《Aliad - Tale of Zed [Dropped]》 Chapter 0 - Prologue In the world of Arun, created by the five gods: Ongarin; Magus; Blangvina; Julia; and Finda; lies the continent of Lunaria. The central continent of the world, it is rich with many islands, forests, fields, mountains, and deserts. It is the most beautiful and most wonderful land. It is separated into five countries, the Rigel Kingdom, Lunaria Federation, Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom, Mustashum Empire and the Gunterra Kingdom. The Rigel Kingdom of humans encompasses the northern area, the largest of all five countries, boasts the strongest army of knights. The Lunaria Federation of humans is to the west of the Rigel Kingdom and is unmatched in its navy. The Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom is the kingdom of the High Elves located to the south west and is unmatched in its prowess in magic. The Mustashum Empire of humans located to the southeast and is unmatched in its tenacious people. The Gunterra Kingdom of the Mountain Dwarves, the smallest of the five countries, lies in the center of the continent and they are unmatched in their ingenuity with metals and their capability of trading. These are the countries that lie within Lunaria and it is within the Rigel Kingdom that a child is recently born. The date is June 15, 4996. In the great castle of the Rigel Kingdom, Crown Citadel, which was built atop a hill to better oversee the protection of its five million residents of the capital of Citadel, the third prince is born. He was named Zed that means in the human tongue ¡°Wise¡±. It was decided by his mother, Elizabeth, in the hopes that her son would be a wise person to help the nation in times of trouble. The Lunaria continent has seen many wars and this was the first time that a long peace has reigned. Elizabeth had hoped that war would never come but there was always a tension whenever her husband, Aaron, the King of Rigel Kingdom talked with his advisors and ministers about relations with other countries. Zed was born healthy and his family had high hopes for their youngest son. Complications arose as he grew, though healthy he was weaker than his siblings. His body was skinny compared to the average child but he was more intelligent than any child. He began to speak at age 2 and he started learning the language near his 3rd birthday. He began walking at 3 but he was always followed by his servant Sebas. Sebas was an old man who took care of Aaron when he was a child. He was the king¡¯s most trusted servant and so he was entrusted with the care of his youngest son. It was now August 29 and Zed was learning how to be a prince as he is to be presented to the whole continent when he turns 5. ¡°Now,¡± said a woman in her twenties. She was Alicia, Zed¡¯s teacher. She had red wide rimmed glasses with red hair tied up in a bun. She wore a purple dress that made her fat figure that much more prominent but for her she believes that it is hidden. ¡°You must walk like this,¡± she said as she walked, her back straight and with utmost care as if there were shards of glass that would harm her should she take a misstep. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Zed watched as she demonstrated how a prince should walk in front of others. When it was his turn to show what he had seen, he tried his best but the movement were too stiff for him to completely imitate and he fell down with a small scream. He fell down onto the floor with pain rushing from his stomach and knees. Alicia helped him up and said, ¡°Keep on trying it. This is all we will be learning for today so try your best.¡± She was all smiles as she encouraged Zed to do all that he can. Zed fell down many times until he was finally starting to get used to it. Etiquette class ended and Alicia began teaching history. She taught him about the founding of the Rigel Kingdom. The area was once controlled by the Aurelian Empire, Drakin Kingdom, Warse Kingdom and the Raven Empire. The four countries were at constant war at each other until the Drakin, Warse and the Raven countries allied with each other to get rid of the Aurelian Empire. This and many other lessons were given to Zed every day but at night, Zed would always sneak into the Court Mage¡¯s library and read as much as he could before he would be discovered. He began doing this when he was healed from having his knee scraped as he was walking one day. He understood what was written as reading and writing were where he had excelled in. He learned that magic was separated into affinities of Primordial, Spectrum, Supreme, Ancient and Legendary. The affinities were then separated into types. These types were the only magic that a person could use at any time. Primordial affinity was separated into Fire, Earth, Water and Wind. Spectrum was separated into Light, Dark, Nature and Arcane. Supreme was separated into Summoning, Healing, Holy and Chaos. Ancient was separated into Inner, Spirit, Form and Void. Legendary was separated into Time, Space and Ethereal. The books also mentioned that magic was a wonderful thing but that it came at a cost. There were many adverse effects and each one was different per person. It ranged from an advanced mental age to a drastic change in physical form. Because of these effects, many believe that magic is dangerous but magic is not something that can be controlled. Each one is born with magic, it may be too weak to even notice or it could be too strong that it affects the area around him. Everyday for 2 years, he has done the same routine over and over until it was finally his 5th year. The day that he is presented to the continent as the 3rd Prince of the Rigel Kingdom begins the day he learned his affinity. --------------------- [/tr]
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Chapter 1 - Beginnings Hey all! I''m sorry to those that do not like how I am doing things but I''m trying to make this as best as I possibly can. The original or old Aliad had too many problems that I couldn''t easily solve with flashbacks. That being said, I hope you all can please be patient as I try to get us all back up to speed to it. Thank you all for supporting me and I hope to see you all as I write Aliad - Tale of Zed. Enough sappiness... PR Credits to ShadowMouse and thank you to all for reading! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! ------------------------------ I was woken up by a light outside of my room. I was dreaming of all the races of Arun and me having to take a test on it. There were Humans and Avans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, and Draconians that lived here. Humans were separated into humans without wings and those with wings called, Avan. The differences is that Avans had small lithe bodies and feathery wings of all colors behind them. Avans were known for their aerial combat capabilities. Humans were known for their ingenuity and perseverance. Elves were separated into High Elves, Dark Elves, and Blood Elves. High Elves were adept at magic and usually had blonde hair and fair skin. Dark Elves were secretive, ritualistic and usually had pale white skin, red eyes, and white hair. Blood Elves were bloodthirsty just as their name suggests as well as war crazy and were distinguished by their muscular bodies and red hair. Of course the most common trait among all the elves were their pointed ears. Dwarves were separated into Mountain Dwarves, Dark Dwarves and Stone Dwarves. Mountain Dwarves were short muscular humans, they were known for their ingenuity in metals as well as trading. Dark Dwarves were different only in their dark skin and their prowess with magic. Stone Dwarves were dwarves whose skin could turn into actual stone whenever they wished. Their defensive abilities as well as their attunement to the earth was what gave rise to this condition. Even if they weren¡¯t mages who specialized in earth magic it would still affect them. Beastmen were a tribal group. They are merely animals with humanoid bodies. This makes them stronger in physical strength but because of their animalistic temperament, they are less intelligent than the other races. Draconians were a proud and secretive group but not much is known about this race. There were rumors that they were capable of changing their form into any creature they want. As I got up from my four poster bed with dark green tapestry, my butler, Sebas came in. Just as usual, he was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a black vest and black pants. There was a dangle of a chain on his right pocket, his pocket watch that he always had. On his face was a calm and solemn expression that I always saw. He was 45 right now, his hair which was black now is white but it is still combed and neat. His white moustache too was styled nicely. No one else knew me like Sebas and it will be a shame to know that I won¡¯t be able to see him again. Today was my affinity test, I had always been fascinated by magic and really wanted to be able to use magic. The books I read before said that magic was in everyone but it depends on the person¡¯s mana if they will be able to use it. As a prince of the Rigel Kingdom who leads the strongest magic knights, I¡¯m sure that I will be able to use magic. Sebas greeted me and proceeded to start changing my clothes. I stopped him and said in a high pitched voice, ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving soon, I need to be able to handle myself.¡± He nodded and I changed my own clothes for the first time. Having Sebas change my clothes was nice and all but I didn¡¯t want to continue relying on him. ¡°All the servants are currently making sure that the castle is able to receive all of the nobles as well as the royal families or emissaries of the Lunaria Federation, Mustashum Empire, Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom and the Gunterra Kingdom,¡± said Sebas as he poured me a drink from a decanter that was on top of a desk. ¡°The elves and the dwarves are coming?¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Yes, your royal father invited everyone from the Lunaria continent as he was sure that you are a genius,¡± he said with a grin. It was true, during the last two years that I was being taught I excelled very much but I also did have problems. Physical activities were difficult on me as my body had some sort of defect that none of the palace healers could do anything about. Because of this defect, I have been investing my ability in knowledge. I amazed my teacher, Alicia, about my ability in retaining knowledge as well as asking the hardest of questions. When my father found that out, my lessons were then turned into debates. I was stumped rarely as I was still too young and I couldn¡¯t reason the right way but other than those rare times, I was more than capable. ¡°We especially know that you are looking forward to this day,¡± said Sebas as he grinned a knowing grin. I had just put on my black pants, I had finished putting on my black long sleeved collared shirt with red lining a short while ago, when I saw that grin. Immediately I knew that everyone in the castle knew about my late night studying. I started to panic a little as it was tradition that I knew nothing about magic before I took the test. ¡°Do not worry my prince, only the royal family knows,¡± Sebas said to comfort me. Having my fears allayed for a bit I asked, ¡°How much do they know?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Everything,¡± he said as I fixed my clothes to look more proper, ¡°Breakfast is ready and the royal family awaits.¡± I tense up knowing that my mother hated anyone being late to eat with the family if everyone was capable of doing so which today was and asked, ¡°Am I the last one?¡± ¡°Yes but since it is your day, Queen Elizabeth had allowed you to sleep in, nonetheless it is not good to keep them waiting.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said after I looked at the mirror and saw myself for the first time today. I had silver hair, gold eyes and bronze skin. My face was clear of any blemishes but I could see from my body that I was very weak. Even my older brothers had a much larger size in body than I did at the same age. The corridor outside my room was lavish. There were paintings of my ancestors lined up in every other section of the wall separated by marble columns. The floor was made of some blue tiles that easily accented the marble columns. A door would appear after every minute of walking until I reached the end which led to a railing overlooking a courtyard. I turned right and slowly descended the violet colored carpet that filled the whole staircase. The staircase rounded to the left as it slowly led me down into the courtyard. Reaching the courtyard I turned left and into the Great Hall. This Hall was decorated with armor instead of old paintings. At the end of the hall was a door that led to the throne room. I turned left at the crossroad before the throne room and headed to the Dining hall. I stopped and let Sebas announce that I was here and entered. Inside was a giant hall, lavishly decorated with pink and some white pink. The red curtains were parted revealing the Great plains of Lunaria that the Rigel Kingdom was located in. The chandeliers were blinking as the light of dawn reflected from them. In the center was a round table filled with food obviously made for the nobility as other than being plentiful was also made with care to the presentation. My whole family was sitting,nearest to where I entered was my older sister, Alexandra, she was the youngest of my three older sisters. She had silver hair and bronze skin like I did but her eyes were black. She¡¯s fifteen this year and she wants to be a priestess of the gods. She had on her black priestess robe and a star necklace around her neck. My parents wouldn¡¯t let her be one apparently but they relented when they found out that my sister had a gift for healing magic. ¡°Morning Zed,¡± she said to me with a smile. ¡°Morning runt,¡± said my older brother, the second prince, Salazar Rigel. He was seated next to my sister. He had black hair, gold eyes, and was fair skinned. He was lean but not that muscular. His hair spiked up like mine and had an unkempt beard. He wore a blue long sleeved collared shirt with a bunch of medals and black pants and shoes. ¡°Don¡¯t call him that,¡± snapped my oldest brother, the crown prince, Leon Rigel. He was seated across Alexandra. He had silver hair, brown eyes and bronze colored skin. He was more muscular than Salazar. He wore a black long sleeved shirt with red lining as well as a complimenting black pants with a sword on his left hip on a red scabbard. ¡°Morning Zed,¡± said my twin older sisters who sat in between my two older brothers. They were Eustasia and Serephine. They both looked the same but also were easy to tell apart. Both had white hair and gold eyes but Eustasia had bronze colored skin while Serephine had fair skin. Eustasia had long flowing hair while Serephine had short hair. They both were lean like Salazar but not as muscular. They both wore easy to move in clothing. As much as it displeased my father. They both wore leather clothes that were neat enough to be able to look presentable in them. Eustasia had a black and red leather clothes while Serephine had black and gold leather clothes. Leaning next to their seats are their trusty rapiers. ¡°Good morning my son,¡± said my mother, Queen Elizabeth. She was the most beautiful person that I have ever met. She had black hair, brown eyes and fair skin. She wore a dark pink dress that was embroidered with gold trimmings and linings. She was a commoner from what I hear. ¡°Good morning Zed,¡± said a rough but gentle voice that belonged to my father, King Aaron. He was large, broad shouldered and muscular. He had an essence of someone you did not want to mess with yet was kind and gentle. His eyes were gold colored, his hair silver and his skin was bronze. He wore a silver and gold long sleeved shirt as well as black pants. ¡°Good morning everyone,¡± I said after everyone greeted me. I then walked to my seat to the left of father and began eating breakfast. I really loved this atmosphere with my family. I knew of the troubles outside my home and hoped that I could do something about it as I wanted to share this peace with everyone. ------------------------
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Chapter 2 - Affinities Hey guys! I have a double release for you all today. Hope you all enjoy it! PR credits to ShadowMouse! ---------------------- After breakfast I went to the royal library that I could finally go inside of. I don¡¯t know what it is about these traditions requiring me to be five just to go inside the royal library but I guess it let me practice magic somewhat. The library was located inside a gray tower that was covered with markings all around it and a blue tiled roof. It had no windows but only a reinforced with steel wooden door. I entered the library and inside was filled with shelves and shelves of books. There was no librarian but there was a podium in the middle with a tablet. The podium was made of wood and on the tablet was written: Royal Library of Rigel 1st Floor ¨C Records 2nd Floor ¨C History 3rd Floor ¨C Geography 4th Floor ¨C War Records 5th Floor ¨C Magic Studies 6th Floor ¨C Magic Research 7th ¨C 10th Floor ¨C Royal Floor The words for the first floor was shining and so I thought I might try touching the words for the fifth floor. As soon as I touched it, the words lit up and I could feel the ground beneath me floating. The area around the podium was an elevator! I slowly rose with the podium elevator and I could see that I had some time to look around. The shelves surrounded the rounded walls and also inched closer towards the center. There were no stairs that I could see so the podium was the only way of moving from floor to floor. Each floor was different. The first floor was neat and tidy but the second floor had some pieces of paper on the ground but it was still clean. The third floor had massive maps where some shelves of books should¡¯ve been and there were tables scattered around also with some maps. Like the second floor it too had some paper on the ground. The fourth floor had drawings of some creatures as well as some maps with markings on them. This room was messier than the lower floors but it was still alright. As soon as I reached the fifth floor I noticed that this floor was larger than the others. For one, it was taller and seemed to go on longer than the tower looked from the outside. There were shelves that went as high as the ceiling, which was what I thought to be one hundred feet. The shelves were only on the walls and there were tables and chairs near the center. I went to one of the shelves and started looking. Ranking of Magic, Creation of the Magic Guild, Memoirs of a Sage; different titles were scattered with no set organization. It was as if they were just placed on the shelves just because there was space. If only there was something about finding out my magic affinity, I thought. I had already begun my training with magic after watching some of the mages in the castle and imitating them. I had noticed my mana pool and was meditating as that was what I thought they were doing and my mana pool did increase. Although I don¡¯t know how large my mana pool really is I still knew that it was increasing. Even though I increased my mana pool I couldn¡¯t really use any magic. I asked Sebas about this as I walked here and he said, ¡°You need to know your affinity first. After that, you will find it easier to practice your magic.¡± I asked him then about how I find out my magic affinity and he just said that I had to wait until I was five years old to learn about it, he wouldn¡¯t even tell me what the affinities were. Suddenly a book floated towards me, it was titled, On Magic Affinities. It seems that the books come towards you when you think about them, I thought. I grabbed the book and went to one of the chairs. As soon as I sat on them, the chair changed to become a plush and soft chair. At first it was too big for me but now it fit just right. The table also changed to fit my height when I was sitting. This library is very convenient, I thought with a smile. I placed the book on the table and started reading. There were five different magic affinities; they were Primordial, Spectrum, Supreme, Ancient, and Legendary. Each affinity also had types that one specializes in. Primordial affinity, the most common one, had types of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Spectrum affinity, the uncommon one, had types of Light, Dark, Arcane and Nature. Spectrum affinity mages had the ability to use any of the Primordial magic but their restriction is only of an aspect of it. If a mage had a Light Spectrum affinity they could only use a stronger version of the Primordial magic. Nature Spectrum affinity could only use the raw power of the Primordial magic, it was unrestrained which made it very powerful and difficult to control. Arcane Spectrum had precise control on the Primordial magic. And Dark Spectrum was capable of adding adverse affects to the Primordial magic. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Supreme affinity had Summoning or Contractual, Healing, Holy, and Chaos as its types. Supreme affinity was rare, except for Healing as that usually needed to be a member of the church to be able to use it. Supreme Affinity has no connections to the Primordial elements and is separate. Summoning or Contractual allows to summon elemental spirits or contracted demons. Holy uses the divine powers while Chaos uses the demonic powers. Holy affinity usually increases the users abilities while Chaos does the same but only stronger at the cost of the users lifespan. Ancient affinity is super rare and its types are Form, Void, Spirit, and Inner. Form allows the user to change or create something out of nothing but it has to be something that can exist. Void allows the user to deconstruct or change something to less of what it was. Spirit allows the user to be able to talk with the spirits and borrow their powers. Inner allows the user to release the hidden potential of a person as well as dispel any magical enchantment. All of these affinities were amazing, I was already hoping that I had a Supreme Affinity as that was something that I was interested in. I turned another page and I was given another affinity to look at. Legendary Affinity, the most unique affinity, its types are Time, Space and Ethereal. Time allows the user to change the flow of time. Space allows the user to bend space. Ethereal allows the user to use any of the lower affinities at maximum potential. I was stunned, this legendary affinity, truly was deserving of being legendary. I continued reading and read that the Legendary Affinity cannot be noticed by any test and that the only way to really know is to try. Being excited, I wanted to see if I had the Legendary Affinity, but I didn¡¯t even know of what to do. I didn¡¯t have the time to look for another book when the podium elevator came into view and Sebas was there. ¡°It is time Prince Zed,¡± said Sebas with a bow. ¡°What time is it?¡± I asked. ¡°It is currently noon, and your family is waiting for you in the throne room,¡± he said checking his pocket watch. ¡°Ok,¡± I said getting up and going towards him. ¡°Why are they waiting for me in the throne room?¡± I asked as the podium elevator descended. ¡°That is where your magic affinity will be tested, all the guests have arrived as well.¡± ¡°They¡¯re going to test my affinity today?!¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Yes, they are also going to introduce you as the third prince as this is your first public appearance.¡± That made me nervous, when the podium elevator reached the first floor. I followed Sebas to the throne room. When we reached the door, Sebas said, ¡°Prince Zed, it is custom that you enter the door before me as this is your first public appearance. Please do not worry and everything will be alright.¡± ¡°Thank you Sebas,¡± I said with a smile as my nervousness and anxiety disappeared. I reached out and opened the door thinking, I wonder what affinity I¡¯ll get, as the light of the throne room almost blinded me and I heard, ¡°Please welcome, the third prince of the Rigel Kingdom, Prince Zed Rigel.¡± --------------------
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Chapter 3 - Affinity Test Here''s the next chapter. PR credits to ShadowMouse. Hope you all enjoy it! ---------------------- I entered the throne room after the announcement. At the end of the room was seated my father and mother on gold and red thrones. My father¡¯s throne was larger than my mother¡¯s. Above them hangs a black and purple banner. The purple created a circle on the black banner and within it was a picture of some kind of bird with two heads, six wings, and twelve tails. Standing next to my father was a man that had brown hair in a ponytail, black eyes, pale skinned and was the most skinniest person that I know. His name is Rico Vlad and is our Prime Minister. When I looked at him, for a second I thought his eyes looked like they were mad, but the next second it was gone. I turned my eyes to the person standing next to my mother. She was an old elf from her pointy ears. She had white flowing hair going down her blue and red robes, gold eyes and fair skin. She held a black staff on her left hand. I walked towards the throne and stopped in front of the steps leading up to the platform where the thrones were placed. I then turned around and applause rang all around me. I saw some humans with very dark skin and had on all sorts of accessories, ranging from their necks, ears, hands, wrists, and nose. There were also some humans with bronze skin and almost everyone of them had black hair and brown eyes. These humans were all to the left of me while the right had elves and dwarves. There was an assortment of dwarves as well as high elves. The dwarves were the most boisterous while the elves were just applauding gracefully? I couldn¡¯t really tell just that they were doing exactly what was expected of them. Not too loud and not too soft, it made me feel that something was off. After the applause died down, my father said, ¡°Turn around my son.¡± I did as I was told and I caught a glimpse of my brothers and sisters all smiling to the right of me. I smiled back and turned to face my parents. My father was standing and said, ¡°Today we have all come here to see my son, the third prince, Zed Rigel, take his magic affinity test. Today is also his announcement day, the day in which he takes up the title of third prince and is blessed by the gods.¡± A mild applause, and my father turned to the woman standing next to my mother, ¡°Principal Artermia, if you would please begin the test.¡± ¡°Yes, your highness,¡± said the woman as my father sat back down and she took an orb and walked towards me. ¡°Prince Zed, please place your hands on the orb to begin the test,¡± she said holding it out for me to hold. I reached out and held the orb with both of my hands. Suddenly everything turned black and I couldn¡¯t hear, see, or feel anything. I started panicking not knowing what to do but then a bright light sparked in front of me. It was the orb. It was glowing a gentle white light and I heard a voice saying, What is your name? I looked around me where the voice came from and couldn¡¯t think of anything else other than the orb. A talking orb? I thought. And again the voice asked, What is your name? Zed Rigel, I thought. Zed Rigel, I am the orb of tests. It is my duty to help you understand your affinity. But don¡¯t I just get told my affinity? That was how I understood it. Your affinity is not told you, it becomes you. Your affinity and yourself are one. You should already know what it is, all I need to do is help you understand it. This is completely different from what I read. Most do just get told their affinity, but you are different. You retained your personality inside the Black Mist. The Black Mist is a dimension I pulled you in to tell you of your affinity. It usually ends with a small conversation as most do not have a personality here and are merely just dolls that have a vague understanding of what is happening. But you are different, you have a personality, something that the Mist is supposed to separate. As such you are experiencing something only a few have experienced. You separate our personalities? It makes the process much easier, it said with a glow? Now then, what is it you wish you had as an affinity? Supreme. Oh, not the Legendary or the Ancient affinity? Most would wish the most powerful be conferred them, yet you do not. Honestly? Legendary or Ancient would be awesome but I don¡¯t see myself having it. I know that those who have power usually get consumed by it, I don¡¯t want that to happen to me just like it hasn¡¯t my father. Are you sure? What? Are you sure that your father isn¡¯t consumed as well? My father is kind! He would never do anything so cruel! I thought as I began thinking of the debates that I had with my father. Although there were times that he cringed but I just thought of it as something normal. Could it be? It matters not, so Supreme it is then. Wa- wait! I thought as the darkness slowly disappeared only to be replaced by the throne room. I then heard a voice say, the test may be complete but there is more. When the darkness disappeared, a crown appeared inside the orb that the woman was holding. ¡°It is Supreme affinity!¡± she shouted.With that she returned to her spot next to my mother as ¡°oohs¡± came from the audience. I turned to look towards my siblings and they were smiling, I turned to look to my parents and they were grinning from ear to ear. ¡°It is time for the blessing of the gods,¡± said my father. The audience quieted down, and Rico Vlad, the Prime Minister came towards me and took my left hand somewhat forcefully. He placed a ring onto my pointer finger. It was like a silver band as it had no designs on it. It also was bigger than my finger but when he removed his fingers, the ring glowed and shrunk to fit my finger. A white light shined from the ring towards the banner. The band looked like it was moving and I heard another voice, I, Ongarin, King of the Gods on behalf of the pantheon, grant our blessings on this child, Zed Rigel. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The voice was loud and domineering. It made me fall to my knees just like everyone else did. When the voice disappeared I stood up again, although it felt like I would fall down in any moment. I looked around and everyone was in different states of kneeling or prostrating and getting up and trying to stay standing. My parents had shocked expressions as they sat back on their thrones. Did I do something? I thought anxiously trying to remember if I ever did anything to get the king of the gods to personally grant me his blessing but nothing came to mind. When everyone was more or less back to their original state, my father said smilingly, ¡°If everyone would please go to the ballroom to continue the festivities.¡± Everyone exited the throne room, guided by the guards, except for my family, the principal and the prime minister. We all gathered near the throne room waiting for my father to say something. ¡°That was unexpected, has there ever been a time in which Ongarin personally did the blessing?¡± asked my father to the Principal Artemia. ¡°No there has not been such a time, not even in my hundred years of life,¡± she replied. She¡¯s a really old lady?! She doesn¡¯t look like it! I thought with a cringe. ¡°Well, if the Ongarin wishes to personally bless my son, then Ongarin wishes to personally bless my son,¡± said my father laughing. My father has always been like that, not really minding the small details. ¡°Zed, now that you have received your ring, you should be able to use the skills given to us by the gods.¡± ¡°The gods give us skills?¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Yes, so now hold your ring in front of you and say ¡®status¡¯,¡± he said demonstrating to me and an image showed on top of his ring.
Status
Name:Aaron RigelRank:Great Guardian
Age:40Race:Human
Gender:MaleNationality:Rigel Kingdom
I did the same thing and said, ¡°Status.¡±
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:??
Age:5Race:Human
Gender:MaleNationality:Rigel Kingdom
The image appeared on top of my ring just like it did to my father¡¯s. ¡°Why is my rank hidden?¡± I asked my father. ¡°Because you have just passed received your ring and been blessed,¡± said my father patiently. ¡°Now do the same thing only say the word, ¡®blessings¡¯¡±. I did that and the image changed:
Blessings
Blessing of Ongarin
Increases overall power.
Blessing of Magus
Increases aptitude for magic.
Blessing of Blangvina
Increases aptitude for physical combat. Heightens battle instinct
Blessing of Julia
Increases natural regeneration. Reproduction is more likely.
Blessing of Finda
Increases luck for all things including trouble
Blessing of the Pantheon
Strengthens all blessings.
These were very powerful blessings and instantly I knew that Julia¡¯s would be the most troublesome in the future. Everyone had different reactions to it. My brothers were smiling. My mother and the principal had their hands over their mouths. Rico looked indifferent. My sisters were wide-eyed with their mouths hanging open. My father looked at image, then to me, then to the image over and over again. Then after what seemed like an eternity, my father said, ¡°Well the gods have taken a liking to our Zed here.¡± ¡°A liking?! Dear-¡± ¡°Now, now, our guests are waiting for us in the ballroom. No need to keep them waiting,¡± my father said dispelling my mother¡¯s words. Everyone filed out to the ballroom while my father told me in a hushed tone, ¡°We¡¯ll continue this later, know that I am proud and happy to see that the gods have found favor in you. I will convince your mother that nothing terrible will happen to you.¡± He probably was thinking of Finda¡¯s blessing concerning the trouble part. ¡°Yes father,¡± I said nodding. ¡°All right, let us meet our guests, there is a princess you need to meet,¡± said my father as he wrapped his arms around me and led me to follow my family that was ahead of us into the ballroom.[/align] -----------------------------
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Chapter 4 - Fianc茅e Hey guys! This is the last one I''ll put for the day. PR credits to ShadowMouse! On another note, I created a wordpress as a backup in case something happens to this one. The link''s here if you need it. Enjoy the chapter! ------------------------- The ballroom was to the right of the courtyard as we got out of the throne room. The room itself was huge, there were servants wafting through the guests with platters of food, wine and beer, mostly beer. The chandeliers in the ceiling were beautiful. They were lit by white orbs and the glass surrounding them made it seem like they were different colors every now and then. The silver curtains on the left were pulled back to reveal a balcony that overlooked the city. To the right, servants went in and out of some doors, most likely to the kitchens. My father and I strode towards the center of the ballroom and were immediately surrounded by the guests. ¡°It is wonderful to finally meet you Prince Zed,¡± said a bald, dark skinned lanky man with gold bands on his wrists, gold rings on his fingers and gold earrings that looked like some kind of dinosaur. He wore a white robe with a simple yellow sash around his waist. ¡°My name is Aukahnatep Mustashum, King of the Mustashum Kingdom.¡± Behind him were more dark skinned men but they had hoods on, covered their mouths with some cloth and carried short curved blades. ¡°It is my pleasure to meet your majesty, the king of Mustashum,¡± I said bowing down as I was taught to do in my etiquette class. ¡°My you have another wonderful young man, King Aaron,¡± said Aukahnatep. ¡°Yes, I am. If you will excuse us we need to go to the dwarves,¡± said my father. We bowed to each other as my father led me to the dwarves. The dwarves were a mix of their kin. One stood out as we went closer to meet him. He had gold hair that was combed. He was a mountain dwarf as his skin was bronze colored. He was facing away from us but he had a muscular and somewhat stout body. In his hands were two mugs of the beer and he was shouting, ¡°Hey, you! Yes You! More beer! We dwarves love our beer! This human beer is good but there¡¯s not enough! We need more!¡± As he said this the other dwarves around him also told our servants the same thing and they kept on shouting, ¡°Beer! Beer! Beer!¡± Dwarves live up to their name. I thought. ¡°Must you force our stock of beer to run out Boris my old friend,¡± said my Father. Boris, the dwarf with the two mugs of beer, turned around and I could see that he had red eyes and that his beard was braided with some black stones to tie them. He had a long sleeved red and gold shirt that showed his muscles underneath. There was a medal with a silver hand on it placed on his left chest. A pair of black and gold pants and polished boots were also worn. ¡°Aaron!¡± said the dwarf opening his arms and dropping the mugs of beer onto his servants nearby. ¡°It is good to see you!¡± he said as he tried to hug my father with his short stature when we were close enough, ¡°It is good to see your son as well,¡± he said after releasing my father from his grip. ¡°Yes it is good to see you, and I see that your drinking habits still have not changed over the years,¡± said my father. ¡°What can I say, we dwarves know our beer and yours is the best one among the humans,¡± said Boris, ¡°I can¡¯t say much for the quantity though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because they¡¯re made for humans, not excessively drinking dwarves.¡±,¡°So this is the lad!¡± said Boris ignoring the beer and grabbing me. ¡°He¡¯s skinny,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s only five,¡± said my father. ¡°Only five? Why when I was your age,¡± said Boris while looking at me, ¡°I had these muscles you see, although smaller, and I was already drinking beer. Hey give this brat a beer!¡± Another dwarf started giving me a mug but my father took it and said, ¡°He¡¯s still too young, wait at least five more years then you can introduce him to your drinking spree.¡± ¡°Five years is a deal then.¡± Boris said releasing his hold on me. Afterwards my father and Boris started talking on their own and I slowly moved away as their talks turned into the shipment of beer between the two kingdoms. I walked around dodging the servants with the idea of looking outside from the balcony. It was easy to get through as the servants were very mindful of the fact that there were dwarves in the ballroom. I got outside and marveled at the sight. In front of my laid a giant city with large walls surrounding it. I could see two gates from where I stood with people coming and going through it. This was the outer section of the city, it was also the largest section. Closer to the castle was another set of walls just after the outer section of the city. Within this section was set up with all sorts of shops as well as a giant ring like building. Then came the castle walls, within this section that I could see was a beautiful garden filled with flowers and hedges. Outside the walls was a vast plains. There were forests far to the left and right and a silhouette of a mountain was over in the distance in front of me. The sun was still up in the sky but it was going down over the horizon. ¡°It is beautiful,¡± said a voice beside me.I turned around and it was a female High elf. ¡°It is beautiful is it not,¡± she said again. ¡°Yes,¡± I answered. The High elf had blonde hair, and pale skin, as they usually do. She had blue eyes, short hair, and looked as graceful as a falling leaf. She had a gentle charm around her that made me blush slightly. She wore a dark green dress that became whiter as it travelled down her body, slightly revealing what was underneath. ¡°Hehehe, I am too old for you boy,¡± she said as if reading my thoughts. ¡°Wh-What?¡± I said flustered. ¡°Hehehe, I¡¯m just teasing you, my name is Talleria Wisteria, envoy of the Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom of the High Elves, my mother, Elleria Wisteria, could not attend as she had business to attend to in the Lunar Plains,¡± she said bowing. ¡°No need to bow princess Talleria,¡± I said not really knowing what to do. ¡°But I did not come as the princess, I came as the envoy, as such my current status is lower than yours. It is only appropriate that I continue such courtesy,¡± she said not stopping. ¡°Um, well then, uh, raise your head, um Talleria,¡± I managed to speak out.She gracefully stood up and said, ¡°There is no need to be flustered, prince Zed.¡± Awkward silence between the two of us as I couldn¡¯t think of anything but just then my father came into view and said, ¡°Ah there you are Zed. It seems that you have met princess Talleria.¡± He then turned to Talleria and said, ¡°It is with great honor that we receive the envoy of the Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom into our home.¡± ¡°There is no need for pleasantries, we are all friends here,¡± she said, ¡°that being so I believe the young prince has still to meet Lunaria Federation guests, no?¡± ¡°Yes, and as such if you would please excuse the two of use,¡± said my father. ¡°Go and I shall have my fun enjoying the view from here,¡± she said. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. My father and I proceeded to return to the ballroom and he said to me in a hushed tone, ¡°Do not get close to her. Considering your ¡®blessings¡¯ I do not think it would be wise to be ¡®blessed¡¯ with her.¡± I couldn¡¯t stop blushing as my father said that. I just stared at him in disbelief and he just looked at me grinning from ear to ear. We continued walking in the ballroom and we soon reached a group of people. They all had black hair, brown eyes and bronze skin. They were talking to each other until they saw my father and I. One of them came forward, unlike the others, this one had purple eyes and was dressed much nicer than the rest. He wore a blue buttoned shirt that had a crescent design on the shoulders. He wore white pants that had a gold chain showing on one side. He came up to us and said, ¡°It is great to see you again Aaron and a pleasure to finally see your son, Zed.¡± ¡°It has been too long, Vayasa,¡± said my father, ¡°how is your wife?¡± ¡°The same as always, nagging and nagging,¡± said Vayasa. ¡°Aren¡¯t they all,¡± said my father laughingly. I suddenly felt a cold chill to my right and when I turned around, I saw my mother glaring at my direction. ¡°Zed, this is King Vayasa Imadul of the Lunaria Federation. He is also your father¡¯s best friend,¡± said my father introducing me. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you King Vayasa,¡± I said bowing. ¡°Such good manners. You brought up a fine lad for my daughter to marry,¡± said Vayasa. Marry? Oh yeah apparently I have a fianc¨¦e, I thought. ¡°Hopefully you have brought up a fine lady for my son to marry,¡± said my father, ¡°your temperament is not really suited for growing women.¡± ¡°Nonsense, I am perfectly capable to turn young ladies into women,¡± said Vayasu. ¡°Tell that to your one hundred concubines...¡± said my father. ¡°... alright, if it wasn¡¯t for my wife I don¡¯t think she could¡¯ve been raised any finer. Come now Sasha it is no time for you to hide, come and meet your fianc¨¦,¡± said Vayasu. From behind Vayasu came a little girl. She had black hair, bronze skin and purple eyes just like her father. Her hair was long and she kept on hiding from behind Vayasu. She looked like a very shy cat that you couldn¡¯t help but just hug. ¡°My name is Zed Rigel, nice to meet you Sasha,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°...to... you,¡± she said softly that I could barely hear. ¡°Sasha this is your fianc¨¦, you should get to know him better,¡± Vayasu said pushing Sasha towards me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take her to the garden outside,¡± suggested my father. I nodded and took her hand while saying, ¡°Come on Sasha, let¡¯s go to the garden it¡¯s wonderful out there.¡± I led her to the balcony and went down the stairs that were not so easy to spot unless you knew they were there. In just several minutes, we were walking through the garden with me guiding Sasha. She kept her face down like she didn¡¯t know what to do. In truth I didn¡¯t know either. Suddenly, I saw some flowers and I got an idea. I led Sasha to the fountain below the balcony and told her to wait for me there. I gathered flowers from the garden and made a crown out of them. My sisters showed me how to make this one year ago. When I was finished, I went back to where Sasha was and placed the crown on her head. She touched the crown wondering what it was and turned around to look at her reflection on the fountain. ¡°Do you like it?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes!¡± she said, ¡°I love it, its very pretty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good then,¡± I said smiling. Suddenly she hugged me and said, ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no trouble.¡± ¡°Can you teach me how to make it?¡± she asked. I said yes and taught her how to make it. After some tries she got a crown that looked like mine and she placed it on my head. ¡°Now we¡¯re king and queen of the flowers!¡± she said with her eyes closed and smiling. We then talked about many things, including her daily life back in her place. ¡°You have dragons?!¡± I asked excitedly when she mentioned dragons. ¡°Yes but they¡¯re not smart or can use magic. They¡¯re used instead of horses, some of them can fly while some cannot,¡± she said explaining the dragons. We talked some more and she told me that her affinity was Spectrum and that she would attend Asmodeus Academy next month. Asmodeus Academy was the academy that Principal Artemia managed. ¡°You would probably also go there soon too,¡± she said hiding her face. ¡°Probably since she was here,¡± I said, ¡°I wonder what It¡¯d be like.¡± ¡°We have to take another test when we get there, it¡¯s a test to figure out which type of the affinity yours is,¡± she said still not looking at me. ¡°Another test?¡± I said thinking about the bizarre orb, ¡°will it be with the orb again?¡± ¡°No, they would just ask us to use our magic to do something simple with our affinity,¡± she said shaking her head. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to use my magic yet,¡± I said pouting. ¡°Hehehe, here let me teach you,¡± she said looking at me. She told me that using magic is like thinking of things. If I wanted to burn a branch with fire, all I need is to think of burning the branch. She also told me that things could get complicated sometimes and that¡¯s why there are usually names for our spells that we make ourselves or read about to make things easier for us to use. She couldn¡¯t help me with my Supreme affinity as she only had knowledge of the Spectrum affinity for her. But I told her that I will manage and to watch me as I summoned something. I didn¡¯t know if I needed to prepare anything so I just told her to stay behind me and she did while clinging to my clothes. I started using my magic, thinking of some spirit that knew everything to come or maybe even something like a dragon that could do anything. I really didn¡¯t know what I was doing and so I just thought and thought until I felt something tugging me in the back of my head. I felt it and started trying to pull it out. It started to hurt my head but I felt something was happening and that I needed to pull that something out. I kept on pulling until I could see in my head a bright white light. I pulled the light as close as I could and I could tell that I was getting tired until the light took over the darkness in my head. I opened my eyes and just before it disappeared, I saw some symbols and a circles on the ground in front of me. When they disappeared, everything in front of me became white and from that came a loud booming voice, ¡°Who summons the codex, the knowledge of all magic.¡± -------------------------
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Chapter 5 - Codex of Magic Hey guys one more chapter and the you''ll begin to see the changes! PR credits to ShadowMouse! Enjoy the chapter! -------------------- The white light slowly disappeared getting smaller and smaller. Until all that was left was some kind of white mist that slowly dissipated. Through the mist I could see an outline of some kind of diamond shaped object. ¡°Who summons the codex,¡± asked the voice. ¡°I did,¡± I said, my voice small. ¡°A mere child, summons me, the knowledge of magic!¡± said the voice in a surprised tone. By this point the mist had all but dissipated and I could tell that the object was slowly coming closer to where I was. When the object came out of the mist, I saw that it was a book. A really old book with iron bindings. It had no title but the cover was tattered leather. Looking at the pages from afar, it looked like they were wrinkly and could crumble at any moment. ¡°Behold, the codex of magic,¡± said the voice making me realize that the voice came from the book itself. A talking book? And here I thought a talking orb was the only talking inanimate object that I would see, I thought. ¡°Zed, you¡¯re creeping me out,¡± said Sasha with a worried look on her face. ¡°Wh- What?¡± I asked. ¡°I know you¡¯re feeling disappointed as your magic didn¡¯t work but you shouldn¡¯t start talking to yourself its creepy,¡± she said. ¡°But the light! The mist! Didn¡¯t you see anything?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°No and even then magic isn¡¯t supposed to work anyway, especially since its your first summoning. I mean even when I tried using magic the first time nothing really happened,¡± she said nonchalantly. ¡°Child, only you can see me,¡± said the book. I looked towards the book and I couldn¡¯t help but fall down. Am I hallucinating? I thought. ¡°Zed are you okay?¡± said Sasha worriedly, ¡°Wait here I¡¯m going to call someone.¡± As she said that she ran away towards the ballroom. A talking book and only something that I could see, I thought.¡°What are you?¡± I asked the book. ¡°I am the codex, the knowledge of all magic,¡± it said. ¡°Why am I the only one who can see you?¡± ¡°Because you are the one who summoned me.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± ¡°The codex is different from any other summoned being. All others can be seen by anyone but the codexes can only be seen by the one that summoned it. We are the pinnacle of beings, filled only with knowledge.¡± ¡°Codexes?¡± ¡°Yes, I am the codex of magic, there are others as well.¡± ¡°Why did I summon you? I¡¯m sure I wasn¡¯t meaning to summon something like you.¡± ¡°Summoning is a fated magic. When one summons, it always summons the one that the caster is bonded to. In this case, your summon was fated to be me, the codex of magic.¡± ¡°I thought summoning meant summoning spirits?¡± ¡°It is, I am the embodiment of magic, all things about magic are known by me. Those spirits you refer to are merely fractions of my whole self. A portion of my whole power.¡± ¡°Then that means I can only summon you...¡± I said dejectedly. I was hoping I could summon something like a dragon. ¡°Not quite.¡±My ears perked up. ¡°Go on,¡± I said. ¡°Summoning is a fated magic, that is true but the other half of it is not. Contracts, this is the only way to summon more than one being.¡± ¡°What is the difference?¡± ¡°Summoning has always been and always will be for one fated being, but contracts are matters in which you subdue another being and force them unto your will. If you wish to be able to summon more than myself, you would need to search for them and defeat them to have them acknowledge you as their master.¡± ¡°That sounds hard,¡± I said cringing. I really don¡¯t think I can do much with a book as a summon if I have to subdue something like a dragon. Should I start with a slime? Or maybe a rabbit? ¡°It should not be difficult,¡± the book said, ¡°after all, I am your summon. The almighty codex of magic.¡± ¡°You said that you know everything about magic correct?¡± I asked trying to remember the things that the book said. ¡°Yes, anything concerning magic history, magic research, magic studies, magic affinities, anything magic related.¡± ¡°Is that all you can do?¡± I asked thinking that I just got myself a book of all knowledge but no power. ¡°How rude! My master is something that values power over knowledge. I¡¯ll forgive you since you are five years of age but knowledge is power! Knowledge is the key to everything!¡± said the book while it was flapping its pages about as it was floating. Okay, floating book that flaps is a bit creepy, I thought. ¡°Since my master doubts my power, I will grant you the knowledge to use the Ethereal magic.¡± ¡°Wait Ethereal?! I thought I could only use Supreme Affinity magic!¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°Preposterous, the Ethereal magic can be used by you since you were able to summon me, the knowledge of all magic.¡± ¡°But the test!¡± ¡°Did you forget that the Legendary affinity cannot be tested!¡± the book asked with an angry tone. Oh yeah... there was that part, I thought sheepishly. ¡°Zed!¡±I looked to where the voice came from and I saw my brother, Leon running towards me. ¡°Are you hurt? Are you okay? Nothing bad happened right? Did you use magic?!¡± he said making my head hurt as he asked so many questions in less than one second. ¡°I-I¡¯m fine,¡± I managed to squeeze out as he dropped down on his knees and checked if there were any marks or bruises on me. ¡°Good I was worried something might have happened to you. Everyone else is upstairs making sure that no one noticed that you were gone, so I¡¯m the only that came here. Anyway did you use magic?¡± he asked with a stern look on his face. ¡°Yeah I did,¡± I said, ¡°Is something wrong?¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He stood up and smacked my head really hard. ¡°Ouch!¡± I shouted holding my head and showing him my puppy eyes as I started to cry. ¡°Those eyes won¡¯t work on me,¡± he said with an angry look. My puppy eyes did not work. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have used magic. Don¡¯t you know how dangerous it is? Didn¡¯t you read it in the royal library?¡± ¡°No, I only read about the affinities,¡± I said rubbing my head. He sighed, ¡°That would probably be why. Don¡¯t use magic again alright?¡± he said turning his angry look into a concerned one. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I?¡± I asked. ¡°Magic is dangerous if not trained,¡± he said, ¡°magic is a powerful thing but it also has its consequences. Many children your age also used their magic in the past but most of them died because they couldn¡¯t control it.¡± That made me shudder, Was I that close? I thought. ¡°Luckily your magic failed and that caused the magic to be canceled. But from now on, no more magic alright,¡± he said after scolding me. ¡°Okay,¡± I said looking down. I¡¯ll just ask the book later about it if its true, I thought. ¡°Come here,¡± he said reaching for me and hugging me, ¡°we wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it if our little brother died.¡± I hugged my brother tighter and we stayed like that for a few more minutes. Afterwards we went back to the ballroom and continued the party until it was late at night. There were jesters and clowns that came in and made tricks using magic. There also was a dance in which I had to dance with Sasha as I held her waist and she held my hands. She was blushing the whole time and out of the corner of my eye I could see my family grinning. After the dance, Vayasu came and asked how Sasha was. I couldn¡¯t answer as I didn¡¯t know what he wanted me to tell him so I just looked down and he just laughed saying that he gets it. After the festivities, everyone returned to their rooms and I said goodnight to Sasha and my family as I went to my own room. The codex was following me the whole time and it seems that it was true that only I could see it. It talked at times too but only I could hear it. Sebas made sure that I was safely in my room before he left. I then changed my clothes and went to bed. I asked the codex, ¡°Was what my brother said earlier true?¡± ¡°Yes. If your magic was not enough you would have died, although since you were summoning, there was no way for you to die.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Simply that when you summoned me, I helped you use your magic to be able to summon me without any harm to yourself, otherwise you would¡¯ve made the castle turn into a crater.¡± I shuddered at the thought.¡°I guess I should not use magic then,¡± I said reluctantly, I was really hoping to use magic. ¡°Nonsense, all you need is to be able to control it. With me around, I can help you control it but bit by bit I will be leaving the control to you.¡± ¡°I guess with you around, I can use magic without worry then,¡± I said smiling. ¡°I am your servant after all. Speaking of, you need to inject your mana into me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°I can only use a small portion of my true strength until you imprint me with your mana. In this way, we will truly be bonded and I can help you that much more,¡± it said as it came to land next to me. I shrugged and did as he asked. It was very simple it was just like putting my weight on it, except instead of weight I was injecting it with mana. When I did that, it started to shine. The iron bindings slowly turned golden and the tattered leather became darker and much newer looking. Golden lines also started appearing on the cover making it look like a really expensive looking book. When I was done I heard a voice say, ¡°Name me, my master.¡± The voice came from the codex and I had to think of a name. It had to be cool sounding but I wasn¡¯t really good at making up names. After going through many different names I finally settled on one. ¡°I name you, codex of magic, Malakir. May you serve me well.¡± ¡°I Malakir accept the name my master has given me. In return I give him my powers. At once, I give him, the knowledge of Ethereal.¡± Suddenly information travelled into my head with a shock. I couldn¡¯t see anything as I could barely understand the information going through my head. It was like my head was being force fed the information and that it was about to burst. Then I could see some kind of orb. You finally found it, said the voice. It sounded familiar. Take it, I still cannot believe that you choose something else instead of it. But I guess it was planned this way. Have fun with it. The orb grew and grew and within it was an image. It looked like two sets of triangles next to each other. As it got larger, I began to notice the finer details. The triangles were identical and that there were diamonds with rounded edges were inside of it. The larger it got the more detailed it was and I could finally tell what it was. They were wings. One was black the other was white and in the middle was a swirling mass of yellow or gold. The symbol of Legendary affinity. The white wing of Time, the black wing of Space and the mass of Ethereal. As it dawned on me, everything went black and I lost consciousness. ---------------------
