《In the Eyes of Others》 Prologue: World, me and goodbyes Prologue: World, me and goodbyes Hello, my name is Risiel but everyone just calls me Ris. Today I am 10 years old and finally I¡¯ll be able to study in Colean magic academy, but let¡¯s not speak about that just yet. First of all, let me tell you about my world. The world is called Lizien. On it there are 7 continents. 4 of them are completely unexplored. You probably think how can we know about them when they are unexplored? That¡¯s simple. Many ships ventured to them, but none who stepped foot on them ever returned but those that stayed on the ship spoke about the tales of those continents or at least that¡¯s what I read about in one of my favorite books called ¡°Mysteries of the World¡± from Arthur Blake. It was such a good read. I just love his books, they have something special in them that will capture you and you will think that you lived through it. I hope to meet him one day at least that¡¯s what I would say if only he would not be right now around 160 years old so he¡¯s pretty much dead now unless he can live so long. Well anyway let¡¯s continue with my explanation. In the world there are 6 known races, maybe I should say main races. They are Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Beastmen, Cabals and Demons. As I said they are just the main races. There are dozens of minor races. The difference between the two is simple, intelligence. Minor races can¡¯t speak fluently and are just dumb, but not all of them mind you. One of the minor races are trolls. There are many variations like stone troll, ice troll and so on. I¡¯ll give you an advice. Don¡¯t talk with them or you will want to smash your head against a wall. Fairies are one of the minor races too but they are smart but with no culture and want to do living hell to anyone they meet. So they are just mischievous little humanoid butterflies. Maybe you think of me as a racist but I¡¯m not. In fact I don¡¯t care about what species you are. If you piss me off than I will beat you up no matter what race you are. And as you can see I¡¯m not really acting like a 10 year old kid. I was like this since the day I was born. I did not even cry until someone spanked me or so my mother told me. Because I was different than others of course I did not have any friends. Maybe I should tell you about my family a little bit. We are commoners. My mother is household wife and my father is alchemist. In eyes of everyone else alchemy is useless when magic can heal you much more and much faster and everyone can use a simple healing magic but I was always proud for my father and never even once did I think about it as useless. So naturally I asked father to teach me and so I studied for 6 years and created many recipes that magic could never do but those will remain a secret for a while. I have a little sister too. She is 6 years old and she hates me, but oh boy she is so damn cute. She has long silky blond hair with green eyes. Porcelain white skin and puffy cheeks. So yeah, cute. I¡¯m not a siscon if you think of me like that. But when something is cute you will say it is cute no matter who or what it is, but as I say she hates me so I do not interact with her too much. And so that is my family. I live on the continent called Azar and it is mostly populated by humans but you can find elves and beastmen too. And on this continent is the well-known Colean magic academy where most nobles study and only a few smart guys can get there. I was one of them. In fact I did not want to go there. Being with nobles, pretend you like them and smile when you want to punch them for their arrogance and when you see that they do something wrong you can¡¯t tell anything or else they parents will make living hell out of your life. So how did I get there? It is because of our educational system. When you turn 10 you are eligible for a test to decide how smart you are and what your school choices are. The test is every year at the same day. And so I passed with 116 points out of 100. It looks like I got a few extra points, but that probably does not explain much to you. I will specify it. Average score in the continent is 68 points. Commoners normally get between 15-45 points and nobles around 60-90, but those who get close to 90 are a handful and I got 116 so you probably can get the uproar it caused and how I was called liar and cheater, how rocks were thrown on me etc. So naturally I will be send to the best academy where I will be bullied for being a commoner and who knows what else. Fuck it all! Well not like I have any other choice. Sigh. And so the day has come for me to be send to the academy. I took just essential like clothes, books and few miscellaneous things. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I went to the living room to say my goodbyes. Everyone was already there and I just stood there. Hell I don¡¯t know what to say, heck I don¡¯t even feel sad. I will see them in a year or so but still, it¡¯s my family and I treasure them greatly. So I waited until father spoke. ¡°Son before you leave I want to give you something. I hope you will like it.¡± Father smiled and gave me a book. When I opened it I saw it was full of alchemical formulas and experiments. Father continued. ¡°This is the book where I wrote all my experiments, successes and failures alike. Like my father before me it is now yours and I hope you will contribute to it.