to be. She told me that she had to greet the children of prominent families. I didn''t wish to accompany her so I left her to her own devices and made a promise of meeting at the practise grounds in a couple of hours. After she left I began to wander around in the campus. This was the first time I had the opportunity to properly explore the campus of the academy. I asked Nyx to cast a special spell that causes people to ignore my presence. It was a complex spell that tampered with the brain''s processing of the optical information that the eyes capture. It categorized me to similar priority as a wayside stone or a fallen leave. Unless I do something flashy to capture their attention, most people will ignore my presence. The first place I visited was the library. It was huge rooms with spanning multiple floors and housing thousands of books. I skimmed through the spines, searching for anything interesting. Suddenly I saw the light of a lamp at one of the tables. As I carefully approached the table, I found a solitary figure hunched over several open books. I recognized the face, it was Fred, one of the four who were summoned to Headmaster''s office on opening day. I remembered to Fred was an orphan and commoner who had fire and lightning perfect affinity with adept mage potential. When I first met him, I thought that there was something wrong with his eyes but looking at him now I felt that I had underestimated the weight of his feelings before. His skin was pale as if he had imprisoned himself in the library for days.HIs figure looked to be that of a man possessed. I did not know about his reasons, but my instincts told me togive him a wide berth if I didn''t want to get involved in something troublesome in the future. I quickly left the spot and after fooling around for about 45 minutes, left the library. I wandered through the school grounds as students started to come out of their dorms and went to their classes. They greeted their acquaintances, friends or lovers as they made their way to their classes. All of them completely ignored my presence which allowed me to overhear their gossips. Most of them were about pretty girls and handsome boys. Some were talking about Reina. But there were a significant number of people talking about a certain black-haired boy which was making me extremely uncomfortable. But at the time I didn''t have any idea about how close I was to meeting that very boy and how troublesome the morning was going to be. Maxs Woes The rumours that I heard during the morning that made me the most concerned were about a certain black-haired boy named Shin who had joined the Academy last year with special permission for uncovering a sinister plot against Earl Morgan and his family. Since the eldest daughter of the Morgan household was the betrothed of the second Prince, this matter became directly related to the royalty, hence the special permission. The main perpetrators were the men of Eliza Kaldia, daughter of Duke Kaldia who was formerly engaged to the second prince and the second son of Duke Cannes, Robbert Cannes. Robert was the fiance Aisha Morgan, the second daughter of the Morgan household and the one who had an argument with Shin on the first day of school. It turns out that Robbert had a huge, secret crush on Eliza. He was enraged when the second prince publicly disgraced and renounced her in favour of a Baron''s daughter(Morgans were barons initially). He decided to take his out frustrations on Aisha after she was betrothed to him. He planned to have her kidnapped and drugged after which he would ''catch her'' sleeping with a commoner and accuse her of adultery, thereby tarnishing the name of the Morgan household and causing them to fall out of favour. He was assisted in his ventures by the lackeys of Eliza. Unfortunately for them, Shin somehow stumbled upon the kidnappers. As a typical hero that he was, he fought against multiple hostiles gallantly and freed the unconscious Aisha thereby saving the day. Further investigations by the authorities revealed the direct involvement of Robbert. He was quickly disowned by his family and executed. The indirect influence of Eliza caused her exile from the kingdom. Shin then entered the Academy with a full scholarship. Very quickly, he managed to get himself embroiled in disputes with some arrogant nobles. He was harassed and belittled but he managed to put down his bullies magnificently in the duelling ring as well as show his prowess with the sword. Turns out, Shin is an Awakened. Awakening a very special process that some people undergo after becoming an adult at the age of 18 or after. It grants them direct access to the System. It allows them to use "skills". Skills allow a person to very quickly learn about anything quickly and efficiently without thorough study. Awakened people progress faster than other people. The more blessed a person is, the earlier he would awaken. Shin, who had Awakened before the age of 18 was seen as a favoured son of the heavens. This gained him some female admirers which included Aisha Morgan. And here I thought that I broke her flag that day. Truly, stealing a hero''s girl is more difficult than stealing a dragon''s eggs.