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Chapter 6 - Servant is Master, Master is Servant Hey guys hope you all enjoy the chapter! PR Credits to ShadowMouse. ---------------------- I woke up groggily after that ordeal. Malakir was right next to me. The sun was shining outside my window. I sat up and tried to remember what had happened last night. I remembered talking to Malakir of what he was and also the imprinting that I gave him and then... after that it¡¯s a bit hazy. I don¡¯t remember much other than blacking out after something. ¡°Good morning master,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Morning, hey what happened last night after the imprinting?¡± ¡°I gave you knowledge of Legendary affinity or more specifically Ethereal magic.¡± ¡°Does that include Time and Space?¡± ¡°No, only Ethereal as that is the only one that you can really use, you can use a small portion of the other two other magics of the Legendary affinity but not to the extent that you can use your Ethereal magic.¡± ¡°Does this mean that I can use Ethereal Magic now?¡± ¡°No, you merely have the knowledge of it, it¡¯ll come easier to you but it will still require practice. Nonetheless you cannot use magic until you understand more. Otherwise you might create a crater.¡± I nodded and got up and changed my clothes. I grabbed Malakir and as I started to open the door, it opened by itself. ¡°Good morning Prince Zed,¡± said Sebas.¡°Morning.¡± ¡°Your family awaits,¡± said Sebas bowing. ¡°Thank you.¡± He glanced at my book and proceeded to lead me to the Dining hall. It was the usual, my brothers making comments about me and Sasha yesterday. My sisters talking about the princes from Mustashum and Lunaria. My father and mother were discussing something about an academy when my father glanced at my book, ¡°Zed what is that?¡± he asked motioning to Malakir. ¡°After the imprinting they can now see me but they cannot hear me,¡± said Malakir. ¡°I found it in the royal library,¡± I said making up an excuse.¡°I see,¡± and with that he went back to the conversation with my mother. After breakfast, I followed my father to his study above the throne room. It was filled with shelves and desks filled with papers and books scattered all around it. My father sat at the chair behind the central desk and handed me a stack of papers. ¡°Sign your name at the marks I had placed,¡± said my father handing me a magic pen, the pen was a marvel of magic as it never ran out of ink and you could change the color with a thought. ¡°All of this is for your admission to Asmodeus Academy.¡± ¡°Asmodeus Academy?¡± I asked signing my name on the papers. ¡°It is a magic academy that accepts only those that have great potential. It accepts both commoners and nobility,¡± he said. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Sasha is also going to the Academy, be sure to take care of her as well.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said handing back the stack of papers and getting up. ¡°You will be going to the academy in one month¡¯s time. That will be the start of your term, up until that time you may do whatever you want so long as it is within the city. If you wish to get out of the castle you must take some guards with you.¡± ¡°Yes father,¡± I answered going out. As I went out the door opened and in came the Prime Minister. I exited but before I did I heard, ¡°riot in the southern lands.¡± I went to the royal library with Malakir in hand and went up to the fifth floor. There Malakir started to teach me how to understand magic. I stayed there for a week as he told me that I should first meditate and try to feel magic around me. By the end of that week, I could feel something brushing against my skin but there was no wind. I told Malakir this and he told me to concentrate on the feeling. That day ended but I still couldn¡¯t feel anything. He said that was fine as feeling it within a week was really fast anyway and that I should meditate every time I have the chance. The next day we were in the library again but instead of meditating, he had me concentrate my mana to my right hand. I did as he asked and a small blue orb appeared. I poured in more and it got larger. When it was almost as large as a boulder he told me to stop and slowly reduce its size while making the mana disperse into the air. I did that and it took hours. Finally, when I was done, I felt tired and went back to my room. It was already night so I just went to sleep after Malakir telling me that he will start lessons tomorrow and to do what he had me do after every meditation. The next day in the royal library. ¡°Mana is the basis of everything. Every plant, every rock, and every being. Magic is the manipulation of mana. Magic affinities are the classification of what a being can manipulate.¡± ¡°Does that mean that plants and animals can also use magic?¡± ¡°Yes, although most think that it¡¯s just because of their physical bodies. If a pig had an affinity for Primordial magic, then the pig could breathe fire.¡± A pig that breathes fire... could there come a day that pig¡¯s might actually fly? I thought. ¡°Most animals though tend to stay with the Supreme affinity and only using Holy magic.¡± ¡°Why can we only use one magic of an affinity,¡± I asked. ¡°That is because of conflict. Holy magic conflicts with Chaos magic, likewise Fire conflicts with Water.¡± ¡°But we can use it still right?¡± ¡°Yes but it only works in your case. This is because your affinity was actually Ethereal.¡± ¡°Then what about Ethereal?¡± ¡°This is where conflict does not necessarily work. Ethereal magic ignores the confliction as each of the magic is not a part of you but rather you transform the mana within you into the magic. Most magic is a part of you when you are first born, Ethereal doesn¡¯t work that way.¡± ¡°Then why can¡¯t I use Time and Space?¡± ¡°Because you need to have it be a part of you to be able to really use it. The mana of Time and Space is different from the Ethereal mana. Your mana can transform into it but to use Time and Space magic, you must have pure Time and Space mana.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You said Acolyte is that some sort of ranking?¡± ¡°Yes, it is a measure of a mage¡¯s power similar to the ranking of warriors. For mages it is, from the weakest: Acolyte, Adept, Intermediate, Master, Sage, Lord, King, Emperor, Saint, and God. For warriors it is: Trainee, Journeyman, Novice, Squire, Warrior, Guardian, Great Guardian, Knight, General and Great General.¡± ¡°You can be a god?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°No, not really a god, only have skills similar to a god. There has only been two that have reached that level. Famous for being able to create the Mustashum desert for his failed magic, the god-ranked Primordial Fire mage, Abaddon and famous for founding the magic kingdom of Aliad, the god-ranked Ancient Form mage, Asmodeus.¡± ¡°Asmodeus? He created a magic kingdom?¡± ¡°Yes, I believe the school you''re going to is named after him too.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said thinking of my conversation with my father, ¡°he created a magic kingdom?¡± ¡°Yes, he did. It was the most advanced kingdom, fully reliant on magic. Sadly that was its own undoing. It flew in the air because of magic but because of something, it was covered in darkness and disappeared, leaving the magic beasts it had to roam about the world.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you know what happened?¡± I asked, ¡°It¡¯s magic history isn¡¯t it? You should know what happened.¡± I really wanted to know as a floating kingdom is nice and I feel like making my own too. ¡°It wasn¡¯t magic related, if it was I would have known. I have my suspicions but at this point in time, I have no clue.¡± ¡°Well what are your suspicions then?¡± I asked holding Malakir tightly. ¡°Mana is not the only energy in this world. There is also the Angelic, Demonic, Necromantic, and the Mystical. They work the same way as Mana but they have their own quirks. Mana is pure while the others pervert it or change it somehow. In which way they change Mana is unknown to me.¡± ¡°So you really don¡¯t know what happened to Aliad?¡± ¡°No.¡± And with that we ended the lesson and I started doing the exercises Malakir told me to do. Days went by and with only a few more days to go before my leaving for school, I went down to town with a few guards and Malakir. I went around looking for something that interests me when I saw a crowd was gathered. I went closer and saw that it was an auction of some sort. The crowd parted when they saw me and my guards and I saw that it was a slave auction. Up the wooden stage, was a man with a booming voice wearing all black and auctioning off a group of naked elves and beastmen. This is probably why the elves weren¡¯t as happy as the others at my birthday. I knew slavery was happened here but I didn¡¯t think that we would be friendly with a race while at the same time enslaving the same race. I wonder how father is dealing with this. When the slaver saw me, he immediately ran away. Ah so it was illegal. ¡°Guards catch him!¡± I ordered. ¡°Yes sir!¡± said the guards as they ran to catch the guy. The crowd ran and screamed away as I got up the stage and tried to figure out a way to release them. ¡°Perfect time to try out Void magic master,¡± said Malakir, ¡°touch the chains and imagine it disintegrating slowly, this is the Acolyte Void magic known as ¡®Disintegrate¡¯.¡± I did as Malakir told me and the chain rusted and broke off, freeing the elf. He thanked me in some language and I just smiled and proceeded to the next one. When half of the slaves were free, someone yelled, ¡°Hey! What are you doing to our merchandise!¡± It was a fat man that had food all over his black beard. His hair was unkempt and he wore black leather that seemed to be too tight for his fat body. ¡°Boys round up the slaves we need to get out of here! I¡¯ll take the kid,¡± the fat man said as he took out a giant iron chain from his side. Not good, I thought.I ran away thinking that I have no idea what to do against him. But I couldn¡¯t really run away as before I even got off the stadium I was already wrapped up in chains. ¡°Hehehe, you¡¯ll make a nice slave, maybe I¡¯ll even break you in,¡± the fat man said smiling, revealing a set of repulsive teeth. ¡°You dare harm my master!¡± shouted Malakir, ¡°Master, I will perform the god-ranked spell of the summoning magic, so please just sit back and let me handle it.¡± With that I felt myself filled with power and a voice in my head said, A summon that uses this spell takes over the master¡¯s body. This spell is called ¡®Takeover¡¯, usually master, you would use this over all of your summon and contracts and take over their abilities. But you cannot use this yet, so I will be using it for now. The chains broke around me and the fat slaver was bound in black chains. The other slavers were also wrapped in the same chains. I found myself in control of my body again and I whispered to Malakir, ¡°Please don¡¯t do that again.¡± It felt weird having your body do things that you knew weren¡¯t you''re doing. When the guards came back, the chains disappeared and the slaves were free. All the slavers were rounded up and couldn¡¯t stand looking at me and were all saying, ¡°take me away, take me away! Away from him, the monster!¡± I didn¡¯t like being called a monster so I left the scene with my guards and headed back to the castle. So much for the fun day in town... I thought. I was in the Royal Library thinking of what happened at town when I heard a voice say, ¡°Zed.¡± ---------------------
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Chapter 7 - Discourse the Night Hey guys this one begins the rewrite hope you all enjoy the differences and hopefully I can keep it all in order. ------------------------- I turned around and saw my father walking to my desk. He had a somber expression as he got close and brought a chair with him to sit down on. ¡°I didn¡¯t even hear you come in,¡± I said. ¡°You must have been deep in thought. Tell me what were you thinking about?¡± ¡°The slaves in town.¡± ¡°Ah, well slavery is illegal.¡± ¡°But they were doing it out in the open!¡± I shouted incredulously. ¡°Yes, but-¡° ¡°Why are you letting them do it out in the open! What about them! They have families! The-¡± ¡°Calm down and listen to me,¡± said my father in a stern voice. I quieted down as I was scolded a bit. ¡°Those slaves are illegal immigrants. Any race that does not have our nationality is to be captured and brought back to their own,¡± he explained. ¡°This does not stop slavers though as they take this as an opportunity to profit,¡± he continued. ¡°Then why not abolish that law?!¡± I asked incredulously. He looked at me sternly and asked, ¡°Do you understand what it is you just asked? Do you understand the ramifications of that act?! I know how smart you are so tell me, what would be the problems and benefits of abolish this law.¡± I grumpily said, ¡°Abolishing the law will allow all sorts of people to be able to set up residence in the Rigel Kingdom. In doing so, there will be a massive influx of people which will increase those in poverty as resources will be used up much faster.¡± ¡°And the benefits.¡± ¡°The benefits would be an increase in population to which conscription can be used to get more people into the military¡­ or to the ritual magic which requires sacrifices¡­ but we shouldn¡¯t do that!¡± ¡°Ritual magic is strong, it is our final line of defense. It is one of the reasons why we are still able to keep our borders with the Lunaria Federation. That aside, you understand right? The problems of the law far outweigh the benefits. Even I am reluctant to use ritual magic.¡± I looked down knowing that he was right. Ritual magic, I haven¡¯t heard much from Malakir about it yet but from what I know, Ritual magic creates stronger versions of any kind of magic. A ritual magic fireball will be hundreds of times stronger than an average fireball which can only burn one tree to a crisp. The consequence of using the magic is that its strength is entirely dependent on sacrifices. These sacrifices can be anything but sentient life is the best sacrifice. Another restriction is that a ritual circle has to be created first before the magic can even be done. I don¡¯t know anything about my country¡¯s ritual magic but I know that it has the power to stop any advances from any enemy. ¡°Zed,¡± said my father. I looked up and he held my chin and said, ¡°I know you want to help those slaves but right now we can¡¯t do anything. The best thing I can do is to tolerate it every now and then. I believe that when you assume the throne that you can do it.¡± I was shocked at my father¡¯s words. ¡°Me? Assume the throne?¡± I really couldn¡¯t believe it, ¡°but¡­ my brothers¡­¡± ¡°Your brothers?¡± my dad scoffed a bit but then smiled, ¡°true your brothers are better than you right now. Salazar is a skilled diplomat and Leon is a wonderful lieutenant but none of them can match you.¡± He stood up and said, ¡°A true king knows his subjects. He knows what they feel and he can protect them. Salazar is capable in protecting them through threats from the outside but what about from the inside? As long as Salazar does not show capability in understanding the people¡¯s thoughts then he has no right to be king. Leon is able to protect the people from both outside and inside but he lacks compassion for the people. He cares for his family but he does not think of the people as family.¡± He sighed and said, ¡°I may say these things, but I wish for the best for you and your brothers¡­ Each one of you has claim to the throne and if it were up to me, I would give it to the one who can show that he is a true king. But I¨C no forget it. It does not concern you.¡± I looked at him curiously but hid it as he sat back down looking very tired. I got up and started massaging him. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said. After a while, I stopped massaging him and sat back down. My arms were tired from moving so much but since it was for my father, I didn¡¯t care much. ¡°I¡¯m sure you know that your mother was a commoner,¡± he said as he looked at me somberly. I nodded and he said, ¡°Do you wish to know why I married your mother?¡± I nodded profusely as I never did get to know why my father married mother. ¡°Hahaha, alright alright,¡± he said. ¡°Your mother¡­ but first, do you understand the differences between the nobility and the commoners?¡± ¡°Uhm, one is rich and has servants the other does not?¡± I answered playfully. ¡°I know you are smarter than that,¡± he said laughing. I laughed as well and said, ¡°the nobility is a group of men that has political, economic, and military power given by the king as a reward for service. That being said, the current nobility is from generations past as there are not many problems now as there were then. The commoners is the group where everyone else is. This is also the group from where the nobles came from but the nobles just disregard that fact.¡± After my father listened intently he said, ¡°You are correct. It is exactly that reason on the commoners that I married your mother. That and she was extremely gorgeous. Oh how she looked back then¡­¡± I looked away from my father and gagged as I didn¡¯t want to think of it. My father laughed apparently at my figure and said, ¡°Oh well you are too young anyway.¡± ¡°Anyway, that is why I married your mother.¡± ¡°Her looks?¡± I asked. ¡°No, its because I loved her and yes her looks too,¡± he said laughing. There was silence between us when I asked, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard you talk about my grandparents.¡± His expression changed and he said in a deep foreboding voice, ¡°Never mention them again.¡± I felt scared at the sudden change but I wanted to know and so I boldly asked, ¡°Why?¡± He looked at me sternly and said, ¡°Not one more word young man!¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°But why?!¡± I asked shouting. Slap! My father slapped me across the face. I was shocked at my father¡¯s fierce and scary expression as he slapped me for the first time ever. Tears started to swell in my face and I couldn¡¯t help but cry. The pain hurt but the pain from being hurt by my father was worse. My father must¡¯ve felt regretful as I was suddenly wrapped in a hug and his calm soothing voice said, ¡°Shhh¡±, ¡°there, there¡± as my back was rubbed. I was leaning on him with my face buried on his chest as he kept saying sorry as he tried to calm me down. I didn¡¯t notice how or when but somehow I was now in my room and my father was placing the blanket over me and said, ¡°Rest¡­ you¡¯ve had a long day.¡± I did and I woke up in the middle of the night. I wasn¡¯t wearing my night clothes and that was what woke me up as they felt uncomfortable for sleeping. I got up and changed into some soft warm clothing of some color as I didn¡¯t want to turn on the light when I would go to bed immediately after. I got on the bed but I couldn¡¯t sleep again so I asked Malakir if he could tell me a story since I didn¡¯t feel like learning anything and it might make me go to sleep. ¡°How about the Aliad master, it seems you have quite a love for it,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Yes!¡± I almost shouted as I really did want to know more about the flying kingdom. ¡°Well,¡± started Malakir, ¡°as you know. Aliad was a flying country¡­ but what most don¡¯t know is that it still exists. It flies freely all over Arun.¡± ¡°Why does it do that?¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°It flies because of the mineral it is made from. A mineral called Flygite, it was created by Asmodeus to make his kingdom fly in the air, unrestricted by borders.¡± ¡°How did he create Flygite?¡± ¡°By using magic. Being a Form mage, he is capable of creating new materials but he was only able to make Flygite when he reached god-ranked. That being said, there seem to be some new god-ranks right now.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked curiously. ¡°It is a historical moment and one that is making us deviate from our conversation. Now, you will be able to make Flygite as well but you can create it right now.¡± ¡°Really?!¡± I asked with excitement. ¡°Yes, you can but we will leave the teaching method for the future¡­ Master I realize that you like asking questions but if you keep asking questions I won¡¯t be able to tell the story correctly.¡± I was a scolded by my own summon¡­ ¡°Sorry¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be going now master,¡± said Malakir as he started to glow and go back to inside me. I found out that he can do that when he needs to be with me but I can¡¯t carry a book. ¡°Wait, wait!¡± I shouted, ¡°I¡¯m sorry ok. I was just very curious.¡± ¡°I¡¯m always here for you master, and I will always be the one to try and make sure you do not make mistakes. Asking questions is alright but please understand the goal of asking questions.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said sheepishly. ¡°None of that master. It is not needed. Now I will continue the story of Aliad.¡± ¡°Aliad was a mighty kingdom. It attracted all those wanting to study magic and there were many. Yes master?¡± I apparently had a look that wanted to ask a question and so I asked, ¡°Was there no enmity with magic back then?¡± ¡°No there was not. The enmity only happened afterwards. You must understand, magic was used very frequently. It was not to the extent of the elves but magic was a daily use for all humans.¡± ¡°All humans and even Avans, had many uses for magic. Because of their inferiority to the other races, humans studied magic and created items that are now considered historical items.¡± ¡°For example, the humans back then created horseless carriages that moved by magic. Every city had light that made it look as if the stars had fallen and brightened the world. Each and every human used magic as a tool and it helped make their lives better.¡± ¡°But it didn¡¯t last¡­¡± I whispered. ¡°But it didn¡¯t last,¡± agreed Malakir, ¡°Something happened with the other energies. It covered Aliad and made it disappear from sight and history. But I know it exists for there is no record of Aliad ever falling or being dismantled. You se, every single part of Aliad has a record, it is through this record that I know that it still exists.¡± I was amazed at the advancements back then but something was still bothering me and I asked, ¡°What about the enmity?¡± ¡°Ah yes, the enmity. It was caused roughly near the time as when the disappearance was. Magic was used to create monsters. These monsters are different from animals and the dragons. These are true monsters, amalgams of animals and sometimes dragons. They are known as Chimeras and they roam about the world.¡± ¡°Chimeras are able to use more than one affinity at once. They are usually like wild beasts, searching for prey to feed upon but sometimes they can be very cunning and these are the most dangerous. Nonetheless it is easy to distinguish them.¡± ¡°This is the reason why they are afraid?¡± ¡°This¡­ and the fact that the Chimeras killed more than half of the human population of the past.¡± I was struck with fear at those words but then Malakir said, ¡°The Chimera¡¯s are fewer now. We are better equipped at handling them and they do not hunt humans anymore. It might even be safe to say that they do not exist at all anymore. There are no records that I know of that even hint of any Chimeras but this is the reason why humans generally fear magic, for it can create these monsters.¡± I nodded, satisfied with the story and then yawned. ¡°It seems to have worked,¡± said Malakir, ¡°good night master.¡± ¡°Night,¡± I said as I slept peacefully only to be woken up moments later by a bright light and a noise from outside. --------------------------
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Chapter 8 - Mothers and Sisters Last chapter for the day. Hope you all enjoy! ------------------ ¡°No! No! Stop! Please!¡± I groggily woke up from these words and after a few more minutes of hearing the shouts I instantly got out of my bed and ran to where the sound was coming from. I ran not knowing of what to expect when suddenly I was greeted with a strange scene. Eustasia and Serephine were standing with Alexandra between them. Alexandra was panting a bit with small amounts of sweat coming down her face. Her clothes were worn and wet. My other two sisters were each holding different dresses and were arguing with each other. ¡°Alexandra looks much better in these!¡± said Eustasia as she held out a black slightly immodest dress. ¡°No! She looks much better in these!¡± said Serephine as she held out a¡­ rabbit costume? ¡°Sister! How can you make our younger sister wear that?!¡± Eustasia asked incredulously. ¡°Well how about you! How can you even imagine her wearing that!¡± retorted Serephine. Having my sleep interrupted with a girl fight, I slowly walked away hoping against all hope that they didn¡¯t notice me. Suddenly, my shoulders were caught and I heard two voices say, ¡°Oh Zed~¡±. I got flung into the room and landed on a bed of clothes that I didn¡¯t notice earlier. ¡°We¡¯re going to,¡± said Eustasia. ¡°Have so much fun,¡± said Serephine. ¡°With you!¡± said them both. ¡°No, please, no!¡± I said as they kept on coming closer with each hand holding a different dress. It was the afternoon of the next day and I was walking in the garden trying to avoid my sisters. Those two were always like that. No matter how old they got, they would always make us into dolls for them to dress up. I shudder at the thought of wearing those clothes they were going to make Alexandra wear. I sat down at the fountain and looked up. I¡¯m leaving tomorrow, I thought. I looked around me and felt a little apprehensive leaving home. ¡°You¡¯ll be safe master,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Thank you.¡± I got up and walked to my favorite tree in the garden. It was my favorite because it was the most coolest as it gave the best shade and view of the city below me. It was a relaxing spot that I chose for myself. I would climb but my body has always been weak but I always wondered what the city would look like from above this tree. I sat down by my tree and looked at the city. It looked so peaceful but I knew that in its corners, the slave trade was running. I laid back down and tried to forget my mood when I fell asleep. I was shaken awake by something and I got up. It was my mother. ¡°Zed why are you sleeping in a place like this you¡¯ll catch a cold,¡± said my mother as she got me to stand and wrapped me in her silver shawl. She was wearing a pink dress to match her shawl today as she led me to the fountain and we sat down. We sat together in silence when she said, ¡°Look at me.¡± I did and she started crying a bit. I felt a bit awkward so I hugged her. She released the hug and said, ¡°Oh how you¡¯ve grown! You¡¯ll be leaving me, my youngest son, oh if only you could stay! I¡¯ve told your father time and time again that you¡¯re too young! But no, your father insists and well.¡± She hugged me and said, ¡°Oh I¡¯m going to miss you.¡± ¡°Me too mother, me too,¡± I said. ¡°Mother!¡± shouted a voice. We both stopped hugging and Eustasia came into view. Behind her was Alexandra and Serephine. I tensed up remembering what happened yesterday. ¡°Oh, do you want a repeat performance of yesterday?¡± asked Serephine. ¡°No, no thanks!¡± I shouted. ¡°Yesterday? What happened yesterday?¡± asked mother. ¡°Oh nothing much just dressing up little boys again,¡± said Eustasia so matter-of-factly. My mother laughed a small controlled laugh and said, ¡°Oh you girls do take after your mother! What exactly did you dress him up with?¡± ¡°Oh you see¨C¡± started Eustasia. Alexandra and I were sitting a bit away from my mother and twin sisters as they talked about the dilemma that they put the both of us through. ¡°So you¡¯re going to be a priestess Alexandra,¡± I said. ¡°Yep, you have anything you want me to ask the gods?¡± she asked confidently. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°What is it then?¡± ¡°Could you tell Julia and Finda to stop messing with my future?¡± I asked. ¡°Uhm well,¡± she stammered. ¡°It would be great if you could because I have this weird feeling I won¡¯t like my future at this rate,¡± I continued. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do,¡± she said. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.¡°Thanks!¡± I said hugging her, ¡°You¡¯re the best big sister ever!¡± ¡°Hey! Who¡¯s the best big sister ever!¡± shouted Eustasia angrily. ¡°Obviously its me,¡± said Serephine pointing to herself. ¡°No way its you, you forced him to wear that rabbit costume!¡± accused Eustasia. ¡°Only because it was your idea to do dress ups with those clothes!¡± retorted Serephine. ¡°Yeah, well your breath smells in the morning!¡± said Eustasia. ¡°Well-¡± ¡°Enough!¡± shouted mother, ¡°Ladies, behave yourselves. A lady does not quarrel nor does a lady insult. Remember that.¡± ¡°Yes mother,¡± said Eustasia and Serephine. ¡°Now come here, all of you,¡± she said as she gestured all of us to gather around her. ¡°Today is the last day we all see Zed, tomorrow he goes to Asmodeus Academy and he won¡¯t return until he graduates. Cherish the time we have left together,¡± said mother as she hugged us all. ¡°Asmodeus Academy huh,¡± said Eustasia as mother released us from her hug. ¡°Yeah, isn¡¯t Sasha also going there,¡± said Alexandra. ¡°Oh yeah Sasha,¡± said Serephine, ¡°wait till she hears about your blessing brother.¡± I blushed and said, ¡°Shut up!¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll be with Sasha all day long won¡¯t you?¡± asked Eustasia. ¡°After all, you¡¯re engaged anyway so being together is a must,¡± said Alexandra. ¡°I wonder how she¡¯ll react after knowing that you wear girls clothes,¡± said Serephine. My face darkened and I pleaded, ¡°Please anything but that!¡± ¡°Oh no little brother,¡± said Eustasia, ¡°since Sasha will be family soon, she should know about your little hobby.¡± ¡°But its not my hobby!¡± I whined. ¡°But you never resist,¡± said Serephine. ¡°But!¡± I continued whining. ¡°Oh let¡¯s stop teasing him,¡± said Alexandra as she hugged me, ¡°after all I am the best big sister ever.¡± And they kept on arguing with each other until it was time to eat dinner. Nothing happened much other than my sisters talking to everyone about what they did with me. That merely prompted me to excuse myself very quickly and headed off to bed. My things were already packed and then it was time to leave. I was going alone as my sisters had their own schools to go to and my brothers had to help my parents with the affairs of the state. Sebas wasn¡¯t coming with us as servants weren¡¯t allowed to come to the Academy. All in all, I was going alone with a retinue of guards guarding the carriage I was in. It was going to take a week to travel to the academy and it was going to be my first time to being outside of home. My parents saw me off with tears with my brothers saying that they will accompany me up to the walls. With my stuff piled into the carriage we were off. ¡°Good luck in the Academy,¡± said my oldest brother Leon. ¡°Make us proud!¡± said my other brother Salazar, ¡°make sure you do the tournament.¡± ¡°Tournament?¡± ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a yearly tournament for all the grades near the end of the year. Last time I participated I lost.¡± ¡°You went to Asmodeus Academy?¡± I asked. ¡°Yep, but I wasn¡¯t strong enough,¡± said Salazar despondently. ¡°Nonsense, you have great skill in everything,¡± said Leon, ¡°You make the financial minister look like a two year old.¡± ¡°Yeah but that¡¯s not power, look at you, you¡¯re a warrior ranked swordsman and I¡¯m just a Novice rank with the bow.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re also intermediate ranked with magic,¡± said Leon, ¡°I¡¯m powerful with a sword but you¡¯re talented in both magic and combat.¡± When we got to the walls, my brothers told me, ¡°Take care. You should have enough guards to protect you for a week to get there. Be mindful of bandits and magic beasts on the way.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you tell this to the guards?¡± I asked. ¡°They¡¯re already told, but you also have command over them. Just make sure that they don¡¯t lose their lives for a petty thing,¡± said Leon. ¡°I will.¡± With that they got off the carriage and waited by the gates, while my carriage and entourage headed off towards the mountains where Asmodeus academy was. ----------------------
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Chapter 9 - Bandits and Shadows Hey guys! Enjoy this next chapter! ----------------------- The first day of travelling was very uneventful. Unless you can call, Malakir teaching me more about the history of magic and doing the exercises. By this time I could do both things simultaneously, although I have to be very focused when I do it and the slightest bump in the road would cause it to get very unstable. That was an event I did not want to do again, I had to explain to the captain what the sound was and that there was no danger to my life. The guards were a solid bunch, they were all Warrior ranked while the captain was Guardian ranked. Of course, there were those of Squire rank but those were mainly composed of archers and crossbowmen. The Warrior ranked had swords and axes, while some had hammers and maces. They all wore the same armor with the Rigel insignia of the bird with two heads, six wings and twelve tails. I believe that the creature was called a Ravenex, a legendary bird said to have been created as a bane of magic. It no longer exists as they were exterminated for their parts to be used as countermeasures against mages. Needless to say some of their parts are still used today, their bones are used in the mint that created the currency of the Rigel kingdom. In this way, only those coins are accepted and no mage can make gold out of lead. Which they did at some point which led to the Ravenex¡¯s extinction. Nothing of import happened during the day but when it was night, we would all gather in different camp fires and rest. I sat down with the captain¡¯s group and they were talking about the his adventures. ¡°So captain, why don¡¯t you tell us about the time you fought against that Chimera?¡± asked one of the guards. ¡°I can¡¯t, our master is here,¡± said the captain. He had black hair, fair skin, and red eyes. He had taken off his armor and you could see the scars as well as the muscles from his leather tunic and pants. ¡°I want to know!¡± I ordered. He sighed and said, ¡°If you wish.¡± He grabbed a dry piece of wood that was gathered earlier on and threw it into the fire. The fire crackled as it ate the wood and the captain began his story. He told us of how he met a Rantoral. A type of flying Chimera. It had four leathery wings, a humanoid torso, two goat legs and an owl head. Rantorals are difficult to fight against because they are skilled in fighting in midair. They would swoop from the air and kick its prey with its goat legs. The speed of the flight and the force of the legs are enough to kill anyone and if it didn¡¯t kill you it would knock you out. You would then be left vulnerable to its pecking and be eaten alive. It can also use magic. Its main specialty is Wind magic but it can also use Inner magic to disorient its prey. It likes to hunt humans who wander inside mossy caves and it just so happened that the captain was in one. He was running away from some bandits that had ambushed his group as they were returning back to our castle. Some of them died but most of them returned alive. The captain fought against the Rantoral with his sword and managed to cut off its left wings. The Rantoral fell down to the ground and used what little magic it had left to try and kill the captain. The story was exciting as I imagined the fight and struggle with a Chimera. He ended the story by telling us of how he killed the Rantoral by stabbing at its weak spot, the right torso. A few days passed like this. Malakir teaching me in the morning and stories at night. It was the third night that we were in our journey and before we started eating there was a mist that flowed towards us. The guards readied their weapons and the captain made me go back into the carriage saying, ¡°Stay here master.¡± I got inside and as soon as I got in, I heard shouts. People were screaming in all sorts of ways. I was frightened at the sheer loudness of it and I could hear the clanging of metal. I looked out the window of the carriage and I saw dark figures fighting against my guards. There were too many of them. It seemed that for every one of my guards there were two or maybe even three of them. My guards had a tough time dealing with the assailants that they were forced to surround the carriage. Even though they made themselves smaller, there were still a lot of them. The corpses of some guards that weren¡¯t able to make it were being looted by other assailants. Suddenly, I felt the carriage shake and the door busted open. There was a skinny black clothed female outside my door as she grabbed me and carried me away. ¡°Master!¡± shouted the captain as well as Malakir. Malakir started to use magic but something stopped him and then I couldn¡¯t feel him anymore. Some guards surrounded me and the woman but they wouldn¡¯t do anything as they seemed to be afraid of hitting me. I wanted to yell and scream but all I could do was cry. The woman jumped on top of the carriage and a rain of arrows fell down around us. The death cries of my guards rang around through my ears as I watched them die in front of me. Their forms looked like they couldn¡¯t believe what was happening just like I did. I was forced to look at the woman and she said, ¡°This is the price you pay.¡± I was led by these figures for hours until we came to what felt like a cave. I was blindfolded by these people and then I felt my body be thrown into a wall. Pain rushed into me as the wall was very rugged. I heard the clanging of metal as well as a lock being turned and the footsteps disappeared. I called for Malakir but I couldn¡¯t hear him. I was alone and I couldn¡¯t tell what was happening around me and so I just sat there trying not to cry. A few hours passed and I fell asleep. I was woken up by sounds of battle. It sounded the same as when my guards were being killed. I tensed up not since I was unable to tell what was happening around me save for what I heard. The door opened and my blindfold was removed. I saw a blonde, fair skinned, red eyed woman. She wore a red and black leather armor. Her hair reached down to her waist and she had a rapier on her right arm. ¡°Do you want to live?¡± she asked in a cold voice. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I nodded. ¡°Then come with me,¡± she said as she reached out her left hand. I grabbed it and she dragged me out of my cage with her. We went through corridors and hallways filled with blood, corpses, battles between the bandits and other people who wore the same thing as this woman. We stopped at a large rounded room with a black shrine with a Ravenex figure at the top. ¡°Wait here,¡± she said as she ran up to the shrine. She drew back her right arm and stabbed at the point where the Ravenex met the base of the shrine. It was the thinnest point and when her rapier hit it, it cracked and the Ravenex fell down. She came back to me, grabbed my arm and said, ¡°Come!¡± She dragged me out of the cave while I slowly began feeling Malakir again. Outside, there were wooden carts filled with Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen and Humans. Each carriage was surrounded by at least ten more people who wore the same uniform as the woman. She led me to one of the remaining unfilled carriages and gently lifted me up to get in. ¡°You¡¯re safe now,¡± she said as she made sure that I was inside and went back to the cave. I was the only one in this cart and I sat near the other end of it. In front of the cart was a black horse with red eyes. It was a Rexar, a species of horse that was built to be strong and fast. They were very hard to raise but if you were able to, you could earn a hefty profit because of their rarity. There were many more of these horses and I wondered who this group was to be able to have so many of them. ¡°Master!¡± I could finally feel Malakir and I whispered,¡± What happened?¡± ¡°It was the Ravenex Mist. Contact with the mist dispels any magic as well as stops anyone from using magic,¡± explained Malakir. ¡°Speaking of Ravenex, I saw a Ravenex shrine inside the cave that they held me in,¡± I said remembering the shrine. ¡°A Ravenex Shrine?! Then that would be why. A Ravenex Shrine is a rare item of the past. Having one allows you to be able to create items made from the extinct Ravenex. Creation of the Ravenex mist is easy with it and so long as you were near the shrine, you would be unable to use any magic.¡± ¡°I see,¡± I said, ¡°I guess it¡¯s a good thing that she destroyed the shrine then.¡± ¡°She?¡± asked Malakir. I then explained to Malakir what happened when I was affected by the mist and the shrine when the cart began filling up with people. The first one to come in was a boy about my age. He had blonde hair, light brown skin and blue eyes. His hair was short and his clothing was bloodstained. His eyes were dark and seemed to be staring at the distance. He sat in front of me and I tried to start talking to him but he wouldn¡¯t answer at all. The cart started moving and I looked around. Our cart was near the end of the procession and we were heading west of the cave. After a few minutes a large explosion rang through the night. I looked to where I had heard the explosion and saw that it was from the cave. A large column of smoke rose up, signaling the end of the bandits. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry,¡± said a voice near me. I turned to look at where the voice came from and saw that it was the boy who said those words. He was crying and I moved towards him and hugged him. He cried harder and harder through the cart ride until he was too tired to continue. We slept together in that position and were woken up by the cart stopping. I stretched my body as everyone else were being led out of the cart. I looked at the kid and asked, ¡°Are you ok?¡± ¡°Yes, thanks,¡± he said as he rubbed his eyes. ¡°My name is Zed,¡± I said reaching out my hands to him. He looked at me suspiciously and he slowly shook my hands as he said, ¡°My name is Alex.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Alex,¡± I said. ¡°Come on!¡± I said as I dragged him out of the cart when it was our turn. Outside was a small fort surrounded by a lake with one bridge connecting to it. We were led towards the fort by the people who saved us. Alex and I walked near the back of the group as I looked at the fort. It was a small fort reaching up to fifty meters. It was on a small island large enough to fit only the fort leaving a small beach all around it. The walls were old and vines crept around it. The gates were old wood reinforced with iron. There was one tower near the back that was taller than the others. The inside was a stone courtyard and there was a balcony in front of us with a man. He had short cropped brown hair with fair skin and red eyes. He wore the same red and black leather armor with a gold cape. He looked down at us and said, ¡°My name is Jardin, leader of the Shadows. Our job is to rescue those who are not protected by justice. You all were captured by the Stone Bandits to be sold for slavery.¡± ¡°In this country, slavery is illegal but the king does not do anything about it. This is an injustice! It is our goal to help save you all but we cannot do it alone.¡± ¡°We may be many but there are many places that even we cannot reach because we are not enough. This is why I ask if you would join us. Join us and help those who are oppressed, the captured, those who suffer injustice!¡± ¡°You all have experienced this injustice and it is only right that you all help those who suffer as well. We will provide you with everything that we can, all we ask is that you help us.¡± ¡°Will you join us? Will you help your fellow brethren?¡± he shouted as he raised both arms high. ------------------------
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Chapter 10 - Crumbling Hey guys hope you all enjoy this chapter! ---------------------- Murmurs came from everywhere as Jardin finished talking. ¡°For those who don¡¯t wish to join, we will help you return to your home,¡± he said, ¡°I will give you time to think, you may stay in this fort for as long as you wish.¡± With that he left through the purple curtains behind him. The people in front of us started trying to convince others to join with them while the others were reluctant. Alex and I were standing at the very back near the walls. He grabbed my arm and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to join, what about you Zed?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I answered. Their actions, though right, were wrong as well. They were taking the law into their own hands. My being a prince is something they¡¯ll hate and there was no telling how long I could hide it. ¡°Zed, your parents were also killed by those bandits right?¡± he asked. ¡°The king doesn¡¯t care about us! We were abandoned! Come with me!¡± he insisted. I was reluctant in joining when he dragged me with him. There was a door on the left side that was set up to accept members. He led me inside and there were only a couple of people in lines. The room was dark and grimy. There were five counters with people behind them. Iron grills separated the people working from the people who would register. A door to the right was closed and someone who was done registering would go through it. He led me to the counter nearest the door while I resisted. ¡°Come on!¡± he would say now and then as he dragged me. We stopped in front of the counter and behind it was the woman that saved me. ¡°Are you alright?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I said meekly. ¡°Yes we are thank you,¡± Alex said confidently, ¡°we want to join!¡± She moved her right fingers to touch her chin and she said, ¡°But you¡¯re too young¡­¡± ¡°We can do it!¡± shouted Alex confidently. ¡°Why not let them,¡± said a voice from behind the woman. It was Jardin. He strode in from the shadows behind her. ¡°They are young but confident,¡± he said. ¡°But sir¡± she insisted, ¡°our job is dangerous.¡± ¡°Then we can just give them easy jobs for now. When they get older, we can give them more appropriate jobs,¡± allayed Jardin, ¡°Is that alright with you children?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Alex shouted while pumping his arms. ¡°Hahaha, alright, give them probationary status Melissa,¡± said Jardin as he left. Melissa sighed and handed out an iron necklace with a star shaped pendant. ¡°Wear this at all times so that everyone knows you¡¯re part of us and on probationary status,¡± explained Melissa, ¡°then move on to the door over there.¡± Alex took the necklaces and gave me one of them. We both put it on and left by the door she pointed to us. Inside the door was a hall with steps going downward. We followed the hall and when we reached the end, what we saw astounded us. We saw a giant sprawling underground city. It looked to be roughly the size of the capital. We were at the ceiling of the city as we looked down upon it. There seemed to be at least a hundred meter distance from the ceiling to the top of the tallest building. A strange white light glowed from white crystals that seemed to be everywhere giving us an eerie view of the city. There were crowds of people going all around the city. There was a market filled with goods as well as a giant fountain. There was a castle at the far end of the market and it would look large from the ground but from where we were it looked to be the same as normal house. We were not the only ones to be looking down at the city. To the left and right of us were other entrances with people also looking at the sight. ¡°Awesome!¡± said Alex. ¡°This is our new home!¡± said Alex as he wrapped his right arm around me. ¡°Let¡¯s go down,¡± I said pointing to a set of stairs to our left. We walked down the stairs as more people appeared behind us. The city grew more imposing and wonderful as we took each step down. At the end of the steps, the city opened up to us. There were two guards in front of us and one of them motioned for us to go near him. We did and the guard asked, ¡°What is your status?¡± We showed him our necklaces and he nodded and said, ¡°Go straight ahead until you reach a building. Go inside of it and you¡¯ll get your jobs as well as where to live.¡± We nodded and walked to where the guard told us to go. Along the way, we were greeted by the residents. Most of them merely greeted us but others clapped us in our backs while others hugged us. Those that hugged us were always women who seemed to be sad for us. The city was friendly and I was already accepting the idea of this city. I wanted to make the Rigel Kingdom turn into something like this. There was no difference between the races. It wasn¡¯t easily seen but during my presentation, I noticed that the elves were aloof to the others. The dwarves were also aloof but because of the beer they weren¡¯t as much. I wanted the races to interact more with each other and not just for the sake of diplomacy. As I was thinking all of these things, we finally reached the building. It was a plain two story building with small slits as windows. The door was a simple wooden door with a sign that said ¡®Probation¡¯. We entered the building and we were greeted by a dim light and a narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway was a door that we opened as soon as we entered the building. The room was brightly lit compared to the hallway. There was a desk at the end of the room in front of us and a large bookshelf to the right. There were chairs in front of the desk and a man was looking at some paintings on the left wall. The man had purple hair, red eyes, fair skin and black wings. Obviously he was of the Avan race. The Avans are merely humans with wings that allow them to fly. ¡°Hello,¡± said the man, ¡°my name is George, the Probation Captain. Am I correct in assuming you are Probation?¡± We nodded. ¡°Alright,¡± he said as he clapped his hands. ¡°Sit down,¡± he said as he pointed to the chairs. We sat at the chairs and he continued standing. ¡°Obviously you are too young to work with us so I have to ask¡­ why do you want to join us?¡± he said as he turned around from the paintings. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I lost my parents because of the king!¡± shouted Alex. ¡°My family was poor but we were happy. One day our town was attacked by bandits but luckily we survived. Knights came and we thought we were going to be saved but they just left us! Left us!¡± said Alex as he started to cry. ¡°Because they left us, we were starved most days but we endured. Then suddenly more bandits came and they killed my parents! They took me along with them and threw me in a cage,¡± he said as he cried. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the king¡¯s knights¡­ my parents wouldn¡¯t have died!¡± he shouted as his whole body shook and he put his head on his knees. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I whispered. I couldn¡¯t do anything about what happened to him but I felt responsible as the prince. George rubbed Alex¡¯s back and he asked, ¡°And you?¡± He was referring to me and I came up with the response, ¡°I was sold by my parents.¡± He twitched his eyebrows and asked, ¡°Just for that?¡± ¡°I can hold a grudge,¡± I said as I hunched up my shoulders. ¡°I see,¡± he said as he nodded slightly. We were silent for a while until Alex finally calmed down. ¡°A lot of things has happened to you all, so for now I¡¯ll take you to your quarters,¡± he said as he led us to the dim hallway again. Instead of going straight, we went to the right where the hallway extended and I just didn¡¯t notice earlier. At the end of the hallway was another door and it opened up to a set of stairs to the right and a door to the front and left. ¡°Alex, this is your room,¡± he said pointing to the front. ¡°And this is yours Zed,¡± pointing to the left. ¡°How do you know our names?¡± I asked knowing that we hadn¡¯t told him our names yet. ¡°I¡¯m your captain, of course I know,¡± he explained as matter-of-factly as he left. I turned to Alex and asked, ¡°Are you ok?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he said, ¡°and I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± I asked confused. ¡°That you were sold, your parents must¡¯ve been cruel to do that,¡± he said with hatred in his eyes, ¡°don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t let anyone do that to you again.¡± I nodded and went inside my room. It was a quaint and simple room. There was a small dresser and a bed fit for a grown man to sleep on. The bed only had a cover and one pillow. There was a small window in front of me that let light in. ¡°Master, you need to get out of here,¡± said Malakir when we were sure that we were alone and that no one will hear anything. ¡°I know,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m just lucky that no one knows just yet but it¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± ¡°How do we even get out of here?¡± I asked Malakir. ¡°I could use Takeover again and get you safely back to the capital,¡± suggested Malakir. Remembering the feeling of my body being controlled by someone else I said, ¡°No.¡± ¡°But master!¡± ¡°No means no Malakir.¡± Suddenly, a crumbling sound could be heard. ¡°What was that?¡± I asked Malakir. ¡°I do not know master,¡± answered Malakir. I went outside my room and saw that Alex was already ahead of me and going outside the building as well. When we got out we saw that the ceiling was crumbling. ¡°Quick!¡± shouted a voice above us. We looked up and saw George flying and he grabbed us and said, ¡°I¡¯m taking you to safety hold tight!¡± Flying in the air was a nice experience, dampened only by the fact that I was actually dangling from at least a hundred meters high up the air with only my arm keeping me from falling. I tried not to look down as I would panic a little when I did. Fortunately, it was a short flight and we were dropped at the same place where we had entered. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± I asked as I got on the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he said, ¡°I have to go and save as many as I can, stay here and if the ceiling starts to crumble head out!¡± We nodded as he flew back to the city. The ceiling began to tremble more and large rocks were beginning to fall down. Screams could be heard from all around as they tried to dodge the falling rocks. Running footsteps appeared behind us and we turned to look when a familiar face appeared. It was Salazar! ¡°Salazar!¡± I shouted as I ran up to him. ¡°Zed!¡± he shouted as he hugged me tight, ¡°we thought we lost you! I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re safe!¡± He released me and Alex tapped me in the back and asked, ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡± ¡°He¡¯s my brother Salazar,¡± I explained relieved that I was saved. ¡°Brother?¡± Alex asked. ¡°Prince!¡± shouted more voices behind Salazar. They were my brother¡¯s personal guards. ¡°Please don¡¯t run so far ahead of us,¡± complained one of them. ¡°A prince?¡± asked Alex. I looked towards him and his face showed anger and betrayal when he asked, ¡°You were a prince!¡± ¡°Alex wait,¡± I said as I tried to calm him down and reached out my right arm. He flicked it away with his left and he shouted, ¡°Stay away! You¡¯re his son! You¡¯re the monster¡¯s son!¡± ¡°Alex please,¡± I said as I stepped towards him. ¡°No stay away!¡± he shouted as he stepped back. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it to be like this,¡± I said as I moved forward. ¡°No you planned it all alo¨C¡± he said but he didn¡¯t finish as his step made him fall backwards. ¡°Alex!¡± I shouted as I tried to save him. I was too late, I was unable to reach him and he fell staring at me in anger. I also began falling as I stepped forward too much when Salazar saved me. We fell backwards, Salazar on the ground and me on his chest. I cried there and then for the friend that I made, hurt and couldn¡¯t save. -------------------------
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Chapter 11 - Ravenex Corps Author''s Rant: Hello everyone! To those who are waiting for this story to catch up with the original, there should only be 1 more week left before I get to. Sadly by ''catch up'' it will not necessarily be on the ten year time skip as that will take a long time and I may or may not actually do the time skip again. This story will seem different but all the events in the original story still do happen here. The new things that come up are set ups for future things to happen and fill in the holes in the original story. I also realize that I could have probably merely added or edited the chapters of the original story but the thought did not occur to me as I began this one and I wanted to leave the original chapters alone. That being said, I will continue adding the chapters here as I''ve already started it. I''m sorry for any inconveniences that you all might feel but we all have those days where we don''t think of everything. Sorry for the long rant and I hope that you all continue supporting me as you have. I am very thankful for all of you. You guys are awesome! ----------------------- ¡°Come,¡± said Salazar as he took me from that place and dragged me outside. I watched as the ceiling fell down towards the city burying it. The magnificent city that I saw without hate towards the other race. We entered the registering room and it was in shambles and blood covered the floor and walls. The ceiling shook and small pebbles rained down. One of the roofs of the tower slid down and crashed in front of us. The whole fort was crumbling as we left it through the gates. At the bridge, we saw the lake drying up as a whirlpool of water appeared on its northern banks. It devoured the water as if it was a monster thirsting to drink. In minutes, the fort was a crumbled ruin and the lake became a crater as the water drifted into the whirlpool. We were at the edge of a forest by the bridge when the scene finally ended. Salazar had already put me inside of a carriage where I was being checked up by the palace healers. The healers took their time as it was already dusk when they finished. Salazar came in when the healers left. He looked exhausted and I asked him about it and he said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m alright, just haven¡¯t had much sleep. Too much work to do.¡± I just accepted that and we had our dinner there in the carriage. A few days passed and we were finally entering Asmodeus Academy. Salazar and his personal guards escorted me there. My brother was way too protective but I guess he didn¡¯t want a repeat of what happened again. The Academy had five sections to it. The northern, southern, eastern, western and central section. The eastern section was for grades 1 ¨C 3, northern for 4 ¨C 7, western for 8 ¨C 9 and the southern for 10 ¨C 12. Each grade was a number corresponding to a student¡¯s rank. Age was sporadic but it usually only happened from grade 4 and up. Grades 3 and below were usually only filled with children but some of them could become outstanding enough to attend different sections. The central section was left out to be where the teachers would live as well as the arena or Dome. The Dome was the center of practical combat classes that I would be unable to attend until grade 6. It was also the place where the yearly Tournament of the academy was held in. The tournament attracted many people of different races. It also attracted many different organizations looking for potential recruits. Of course, these organizations are ones that deal with magic. Along with the teachers was a group of students known as the Magus Council. This council was in charge of keeping the students in line and not cause too much trouble to anyone. They were powerful people that all of the members always have attained a position within the Magic Guild. These were the things that my brother told me about on our journey. As we neared the gate of the academy, three figures could be seen at a distance. The gate themselves didn¡¯t look imposing as it merely looked like an archway, but I was assured by my brother that the gate had magic cast on it to prevent anyone from entering unless they had permission from the school. A few minutes passed and we stopped right in front of the gate. I got out of the carriage first and there I saw Leon, Principal Artemia and a boy I didn¡¯t recognize. Leon was wearing a silver long sleeved collared shirt with black pants. Artemia was wearing her green and gold robe along with her black staff. The boy had black hair, brown eyes and skin, and he was the first person I saw that wore glasses. He wore a blue robe with yellow trimmings. He exuded a calm and responsible feeling. Salazar and I changed clothes before we got here. Salazar was wearing a red shirt and white pants, while I wore my blue long sleeved shirt with black pants. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe,¡± said Leon as he hugged me. I hugged him back and when he released me Artemia said, ¡°I¡¯m glad you are safe Prince Zed and I must say, even though we were expecting something to go wrong, we were unable to respond to the news your eldest brother brought to us.¡± She shook her head lightly and said, ¡°It is thanks to the gods that you are safe and we have made arrangements to get you acquainted with the school today and have you attend tomorrow, isn¡¯t that right Sieg?¡± ¡°Yes, principal¡± said the boy named Sieg. His voice almost sounded like a girl¡¯s but he was definitely a guy. ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for the trouble I have caused,¡± I apologized bowing. ¡°I-its no trouble at all,¡± she replied flustered. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Salazar staring daggers at Artemia. I touched his elbow and he looked at me and changed his expression to a kinder one. ¡°That being said, we welcome you to Asmodeus Academy, Prince Zed,¡± said Sieg. ¡°We¡¯re sorry that we couldn¡¯t make it as grand as you would have liked but current matters could not let that happen.¡± He said the word ¡°grand¡± with such emphasis but I couldn¡¯t understand why. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m responsible for the trouble caused by my kingdom. It is only natural that something of a grand scale could not happen,¡± I said lowering my head thinking of the lessons with Malakir. In one of his lessons, I learned that Asmodeus Academy is within the lands of the Rigel Kingdom but is not controlled by it. The Academy itself could be considered a kingdom within another kingdom. Though my kingdom has no power within the Academy, it can still limit the supplies that the Academy receives. ¡°Since you would arrive late, we decided to do it right when you got here,¡± said Artemia as she held out her hands to Sieg. Sieg pulled out an orb from his robes and handed it to Artemia. It was smaller than the orb that tested my affinity a month ago. ¡°It¡¯s the same way as your affinity test, just place your hands on the orb and inject your mana inside.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I practiced this with Malakir. We decided that it would be best to hide the fact that I could use Ethereal magic and since I could already summon Malakir that we just reveal that I can use summoning magic. I touched the orb and released my mana after converting it into summoning mana. The orb glowed and revealed a circle filled with runes that I had no meaning of. ¡°Summoning magic,¡± said Artemia, ¡°with this we your schedule will be the same as the students that have it. Sieg will bring you your schedule tomorrow. As custom, you will also be serving as a Magus of the school under Sieg.¡± I nodded having heard about the Magus group from my brother and I asked, ¡°If I do not want to serve as a Magus, what then?¡± They all seemed to be shocked by my question but I had my reasons. I didn¡¯t want to be restricted by this group as it looked to be too much trouble than what it was worth. ¡°But its custom,¡± said Artemia. ¡°I realize that, but I think it has too much power and too many duties,¡± I said. ¡°I would think it would be best to separate the duties.¡± ¡°How do you think of doing that then?¡± asked Sieg in a bit of an angry tone. ¡°A creation of a disciplinary group. This way the Magus council can take care of the students and their interaction with the outside world while the disciplinary group will be in charge with making sure the students comply with the rules,¡± I suggested. ¡°That¡¯s a great idea,¡± said Salazar. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± said Leon, ¡°Principal Artemia what would prevent the creation of this group that my youngest brother just suggested?¡± Principal Artemia thought about it for a second and said, ¡°Nothing. If anything really, it would be just the name.¡± ¡°Ravenex Corps. That would be the name,¡± I said smiling. ¡°Very well,¡± said Artemia, ¡°I will make the Ravenex Corps and I supposed you would want to be its leader?¡± ¡°Yes and no,¡± I said. ¡°Please explain,¡± she said. ¡°¡®Yes¡¯ because I would like to be able to make sure that the group is able to function correctly but also ¡®No¡¯ because I fear that the older students would not accept it,¡± I explained. ¡°Nonsense,¡± she said, ¡°Sieg here is the leader of the Magus and he is merely fifteen. Our oldest student is 30 and he as well as all the others accept it.¡± ¡°But Sieg has experience and I do not,¡± I said. ¡°I believe in you,¡± said Leon. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t forget about me!¡± said Salazar. ¡°We will provide as much help as we can,¡± said Artemia. I was silently thinking of whether I could do it when I heard Malakir say, ¡°I will also help you master.¡± With that I said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Great, now that it is settled let¡¯s move to my room to discuss the final arrangements of the Ravenex Corps,¡± said Artemia, ¡°I¡¯m afraid this is where you must say goodbye Prince Zed. Your brothers cannot enter the school.¡± I turned to them and said, ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Its what brothers are for,¡± said Leon. ¡°Its what the best brother is for,¡± said Salazar. ¡°Who¡¯s the best brother?¡± asked Leon, ¡°Just because father told you to get him doesn¡¯t make you the best brother!¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s because you haven¡¯t been practicing combat in a while,¡± said Salazar, ¡°I may be lower in rank than you but I can still beat you in a spar.¡± ¡°You want to spar right now?¡± asked Leon as he got into a stance. ¡°Why not? I¡¯ll add this win to the record!¡± said Salazar as he too got on a stance. ¡°Guys!¡± I shouted. They stopped what they were doing and laughed. ¡°Sorry, sorry,¡± said Salazar. ¡°We got carried away,¡± said Leon, ¡°Stay safe.¡± ¡°I will,¡± I said as we hugged each other. They then got on the carriage and left the academy. Artemia, Sieg and I walked to the faculty building in the central section. The building looked like a red crate with windows every two meters. Inside, it looked like it was my castle as the floor was immaculately clean. The decorations were spread out to bring out the charm of the hallways. Artemia¡¯s room was in the middle of the building and it spanned to the top floor. There were three flights of stairs inside her room that connected to the three floors inside the building. Her room looked like the inside of a tower but it was well decorated. The top floor had paintings of past principals while the first floor contained bookshelves. The second floor acted as her office as this was where her desk and some chairs were set up. She sat down behind her desk and started writing on a piece of paper. ¡°How many total members should there be?¡± she asked. ¡°5 members as the ruling body with 1 as the head, 10 members under them and 50 members under the 10,¡± I said as I thought of the positions. ¡°What would you like them to be called?¡± she asked as she wrote down the number of people. ¡°1 Captain with 4 lieutenants as the ruling body, 10 sergeants and 50 enforcers,¡± I said. She wrote down what I said and said, ¡°You will be subject to the rules as well as control by the Magus as well as the faculty.¡± ¡°I disapprove,¡± I said. ¡°You disapprove!?¡± asked Sieg barely audibly enough. ¡°Why?¡± asked Artemia as she slumped back a little. ¡°I want the Ravenex Corps to be on equal footing to the Magus Council. Of course we will still listen to the faculty but I believe that letting the students handle their own issues will make it much easier for everyone,¡± I explained. ¡°And you are adamant about this?¡± asked Artemia after a moment of silence. ¡°Yes.¡± She sighed and said, ¡°Very well.¡± ¡°Sieg, come with me,¡± she said as she stood up and walked to the door on the second floor. ¡°Wait here, someone will take you to your home, Sieg and I will arrange everything to be done tomorrow. I hope you have a well deserved rest,¡± she said as she turned around to face me and bowed. They left through the door leaving me in the room. Soon enough the door opened and a familiar figure came in. I was reminded of the one who I couldn¡¯t save, the one who thought I betrayed him, the one who I buried in my deepest thoughts. ¡°Alex!¡± I shouted. -----------------------
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Chapter 12 - Alex Rammert Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, I had a busy week and I just recently got done with it. Hope you guys enjoy and if you have any questions just ask! --------------------- It definitely was Alex. Those eyes, hair, skin, even physique was definitely Alex. I had thought that he died back then but here he was standing right in front of me. I hugged him tight and said, ¡°Alex!¡± ¡°Prince Zed,¡± said Alex, ¡°it is also good to finally meet you.¡± He said those words in short breaths and I realized that he felt different. I let go of him and asked, ¡°Alex, its me, Zed.¡± He blinked once and said in a confused tone, ¡°Yes, of course Prince Zed.¡± It was my turn to blink and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember about the Shadows?¡± ¡°Shadows? I¡¯m sorry Prince Zed but I think you might still be tired from your trip. If you would follow me, I would take you to your mansion to rest,¡± he said bowing down. Then it dawned on me that this was a different Alex. He might have the same name as well as features but there were differences. This Alex was polite while the Alex I knew was pushy. I then proceeded to follow him as I tried to forget the past that I didn¡¯t want to remember. He led me through corridors and courtyards until we got to the mansion. It was situated at the southeastern section of the school, right next to the forest. The mansion was two stories high with a narrow wall of glass with gold etchings in intricate designs. The glass was a bit clouded and all that could be seen from the outside was a silhouette of stairs. Inside was a quaint interior that rivaled only the palace. From the entranceway, the corridor in front led to what seemed to be a sitting room. The right led to a dining room from the large table that could be seen. To the left were the stairs that I saw from outside and a door that led somewhere. ¡°This mansion is ours Prince Zed,¡± Alex said as I was looking at the place. ¡°Ours?¡± I asked looking at him. ¡°Yes, I was chosen to be your servant so long as you are here. Seeing as how I was already supposed to be your knight, they just decided that it be better to get accustomed to each other immediately,¡± he explained. I shook my head at that and said, ¡°Our ages are the same. There¡¯s no reason for you to be my servant. Just be my friend and that¡¯ll be enough.¡± I messed up my friendship with Alex of the past so I wanted to make sure that I could at least keep the Alex I saw in front of me as my friend. ¡°Of course,¡± he said after being silent for a while. ¡°Come on, stop being so formal! We¡¯re friends right?¡± I asked with a smile. ¡°Ye-yes!¡± he said also with a smile. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll take you to your room,¡± he said as he turned to the left corridor. The second floor only had four rooms. He turned left and opened the room on the right. Inside was a large four-poster bed with black drapery. There were two dressers as tall as me with a mirror on top of them. There was a mahogany desk half the size of the bed that had magic pens, paper, and some books. A bookshelf also stood on the right side of the room while a door was on the right. ¡°Would you like to take a bath first or take a rest?¡± Alex asked. ¡°A bath and I already said that you can drop the formality,¡± I said. ¡°Yes,¡± he said as he opened the door on the right and inside was a set of stairs going down. I followed him and I was greeted by a large bath. There was a mist that covered the whole room as the glowing white orbs filled it with light. The floors were tiled marble and in the middle of the bath was a Ravenex statue with water flowing out of the mouths of the heads. You can control the temperature with this podium,¡± he said pointing to a podium in front of me. I set the temperature to lukewarm and we proceeded to take of my clothes. ¡°Place the clothes here and it will be cleaned and placed in our rooms by magic,¡± he said pointing to an alcove to the right. I began stripping but Alex was just standing there. I stopped and said, ¡°You can take one with me too.¡± ¡°No, I cannot,¡± he said as shook his hands and head no. I shrugged and continued stripping. When I was done, Alex was closing his eyes and I took this opportunity to push him into the water. He was firm in standing there as I lacked the strength to push him. I was having a hard time pushing him but then suddenly I saw him fall towards the water. He was now drenched and had no choice but to join me in the bath as he took off his clothes as I looked at him. I realized that he gave in to my pushing him and that put me in a bad mood. I knew I was weak physically and I focused more on magic because of it. Because Alex just let it happen I was feeling a bit miffed. He looked at me concerned and asked, ¡°What is the matter Prince Zed?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± I said as I got into the bath as well. We spent the bath in silence in opposite corners. Alex would try to start a conversation but because of how bad I felt I stopped it before it could be called one. I knew I was throwing a tantrum but I couldn¡¯t just let it go. We finally got out of the bath and went to our own rooms to change. I was in my room wearing a red shirt and black pants when a knock came at my door. I opened it and saw Alex. He was wearing a dark blue shirt with white pants. He bowed and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for any misconduct that I did earlier on! You may punish me as you see fit!¡± I was shocked that he would do this and I asked, ¡°Punish you? I don¡¯t even remember anything that you did wrong.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He shook his head while still bowing and said, ¡°You were in discomfort during the whole bath. I was unable to find some way to make you comfortable so it is obviously my fault! This is why I must be punished, please do as you see fit!¡± I felt bad about the situation. It was my fault but he was taking the blame for it instead. ¡°Stop,¡± I said, ¡°Raise your head and look at me.¡± He did so and I said, ¡°It was my fault not yours. So don¡¯t.¡± ¡°But Prince Zed!¡± ¡°Stop it,¡± I said a bit too loudly, ¡°We¡¯re friends, stop trying to be my servant or whatever and just be yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try Prince Zed,¡± he said and we forgot the whole thing as I wrestled with him which ultimately resulted in me losing. We were in the dining room eating an early dinner. Alex was a surprisingly good cook at the same age as I am. I learned about him during dinner. He was the son of the Rammert family, the leaders of the Rammert Knights, the strongest Magic Knights of the kingdom. Magic Knights were mages who defended the kingdom from outside attacks like pirates, bandits and foreign nations. There was a test that you had to take when you were at least 11 to be able to become a knight. Alex wanted to be one as his older brothers were already knights, he was the only one who wasn¡¯t yet. He was trained since birth to become one, cooking was apparently one of those skills. I became interested in the Rammert Knights and when I said that I might want to join he said, ¡°You can¡¯t. The purpose of the Rammert Knights originally was to be the guards of royalty. Royalty cannot be a Rammert Knight as we uphold this tradition.¡± I sighed at the lost of the opportunity and decided to continue eating. Alex wanted to clean the dishes when we were done which left me with Malakir in my room. ¡°Malakir,¡± I said, ¡°is there any way for me to get stronger physically?¡± ¡°Yes, but it will be very painful,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± I said. ¡°Then concentrate mana into your body. Similar to creating a mana orb but instead of condensing it into an orb, condense it into you own body. This will hurt but your body will be stronger for it.¡± I did as he asked and it really did hurt, my body felt like it was burning and tearing apart. I screamed and Alex came running in. ¡°Zed!¡± he shouted as I felt his hands on me. I stopped what I was doing and noticed that I was sweating a lot. ¡°Are you okay?¡± he asked worriedly. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I managed to say. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked. ¡°It was training,¡± said Malakir. Alex looked around for the voice and I pointed at the book. He stared at it when Malakir said, ¡°Hello Alex Rammert.¡± He looked a bit startled for a bit and then took a stance. ¡°What did you do?!¡± he asked in an angry tone. ¡°It was training,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Training?! It was hurting him! How is that training?!¡± he shouted. ¡°Training without pain? That there is a contradiction Alex,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Stop it!¡± I shouted. Alex looked at me and I said, ¡°This is Malakir, my summon. He was just teaching me how to strengthen my body with mana.¡± ¡°Your summon?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes. Malakir is my summon,¡± I said. ¡°Then why was he hurting you?¡± he asked. ¡°I was manipulating mana into myself. The process was very painful as Malakir explained but I went through with it anyway,¡± I said. ¡°My body is weak, I do not want it to be weak,¡± I continued. ¡°You don¡¯t have to, Pri- Zed,¡± he said, ¡°That¡¯s one of the reasons why I¡¯m here.¡± I shook my head and said, ¡°Even so, I do not want to be helped if I can help it.¡± ¡°But Zed.¡± ¡°I want to do this,¡± I said as I continued pushing mana into myself. At some point, Alex joined me saying, ¡°If you¡¯re doing it then I¡¯m doing it too.¡± We trained through most of the night and we went to our own rooms when we stopped. ¡°He¡¯s a good kid,¡± said Malakir when Alex was gone, ¡°he¡¯ll be a great man in the future.¡± ¡°How so?¡± I asked. ¡°Just from what I know.¡± ¡°I see,¡± I said as I didn¡¯t question further. I slept through the night and woke up to a new day. Alex and I were eating breakfast when he handed me a blank paper. ¡°This has your schedule,¡± he said, ¡°Inject your mana in it and it will show you your classes for the year. I injected my mana on the paper and the paper started having beautiful designs all around it and on it was written: 07:00 AM ¨C Breakfast 08:00 AM ¨C Basics of Magic 10:00 AM ¨C Magic History 12:00 PM ¨C Lunch 02:00 PM ¨C Summoning Magic 05:00 PM ¨C Free Time 08:00 PM ¨C Dinner 10:00 PM ¨C Free Time I read my classes to Alex and he said, ¡°We have the same classes. That makes things easier.¡± We finished eating and began walking to our first class of the day: Basics of Magic. --------------------
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Chapter 13 - Summoning Class Hey guys! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!. ----------------- The classroom was a large room with seats sloping downward towards a desk at the other end of the room. Students sat everywhere and talking with each other. Alex and I sat at the front of the room while some of them quieted down and stared at us. Just then the bell rang and in teleported a man with a red robe. He had bald hair, dark skin and his eyes looked like they were closed. ¡°Welcome everyone to the first class of Basics of Magic,¡± he said with a breathy voice. ¡°I am your teacher for this class, Marvin. I should not have to tell you that magic is a wonderful but unforgiving power. Misuse it or be unable to use it completely means death...¡± He continued on about how magic should be used with utmost care and that we should be careful of how much magic we were using and that we only use magic to the extent that we know for sure we can, all without breathing once. It was the same lessons with Malakir only with a voice that repeated itself countless times over the whole period. Finally, the bell rang and he teleported away leaving us students to head for our next class. We stood up and some of them came up to me and asked, ¡°Are you Prince Zed?¡± ¡°Yes I am,¡± I said and then they all asked me questions about myself and I tried to answer them all. They all followed me to my next class which looked the same as the room before this. They crowded around me near the front when the bell rang and our teacher teleported in. It was a woman this time. She had ginger hair tied up in a bun, red eyes with glasses over them and fair skin. She began class saying her name, Beatrice, as well as saying that she was twenty five when from my perspective she was forty something. Again the same class as Malakir¡¯s only this one was more morbid as she kept on introducing us to experiments that other mages have done in the past that killed them. This continued on for two more hours when the bell rang and I was sure that the morning classes were made to make sure that we were scared enough that we weren¡¯t going to try anything with magic. Some of my classmates were scared while the others weren¡¯t. We then went to the cafeteria to eat lunch. The cafeteria was enormous. It had several floors with rounded walls making me think that the cafeteria was inside a tower. Alex was having a tough time to get everyone away from me as they all gathered around and it was getting difficult to use the podium that would take us to the ¡°Royal Family¡± floor. Suddenly, Malakir shouted ¡°Get away from master!¡± Then all of the students were pushed away by a giant wind and I was able to get the podium elevator to take us up. I explained to Alex who was dumbfounded at what happened and he relaxed a little bit. When we got to the royal floor it was empty except for a table in the middle and a perfect view of the surroundings. There was a mountain to the east, it was Asmodeus Mountain which this section of the academy was erected. Suddenly my vision darkened and I heard a cute voice say, ¡°Guess who!¡± ¡°Sasha!¡± I said and my vision came back and I turned around and saw her wearing the uniform, ¡°what are you doing here?¡± ¡°I was allowed to use the elevator because I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e,¡± she explained. I introduced her to Alex and we sat down at the only table, Sasha sat next to me while Alex was across from us and I was wondering how we get our food. ¡°How do we get our food?¡± I asked Sasha and Alex. Immediately a plate of very stylish salad appeared in front of Sasha and she explained, ¡°just think of what you want to eat. Its different from the lower floors, the food here is generated magically so you can anything. Also the food will never make you feel full until you get up. So even eating a piece of bread from here will be enough to fill you up,¡± she said as she started eating. We both tried it and I imagined a giant steak with a side of mashed potatoes and lots of gravy and it appeared in front of me. Likewise a pair of prime ribs appeared in front of Alex. ¡°This is awesome!¡± we shouted and wolfed down our lunch.Sasha just shook her head beside me as she just calmly ate her salad. Lunch was going to last for two hours but we all finished eating within forty-five minutes. We still had at least an hour to go so we just ate desert and talked about our morning classes. As I suspected Sasha had a different schedule from us since she had Holy magic unlike our Summoning. She was sad but she said that at least our lunch schedule was the same. I wondered why she has Holy magic which was Supreme when she had Spectrum affinity of Light magic earlier when we met. I didn¡¯t want to ask her about it so I thought of asking Malakir about it later. I also introduced her to Malakir since I already did with Alex and she was surprised to know that I summoned Malakir after she told me what to do. ¡°Really?!¡± she asked shocked. ¡°Yep, you couldn¡¯t see him since I didn¡¯t know how to make him appear yet.¡± When lunch was nearly over, we said our goodbyes and to meet again tomorrow since we didn¡¯t have the same free time in our schedules. Alex and I walked to our Summoning class room feeling satisfied but not too full even though we ate five plates of steak and ribs and ten plates of desert. During our lunch, I asked Malakir if I could do the same and he said that I could but it was just too difficult to do right now but he said the he will teach it to all of us when we get powerful enough. I was already looking forward to be able to magically create my own food that will never make me full unless I stopped. Our Summoning classroom was outside in the forest at the base of the mountains. We were in a clearing surrounded by trees and a small orb in the middle of it. At two, there was no teacher teleporting in but there was a massive gust of wind from above us. It had a long neck and it reflected light from its green scales. It was a lesser green dragon, one of the weakest of dragons. Its eyes were red as it stared at us while a figure jumped down from above it and the dragon disappeared. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The figure stood up and it was a man with leather clothes. Unlike our other teachers who wore a robe and old, just like magicians, this one was fairly young, around twenty five, he had black hair that spiked to the left, a scar went from his temple to his right cheek, he had an eye patch on his right eye, his left eye was gold and his skin was dark brown. He exuded a feeling of confidence and pride. It felt like he had seen his share of battles and his scar and his eye patch were like a testament to that fact. ¡°I¡¯m Ralph, your Summoning teacher. If you thought that you would be simply casting spells just like the others you¡¯re completely wrong!¡± He shouted making us stand stiff and at attention. ¡°Amongst all the mages, we are the strongest in combat do you know why? Its because we have to subjugate the beasts we summon before we summon them. That dragon that I rode in, I defeated that with my bear hands!¡± He shouted turning his hands into that of a bear. ¡°This is half transformation, it is the most stable and balanced out of all the transformations you all will be undertaking. Each transformation is different, my first summon was a bear that is why I¡¯m able to do something like this. You too will be able to,¡± he said lowering his voice. ¡°That dragon would take an average of several mages to subdue but for us, only one of us is enough. You all have the capability but do you have the perseverance?¡± We all nodded, we all wanted to have the same power as this teacher in front of us. ¡°Know that my training method is harsh, half of you will quit before the end of the week. Are you still willing to take it?¡± We all nodded again.¡°Very well then, run up that mountain,¡± he said pointing to Mount Asmodeus. We all fell silent, Did he just tell us to run up this 4,000 meter tall mountain! ¡°What are you all waiting for? Run!¡± he shouted spurring us all to dash. ¡°Don¡¯t come back until you get a scale from up there!¡± We ran up and before I even lost sight of Ralph behind me I was already out of breath. Alex was beside me and carried me on his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I said not wanting the help. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± he said, ¡°I know you don¡¯t want the help but I can¡¯t just let you be in pain.¡± I couldn¡¯t retort as he looked determined to do it. An hour passed and we got to a field with green scales. ¡°There they are!¡± I said pointing at them. Alex let go of me as I had enough energy to get a scale and suddenly I was on the ground next to Ralph. ¡°You had help,¡± he said. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I have a weak body.¡± He nodded and said, ¡°I see. I¡¯m putting you on a different regimen. It should help make your body stronger Prince Zed.¡± I looked at him shocked that he would do this and he smiled and said, ¡°I may be harsh but I know exactly what is needed.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and Alex joined me. ¡°Are you the one who helped him?¡± Ralph asked Alex. He nodded and Ralph said, ¡°I¡¯m also putting you in a different regimen. It will be different from the others.¡± He nodded and Ralph then said, ¡°Prince Zed, I will have you do muscle strengthening for a while and Alex you too as well but you will be doing it with weights. I¡¯m accepting you two as my students as a special case. Don¡¯t make my decision be wrong.¡± We nodded and Ralph told us to start the exercises. He told us to do pushups, some running, sit-ups, and all kinds of muscle building exercises. Three hours after we started and we were already sweating buckets. I did less than Alex and I had more breaks in between but I was still very tired. ¡°Tomorrow you all will be doing the same thing, only this time with weights. Class is dismissed,¡± Ralph said as he grew wings and flew off. One of my classmates came up to me and said, ¡°Why do the two of you get special treatment?¡± He had wild brown hair, blue eyes and brown skin. ¡°Is it because you¡¯re the prince? Its because of you that we have to suffer,¡± he continued. ¡°We have our own reasons,¡± said Alex. ¡°Yeah, reasons to be fat!¡± he shouted and then left. ¡°What¡¯s up with him?¡± I asked. ¡°His name is Nathaniel,¡± said one of my other classmates, ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, his family hates nobility.¡± I nodded and Alex and I went back to our mansion. We took a bath and ate dinner Alex led me to the door near the steps and inside was a large room with a glass ceiling. He explained that this was the training room and this was where we could train magic. We sat back to back and in front of me were ten, five inch diameter orbs that were dispersing their mana to the wind by my control. While Alex was meditating trying to feel the mana around him. The exercise was actually harder this time as Malakir told me to disperse the mana from the orbs while at the same time trying to keep the shape of the orbs as well as making sure that I take in the dispersed mana, thereby making sure that the orbs would last longer. It was midnight when the orbs finally disappeared without a trace of mana. Alex had gone to sleep in his room earlier on. ¡°Good job,¡± said Malakir, ¡°keep on doing this and you will no longer be having much too difficult a time in physical work.¡± I nodded and went back to my room to change clothes. I slept very soundly from the work that I did that day. ----------------
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Chapter 14 - Induction Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter! ----------------------- I woke up early the next day. I sat up and saw that my body returned to normal from last night¡¯s injection of mana. I felt lighter and stronger but I was still very sore. I slowly injected a small amount of mana into my body and it felt like my body could stay in this strengthened condition longer. The exercise from last night forcefully made my body get used to having mana injected and stored within them. My muscles aren¡¯t able to generate mana but with this exercise, they can store mana for later use as well as strengthen them. I then had a thought, What if I injected holy magic instead? I asked Malakir this and he just said, ¡°Your body is not old enough yet, if you do that your growth will be stunted as the magic is permanent. Using mana first will allow your body to develop in the best way because the changes will only be temporary. That being said, I think we overdid it last night. Does your body feel any pain at all?¡± ¡°No, I just feel a little bit sore.¡± I changed clothes and asked Malakir about a little experiment that I had just thought of. ¡°Malakir, would it be alright if I tried to convert all of my mana into the different types and see how fast I can convert into all of them?¡± ¡°Why would you want that?¡± ¡°I think if I got used to shifting my mana, I would be able to confuse my opponents and surprise them with something they weren¡¯t expecting.¡± ¡°Go ahead but start with a small orb. If you can change your mana to all of them within five seconds, do it with two orbs. If you can do that within another five seconds, increase the number of orbs by one. Then just keep repeating that every morning until you can get to 500 orbs.¡± I stared at him and he said, ¡°You had the idea, I¡¯m just going to tell you how to do it. Now get started.¡± I sat down and produced a small mana orb in front of me. I then transformed it slowly into a fire orb, then water, then wind, then earth. Just for the primordial mana it took me one minute to go through all of it. I then transformed it into light, dark, arcane and nature. Two minutes it took to go through the spectrum mana. I did the same with the supreme and it took me four minutes. Eight minutes it took me for the ancient. I takes twice as much time every time I try have it become more pure, but if I have it be less pure it seems to be very short. My mana is inherently Ethereal, being the second purest form of mana. Having it go back to it took sixteen minutes from the ancient mana. In total it took me close to a half hour to go through all of the affinities¡¯ mana types. I didn¡¯t bother with Time and Space as I first needed to be able to use my magic that I can use proficiently in combat. I went through all of the affinities again, this time going as fast as I could without letting things get out of hand. This time it took me twenty minutes. A full eleven minutes was shaved off but it was still too far from the five seconds that Malakir told me to get it down to. This is going to be tough, I thought. Alex knocked on my door and said that breakfast was going to start soon. We went to the cafeteria and ate quickly at our floor and headed to our first class of the day. I didn¡¯t bother listening to the lectures that morning as I was too busy focusing my attention to the small orb that I had hidden underneath the desk. I was continuing what I was doing that morning in class and before lunch started I was able to shave off five more minutes. Sasha met us at our table and we started talking about what each of us did on the first day. We told her what we had to do and she was worried at me doing a lot of exercises considering my body. I told her that I was fine and she reluctantly let it go. She then told us of her first day in class. Apparently she became very popular with the girls as they all found out that she was engaged to me, the prince. She was happy with the attention but also a bit frightened as people she didn¡¯t know surrounded her immediately. She was always shy but once you got her to stop being shy she would open up to you. Our conversation was interrupted by Sieg when he came and said, ¡°Prince Zed, Principal Artemia wishes to see you.¡± I nodded and told Alex and Sasha that I had to go somewhere but they said that they would also come with me. I let them come with me and we were now in Artemia¡¯s room. ¡°Ah I see you brought your friends,¡± said Artemia as she saw us, ¡°Sieg, inform their teachers about this.¡± ¡°Yes, Principal,¡± said Sieg as he left the room. ¡°Now,¡± said Artemia, ¡°Zed, the paperwork for the Ravenex Corps has been approved and you can start recruiting whenever you want.¡± ¡°I would like Alex and Sasha as two of my lieutenants,¡± I said and they nodded. I had already told them about the Ravenex Corps and what it was about. ¡°Alright, that can be arranged,¡± said Artemia, ¡°Come with me and I¡¯ll take you to your office.¡± She stood up and led us to a hidden alcove at the top floor of her room. Inside the alcove was a pillar of light and she said, ¡°Step in the light and it will take you there immediately.¡± She stepped in and she disappeared. We followed suit and we found ourselves in a room that overlooked the central arena of the Dome. The room looked as if it was suspended in the air and was large enough to accommodate at least 100 people. There was a rectangular table in the middle of the room that could seat 15 people. ¡°It may look like we are floating in the air but we are not,¡± said Artemia, ¡°It is merely an illusion, a way of looking at everything that is happening at the school. You can control where it looks with these controls.¡± Artemia was pointing to the end of the table and on it was something similar to the podiums that I keep on seeing. I pressed on it and Artemia said, ¡°Just think of where you want to look.¡± I did as she asked and we got a look at my summoning class. We could hear them panting from exhaustion as well as their complaints. ¡°This device also allows the transmission of sound,¡± commented Artemia. Alex and Sasha were dumbfounded at this room while I fiddled around to the extent of its power. ¡°Take these,¡± said Artemia as she handed us bracers with a Ravenex on it. ¡°This will allow everyone to know that you are a part of the Ravenex Corps as well as allow you to enter this room,¡± she explained, ¡°When you wish to enter, just touch the Ravenex and you will instantly be teleported into this room. It is the same when you wish to leave the room but you will be teleported to the place where you had entered from.¡± I nodded at her explanation and asked about who we can recruit. ¡°You can recruit anyone that you wish but to make it easier, the faculty and I have gathered a list of people and they can be told to meet you in the central Arena of the Dome if you wish right now.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I told her to do that and she left to tell the faculty and students while Alex, Sasha and I waited for them in the Dome. An hour passed and there were at least 500 candidates. How are we going to choose 62 members out of these? I thought. I discussed it with Alex and Sasha and we decided on a tournament. We had them compete in front of us and whoever defeated his opponent or impressed us would be a member. It was in two hours that we finally got the members. There were many people that were qualified but we were looking for those who can do the job. Two of them were exceptional and they became my lieutenants. One was named Rita and she had red hair, blue and green eyes, and fair skin. She was twelve, much older than the three of us but we didn¡¯t care. She was a Sage ranked Spirit mage. She was able to get spirits of the primordial and spectrum elements to help her. Most Spirit mages can only have spirits of one affinity help them but she was actually able to get two. The other was named Jacob and he had light brown hair, blue eyes and fair skin. He was eighteen, the oldest of us all and he was a Lord ranked Form mage. He was capable of creating armaments that increased his physical abilities by a much larger amount than others. He demonstrated this by using the most base of metals, stone, and the enchantments on them were equal to enchantments on silver. Malakir explained to the three of us when we were puzzled by this that depending on the quality of the material made with Form magic, the enchantments placed on it can either be strengthened or weakened. Stone is the most neutral as it neither strengthens or weakens any enchantment on it. Silver increases enchantments of defenses but weakens any offensive enchantment. Seeing Jacob¡¯s enchanted stone defeat his opponent¡¯s enchanted silver was one of the reasons why he was chosen. I stood in front of the lieutenants, sergeants and enforcers. These were all the ones chosen by us to be a part of the Ravenex Corps. ¡°Today marks your induction to the Ravenex Corps,¡± I shouted. My voice was echoing to the near empty arena. ¡°I am Zed Rigel, 3rd Prince of the Rigel Kingdom and Captain of the Ravenex Corps. Our mission is to prevent any misconduct amongst the students and intervene when matters get out of hand.¡± ¡°You have all been divided into the positions of lieutenants, sergeants and enforcers. The four at the very front of you are Alex Rammert, Sasha Imadul, Jacob and Rita. These four are your lieutenants and answer directly under myself.¡± ¡°Behind them are the ten sergeants. These ten answer directly under the lieutenants. The rest of you are enforcers, you answer directly to the sergeant in front of you. Ten enforcers to a sergeant.¡± ¡°Sergeants are responsible for the conduct that your enforcers do. Likewise the lieutenants are responsible for the conduct of the sergeants. You may advance in rank if you show that you are more competent than your sergeant or lieutenant. My position can only be replaced by my own choosing. Are there any questions?¡± No one seemed willing to ask any and so I proceeded to give them all their Ravenex bracer. After giving one of each to everyone I said, ¡°This bracer symbolizes your being a part of the Ravenex Corps. Touch the Ravenex to go to our office.¡± We all did and everyone was teleported into our office. ¡°You may enter and leave whenever you wish using the same way you entered. Be warned, this room is to be used only for meetings or under strenuous circumstances. This room will heal you and replenish your mana but do not use it casually.¡± I knew about this as Artemia told me about it when she returned with the 500 candidates. Everyone was in awe of the room, even Alex and Sasha as I was the only one to know. ¡°This room will be accessible to all the students from the faculty building. As such I need at least one of the sergeants or lieutenants to always be in this room. Enforcers, you may leave now and patrol around the school. Sergeants discuss amongst yourselves where your Enforcers will be patrolling.¡± They went to the back of the room to discuss patrolling routes while I showed the lieutenants how to use the device. The view around us kept on constantly changing and everyone couldn¡¯t help but be distracted now and then. Soon enough the Enforcers left leaving me with the Sergeants and Lieutenants. I showed the Sergeants how to use the device when the Jacob and Rita went out wanting to patrol too. Sasha and Alex stayed since I was still there. After showing how to use the device the Sergeants left leaving one of them behind to watch the room. I apologized to him about the plainness of the room but I assured him that it will be decorated with useful items once it was arranged. There were many different items that we would be able to use but it was a matter of being able to store it in the room that was the problem. The logistics of the matter was the issue rather than the matter of the items. We left him there and went to eat dinner at my mansion. Sasha stayed with us until after dinner and I took her to her dormitory room as Alex pushed me to do. Her dormitory was a lavish four story building. We said our goodbyes there because her dormitory restricted males from entering. I walked back and saw some of my Enforcers patrolling. Some students were also pointing at them while some were wondering about the bracers. I got back to the mansion and didn¡¯t see Alex anywhere. I got to my room and teleported to the office room. Apparently it was Alex¡¯s turn as he was here. He got up from his seat and teleported out leaving me with myself. Using the opportunity, I started Malakir¡¯s exercises and it felt much easier since my mana as well as my stamina was being replenished. I wasn¡¯t able to do it for long as Rita teleported in. We didn¡¯t have a set amount of time for one person to watch the room but there didn¡¯t seem to be any problems yet. I teleported back to my room and continued the exercises. It was harder than when in the office but easier than before. Midnight came and I was tired and I slept waiting the next day. -------------------
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Suggestion So guys... the next chapters are pretty much the same as it was in the original story... I want to ask if you guys would still want me to post the chapters here of the original. I mean it''s basically the same with some minor adjustments like Zed''s physical weakness as well as the fact that he is no longer reincarnated. I can post the chapters with minor adjustments until we get to the beginning of the Tournament Arc but I feel that it would work just as well if I start writing from the tournament and have lots of flashbacks if needed. Chapter 15 - Realm of Summons Author''s Rant: Next chapters from here on are pretty much the same as it was in the original. All I did was make sure that it aligned with the changes that were made. Current plan is that most everything that was in the original would still be here with some minor adjustments. The Tournament Arc will be reworked, events in it will still happen but there might be some major changes. Thank you all for bearing with me in this rewriting, it is almost done. I have about 50 more pages to work on and it should be done before the end of this week (unless my moustrap car needs some changes to be made to it). Just a little bit more guys and we can start learning new things that will happen to Zed. I''ve also come to the conclusion of expanding the life of this story. It was actually made to end sometime after the Civil War Arc which was after the Tournament Arc and was made to be 50% of the actual story. Now it expanded a lot more and it has reached to become 5 books? volumes? Each one will feature one Realm and Zed''s adventures there. Currently: Book, Volume, Codex? 1 - Mortal or Sentient Realm? Book, Volume, Codex? 2 - Realm of Summons Book, Volume, Codex? 3 - Elemental Realm? Book, Volume, Codex? 4 - Spirit, Demon Realm? Book, Volume, Codex? 5 - Realm of Gods The ones with question marks need decisions on what it can be called. Those are tentative names but if anyone has any suggestion please feel free to tell me. Thank you for bearing with my rant, now on to the story! ------------------------------------ Waking up early the next day, I continued my training of changing my mana orb into all the affinities. Before heading to breakfast I was able to bring it down to half a minute. Again, I ignored class and did my own training in hiding and was able to only get down to twenty seconds before lunch started. We ate lunch with Sasha and she told us about a boy in her class who wanted to meet us. We said that we will meet him and then went separate ways to our next classes. Alex and I continued strengthening our muscles while the others were doing what Ralph had them do. The day was very uneventful and Alex and I walked back to our mansion, took a bath and continued our training. As we were eating dinner, I asked Alex, ¡°Can you teach me how to use a sword?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t but there¡¯s an instructor who¡¯s going to come and teach me how to next week. I¡¯ve studied with him before and he will gladly teach you too.¡± I nodded, looking forward to learning how to use a sword next week. After dinner, we continued training and I was able to reduce the mana shifting time to five seconds. Elated, I told Malakir and he told me to do the same with two orbs. Trying to manage the shifting sometimes ended with the magic almost going out of hand but Malakir stopped it just in time. Alex still couldn¡¯t feel the mana around him but he said that he felt something, he just wasn¡¯t sure of what it was. I told him that it might have been the mana and told him to focus on it once he felt it again. Alex stayed up till midnight like I did as he wanted to feel it once more but he wasn¡¯t able to make much progress. I, on the other hand, was able to progress a bit. The shifting I was able to do with two orbs but it took me forty minutes to go through one set. Although if I concentrated only on the task it would¡¯ve taken twenty minutes. I was also able to improve the number of orbs that I can disperse at a time. I went from twenty five to thirty. I then went to sleep seeing as it was past midnight and needed to rest for the next day. After going through the usual morning, Alex and I were at our summoning class again. ¡°You all did wonderful the past couple of days. Today will be the last one before I actually teach you anything. If you complete it, you will have received your rank of acolyte,¡± said Ralph as he came to us. I was unable to realize it earlier but there was a significantly less number of us than usual. We started out with 100 but now there were only 7 of us left. ¡°Everyone come over here and we can begin,¡± he said standing next to the orb. Everyone went closer to him and we all stood around the orb. I stood to the left of Ralph and Alex stood next to me while Nathaniel stood to the right of Ralph. ¡°We will now travel to the Realm of Summons. This place will allow you to meet your fated companion the easiest. This will be the easiest thing that I will give you so be thankful for that.¡± We were all excited, Malakir never told me anything about the Realm of Summons so I was very excited to be able to go there. ¡°Place your hands on the orb and we will enter their realm.¡± We did as we were told placing our hands on the orb and when Ralph placed his hands on top of ours it felt like I was being pulled into the orb and my surroundings dimmed. After a while, our surroundings became brighter and no longer were we in the clearing. We were now in a ruined building. The roof was collapsed and we could see a red sky above us. The stone walls around us looked like they were cleaved roughly, leaving large gaps that led to the outside. ¡°Go out and take a look around the place. There is no danger here but make sure that you all are separated, your summons are beings you should meet by yourselves,¡± said Ralph as he sat down on the collapsed roof. Alex and the rest went to different directions leaving me with Ralph in the room. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you going outside?¡± he asked.¡°Because I already have mine, Malakir show yourself.¡±Malakir did and it surprised Ralph. ¡°A codex, you have a rare one Zed. Well even though you already have one it might be a good idea to go outside and see the realm. You won¡¯t be able to come back here any time soon and you might see a creature you want to bind.¡± I nodded and left the building. Outside it was a strange place. The sky was red and there were two suns in this realm. The trees looked strange under the red sky. Their leaves were a bright red color and the branches and trunk were mahogany. There were no shadows in that realm which made things more eerie. I started walking with no set destination thinking that I could just stroll around and come back when I¡¯m done. As I was walking, I noticed that there was no wind. It was as if the wind truly died. There were two suns but it was neither hot nor cold. The earth I walked on seemed to be crushed as I walked along it. It¡¯s as if everything was dead, I thought. After walking a while I soon reached a lake. The lake was still and I couldn¡¯t see anything inside it. Across the lake was a waterfall but surprisingly there was no sound and mist. The water looked like it was a part of the still lake as if frozen in time. ¡°Malakir what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°We are in the Woods of Time master. Here time is either still, slow, or quick. Nothing lives in still time yet everything also lives in here.¡± ¡°You¡¯re confusing me.¡± ¡°Right now time is still for the woods. You can say that everything here is dead but you can also say everything is alive because this is merely a stop in their flow of life.¡± ¡°So we¡¯re in a paradox right now, where everything is both alive and dead. Does that include us?¡± ¡°No, only the woods itself is affected by the changes.¡± I nodded and continued walking. I climbed up the cliff next to the waterfall and saw a cave where the water was coming from. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I entered the cave and Malakir cast a lighting spell, illuminating the area in front of me. The water came from further in and I followed it. I felt drawn to whatever was in front of me. There were stalactites and stalagmites all around me. Every now and then there was also a glint of a gem lodged within the walls of the cave but I ignored it and continued walking. Soon enough the cave opened up and I was greeted by a giant sloping chamber. The chamber glowed blue with the light from Malakir¡¯s spell. The stalagmites and stalactites in here glowed in a red color almost like blood. On the walls were green mushroom-looking plants with flowers above them. The flowers ranged from tall to short and had many different colors. Each petal was different in color. One of them had enough petals that I thought every color in existence was on it. The scene was breathtaking but what was even more breathtaking was what was in the middle. It was a small rocky plateau and on top of it was a giant white golem. The room sloped downwards so I was able to see every detail of the golem. It looked like it could stand five meters tall if it stood up but as of now it was sitting down. Its head was semicircular in shape having no neck. There was only one eye and it was dim and no ears, mouth, or nose could be seen. Its body was armored and there was a watch on where the heart would be. Its arms laid down on the ground. They were also looked like they were armored and two swords were laying beside the hands. On his shoulders were small spikes that jutted outwards. Its legs were also armored while its feet looked more like boots instead. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked Malakir. ¡°A timekeeper. Master these creatures are also summons but they can only be subdued. Combat is not how you subdue them but rather the trick is to make them come to life. I will not tell you how as you yourself need to be able to find out how to do it in order to subdue it and make it one of your summons.¡± I nodded and ran up to where the golem was. Looking at it from up close, I could tell that if it stood up it would be very intimidating. I began searching for something that would activate the golem. Turning things that I thought would turn. Pressed things that looked like they were buttons. I even tried tapping the clock to see if it would do anything. I worked looking for a way to make it move and I didn¡¯t even realize how long I have been working. Probably no time at all since time was still but I wasn¡¯t so sure since I was moving. Right when I was about to give up I noticed a hole. I peered through it and thought that I saw something that looked like its core. It was hard to tell as the hole was only two inches in diameter but it looked like a blue octagonal crystal. When I moved my head away, the hole wasn¡¯t much of a hole because it was also shaped like an octagon. I searched for something that might fit it and I found it under a pile of rocks that I had made from searching earlier. It was blue in the inside but it was white on the outside. The blue part is most definitely inserted, I thought. I was trying to figure out what would happen if I inserted this as couldn¡¯t see any way of being able to remove it later if nothing happened. Suddenly, I remembered that when I summoned Malakir that I injected my own mana into him making him become something else entirely. I injected a generous amount of my own mana onto what I found and inserted it onto its spot. Immediately, the area around it changed color into black and it spread outwards covering the golem in half a minute. Thinking that it was the same as it was with Malakir I said, ¡°I name you, timekeeper, Chronos , may you serve me well.¡± ¡°Yes... master...¡± said a voice that sounded like it hasn¡¯t been used in ages. The golem¡¯s eye suddenly revealed a red light and it stood up holding its swords. ¡°I... Chronos... shall serve... this master... till... the end... of time... My... powers... are... at your... command...¡± said the golem bowing down as it slowly glowed a black light and became a small black orb that flew within me. ¡°Congratulations master, you are now an adept!¡± I was shocked at this and took a look at my stats.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Adept
Age:5Race:Human
Gender:MaleNationality:Rigel Kingdom
¡°So having another summon increases my rank?¡± ¡°Your powers are considered summoning so the only way for you to increase your rank is to have more summons at your disposal.¡± ¡°So an Acolyte ranked summoner can equal a God-ranked Fire mage?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. The ranks are just a general way of understanding another mage¡¯s power, it does not guarantee that person¡¯s level of strength at all.¡± ¡°How do I summon Chronos?¡±¡°Just call out to him and he will come.¡±I nodded and asked, ¡°Is there a way to see how many I can summon?¡± ¡°Simple, just say ¡®summons¡¯ and hold out your ring. It works the same way as status.¡± I did that and saw my summon screen.