Two hours later, I found myself in front of the training field waiting for the princess. And there he was, the mighty hero himself, followed by a gaggle of giggling girls and one lady Aishi Morgan in tow. He must have combat classes now and in accordance with the omnipresent plot, I was to play the role of villain today. *Exaggerated SIGH* At least he hasn''t noticed me yet. All I could see when reading his thoughts was a bright kaleidoscope of colours without any semblance of any structures within. *OVER exaggerated SIGH* And that''s the cherry on top. Now we have a potential superpower with mind-boggling luck factor and an IQ of a preschooler. It doesn''t take much to guess the troublesome matters I was going to face today. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it My thoughts were broken by a sudden tap on my shoulders. Turning around, I found the princess smiling at me. It seems she had fun doing what she was doing. I dutifully fell behind her and let her take the lead on this one. As soon she entered the field, all eyes were attracted to her like iron to a magnet. All people started murmuring to each other along with some squealing fromthe fangirls. Even Shin couldn''t resist the brilliant and gallant figure of our princess and I could see a literal garden of bright, colourful flowers blooming above his head. It seems that even Reina was creeped out by his gaze and in a moment of brilliant insight pushed me ahead of herself and using me to barricade his gaze. Not the best way t introduce the antagonist for the day. I could see the flowers withering and dark clouds gathering above his head. One didn''t need psychic powers to perceive the pure hostility oozing from him. Trying my best to ignore the piercing gaze that was boring holes in me, I walked into the training grounds. Reina introduced us and also announced the reasons for our presence. It seems that Miriam and Marvin wanted to compare out combat proficiency to that of other students. I looked up to spot Marvin and Miriam looking at us from his office window. As I peered into his mind, I was hit by sensory overload and had to physically stop myself from falling over. Inside I found rigid structures that usually made it easy for me to read minds but the sheer number and complexity of those structures made me almost faint. As expected of the old devil who mastered magic for decades. Reina noticed my pale face and asked me if I was alright. I nodded lightly and reassured that I was alright. She suggested that I take a break as she sparred with the other students. I had no problem with this suggestion so I took my seat as I watched Reina beat up a couple of poor blokes. She already possessed monstrous strength even before the potential test. In the one year that she spent at Miriam''s mansion improved her dexterity and control multiple times over, so the students were no match her. Everybody cheered and praised Reina for her prowess and everyone was happy with the performance. Except for a certain black-haired boy who seemed even more pissed off at me for letting a woman do all the work. Well, I had no hod-blooded, uber-masculine delusions about flaunting my skills for a woman neither I had any plans for courting Reina so I completely ignored Shin''s passive-aggressive behaviour. But it seems that Shin had already used up all his patience as he stepped up on the stage and directly challenged me. "Maximillian Radcliffe, I hereby challenge you to a gentleman''s duel. If you have any honour then come face me!!!" I facepalmed as the crowd grew silent at the proclamation. Even the princess looked more amused than offended at the sudden interruption. She walked down from the stage and sat beside me. "He looks awfully enthusiasticfor challenging you. Any idea why?" "Don''t worry, he''s just jealous." "Jealous? Why would he be jealous?" I let my gaze wander over the princess'' sweaty body for a second then gave her most winning smile. "For obvious reasons...." Fighting as a Villain As I stepped on the stage, my mind was going through various scenarios that could play out in the next few minutes. The one thing I was sure about was that I could not let Shin dictate the pace of the duel. Heroes have an annoying abilityto progressively hyping themselves and getting powerups mid-battles. The use of a single incapacitating attack wasn''t viable either. I could always lose, but I didn''t want to let Miriam and Reina down. So I decided that I was going to go full villain in this fight. Putting a wide grin on my face, I politely greet Shin, "Good Morning, I am Maximillian Radcliffe. Could I have your name?" Shin immediately gets incensed at me, "How typical of a noble! Forgetting the faces of the people they trample upon." Before he could continue his tirade, I interrupt him, "Pardon me? Have we met before?" Fuming, Shin almost spat back at me, "A year ago, in front of the academy gates. You humiliated me and then knocked me out using a cowardly blow. Then you had me thrown in jail for no reason! " I pretend to muse for a while, then acted as if I remembered something, "Ah! I remember, that time I helped Lady Aisha Morgan deal with a scoundrel who destroyed her carriage. Are you saying that was you?" I widened eyes and covered my mouth as I stared at Shin as if I saw something outrageous. The surprised looks on Shin and Aisha''s faces were priceless. It seems that they had not seen each other that day. My statement took the wind out of Shin''s sails. Can''t hate against your woman, can you? Desperately hiding his flustered