Summons
Name:MalakirRace:Codex of Magic
Name:ChronosRace:Timekeeper
I was shocked that something like this existed. I should probably start investigating this, I keep on putting it off, I thought thinking of what other things I could see a screen of. After seeing that I could see a screen of my summons, I exited the cave. Outside, it looked like time was back as I could hear the waterfall and see the mist. The wind was blowing again and it seemed less eerie as the sky was still red. I walked back to the ruined building and I saw that I was the only one everyone was waiting for. ¡°Took you long enough,¡± said Nathaniel.¡°Alright now that Zed is here we can go back,¡± said Ralph. ¡°Place your hands on the orb everyone and when we get back you have to show us what your summon is if you got one.¡± We did as he said and again the same feeling of being dragged into the orb was felt. Soon enough we were back at the clearing and Ralph said, ¡°alright Alex you come up here and show us what you got.¡± ---------------------
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Chapter 16 - Show and Tell Alex nodded and stood in front of Ralph. We were all in a circle a little bit away from the orb that we had just used. Alex, being in the center, closed his eyes and a flash of light appeared. When the light disappeared, it was replaced by a cute creature. It had white fur with black stripes. A short black tail was behind it. Its ears were short and were perking up. Its nose was triangle shaped pointing down and whiskers grew right below it. It was a white cat, or more like a white cub of some large cat type creature. It meowed really cutely and Nathaniel couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Hahaha, how is that supposed to be any help!¡± ¡°Nathaniel quiet. That summon is a White Chaos Tiger,¡± said Ralph, ¡°Right now all of your summons are in their child form and they will grow with you. It may not look like much right now but when it reaches adulthood, it would be a match for a greater dragon.¡± I was shocked, I heard about the dragons as magic beasts. They are different than the race of Dragons in that they are not as intelligent nor sentient. They were indisputably the king of all magic beasts. If Alex¡¯s summon is that strong when it gets older then I can¡¯t even begin to imagine how strong the Dragon race actually is. The cat meowed again and climbed up Alex and rest on his shoulders. It rubbed its face on Alex¡¯s side contentedly. Hard to imagine something as cute as that to be really powerful, I thought. ¡°Next, Jared.¡± Jared had black hair and eyes, brown skin, and a tall and solid build. He closed his eyes and fire surrounded him. I feared that he was going to be burnt but when I was about to do something, the fire disappeared and in front of him was a flaming gorilla? It definitely looked like a gorilla. Its face was exactly the same but its eyes didn¡¯t have any irises but rather were fire. It had a two large canines that reached almost halfway down his neck. Around its muscles were veins, but they looked like they were on fire as they trailed around him. That was where the resemblance to a gorilla stopped though. From the waist down he didn¡¯t have legs but rather it was fire. The gorilla like creature was floating in the air with fire for legs. ¡°A Fire Spawn, one of the greatest fire elementals,¡± said Ralph, ¡°make sure to keep it away from water.¡± ¡°Next, Darren.¡± He had blonde hair, fair skin, brown eyes, and his physique was scrawny. Jared went away and the Fire Spawn followed behind him, and Darren replaced him. He had blonde hair, fair skin and brown eyes. He looked scrawny even though our robes usually hide any deficiency in weight, except for those like Jared. Darren stood in the middle and a purple light surfaced. This light wasn¡¯t as intense as the others, it felt gentle and kind. When it disappeared it was replaced by a fairy. The Fairy Queen looked exactly like a queen. She was very regal wearing her green robe and a wood staff on her right hand. She was flying with her near transparent wings. She had her ginger colored hair flow down up to her waist. Her ears were elf-like that they pointed backwards and up. She had fair skin and as I couldn¡¯t see very well from my position, beautifully colored eyes that seemed to change color every now and then. ¡°That Darren kid will be famous,¡± said Malakir, ¡°He will be important to all summoners as he is someone who has a connection to the Realm of Summons.¡± I nodded thinking of the burden of having a Fairy Queen as a summon. Darren looked really happy as he stood next to Jared and Nathaniel. They were talking really close so I guessed that they were friends for a long time. The next two summons were a Wind Devil and a Golden Slime. The Wind Devil was a bird-like creature. It was made of swirling wind and at times you would not be able to see it flying. It had a proud look on its face and it belonged to a girl named Janice with short red hair, green eyes and fair skin. The Golden Slime was exactly as it sounded. It looked like a gold blob of jelly with eyes. It moved pretty fast for something that looked to move slow as it climbed up the shoulders of the girl who summoned it and looked at all of us. The girl was named Anne, she had brown hair, red eyes and fair skin. According to Ralph, the Wind Devil was a lesser wind elemental and the Golden Slime was a mutation of the regular slime summon. The fact that summons could mutate made me think that summons were almost exactly like animals, except they were more powerful. When I mentioned this to Ralph he just said, ¡°Animals can also be summons. In our realm we can only find animals that can use Holy magic, but in the Realm of Summons, the chances of finding a creature that can use other types of magic is greater. The Realm of Summons is just like ours and only summoners like us can enter and leave freely.¡± We all nodded after this explanation and it was Nathaniel¡¯s turn. He walked up acting all smug and looked at me and said, ¡°I bet mine is bigger than yours.¡± He closed his eyes and a black light appeared and when it went, it was replaced by a wolf pup. Its fur was a spiky and blue in color. Mist came from all four paws. Small canines protruded from its mouth. Its face looked like it was saying, ¡®don¡¯t bother me¡¯. It looked at Nathaniel and he picked up the pup and he held it out saying, ¡°Look at how majestic my summon is!¡± The pup looked like it didn¡¯t like what Nathaniel was doing and had an expression that seemed to say, ¡®why are you doing this human?¡¯ ¡°A Stormwolf,¡± said Ralph, ¡°Its power is on par with the White Chaos Tigers.¡± I was stunned, are all cute looking summons supposed to be powerful? I thought. Nathaniel went back to his spot with the Stormwolf on his shoulders that seemed content to just be laying down. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°And with that we are done,¡± said Ralph. ¡°Wait,¡± Nathaniel spoke up, ¡°Zed hasn¡¯t shown us his yet.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already seen his and I can assure you his is much more powerful than yours.¡± Nathaniel didn¡¯t seem like he would give up and said, ¡°I can¡¯t accept this, why does he get special treatment!¡± ¡°If you really want to see, I¡¯ll show you,¡± I said with an edge to my voice. I walked up and said, ¡°Show yourself Malakir.¡±Malakir did and I said, ¡°Happy now?¡±¡°Heh, it¡¯s a book, a book can¡¯t help you!¡± ¡°That book is a Codex of Magic, the only one of its kind. It knows everything about magic and can cast any spell. Do you still believe that it is weak?¡± said Ralph. Gasps could be heard from around us. Alex looked proud while Nathaniel just became even more annoyed. Thinking that he wasn¡¯t going to stop, I said, ¡°Chronos come out.¡± Instantly, the area around me felt like it froze. Bit by bit, pieces of Chronos appeared and assemble itself into the golem. More gasps could be heard and even the summons stood wide eyed at what was going on in front of them. Once Chronos finished appearing, he said, ¡°Master... what is... your... wish?¡± His voice felt like it was getting used to talking but it was still a little bit hoarse and choppy. ¡°Nothing, I just needed to show you to everyone.¡± ¡°I see... Chronos... is proud...¡± ¡°A timekeeper,¡± said Ralph with a gaping expression, ¡°never in all my years have I thought to see a timekeeper. They are the only creatures capable of manipulating time perfectly. Even your Codex will have difficulties in manipulating time, but this timekeeper does it just as easily as we do breathing. Kid, how¡¯d you activate it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± Ralph nodded and told us that we were to keep our summons out so that we can get more accustomed to them and dismissed us. Alex and I ran as fast as we could before Nathaniel would start something as I didn¡¯t want to deal with his childish tantrums. When we got to the mansion, Chronos wouldn¡¯t fit through the door and he said, ¡°It is no... trouble... I can... enter easily...¡± After he said that, his whole body shook and parts of himself folded onto itself and he slowly shrunk and shrunk until he was a tiny version of himself. No longer was he a five meter tall golem, now he was barely a foot in height. He was able to enter easily and we went to do our routine... or at least tried to. Asher, the White Chaos Tiger, was going to the curtains, furniture, and walls, and scratched his claws onto them. Every time we were about to catch him, he just ran away to do the same somewhere else. It got to the point that Chronos and Malakir had a little talk with Asher and he no longer did any of those things. Chronos helped a lot by rewinding the time of the claw marked house and returning it back to how it was before. Alex and Asher were at the kitchen making dinner, while Chronos, Malakir and I were at the living room. ¡°How exactly do I rank up? I know that the more summons I have, my rank will increase but isn¡¯t my magic Ethereal?¡± ¡°When you were given your ability to see your status, the gods only knew that you were a summoner. If they had known that you were Ethereal, then you would only be able to rank up through your Ethereal powers.¡± ¡°How does one exactly rank as an Ethereal?¡± ¡°Control of mana. Being able to shift your mana into all the others is a sign of an Adept rank as an Ethereal.¡± I nodded at that and continued my training. At dinner, Alex, Asher and I were eating when I said, ¡°Chronos, can you help us with our training?¡± Alex looked up and we both looked at Chronos who was standing near the doorway to the hall. Chronos said, ¡°Training?¡± ¡°Chronos could help,¡± said Malakir, ¡°he can speed up your training time thereby making you both that much stronger and faster.¡± ¡°Speeding up... I can do... speeding up...¡± said Chronos. After dinner, we all went to the training room and Chronos started by using his magic in the room. It didn¡¯t feel any different at all but Malakir said, ¡°Time flows differently now. One hour in here will be one minute outside.¡± Alex and I couldn¡¯t really understand that as it just too hard to think about. We trained for what seemed like eternity but when we were done, it was only midnight outside. I was fairly getting used to telling time without a clock in my room as the stars outside my window allowed me to tell when it was midnight as I was used to the pattern. Malakir told us that we were training for a total of ten days but it didn¡¯t feel like that. Neither of us felt tired and he said, ¡°I had Chronos change your perception of time as well. I also kept you both sustained so that you wouldn¡¯t die from starvation or lack of water as you both can¡¯t do it yet.¡± Alex and I were shocked and happy that this amazing thing was happening to us. ¡°Chronos can you also help us with our sword training next week?¡± I asked. ¡°If master... wishes then... I would do... so.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I said and Alex and I went to our own rooms and slept for the next day. -------------------
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Chapter 17 - A Lesson of Affinities When we woke up and started changing, I noticed that Chronos was just sitting there as if he had no energy. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Chronos... is fine... cannot... do last night... again... for next... month... need to... regenerate... mana...¡± ¡°Time magic is very useful, but it has its downsides. Pure time mana can only be regenerated naturally. Even then it takes quite a bit of time to do so. He won¡¯t be able to do the speeding up again like last night until next month, if we go by his words,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Will he be alright?¡± ¡°He will, he just can¡¯t use time magic for as long as last night. He can still use time magic.¡± I nodded and after getting Alex, we went to our morning routine. Malakir was hiding again, but Chronos was following behind us and Asher was on Alex¡¯s shoulder. Our classmates wanted to touch our summons and we let them. Chronos was as impassive as ever but Asher looked like he was not liking the touches. Lunch came and Sasha wanted to hold our summons. She said that Chronos was cute while Asher was cuddly. Chronos didn¡¯t mind Sasha or any of the others that touched him, but Asher was actually lenient this time. In our earlier classes, Asher was alright with girls to touch him but if it was a guy other than me or Alex, he would growl softly at them. Sasha asked Malakir what the differences between the subsections of affinities were. She was having a hard time understanding why we were in different classes when our magic were of the safe affinity. ¡°Every mage has different power,¡± said Malakir, ¡°Holy mages have the highest regeneration but their stats are lower than most. Chaos mages have balanced power and regeneration but they can increase it tremendously when the need is dire.¡± Malakir explained the differences between mages to us and we listened intently. ¡°A fire mage has powerful spells but at the cost of regeneration. Wind mages have a small mana pool and a slow regeneration rate but their stamina and speed can rival a swordsman¡¯s. Earth mages have the highest stamina out of all the mages but they are slow and their spells are a little bit weaker than a fire mage¡¯s. Water mages are the most balanced out of the Primordial mages.¡± ¡°In the Spectrum, everyone is entirely different. Their powers are different even in those who use the same magic. Arcane mages are the most efficient and accurate. Nature mages are the most powerful but they are more often clumsy and inaccurate. Dark mages are famed for their surprise tactics with spells while Light mages are famed for their sustainability. Out of the Spectrum, only Light mages are able to heal wounds.¡± ¡°In the Supreme, I¡¯ve already explained the Holy and Chaos. Healing mages are the most resilient. Their power though is reflected through their faith. The more faithful the mage is to the gods, the more powerful the healing as well as their resiliency. Summoners though are the most peculiar. Their powers are the most erratic as it changes depending on their own effort. This is why they are considered the most powerful mages.¡± ¡°In the Ancient, its similar to Summoners but weaker. Form mages have the least amount of mana which is why most Form mages are also warriors. In this way they become unstoppable. Void mages are experts in concealment. They are much more powerful than Dark mages when it comes to surprise tactics. Inner mages are just as erratic as Summoners. Their powers depend on themselves only though. Almost all Inner mages are very powerful warriors as compared to every mage, Inner mages have almost no mana to use. Spirit mages are the most similar to Summoners. They borrow the powers of a nearby spirit to help them, just like Summoners bring out their summons. The difference is that Spirit mages have to rely on the environment to bring out their potential. They are considered the most wise as they have to think about every action they make.¡± ¡°There is no use in saying this but for academic reasons. In Legendary, their powers are the most bizarre. The spells of Space mages, even the weakest, are very powerful. Time mages have all the time in the world to become what they want to become. Ethereal mages have all of the advantages of each magic and none of the repercussions. They might have difficulty in trying to do a spell from the same affinity, but they are more than capable of handling any from the lower ones.¡± I knew that Malakir just told us about the Legendary affinities because I had it. Alex and Sasha do not know about it yet and I plan to tell them at some point but now is not the time. We left and said our goodbyes to Sasha and went to our summoning class. All of us had our summons out when Ralph came. ¡°We¡¯ll begin the lessons but before that. All seven of you have made me proud. You all passed the tests that I had you do. Tell me, did any of you understand what the pass couple days were about?¡± I didn¡¯t say anything as I was not paying attention to the class as Ralph made us do exercises instead. When no one did Ralph sighed and said, ¡°The first day was a test of your stamina. To see if you were able to keep on running as far as we could without knowing when enough was enough. The second day was a test of your endurance. You had to do the same thing as the first day only you had to do it with twice your own weight and you knew how far to go at that time.¡± He continued, ¡°The third day was to see if you were capable of outsmarting your opponent even if you were tired. The last day, yesterday, was to see if you would be able to handle yourselves in an unknown land. A test of survival. Yesterday was the easiest as we were using an easy way of finding your summon but the next time it will not. You will be searching there for your next ones on your own. Yesterday was just a glimpse of a small fraction of what it means to be a summoner and you all passed.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.¡°What are our summons?¡± he asked us. ¡°Companions,¡± I said. ¡°Friends,¡± said Darren. ¡°Pets,¡± said Jared. ¡°Allies,¡± said Janice who had red Hair, fair skin and green eyes. ¡°Family,¡± said Anne who had fair skin, red eyes, brown hair. ¡°Minions¡± said Nathaniel. ¡°Comrades,¡± said Alex. He looked at Jared and Nathaniel as theirs were the only ones different then he shook his head. ¡°They are a part of you,¡± he said, ¡°they are you. How you see them is how they will see you.¡± ¡°How are summoners different from the other mages?¡± he asked. ¡°We have our summons to fight for us,¡± said Nathaniel. ¡°Wrong. Those that think like that are the weakest and do not understand what a summoner is. We fight with our summons, they help us be able to do things that we can¡¯t do ourselves.¡± ¡°I will teach you a spell to demonstrate this point.¡± ¡°Sho¡¯ral come,¡± he said and the green dragon appeared behind him after a swirling wind revealed him. ¡°We summoners have very few spells compared to the other mages. Without a summon, we cannot be considered a mage. Now, the first spell ¡®Assimilate¡¯.¡± When he said that word, Sho¡¯ral, the dragon disappeared and the air around Ralph became heavier. ¡°This is assimilate. Its power depends on your rank. It increases your stats by an amount proportional to the summon you used. At your current rank, you can only assimilate 10% of your summons powers. As you increase in rank, it will increase by another 10%.¡± ¡°Zed, since you have already reached the Adept level, your assimilate is stronger than your classmates. And you will also be able to use the second spell, ¡®Merge¡¯.¡± With that nothing visible changed but there was an air of superiority coming from him. ¡°Merge allows you to gain a portion of your summons abilities. You don¡¯t see it but my skin is now as tough as a lesser dragon¡¯s. Normal steel will not be able to pierce me.¡± He released the spells and Sho¡¯ral appeared behind him. ¡°Our spells only get stronger when we rank up, to do that we must gather more and more summons. But you must be careful of what you pick. Once you contract with one, you are forever bound to it.¡± ¡°How many summons do we need to reach god-rank?¡± asked Nathaniel. ¡°It differs from mage to mage, but if you need it for reference, I have thirty under that I have contracted and I am of Emperor rank.¡± Everyone gasped but I just remained indifferent thinking, the road is long.After that we had no more questions and we listened to his instructions. To be able to usethe first spell. He told us to gather our mana into ourselves and form a link with it to our summon. Once the link was established we would then cast the spell. Alex and I got it on the first try. I used Malakir as Chronos seemed to still be regenerating his mana. I felt power coursing through me and felt that I would be able to crush boulders if I wanted to. I then cast the spell ¡®Merge¡¯ as Ralph said that our spells require us only to connect to our summon and we can then use our spells. ¡°With Merge, I have given you four skills. Mana Sight allows you to see the flow of mana. Cost Reduction allows you to use spells more efficiently. Mana Absorption allows you to regenerate mana by absorbing it from the surroundings. Second Pool grants you another mana pool to use from,¡± said Malakir as I merged with him. Once everyone was able to use the spell, Ralph said, ¡°Until your rank is Sage, you can only use your spells on one summon at a time. Make sure that you choose the correct summon to supplement your skills correctly.¡± Class was dismissed early because we were all able to do it fairly quick so Alex and I went back to our mansion. When we got back, we started our training once more. It was just at about 6pm when we heard a commotion outside. We stopped training and went outside. We saw a smoke in the distance and people were yelling and screaming. We ran to where the smoke was and we were caught off guard when we got there. The Academy had a giant courtyard that was perfectly maintained as it served as a great spot for the students to relax on the benches or under a shade of trees or maybe even sitting beside the many fountains and admiring the view. The smoke came from that courtyard and now it was ruined. Fountains were broken with water spouting for several feet up in the air. Some trees were burning while others were uprooted and laying on the ground. Benches were crushed by some of the trees while others were just simply crumbled. It was chaos, the courtyard would take a long time to bring it back to its original condition. Magic was flying in the air almost hitting a crowd of students running away. It looked like there were two groups that were fighting each other but the smoke was making it difficult to see anything. ¡°What do we do?¡± asked Alex. ¡°What else?¡± I said, ¡°We have to stop them.¡± ¡°Yeah, alright I get it,¡± he said smiling. ¡°What are you smiling about?¡± I asked confused. ¡°Nothing,¡± he said looking away. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said and we went to confront the two groups. ----------------------------
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Chapter 18 - A Squabble of Mages We ran into the smoke and as it cleared we were able to see who they were. They were students just like us. They were shouting at each other and also throwing some fireballs also. The ground between them was scorched and there was a small crevasse between them. ¡°Take this you filthy commoner!¡± shouted someone from the left.A fireball sailed through the air to be blocked by a fierce blowing wind. ¡°Is that all you got! A mere gentle wind made by a commoner takes down a menacing fireball. You nobles aren¡¯t that strong!¡± shouted someone from the right. From that exchange the left was a group of nobles fighting against a group of commoners on the right. ¡°Stop this!¡± said a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Rita and Jacob as well as the rest of the Ravenex Corps. I nodded towards them acknowledging that they were here and went to one side and sat down. I intended to just watch and see what happens now that the campus police are here. Alex frowned but followed me and sat down. Asher was sitting on his lap and Chronos was sitting right beside me. It was a peaceful sight seeing us with our summons out and sitting there without a care in the world, if only there was no smoke, ruined courtyard, and the constant spells exploding intermittently as well as the shouting. Rita and Jacob started to talk to the two groups but they wouldn¡¯t hear from them and also started flinging spells towards them. Fireballs, Wind Blades, Earth Waves, and Water Blasts came towards the Ravenex Corps and towards us as well since we were behind them. We were ready to assimilate with our summons so that we can escape when the Ravenex Corps stopped all of the spells with their own. Lightning Dragons, a Nature magic spell, struck at the Water Blasts causing a mist to surround us. Resounding Earth, an Arcane magic spell, caused the ground to vibrate and stopped the Earth Waves from moving forward. The Fireballs grew smaller until it disappeared. It was difficult to tell, but I had a suspicion that a Spirit mage asked the fire spirits to get rid of the Fireballs. A small tornado surrounded the group, causing the Wind Blades to not deal any damage. It was difficult to tell the name of the spell that created that. It could have been from Wind magic, Light magic, or Dark magic. They couldn''t believe their eyes and casted more and more spells. The Ravenex Corps getting more confident from being able to block the opponent¡¯s spells, proceeded to get closer to their opponents to stop them. When they were close enough, they ran as they used their spells, trying to stall for time so that they wouldn¡¯t get caught. I told Malakir to stop them all from running away and he did so by trapping them on the ground by having the earth wrap around their feet. Alex and I got up from our spot, sad to see that the show was over. I went over and discussed to Rita and Jacob that the reason why I didn¡¯t help was because I wanted to see what they would do and how they would handle the situation. It was not like I wouldn¡¯t have helped it was just compared to them, my power itself was thought of as weak. If it shows that I am in command of someone more powerful than myself then it shows also that I might have some power that they just haven¡¯t seen yet. After saying that we went back to our mansion to continue training. Today was a Saturday, meaning no school for the next two days. We had planned with Sasha the day before on meeting by the school gates at 9am. Alex and I wore clothes that we thought would be best to wear outside school grounds. Alex wore a short sleeved red tunic and black pants with black boots. While I wore a white short sleeved tunic with yellow linings and blue pants with brown boots. Asher and Chronos were coming with us. Asher was sitting on Alex¡¯s right shoulder while Chronos transformed into becoming the same height as us so that he could follow more closely. We walked to the gates, passing by the ruined courtyard that was being repaired by the same group that caused yesterday¡¯s incident. It didn¡¯t seem like they were happy with being assigned work with the other group as I caught someone say, ¡°Why do I have to take care of those commoner¡¯s fault?¡± When we got to the gates, we saw Sasha and another boy. Sasha talked about him sometimes and said that he really wanted to meet me. His name was Kaiser and he had blonde hair, brown skin, and blue eyes. Somehow, I just knew that when he grows up he would be one of those players. Sasha spotted us and called us over. ¡°So you wanted to meet us?¡± I asked remembering why we were here in the first place. ¡°Yes,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard a lot about you from Sasha and I have been wondering just how strong the 3rd prince of the kingdom is.¡± ¡°Really,¡± I said raising an eyebrow, ¡°are duels allowed?¡± ¡°Only at the proper place. Follow me, I¡¯ll take you all there,¡± he said. He led us to the inside of the Dome. The Dome was used as the tournament area of the academy. This is also the place where they do the yearly tournaments. The Dome itself had hundreds of duel areas and in the middle was a large duel platform used only for the yearly tournament. We entered the dome after using our rings as identification and followed Kaiser inside. Inside the dome were other students ranging from the age of 5 to the age of 30. Magic studies end when you are 15 for the Rigel Kingdom, after that you learn on your own out in the world. It was a way for the Kingdom to have capable mages to work for the military as well as making sure that they had a stable supply of capable people in all aspects of the nation. Of course there are times that some people stay for longer when they are capable enough. As we were walking through the dome, I watched Kaiser flirt with all the girls we passed and they all blushed after talking with him. Alex beside me just kept on getting even more mad but he kept quiet since I wasn¡¯t saying anything. I was just curious to know if he was doing this on purpose or not. If he wasn¡¯t doing this on purpose then it would confirm my suspicion of seeing an enemy of women in front of my eyes before he became that person. We also made small talk and gossiped about what happened at school. The perpetrators of yesterday apparently started their fight when one of the commoners was bullying a noble out in the open. This caused the nearby nobles to attack the poor kid who then ran and found his friends and brought them to avenge him. Which then turned into the nobles finding their friends to avenge them as well. It became an unending cycle in which nearly the entire school was fighting amongst itself. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Of course there were some that just stayed away or just watched like I did but more than half the students were involved and they all had to stay and fix the damage they did. The school apparently was also going to tell the children¡¯s parents but was stopped by my Ravenex Corps saying that this was still under their jurisdiction and that the faculty has no say just yet. Soon enough, we all entered through a doorway that led to a room with chairs facing a window that showed another room. ¡°Sasha, Alex, watch us from here. Zed and I will go to the other room and begin our duel.¡± We did as he told us and I followed him to the room shown by the window. There was a door to the left of it and we entered through there. The room was empty of anything and looked like the size of a gymnasium. We stood a part from each other leaving about twenty feet between us. ¡°I¡¯m a holy mage and you are a summoner. Since I only have enhancement spell let¡¯s fight with only our fists.¡± I nodded.¡°We¡¯ll begin,¡± he said nodding to the window. I saw Sasha do something and I heard a voice say, ¡°Duel will now commence in 10... 9... 8...¡± The voice started counting down and I saw that Kaiser was already using his spells. I started doing mine and assimilated with Chronos. My assimilation with Chronos was very different than with Malakir. My power itself became more warrior oriented with Chronos while Malakir was more for magic. When the count was zero, we both ran towards each other aiming to punch the other¡¯s face. Since I knew my physical ability was weak, I used Shift, an ability from Chronos to slow his movements down by a bit. I punched him and he fell to the ground. ¡°You broke the rules!¡± he shouted laying on the ground. ¡°I didn¡¯t, this is just an enhancement that I got from assimilating with my summon,¡± I said using sophistry on him. Kaiser seemed to just accept it and ran to me. I was expecting a punch but he surprised me by dropping down and sweeping me off my feet. I landed hard on the ground, but since the duel was still on, I rolled over and away from him and stood back up.He grinned and motioned his hand as if he was egging me to just run up to him. I did just that but before he could do anything to me, I used ¡®Shift¡¯ again and within that two seconds I put everything that I had on my punches. He fell down and I pummeled him some more. Satisfied, I got up and saw what I had done. I barely had time to examine it when a voice said, ¡°The winner is decided. Healing of participants will begin now.¡± I was suddenly surrounded by a flash of light and all of my wounds were healed. Kaiser, who was almost unrecognizable earlier, looked exactly the way he was when I first met him this morning. He opened his eyes, stood up and said, ¡°You are strong. Stronger than me.¡±He stared at me intently and said, ¡°One day. One day I¡¯ll be stronger than you.¡± He left after that and I followed him to where Sasha and Alex were waiting. He said goodbye to them and went out on his own. Sasha looked worried so I told her to go see if Kaiser needs any help. She looked happy when I suggested that and she went chasing after him leaving me with Alex. ¡°Zed, she¡¯s your fianc¨¦e are you sure about this?¡± he asked. ¡°I don¡¯t really like her or anything. She is cute and probably will be very beautiful in the future but if I don¡¯t see her as someone I would be able to live my life with.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± said Alex and I thought I saw him smile but it might have been my imagination as it was gone the next second. Alex and I got out of the room and went to eat lunch at the Dome. Since the Dome was still a part of the school, we were given our food similar to the cafeteria. We decided to watch some of the matches going on in the Dome while we ate, so we had the food be delivered to the royal box as we watched all of the fights. here was one fight in which both were magic knights as they were using swords as well as magic. It seemed they enhanced themselves and were very knowledgeable about using a sword as I saw some very interesting sword techniques. In the end, a boy with a short sword won the match and helped his opponent up. That was the only match where we saw magic knights as the rest were all mages. The Fire mages were the ones that won the most battles but they were also the ones who lost the most. It was also interesting to see a fight between a Form and Void mage. The Form mage made various weapons to strike at the Void mage, but the Void mage just turned them all into dust and shot swords he created from the ground. The Form mage was vastly superior in creating things but when a Form and Void mage were fighting, the Void mage would win because he would just turn to dust anything that got in his way. Before long, we even ate our dinner at the dome so we proceeded to go back to our mansion. We continued our training and nothing of note happened through the night. Sunday came and went by peacefully and we trained ourselves in our mansion the whole day. None of us were prepared at the changes that next day. Who would have known that the events of the weekend would bring about that decision? --------------------------
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Chapter 19 - New Rules I woke up Monday morning and started my training. I was able to do a lot more and feeling confident I did three times as much as Malakir was telling me to do and I felt exhausted but also had a great feeling. ¡°Stop, don¡¯t do anything more than what I told you to do earlier,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Why not? This way I can get stronger much faster.¡±¡°You will but at a cost.¡±¡°How so?¡± I asked. ¡°Magic is as powerful as it is addicting. You may not have noticed it but continuous use of magic has made you be different from your age group. The same can be said for the students of this academy.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Magic requires one to have a great understanding of the affinities to be able to be used. As such it causes changes in the mage¡¯s mentalities to be able to allow one to be able to use his magic at the most efficient way. A great example of this are the High Elves, they are arrogant and prideful simply because they live with the help of magic. They are alive because of their dependency to it. This reliance, has caused them to change their views of others as well as the way they think.¡± ¡°Humans, compared to the other races, are easily susceptible to the changes that magic does to them. Your friends act and think as if they are older why. This is because magic is forcing them to be older in mind. You have not noticed but mages are feared in the human race. Since the beginning of your race¡¯s history in terms of magic, each and everyone is feared.¡± ¡°One of the reasons why the noble family has no power over the academy is because the commoners do not want anything to do with mages. Of course the opinions are mixed but as far as my knowledge goes, this has been and will continue for a very long time.¡± ¡°Exceptions such as your family and Alex¡¯s exist because they have had a history of being able to use that magic for the good of the people. But those of common birth? I know of records of these mages to be persecuted by friends and families resulting in their own deaths or the deaths of those around them.¡± ¡°Remember, magic is feared and respected. Magic is helpful but it has its consequences. To help stop the fear of mages, Magus, the God of magic, has enforced rules upon it that cause its users to mature faster. It was a great idea that was accepted by all races to stop anymore unfortunate incidents to happen.¡± ¡°In hindsight, it merely caused isolation. The past is the past but now, commoners with magic are isolated. This is why most mages are either in the military, helping with the academy or a part of a noble faction. The commoners isolate the mages... even if they are their own blood.¡± I sat there silent. Listening to Malakir made me think of the past events. The riots in the south may be due to the influx of children with magic. I heard that the academy usually has 100 to 200 new students but this year, there were more than 1000 of us. His explanation also made the actions of the people around me make sense. I didn¡¯t think anything of it as I thought it was natural but then again why would a five year old flirt? I took what Malakir told me to heart and made sure that I did not overdo it with my training. I once again ignored my teachers and then lunch came. Sasha, Alex and I were sitting at our table. Alex was glaring at Sasha but Sasha ignored him and looked to me and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for running away Saturday.¡± ¡°I had to make sure that Kaiser was alright. Even though I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e, running away at that time was inexcusable.¡± ¡°Its alright,¡± I said, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what is your relationship with him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s my brother, he was born from a different mother and was disowned. I¡¯ve only recently met him and wanted to know as much as I could.¡± Alex and I were shocked to learn that Sasha had a brother, even if it was from another mother. ¡°Is his mother a noble?¡± I asked already knowing what the answer would be. ¡°No, his mother was a commoner,¡± she said, ¡°She was chased out of the palace when they found out that there was an illegitimate prince. He has no last name right now, but I would like to give the throne to my older brother when my own father passes on. It¡¯s his right.¡± ¡°Is your kingdom alright with having me as your fianc¨¦e?¡± I asked after some time. ¡°My father told me that it was alright,¡± said Sasha. ¡°I see. Next time bring Kaiser along.¡± She was startled and said, ¡°I can¡¯t, no one can know that he is related to me. He wanted it that way so that he and his mother would not be hunted down.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t tell anyone right Alex?¡± ¡°Your secret¡¯s safe with us Sasha.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± she said wiping her right eye. We then separated and went to our Summoning class. Ralph was there and he told us to sit down in front of him until everyone was here. I didn¡¯t ask why as he looked like he didn¡¯t want us to say anything and just listen to him. Soon, everyone was here and he started speaking. ¡°You all know what happened last Friday. Because of that it was a massive headache for the faculty to think of what to do. They¡¯ve finally come to a decision.¡± We sat there waiting for him to continue. ¡°Wear these,¡± he said holding out a sack. He dropped in on the ground and out came some gold rings. ¡°All students are now required to wear these rings at all times. It will prevent you from using any magic and if you try to remove it, you will be found,¡± he said with an edge to his voice. We didn¡¯t say anything and just each took a ring and wore it but I didn¡¯t feel any change on me. After wearing our rings, he told everyone except for Alex and I to run up the mountain again. Alex and I just continued on strengthening our muscles while we waited for the rest to come back. Stolen story; please report. Class was dismissed and Alex and I went to the front gates, waiting for the sword instructor that he said was going to come today. I told Alex what Malakir told me that morning and he looked a little bit scared. I reassured him that the changes weren¡¯t that malicious as if they were Malakir would¡¯ve done something to make sure that we weren¡¯t hurt by it. That seemed to calm him down and I asked him what the instructor looked like. He looked scared when I asked him that and started to describe him. He was apparently a prodigy within the Rammert Knights. He rose up the ranks through his skill with the sword and magic. Alex spoke of him as a hero, mentioning his achievements which included killing a band of dragon race pirates that were terrorizing the northern seas. He was blonde haired, green eyed and fair skinned. His name was Arthur, a commoner and was only a Guardian ranked swordsman but his expertise in strategy and his achievements made him earn the nickname, ¡°Iron Guard¡±. Why such a great man would be teaching us was apparently because Alex was assigned going to be my knight. Our fathers decided that Alex would be trained by the best so that I would be well protected. The sun was down when we finally saw him. He wore a black armor with white designs on it which in the darkness made him very menacing. He was riding a on a white horse when he stopped in front of us and got off. He knelt down and said, ¡°Pleased to make your acquaintance Prince Zed. I have come to teach your servant, Alex Rammert, the way of the sword.¡± ¡°Rise, sir Arthur. We have been expecting you. Please follow us to the mansion,¡± I said making him follow us. When we got to the mansion, Alex led his horse to the back where the stables were. I didn¡¯t even know we had that as I wasn¡¯t able to properly explore the mansion. Arthur and I went inside and sat at the living room waiting for Alex to come back. While waiting for Alex I said, ¡°Sir Arthur is it alright if I join your teaching Alex?¡± ¡°My lord?¡± he asked confused. ¡°I wish to be able to hold a sword and protect myself with it as well. It wouldn¡¯t sit well if my knight knew something I didn¡¯t,¡± I said explaining myself in a way I believed he would agree. ¡°Of course my lord,¡± he said bowing down, ¡°you are free to join us. I would be honored to teach you.¡± Alex came in and I said, ¡°We can begin tonight no?¡±I stood up and Arthur did as well and said, ¡°Yes we can.¡± I told Alex to lead the way to the training room. ¡°Before we get started, I first need to know what you know about fighting with a sword,¡± he said as he grabbed a pair of wooden swords that Alex got out of the storage underneath the floor. ¡°This will let me figure out your strengths and weaknesses so that I can teach you better in the future,¡± he said handing us one of the swords. ¡°Face each other and begin combat.¡± Alex and I stood apart from each other. He put his sword in front of him and stood in some stance and held the sword with both hands. I, not knowing what to do with a sword, held it backhanded as it felt the most natural. Holding it out in front of me just like Alex, I leveled mine parallel to the ground with one hand behind me. He ran towards me raising his arms and swinging the sword down. I parried the sword and along with the momentum that I had, spun with my right foot and elbowed him with my left. I was only able to do this simply because of the fact that I was compensating by using mana. He saw my movements and jumped back in time to avoid it. As I was still recovering from my spin, I was wide open and saw Alex¡¯s sword coming straight towards me. He was stabbing it to my face and I blocked with my sword. One hand at the pommel and the other at the tip of my sword. We were both struggling for dominance when he forced all his weight on me which caused me to lose balance and fell down with a thud. My eyes closed from the feeling of falling and when I opened them, Alex was standing pointing his sword at my head. ¡°Zed you¡¯ve lost,¡± he said.He removed the sword and replaced it with his hand. I grabbed it and he helped me up. ¡°That was a wonderful fight, thank you,¡± said Arthur clapping, ¡°Rest now, tomorrow I¡¯ll give you your training plan. Alex where is my room?¡± Alex pointed to one of the doors that I thought led to the baths but it actually led to a room. There were two doors, Alex pointed to the leftmost door. As Arthur went through the left door, Alex and I went through the right door and in front of us were the baths. We took a bath and ate dinner. We called Arthur but he said that he had already ate and he needed to be able to finish the schedule and that he was sorry about it. When we were done eating we went back to my room and continued our training. Since we were wearing those gold rings. Malakir had to get rid of their effects on both of us as Malakir did earlier during our spar. After our training we slept and soon enough the sun was rising calling us both for another day. --------------------------
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Chapter 20 - Ashura We ate breakfast with Arthur that day. Arthur was wearing a worn brown tunic and worn white pants. He had a small tuft of hair going to the left of his head while the rest were to the right. Looking from afar, he looked worn out as if he didn¡¯t have any sleep. In retrospect, Alex and I wore our uniforms and were well rested. Our breakfast was eggs and what looked to me like bacon but they were more reddish and tougher. Asher and Chronos were playing outside while we ate our breakfast and talked about last night. Malakir as always was next to me on the table. ¡°Zed, I think you are well suited to the Ashura style,¡± Arthur said while eating a piece of the bacon. ¡°Ashura style?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a style of fighting with the sword developed in the Lunaria Federation. It uses a small curved sword as its main weapon but it can be used with any other one. Were your movements last night natural?¡± ¡°I just went with the flow. Alex was slashing downwards and I just did the most natural thing to me.¡± He nodded and said, ¡°Speaking of Alex, next time don¡¯t go easy next time. Its hard to tell how much you¡¯ve grown if you do that.¡± ¡°Sorry master,¡± Alex said as he dropped his head down in a bow. I stared angrily at Alex and when he noticed me he backed away a bit and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to hurt you!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t get you for this today,¡± I said going back to eat. Alex looked relieved and so glanced at him and I said again, ¡°Today.¡± That got him, he looked a bit worried thinking that I was going to get back at him someday. After breakfast, we went to our first hour of classes and I ignored the teacher as always and Alex this time was doing the same. I didn¡¯t know what he was doing but I knew that he also was not listening because our teacher shouted at us and kept his eyes on us the whole time. The second hour was the same as the first, only this time she did not catch us ignoring her. She was going on and on about the Lunaria Federation and their inception when she said the word, ¡°Ashura.¡± I stopped ignoring her then wanting to know more about ¡°Ashura.¡± ¡°The Ashuras were a clan that united the Lunaria Federation. Along with the clans Luna and Mahesva, they were able to unify the many islands that now consist of the Lunaria Federation.¡± ¡°Why we are talking about them is because they developed the first of a long line of mage knights. The Ashuras were famed for their military prowess especially their elite troops they called ¡®Ashura¡¯s Shadow¡¯. Not much is known about this group only that they were the first to combine the powers of a mage as well as a warrior.¡± ¡°During that time, warriors and mages were considered different from one another. That there is no way to combine the two. The Ashuras showed the world that it was possible and proved their effectiveness. Right now the Rigel Kingdom has the strongest group of mage knights known as the Rammert Knights. Led by the father of our very own, Alex Rammert, they continue to protect the kingdom from any outside threat. Now, let¡¯s talk about the Luna clan...¡± Once she started talking about a different clan I immediately toned her out. Could the Ashura style that Arthur told me be from the Ashura clan? I continued trying to think of possibilities even until lunch at the cafeteria. We met with Sasha at our table and she looked a bit sad.¡°What¡¯s wrong Sasha?¡± I asked concerned. ¡°It¡¯s just, I really want to have lunch with my brother and you guys. I know you two started it out by fighting but once you get to know him, he¡¯s a really nice guy,¡± she said quickly that I almost couldn¡¯t understand what she was trying to say. ¡°Why don¡¯t we eat at our place? That way Kaiser can eat with us and we can get to know him more,¡± I said compassionately. ¡°Thank you!¡± she exclaimed hugging me. I patted her on the back and said, ¡°It¡¯s only natural that I do this for my fianc¨¦e. You didn¡¯t have to make it sound like a big deal either. I would¡¯ve done it if you asked.¡± She released me and said, ¡°You would¡¯ve?¡± her face looked shocked as if I had just told her that I was going to marry her. ¡°Yes, plus I can¡¯t say no to your cute face,¡± I said with a grin.She blushed and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m not cute...¡±¡°Who told you that you weren¡¯t?¡± I asked with a bit of an edge to my voice. ¡°The girls in my class. They don¡¯t know that Kaiser is my brother since he wanted to make sure that I wouldn¡¯t get in trouble,¡± she said looking down with a sad expression on her face. ¡°You¡¯re cute, you¡¯re beautiful, you¡¯re my fianc¨¦e,¡± I said these things while holding her hands and holding her face and turning it to look at me, ¡°if anyone else says anything like that just tell them that you¡¯re my fianc¨¦e.¡± Her eyes moistened and she dug her head to my chest and I naturally hugged her. She cried loudly that I thought the people on the ground would be able to hear her. She must¡¯ve been bullied by those girls for her to cry this much, I thought. Alex just sat there looking at us with an awkward expression on his face when I turned to look at him. He caught my eyes and he looked away blushing. After Sasha calmed down, we ate a quick lunch since the period was ending soon and we went our separate ways to class. I was determined to make sure that Sasha wouldn¡¯t have to cry like that again and started planning some things. Summoning class was the same as yesterday. Ralph left as he dismissed the class and Alex and I went back to our mansion. Some of our classmates were too tired that they couldn¡¯t get up anymore so they stayed behind to rest longer. Alex and I walked to the mansion as we were pretty tired. Our robes were sweated through and the breeze made us feel a little colder. Arthur was outside sitting on the ground when we got to the mansion. He got up and said, ¡°Don¡¯t take a bath but change your clothes and rest. It seems you two have had a rough day. We¡¯ll begin your lessons after we have dinner. Don¡¯t worry about cooking, for tonight, I¡¯ll cook.¡± Alex flinched and looked like he had something to tell me but he didn¡¯t so we went to our rooms and changed. Since we were going to start sword training, I decided to wear a white tunic and loose brown pants. I went downstairs when Arthur said that dinner was ready. Alex was already sitting down wearing a red tunic and blue pants. He had a defeated expression on his face and I looked at the table. It was beautiful. There was a whole chicken bathed in a white gravy like sauce. A white soup filled with carrots, cabbages, and many other greens. There looked like there were enough to feed ten people. I sat down and said, ¡°Arthur did you make all of these?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve had my fair share of travelling around the world so I¡¯ve learned how to cook.¡± ¡°They look delicious,¡± I said grabbing a piece of the chicken. Alex looked at me worriedly and I just ignored it and took a bite of the chicken. It looked delicious but once I tasted it, the chicken tasted terrible. I struggled to swallow since Arthur was now staring at me and he looked proud of himself. I swallowed and struggled to say, ¡°Its delicious you should be a cook.¡± He laughed and said, ¡°Thank you for your kind words but I like the life of a knight more. Eat up I made sure to have enough for you two.¡± I glared at Alex and he shrugged his shoulders and put on a sorry expression. Alex and I ate very little dinner that night and explained to Arthur that we had a lot to eat at lunch. To which he said, ¡°Such a waste.¡± He then took the rest of the food with him to the kitchen. When he was gone I said in a hushed but edgy tone, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that his cooking tasted terrible!¡± ¡°There wasn¡¯t any time to do it!¡± said Alex as if he was being confronted by a dragon. ¡°You are going to regret not telling me about it sooner!¡± putting more anger in my words. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± he said shutting his eyes, ¡°He¡¯s always had terrible taste. I don¡¯t think he even knows that his food actually tastes horrible!¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I glared at him and left because Arthur was going to be waiting for us in the training room when he was done. When we got to the training room we waited for Arthur to come and I stood there glaring at Alex. The tension in the air was terrible until Arthur came in. He saw the both of us standing far away from each other and shrugged. ¡°So Prince Zed do you know anything about Ashura?¡± he asked as he was grabbing the two short swords we used yesterday. I repeated what I had heard about in class this morning. He seemed to be thinking about something after I was done as he stood there with his head slightly down and his arms crossed with the swords under one shoulder. He looked up and said, ¡°That is generally it.¡± ¡°The Ashuras were famed for their military but saying that they were mage knights is a lie. The Ashuras were purely a warrior group,¡± he said spreading his arms each holding a sword and shook his head a little. ¡°How do you know this?¡± I asked.¡°I have connections with the Ashura clan,¡± he said giving us each a sword. ¡°Alex continue the training plan that I had set up for you for the Stagaire. I will be working with Prince Zed to show him the basics of Ashura,¡± he said looking at Alex. Alex just nodded and went off to the other side of the room and held the sword with his right hand above his head and back. His left hand was stretched in front of him almost guarding his body. I wasn¡¯t able to observe anymore as Arthur took my attention as he started talking about the Ashura style. ¡°The Ashura style is a close combat style of sword fighting. Mainly infighting as the style requires you to be up close to your opponent to be able to use it perfectly.¡± He started teaching me the stance that I had to take for most of the moves of the style. It relied on me holding the sword backhanded or with a reverse grip in front of me while my other hand was bended behind me. My knees and torso were bent and looked like I was about to leap at any second. He told me to memorize this position and began showing me where I can attack and how I can attack the opponent. After being satisfied he left me to continue practicing and went over to check on Alex. Alex¡¯s style was different than mine. His style consisted of a series of slashes and parries while mine were stabbing and piercing. His eyes looked determined and he looked really cool learning that style as I looked at him. Soon enough Arthur told us to spar against each other. ¡°Alex don¡¯t hold back this time. Even though he¡¯s a prince and you are his knight, right now the both of you are students of mine.¡± Alex nodded and faced me in the same stance as I saw him earlier. His eyes looked like they were filled with fire as he looked at me but also apprehension as if he was struggling to find it in him to hit me. I adopted the stance for the Ashura style and hopefully conveyed my feelings of wanting to fight Alex through my eyes. I was apparently successful as I no longer saw apprehension. I smiled and Arthur said, ¡°Begin!¡± I dashed as quick as I could towards him and he slashed at me downwards. I parried and used the momentum to twist and was about to elbow him when I was pushed back. ¡°You¡¯re too open!¡± shouted Alex. I couldn¡¯t see behind me but I then knew that it was over as I saw the wooden sword touch my neck. I was shocked. Shocked that Alex was holding back a lot if I was beaten this fast. ¡°Alex, release him,¡± said Arthur.Alex released me and went back to his spot. I looked at him as I rubbed my neck. If Alex wasn¡¯t my friend and he had a real sword... ¡°Prince Zed, if it¡¯s too much please tell me,¡± Arthur said looking at me with concern. ¡°No,¡± I said biting my teeth and making an angry expression, ¡°Let¡¯s continue...¡± I was determined, my life can be easily taken away from me. I didn¡¯t want it to happen again. I needed to be able to protect myself. Arthur must¡¯ve seen my determination as he nodded and said, ¡°Begin!¡± We sparred at least ten more times after that. Each one ended in my defeat when Arthur said, ¡°Enough.¡± Alex helped me up as our last match ended with me on the ground and Alex¡¯s sword against my throat again. I grabbed his hand and Arthur came towards us. ¡°Alex, you¡¯re swings have become sloppy. Correct that until next week,¡± said Arthur holding out his left hand. ¡°Yes master,¡± said Alex as he gave back the sword he was holding. Turning to me Arthur said, ¡°Prince Zed, it is only natural that you lost so many times. Alex has been training under me for some time so he is far more advanced than you. That being said, your moves were excellent for a beginner. I think that if you master the movements that I showed you earlier, you would be a little bit more of a match against Alex. You¡¯re sword style is his weakness.¡± As he said this he reached out his right hand and I gave him my sword and said, ¡°Thank you... master.¡± ¡°Prince Zed, you do not need to call me master,¡± said Arthur laughingly. ¡°But you are teaching me and Alex also calls you that, it is only natural that I also call you master.¡± ¡°Is that so? If that is his highness¡¯ wish then I have no reason to object. Go and rest up. Tomorrow the both of you will be just practicing what I had told you to practice.¡± ¡°We will be doing a sparring match each week to see how well you¡¯ve grown. Hopefully by then, Prince Zed will be a match for you Alex,¡± said Arthur as he went to place the swords away and left to his room. Alex and I went to take a bath. When we got in the water Alex said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I looked towards him and he looked like a kid that just broke his mother¡¯s favorite vase. I half swum half walked towards him and said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. This way I can protect myself and it¡¯ll make your job that much easier.¡± ¡°B-but,¡± he raised his head and was about to say something else when I said, ¡°This is something that I want. Are you going to let your prince not have something he wants?¡± He looked down and went quiet. Since the atmosphere was a bit too gloomy for my taste I said, ¡°I still haven¡¯t forgiven you for yesterday and today.¡± He looked up confused and was helpless to do anything when I forced him down the water. I kept him there for one second and he came back up and said, ¡°What was that for!¡± ¡°For holding back and not telling me that Arthur had no taste,¡± I said looking smug and swimming away. He grabbed my ankle and made me sink down. Our relaxing bath turned into a game as we got rid of the tension. When we finally finished playing around and changed clothes, both of us were in my room and not even an hour passed by when Alex said, ¡°I can do it! I can do it now!¡± I looked at Alex confused when Malakir said, ¡°He¡¯s able to manipulate the mana around him now.¡± I was pleased at his accomplishment and went back to training as Malakir told Alex to create an orb of mana. Everyone was capable of manipulating mana directly, they just needed to be taught how to do it. Ethereal mages have the best aptitude for it but everyone else can do it if they were persistent enough. Soon it was midnight and we both slept. Tomorrow was a new day but who knew that they would come that day. Why those people would come visit me at my mansion must¡¯ve been Finda¡¯s way of saying that trouble will always follow me. ----------------------------
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Chapter 21 - Distress Last one for today............ The rest will be tomorrow............... 50 more pages T_T ------------------------------------- That day started the same way as yesterday. Breakfast with Arthur then heading to class. Lunch was different though. Sasha, Kaiser, Alex and I went to the mansion to eat our lunch. Kaiser had a happy expression on his face as we went there. Arthur was out somewhere so Alex went to the kitchen to cook. Sasha went with him saying that she wanted to have her brother eat something she made. Kaiser and I sat at the dining table. He sat across from me wearing a satisfied expression and said, ¡°Thank you for this Prince Zed.¡± ¡°Its nothing,¡± I answered, ¡°How¡¯d you know you were a prince?¡± ¡°My mother told me,¡± he said looking somber, ¡°she¡¯s taken care of me since we were chased out of the palace. We fled to a small village on a tiny island. There, we weren¡¯t troubled by the aristocrats and we lived our lives peacefully.¡± He continued, ¡°When we found out that I could use magic, my mother was ecstatic and told me then that I was a prince. At first I was mad at my father for leaving us to that state but my mother kept on insisting that my father wasn¡¯t at fault. She loved him.¡± I listened very quietly at his answer. I tried to understand how it must have felt to live life like that. ¡°How did Sasha know that you were her brother?¡± He lifted his head to the right and showed me a tattoo. It looked like a three pointed crown. ¡°All members of the royal family are engraved this tattoo whether they are of common birth or not. Its engraved with magic so it is not easily reproduced.¡± ¡°Does Sasha have one as well?¡± He leveled his head and said, ¡°Yes, I caught sight of it when she brushed her hair when we were talking on the first day. I wasn¡¯t sure of it was her so it took a while before I finally told her that we were siblings.¡± ¡°She was happy when I told her,¡± he said grinning, ¡°but then she said that she would give the throne to me.¡± He became somber again and he said much more quietly, ¡°I want to tell her that I don¡¯t want to take the throne. It¡¯s the nobility¡¯s fault that my mother was forced to leave.¡± His eyes became filled with anger when he said, ¡°Its their fault that my kind mother was forced to reduce herself into a prostitute!¡± I was shocked to hear this. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would know someone personally who was a child of a prostitute. I didn¡¯t look at Kaiser with disdain but rather I looked at him with pity. I couldn¡¯t do anything for him... I was powerless... ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know why I told you that,¡± he said recovering, ¡°not even Sasha knows.¡± ¡°Don-¡± I started to say when Sasha and Alex came to the dining room bringing in the food with carts and saying, ¡°Lunch is ready!¡± There was an assortment of vegetables and greens. Ribs were made for us to eat and there also was a specialty dish from the Lunaria Federation. It looked like fried rice made with some sort of soy sauce and I could see chicken, crabs, and more vegetables on it. ¡°I¡¯m really surprised that your kitchen has a lot of ingredients,¡± said Sasha placing the food at the table. ¡°Our kitchen has a special magic device that gives you any ingredient that we may not have specifically,¡± Alex said as he placed plates and silverware, ¡°Its useful for when I¡¯m just missing one ingredient.¡± After they finished placing the food in front of us, we all began eating. Kaiser seemed to get in a better mood as lunch started when I heard a knock at the door. ¡°I¡¯ll get it,¡± said Alex standing up. ¡°So Sasha, I hear your engaged to Zed?¡± asked Kaiser as he took a bite from the fried rice. Sasha blushed a little and said, ¡°Yes.¡± He closed his eyes and said, ¡°I approve.¡± ¡°Zed looks like a nice guy, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll take good care of you,¡± he said when he opened his eyes and smiled approvingly. I was about to say something when Alex came in with a frightened expression and interrupted me by saying, ¡°Prince Zed, we have visitors. Its King Vayasu Imadul of the Lunaria Federation.¡± We all froze and looked at Kaiser. He had a scared look on his face and I pointed to the kitchen and he instantly ran inside. After confirming that Kaiser was well hidden I stood up just in time to see Vayasu enter the dining room. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to have you visit us, King Vayasu,¡± I said bowing down along with Sasha. ¡°No need for formalities,¡± he said laughingly, ¡°after all we are pretty much family.¡± I motioned for him to a seat and as he sat down I asked, ¡°May I ask why you are here?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t a father meet his daughter at school?¡± he said looking at the food, ¡°My what a nice assortment of food you have here, may I partake?¡± I motioned for him yes and Alex went to the kitchen to grab him a plate and some utensils. That is how the King of the Lunaria Federation joined us for lunch. As we were eating he said, ¡°So Sasha, how is school?¡± ¡°I-its fine father,¡± she said trying to calm her voice and face. ¡°Is that so? And there hasn¡¯t been anything strange that happened? Like for example a love rival?¡± he said accusingly. ¡°N-no one, Zed is all I care about!¡± she shouted grabbing my right arm and hugging it. ¡°Is that so? And you Zed, are you taking good care of my daughter?¡± ¡°Yes she is in my perfect care,¡± I said hugging her tighter, ¡°I¡¯ve already set an excursion for us this weekend.¡± Sasha looked at me and quietly said, ¡°Really?¡±¡°Is that so,¡± he said nodding and took another bite from the rice. ¡°I will set some of my guards around you at that time. You won¡¯t be able to notice them,¡± he said finishing up his food. ¡°This has been a wonderful lunch, Sasha your cooking has improved,¡± he said smiling at Sasha. He stood up and said, ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me I have to meet with Artemia.¡± With that he left, leaving Alex, Sasha and I at the table. Alex had a frightened expression the whole time but he made sure not to look at Vayasu as to not reveal it. Sasha hid her face behind me and tried to keep calm. I had no way to block myself so I had to fake my expressions. Once the door closed, we waited for one minute before we started moving. Alex opened the kitchen door and Kaiser went back to his seat. Kaiser looked like he sweated a lot during our lunch with Vayasu. We acted this way because we knew about their relationship. If Kaiser was found by the Lunaria Federation¡¯s nobles, he would no doubt be assassinated. We had to make sure that he wasn¡¯t seen. During that lunch, I had a feeling that he knew that Kaiser was here and so he placed his guards as well under the guise of protecting Sasha. It might work but for how long, I thought. We didn¡¯t touch the rest of the food then and just cleaned up before it was time to go to class. We said goodbye to Kaiser and Sasha. Kaiser looked like he had seen a ghost but with Sasha at his side he should come back. Sasha was able to calm down when she led her brother with her to class. The afternoon and evening was the same as yesterday. Ralph had us do exercises until we were exhausted and Arthur made sure that we memorized the movements from last night. We did a little bit of our magic training but since we were tired from the events of the day during lunch we went to go to sleep early. A couple months passed by after Vayasu¡¯s visit. Arthur still kept on teaching us swordsplay. I got to the point where I could finally beat Alex once out of every fifty duels. I lost a lot of times but being able to beat Alex every now and then was alright. Alex was doing well in his magic training. Not as impressive as mine but he was still fairly impressive. He also grew a little. He grew a couple inches and was now taller than I was. He also gained a bit more muscle because of the training from Arthur. Sasha was the same as usual. We began dating the week Vayasu came. I say we began because we never did before even though we were engaged. There was a small town nearby called Rouland and we went there every weekend, just the two of us... and her father¡¯s guards. We spent each weekend being together and enjoying each other¡¯s company. Kaiser became famous at school. He was well known as the school flirt and when I told him this he said that he didn¡¯t know or noticed anything like that. Even though he was known as a player, he himself didn¡¯t know and was actually pretty shy about it. Ralph still kept his classes harsh. He actually made us start running up the mountain with the others. He increased the distance every day so we never got used to it. Incidents such as the fight between the nobles and the commoners rarely ever occurred anymore. If any they were usually about petty things like stealing homework. The closest thing to the fight was when they accused each other of being cheaters. The answer key to some test was missing and the nobles blamed the commoners for stealing it. This resulted in a shouting match between the two and before it escalated it was stopped by the Ravenex Corps. Speaking of the Ravenex Corps, our office space became much more than just a table. We had a storage cell for any confiscated items or students that disobeyed the rules. Part of the room accepted notices from students when there was something that they were worried about. We were also given food similar to how the cafeteria gets theirs. Our organizational structure was fixed as well. It was a bad system in the beginning but now is starting to function much better. Our numbers were still the same but everyone was able to act on their own now. In my case, I grew taller and have some muscles developing. Shorter than Alex, I stood at a height of 3 feet and 6 inches. Even though my blessings made me learn combat moves faster it still wasn¡¯t enough to match Alex¡¯s earlier training. I did however manage to use Acolyte ranked spells of all the affinities except for time and space. Adept level was what I was practicing right now. It was a Saturday and Alex, Sasha, Kaiser, and I would be going to Rouland and have lunch there. Right now it was nearly time to gather but I wanted to train as much as I could. I created a nice training spot behind the mansion that I created with magic. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I made plateau as high as the trees around me and created a crater in the plateau. Along one side was filled with scorchmarks as it was my target area. I would create stone dummies from the earth and I would hit them with my magic. I was practicing the Adept level spell, ¡®Fire Wave¡¯. I gathered the Fire mana into my hands and when it was enough I casted it. The Fire mana burst into the ground and created a surge of flames headed towards one of the stone dummies in front of me. When it hit the dummy it burst and scattered rocks all around. This particular ¡®Fire Wave¡¯ had Nature magic on it. The Spectrum affinities uses the same mana as the Primordial affinities but with a small amount of Spectrum mana inside. This caused the ¡®Fire Wave¡¯ to have a burst effect. Satisfied, I gathered mana again for a different spell when I heard a voice say, ¡°Zed, its time to go!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I called back stopping the flow of mana and running to my room. My clothes for the outing were already set for me and I just changed as quickly as I could. I went out the front door wearing a black and blue clean shirt and my new white pants courtesy of Sasha. Alex and the rest were outside waiting for me and as I entered their sight, Sasha wrapped her left arm on my right. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± she said with a pouty expression. She wore a pink frilly dress and a haircomb made of a jadelike material that I gave her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, ¡°I was training.¡±¡°You¡¯re always training,¡± said Alex grinning. He wore a green shirt and brown pants. ¡°Don¡¯t make my sister wait so long,¡± said Kaiser with his hand pointed at me and his face threatening, ¡°I may approve of your engagement but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll let her go easily.¡± He wore a plain white shirt with black pants. After saying that we all started walking to Rouland as we talked about we could do there after eating. Alex suggested to watch a tournament that they were having. The tournament was a ranking tournament, the only way, a warrior could rank up. Alex and I didn¡¯t bother to do it as Arthur told us that if we would rank up only when he tells us we could. Kaiser suggested that we fight each other at the dome again. Of course saying also that Sasha was not allowed to fight. Sasha got mad at that and punched her brother saying that he was only afraid of losing to her. Sasha, after calming down, suggested that we separate after our lunch and do our own thing. She probably wanted to go sit at our tree and relax there. Since Sasha was my fianc¨¦e, naturally I supported her. Because of that we decided to do what we wanted after our lunch. Alex would go to watch the tournament, Kaiser would go duel some random people, and Sasha and I would go to our private spot and relax. We had lunch at the most popular restaurant in Rouland, ¡®The Knight¡¯s Decree¡¯. It looked a bit rundown outside but inside it rivaled a palace in decorations. Right now we were at the atrium behind the front doors where a counter was in front of us and a woman was behind it. We came up and she said smiling, ¡°Welcome to ¡®The Knight¡¯s Decree¡¯, what may we do you my lords and my lady.¡± ¡°We have a reservation under Rammert,¡± said Alex nonchalantly. Her expression changed to shock but then recovered and said bowing, ¡°Of course, right this way.¡± She left her post and led us through a set of doors through the left. The inside was as spectacular as ever. Sasha and I always started our dates here. The inside was separated into different rooms. Each room only had one table which ensured privacy from anyone. The restaurant was popular amongst couples, families and most importantly nobles. Since they usually catered to nobles, the interior designs would naturally look like a palace. It was owned by a noble who rose to that rank by being a merchant and was indebted to the Rammert family. Just by using Alex¡¯s family name, we were always able to come here and eat for free. She led us to the Rammert private room. It was made specially for any member of the Rammert family under orders from the owner. It was made to be the largest room in the restaurant and had wonderful paintings decorating it. Vases filled with different types of flowers were to each side of a painting. The center was a large round table that could fit forty people at once. We stat close to each other. Alex sat to my left while Sasha sat at my right. Kaiser took the spot to the right of her sister. Before our host left, we ordered each our food. Alex ordered a steak, Kaiser ordered a fish, while Sasha and I ordered something akin to spaghetti for the two of us. She left bowing and closing the door and we descended to talking. Minutes later the door opened and in came our food. Alex and Kaiser ate with gusto while Sasha and I ate slowly. Soon enough they both finished and said they wanted to get started to what they were doing as soon as possible. We nodded and Alex left with Kaiser. When they left she softly said, ¡°Thank you.¡±I looked at her cute and happy face and I said, ¡°I should be the one to thank you.¡± We stared at each other for some time when bursting in came Alex. We looked at Alex and saw that he was ragged and tired looking. A small trail of blood leaked from his left temple and I immediately stood up going to him and guided him to sit at a chair and asked, ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°They took Kaiser!¡± he said after gasping a bit. Sasha brought her hands to her face and screamed. After making sure that Alex was leaning back to the chair, I ran to Sasha, hugged her while rubbing her back and said, ¡°Its going to be alright.¡± She calmed down after a while and I saw that a crowd was gathering outside our room. I looked sharply at them and they all left. I helped Sasha stand up, looked at Alex and said, ¡°Can you stand or do you need help?¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± he said standing.I nodded and led us out of the restaurant and try to get a carriage to get us home. All the time as we rode back on the carriage I was thinking of who would take Kaiser. I didn¡¯t want to ask Alex yet since Sasha was crying while leaning on me. When we got back, I told Alex to go back to the mansion and helped Sasha to her dormitory. Her dorm mother saw us and took her from me and said, ¡°I¡¯ve got it. Thank you Prince Zed.¡± I nodded at her and ran back to the mansion to question Alex. It was a little over three right now and also a couple hours since Kaiser was apparently kidnapped. When I got to the mansion, Arthur was gone as he had to participate as a judge at the tournament. Alex was in the living room laying down on the couch, one of his arms over his eyes and the other pointed at the ground I stood across from him and asked, ¡°What happened?¡±He recounted to me what happened just minutes after they left. They got out of the restaurant and Kaiser invited him to have a duel. When he said no, Kaiser left running back to the school when people with black robes and cowls surrounded him and took him. Alex tried to chase after them but one of them stayed behind and slashed at him with a sword. Alex dodged but he didn¡¯t notice that he had another sword aimed at him. Alex got hit with the blunt edge on his left temple and he fell rougly on the ground. Alex was stunned for a moment but that was enough for the black robed men to run away with Kaiser. After finishing his story, Alex cried and I left, angry, heading to my room and wrote a letter. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do this on my own so I had to get help. I had to let the my father know so that I could get help on this matter. I wrote the letter and sent it and made sure that Alex¡¯s wounds healed by casting healing magic and waited for Arthur. My father will definitely help but it would take a while so I needed to get Arthur¡¯s help so that I could do something immediately. It was night when Arthur came back and saw us in the living room. He looked worried and I told him what happened. He looked shocked and he said he would help me. He grew to like Kaiser and his willingness to fight. ¡°I have friends nearby, they will certainly be of help,¡± he said going out the door, ¡°stay inside until I get back. When I do, get ready as we¡¯re going to rescue Kaiser from them.¡± He closed the door leaving Alex and I in the living room. Alex was sleeping on the couch and so I had Chronos lift him up and carry him to his room. While he was doing that I said, ¡°Malakir... why did this happen?¡± ¡°They must¡¯ve found out...¡± ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to Kaiser?¡± I asked, my eyes moistening. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Are they going to kill him?¡± ¡°...most likely...¡± ¡°I swear! I will save Kaiser! He doesn¡¯t deserve what happened to him, I will save him! Malakir will you help me?¡± I asked rasing my voice and my anger raging. ¡°Its not our problem. This is an internal issue of the Lunaria Federation. There is no reason for you a prince of the Rigel Kingdom to do anything.¡± ¡°Malakir! I asked if you will help me!¡± I said angrily. ¡°... I am your summon. You are my master, anything you wish is my duty to do so.¡± ¡°Then why do you question my actions!¡± ¡°Because this will cause an international problem.¡± ¡°So?! Kaiser is my friend more than that he is my fianc¨¦e¡¯s brother. Illegitimate or not this is my problem as well!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°So again I ask, will you help me Malakir?¡± I asked my voice a lot more calm but still angry, ¡°I have to save him.¡± ¡°I will follow you even if the world calls you demon.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said gathering Ethereal mana around me. ¡°The first spell,¡± I said when the mana was enough, ¡°Advent!¡± -----------------------------
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Chapter 22 - Rescue Hey guys! I''m done with the rewriting now so we can finally continue with the story itself. Thank you all for bearing with me. I''m sorry that it took so long, I was held up by prom committee, the mousetrap car and homework. I''m also taking the weekends off of writing as I think it will help me not get too much stress and overwork myself. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy the final stage of the rewrite! Chapter 30 will be the start of the Tournament Arc. ---------------------------- Advent, a spell from the Ethereal mana. There are no Ethereal spells that I can learn. All of them I have to create myself. Advent is a spell I designed that does one thing. It allows me to cast any spell that I know without any preparation. All the mana that I have is converted as fast as possible into every mana type. This is a spell that only I can use not just because I have Ethereal mana, but also because of the training Malakir had me do. Ethereal is really amazing. This spell is merely Acolyte ranked, but now that I have some Adept ranked spells, I can cast them at any time I want. I can aslo assimilate with Malakir or Chronos very quickly making it easy to change combat styles at any time I want. Another thing about this spell is that it has no drawbacks. Since its basically just an unconscious effort in changing my mana it can work at all times. I went to the training room and took one of the short swords there. It was made of steel and was double-edged. The Ashura style can go from a standard grip to a reverse grip. Adding my abilities while assimilating with Chronos, my close combat potential is great. I took the sword with me and waited for Arthur to come back. And I barely noticed what time it was when Arthur went through the door. Outside it was dark so I must have waited for hours. Arthur stood exhausted in front of me. I stood up and started to say something when he said commandingly, ¡°Rest, you need it. I¡¯ll talk to you both tomorrow.¡± He left and walked towards his room leaving me there. I complied and walked up to my room. Chronos was sitting in front of Alex¡¯s room and said, ¡°Master Alex is going to be alright. I sped up his health regeneration.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said going to my own room.I entered the room and slept. The events of the day finally catching up to me. The next day, Alex, Arthur, and I were sitting at the living room. Alex looked alright for a guy that got hit by a sword on his temple. His eyes looked furious. He wore a silver chainmail with the Rammert insignia, a pointy mage hat with a sword going through it in the middle. Asher was no longer the kitten he was. A small tiger is what he looked like as he laid on the ground beside his master, Alex. Arthur wore the armor that he had when we first met him and held his helmet on his lap. His expression was entirely different than the ones I¡¯ve always seen. He had the eyes of someone who¡¯s killed many people for the sake of the kingdom. I simply wore the school uniform. I didn¡¯t want to wear armor as it will only hinder me and if I need protection from anything, Chronos and Malakir can just help me. ¡°We found where they are hidden,¡± said Arthur his face serious, ¡°They are hiding in an old fortress to the east of us. It¡¯s a short journey on my horse. You two¡¯ll ride with me.¡± We nodded and left to get Arthur¡¯s horse and we sped away outside the gates and headed towards the east. Amidst the gallop, Arthur said, ¡°We will enter through the back. My friends will keep them busy from the front.¡± We nodded as the wind whistled behind us. All three of our faces were furious and anxious as we got closer and closer to our destination. A few hours passed and we saw an outline of an abandoned fort. Around the fort were some trees and so we hid there as we approached closer. We were looking at the back of the fort. It seems to have been constructed with the forest behind it. The use of such a fort was beyond me as it didn¡¯t seem all that defensible. I could see two towers from where we were coming from. A large wall was between the towers and some small windows could be seen there. The sun was down when we got near enough that you could see the windows of the fort so it was helpful to infiltrate. When we got to the rear entrance of the fort, which was an old wooden door hidden near the tower on the right, we heard sounds of fighting in the distance. ¡°My friends must be here already,¡± said Arthur, ¡°quick! Go inside.¡± I tried to open the door but it wouldn¡¯t budge. Arthur broke it down with his body after lunging at it for several tries. Inside was dark as night so I created a small light and made sure that the light was hidden enough that no one in front of us could see it. We crept forward with me in the front with the light, Arthur behind me with his sword out and Alex at the back with a sword and shield that I never noticed until now. I was too focused on making sure that the light couldn¡¯t be seen that I got caught in a trap. It was a pitfall and I fell through the darkness. Arthur tried to catch me but the hatch that hid the pitfall closed before he could. Alex screamed with a look of horror as Arthur tried to catch me to no avail, ¡°Zed!¡± Darkness... that was where I was.I created the light again, not caring what I saw. I was in a room filled with skeletons. The walls were dusty and cobwebs were at every corner. Above me was a rectangular shoot with a hatch that I couldn¡¯t reach. ¡°Malakir, did you save me?¡± I asked moving my hands around me as I made sure that I was alright. ¡°Yes. Get ready, there are enemies.¡± I stopped what I was doing and peered into the one area that the light didn¡¯t cover. It was a narrow corridor with steps that led up. I assimilated and merged with Chronos, raised my sword into the Ashura stance and readied my left hand with magic. From the darkness came a black wolf with red eyes as it slowly walked forward. One paw in front of the other, its mouth growling low, the eyes staring at me angrily as if I disturbed its sleep. ¡°A Chaos wolf,¡± said Malakir, ¡°This wolf is able to use Chaos magic.¡± I nodded and stared at the wolf with unblinking eyes and fear.This is my first real combat, I thought.I gulped and the wolf lunged forward with its mouth wide open. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I stepped close to the wolf and slashed at it with my reverse grip. It knocked the wolf away to the wall where it fell to the ground. It got back up and growled even angrier at me. There¡¯s barely any scratch on it, I thought.It lunged again trying to bite me. I stabbed towards the mouth of the wolf but it closed its mouth and its speed increased. Chaos magic! Its speed increased to twice what it was as it dodged my stab and entered into my stance. Its claws were poised to scratch at my chest when I used ¡®Shift¡¯. The wolf slowed down a bit leaving me with enough time to dodge its attack by jumping backwards. The wolf clawed at the air slowly but then its speed was back again and tried to bite my exposed right arm. I wasn¡¯t fast enough at pulling it back so it bit into my right arm up to the wrist. I screamed from the pain which caused me to drop my sword and I held its head with my left and casted ¡®Fireball¡¯. The head of the wolf burst into flame and it yelped allowing me to dislodge my bleeding arm. I fell backwards to the wall behind me and sat down as I looked at it and there were many bite marks. I began to heal it using magic as I stared at the flaming wolf. It rolled on the floor yelping. The flame spread from the head to the tail within the span of me getting my arm back and starting to heal it. My left hand travelled over my right arm back and forth as the wounds started to close up under the white healing light. The wolf rolled to stare at me with hate in its eyes as it died from my fireball. After healing my arm as much as I could, I stood back up and headed to where the wolf came from. The light I made followed me as I took each step. ¡°Malakir, are there any more of those wolves here?¡± I asked as I walked up. ¡°No, not anywhere near us.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help me?¡± I asked stopping to look at Malakir who was floating behind me. ¡°You needed the experience and I knew you would be able to handle it.¡± I nodded and continued walking back up. After a while I saw a door at the end and ran up to it. I opened the door and I saw tables with shackles on top of them. Shackled skeletons were hung on the walls and some torture devices were littered on a table to the left. ¡°A torture room,¡± I said as I looked at all the dried blood on the floor, tables and walls. There was no one here but I could hear faint breathing to my right. I looked to where I heard the sound and saw a door. I crept up to the door and opened it slightly. There was Kaiser naked and bleeding a little from the new marks on his body inside a small closet. His breath was a bit ragged as I threw open the door, knelt beside him and cast healing magic on him. ¡°Malakir help me heal him,¡± I told Malakir as I healed his wounds, my hands travelling just above them. Malakir casted a stronger healing spell that enveloped Kaiser¡¯s body and I stopped healing him. The light covered only his body as if in a lover¡¯s embrace and when the light disappeared, all of his wounds were gone and his breathing was no longer ragged. I heard a thudding sound and looked to a door that I didn¡¯t notice. It was difficult to tell that it was a door as it blended into the decorations so perfectly. I was only able to tell since I was much closer to it than before. The door was situated right to the left of where I was on the right wall. It opened and I saw Arthur wielding a bloodied sword. ¡°Zed!¡± he shouted as he dropped his sword and hugged me, ¡°you¡¯re safe!¡± ¡°Nevermind about me,¡± I said getting out of his grip, ¡°I found Kaiser.¡± At that point, I pointed at Kaiser and he left and came back with a large robe. He wrapped Kaiser in it and said, ¡°This¡¯ll have to do. We have to leave now.¡± I nodded and followed him out the door he came in. I saw Alex and a group of people I didn¡¯t know as well as corpses, one of them was naked. ¡°Zed!¡± shouted Alex as he saw me and ran towards me, ¡°I was so worried.¡± He had blood dripping from his left temple down to his cheek. It wasn¡¯t his blood though as there was no wound. He hugged me really tight when he got close enough. ¡°Save the reunion for later we have to leave right now,¡± said Arthur, ¡°You all know what to do.¡± The group of people nodded and Alex and I followed Arthur out of the fort.Along the way, I saw various corpses in different positions and bloodstained walls. Finally we got back to where we entered and Arthur carefully placed Kaiser in front of him as he sat on his horse. Seeing as we didn¡¯t have enough space I separated from Chronos and summoned him. ¡°Chronos, carry Alex and I and follow Arthur back home.¡±¡°Yes master.¡± He transformed into a four legged tiger and crouched down. Chronos is really useful, I thought. Alex and I climbed up tiger-Chronos and sat as comfortable as we could over his new tiger body. Arthur galloped away and we followed behind him. As we were getting away from the fort, it burst into flames behind us. The sudden heat caused Alex and I to look and Arthur shouted, ¡°The army will be coming to check since I had to do some obvious movements. This was the only way to make sure that it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡± We didn¡¯t say anything as we just watched the fire cover to fort. Some of it collapsed, leading the forest to also burn. Soon enough the whole forest was burning and we were already far away heading back home. -----------------------
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Chapter 23 - Repercussion The sun was rising over the horizon when we reached the academy. The gentle and soft rays of light welcomed us home after our ordeal. Alex and I each took turns sleeping on the back of Chronos as we went back. One of us sleeping while leaning on the back of the other one. Arthur didn¡¯t sleep at all during the night. He made sure that Kaiser wouldn¡¯t fall down during the ride. Kaiser didn¡¯t wake up at all. He slept as soundly as a person could on a galloping horse. We didn¡¯t slow down as we entered through the gates of the academy. The sound of footfalls echoing through as we went to our mansion. Arthur stopped and dismounted quickly and gently carried Kaiser inside the mansion. I woke up Alex and we all went back inside. Chronos went back to his usual form. We saw Arthur lay Kaiser in the living room. He then turned towards us and softly said, ¡°Go to sleep, I¡¯ll explain to the principal why you three won¡¯t be at school today. So just rest.¡± He then went back to keep Kaiser company and we went back to our rooms. As soon as I entered my room, I half ran half walked to my bed and fell down on it. I slept immediately and soundly as the exhaustion of my first real fight and the trip took over. It was late in the afternoon when I woke up next. I got up groggily as I had been sleeping on my stomach. Thinking of my stomach, I immediately got hungry so I went downstairs to see if there was anything to eat. The mansion was quiet as I went to the dining room. I got bread from the basket we keep on one corner of the room and went to the living room just across. Arthur was nowhere in sight but Kaiser was still there sleeping peacefully. His wounds from the night before were gone and he still was wrapped in those robes that we found. I immediately went to my room and got some clothes for him to wear when he woke up and went back and placed the clothes near him. I watched him sleep peacefully and content when the door opened and in came rushing in Sasha. ¡°Kai-¡± she started to shout but seeing him peacefully sleeping and me signaling her to be quiet she stopped. She nodded and walked to sit next to me. The seat that I took was for one person but since we were still five two people could fit perfectly. When she sat down I held her next to me with my right arm. She leaned into the embrace and cried silently. After a while of talking she softly said, ¡°Thank you¡± a lot of times. Everytime she did so, I simply just said, ¡°I know.¡± We sat there quietly for another hour when Kaiser stirred a little. We instantly got up and rushed to his side. He kept on moving very small movements until finally he opened his eyes and cried. I left Sasha to take care of his brother and went to get him something to drink when the door opened. Wouldn¡¯t you know it my father the king came in along with Arthur at his side. My father was wearing a blue and white long sleeved collared button shirt and black pants. His hair was curled similarly to those from the Renaissance period in Earth. His expression was serious as he walked towards me and said, ¡°I know everything.¡± I tried to block his view of the living room and said, ¡°Everything?¡± ¡°I know what you did last night and I also know that you have found the prince of the Lunaria Federation,¡± he said his expression unchanging. He knew now, even though we tried to hide it. I glanced at Arthur but he just stood there not saying anything and not trying to do anything as if it was not his problem. I led them to the living room. Sasha and Kaiser heard the sounds of our feet and looked towards us. Both of their expressions were fearful as they also know that they have been found. ¡°I am not here to do harm to your brother,¡± my father said as he held his hands up as if in a comforting gesture. ¡°Arthur, take Zed to his room and then come back here.¡± ¡°Yes, your majesty,¡± said Arthur as he took me away. I looked back and gave Kaiser and Sasha an encouraging smile as I was led out. Alex was outside his door when Arthur and I got to the hallway connecting our rooms. Arthur led me to my room and Alex came in as Arthur left. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked Alex with a clueless expression on his face. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said sitting on my bed. Another hour passed and my father came into the room. He looked tired and worn out as he did so. Alex got up and bowed to my father and was about to go head out when he was stopped by my father, ¡°You need to hear this as well.¡± Alex came back to sit next to me and we both looked at my father as he walked closer to us. ¡°We are now taking care of Kaiser. We will protect him until we find a place for him in the world,¡± he said when he stopped in front of us. I understood what my father was saying and said, ¡°As a pawn to get their lands?¡± I poured every ounce of hate that I was feeling into those words. My father just announced to me that my friend was going to be a pawn to be used and disposed of. Worse he is the brother of my fianc¨¦e! ¡°Yes,¡± he said with not a hint of warmth in his words.¡°How could you do that to him? Hasn¡¯t he suffered enough?!¡± I shouted. ¡°He is the prince of large track of land that we need to have. Even if he is a bastard son he is still the rightful heir to the throne,¡± said my father in an angry tone. ¡°It is fortunate that you found him in this academy and fortunate that he is here. You two will make sure that he never leaves your sight.¡± I kept my anger in check as he just ridiculed my friend. I also kept Alex from trying to do something. When I was calm enough I said, ¡°Father, is there no way for you not to do this? He is my friend and I do not wish harm upon him.¡± ¡°This is all that I can do. The other countries cannot make a move against him anymore but he still needs to be protected.¡± ¡°Keep him in your sights,¡± he said as he walked out and closed the door. ¡°Alex we are going to do as my father wishes,¡± I said through gritted teeth. He looked at me shocked but then he saw my face. It was filled with anger and hate. Anger at the command that I had to do and hate that my friend will be used as a pawn to be disposed of at the earliest convenience. ¡°We will protect Kaiser, even if it is from my own family.¡± Alex nodded and we both silently went outside my room. Arthur was standing there and he knelt with both knees to the ground and his head down towards me and said, ¡°I was duty bound to tell your father, my king. I caused this situation so please, give me any punishment you deem fit.¡± I was mad but not mad at Arthur. I knew that if he did this, he didn¡¯t mean to do it so I said, ¡°Stand up, I know you didn¡¯t mean to. All this happened because we weren¡¯t strong enough. If this whole situation didn¡¯t happen, my father would not have interfered.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. He stood up and bowed and said, ¡°Thank you for your kindness, my lord.¡± We then all went to the living room. Kaiser was sitting with Sasha next to him. His expression was devoid of hope and Sasha was filled with worry. I walked up to Kaiser and placed one hand on his right shoulder causing him to look up and said, ¡°I will protect you, even from my father.¡± His eyes closed and he shook his head and was about to say something but I interrupted him and said, ¡°I will protect you. You¡¯re as much part of my family as Sasha is. I will not let you be a pawn.¡± His despairing expression became hopeful. He looked to his sister and her face was full of smiles. He looked towards Arthur and Alex and they too were smiling. ¡°We¡¯ll protect you too,¡± they said confidently. He cried and said, ¡°Thank you¡± repeatedly. Siblings alright, they do the same thing, I thought. As he cried we all huddled together comforting him. When exhaustion took him, I told Arthur to take him to my room and let him sleep on my bed tonight. Arthur did that and Alex went to the kitchen to make dinner for us since we haven¡¯t had anything to eat at all that day. This left Sasha and I to remain in the living room. After a while of silence she said, ¡°Thank you for saying you will protect him. I know its imp-¡± ¡°Its not impossible,¡± I said interrupting her words, ¡° I will do everything I can to protect your brother and you as well.¡± She hugged me after a while and started crying. I half carried half walked her to a nearby seat and we sat next to each other. She then began telling me about her past. Even though we¡¯ve been dating for a couple months now, she never did talk about it before and I never pushed the issue. She was considered worthless by the nobility in her homeland. They all thought that she could not rule and so had sent their own sons to be her fianc¨¦. Her father was also of the same opinion but he was reluctant to let her be married of to some noble¡¯s son because he wished to continue his own royal bloodline. Since I was of royal blood, he allowed my father to have myself and his daughter to be engaged. Her father had hoped to be able to manipulate me since I will be attending Asmodeus Academy where royalty has no power. She knew about his plan because he had told her before she got to the academy and met me. She kept it secret because she was told not to. But then meeting Kaiser and finding out that she had a brother that no one wanted alive made her confused of what to do. After telling me about her past I just hugged her tighter and said, ¡°I¡¯ll protect you.¡± She then proceeded to cry some more and I just held her tighter. I knew that I had just made a promise that would linger for a long time. Both our families have schemes in the shadows and I have people to protect from those schemes. They wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to me as I was an important piece within their eyes but Sasha and Kaiser were expendable for them. Alex even was probably also an expendable pawn for them. I never knew that I would be involved in such trouble but since I am now, I have to do all that I can to protect those that I love. I have to protect Sasha from her father, Kaiser from both our fathers and Alex from my father. When she stopped crying, I carried her to the couch where Kaiser was sleeping before and laid her there making sure she was comfortable. I watched her sleep soundly and I said, ¡°Malakir...¡± ¡°Yes master?¡± ¡°Give me everything you know,¡± I said commandingly, ¡°I need to have the power to protect them. As I am now, I am powerless. Even if it is painful, even if it is difficult, I need to do it.¡± ¡°...¡±¡°Malakir!¡± I shouted loudly enough to not wake up Sasha. ¡°There is a process... as luck would have it there is a full moon outside that is required right now.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go,¡± I said moving to go outside. When we got outside, Malakir said, ¡°Follow me.¡± I followed him and I walked with Chronos who was waiting outside in his tiger-form. Apparently, Chronos can only change how he looks once per day so he has to remain in this form for a little bit more time. Malakir led us to a small clearing that I never noticed before. In the middle was a cut down tree stump and small rocks littered the edges. ¡°I had Chronos create this in the past,¡± said Malakir, ¡°in the hopes that you will decide whether to use it or not when you are older. But if you are determined then dismiss Chronos back within you and sit on the stump.¡± I did so, dismissing a summon was like absorbing the whole being into myself and locking it away, and walked to the stump. It had a cleanly cut flat surface and sat down. ¡°I do not know what you will be experiencing as this is a spell that was recorded but its effects are unknown. All that was recorded is that it will make you powerful in the shortest amount of time, only a handful have passed. Are you sure about this?¡± ¡°Even if I have to go through hell,¡± I said with my face serious. ¡°Then you migh get your wish,¡± Malakir said as he started glowing white, ¡°for those handful, have called it hell.¡± He then started glowing black slowly, then yellow, purple, brown, orange, all sorts of colors one at a time. Then the changing colors sped up and I could barely tell the colors apart. My eyes were wide open at the sight but I held my breath and just watched as I knew that this was the spell working. The surroundings started to change color as well. The rocks on the ground each glowed a different color from each other. Then veins of light connected the rocks all around me. Soon the ground started to give off light that was enough to blind anyone looking at it but surprisingly I wasn¡¯t bothered by it. I could barely see anything though through the light. Then a sound, similar to rolling thunder, sounded all around me and the light disappeared. I felt that I was no longer sitting but rather nothing. I saw nothing, heard nothing, my senses were gone. I panicked but I couldn¡¯t move. My whole body was frozen and I couldn¡¯t do anything. Suddenly a small red light was lit in front of me. I couldn¡¯t tell what it was as it was too small but I thought that I saw some wings. Hello, said a voice, welcome to Hell. ----------------------------
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Chapter 24 - Stillness of Hell I looked all around me for the voice. At least I thought I looked around as I couldn¡¯t feel my body moving. ¡°Over here,¡± said the voice to my left. I looked to my left but there was nothing. ¡°Not there, you¡¯re too slow. I¡¯m over here now,¡± said the voice with a hint of a laugh. The voice was coming from the right now so I looked there and still nothing. We kept on doing this for a minute or so until I just decided to ignore it and looked at the red light. ¡°Really? You¡¯re no fun, I¡¯ve been stuck here for centuries and then you come along and here I thought I would enjoy myself but now you¡¯re ignoring me,¡± said the voice as if it was pouting. I stared at the red light trying to make out more of its features as I ignored the annoying voice. ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t make fun of you anymore,¡± said the voice, ¡°How¡¯d you get here anyway?¡± I looked behind me as that was where the voice came from and started to speak but I couldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t feel my mouth opening nor hear it and I couldn¡¯t even tell if I was speaking at all. ¡°Speak with your mind, idiot,¡± said the voice. I didn¡¯t know how to speak with my mind so I just thought the words I wanted to say. ¡°I was sent here,¡± said a different voice. It was said almost immediately as I thought it out. The voice that spoke it did not sound like mine. It sounded more mechanical and hypnotic. ¡°Sent by who?¡± said the voice. ¡°My summon, the codex of magic, Malakir.¡± ¡°You summoned the codex?¡± said the voice with mild surprise. ¡°Yes,¡± I said nodding, or tried to nod. ¡°Interesting,¡± it said softly. ¡°What do you see?¡± it asked after a moment of silence. ¡°I see a red light behind me in a mass of darkness.¡± ¡°So this is what Hell and I look to you.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I am the red light and Hell to you is a place of darkness that strips you of your senses.¡± ¡°So Hell changes in appearance depending on what I think it should look like?¡± ¡°That is the reason why it is unexplored. Oh and by the way, you are not dead... yet. You have merely been sent to what you call Junx, the southern continent of the world known as Arun.¡± ¡°But Malakir did not use teleportation on me. It didn¡¯t look like space magic as it seemed to be all types of magic at once.¡± ¡°That is because it is a special kind of magic.¡± ¡°Please explain.¡± ¡°The gods, having feared their own creations to rival them. Which just goes to show you the creator is just as much afraid of his creations than his creations are of him. The gods kept hidden what they call ¡®False Rank¡¯.¡± ¡°¡®False Rank?¡¯¡± ¡°The eleventh rank, the rank that their creations can achieve to rival the gods themselves.¡± ¡°I need to reach that rank!¡± shouted my mechanical voice as I forcefully thought those words. I wanted to attain power that would rival the gods themselves to deter anyone from harming people I care about. ¡°A mere five year old wishes to get that rank?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°... why not? I can give you that rank. I¡¯m bored in this continent anyway,¡± said the voice nonchalantly. ¡°... are you planning something?¡± I asked questioningly, ¡°no one will do something like that without any price to ask.¡± ¡°Of course there is a price, but I won¡¯t tell you what it is. You¡¯ll know what it is when you do it. It¡¯s not something you have to find or do because I know you will do it anyway.¡± I was still skeptical and asked, ¡°Really? I can¡¯t believe you will do it.¡± ¡°I swear upon my name.¡± ¡°What is your name anyway?¡± ¡°They call me Devil, Satan, Lucifer, and many others, but that is not my real name. My real name is something that has not been uttered in a long while. They might¡¯ve even forgotten,¡± he said sincerely, ¡°but you do not need to know my name. Call me what you will for now.¡± ¡°Alright so how are you going to make me reach that rank?¡± ¡°Well first off, I need to know what you are capable of.¡± As he said that, the surroundings changed. From the darkness light shone and revealed that I was in a strange forest. The trees looked nothing like I¡¯ve ever seen. They stood at the highest around hundreds of feet tall. The tallest ones had a seemingly large circumference. They had long leaves almost a feet long. The branches were thicker than my body¡¯s arms and legs combined. The bark of the trees were of a dark purplish hue. The light slowly dimmed as if it was conforming to the forest that grew around me. Small grasses grew near my feet and around me. They had small thorn like spikes at their edges. I slowly began to feel things as well. The rustling wind, the smell of the forest, the taste of my own mouth as I also began seeing my body. It was the same as the time that Malakir sent me, only I wore different clothes now. I wore a dark purple robe with a small golden Ravenex on the left shoulder. ¡°Welcome to the Nameless Forest,¡± said the voice to my right. I looked there and saw a swirling mass of darkness. It spun around like a whirlpool and in the middle of it was that same red light. It was smaller this time so I wasn¡¯t able to tell any details. ¡°Here, I want you to look for something.¡± ¡°What do I have to look for?¡± I asked my voice back to normal. ¡°Just walk and you will know what it is,¡± said the darkness. ¡°That does not make any sense at all!¡± I shouted angrily. ¡°It makes perfect sense so just go and look for it,¡± said the darkness commandingly. Seeing that the darkness was not going to stop until I did what it asked, I just walked randomly behind me. I decided that if I was going to be looking for something, that I will find that something as far away from this crazy darkness as possible. The grass crumpled as I walked over them. The only sounds that could be heard was my footfalls and the occasional gust of wind that rustled the leaves. My surroundings didn¡¯t seem to change as I walked but I knew it did as the darkness was no longer behind me. Before long, I started to feel lost as the area around me never changed and nothing else was going on. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I started to panic and ran back to the darkness. Even if it was crazy and annoying, it was better than the silence of being alone in this strange forest. I ran and I ran but even when I took less the time that I was walking from before, I never seemed to change places. I was completely and utterly lost. I started to hyperventilate but after it started I began to calm down. There should be a way for me to find my way here, I thought, Magic is all powerful and is only limited by my own imagination. I have to make my own spells. I started to think of ways that I could find my way. I had to be able to feel mana in objects. I remembered how Malakir made me feel the mana in the air so I focused my senses into a blade of grass that was in front of me. At first I couldn¡¯t feel anything but after an hour I started to feel Earth mana from it. Elated, I broke the feeling because of my concentration breaking and I tried it one more time. Two hours passed and I felt Water mana. Four more hours passed and I felt Wind mana. Six hours and I felt Form. During this time, the sun never moved above me and I was starting to feel the mana in the ground. I needed a way to be able to do this quicker so I tried experimenting with magic. I created a spell called Wind Sight that allowed me to feel the mana in objects as well as its position around me by blowing a gust of wind all around. This was much too obvious so I created another spell with the same idea of Wind Sight only much better. The spell consisted of Wind, Spirit, Arcane, Inner, and Space mana. Since the Space mana on it was not pure, it was weaker by a bit but it still got the job done. The spell would make Space itself freeze for less than a second and give me an image of the area I chose. I could freely choose where and as to how large the area by using only one Space mana. I called the spell Spatial Recognition. After reaching that, I began to distinguish the many different mana all around me. The ground had an abundance of earth mana but it also had fire, water, wind, and surprisingly, void mana. The trees had water, earth, wind, form, and inner mana. This made me think that each plant had water, earth, and wind within them. I stopped sensing the area around me as I had an unexpected thought. Things created by Form mana have no life, it may look like it but any living being created was only similar to a corpse. This was what happened when I first started to use Form magic. So what would happen if I also added the mana within it, I thought. I created a blade of grass similar to the ones on the ground. I added mana into it by storing the type of mana in the same places as the ones on the ground. After creating the plant, I became exhausted as a lot of mana was used to create it. I planted it on the ground and I sensed it create roots. The plant was alive! I thought, I can¡¯t let anyone know about this. After testing it out with the plant, I decided to feel the mana all around me and I felt a sphere of mana. It reached a radius of ten meters with me as the center. The sphere was made of space mana and was the cause of me returning in the same spot. I tried to think of a way to get rid of it with Void magic. I didn¡¯t want to touch it because it might teleport me and Void magic is used in close distance. I had to think of a remote way of using the magic. And I began practicing. I practiced it on a small blade of grass in front of me. I used void magic to disintegrate it when it was in my grasp and I watched the mana affecting it. The Void mana devoured the mana inside the grass and then the grass slowly lost its own form. I tried it again on a different blade of grass as I changed the amount of Void mana within it. I experimented with different combinations of Void mana and other types of mana to influence the the disintegrating effect. It ended with me combining Void, Nature, and Arcane mana. I could now use Void magic from afar as well as direct it to only disintegrate what I want. I called the spell ¡®Dispel¡¯ as it could even affect mana itself while not affecting what the mana is infused in. I used the spell on the sphere surrounding me and it broke. I was finally free. It slowly remade itself and I ran straight to a side that hadn¡¯t started fixing itself and got away. I kept on running and I found the darkness again. ¡°You¡¯re back,¡± it said as if it was expecting me. I paused to catch my breath and sat down tiredly. ¡°Did you find what I told you to find?¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Yes. I found the different types of mana in everything and how to get rid of the mana.¡± ¡°Good,¡± it said joyfully, ¡°Now we go to your next lesson.¡±The surroundings changed from the forest into a snowy wasteland. A tall mountain with no end in sight, completely covered with snow. A strong blizzard blowing through and starting to freeze me. There was nothing in this world but the mountain, the darkness and I. ¡°Learn how to live in this environment. It will change abruptly all the time.¡± And then the snows melted quickly and an extreme heat replaced it. The mountain began leaking magma as it slowly fell down. The sudden change in temperature made me feel weird and so I began to make myself colder with Wind and Water magic. As I began that, it became snowy again and I changed the temperature around me with Wind and Fire magic. ¡°Welcome to the Mountain of Frost and Fire,¡± said the darkness as it seemed to laugh. -------------------------