state he replied, "It was none of your business! You barged in by yourself...!" Unbeknownst to him, I had walked closer to him during the conversation. Generally, a duel starts with the duellists 10 metres apart. I was only 5 metres away from him, barely out of the reach of my sword. Normally, we would step back and wait for the signal to start the duel. But I had something better in mind. " Ah! I remember there was a pretty girl with you that day. She was very intelligent and sweet. She even thanked me for my help. Where is she? Is she not with you?" I looked around with genuine curiosity in my eyes as I thought that she would always follow Shin around. Suddenly all colours drained from Shin''s thoughts leaving behind an ominous black. I was trying to provoke him into attacking me but I guess there has been some drama with that girl because I was not expecting the pure wrath that started emanating from him. In the next moment, golden light starts emanating from his sword as he unsheathed it. Must be a skill. Then he pulls it back all the way back over his shoulders with the most open guard I had ever seen. It seems like he depended completely on the speed of the skill to overwhelm his opponents. Good, it''s better for him to be reckless like that. I have been practising Miriam''s footwork for a year now and with my already monstrous dexterity, I was faster than any skill that any new awakened could perform in this short-range. I could easily puncture Shin''s throat before he finishes charging his skill. But that''s not how a villain fights. The true essence of a fight between a hero and a villain is flexing. It''s not if I win a fight, it''s how I win the fight. I have to show him how much stronger I am than him before I defeat him. That''s how a true villain wins. At least until the hero gets stronger than him.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. So I slowly pull my sword from its scabbard with an arrogant and annoying smirk on my lips. Then I put my sword in the most defensive position possible, the full stretch. My hands are completely relaxed with no intention of attacking. All I did was point the tip of the sword at his wrist. That was all that I needed to seal his movements. My sword is made with reinforced steel which was way tougher than any reinforcements a new awakened could make. So he couldn''t recklessly swing his sword or he risks impaling his hands. Any feints are useless as I can judge and predict any movements he makes. Shin tries to create distance between us by back-stepping but I keep up with him and don''t give him any chance to swing his sword. Eventually, the skill begins to fade. Getting impatient, Shin lashes out wildly with a kick forcing me to take a step back. He misjudges my speed and starts swinging his sword. I quickly get inside his guard and bash the pommel of my sword into his solar plexus, killing most of the momentum. Capitalizing on the remaining momentum, I swivel on the balls of my feet. I drop my sword and catch his right elbow and shoulder. With a jerk, he is sent flying through the air in an arc and lands heavily on the ground, knocked out. Guess I overdid a bit. The whole drama took only five minutes. Theentire peanut gallery was silent. Reina seemed satisfied with my performance and I was too far away to see Miriam and Marvin''s reactions. I turned around to look at the unconscious Shin. He did not have any visible external injuries except for a few scratches. With his enhanced regenerative factor as an Awakened, he should be able to wake on his own quickly. I put my sword in its scabbard and then picked up Shin''s sword. It looked ancient. It had regal-looking engravings on its blade and its guard was shaped like a dragon. It looked precisely like a magic sword that could be used to slay dragons. Luckily I didn''t have to take a direct blow from it. Looking at the sword, a peculiar feeling started to come over me. It was as if the will of the world was trying to speak to me. I got tunnel-vision and strange pictures started flowing in my mind. It was the same as the time when I first met Shin. This feeling of me being a part of an overarching plotline made me feel irritated. All I wanted to do was to stick the sword into some stone so that Shin could retrieve it when he got stronger. With a small shout, I threw the sword with all my strength. The sword practically flew and embedded itself into the spire at the top of the mage tower, which was also the tallest building in the campus. I don''t know how Shin was going to retrieve it without learning flight magic but for now I am happy to get rid of that cursed sword. I turn around to find the now awake Shin looking at me with a devastated expression on his face. He must be shocked by the fact that I threw his sword instead of taking it. Putting on a stern face and trying to sound profound I said, "You depend too much on your sword and skills. As expected of an untrained commoner. You will never be a true swordsman if you depend on your skills to do all the hard work for you." I spoke some more random drivel mixed with some elitist shit that is part of all noble''s speech pattern."Don''t worry about your sword. It is yours but you have to work for it. When you are strong enough, you will acquire it again." With that, I turned and left with Reina under the reverent gazes of other students.