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Chapter 25 - Mountain of Frost and Fire The snowy wind blew around me blanketing the mountain and the surroundings in snow. The magma slowly became solid making the mountain seem larger. ¡°Feel free to make yourself at home, I¡¯ll be back to check on you after a year or so,¡± said the darkness as it slowly disappeared. ¡°A year!¡± I exclaimed incredulously, ¡°How long exactly is this process going to take?¡± ¡°An evening. It seems you need an explanation, time flows differently here. I am in control of what happens, I am sending you back to where you were sent once I am done and it will only seem like an evening has passed. As such, you will not age here nor will you change. This way you can train to your heart¡¯s content and worry not about the little things.¡± ¡°How can I trust you?¡± I asked suspicious about it. ¡°Because there is no one else,¡± it said as it disappeared completely. I was then left behind at the foot of a mountain with a frozen wasteland all around me. I guess I should find myself some shelter, I thought. I looked at the mountain more carefully and saw that it was filled with crags and stony ledges everywhere. There were some mounds of snow and ice spikes hanging down everywhere. I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea to use the mountain as it leaks magma from the top, I thought. I looked to the wasteland around me and it was filled with snow. The ground itself looked to be very chaotic as small to large cliffs were everywhere. I saw a cliff that looked more hospitable than the others. It had a curvature to it as I looked within. There was not a lot of snow on it as the cliffs blocked most of the snow. I went towards it and saw it get larger and larger. Inside, it looked to be as large as a fifty meter long hallway. There were less snow near the cliff face so I made myself a shelter of cave in the middle of the area. I carved myself a cave structure with my Earth magic. It took hours to create myself a bedroom, common room and dining room. The rock was made of a special material that made it a bit hard to command it with my magic. I had decided to leave detecting the mana until after I was able to live here. Having finished my new home, I had to think of what to eat. I didn¡¯t see any animals nor any plants so I had to create them. I decided to form myself a pig with Form magic and I inserted it with different types of mana. Earth, water, wind as well as holy mana I inserted and created a plant creature that looked like a pig. It was inedible and leaked a strange green blood that I had to clean up and so I threw it outside my cave. Holy, water, wind, and form mana I inserted next and it became an ice sculpture that looked like a pig that seemed to split apart and make another copy of it. Seeing it as a failure, I again threw it out. After two tries, I was already running out of mana even if I tried to manage it completely. I tried one more time and this time I added Holy, water, wind, and spirit. The pig I created with Form magic then turned into a healthy pinkish color but it still stood there. I killed it and red blood flowed out making me satisfied that I made a pig from mana. Of course, it couldn¡¯t move or anything and the killing of it made me think of a slaughterhouse. After killing it, I merely burned it as I had no experience in preparing an animal to be eaten. I cooked it until I had thought it was enough with my fire magic and ate heartily. There was no taste as I ate the pig but it was to be expected since it was the first time I cooked a live animal. After eating my fill, since I made more pigs and experimented on them. I was actually able to make a pig that tasted like goat. That made me confused as to how it happened but this made me have an idea of making easy to form food to taste like anything I want. After my experiments, I felt the mana around me with Spatial Recognition. The rocks were filled with Water mana and Earth mana with Fire mana gathering below it. After observing for a while, the Fire mana suddenly burst and replaced the Water mana. The air around me also changed to become hotter and when I went outside I saw the mountain leak magma again. I felt the mountain and I was able to notice that there was a balance of Water mana, Earth mana, and Fire mana all around me. The magma in the mountain was superheated earth from the top of the mountain that melted down and made the mountain much thicker when it cooled down. Then the fire mana inside makes the mountain thinner as it heats the summit and the cycle repeats. The mountain was an environment of extreme cold and extreme heat in a cycle of renewal. I tried to imitate it so that I would be able to control the temperature within my own body. While I was in extreme cold, I would heat up my body from the inside and when I was in extreme heat, I would cool myself from the inside instead. I did this for days until it became second nature to me. It was already a month since the darkness left me alone in this wasteland. I was able to create a seed that could taste like any meat I wanted. I also was in the process of creating a seed that was very nutritious as I was a bit worried in that regard. My body stayed the same but it looked as if it was a bit more resilient to temperature changes. Like the darkness said, I didn¡¯t grow at all since my hair stayed exactly the same. I finished the seed that I was making. It was a green seed that I hoped would have all the nutrition needed for a human. Since I had no idea what mana would be the most beneficial I simply added Arcane and Nature since Arcana mana when added to things increases a specific ability or effect that one wants. Nature mana when added to things will increase the power of an effect. In this regard, I added Nature mana into the Arcane to increase the benefits the Arcane mana would add to the seed that had Water, Earth, and Wind mana. Since I had no better test subject, I ate the seed and immediately I felt a burst of power within myself. I felt strengthened from the seed, I felt my mana recovering at an extremely fast rate and my fatigue from sitting down disappeared. An empowerment seed, I thought, instead of a nutritional seed, I made an empowerment seed... it works I guess? I succeeded somehow, the results were not what I expected to happen but it should do something nutritionally since it empowers and I never felt any negative effects. I decided to then search around with my mana since the last time I did this was right before I started regulating my own temperature. The environment around me changed. It felt still the same wasteland and the mountain as well but now there was a mass of mana all around me. I slowly crept outside my own cave and saw them flying through the air. They were dragons! Dragons of a myriad of colors of blue, red, green, gold, silver and many others. When I looked to the ground there were also more dragons there. These dragons did not have wings like those in the sky but rather instead they had bulkier frames and even though they were far away, I could feel the shaking of the ground even if slightly. All of these were of course not of the Dragon race but rather looked like a group of greater and lesser dragons. Lesser dragons are as large as a small mansion but are more beast than men. Greater dragons are as small as a small hill and were of a higher intelligence than the lesser dragons. I watched them fly and climb the mountain ignoring the changing temperatures and making their homes within it. They were creating large caves for them to live in while those that can fly made caves as well as a area to land and take off. There was a clear separation of those that can fly near the top while those that cannot at the bottom. I went back into my cave and used Spatial Recognition to understand these dragons as much as I could. They stayed there for months and soon it would be nearing the time that the darkness will come back. During that time, I have had conflicts with the dragons. One time I was cooking a rather large pig as I was getting tired of eating seeds when a young lesser earth dragon visited my cave. It was large enough to only get its head inside of the cave as it tried to get the pig. This lesser Earth dragon had yellow brownish spikes and scales on its head. Its eyes were like large crystal balls as they stared at me. It had small fangs that leaked out of its large mouth. It saw me and the pig and it opened its mouth to lick its lips with its tounge. Feeling that I was going to be killed by this dragon I casted ¡°Earth Spikes¡± by manipulating mana in me as well as the surrounding mana. I learned to be able to use the mana around me when I wanted to cook the pigs. The Earth spikes that I casted came from all around the cave as it pierced the neck of the dragon. It roared as the spikes slowly dug into its scales but it wasn¡¯t enough. I then casted another spell ¡°Stop¡±. This was a time magic spell that I had not much proficiency in so it was only able to stop it for not even a second. But that was enough as it was stopped from struggling long enough for the spikes to get inside the scales. It roared and started thrashing about as it slowly died from the spikes killing it. It couldn¡¯t move anymore and just slowly died as it stared at me, it was unable to do anything as the spikes caused it to not be able to get its head out of the cave and that the cave was too small for it to try to get its claws inside. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. When it finally stopped thrashing, its head slumped down and died right in front of me. This was another creature that I had killed only this time I had no wounds as I was able to kill it from afar. I buried the dead dragon right where it was by using earth magic and fixed the spot that it had thrashed in. I went outside and saw that the dragons were actually living right where I was now. They all stared at me, large purple dragons that had scales that flared behind it. Large black dragons with veins of red all around it. More of those yellow earth dragons right in front of my cave and white bony dragons that flew in the air with their flimsy looking wings. Each dragon was staring at me and I knew that I had to run. There were hundreds of them and I had merely only killed one dragon due to luck. I ran back inside my cave and then they all started coming after me. I could feel the shock of the ground and I wondered why I wasn¡¯t able to hear them before. I was way inside the cave that I had no other way to run to and I could hear them tearing down the walls of the cave trying to get to me. Having no other way out, I started creating a new spell. I had to be able to affect a large area to get all of the dragons nearby. I had to make up a spell that would kill them as soon as possible once they were hit with it. I frantically thought of many different mana combinations and I settled on one. I clasped my hands together in front of me, both hands parallel to the ground then I combined Wind, Dark, Holy, Space mana and casted it. Furious winds gathered around my hands and small distortions could be seen within it, as if it was resonating with the raging winds. I slowly increased the space between my hands and more and more wind gathered and more and more distortions appeared still small in scale but more. My mana was draining at an alarming rate and when I almost had no more mana, I instantly clasped my hands together releasing the wind all around me. The cave walls slowly turned to dust revealing the surprised expressions of the dragons as well as glee to finding me. Their expressions turned to fear as they slowly disintegrated by some unknown force. Even the white dragons that were a hundred meters up in the air were affected and they too disintegrated. No sound was heard as they just disappeared quietly. It was a surreal experience as they died slowly without any knowledge of dying. This effect was different than the ¡°Disintegration¡± of void. Disintegration causes the target to break apart just like what I was seeing but it was different as what I was seeing now, even their voice was affected. This event made me think that each mana was interconnected. Even though I already knew that there was some connection between each of them, this just revealed to me that I had the possibility of recreating a specific affinity if I combine the right affinities. That was a couple months ago and soon it would be the time that the darkness would come. I¡¯ve been living underground since that incident, experimenting with the mana and creating my own new personal theories as well as spells. I had grown more powerful ever since the darkness left me here. I captured some dragons every now and then to experiment my newly created spells and I also created myself some armor as well as weapons from their bodies. For armor, I used their bones as well as scales to make myself lightweight but durable armor that protected me from their attacks. I had to use form magic to manipulate it as well as some Inner, Space, Time, Dark, Light, Holy, Arcane, and Nature mana. The armor itself was black in color, thanks to my Void magic in being able to separate the colors from the Earth dragon¡¯s scales, it covered nearly every part of my body from below my neck to my feet. Small blue spikes protruded from where I could bend my joints allowing me different ways to attack. For weapons, I made myself a sword and a crossbow with magic arrows. The sword was made from the bones of the Earth and black dragons which were Chaos dragons. The bones of Chaos dragons were too aggressive as when I had tried to make them into armor they started to contrict my body and I had to generate enough wind between me and the sides of it just to get out. The sword was small to fit my height and could reach my elbows if worn reverse grip. A line of red separated the bones of the Earth and Chaos dragons. The side of the Chaos dragon was sharp while the Earth dragon side was dull. In this way, the aggressive nature of the Chaos dragon will be able to deal much more damage than the Earth dragon¡¯s. A small pommel guard protected my wrist made also from the Earth dragon. The crossbow was half the usual size. The base was made from an Earth dragon¡¯s spine, the handle from its legs and the trigger from its fangs. It was also covered by the leathery skin of the Earth dragon. The limbs were made from a Wind and Holy Dragon¡¯s wings. Arrows are not needed as it was enchanted with Form magic to create light Chaos Dragonbone bolts. Each bolt would increase the strength of what it hits to the point that it starts breaking itself apart. Along with the bolts, I can also prepare magic to be released by this gun. The magic has to be sealed within the stock of the crossbow to have an affect. Currently, I prepared one of my own personal spells onto it called ¡°Haunter¡±. It was a combination of Dark, Nature, Chaos, Inner, and Spirit mana. Once cast, it would send out a fast moving orb of black mana that once it hits its target the target would start hallucinating and attack itself. The hallucination would be the target being devoured by what it fears the most and only being able to notice it and nothing else. Also with my armor, I enchanted it as well and it is able to absorb mana from all around me, increasing my own personal mana over the limit. The armor also allowed me to slow time for two seconds as each piece of armor only allowed me to slow time for a quarter of a second. The armor would also repair any small damage made to it which also allowed me to be able to change its size to fit me once I get older. Since my physical abilities were weak, the armor would allow me to be able to move quickly and safely because of the enchantments placed on it. The sword was also enchanted to be able to make my body move faster for as long as I keep pouring mana into it. For now though I could only keep it up for one second as the mana cost was too high. I was unable to find a way to reduce the mana cost during my experiments but perhaps I would be able to do so in the future. I had just tested another of my spells on a captured black dragon when I heard a large explosion outside. I ran outside of my underground retreat and saw that the mountain was gone as well as the dragons. ¡°You¡¯re alive,¡± said a voice all too similar from behind me. I looked behind me and saw the darkness once more. ¡°It seems you learned many things during this one year. One more should be enough and I will bring you back,¡± said the darkness as he changed the scenery once more. The wasteland turned into a grand arena like area. There were seats that stretched as far high as a thousand meters and I was right in the middle of a stage that was surrounded by these seats. The stage was filled with blood and the smell of death was apparent all around. The lighting was red just like the sky which had a hint of black all over it. Spikes ringed the hundred meter wide stage clearly meant to make sure that whoever was inside the stage could not get out. Bestial roars rang in the air and suddenly the seats were filled with shadows that had no form. Large shadows also appeared on the stage where I was, only instead of an innumerable amount, here there were nine of them. ¡°Welcome to the grandest and most famous form of entertainment that Hell can offer you! Welcome to the Hell Arena where your bloodiest, most gruesome fantasies are fulfilled and this is all thanks to your champions, the Nine Generals of Hell!¡± shouted the darkness as if he were a game show host. Cheers and applause rang from the shadow audience while the large shadows just stood there looking just like a mass of shadow with no form. ¡°Here is the challenger, Zed Rigel. Will he succeed the trial that the ruler of Hell has given him or will he disappoint and become just another part of the darkness?¡± continued the darkness that called itself the ruler of Hell. ¡°You mean, these large shadows were...¡± I started to say as I pointed to each one of them. ¡°Yes they were also in your position,¡± said the darkness joyfully, ¡°I am bored easily so this is my only form of entertainment. Do this and survive and we both will give each other what we want. Or else... I could use another shadow.¡± He started laughing from there and I just stared at the shadows and wished that I was fighting the dragons instead. -------------------------
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Chapter 26 - Opening Night ¡°Anyway¡±, said the darkness, ¡°these nine generals I¡¯ll give to you if you beat them all as your summons. I will also give you some things from Hell that you won¡¯t find anywhere else.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t know if I can trust you on that,¡± I said eyeing it. ¡°But there is no other way but to. Also, you may have not used your other summon as you wanted to train but for now you might want to use it.¡± I called Chronos out and he appeared back in his usual form right beside me. ¡°A timekeeper... not bad you might make this interesting then. Well enough talk! You will fight each general one at a time. When you subdue it, it becomes your new summon. After each fight, I will allow you to rest until you get ready. If you lose or die, I will turn you into one of my shadows,¡± it said while I imagined it sneering if it could. ¡°Ninth General of Hell, Galahad makes his appearance!¡± it shouted as it disappeared. I heard a rumble from behind me so I looked at it. One of the shadows that was surrounding me slowly changed from just a mass of shadow into some form and the shadows disappeared. It changed into a human covered in silver plate armor. All around him floated swords of different shapes and on his back were two large claymores. He wielded those claymores and took a stance facing the tip of the swords to me. ¡°Aren¡¯t they supposed to be mages!¡± I shouted. ¡°I changed them, his magic was good but not enough. So I made him use swords instead, he had the build for it so it just made sense,¡± answered the voice of the darkness. ¡°Anyway... Begin!¡± it shouted as large cheers and applause rang around me. Galahad leaped towards me and I immediately casted Assimilate and Merge on Chronos and ran away. I had barely dodged his sword swings when he got in range by dodging to the left. I turned around and saw that Galahad was already coming towards me. I shifted Galahad¡¯s time with my magic and my armor which allowed me to get inside Galahad¡¯s opened defenses. I slashed and stabbed my sword, which was like a dagger in size for now, at him but there didn¡¯t seem to be any effect. Having his speed back, Galahad dodged while bringing one of his swords to hit my exposed back. I used one of my new spells Magic Shield to block it. Magic Shield was a spell comprised of all the mana that I had complete control over and turning them into a spherical shield that surrounds me. It has complete defense to anything as it was built with multiple layers. The downside is that I was only able to use this spell for one second for a complete shield. The shield that I used was a manipulated Magic Shield as it only protected the area that his sword would hit, minimizing the mana that I had to use. Having blocked the blade, Galahad was now ten meters away from me and I started casting another of my spells, Distortion Binds. The space around me started to shift as strange colored chains appeared out of nowhere and sought out Galahad. Galahad tried to run away but he was caught. The chains bound him to the ground and made his arms unable to be used. Having been sure of my victory, I smiled but just then countless blades started pouring down at me. I had forgotten about his floating swords. I dodged and created walls out of the earth and Magic Shields as I couldn¡¯t slow down time around me so soon. Time and Space magic had restrictions of use, if I had used them consecutively I would have ripped the dimension apart causing something that I would not have been ready for. This knowledge was a result of my experiments with the dragons which caused the mountain to not have any more snow or fire. Galahad was freed because of his swords that continuously attacked the chains making me have to think of another way to beat him. He started running towards me and surrounded me with his swords. He inched closer and his floating swords also did. Then the all of the swords started glowing, then the swords started getting connected together encasing me in some kind of sword net. It was getting disastrous and so I had to use one of my self labeled ¡®Forbidden Spells¡¯. I started gathering the mana I needed all around me as I stretched my hands out as if courting death. The air slowly got colder and windier as I brought my hands to cross over my body. When my hands touched my body, the air got had a mixture of heat and cold and strong winds and then stillness. It was silent and quiet, I couldn¡¯t hear any of the swords or Galahad as he got near. When the silence was almost deafening, I spread my hands again and a massive explosion occurred with me right in the center. This was one of my ¡®Forbidden Spells¡¯, Primordial Burst. It gathered all the opposing elements and forced them to collide with each other at the final moment. This would then cause total destruction to a set area depending on the amount of opposing elements. When the dust settled, the arena was untouched and the shadows still remained, but Galahad was nowhere in sight. ¡°Sad to see you kill him but they don¡¯t die anyway so who cares! The winner of the first round is Zed Rigel!¡± said the voice. Boos rang out all around me as one of their generals just lost to a five year old kid. ¡°Galahad is now yours to command. His true form is actually a sword, he would be much better than that sword you have right now,¡± said the voice as the space distorted in front of me and a crimson sword appeared that would fit me just right. I took hold of it and I heard a deep strong voice say, ¡°I am Galahad, the Sword of Hell, use me as you see fit master.¡± I put my old sword into its sheathe and wielded Galahad. ¡°How will you be useful in a fight?¡± I asked Galahad. ¡°I have the ability to increase the might of your spells as well as your speed, master. While wielding me, I can also create swords to act as shields or as weapons to hit targets from afar.¡± I nodded thinking that my battle potential will have grown because of Galahad. ¡°I will now give you the option to rest or continue.¡± I thought about it but seeing that I haven¡¯t had any problems and that Chronos¡¯ assimilate and merge were still active I said, ¡°I can continue.¡± ¡°Alright then let the Eight General, Molx, make his appearance!¡± The shadow that was to the right of where Galahad had appeared from changed. The shadow grew in height to reach almost fifty meters as it took a large muscular broad shouldered humanoid upper body with a cloudy almost wispy lower body. The head had three eyes with one eye perpendicular to the other two in the middle. Its skin was blue and it had a white bushy beard. Golden rings lined his joints as his only clothing. ¡°Galahad what can you tell me about Molx?¡± ¡°Nothing, I have no idea master.¡± Molx raised its hands and sent out blue flames to rain around me. I dodged them all but the flames did not seem to emit heat. Suddenly, a fist appeared in front of me and I was punched all the way to the edge of the arena. Luckily, Galahad¡¯s swords appeared behind me just in time to stop me from hitting the spikes. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I stared at Molx and started running to him when it disappeared. I naturally slowed down but then I felt my whole body being burned and punched away again. I twisted in the air to look at the Molx that appeared behind me and extinguished the fire by lowering the temperature leaving behind my momentum for Galahad to stop. Sure enough, his swords caught me and I was safe again from being impaled. I finally figured out that Molx can teleport but sadly I had no way to battle against it just now. I casted a modified Spatial Recognition to keep on going until I stopped it just to be able to detect where Molx was. Sadly because of my modification, the freezing of space stopped working as well. Sure enough, Molx no longer could hit me with his punches. After several punches, Molx stopped trying to punch me and instead punched the ground. Cracks started snaking from the ground that he punched leading towards me. I jumped away from the cracks and fire erupted just from where I was. It broke the arena? Even one of my ¡®Forbidden Spells¡¯ wasn¡¯t enough to break it, I thought. Since the eruptions were easy to tell I was able to dodge fairly well. When nearly the whole arena was filled with these holes of fire, it stopped punching the ground and waited there unmoving. Thinking that this was my chance, I sent a wave of swords made by Galahad towards it. I infused these swords with my own Lightning Dragons making them much stronger. It smiled and brought its fist to pound the ground and instantly a strong rumbling resounded around the stage. In all of the holes, enormous pillars of black fire sprouted and devoured the swords that I sent towards it. These pillars then snaked down towards me and I lost a path to escape. Seeing the dangerous situation that I was in, I frantically started casting one my ¡®Emergency Only Spells¡¯. This included spells similar to the one when I killed all of those dragons before. I gathered Time, Water, Wind, Space, Void, Chaos, Arcane and Dark mana as I brought my right hand to look like I was about to grasp something. Within this hand small ice shards started to gather. A bright white mist started leaking out from my hands surrounding me in a cool embrace. Right before the fire pillars reached me, I closed my right hand which then released a cool gentle breeze for me but a disastrously cold and merciless wind to my targets. I targeted the fire and Molx so they would be the only ones hit by this spell I called, ¡°Ice Age¡±. The pillars froze and broke and started disappearing. The sight of it was beautiful as the world in front of me slowly broke and revealed the smiling face of Molx as well as its slow change into fear and anger as his attack didn¡¯t do anything to me. The merciless wind continued and slowly, ice spikes formed from where I was standing to all directions around me. Everywhere the spikes touched, it would be coated in ice. Molx tried to flee but he didn¡¯t have anywhere to go. Just like his pillars of fire from before, my Ice Age would hunt him down, freeze him and break him. Soon enough the whole Arena was covered in Ice but it didn¡¯t affect any of the other shadows. Molx had no where to run anymore and struggled to fight against the Ice Age. His body slowly turned to ice as he struggled making a very nice ice sculpture for me. I didn¡¯t have time to appreciate it because just as he was finally turned into an ice sculpture, he broke into tiny pieces leaving only a small brief wind and the remnants of ice that had trapped his feet. The ice slowly melted and was absorbed by the Arena. It also got repaired back into how it was before Molx made cracks on it. When the Arena was finally back to how it was the darkness said, ¡°The winner is Zed Rigel!¡± More boos came and some shadow orbs came flying into the arena but was prevented from coming in by some strange shield that I never noticed. ¡°Why do you keep on completely destroying my shadows?¡± asked the darkness as if it was pouting. ¡°Because they want to kill me.¡± ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll give you a day¡¯s rest to take a look at your new summons. That being said, you cannot leave the arena.¡± As he said that the shadows disappeared, leaving me alone in the arena. ¡°Molx is now your new summon. Molx¡¯s true form is a ring similar to Galahad. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± ¡°I, Molx, am the Gatekeeper of Hell. Use me as you see fit master,¡± Molx said in a gentle tenor of a voice as a ring appeared and landed in my palms. The ring had a black diamond gem on the top while red chains in the form of a double-helix looped around it. ¡°Molx what is it that you can do?¡± ¡°I am able to command the spatial vectors of the world. I can make them converge and separate. This is what allowed me to break the Arena even if slightly. The flames I use are cosmic flame. By having me as a summon, I give you the ability to use pure Space mana as well as command over the cosmic flame.¡± I was impressed at the ability of Molx. Molx had great potential when it comes to fighting whether in close range or far away. Since I now had two more summons, my rank would have increased but I was too tired to do so right now. I wanted to go to sleep as I have had two fights back to back. Since I couldn¡¯t leave the Arena, I made myself a home from the ground beneath me. It took longer than it should to make a simple one room house as the ground was not exactly made of pure Earth mana. It was chaotic and there was some parts of it that was just bizarre and demonic. I guessed that it was the demonic energy that exists that I have no control over and just made sure that the house I made was built out of mana only. The house was simple enough that it only had one room and a small dining room. Since it was too small, Chronos had to stay outside. Inside, I made more of those seeds which I will now call Battle Seeds and placed them in a bowl on the table. After exhausting my mana I felt exhausted a bit but I still had some stamina. I wondered a bit about that and thought, Is there a way for me to convert my stamina into mana? It¡¯s the same kind of energy only stamina is like physical energy and mana is similar to mental energy. Having no other thing to go on, I tried to convert my physical energy to mental energy. Nothing was happening as I didn¡¯t even know what the correct flow was. Giving up on the idea for now and thinking of asking Malakir about it when I came back, I went to go to sleep on the bed. -------------------------
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Chapter 27 - Gifts, Battles, and Rewards oh my! I woke up and saw that there was a dark red sky outside. I didn¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve been sleeping but at the very least I was rested. Since I had no need of the old sword that I had, I made sure to make some gifts to give Sasha, Kaiser, and Alex. Arthur is strong enough that I don¡¯t need to give him anything. The dark red sky turned into a brighter shade of red when I had finished. I made Alex a necklace with the power to heighten his senses as well as make his body much more durable. The necklace was made of the earth around me and I managed to add some dragon bones to it. In the end, the necklace had a claw shaped pendant that had a black luster on it. For Kaiser, I made him two bracers similar to mine. he bracers would resist magic used on him to a certain degree and would also suppress poison or disease. It¡¯s not complete immunity but just a stronger one. The bracers would also allow him to use Holy magic to a much stronger degree. I designed the bracers to look and feel exactly like his skin so that no one would be able to tell that they were there. I had a hard time deciding what to give Sasha. I knew that I was going to give her the best one that I could possibly make right now but I had no idea as to the form that I would give her. I at least knew that I would give her something that increased the power of Holy magic, protect her from a sure death, and something that would summon the nearby spirits to aid her. I had the capability but I was bothered as to the form. I could give her a ring, but that would not work exactly right. It came down to a decision between a bracelet and a necklace. The bracelet won the debate and I made one to look like it had golden filigree as a chain and it had a rose design. I ate a Battle seed to recover my mana and talked with my new summons. The most useful merge was with Chronos as he was able to allow me to slow down time. With my armor, I¡¯m much more able to make sure that I avoid the most dangerous of hits. Molx had the most useful assimilate as the power increase was much more compared to Chronos. Galahad actually was much better but if I Assimilate with Galahad, I lose the chance of having Galahad summon infinite swords. It also did make me lose Galahad as a weapon so I decided that until I get another sword, I would continue using the sword I made. I had finally reached the Intermediate level but I can¡¯t use the new spell for summoning. I can¡¯t just create a spell for it because the spells of an affinity uses pure mana of the particular magic. I can recreate the effects but for magic like summoning, it will be much weaker. The same can be said for pure Inner, Spirit, Void, Form, Healing, Holy, Chaos, Ethereal, Time and Space. The others can be recreated and still be in full power but any of the other affinities and it had to be purely that mana or else it will not be as powerful. It was an hour after I had finished making things for my friends when the house I made disappeared and the darkness appeared beside me. ¡°Stop playing house... its boring, fight the shadows it¡¯s a lot more fun,¡± said the darkness. The shadow audience appeared once more and the seven remaining generals slowly appeared. ¡°Now then, the Seventh General, Cassiopeia, makes her appearance!¡± shouted the darkness after they all fully formed just as yesterday. A shadow to my left slowly grew and revealed a large four legged silver scaled monster with spiky tails and a long scaly neck that arched up to show a dragon head. As this spectacle was happening, I used Assimilate on Galahad, Merge on Chronos, Spatial Recognition, and Advent. I was going to go at them in full power from here on out. ¡°Begin!¡± shouted the darkness as it disappeared. I jumped forward dodging her tail as it surged towards me. She reared back her head and breathed fire. I froze the fire with my temperature control spell, Tempera. Having extinguished the fire I used, Ice Age. Since I had Advent on me, all of my spells were always primed for use and I wanted to end this quickly. The ground around me slowly turned into ice and she became an ice sculpture. Just as the ice was about to break, she broke free and was just about to bite me when I Shifted her and slowed her down with my armor. I had Molx make Cosmic Flames surround my sword as I cut off her neck, killing her. The body shuddered a bit and I looked at the cut. Instantly it separated and it grew two more heads. A Hydra! I quickly dodged the attacks of the two new heads. One of them breathed fire while the other poison gas. The combination of the two burned me a bit but I was saved since my armor was made from the bones of dragons, it was naturally resistant to fire. Seeing that my magic had no effect on her and that cutting off her neck is a bad idea, I had to quickly find a way to kill her while dodging all of her attacks. As the tail came for another swing at me, I slashed at it which successfully cut it off. But just as soon as I did, it grew two more which knocked me flying to the edge of the Arena, about to hit one of the spikes. Molx saved me just in time by bending the space of the spike making me avoid the sharp spike which might have resulted in my death. Since also her tail could regrow I had to sheathe my sword as I was afraid of what else might grow if I also cut if off. I was able to dodge much faster but this fight would not go anywhere if I couldn¡¯t kill her. Having no other recourse, I pulled out my crossbow and held it in both hands. I didn¡¯t know if this would work but it should since the spell that the crossbow will release is much faster and stronger than the one that I could cast. I dodged a tail swipe to my feet by jumping. Then another one aimed at me by slowing it down and creating an air cushion to jump off from. A head was about to bite into me but I used a Magic Shield to push it away. Then came another head and I aimed my crossbow at its open mouth. I pulled the trigger, knowing that my fate would rest on what happens next. I was pulled back because of the recoil and a large orb of purple energy erupted and flew straight into her open mouth. The mouth swallowed it and was just shy of hitting me as the recoil allowed me to dodge it. I landed on the ground softly and kneeled on the ground. I looked up and saw the hydra slowly moving towards me, eyeing its prey as it smacked its two sets of lips. Its over, I thought, but just then the hydra looked like it¡¯d seen a ghost. It looked at its body and breathed out poison gas and fire which didn¡¯t do anything. It then started biting itself over and over as the parts regrew. It even bit one of its heads off but then the head just regrew and it continued eating and whacking itself with its tail over and over. Hours passed by as I stood there watching the hydra tried to kill itself. It now had 144 legs, 200 tails and 500 heads. It had grown to heavy for it to stand and so it just laid there as it mutilated itself. I had grown to be scared of the spell Haunter. The sight in front of me as it kept on going for hours is now ingrained into my head as the most gruesome sight to behold. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The hydra¡¯s body was then surrounded by darkness and it disappeared. The darkness then appeared in front of me and said, ¡°... you broke her.¡± ¡°You broke the Broodkeeper of Hell... There is no turning back for her anymore... she can¡¯t do her job as a General so we shall now use her as food from now on.¡± I shrugged and he said, ¡°For the feat of breaking one of the general¡¯s of hell... I will give you her egg.¡± A large silver egg drifted in front of me as it appeared out of nowhere. ¡°This will give birth to a summon that grows along with you, but it will only hatch once you are out of here. Since you still have some fights, I will keep hold of this until you win. Also her form when she hatches will be up to you.¡± The egg then disappeared into tiny white dust. ¡°We will continue. The Sixth General of Hell, Shiade, makes his appearance!¡± One of the shadows became as tall as the average human but this one had wings. He had black armor with black wisps of smoke coming out of the slits of his eyes as well as the joints. His wings were black as night as he used them to fly in the air. He had no weapon but his gloves had claws. He swooped down from the air and just as he was about to hit me I slowed down time but he was still coming in fast. I was barely able to dodge his claws but I felt the pain of being scratched. I had dodged his attack by a hairsbreadth but I still felt the pain and blood oozed from inside my armor. It ignored the armor, I thought as I quickly applied healing magic as I ran away. I then casted Tempest, a spell made from Wind, Nature, Arcane, Chaos, Dark, Light and Spirit mana. The spell would create massive tornadoes that would not interefer with each other¡¯s strength but rather increase them. As they touched the ground, lightning jumped from tornado to tornado as each one hit the flying Shiade. His flight would be adversely affected within the storm of the tornado while it avoided affecting me. Shiade was tossed all around as he was hit with the lightning as he steeled himself and flew straight towards me. He looked as if he was riding the winds and I had to do something. I used Distortion Binds to stop him in midair and had Molx use Cosmic Fire to travel the chains towards him. The fire burned Shiade as lightning struck him and charred him to death. Seeing that he was well burnt, I was suddenly hit from behind me and when I twisted, I saw Shiade in perfect health with both claws in an x-pattern. Blood oozed from my back inside the armor and I healed myself as I was pushed forward a bit. The Tempest had already died down and he was finally able to fly freely in the air again. He swopped down towards me one more time and I readied my gun and shot at him. He dodged it and kept on coming closer as I kept on shooting. When he was close enough I slashed at him again but he dodged but then the Assimilate and Merge broke so I Assimilated with Chronos and merged with Molx. I had Galahad surround us with swords pointing towards Shiade and I coated them all with Cosmic Fire. I jumped away and ate one of the Battle Seeds as I was about to run out of mana as Shiade was shish-kebabed by thousands of flaming swords. I distorted the space around Shiade with one of the skills Molx¡¯s merge granted me, Distortion. It was effective as I was able to feel with my Wind Sight and Distortion that he was trying to get away by using something. Having been unable to keep up the distortion, Shiade was able to get away but not after suffering countless burns and stab marks. He was still able to move but he looked much weaker now. We ran towards each other, me with my sword out and him with his claws extended outward as we were surrounded by Galahad¡¯s countless swords once more. I dodged his right swipe by bending down and I stabbed towards his chin. He pulled his head back and swiped with his left. I blocked it with a Magic Shield and used Distortion Binds on him as the swords flew towards us. He was trapped but he still put up a struggle as some of the binds broke and I used Cosmic Fire on him. He screamed from the pain as I jumped back and he was stabbed again and again. I cast the spell, Cursed Empowerment on him. It gathered large amounts of Chaos mana and small amounts of Dark, Inner and Spirit mana. This spell would increase his power by several times but it would come at the cost of a lifespan of nearly ten seconds. The empowerment this spell caused was the strongest that I had observed and also the most disastrous. His screams became louder as his body got stronger at the same time as his pain perception got sharper. He didn¡¯t last two seconds when his shouts finally died and all that was left was a charred corpse. ¡°The winner, once more, is Zed Rigel!¡± shouted the darkness as it appeared.I ignored the boos from the audience and listened to what the darkness had to say. ¡°Shiade is now your new summon and his true form is an eye. He will now bond to one of your eyes so that he can exist outside of hell. My creatures are fragile after all.¡± As it said that the charred corpse slowly changed into dust and it all flowed directly into my right eye. I screamed at the pain that my right eye was experiencing but then after a few minutes it stopped and I heard a voice say, ¡°I am Shiade, Watcher of Hell. I am now yours to command master.¡± ¡°What can you do?¡± I asked. ¡°What I see, you also see. I see the truth of the world and can bend these truths. What once was true is now false and what once was false is now true.¡± I nodded as I looked towards the ground. I could see the Earth mana now and not just see it with my Spatial Recognition. I could actually see it with my own eyes as it flowed from one point to another. I could also see Earth mana with a sinister movement to it. Earth mana usually flowed solidly and orderly but this one was erratic and moved wherever it wanted. That must be the Demonic Earth Malakir was talking about, I thought. ¡°Now we begin the next match!¡± ¡°Wait I haven¡¯t rested!¡± I argued. ¡°What once was true is now false and what once was false is now true,¡± the darkness said repeating what Shiade had just told me. ¡°This is not fair!¡± I shouted eating one of the seeds. ¡°Its not. I¡¯m just bored and those seeds of yours can keep you going for a long time. Mind giving me one to use for my harem?¡± the darkness asked as one of the shadows changed. ¡°The Fifth General, Marduk, the Gladiator of Hell, makes his appearance!¡± -----------------------------
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Chapter 28 - Spirit of Hell One of the shadows grew shorter until it was the height of an average human. Marduk had white hair, moustache and beard. His eyes looked solemn and old. He wore a tallow robe with red stripes. ¡°I am Marduk,¡± he said. ¡°Begin!¡± shouted the darkness. I jumped towards him with my sword ready to slash through his torso, but he stopped it with his hands. ¡°Child, I do not wish to fight,¡± he said. ¡°Why should I believe you?¡± I said as I cast Distortion Binds, pulled my sword, and ran away. The chains avoided him as he stood there and said, ¡°Because I still retain my humanity.¡± He walked slowly towards me and I tensed. I readied my sword in front of me and prepared to cast spells once he showed any hostility. ¡°I tire of being his plaything; I submit,¡± he said bowing. I raised my eyebrows at this, and the darkness said, ¡°Really...? After all this time, this is what you give me?¡± ¡°My fate after this fight is clear: I will lose my humanity and become an obedient lapdog to my new master. But I could not kill a child no matter what,¡± he said, continuing to bow. ¡°... You were the hardest to bind... Fine have it your way... The winner is Zed! Oh and by the way as a punishment for you Marduk. I am sealing your full power until Zed can get rid of it.¡± As he said that, Marduk turned into small glowing countless white orbs that combined to form a necklace. It was made of gold and the pendant was a skull on top of a shield. ¡°He¡¯s yours,¡± said the darkness as I put the necklace on. ¡°Because of how short that fight was, I present, the Third and Fourth Generals!¡± Two shadows turned into giant beasts. One of them became a giant black furred wolf with lightning jumping from its spiky fur, gold eyes and sharp claws. The other was a giant greater black dragon with red menacing eyes and four large wings with blotches of red. The dragon flew in the air as its forked tail drifted back and forth. ¡°The Fourth General, Fenrir and the Third General, Midgar! Begin fighting!¡± As he said that, Fenrir, the wolf, launched forward so fast that I had barely enough time to block with Magic Shield and slow down time. As that was happening, Midgar slapped his tail at my side, forcing me to fly away. Galahad caught me with his swords again, but I still felt the impact; I was going too fast. I twisted around and was already surrounded by swords blocking the attacks from the two generals. Fenrir jumped back and looked to be about to howl, but instead, lightning gathered near his mouth and shot straight towards me. It snaked through the swords and electrocuted me. Paralyzed from the lightning, Midgar breathed fire burning my body. When I was finally able to move, I was still covered by the fire. When it stopped, I was assaulted again with lightning. It continued on and on. I was about to die when I managed to cast Primordial Burst. The attacks stopped, which caused me to kneel down, and I quickly ate a seed. My wounds healed and I no longer felt the pain. I looked up and Midgar and Fenrir were uninjured. I cast Tempest and Ice Age at the same time. Midgar was blown everywhere and Fenrir was frozen and electrocuted at his spot. As that was going on, I cast another spell, Wrath of Lightning ¨C Lance. This created a giant fifty meter long, ten meter high and ten meter wide lance made entirely out of lightning. Intricate designs of lightning covered it from end to end. I aimed the lance at Midgar and fired it. Several sonicbooms resounded and instantly hit him. Lightning assaulted him over and over, inside and outside, until he fell from the skies, hitting Fenrir. Midgar¡¯s corpse disintegrated and Fenrir was released from his frozen state. He stared at me with rage and launched at me but he was already pierced by another of my spells, Wrath of Earth ¨C Lance. Right after launching the first lance at Midgar I had already creted this lance to strike at Fenrir. This lance was of the same size as the first one but it had no ornate designs. It was purely a giant piece of earth in the form of a giant lance that struck fear and killed its targets. Fenrir¡¯s body exploded from the speed and power that the lance brought, leaving his remains as blotches of red on the ground. ¡°You¡¯re very vicious; I want you so bad. Winner is Zed once more!¡± said the darkness. ¡°Their true forms are armor that can change to how you want. They can even be clothes if that is what you wish.¡± I chose Fenrir to turn into boots and gloves because of his lightning speed and Midgar as an armor with a cape. Looking at myself, I was slowly becoming much more powerful. I replaced my self-made armor with Midgar and Fenrir. Midgar became a black plate armor with blue edges and an ornately designed black cape with a dragon imprinted on the back. Fenrir became blue plated boots and gloves with small claws. I looked very menacing; the only thing remaining was a helmet. ¡°Now then, we move on to the second General: Necro, Spirit of Hell.¡± One of the remaining shadows stayed as it was¨Cdark and menacing¨Conly now it shaped itself into something similar to what I thought death looked like. It held out its skeletal hand and a giant ominous scythe appeared. Having no time to familiarize myself with my new summons, I told them to help me as much as they could when the darkness said, ¡°Begin!¡± Necro swung his scythe on the ground, which created a black rip. From that rip, skeletons with a dark purple glow rose. Each one carried either a sword, axe, lance, staff, or bow. He kept on swinging around until I was completely surrounded by hundreds of skeletons ranging from human size to giant dragon size. ¡°Each skeleton has immunity to magic, Master,¡± said Shiade. ¡°Master, release us, we will be able to help keep the skeletons at bay,¡± said Midgar. ¡°Master, assimilate with me Chronos, and merge with Fenrir. Our abilities will be the most compatible in this situation,¡± said Chronos. ¡°I, Galahad, will remain here to protect you,¡± said Galahad. ¡°I recommend releasing Midgar, Shiade, and Molx,¡± said Fenrir. ¡°Trust us master,¡± said Molx. ¡°Release. A spell that only a master summoner can do. You are powerful enough. You need no teacher for this spell. Trust is the most important thing,¡± said Marduk. ¡°Master...¡± said Chronos. I nodded and felt everything around me. My summons support me even though I defeated them. The mass of skeletons inched closer and closer. I felt a bond between myself and my summons and I leeched onto it. Feeling that I was doing the right thing, I pulled more and more until I shouted, ¡°Release!¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Suddenly loud cries rang through the air. Midgar flew in the sky, only this time he had a silver sheen around him. Shiade joined him in the sky, also with a silver sheen. Molx towered above me next to Galahad. Chronos was in his Golem form. Fenrir was crouching in front of me ready to strike. Marduk stood next to me, his hands clasped. All of my summons appeared and they each had a silver sheen or aura on them. A thin line of this aura connected them all to my own silver aura. Fortunately, their appearance didn¡¯t leave me without their true forms. ¡°Release is a spell that reveals our battle form to aid you. This silver sheen or aura you see is Link. A passive ability only Sage ranked summoners have. It strengthens everyone that is connected to the master. The more links there are, the more powerful everyone gets. If the master is injured, the damage is split between all of his summons,¡± said Marduk beside me. ¡°Leave your protection to us, concentrate on defeating Necros,¡± said Marduk as he led me to climb up Fenrir¡¯s back, ¡°I¡¯ll coordinate their efforts. My power is sealed for now so this is all that I can do.¡± A roar pierced the atmosphere and fighting clashed around us. I saw Midgar fighting in the sky with five skeletal dragons. Shiade was darting in and out of the mass of skeletons everywhere. Molx teleported everywhere causing disturbances and fire pillars. Chronos moved very quickly and gracefully for a golem, killing several skeletons at a time. I assimilated with Chronos and another link was established between us. I merged with Fenrir and the same thing happened. I looked at Marduk and he said, ¡°While released, they do not go within you. And you should be able to assimilate with another one as well.¡± I assimilated with Galahad who was protecting us from attacks nearby. When the link was established, I urged Fenrir to lead us to Necros. Necros kept on swinging his scythe on the ground, endlessly creating skeletons when he saw us. He swung his scythe directly toward the ground and a massive rip opened toward us. Fenrir dodged out of the way as Galahad dealt with the skeletons and I cast Lightning Dragons. I couldn¡¯t use any massive spells, as it might hit my summons. The spell passed through him as if he were never there, and skeletons with robes appeared from the rip he made. These skeletons stabbed the ground with their staves and more skeletons appeared from where the ground had been stabbed. ¡°Only Spirit or Inner magic will work on Necros,¡± shouted Marduk in my head. Cursing my luck that I had no readied Spirit or Inner magic, Fenrir kept running around, dodging the attacks of the skeletons and killing them while keeping track of Necros. Necros started attacking us with green energy waves every time he swung his scythe. Continuing our evasion, I tried to think up spells that would affect Necros. I have to think of something that only hits the spirit. Demoralizing will not work and what is the spirit made of anyway!, I thought. Necros stopped attacking and reared back its head. ¡°Not good!¡± shouted Marduk in my head. A reverberating scream echoed in the arena. It made me scream. It felt like my brain was being melted from the inside. I heard roars and screams all around me as my summons were also affected. They stopped what they were doing and dropped to the ground. Midgar and Shiade crushed some of the skeletons when they fell. We were all incapacitated when the screaming stopped and the skeletons kept coming once more. We all suffered their attacks for a few seconds while we got control of our body back and retaliated. I healed everyone¡¯s wounds, but it didn¡¯t do much to our situation. We were in trouble if Necros screamed like that every chance he could get. Hoping that it would work, I healed one of the skeletons and his body burnt itself and became a pile of ashes. Seeing that healing spells might defeat Necros, I set about trying to think of massive area healing. Gathering the necessary mana of Healing, Holy, Nature, Water, and Wind, I raised my hands in the air and cast the new spell, ¡°Heaven¡¯s Rain!¡±. The red sky turned bright white as if we were no longer in Hell but rather in Heaven. Bright white rain drops fell from the clear white sky. Clouds did not form in the air but drops of healing water rained down. My summons and I felt relieved and healed but I felt that my mana was running out. Fortunately, it affected the skeletons and burned them all to ashes. Necros was shielded with his black robe but he couldn¡¯t move. At least he stopped moving, I thought, I need a spirit attack. I concentrated Healing, Holy, Light and Spirit mana into my outstretched right hand that targeted Necros. A large white orb containing smaller winged orbs formed in the palm of my hand. I exhausted all of my mana into this one spell that I was creating: Holy Spirit Bolt. I launched the bolt at Necros when my mana was exhausted. It traveled at a speed comparable to an arrow towards him but Necros didn¡¯t move. As it got closer to Necros, I could see that he was a skeleton in the inside. It made sense now. He couldn¡¯t move because the rain would hurt him, and the only reason he was unhurt was because of the robes he wore. The bolt hit him and his whole body burst into blue flames, burning the bones as well as the robe. He let out a paralyzing scream and he threw all caution to the wind and flew straight at me with his scythe. We couldn¡¯t move as he swung his scythe, bathed in flames, toward my body. I couldn¡¯t do anything but stare at him with half closed eyes. When he was too close, I had to look down because it was too bright and then all I heard was a scream. --------------------------
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Chapter 29 - Archdemon of Hell Silence. The arena fell quiet, not a single decibel of sound could be heard. I opened my eyes and saw that I was safe. I looked up and saw green dust on the floor. I smiled but then pain came from my right cheek. I moved my right hand towards it and felt it sting. I winced and looked at my right hand. There was black dust and blood. ¡°Necros died just as the tip of his scythe hit you master,¡± said Marduk. My summons gathered all around me, each one unhurt because of my healing. ¡°The winner is Zed...¡± said that darkness. And I thought I heard him say, ¡°and here I thought I would have another plaything...¡± ¡°Necros is now yours. Just like before choose his form and then we can begin the final fight.¡± I chose Necros¡¯ form as a mask. It was obsidian in color and it covered only the left side of my face. The right side was left open because I thought this was much better looking. I wore the mask and I heard a omninous voice say, ¡°I am Necros, the Spirit of Hell, I am yours to command master.¡± ¡°What can you do?¡± ¡°I control all the spirits of the dead, those that die and wander the world. I am death incarnate.¡± ¡°Is controlling the dead a Spirit magic?¡± I asked. ¡°Not necessarily. Spirit magic controls the spirits in non-living beings. Necromancy, a type of special affinity, controls the spirits of living beings.¡± ¡°Special affinity?¡± ¡°Understandable that you do not know. Special affinities are irregular affinities that cannot be categorized within the known system. They are also the one affinity that can only be gained through one¡¯s bloodline or in your case, master, by subduing one such as myself.¡± ¡°I do mean to be rude so I want to start the next fight. Presenting, the one you all have been waiting for! Witness our pride, our strength as our mightiest General, Abaddon, the Archdemon of Hell, takes the stage!¡± said the darkness. The last remaining shadow shuddered at his name. His form twisted and churned as his body grew to an astonishing 100 meter tall. Fire sprang up from his right arm and lightning on his left. Ice formed on his left leg while rocks swirled on his right. Muscles rippled all over his red body that was clothed in scarlet red and obsidian black armor. The armor was menacing as faces of all the races of the world appeared and disappeared endlessly. His face had a war crazed look as he smiled showing his fangs. His eyebrows were furrowed as his eyes looked pleased at the slaughter it would see. Ten horns grew from his head, each one getting longer the farther back it went. Black, menacing energy appeared all over his body every now and then making his form even more menacing. ¡°Master, each element can switch spots. The ice on his left leg can switch with the fire on his right arm. Only by using the opposing magic can we even hope to injure him,¡± said Molx. ¡°Not to mention he uses Demonic energy,¡± said Marduk. ¡°Demonic energy?¡± I asked. ¡°It is different from mana that magicians use,¡± said Necros. ¡°Its of the same principle as mana but the spells it creates are much more destructive,¡± said Galahad. ¡°He will most likely use Chaos magic the whole time,¡± said Molx. I was about to ask but Fenrir said, ¡°Demonic energy can use Chaos magic to its fullest. There is no repercussion in using it.¡± ¡°I will make sure that master knows where to hit,¡± said Shiade. ¡°Master please use the Lord-ranked summoning spell, Adapt,¡± said Midgar. ¡°It should be the same as when master used, Release correct?¡± asked Chronos. ¡°Yes, master please do so now,¡± said Marduk as the darkness yelled, ¡°Begin!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll hold him off!¡± shouted Midgar as he and Shiade flew into the air. Molx, and Necros, who I had already released, jumped forward to help Midgar and Shiade. Fenrir, Marduk, Galahad and I were left behind as I tried to cast the Adapt. I felt the bond once more and instead of leeching it, I imagined myself becoming one with it. I thought that this would be how I should go about it because of the name of the spell. I felt my body get hotter and hotter as I heard rocks crashing on the ground, the crackle of lightning and the explosions of ice and fire. When the heat was gone and I felt myself at peace, I cast the spell Adapt. Instantly my body felt powerful and the link between myself and my summons grew brighter and seemed to get thicker. ¡°Adapt is a lower version of Takeover, it does not match it for now but it is a better option,¡± said Marduk. I nodded and shouted, ¡°Lets take care of him!¡± Fenrir growled and we all headed to join the fray. ¡°Master left foot is now fire!¡± said Shiade through our link. I cast Frozen Orb, a normal Water Ball filled with Wind mana, at his left leg as per Shiade¡¯s information. Just before the orb hit Abaddon¡¯s left leg, fire sprouted out and he screamed. Ice spikes then hit the left leg as well and I looked to where it came from. Necros had summoned his legion of skeleton mages and scattered them all over the arena in groups. Each group struck different body parts with the opposing elements while Necros himself sent his green energy waves at Abaddon¡¯s torso. Abaddon roared and the dark energy gathered all around him healing his wounds. He reared back his arms and the dark energy gathered there. He then brought his arms down towards us and released the dark energy which turned into countless fire balls. I cast Ice Age at those fire balls but it didn¡¯t have any effect. We all dodged the fire balls as they fell and exploded. I had to rely on slowing down time just so that we could escape unharmed as Galahad could not block each one. We were all scattered around the arena, running around and dodging when Abaddon gathered the dark energy once more and made it rain down toward us in small amounts. Each energy amount then turned into swords bathed in flames, surrounded by ice, or coated in lightning. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Abaddon kept on raining death towards us, not giving us any time to counterattack or regroup. He¡¯s toying with us!, I thought. I steadied myself on Fenrir and said in our link, ¡°I need to do something, keep him from hitting me.¡± ¡°Yes master,¡± said my summons and then they all used everything they could to protect me. Galahad made sure that I was protected by his swords, Fenrir made sure to keep on running, and the one most useful was Necros, who created shields of skeletons. The rest of them did the best they could, but they were not as successful as the other three. While they were doing that, I was thinking of how to recreate the result that ended up turning the Mountain of Frost and Fire into a normal mountain. Steeling myself for what may come, I cast Time Stop all around me. This spell caused everyone and everything except for myself to stop for as long as I want. Seeing that my mana was running out, I then cast Slow, Accelerate, Distortion Binds, Reverse, Bend, and Shift all in order at Abaddon. I ran out of mana and the world moved once more and I saw that the Abaddon was feeling the effects of the spells that I used. He looked surprised at the number but he was either stupid or as war-crazed as I thought he was when he moved his arm. This triggered the space around him to change. Cracks started appearing in the air around him and he looked at them curiously. The cracks widened and began devouring him. His whole body was being ripped apart as it was being sucked into at least ten different cracks that appeared all around him. He screamed and he sent his demonic energy towards the cracks but no matter what he did it did not work. The cracks were dimensional cracks that could not be repaired unless it was left alone. This is the result of using many Time and Space magic at once. The first time I saw this result, the Mountain of Fire and Frost lost all of the Fire, Water and Wind mana it had leaving only Earth mana. Abaddon stepped forward and more cracks appeared. My summons and I went as far away as possible from him, watching him and making sure that he didn¡¯t make any cracks in time-space near us. He ignored the cracks as he continued attacking us, trying to take us down with him, I thought. We retaliated by attacking from afar. Midgar breathed fire balls, Fenrir created that Black Lightning strike again. Galahad sent countless swords to rain upon him and Molx used his Cosmic Flames. Necros with his newly created army, attacked just like us. Necros with his green energy and his skeleton mages doing the same thing they were earlier. Soon enough, Abaddon reached his limit and he started to fall down. Right before he fell to the ground, a large rip in space formed under him and swallowed him whole. The rip kept on swallowing even the air around it, dragging us along slowly to be swallowed up. Fortunately, the larger the rip, the faster it repairs itself and it closed up after a few minutes. All the cracks having been sealed on their own, finally made the arena come to another silence. ¡°The winner, unfortunately, is Zed! Abaddon is now yours. Like before his form is your choosing but it can only be a weapon.¡± I made Abaddon to be a four legged crossbow that could spin along a circular ring. Each leg was able to store one type of mana in the Primordial affinity. The more and longer it spins the more powerful the arrows it shoots. Sadly it can only shoot one at a time but its still very powerful. I can also add an effect to the arrow, if I put Fire mana it will burn the target; Water freezes; Earth stuns; and Wind hits the target before he even notices. The legs were made of Abaddon¡¯s horns, the trigger his claw and the base was made of Demonic Earth. ¡°I am now yours to command master. My knowledge of Demonic Energy is yours to control,¡± said Abaddon with a gruff voice. ¡°Now that you defeated my generals, how about fighting my lords?¡± asked the darkness expectantly. ¡°No, no more, I need to go back,¡± I said resolutely as I holstered Abaddon. ¡°But going back is so boring! Stay here and kill more things for my enter- I mean for your growth!¡± ¡°I am going back,¡± I repeated.¡°Alright fine,¡± said the darkness, ¡°Dismiss your summons, it will cancel the Release.¡± I dismounted from Fenrir and had them all disappear and be on me again and he said, ¡°We begin.¡± A bright purple light surrounded me as I looked down and when I looked back at the darkness again, I asked, ¡°Who are you really?¡± The light intensified as the darkness changed shape into a human looking figure and said, ¡°I am your-¡± I never got to hear the last words as I was suddenly back at the forest that Malakir led me to. I looked around and saw that it was nearing morning as small rays of light were visible. The forest was quiet in the morning and I heard a voice say, ¡°Welcome back.¡± It was Malakir when I looked to where the voice came from and I said, ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± -----------------------------
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Chapter 30 - Five Years Hey guys! This is the beginning of the Tournament Arc. I plan two chapters to cover the 10 year time skip that happened. This is the first half of the time skip the next chapter will be the latter half. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please rate and review if you can. Also, there is now a donation button. I will be using the donations to get drawings or illustrations or anything else that may be needed for the story. It is a donation button, you do not need to donate if you do not want to. All I just ask truly is that you like my story. Now... to the story! --------------------------------------- Ten years passed since I got back from Hell. Many different things happened as well as many surprises around every corner. As soon as I got back from Hell, I felt my summons disappearing from me. I didn¡¯t know what was going on until I heard that ever so crazy voice that I had hoped not to hear again say, ¡°Oh by the way, I¡¯m taking the summons you got for now. I¡¯m sealing them up until you find something that corresponds to them out in that world. Have fun!¡± My clothing disappeared as they were all my summons true forms but a ring still remained. It was Galahad. The voice said, ¡°I¡¯m leaving him to you, just because I¡¯m so nice.¡± Suddenly, I felt myself covered with clothes and Malakir said, ¡°Master, you must cover up, it is too cold.¡± It was simple brown clothing that Malakir made out of mana for me to wear. ¡°Malakir, meet Galahad. Galahad meet Malakir,¡± I said as I introduced them to each other. ¡°It is nice to meet you Galahad,¡± said Malakir, ¡°I trust you took care of master?¡± ¡°Yes, we did,¡± said Galahad as he appeared in a spirit like form. I was surprised at this and Malakir said, ¡°This is merely a way for them to appear in the world without affecting it. See, he is still bound to the ring.¡± I looked at the ring and sure enough, Galahad¡¯s legs were stretched to the ring. That was the beginning of Galahad¡¯s stay with us. When I got back to the mansion, I explained to everyone what happened. Arthur, Sasha, Kaiser, and Alex were shocked, scared, angry, and all sorts of emotions as I was telling of my journey to Hell. In the end, since they couldn¡¯t do anything about it, they just let it go but not after Arthur told me very sternly that I could not leave the sight of any one of them. If he found out that I was out of sight, he threatened to punish me with grueling exercises that included running or swimming with weights. He also forbade me to do any competitions because of my overwhelming power. Of course no one knew yet that I could use Ethereal magic and they all thought that it was Malakir who did all of it. After telling me off, he left to do something leaving me with Sasha, Alex, and Kaiser in the living room. There I told them the whole truth. I explained about my Ethereal magic which shocked them. I also explained about my summons and the reason why I did it. Sasha was crying as I told the story, Kaiser looked distraught and Alex had a mixed expression. At the end of it, Sasha grabbed me and bawled while leaning on me. Kaiser apologized about what had happened and I said that I wanted to do it and that we were family. At that point Kaiser started to cry but he was holding back. I couldn¡¯t tell what Alex was doing but I imagine he was smiling. All in all, they too decided to not do the competition until I could. So instead we trained our magic as well as our bodies in preparation for the time we could do it. I myself did not do that all the time. Since I had a lot of free time and my magic did not need training too much, I decided to try and set things in motion for the safety of Sasha and Kaiser. When I was eight, I had an audience with my father. I showed him the Battle seeds and their capability. I had to use one of the prisoners that we had, he was a pirate from the Lunaria Federation. They plagued the western border of the Lunaria Federation and the Rigel Kingdom. Mostly, they attack the Rigel Kingdom for reasons they say that we have better places to plunder but some officials actually say that they were a part of the military and attacked specific areas that were capable of weakening the Rigel Kingdom. It was a debate that lasted long if talked about and some people do not wish for war so it becomes a heavy topic. That being said, my father¡¯s guards stabbed the prisoner with their lances. The prisoner was a man with wild red hair possibly in his 30s, his skin was tan from the sun, eyes were black. He was frail and weak so the lances did a lot more damage than what I had anticipated. He started spurting blood in front of me in the throne room. Quickly, I made him eat a Battle seed and his wound started healing. His malnourished body became lively and healthy again. I sighed in relief that it worked for others as I had not tested it before and I didn¡¯t realize that he would make me test it on a live human. Suddenly, I felt my body be strangled in some sort of lock. The prisoner was trying to choke me! My father yelled something that I couldn¡¯t hear and the guards around us started trying to stab the prisoner. The prisoner used me as a shield but before he could really put me in front of him, he suddenly let me go. I fell to the ground in all fours and gasped for breath. I looked behind me as I was helped up by one of my father¡¯s guards and I recognized Galahad¡¯s swords killing the prisoner. My father and everyone was shocked and so I had Galahad reveal himself and greet my father. He was surprised and merely said, ¡°Hahaha I was right to make you go to that school!¡± Oh if he only knew¡­ After the prisoner¡¯s corpse was cleared and the blood stain was cleaned, I proposed to my father an establishment of the Institute of Magic Technology. I explained that the Magic Guild and the Coalition of Science should be able to work together. The two groups had completely opposite thoughts. The Magic Guild believed that magic was the key to understanding the world and the only way to advance our power. Most of the commoners hate magic but they cannot deny the advantages they give. The Coalition of Science was the opposite of the Magic Guild. They believed that there were other ways of understanding the world and advance our power. They proved that an explosion from a Fireball spell could be made from simply burning up some black powder. Most of the commoners support them but these same commoners merely back the Coalition simply because they are not magic aligned. The Coalition was slow in its advancements but they proved time and time again that magic was not the only way to advance. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The two groups always fought for the right to gain funding from the king so that they can continue their research. I had proposed this plan to, in the end, merge the two so that only one group would receive the funding as well as to produce more things similar to the battle seed. The seed had problems currently. One, if it was planted, it would grow into a forest and never end until the seed was uprooted. A mistake that happened when I wondered what would happen if I planted it. Two, I was very worried about its healing capabilities. It healed all wounds instantly and I was worried that the stress would be too much for a body that wasn¡¯t trained to handle it and would merely collapse it and kill the person rather than save him. Another reason was my interest in the black powder. I wanted to get my hands on some of it and experiment with them. The only way I could though was to get the Institute running because the powder was regulated heavily by the Coalition. Sure my father can get it for me but I¡¯d rather not have too much debt towards him. My father agreed to the Institute and asked my brother Leon, to help me set it up. He did give me a condition though, the Battle seeds could only be used by the military and he commanded me to give them any that we made. I retorted saying that I was to be paid for the Battle seeds that we make, it would take time to develop a seed that had the same power as what they saw all the time. My father laughed and commented to how shrewd I was getting but settled for our agreement. He would pay a reasonable fee for the battle seeds and since we had to make sure that we could make them with the same strength, he gave me five years to make all the seeds we make be the same. One year after that, the Institute was formally founded. It was located on the Aurelian Plains. Galahad seemed to have some sort of connection to this place as he seemed out of place whenever we went there. With my brother¡¯s help, it was funded by many different nobles in the Rigel Kingdom and so we were able to make a fort-like structure that suited our needs. It had four towers that surrounded the central structure with walls of stone connecting them. The structure in the middle had large sloping roofs and its height reached about six stories. The towers were taller standing at about ten stories. The structure¡¯s first floor was a lobby with stairs leading up and down in the left and right respectively. Behind the counter that was the first thing you would see when you entered was a cafeteria similar to the one at Asmodeus Academy. Floors two to six were either offices or bedrooms. They worked to make sure that the Institute was capable of functioning in terms of finance. Since I was considered the leader, I was given the position of Archmage and given the highest floor as my room and office. I refused the position saying that my age was too young but the people who agreed to join the Institute pressured me into choosing it, even Malakir did. The lower floors were the testing areas. There was a total of five floors down. Each successive floor had a stricter set of rules and regulations of entering. Concerning our organizational structure: Archmage Master Researcher Apprentice Guardian The Archmage, me, was in charge of the whole Institute and had to make sure that it worked smoothly without any mistakes. The Masters were different sections that needed a sort of leader to handle them. These included the Master of Finance, Master of Research, Master of Floor 1, Master of Floor 2, Master of Floor 3, Master of Floor 4, Master of Floor 5. The Researchers were self-explanatory. They would sometimes collaborate with each other or work alone depending on the project they were working on. We had several different projects at a time so most of our people were actually researchers. The Apprentices again were self-explanatory. They are assistants to the Researchers but we never have a lot of them as these people are merely either there to observe and decide whether they want to work with us or us observing them to determine if we would want them to work with us. The Guardians protect all of us from threats like spies from other countries as well as bandits who want to capture us. They are comprised of mages and warriors. Sometimes they also do the work of a Researcher or Apprentice. Now to the floors themselves. Each floor had a specific subject to research. Floors 1 and 2 dealt with small scale or research that we expected to not impact too much. Floor 3 and 4 dealt with issues that my father wanted us to do. Floor 5 was my personal floor and it dealt with things that I wanted. Currently at Floor 3 was the Battle seed research that my father wanted. At first when we started, we had a hard time trying to gather the mana to create the seed. It took weeks of instruction telling the Researchers what mana to place in which part. Then it took weeks making sure that they all placed the right amount. All in all it was stressful to do it. By the time one more year passed, we finally got to be able to produce 1 Battle seed with the same strength as what I can make. It took five Researchers to do but it was a start. Now, we were trying to stop it from turning into a forest. Some of them reasoned that it was the Nature mana that needed to be more controlled by Arcane mana. We tried that and sure enough it did stop creating forests but it still turned into a tree. Seeing that since it was a seed, we let it grow and tried the fruit that it made. The fruit didn¡¯t have the same strength as seed but it did the trick. We presented the fruit to my father and he was much more pleased with the fruit than the seed. Then we tested the effects of the fruit and seed to the pirate prisoners. They were subdued this time and were paralyzed to stop them from doing too much damage when they are healed. We kept them in a room on Floor 3 for the rest of the year. It was not until the beginning of the next year that some things didn¡¯t work out so well. -------------------------------
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Chapter 31 - Another Five Years Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long to get this to you. This week was very busy as I had a retreat in the beginning of the week, injured myself during the retreat and had to finish the mousetrap with reports. Hopefully you all enjoy this story! Please Rate and Review if you can. --------------------------- The next year began with a message from the darkness. I got his message while I was in my office reading some papers. ¡°Hey,¡± it said, ¡°I forgot to give you the thing from Hell, so I¡¯m giving it to you now.¡± He gave me a glass orb that had white veins surrounding it and a dark mass inside. He told me to crush in my hands and fragments of the orb poured into me. Instantly, the scenery around me changed. I saw steel towers that looked as swords piercing the sky, people in strange clothing and horseless steel carts. ¡°Hey are you listening to me?¡± asked a distorted voice near me. It was a woman that had brown hair, black eyes and fair skin. She looked very familiar but I knew that I didn¡¯t know her. She said something but it was all muffled, as if it was going through mud. We were walking along what seemed to be a road and at the base of one of the towers I saw myself in the same strange clothes. I couldn¡¯t understand what was happening and suddenly I was back in my office. ¡°Had a nice trip?¡± asked the darkness¡¯ voice. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Mmeria, that¡¯s what the item was called. I¡¯m sure your Codex can tell you more about it as its time for me to go,¡± said the darkness as his voice slowly dissipated. I asked Malakir what a Mmeria was and he said, ¡°It is an item that brings back memories of the soul. Some souls have a past life, a Mmeria makes them remember what they had done in the past. Of course, it very rarely works as the soul has to have something to remember. Surprisingly, this darkness had one to give to you, they are very rare nowadays as most were lost when Aliad disappeared.¡± This made me think that somehow my soul was reincarnated and I only knew about it now. Throughout the year I saw more scenes, each one different than the others, they always happened every night and I would look forward to sleep to see more. The steel towers were actually called ¡°skyscrapers¡± I found out about it during one dream as well as the construction of it. I wasn¡¯t participating but I watched people working on building it. I also learned about ¡°guns¡±, they were very fearsome. The person I was actually had one, it was named ¡°Walther PPQ¡±. It was used for self-defense purposes but it killed anyone it was used against. Another thing I learned about was the concept of ¡°Mathematics¡±. Now this was the most interesting because it revealed that the world was merely just a series of numbers. Here, we used numbers as a quantity or currency but in that world, it was used to find probabilities of everything. After learning about these things I told them to Malakir and he would always say, ¡°Arun was once like that. When magic was discovered, the people went to war and the world became as you now see it. Its good that you know more about it than I do, as I only know of the world after magic was discovered. But be careful, what happened in the past may very well happen now. So please be mindful of who you tell about those guns, they might change the world as we know it.¡± I agreed with his way of thinking and started my research on guns alone while also telling my subordinates about Mathematics and skyscrapers as well as things like ¡®plumbing¡¯, ¡®waste management¡¯, ¡®fertilization¡¯ and others. As I learned more about the memories of my soul, I began to wonder, Who was I back then? Why are the only things I remember are facts? Will I ever know about that woman? That woman that I saw in my first soul memory was no longer in any of the others. It was as if she never existed. I put this question and others out of my mind as I had other things to do. It was no good to dwell in what was past and instead was much better to do things that could improve the life of others. In the next four years, our research was fruitful. We had grown so large that we actually had 100,000 researchers and the number just kept on increasing. There were more non-magicians than magicians but they all had the same idea of combining science with magic. With our numbers increasing, we had no choice but to expand our location which then became known as the City of the Institute. We had our own marketplace, residential homes, walls. It was basically our own little city. We even had our own school. Our school¡¯s feature was Mathematics as well as, Praecus, the combination of science and magic. All of this was only possible with the contributions of the nobles as well as my father being the king. He was very pleased with everything that we were bringing him that he even made a treaty with the neighboring countries to allow them to go to Asmodeus academy. After graduating there, they would then be automatically accepted to go to our school known as the College of the Institute. We actually had many different subjects that even our researchers even went into. They were: Astronomy, Medicine, Alchemy, Philosophy, Physics, Biology, and Ecology. Nearly everyone wanted to learn all of these subjects that many actually tried teaching it themselves. None of them could compare to ours though. That being said, Asmodeus Academy and the College of the Institute are pretty much at odds. There has already been talks of a tournament between the two as well as other schools in the continent known as the Lunaria Tournament. It was a gathering of 10 of the most prestigious schools in each nation and they would all go to the Dome of Asmodeus Academy. The tournament had five events that everyone participates in. The events were: Lightning Wings Shootout, Stone Tomb Destruction, Chimera Extermination, Duels and Group Battles. Lightning Wings Shootout was an event that made the contestants to destroy as many wings made out of lightning in the sky within a set time limit. The limit would be different every match so sometimes it would take hours while others in seconds. Stone Tomb Destruction was an event that made you destroy a pillar of stone that you were assigned to faster than your opponent could. Chimera Extermination was a contest against another to kill a Chimera. The Chimera would be different ranging from the harmless Ramit, a fusion of a mouse and a rabbit, to a Drakon type Chimera, a fusion of one or more dragons with other animals. Duels and Group battles were self-explanatory, the team that defeats its opponent wins. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The events in the competition has to be done by all members in a group. A total of four members per group and each member had to participate in all the events. Because of this, the tournament allows each school to bring in three of their best groups who would then compete among themselves along with other schools to be the overall winners. Currently, it is still in the planning stage but it seems that on its debut I would have to participate along with Sasha, Alex and Kaiser for the College of the Institute. After seeing the success of the Institute, my father commanded us to go to the College instead of Asmodeus Academy. I was perfectly fine with this arrangement as it let me do my job much easier. Sasha and Alex had problems with this arrangement as they had friends in Asmodeus and now they would no longer see each other so often. In Kaiser¡¯s case, he was visited by many of his girlfriends saying that they too would go with him. I dragged him inside the mansion before he could do anything at all. In the last ten years Sasha, Alex and Kaiser changed too. Alex became stoic after his flings with men and women alike. He was much more proficient in swords than I ever could be which was the reason why Arthur left to continue his duty as a knight. He now stood at six feet and his frame was solidly built. Between classes, Alex and I would always either be in my office or in a meeting with researchers or masters. He was my knight but he also became my secretary, as the word came to mind after one of my dreams. He has also gained a few summons and his rank is now Sage ranked summoner. Kaiser made himself a harem, evidenced by his many girlfriends. Kidnappings no longer happened after that first incident. He now stood at almost six feet and his frame was much more built than Alex¡¯s. His expertise with Holy magic was unparalleled especially after he got my gifts. He was now a Sage rank but his power was equal to a Lord rank¡¯s. He joined Alex and I in training but he relied more on his fists than any weapon. He was a Squire rank in fist fighting. Sasha was the most beautiful woman ever. Every guy and girl would look at her whenever she passed by. She stood at five feet and her hair reached down to her shoulders. She had large breasts and a very alluring figure. She would take care of me as only a woman could every night after work and studies. She was a Master Holy mage but she was becoming proficient with bows. Seeing us training made her think of wanting to do something similar. She took up a bow and arrow and practiced with it. Her rank as a warrior was a Squire, the same level as a Master for mages. For myself, I was never able to release the seal on my other summons but even without them I was very capable. Galahad instructed me in how to use swords so my proficiency with it became a Warrior ranked, the same with my sealed mage rank of Sage. I stood at about 5¡¯6¡±, my build was lean but not muscular as my body itself was still very physically weak at its base. I was only able to appear almost normal because of my training while I was younger. Many things happened within ten years but now I was in the training grounds in the City of the Institute. It was a wide courtyard with ornately decorated walls covering an area of about 500 meters. I was alone as I tested a new spell. I wanted to make a spell that I could use easily against people without killing them. I decided on immobilizing them or knocking them out so that I would win. I gathered Wind, Nature, Arcane, Spirit, and Darkness mana to coalesce into ten orbs in front of me. I then launched them in front of me and the orbs turned into a dragon¡¯s head as it followed my intent of moving everywhere. This was my newest spell built for immobilizing targets, Dark Dragons Descend. Because of the Darkness mana, it would render the target immobilized as well as a random affliction of sleep, poison, or weakness. Each dragon would attack the most vulnerable locations of a target and then they would be met with these afflictions, of course, if their resistance was high, it would not harm them at all. The number of dragons could actually be increased as well as the size. Seeing that it was working nicely, I left the training grounds and went to my mansion. My mansion was the same as it was in Asmodeus only it was now bigger and much larger. It was right next to the Institute to allow me to go to work very easily. It was dinner time and I ate dinner with Alex, Kaiser and Sasha. Tomorrow was the start of the Lunaria Tournament. The four of us were already chosen to be a part of the teams representing the College. Even though I was a student of the College in reality I was also the President, as well as Mayor and Archmage. I had no time for studies really as my time was spent working but fortunately, this tournament will be a break for myself. Sasha and I went to our room after dinner and she comforted me to be ready for the next day. -----------------------
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Chapter 32 - The Three Teams Hey guys! Sorry this one will be short, it will also seem a bit rushed as my weekend right now is very busy starting right after I post this. Thank you all for reading I hope you all enjoy this chapter! -------------------------------------------- The day began with me being assaulted by work. The Master of Ceremonies came to my mansion and handed me the list of teams going to the tournament. I looked over it in the living room and found it satisfactorily. There were in total 15 coming, 12 members with 3 as backups in case anything happened. The first team was mine and our backup was Abigail, she was an Avan from the Asgard Empire. She had purple hair, red fiery eyes, fair skin and silvery wings. She was a part of the Asgardian Valkyrie force as their researcher but after having heard of my institute, she quit and joined us. Like most Avans, she was similar to humans in build but she had a slightly longer lifespan, she stood at five feet with a lean build. She was a Lord ranked form mage with an emphasis on lances as well as a Squire ranked lancer. The second team consisted of a bearman, owlman, stone dwarf, mountain dwarf and a human. Their leader was the human named Mason who was an Adept ranked inner mage and a Squire ranked axe wielding warrior. He stood at almost six feet tall, had brown hair, fair skin and brown eyes. The bearman was named Grawl. He had brown fur, blue eyes and a vertical scar on his left eye. He was a Sage ranked Nature mage with a Warrior rank in fist fighting. The owlman was named Hoot. He had yellow and red downs, a small beak and red eyes. His frame was sleek, suited for flying. Unlike an Avan, the bird-based beastmen have characteristics of the birds they are likened to. They have the abilities of the birds as well as the perception of animals. Hoot was a Sage ranked Wind mage and a Novice ranked bow and arrow user. The Stone dwarf was named Stein. He had basalt like skin, green eyes and spiky black hair. His build was solid like he was a boulder. He was a Lord ranked Earth mage and a Novice ranked war hammer warrior. Their backup was the Mountain dwarf named Thorvald. He had blonde hair, fair skin and red eyes. His build was smaller than Stein¡¯s but he was still solidly built. He was a Master ranked Healing mage and a Guardian ranked mace warrior. The third team consisted of a Blood Elf, High Elf, Dark Elf, Dark Dwarf and another Avan. The leader was the High Elf called Llen. He had blonde hair, fair skin, and green eyes. His build was lean but strong. He was a Master ranked Nature mage and a Squire ranked in wielding a Lixunt, a double bladed quarterstaff that could separate into two. The Blood Elf was named Hlin. She had red hair, brown skin, red eyes and a muscular frame. She was a Sage ranked Form mage and a Squire ranked in wielding an Ilun, a blade made of chained metal plates that could change its form many times in a fight. The Dark Elf was named Marix. She had pale skin, white hair and red eyes. Her frame was gentle yet mysterious. She was a Sage ranked Calamity mage and a Novice rank in quarterstaff. Calamity magic was a special affinity magic involving Darkness, Nature, Chaos, and Void mana. The Dark Dwarf was named Thord and he had dark skin, silver hair, and blue eyes. Like all Dark Dwarves he was less muscular than the Mountain or Stone Dwarves. Notwithstanding, his skill in magic is very good. He is a King ranked Arcane mage. Lastly, the Avan was named Alice, she had red hair, blue eyes, brown skin and black wings. She was a Master ranked Healing mage and a Squire ranked in crossbows. The three teams were the made of the strongest in my school and would no doubt be able to handle the other schools. Of course, this was my pride speaking as I wanted my school to win the very first tournament. The other schools we would be competing against were Asmodeus Academy in the Rigel Kingdom. The Royal Elven College and Lenari Academy in the Elven Kingdom. The Luna Academy and Federation Academy in the Lunaria Federation. The Desert College and Mustashum Royal Academy in the Mustashum Empire. The Stoneking¡¯s College and Gunterra Academy from the Dwarves. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. In total, there would be thirty teams fighting against each other in the events. The Tournament will last for 36 days, 7 days for the Lightning Wing Shootout, Stone Tomb, Chimera Extermination and Duels leaving 4 days for Group Battles. It was going to be a long month once we got started. Having confirmed the team roster, I went to eat lunch with everyone. Looking over the dossier took most of the morning. After lunch, I met with all the teams coming from my school. They all gathered at my office. Around me were the Team 1 members while in front of me were Teams 2 and 3. They were all exactly just like the dossier said. ¡°Now, tomorrow we will begin going to Asmodeus Academy,¡± I said, ¡°As I¡¯m sure you all know, it will only take us one day to get there because of our busses.¡± We had just finished construction of busses after having seen how it was done in my dream. Our busses were modified to be able to have all of the amenities that my mansion has, needless to say it took a lot of Void mana to do so. During the process, we found out that so long as there was enough Void mana, it would work the same way as Space mana. ¡°Each team will get one bus, it will follow Team 1¡¯s bus to Asmodeus. Again, I stress that you do not use magic inside of the bus,¡± I said recalling an incident with one of our busses. We can use magic inside the bus but because of the modified space, the amount of mana used in magic is actually very different at any one time. This would cause the spell to fizzle or cause drastic dangers. ¡°Now, get your stuff loaded on the busses and we¡¯ll leave in the morning,¡± I said as they all left. I stayed in my office working on other things that had to be done before I left for 1 month. The next day, we left safely and without any problems. During the trip though, we were attacked by some chimeras but they were dealt easily with the defensive magic installed on the busses. We arrived in Asmodeus Academy without any problems. The next day was the actual start of the Tournament. A few days ago was just the day that Asmodeus Academy would begin allowing visitors to come and stay. It was made to excite them for the real thing happening in a few days. That evening was a banquet that we all attended. It was then that I saw all of the contestants. I used one of my spells ¡°Expose¡± on all the opponents. This spell concentrated mana inside of my eye while disguising the concentration of mana. It used Inner, Spirit and Arcane mana. With this spell, I could see all of the target¡¯s vulnerabilities as well as their affinity and magic. The only problem is that it can only work on the targets that I could see. There were a few Space and Time magicians which surprised me but most of them were of the other affinities. Even though the banquet was a social gathering, most of us were all looking at the competition. Most of them were all looking at me. ¡°You¡¯re everyone¡¯s target,¡± said Kaiser beside me. ¡°Not surprising, he did found a school,¡± said Sasha. I just shrugged and exposed everyone that I could. Soon enough the banquet ended and we all slept in our respective busses. ---------------------------
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Delays Hey guys no new chapter but I wanted to let you all know about it. My computer has to be fixed so I can''t write as much until it gets done. I have a way of doing it but there will be no new chapters until the computer is fixed. The issue is hardware rather than software, if it was software I could''ve probably done something but I have to give it to tech people to fix (Their words: probably have to destroy drive and replace it)... I''ve backed up the necessary things, its just going to take time. Sorry about this. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Another thing that will add to the delay is that I am going to study for the P Exam for Actuaries. This will not take too much time, just 1 hour per day, but it will still slow down the chapters some. Again sorry for the inconveniences, I will still be writing, you will still get chapters, its just going to take time as life is throwing its lemons at me right now. Chapter 33 - Opening Ceremony Hey guys, computer is still in need of fixing. This will be short as the computer is to be fixed afterwards. Hope you guys enjoy it!. ------------------------------ The morning began and after we ate breakfast, we all walked to the Dome. The Dome was already filled with people that there were still lines of them outside of it. They parted a way for us since we were wearing the uniforms for all the contestants. A black robe with white lines and the insignia of the school we represented on our left chest. The insignia for my school was a Ravenex much like the one in my father¡¯s throne room. We all went to the center arena where all the other contestants were already standing in neat columns. We were to begin the tournament with a ceremony that included a ritual to the gods. Once everyone was inside the dome and we lined up in our section near the center of the arena, mist started to appear. Some of the people in the crowd were scared and confused but they were comforted by the people who knew what was happening. The ritual was starting and this mist was harmless. Suddenly, parts of the arena started to rise up slowly. Since each team had enough distance between them, we were all in different heights. My team was at the highest peak while a group of students from the Mustashum Kingdom were at the lowest. In front of us was a boxed area where my father was smiling along with my mother and siblings. I never noticed them until now because the box blended perfectly with the surrounding seats. ¡°The gods have spoken!¡± shouted a voice behind me. I turned around along with my team and we saw a hooded person with wrinkly hands entwined to a staff that was three times taller than he was. It was the High Priest. The staff was beautifully carved. It looked as if the wood grew to become the staff rather than it actually being carved. It curved at the top until its tip met the center and its tip seemed to glow a dim blue light. ¡°The gods have spoken!¡± he shouted again. ¡°The team that is at the highest has received the god¡¯s blessing as well as the right to pass immediately into the second round! The team that is just below them also has the right to pass into the second round but they do not receive the god¡¯s blessing!¡± At the mention of our team being granted a blessing, a white light poured down to us. It felt warm and gentle as it seemed to course into our very being. You have received a blessing of the gods! You have received all the blessings of the pantheon. Do you still want to receive another blessing? Yes No Warning: Another blessing from the pantheon may result in strengthening a blessing, removing a blessing or receiving an unwanted blessing. ¡°Choose yes¡­¡± said the darkness¡¯ voice. He seems to always like to know what I was doing. I moved to choose ¡°no¡± simply to spite him but my finger moved to press ¡°yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll like what you get,¡± he said with a hint of laughter. Suddenly the white light around me turned darker and darker until I was drowned in darkness. Then my surroundings turned into that time that I crushed the Mmeria only it was much clearer now. ¡°Hey are you listening to me?¡± said the voice beside me. It was the same woman. I couldn¡¯t tell her features before but now I could see that she had light blue hair, red eyes and fair skin. She looked to be about 20. She wore a dress that showed her shoulders as well as legs. This made me blush as these areas were supposed to always be hidden and I instinctively turned to look away. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Hey! Why are you turning away?¡± she asked once more. I turned to her and asked, ¡°You can see me?¡± I was shocked as the voice that I heard was not mine. It was deeper and clearer, not like my voice which was a slight tenor. ¡°Of course dofus,¡± she said as she laughed. She looked cute when she laughed. ¡°Anyway, what do you think of Zed?¡± she asked me. I surprised and asked, ¡°Zed?¡± ¡°Yeah, you know our baby¡¯s name?¡± she asked as she ran her hand to her stomach. I could see that there was a sizable lump there and asked, still a bit shocked, ¡°Our baby?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she turned to look at me and said, ¡°Are you okay? You don¡¯t look so well.¡± She placed her hand on my forehead and this made me to look behind her. I saw a mirror but I couldn¡¯t exactly focus on us there as a gigantic metal bird was flying straight at us. Then suddenly my surroundings turned dark again and a voice said, ¡°How was your trip?¡± It was the darkness and I asked, ¡°What was that?!¡± I was confused, puzzled, scared and all kinds of emotions as I saw what I thought as the imminent death of that woman and her baby. ¡°A memory.¡± ¡°How can it be a memory when that world didn¡¯t even resemble this one!¡± ¡°Its time for you to receive your blessing.¡± ¡°Answer my question!¡± ¡°Silence!¡± My mouth was shut and I couldn¡¯t open it anymore. ¡°You will know in time¡­ Now take my blessing¡­¡± ¡°¡­ true¡­¡± he said in a low voice. The area around me went back to the Dome and everyone around me was looking at their newly received blessing. I looked at mine: Blessing of ??? Given effect chosen by ??? : Mmeria¡¯s effects heightened. I couldn¡¯t understand what was going on around me at all but I stayed silent as the arena went back to its original state. When it did we all turned to look at the High Priest He began chanting in a weird language as he raised his hands up high. Small trails of smoke appeared beside him. This was the Ritual of Beginnings. The ritual was not magic but rather something that connected us to the gods. We offered our wishes and wants towards the smoke so that it can rise up to meet the gods themselves. I¡¯ve become less religious ever since the effects of the Mmeria but I still knew what our rituals meant. After chanting, he dropped his hands down and swung his staff downwards. As it reached the ledge, a loud sound echoed in the arena. We all cheered at this sound as it symbolized that the gods have accepted our wishes and will do what they can for us. After the ceremony, all of us in the arena headed to our reserved rooms or to our reserved sections in the stands to watch others fight. My team went to the stands to watch the fights as we were given a pass. -----------------------
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Chapter 34 - Lightning Wings Shootout Hey guys computer is back. Some of you were saying that the problem was a hard drive. No it was a CD drive. A CD was stuck in my computer and I needed to get it back really bad. Also my computer is a Macbook 13 inch, late 2009. It was given to me by my school so I deal with it. So back to the CD drive, they removed it and found the problem to be the logic board. They had to replace it and now my computer has tiny stage lights in the bottom of the screen. Makes everything I look at be like looking at a theatre. Anyway enjoy this chapter! ---------------------------- Well the first round was rather uneventful. The first seven days were dedicated to us competing in the Lightning Wings Shootout. The first round matches would take four days just themselves. The reason for this is that a round can actually take nearly ten hours to finish. Luckily, when we watched the match, we didn¡¯t have to watch for ten hours. For the first four events, it would be one-on-one matches until the last event which is a group fight. Lightning Wings shootout was destroying as many wings made out of lightning you can destroy within a random time limit. Some of them launched volleys upon volleys of their weakest spells or a large burst of their magic at a time. Some summoned their summons to do the job for them, while others launched a few bolts and seemed to control them. Looking at everything that they did, I decided on having our first match be the debut or the mana guns. I have been working on them ever since I found out about guns in my memory. I created many prototypes but none could match two favorite ones. The one I would be bringing was called Shadow. It was long barreled made out of Obscrite. Obscrite was a metal that I created using Form magic. It had the ability to hide anything it was made into and it can only be seen by the one who¡¯s mana was imprinted on it. It was a very useful material for projectiles because of its hiding ability. Another ability of Shadow is that it can store seven different magic spells on it. In the stock of Shadow are seven depressions that a Magicite could be put into. Magicite is an ore that I created that could store one magic no matter how strong it was. The Magicite¡¯s are stronger than what the Form mages can enchant onto what they create. The seven spells that I would put into Shadow was Dark Dragons Descent, Distortion Binds, Tempest, Haunter, Wrath of Time ¨C Frozen, Wrath of Lightning ¨C Volley, Ice Age. Wrath of Time ¨C Frozen is a spell that completely freezes that target¡¯s time causing them to die instantly. It was a sure-kill spell that I would be using for the Chimera Extermination if Ice Age didn¡¯t work. For our first match in Lightning Wings Shootout, I would be using Wrath of Lightning ¨C Volley to launch thousands of lightning lances that would attract all the Lightning Wings and then I would use Dark Dragons Descent to destroy them. The day was over and it was our turn the next day. We were allowed to bring anything that can helps us provided they were with magic. This is why everyone in my team was wearing those gifts that I created in Hell. Sasha looked beautiful in her black and red robe. Our uniform was to be black and red with a Ravenex in the back. We all wore the same robe but it worked better with Sasha. On her wrist was the bracer that I gave her. Alex wore the armor that I used under his robe which made him look very imposing. Kaiser looked like he was having the time of his life as we all walked towards the arena as he flirted with the girls on our way. Before we entered the Arena I said good luck to everyone and kissed Sasha. The arena was filled with humans as the event for today was against my school and Asmodeus. The arena was split into four stages and in front of me was Nathaniel. He was much taller now and had lean muscles. He wore a leather armor underneath his red robe. ¡°Finally!¡± he shouted, ¡°I¡¯m gonna beat you!¡± I just stood there looking at him waiting for the signal to begin. Light started appearing beneath us and Lightning Wings flew into the air signaling the start of the match. Nathaniel summoned his frostwolf and had it attack the wings. Then he assimilated with a summon and he shot out strings of white light from the tips of his fingers as he controlled the strings to hit the wings. Unfortunately, I raised Shadow and used Wrath of Lightning ¨C Volley. The Lightning Wings moved to where my attack went to making Nathaniel¡¯s attacks miss. Some of the wings were hit by Nathaniel¡¯s frostwolf which earned him some points. Once the wings were gathered in one spot, I used Dark Dragons Descend and they all got destroyed. Since Dark Dragons Descend has a mind of its own, it attacked other wings while I gathered several more wings into one point. ¡°How are you doing that?¡± shouted Nathaniel, ¡°is it because of that artifact?¡± Everyone could see Shadow but they couldn¡¯t see what it could do. ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. Our match lasted two hours but there was still no sign of it stopping. The wings appeared from our feet every time we destroyed one of them. And every time I casted Dark Dragons Descend, our stage kept on being filled with more and more dragons. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Sasha and her fight with some Alice. Alice used lightning to gather the wings and used a burst of fire on the gathered wings. She used the same method as mine but I can keep it going for a long time. Sasha was using her bracelet to summon wind spirits to destroy the wings. Compared to Alice, it seemed that Sasha was able to keep going for a long time. I turned around and saw Alex¡¯s fight. Alex was using the crossbow that I gave him and destroyed several wings at once. His summon was also out and destroying while also keeping his opponents attacks from hitting some wings. Turning around one more time, I saw Kaiser¡¯s fight. He was moving fast and destroying his targets while also keeping his opponent from destroying some wings. Seeing that we had an overwhelming advantage, I turned back around and used Tempest. Tornadoes appeared to surround me as they only hit the wings. I couldn¡¯t hear what Nathaniel was saying but then the ground beneath me became the usual stone floor which signified the end of the fight. Cancelling the spells, I saw an angry Nathaniel as he used those strings against me. I used Ice Age on the strings and they froze and broke apart. He looked shocked and tried to hit me but I used Accelerate and punched him before he could do anything. We won the match and we gathered in our bus. ¡°Good job guys,¡± I said as we were eating lunch, ¡°Let¡¯s keep it going till we win it all!¡± ¡°We know you¡¯ll win all of it,¡± said Sasha. ¡°Yeah, especially those tornadoes,¡± said Alex. ¡°No one will survive those,¡± said Kaiser as he nodded in agreement. ¡°Master, you are way too powerful. But even then I will still follow you,¡± said Malakir and Galahad. After eating we watched some more matches and slept for the next day. After our fight with Asmodeus, many of our opponents would always either forfeit or lose. Today was the seventh day as well as the finals for Lightning Wings Shootout. We would be against the Royal Elven College¡¯s undefeated team. It was led by the 7th princess of the High Elven Kingdom of Luna¡¯Tesh, Elenia. She was known as a genius in the High Elven Kingdom. We got into our stages and the High Elves came and took their spots. Unsurprisingly, Elenia was my opponent. She had blonde hair, fair skin and green eyes. Her frame was slim as her body was complemented by their leafy green robe. For some reason, her robe exposed the upper portion of her breasts and when my eyes wandered I could feel a piercing gaze behind me. ¡°We meet at last 3rd prince of the Rigel Kingdom,¡± said Elenia in a high voice, ¡°I am princess Elenia, 7th princess of the Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom.¡± She said that as she took a triumphant pose and I just stood there and said, ¡°I am Zed Rigel as you have said.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with that introduction!¡± she asked as she got really mad. ¡°You already said my title with my name the only one missing so¡­¡± I said shrugging. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Have you no eloquence? Have you no etiquette?!¡± she yelled. ¡°I am more of a researcher than a prince,¡± I said, ¡°as long as I can research it will be alright for me.¡± That being said at this moment ruling the kingdom was not in my mind yet as I was more interested in my research in magic. Of course I will still rule one day, its just not in my mind as much. ¡°Is that why you have that mysterious weapon in your left hand?¡± she asked pointing at Shadow, ¡°I have seen you use it and it seems to be some sort of staff. How about this? If I win, you have to give it to me.¡± ¡°And if I win?¡± I asked. ¡°Who said you would win?¡± she asked with a smirk and a laugh. This girl is annoying, I thought. Lightning Wings shot out from the ground and she yelled, ¡°Prepare to be defeated shameful prince!¡± She sang a song in what I assumed to be an Elven language and in front of her a giant tree appeared. It had thousands of branches moving around like tentacles. Its wood was colored bright yellow and the leaves were olive green. What seemed to be a face appeared on the side of the tree that I could look at. It roared and the vines? attacked the wings as well as myself. ¡°What¡¯s the big idea?¡± I shouted. ¡°You were in his way!¡± she shouted. Several more vines came my way and I had to Accelerate just to dodge since it came way too fast. ¡°Galahad cover me!¡± I shouted. ¡°Yes master!¡± he replied and immediately I was surrounded by swords that cut down the vines that came towards me. I leaped onto one of the swords and Galahad made me fly in the air. ¡°You¡¯re a summoner too?!¡± she shouted. ¡°Did I say I wasn¡¯t?¡± I asked. ¡°Hmph! Escrea come and help me defeat my foe!¡± she yelled. From her appeared a ghostly elf with elaborate armor and a large sword. ¡°Keep Zed from using his weapon!¡± she ordered. Escrea answered in an Elven language and leaped towards me. He slashed his giant sword down while Galahad himself appeared to combat him. ¡°I leave him to you!¡± I told Galahad. He nodded and left the sword I was riding on to my control. While Galahad was combating Escrea, I used Dark Dragons Descend on the vines that were attacking me. I was safe now, but I was losing the match because of that tree. I used Wrath of Lightning ¨C Volley to gather the wings but before I could do anything, they would be destroyed by the tree. I cursed under my breath and used Tempest instead. It worked and I was now getting points but it was still not enough as the tree was still destroying some wings. ¡°You are losing this match! You have to be the most stupid prince ever! Did you really think you could win a match of magic against a High Elf?!¡± I grit my teeth and shouted, ¡°You asked for it!¡± I raised Shadow above me and gathered every mana in my surrounding. Although the mana gun can use magic without gathering mana, when I do, it strengthens the magic to a tremendous degree. The mana felt too dense that I almost lost consciousness but I struggled on. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± she asked in an almost scared voice. ¡°Escrea! Stop him!¡± she ordered him in freaked out at the dense mana I was gathering. But she was too late, I had already gathered all the mana I needed. ¡°Wrath of Time ¨C Frozen!¡± I targeted everything in the stage excluding Galahad, myself and Elenia. They all froze and shattered into nothingness. Elenia was shocked that I had destroyed the stage with such ease. I had seen it in an earlier match. Apparently, the stage contained all of the Lightning Wings and if you destroyed it you would automatically win. That being said, the stage was made to be able to resist nearly every spell cast on it but my spell could bypass any resistance. I looked around and saw that my stage was not the only one affected. Apparently I misjudge and saw that all the other stages were also destroyed. Everyone except for me had a dumbfounded expression but it was dispelled when my a voice shouted out. ¡°It is the victory of the College of the Institute!¡± It was the referee. No one really knew what he looked like as he never showed himself but rather hid under a bed of shadows. He would only announce himself when something of this situation appeared. Very convenient I would say as technically we would be disqualified since I somehow broke the other stages. ¡°Absurd!¡± shouted Elenia, ¡°I cannot accept this!¡± ¡°My word is law!¡± shouted the voice in a very deep and commanding tone, ¡°unless you want to not participate in the next event! You will listen to me!¡± His overbearing manner is what I hypothesized as the reason why he never shows himself. Because Elenia started attacking where the voice was coming from. She shot out some wooden bullets at very fast speeds and I imagined that they would hurt a lot. She was stopped by her teammates who dragged her out with them. My team as well but when we were huddled around each other Sasha asked, ¡°Did you do that Zed?¡± Embarrassingly I said, ¡°Yeah my bad, I didn¡¯t mean to stop your fight.¡± ¡°Well its alright,¡± said Alex, ¡°we won after all.¡± ¡°Yeah so lets go party!¡± shouted Kaiser. We all shouted too and went to the banquet given to the winners. Even though tomorrow was the start of another event we were able to be this carefree since we would be excused from all first round matches. We were having fun talking with each other along with my brothers and sisters when Elenia and her posse came towards us. ¡°How did you do it?¡± she asked demandingly. ¡°Do what?¡± I asked mockingly. ¡°Destroy the stage! Was it the blessing?! What did you do to make the gods give you such a blessing, we were blessed too yet why did you get such a blessing?!¡± Apparently they were the other team that also got a blessing. I never noticed because I was too busy thinking of something else. Before I got to say anything, my sister, Alexandra said, ¡°Is that blasphemy I hear?¡± ¡°What¡¯s it to you whore?¡± Whoah, she just crossed a line. ¡°Would you care to say that again?¡± my sister asked while trying to keep her anger in check. ¡°You want me to say it again, bitch?¡± ¡°Elenia,¡± said one of her teammates. He had a lean build, light blue hair, red eyes and fair skin. ¡°Don¡¯t stop me Raphael, I have to teach this bitch whore a lesson!¡± ¡°Sis¡­¡± I said trying to calm down Alexandra but I knew it was way too late. ¡°In my name as Santa Alexandra Verita, by my power as High Priestess, I excommunicate you and your family from the favor of the gods! Ex Communica!¡± Veins of white light surrounded her. This light was not magical in nature but it was divine. This was the power that all members of the clergy had but even more so if they had a title. My sister had just reached the Santa rank which was just a little bit lower than the High Priest and with her Verita, she was capable of passing judgment on anyone that did not follow the rules of the religion. The look of horror in Elenia¡¯s face was apparent but it couldn¡¯t be stopped. The white light surrounded her and viciously dispersed to all directions. The atmosphere around us was tense and was broken only by my sister¡¯s words. ¡°You are excommunicated. The reason is for your questioning of the gods. You will never be in favor of them again!¡± -------------------------
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Return Hey all sorry for the hiatus. I got caught up with RL, but now I''m back again. This is more of a notice rather than a chapter but the chapter will be up in at least 3 hours give an extra 2. I''m just currently not in a situation to finish the current chapter but will be soon. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Again sorry and thank you for reading this story as well as bearing with my selfishness. Chapter 35 - After the Banquet Hey all here''s the chapter you''ve all been waiting 1 month for! As requested here''s a little recap: Zed was born in the Rigel Royal Family as the third prince. He got Malakir, the Codex of Magic, when he was just a kid. Using Malakir, he was able to get every magic available but only if he creates them himself. He goes to Asmodeus Academy to study magic and other things. Along the way to Asmodeus Academy, he gets kidnapped but then he gets rescued by his family. Then he meets his fiancee in Asmodeus Academy and finds out that her brother is there. Zed''s father knows this and forces Zed into making Kaiser, his soon to be brother-in-law, to be a pawn to be disposed of and used. Zed doesn''t like this and harbors hate because it also implies that his fiancee is also nothing more than a pawn. With Malakir''s help, he travels to Hell and gets even more powerful. But the ruler of Hell is very crazy and when he gave the power he took it back and made restrictions to Zed''s power. Zed returns to the Academy and creates a new school known as the Institute. With the Institute''s help, Zed has reached fame and renown in the Rigel Kingdom. Currently, they are in an interscholastic competition with all the magic schools in the continent. <---- Whew! A bit of a mouthful or should I say typeful? This is all the important parts that should cover all of the past events. I may have missed some but there shouldn''t be anything left out that would make the next chapters too difficult to figure out. (Alex is not mentioned in the recap because his importance is later on in the story as I only made sure to cover things that would be important for now.) Anyway enjoy the chapter! <------------ ¡°Excommunicated!¡± these words resounded in the banquet hall, some in hushed tones others in disbelief. All eyes were on us now as Elenia stared at my sister in a strange look. ¡°What do you mean excommunicated? How is it that you are able to do that anyway? A whore like you can¡¯t be a priestess!¡± It was hopeless, there was no way that I could do anything to stop this anymore. I sighed and watched the next things that happened. ¡°Of course I can,¡± said my sister as she showed her clergy mark. It was a white triangle with a purple hammer and black staff crossing each other. This was the symbol of the ¡°Santa¡± and ¡°Verita¡± respectively. One who had this basically was known as the ¡°Great Executor¡±. Whoever had this rank had the power to excommunicate anyone including the High Priest. Everyone gasped at my sister¡¯s mark. Even I didn¡¯t know that my sister was so high ranked. Elenia¡¯s face turned from pride to distraught. ¡°It can¡¯t be!¡± she said as her voice got high pitched near the end. ¡°Oh yes, you and your family are now excommunicated and there is no way for them to come back. Guards take them away!¡± The guards came and escorted Elenia and her team away from the banquet hall. There was an uneasy atmosphere when they left but it was gradually getting better. At one point I congratulated my sister on her achievements and she said, ¡°Oh it was nothing, its not like I had to purify 1 million skeletons under pitch darkness and not knowing where I was as the ¡®Great Judge¡¯ teleported me into that place without even knowing what it was for and then having to do it without any food or water.¡± Her expression didn¡¯t carry any sort of disdain but it seemed like she didn¡¯t like the ¡®Great Judge¡¯ at all. She kept on and on about what she had to do and I let her as it seemed that she needed to complain to someone. Concerning the clergy, their ranks are different than everyone else¡¯s. Obviously the highest rank is the ¡°High Priest¡± but there are also the 13 Great Truths, Bishops, Priests, and Laity. The 13 Great Truths are the second most powerful members of the clergy. If the High Priest was the Light then the 13 Great Truths are the Dark. Each one has power over only one section of the clergy but when combined they have the power equal to the High Priest. If the Truth¡¯s and the High Priest ever got into a confrontation with each other in what to do, the Truth¡¯s will have their way. The 13 Great Truths are: ¡®Great Judge¡¯, ¡®Great Executor¡¯, ¡®Great Priest¡¯, ¡®Great Healer¡¯, ¡®Great Confessor¡¯, ¡®Great Inquisitor¡¯, ¡®Great Keeper¡¯, ¡®Great Index¡¯, ¡®Great Exorcist¡¯, ¡®Great Apologetic¡¯, ¡®Great Missionary¡¯, ¡®Great Watcher¡¯, and the ¡®Great Mediator¡¯. Only the 13 Great Truths and the High Priest positions can only be filled with one. Along with this rank they also have a sub-rank. There are way too many sub-ranks as they can keep on making them whenever it is needed but the only ones I know of are: ¡®Veritas¡¯, ¡®Fide¡¯, ¡®Animus¡¯, ¡®Adagnitio¡¯, and ¡®Lex¡¯. I don¡¯t really know much about these sub-ranks and my sister seems reluctant in answering so I put it off. The banquet finally lost the tension in the atmosphere and I felt the need to leave, so I excused myself from my family and looked around at my old school. I got out into the courtyard and it looked just like it did before. The trees, benches and hedges as well as the fountain. It was like nothing changed. Then I saw a figure sitting on the fountain. The figure was looking into the water as she was sitting down. I was walking towards the figure when I saw her, that¡¯s why I knew it was a woman. When I got close enough, the woman was Elenia. She was silently crying as her tears fell down to the fountain. I stood next to her and she said through her sobbing, ¡°What do you want?¡± I really didn¡¯t know why I was there at all. I should¡¯ve left but my feet felt like lead and I really couldn¡¯t just leave a girl crying. Since I was still hesitant on what I should be doing, she scoffed and said, ¡°I suppose you¡¯re here to make fun of me too right?¡± Before I could say anything she said, ¡°I¡¯m so stupid! My family is going to kill me once they found out that they were excommunicated! My friends also left me alone and said that they didn¡¯t want to be excommunicated too!¡± I kept quiet as she kept on sobbing and complaining. Then I noticed that her clothes were ruined. Her figure was seductive and revealing. She seemed to have noticed where I was looking when she said, ¡°All men are the same. I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m telling you all this. But yet, I feel that if I told you, you wouldn¡¯t do what they all did to me.¡± I stood there quietly waiting for her to explain herself. She stopped crying a little as she smiled and said, ¡°I was raped, by my own friends. Raphael tried to stop them but he too was raped. He did have a feminine figure, maybe not for humans but for elves. Raphael is still being raped somewhere here I don¡¯t know where, I was lucky enough to escape but I fear for Raphael, please could you help him. I¡¯ll accept the punishment as it was my fault but my best friend should not.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I nodded and had Galahad come out and take care of her. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said as I left to look for Raphael. I used Spatial Recognition and found that a lot of people were still at the banquet hall and that there was a group of people surrounding someone in my old summoning class. I was appalled at the gall that they had, in my old summoning class room?! I was sped my way there and when I got close enough slowed down so that I could hide my movements. Then I realized that I actually had no hiding spells. So I thought of creating one right at that moment. I combined Wind, Light, Earth, Spirit, and Arcane mana into ¡°Invisibility¡±. I used it and I was unable to see myself at all. I tried to move forward but fell down but there was no crash. ¡°Master, try to feel with ¡®Spatial Recognition¡¯,¡± said Malakir. I did as he told me and it got easier to move. I was able to tell where my body would move, of course, this did not use any Space mana because I had to use it continuously. Having regained control of my movements, I ran to my old summoning class room. There a pile of flesh could be seen as well as harsh words could be heard. ¡°Take that!¡± shouted a gruff looking elf? he didn¡¯t look like an elf at all. ¡°This is what you get for letting that whore get away!¡± said another. ¡°This is what slut like you deserves!¡± Muffled screams could be heard. ¡°How do you like it in your mouth slut?!¡± ¡°Take it all!¡± I had enough of what was happening in front of me and immediately I used Ice Age on them. This was an emergency as I didn¡¯t know what was happening to Raphael and these guys definitely deserved what was coming to them. ¡°What the fuck is this!¡± shouted the gruff elf as ice surrounded and broke, leaving nothing of him behind. The others also had looks of shock and despair as the same thing happened and killed them. When the last one died, I saw Raphael who was covered in bruises and scars, as well as all sorts of liquids. I removed the invisibility on me and brought out a coat that I created when I heard what they were doing to him. When Raphael saw me, he lunged onto me and tired forced himself upon me. Shocked by the suddenness of the situation, I was unable to stop him from getting on top of me but I was able to push him away. But then it disappeared and I was on the ground next to the fountain. Shocked by the suddenness, I didn¡¯t recognize the voice behind me saying, ¡°Honestly, how could you fall for something so easy?¡± I turned around and saw it was Elenia. She didn¡¯t have any ruined clothes in fact she looked exactly the same as when she was in the hall maybe even better. <-------------- A small section that I wanted to do. From now on, at the end of each chapter, I will be doing some FAQs to explain some things I think are confusing or just some random things that I just want to expound upon. This may be history or some knowledge that everyone in the story knows. So without further ado may I present the first of many, ???''s Compendium (??? is someone the MC has met and if I reveal who he is it would ruin all the fun of reading the story as he is pretty much the cause of everything) ???''s Compendium: Secrets of Magic Magic is separated into five types: Primordial, Spectrum, External (replacing Supreme), Internal (replacing Ancient), and Spatial (replacing Legendary). Each type of magic has at least three sub-types: Primordial - Water, Fire, Wind, Earth Spectrum - Light, Dark, Arcane, Nature External - Summoning, Healing, Holy, Chaos Internal - Form, Void, Spirit, Inner Spatial - Time, Space, Ethereal But Magic is not just limited to those. The word ''magic'' means ''power that manipulates'', because of this though we call it ''magic'' it can also be very different. When one thinks of ''magic'' one also thinks of ''mana'', that which is required to use magic. Now this ''mana'' is actually separated into five different types. Mana comes from the origin of magic, Pure Mana or ''Ashukunx'' which means '' God''s breath'', though no one remembers the name (not even Malakir). Pure mana is then separated into Mana, Necromantic, Angelic, Demonic, and Mystical mana. Each type of mana changes the effects of magic, either strengthening, or weakening or changing it to a different type. Mana does nothing to magic but it has the uncanny ability to transfer. Someone who uses Mana is able to change their mana into that of a different type of magic. Example: Primodial Water mana can be transferred into Spectrum Arcane mana. Of course the possibility of doing something like that is difficult but if one has Spatial Ethereal mana then it is a different matter. Necromantic mana increases the power of Inner magic (Form, Void, Spirit and Inner) while weakening the effects of External magic on them or on who they use it to. At the same time, it also mutates Dark magic into Necromancy. Angelic mana increases the power of External magic (Summoning, Healing, Holy and Chaos) while weakening the effects of Internal magic. At the same time, it also mutates Chaos magic into Angelic magic. Demonic mana increases the power of all magic while weakening the user''s body to a degree equal to how much they strengthened their own magic. At the same time, it also mutates Holy magic into Demonic Magic and also changing some body parts into crystalized Demonic mana. Mystical mana increases the power of all magic without any consequences save for one, it isolates the mind. Anyone who uses mystical mana must be able to handle or disrupt the deterioration of their mind or else it will turn them into a vegetable. Even a single drop of Mystical mana is able to cause such a problem. <-------------- And that''s it, it may have been a bit spoilershish but it shouldn''t be too bad, hooray for situational irony! I wanted this to be explained as some people were confused on magic as it is very complex. And some people were also very impressed on my magic system that I did want to share it for others to see I just couldn''t find a time to do so until now. Anyway that should be it. For the next chapters, I can for sure only do 1 chapter a week but we''ll see if I can make more. Thank you for reading and bearing with my leave of absence. Let''s aim for the top weekly again! Chapter 36.1 - Secrets Under The Moonlight Hey all, I''m experimenting with giving short chapters. For a while, we''ll see if this is what can be done from now on or if I should just stick to the original full length once. Anyway, enjoy the read! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡°Wait, what happened?¡± I asked Elenia when I finally came back to my senses. She scoffed and said, ¡°You fell for my Elvish Magic, Scent of Hrung.¡± AN: For those who want to know what a Hrung is, it is similar to marijuana. ¡°Scent of Hrung?¡± She nodded and said, ¡°It allows me to easily make anyone fall under any illusion I want them to see.¡± ¡°But why would you do that?¡± Silence crept upon us as the wind blew and ruffled her dress. The moon appeared and she looked regal and beautiful. But her eyes were sad as if she was struggling on how to answer my question. It felt like hours passed by before she answered but it was probably only a minute or so. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said in a melancholic voice. Her expression darkened and became even more despondent. ¡°I¡¯ve caused trouble for my family and not even my friends would talk to me anymore.¡± It felt awkward as the one responsible for this to happen was my sister. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± I said knowing full well that was a lie. Once excommunicated the family no longer has the support of the church. In the case of the royal family, they would also lose the support of their retainers as well as the people they lead. She scoffed and said, ¡°What a load of crap. I know full well what I did and now I have to suffer the consequences.¡± Another minute passed and I asked, ¡°Why would you even do that? I mean, why are you so disrespectful?¡± She smiled and said, ¡°We¡¯re not even friends and you want to know how I act? I would think that you would know full well about why I would such a thing seeing as you¡¯re a prince! Or maybe because you think that Elves are all slaves that you don¡¯t even think about what we all feel! You humans think you are so superior!¡± She shouted the last sentence filled with hate and anger at everything. I stood there dumbfounded and thought about all the things she did. She was the princess of the High Elves, a proud race. She has the right to inherit the throne of the High Elves. She has to go to participate in a competition with Humans. Humans have slaves of all the races. Here, near the capital, High Elves are more common to see as slaves. And then it hit me, it was right there all along! ¡°¡­ For your people? For your people, you embodied pride so that no one will ever disrespect your race?¡± She smiled wryly and said, ¡°Close but not quite. True it is for my people but it is also for my family. I¡¯m taking a huge risk in this but I assume that you have not been told of my sister¡¯s kidnapping by your family?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Her face darkened and I saw contained rage in her eyes. ¡°Your sister?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°Yes, my sister, Talleria, was captured by your family and they forced us to attend this competition. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re family plans to do but it seems that you were not informed.¡± It got quiet as I thought about who in my family could do such a thing and thought of my father. I grit my teeth and knew that again, he was ruining lives that he shouldn¡¯t ruin. I don¡¯t know what he plans to do but if he keeps this up, the Lunaria Continent will be embroiled in a war. ¡°So you see,¡± she said, ¡°everything has pretty much been planned, although your existence as well as your sister¡¯s interference is a problem.¡± ¡°Planned?¡± I asked. She nodded and said, ¡°Originally I only wanted to see if you were part of the plot but it seems that you aren¡¯t.¡± She looked at me and said, ¡°And it seems that your family is also against you or is it the other way around? In any case, I believe it would be to our benefit to help each other.¡± She raised her hand towards me and I took it and said, ¡°It is not my family that I am against but rather my father. Since we will be helping each other, I have something to tell you¡­¡± I then told her about Kaiser and Sasha and everything that happened to us concerning my father. Of course, I withheld some information and only gave the ones needed for cooperation. After telling her everything, she nodded and said, ¡°I see. With this, it becomes easy to conclude that it is your father that captured my sister. If anyone else is involved, your brothers might know too but were probably misinformed but¡­ you are the only human I trust so I will not get rid of the idea that your brothers are also a part of it. Your sisters seem to be too preoccupied seeing as your sister is able to excommunicate a member of the royal family, even if they are from a different country.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine for you to think that but I am sure that my father is involved.¡± I said resolutely. Silence and then she said, ¡°The night is late and you have given me much to think about. It is good that you are a prince of the Rigel Kingdom. Your country may have some hope yet.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked after her as she started to walk away. She turned her face a little bit just enough to see her lips. She looked foreboding as she said, ¡°We too have our own measures. Why do you think that we have not been attacked?¡± ------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 36.2 - Secrets Under The Moonlight Here''s the second part, hope you enjoy it! ------------------- Elenia''s POV Is it alright to trust him? I thought as I went back to my room. The Academy provided all the contestants a place to stay and we were given one of the best ones. The architecture was strange at first as they were made from stone and wood while ours were grown. We were tempted to create our own homes but we decided against it and put up with the unnerving structures. My team and I were given each a room in the west wing of a building made out of ''marble''. It looked like it was made from the tree ''Elkshaw'' that we have back home but surprisingly it was made from stone. When I first touched it, it felt cool and hard. Different from the warm, comfortable and familiar feeling. It amazed me knowing that the humans were capable of creating such a thing from stone. Of course, it pales in comparison to the structures created by dwarves but for us elves it is something that we cannot do. I met with Raphael and the rest of my team in the common room. This room was connected to the hallway leading to where the other contestants in this wing were, as well as being connected to our own rooms. The room was decorated with four long couches surrounding a high table filled with information on all the other teams as well as those of the country, most specifically the Rigel Royal Family. "You''re back'' said Raphael,"how was it?" "He''s not as suspicious," I answered. He nodded and said,"The sister is a problem, we didn''t expect that their power even reaches the church." "What neutrality, they are obviously favoring the Rigel Kingdom!" said one of us. "It can''t be helped," I said, "Ever since that day, the Rigel Kingdom has been a moving silently. If we weren''t here, we would have never known as much as we do now." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "In any case, prepare to send everything we know back home. We know enough to call for a change in stance. After that, we have to prepare to rescue Talleria. You know your marks correct?" They all nodded in unison and I said to myself,"Talleria¡­ wait for us." Zed''s POV I didn''t go back to the bus after talking with Elenia. Instead, I went to my brother, Leon, to see if he knew anything. I worried on how to bring it up as I went to his room. His room was in the north wing along with the rest of my family. His room was decorated lavishly. I admired the care that Artemia put into the decorations as Leon gave me some Flavalell Tea. It was his favorite blend as it could recover mana and fatigue while soothing the mind. "So what brings you here brother?" He asked as he sipped his tea. I took a sip of tea and then said,"Is there anyway Alexandra can remove the excommunication on Elenia''s family?" He raised his eyebrows and said,"it''s better to talk to Alexandra herself about that." "I know but," I said as I fidgeted,"she''s not really in the best mood right now." He laughed deeply and said, "So even the genius is afraid of her sister." "Don''t laugh!" He laughed some more and said, "Don''t worry, I''m scared of her too. Her temper garners enough attention that she''s also called "Devil Angel". She looks like an angel until you get her mad, then you deal with the devil herself." I nodded and said, "And that''s why I came to you. She''ll be more inclined to listen to you." "While that is true, you and I both know that she dotes on you and will not stop for anything if it was about you." His expression hardened as he said, "So what is the real reason that you''re here?" ---------------------- Chapter 36.3 - Secrets Under The Moonlight and Chapter 37 - It Begins... I put the last part of 36 and a new chapter together. Chapter 37 is very short, its more of a transitional chapter than anything. Hope you guys enjoy it. I may put up chapter 38 later or tomorrow but we''ll see. ------------------------------ I was shocked for a bit at the fact that he would bring it up so quickly and said, ¡°Are you willing to do anything for the country?¡± I wanted to probe him first to see what he knew. ¡°I am,¡± he said his expression unchanging. ¡°Zed, this country is everything to me, to us. It is our job as the rulers to help guide it in the right direction.¡± ¡°Even if it means to cause distrust with the other countries?¡± I asked probing deeper. He looked at me and said, ¡°Yes.¡± I was about to say something when he cut me off and said, ¡°Listen to me first. I know you are still young and don¡¯t understand much yet. But trust us, trust father, he knows that what he¡¯s doing is for the good of the country.¡± He stood up and put one hand on my shoulder and said, ¡°Leave the affairs of politics to us while you worry about your Institute and win this competition. No matter what happens, we are proud of you brother.¡± He handed me his hand and I took it getting up. ¡°I¡¯ll go talk to sister about getting rid of their excommunication. Go on and rest, you have a big day tomorrow.¡± After saying that, I left the room and headed to our bus. Not even a minute passed when I felt a tremor shake through the building. I lost balance a bit then ran back to my brother¡¯s room to check on him. He looked fine but he too was bewildered. ¡°It felt close, go check on your sisters, I¡¯ll check with father and Salazar,¡± he told me. I nodded and left to find my sisters. Salazar and my parent¡¯s rooms were nearby each other but my sisters were a bit farther away from them. Splitting up to check on them all was a good decision. I found my sisters well in their rooms. Eustasia and Serephine were alright but Alexandra was getting up from the ground. ¡°Are you guys alright?¡± I asked worried. ¡°Its nothing, its just a tremor,¡± said Eustasia first and Serephine last. Whenever those two are together they always end each other¡¯s sentences. ¡°Just a tremor? You two were always like that,¡± said Alexandra as she got up from the ground, ¡°Unlike you two, I can¡¯t just stay standing when the whole building is shaking.¡± Seeing that they were alright I said, ¡±Leon is checking up on the rest, lets catch up with him.¡± We ran to my father¡¯s room and there we saw a shocking scene. There was father, lifeless on the ground. Seeing him, I felt sad and I couldn¡¯t understand why. I never liked him but he was still my father. Perhaps it was that bond that made me this way. Across from him, near where we were was my mother and my brothers. Mother was protected behind my brothers who were staring at the figures next to my father¡¯s corpse. I had thought it was just shadows, but there was wood surrounding my father everywhere. Following the wood, I saw a dark aura surrounding¡­ ¡°Elenia.¡± It was Elenia. Around her were bodies of her teammates. They too looked lifeless. ¡°Master, look behind her,¡± said Malakir. I did and I saw Rico Vlad behind Elenia. He was smiling as if everything he wanted was right before his eyes. *Evil Laugh* ¡°Who knew everything would go so smoothly! Elenia my puppet. Kill them All. For the glory of God!¡± shouted Rico. Chapter 37 - It Begins... Elenia obeyed his command and started attacking us with those wooden vines. Everyone was still shocked and I cast ¡°Magic Shield¡± around us. I then summoned Galahad and Chronos and told them,¡± Take everyone out of here.¡± The both of them took my family into their arms or shoulders and ran away with them. My family were struggling saying things like, ¡°We¡¯ll help. Let us go!¡± but I knew my summons would not listen to them and they were safer this way. ¡°Dark Star,¡± shouted Rico and a black meteor shot straight to my magic shield and shattered it. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I was shocked and deployed another one, but it also didn¡¯t work. I grit my teeth and cast ¡°Distortion Binds¡± on the meteor. It stopped it but the chains looked like they were rusting. I had no time to be shocked as Elenia¡¯s attacks started on me again. I dodged it all by casting, ¡°Accelerate¡± but it still wasn¡¯t enough. I ran outside though the window and saw that everywhere was chaos. There were more people with that dark aura outside and they were killing everyone. I had no time to worry about everyone else and summoned Malakir to help me. ¡°Malakir, how do I get Elenia back?¡± ¡°That aura seems to be a mind control spell. You may have to get rid of the aura by using a purification spell or you can get rid of the controller.¡± Getting rid of the controller was harder than it looked especially since I didn¡¯t know who it was. It may be Rico who controlled her but what if it was someone else not here? I told Malakir to dispel the mind control spell while I fended off their attacks. Luckily Rico didn¡¯t try to catch up to me and just left it to Elenia. Even still, it was difficult to stop her attacks. When I got out of the room I had casted ¡°Flight¡± on me and wings appeared behind my back. This allowed me to fly in the air. Of course this was made hastily and I have no idea how long it¡¯s going to last so Malakir had to get done quickly. Elenia¡¯s attacks were troublesome but at least they were all only wood. Sadly, when we got out, she was able to control all the wood around us which meant that I had to worry about all the trees everywhere. I couldn¡¯t use any large spells, as it may endanger everyone else around us which put me in a bind. To help everyone who was fleeing, I cast ¡°Heaven¡¯s Rain¡±. This affected everyone but it seemed to make those in the dark aura to move much slower. This made it easier to dodge attacks and get her to focus on me. After some time, Malakir finished getting his spell ready and used it against Elenia. She tried to block it but I made sure that she wouldn¡¯t by casting ¡°Stop¡±. It worked and when Malakir¡¯s spell, which was a small green bolt, hit her. The dark aura disappeared, the wood began to crumble and she started falling to the ground. I caught her but at that moment ¡°Flight¡± ended and I frantically tried to get another ¡°Flight¡± spell up. Malakir helped me as the ground was rushing to meet me at a fast pace. The wings this time was much larger almost four times as large than I was. The speed was faster too. We fled the Academy and I used ¡°Wind Sight¡± to be able to tell where everyone else was. I found them inside the bus that we were using and it was fleeing to the west. Inside the bus were also Sasha, Alex and Kaiser. I flew next to the moving bus and a window opened, large enough for me to fly in. I went in and crashed into Kaiser who grunted out, ¡°Nice welcome.¡± After having put Elenia where she could rest, I listened to everyone¡¯s stories. At about the same time that the tremor was felt, people started having a dark aura appear around them. They then started attacking everyone and killed them. Everyone started to panic and ran away everywhere. My friends when they saw my family and Galahad and Chronos took them in and fled with them. They wholeheartedly believed that I would catch up. On Galahad and Chronos, they were able to slow me down enough when I entered to not crush Kaiser too bad and then went back inside me. After listening to their story, I then told them about what happened in my father¡¯s room. They had expressions of anger all around them but they held it in knowing that they couldn¡¯t do anything. I mean even my magic shield was broken. ¡°So what now?¡± Alex asked. ¡°We¡¯re going to the Lunaria Federation,¡± said Sasha, ¡°they are the second most powerful country in the Lunaria continent. They¡¯ll help us, I know he will. We accepted and changed our course. ------------------------- Chapter 38 - Port City of Lanafal Hey guys! Sorry for the short hiatus. I got really busy and I didn''t have much time really. College has started and I''ve finished testing the waters and am now in the process of getting more time to write. That''s pretty much my problem, time. I have schoolwork and work and I can see some times that I can work on this but, if I don''t get a chapter out, its because I''m busy with real life stuff. Again, I will never drop this, and even if you don''t hear from me, I am thinking of the story and trying to find the time to write it. I will still try to do the chapter a week thing but I''m pretty sure that there will be days that I can''t really work on it. Enjoy the chapter! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexandra was quiet the whole time we were talking about what to do when suddenly she yelled out and had an ¡°I got it¡± expression. ¡°What is it Alexandra?¡± asked Leon. She looked at us and said, ¡°When we were in father¡¯s room, I was wondering what that dark aura was. I had felt it before in the cathedral but I just had a hard time remembering what it was earlier.¡± My mother started sobbing when Alexandra said, ¡°father¡¯s room¡±. The twins comforted her as we listened to Alexandra. ¡°Now I remember, that was the feeling of the False God.¡± ¡°False God?¡± asked Salazar. She nodded and said, ¡°You remember that we were told that our world was created by Ongarin, Magus, Blangvina, Julia and Finda right?¡± We nodded, everyone knew this story of how the world began. ¡°Well,¡± she continued, ¡°there¡¯s another part of that story. That there was another God with them, he¡¯s known as the False God, the god of Power, Destruction and Ambition.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s how the story goes: When the world was not yet made, even before Ongarin decided to create the world. The False God, created a small world. A world only for him to come and go. Ongarin, on seeing this, was inspired to create one for everyone to live in. All was well, until the False God became envious of the world created by Ongarin that he attacked him. The False God was then defeated with the might of Ongarin and the other gods. His body was shattered and scattered everywhere. That¡¯s the story, it is said that his body is repairing itself in a land that no one has ever been and many think that he is in the Junx continent but then no one has been there yet at all.¡± Doesn¡¯t the False God have a name?¡± I asked very curious on this story. ¡°Not in any of the records that we have, this was just recently found and the only reason I knew of it was that my master was in charge of deciphering the ancient texts. The text it was written on had the same aura that I felt earlier that¡¯s why I was trying to remember what it was.¡± ¡°That traitor did mention a God,¡± said Salazar, ¡°would it be him?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure¡±, said Alexandra, ¡±but it possibly is.¡± After telling her story, we continued our journey to the Lunaria Federation. Its been two days since the ¡°Rebellion¡± as we¡¯ve come to call it. Mother is still crying but much more infrequently now. We were headed for Lanafal, the largest port city of the Rigel Kingdom. Hopefully we would be able to get a ship and leave for the Lunaria Federation without any problems. ¡°How much further?¡± asked Alex. ¡°Just a few more hours and we¡¯ll be able to see the walls,¡± said Salazar. ¡°What¡¯s the sea like?¡± asked Kaiser. ¡°The sea is a giant lake that you can¡¯t drink,¡± said Sasha. ¡°Isn¡¯t that useless?¡± said Kaiser. After thinking about it a little she said, ¡°Yeah it is isn¡¯t it.¡± They continued this talk until we saw the city walls. Lanafal was a giant city made out of coral stone. It comes from a giant underwater cave that they mine from by going through a tunnel they created aboveground. Coral stone is very resilient and slippery. Anything that comes into contact with it loses its grip, using this, the city cannot be attacked from the land by using ladders. It also has another property of absorbing sea water. It uses the absorbed sea water to prevent any ships from getting close. This is what makes Lanafal such a strong naval city. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Aside from being a naval base, it also is a great economic power. It is our third largest city because of its capability of protecting businesses within the city. Of course, with this there is also the expansion of the black market. The black market controls most of the city¡¯s gambling and auction houses. The rest is handled by the Merchant Coalition, a group of merchants that combined their power to set rules and have all merchants follow the rules. There¡¯s a rumor that the Merchant Coalition is also in charge of the Black market, but such thoughts are stamped out by that person suddenly disappearing. Entering the city usually requires a letter of proof that you have to get from other cities. This stops bandits from entering. The poor that cannot enter have to stay within the outskirts. The city is then separated into two districts, the Inner and Outer district. The Inner district is where the rich or those that have letters can enter, this is where the military is mostly concentrated and the Outer district is where the poor and the shops are located. We didn¡¯t have to go through the usual procedure as the guards in this city are well aware of our names so they just let us in fairly quickly. Suffice to say that I think it was a bit too conspicuous as they shouted out our presence. The Inner district was as grand as I thought it would be. There was a shine of gold and white as large buildings rose to the skies. The buildings were made of Golden Coral Stone. A rarer form of Coral Stone. This form can even absorb wind and use it against ships or stray monsters that come from the air. There were parks and small lakes littered around as if the Inner district was its own city and was not next to the sea. We decided to stay in Lanafal for some time until we could get safe passage to the Lunaria Federation. We walked to the Halo Hotel, the most expensive hotel in the city. We chose this place because mother needed expert care and that the hotel does not ask too many questions. When we got there we were greeted by a group of butlers and maids saying, ¡°Welcome back master.¡± We were startled a bit to say the least and a man come in front of the butlers and maids. I was too busy making sure that we were safe that I didn¡¯t catch what they were saying but it did seem like the man knew Leon and the reason for the butlers and maids was him. ¡°You should¡¯ve told me about this place!¡± whispered Salazar to Leon. ¡°Shut up and keep quiet,¡± whispered Leon, ¡°this place is great especially at night. I¡¯ll tell you more later.¡± I was the only one who could hear them as I was right behind them. ¡°Leon what were you doing here?¡± I asked myself and hoped that no one else heard. I mean, they¡¯re princes so that much is obvious but hearing about it is just¡­ Anyway, we were led to our own suite. We had a whole floor to ourselves where we divided up into our own rooms except for Sasha and I. For some reason, everyone was smiling while Sasha and I hid our faces as I thought, ¡°Do they expect anything right now?!¡± We also had our own dining table where at dinner time, the hotel brought us many fantastic dishes. We were served boiled oysters, baked salmon, grilled squid, and drinks of red wine. Sasha and I sat together as everyone else sat around us as we ate the food. It was deliciously good food. Kaiser was very curious as it was the first time he had ever seen any seafood. The oysters were boiled with chicken broth and topped with parsley. The baked salmon was made with a thick layer of this sweet sauce that just made the juices of the salmon explode in your mouth as you bit into it. The squid was grilled to such a perfect color that each bite felt as if we were biting into a soft turtle shell. The effects of the wine just maximized the texture of each dish whenever we drank. Sasha and I fed each other food as we ate. We already sat next to each other but it seemed that we just got closer and closer after every piece of wood that we ate. In no time at all, everyone was laughing and drinking all around us, probably to forget what happened. Even mother was no longer crying. I don¡¯t remember when but suddenly I found that Sasha and I were alone in our room. She looked stunningly beautiful as I leaned in to kiss her and then all went black. Chapter 39 - Sneaking In The next day started with the light shining in our room. Sasha lied next to me under the covers of the bed. She looked stunningly beautiful. Then I noticed that she was naked and I was too. I grew worried as I never expected this to have happened at such a time. I tried to remember everything that I did yesterday and suddenly, ¡°I forgot about Elenia!¡± I thought. I hurriedly got off the bed, of course careful as to not wake Sasha up. I changed my clothes using magic and before I even got out, the door opened. On the other side of the door stood Elenia. She was wearing a white robe that reached down to her feet. ¡°Thank you for last night,¡± she said with a weird smile on her face as she stepped closer to me. I was filled with questions as I didn¡¯t know what she was talking about. I stepped back unconsciously but she stepped closer. ¡°You took care of me, injured as I was,¡± she said. ¡°Um, yes,¡± I answered hesitantly. She smiled and said, ¡°Then please, accept this token of gratitude,¡± as she slowly pulled open her robe. My heart was thumping a bit but then everything went black. I opened my eyes and saw that I was outside of Lanafal. It was light out, but I was under a thick forest that it almost looked like evening. ¡°What happened?!¡± I shouted. ¡°Master, you were under Elenia¡¯s spell. We were unable to help you as Ravenex mist stopped us from doing so,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Where¡¯s everyone else?¡± I asked. ¡°They were taken away to Lanafal under the dead of night.¡± ¡°Are they safe?¡± ¡°Yes, they were merely charmed as you were. They didn¡¯t take you as I only had enough time to hide you.¡± ¡°We have to save them,¡± I said as I looked to Lanafal. Elenia¡¯s spell was so vivid, everything I saw while under that spell is exactly how I still see of Lanafal. The coral stone, Inner and Outer districts, the shopkeepers, everything. Since I didn¡¯t know where I would be able to find everyone, I made sure to disguise myself as a commoner. I wore a simple black leather armor and a red mask to hide my face. I had a staff on my hands to emphasize that I was a mage and in this way, no one would question the mask. I did all the investigating, as my summons would be too conspicuous. Using Wind Sight was a problem as it would make Elenia sensitive to it so I didn¡¯t dare use it. I finally found out where Elenia took them after beating the information out of an information broker. He threatened to have me killed when I was walking away but¡­ I accelerated to in front of him and said, ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are or who you know. But just to make sure that it never happens¡­ I will kill you now.¡± I then gathered mana into my hands and casted the space magic ¡°Bend¡± on his stomach. He started bending in ways, humans shouldn¡¯t. I made sure he couldn¡¯t scream by bending the air in front of his mouth. Finally, I bent his head, killing him instantly. I walked away and headed to where Elenia took them and would you believe that it was also the Halo Hotel? My main problem now was on how to get to the Inner District. The Outer District had no need of a pass but the Inner District does. Going from the air would be too difficult as the walls would just push me away, the same can be said of the sea. From the land, I would not be able to use ¡°Invisibility¡± as the walls dispel any concealment spell being used. It was quite a conundrum. ¡°What if we sent monsters in?¡± suggested Malakir. ¡°But how? The area around us is hunted down of monsters constantly, there wouldn¡¯t be any left,¡± I said. ¡°We make them. The grasslands around us are filled with animals. All we need to do is infuse them with mana and they will turn into monsters under our control.¡± ¡°Magic can do that?¡± ¡°Yes, this was used by many mages acting as spies 10,000 years ago. The method is now lost and only I know of it.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I walked out of Lanafal and headed for the grasslands. I made sure to be in a place that had a lot of animals that I would use for a diversion. For some strange reason, the animals in this grassland were only rabbits. ¡°Will these be enough?¡± I asked. ¡°Though they will be weaker, the sheer number of them will be enough,¡± said Malakir. There were almost a thousand small, furry, little rabbits that would be turned into man-eating, rabid, ferocious, giant rabbits bent to my will. I followed what Malakir had me do. I gathered the Chaos mana and infused into them Holy and Dark mana. This would then turn it into Chaotic Divinity mana that listened only to me. It was hard work but I sped up the process by using ¡°Accelerate¡±. It took me two hours to gather enough of the mana and then I proceeded with the ritual. Ritual magic is an old magic that is used to create tremendous feats of magic. Only this magic had the capability of shaking the very foundations of the world. It could raze mountains and raise them from the sea, it could drown an entire continent or it could demolish them to nothing. Now a similar magic is being used to turn small, cute rabbits into ferocious monsters. Using the mana, I created a magic circle that encompassed the whole grasslands. Since the activation of the spell would cause bright lights, Malakir would stop anyone from seeing what I was doing and Chronos and Galahad would take care of people trying to interrupt me for some random reason. I focused all my attention into the circle and when it was completed. I activated the spell forcing the very mana in the air to also turn into Chaotic Divinity mana. Because of the absence of regular mana, the created mana forced itself to enter all living things and possess them. I concentrated into making sure that the mana was only infused on the rabbits and not on the grass or trees. I only needed a diversion not an army. The rabbits cried out in pain and it hurt me to hurt cute innocent rabbits and then bend them to my will. Where I will send them all to die for the safety of my family. After the transformation, they all came up to me. They turned from white furred cuddly rabbits into black scaled, spiked with red tips and fangs with dripping green poison. They still had appearances of rabbits what with the ears and hind legs, but they now had a menacing feel what with their giant and monstrous forms. ¡°Attack the city,¡± I simply said. They all roared and hopped towards Lanafal. ****** A different scene¡­ The gates to Lanafal were just about to close when loud thumping noises could be heard. The guard in charge of the gates turned towards where the sound was coming from. He saw a cloud of dust, steadily increasing in size. He squinted his eyes and saw black rabbits. Thousands of them coming straight to Lanafal. Alarmed he shouted, ¡°Close the gates!¡± The guards who were to close the gates wondered why they had to close a little early. They looked to the distance and saw black rabbits coming towards them. They frantically tried to close the gates but one of the guards hands got crushed by the gears and he howled in pain. The rabbits were finally in front of the gates. Some charged in front, breaking down the part of the gate that was already down. Others jumped from the sky, the walls tried to push them away but more rabbits appeared behind them, pushing the rabbits inside and rendering the walls ineffective. The guards and mercenaries tried to contain the rabbit horde but there was just too many. They had to call on the help of the guards from the Inner District forcing the gates to the Inner District to be unmanned. Leaving no one to know that a figure cloaked in black appeared out of nowhere before the gate and then disappeared right after. Sorry Everyone, I''m sorry to say but I will be dropping this story now. I''m just not feeling it anymore as college is stopping me from writing as I wish and the time it takes me to write a chapter hangs over my head like a heavy weight that wants to smash my head. I''m sorry to drop this, I really don''t want to either but I have to. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. There will not be a rewrite or anything but there will be a new story. When that will be done, I have no idea or if I will even make one. And If I did, I will have no idea what the release schedule will be. I''m really sorry about this guys. Legend of Lunos Just in case people haven''t noticed, I have returned from the grave known as college. I have found suitable time frames in my schedule where I can return to writing. That being said, I have started a new story as Legend of Lunos. For some reason, as I wrote Legend of Lunos, I began to look at the timeline of my stories. Though I may have dropped Aliad and Aliad - Tale of Zed, it does not mean that it is forgotten. Which is why Aliad will most likely always be in the stories that I write from here on out. Somewhat of a spoiler but needed to explain, the timeline will look like this. Creation of the city of Aliad (Past) - Aliad and Aliad - Tale of Zed (Present kind of?) - Legend of Lunos (Future) Obviously I have not started on the Past other than a glimpse of Galahad''s tale but this is the general timeline of the stories and they will intersect at points. Enough of that rant, I hope you all enjoy the new story Legend of Lunos and I hope to see you all again! Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Main Page: Legend of Lunos To the story: Chapter 0 - First Strikes Synopsis: The Lunos clan was once the reigning clan of the Demons but because the younger generation¡¯s weakness to light was growing stronger for each generation, their power waned as the once proud Vampires were forced to disappear from the world. Regarded as demonic fodder, the Lunos clan became nomads who wander the world seeking refuge. But the land of the demons is large and many dangers lurk within the shadows. P.S. Its a reincarnation story, it should be a smoother introduction of the reincarnation bit and it will seem vague in the first place but it will come into play. I promise. Im alive. So I know I haven''t been posting a lot but I have had a lot of things going on the past weeks. At the same time I was regretting on dropping any of my old stories. I don''t want to regret things and I seriously want to see those stories finish and share it with everyone. So I''m doing this: I''m going to start all the stories over from the very beginning. The stories will be the same but I just want to put it as a new fiction. There may be some changes but I doubt that. Doing this could make some of you happy while the rest might be grumbling about me not finishing what I started. While the latter is true I ask for your patience. I tend to not finish what I start and I want to change that. Everyday I regret not finishing these stories and I really don''t like to do that. So I''m going to be honest, this will be difficult for me and that''s why I ask for your patience. I also ask that if I''m not doing the things I said I would do that you please tell me. I too want to see how the story ends and sometimes I get sidetracked very easily (blame video games). So I''m giving you all what I intend to do. I may have said Aliad was 7 books long but with the addition of "Legend of Lunos" it has become 10 books long. Codex 1 The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.Codex 2 - Dragonflight Codex 3 Codex 4 Codex 5 - Zed''s Tale Codex 6 Codex 7 Codex 8 - Legend of Lunos Codex 9 Codex 10 I intend to write three books at the same time namely Codexes 2, 5, and 8. Each will appear once a month on Wednesday. They will be posted in the order that they are listed so the first chapter would be the new one called Dragonflight. Then the next would be Zed''s Tale and the next is Legend of Lunos. After that is a week''s rest for me to do what I need to do or write chapters. If I fail to do this I ask that you please let me know and I will go back to the routine. It will take some time I know but I just need to get it a habit and then everything will flow. I just hope that I can do this. Codexes 5 and 8 may or may not be the same as it was before. I intend to leave them as is but I may just change the POV or some minor changes. I have posted the same as the above on the other stories and I hope you comment on anything plot holes that you noticed onto the respective Codex and I will try to change them. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please enjoy reading the other books here on royalroad. Aliad - Dragonflight Codex 2 - Dragonflight has been released. The next chapter for this will come in a month''s time. Codex 5 - Zed will come next week on Wednesday. Aliad - Zed Codex 5 Zed is now started. Codex 8 - Lunos will come next Wednesday. Hi all!!!!! Just a poll. I am considering to come back, but I''m not sure if I should come back after a long long hiatus and I know that even if I do, I''ll probably have a different story unless a lot of you want me to retry again. And even if I do, I''ll probably have a random release schedule as the main reason I stopped was because it started feeling like a job. It was fun but it felt like my soul was slowly being drained away and I didn''t want that. There''s been a lot of new writers and I''ve loved their stories so much that I feel like coming back to write, but again, I''ll have to do it at a not set schedule. This way I have a little freedom in how I post as well as in how I feel about the story, making it that I don''t feel like I''m selling my soul to the devil. Anyways, I''d like to hear from you all and we''ll see how this goes.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.