¡± I was moved not to tears but moved. I smiled with a genuine smile not like always with my fake smile. Then it was turn for my mother. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to eat properly, wash yourself and study hard. You don¡¯t need to be the best but don¡¯t laze around and worked hard sob sob and don¡¯t forget we all love you my little Ris. I don¡¯t have anything profound for you but you will need it anyway.¡± Mother gave me a satchel with money in it. I opened it and looked inside. There were 3 gold coins! With that family of four can live for 9 months. ¡°I can¡¯t possibly take that much! I will get scholarship it won¡¯t be much but more than enough for me.¡± And so I stuffed the satchel back to mother¡¯s hand but she did not want to take it. ¡°You will need this money it¡¯s the least we can do.¡± ¡°No! It¡¯s too much. You should just take them and use them yourselves.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. And so it continued for a while until I succumbed. ¡°Ok, I will take it but not all of it. I will take just 2 golds and no discussion!¡± ¡°Uh, fine.¡± I grinned with an evil smile. I won! Mother dejected went to sit and finally my sister¡¯s turn came. She just looked at me and then just turned her head to the side and said ¡°Hum¡± like I was nothing to her. I sighed and took my bag where I stuffed the stuff from my family and went to the door. While I was walking I could hear sobs and someone running behind me. That probably is mother. She probably wants to hug me again. I sighed and prepared myself. My waist was hugged. I looked behind me and saw my sister hugging me with a tears in her eyes. I was stupefied. My sister that hates me is hugging me and crying? Impossible! But nonetheless I could not do anything else than believe it and so I did. With a smile I started patting her head. She looked up to see my face and she blushed. SHE BLUSHED! So CUTE. While I was petting her I asked ¡°What is wrong Sylvie?¡± Sylvie is my sister¡¯s name if you are stupid enough to not get it. ¡°Ris, don¡¯t go. Stay here.¡± Oh, so cute. ¡°You know I can¡¯t. I must go like everyone else and it¡¯s not like we won¡¯t see each other again.¡± ¡°But, But sob¡± With red eyes she looked down and I knew she tried to stop crying which did not work. I sighed again and placed my hand on her head. ¡°Look I must go there. There¡¯s really no other way. To graduate from there it takes around 10 years so I will be there for a while.¡± She almost started to cry again but before that could happen I continued. ¡°So that leaves us with a certain option opened.¡± She looked up with a hope in her eyes. ¡°In for 4 years you will take the test too and if you will study really hard you could be able to go to the same academy as me and so we could be there together for another 6 years that way.¡± Her eyes glittered with a light in them. She said ¡±Un!¡± And so I smiled one last time while she let me go. I said my last goodbye and took my first step to the future. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Hi, my first fanfic so I did not know how to write conversations properly. This prologue was a bit hard to write because I needed to say a basic info about the world but it was not long enough as I expected so I needed to write something I did not want to and that was the farewell part so I hope I did not do too bad work. This chapter did not show anything that this story will be about and I will do windows it just did not fit into this prologue because I really just wanted basic info here. Next chapter will be about first time in academy and maybe I will do a classes to but I don¡¯t know. It will depend on how many words I will want my chapters to be. I think about 1500 should be ok. Chapter 1: First step Chapter 1: First step And so here I am in the capital of Xiaos Empire to study in the Colean magical academy. Man that was one hell of a ride. It¡¯s nice that they send a carriage for me but even so sitting in it for 2 weeks is insane. Well at least today is the end of this nightmare and the end of that stupid coachman that looks at me as a piece of shit. Well, now it starts the first step on my journey. It¡¯s quite nice first step. It¡¯s sunny weather and the academy looks majestic. Ugh, if only those shitty nobles would not act so high and mighty. Ah, appearances, appearances. I can¡¯t let others see my disgusted face. And so let¡¯s get out of this carriage. And with this first step my journey started. At least I thought so until coachman stopped me. ¡°Hey, where do you think you¡¯re going? Do you think your luggage has wings and it will fly for you? Just take it already so I can go. ¡± Stupid coachman. I took my luggage and looked and the letter I got from the academy. Hello, Mister Risiel At the day of 26th of 7th month please come to our humble academy to attend opening ceremony for new students. At the 12th of the same month we will send a carriage for you. The opening ceremony will start at 15:00. This letter works as identification pass too. Just show it to the guards so they can let you in. Sincerely, Administrative bureau So it looks like I need to get inside now. Ugh, so many people I can¡¯t even see guards. Well let¡¯s just go with the crowd. While I was walking with others I heard a whispering around me. Normally I would not listened to it after all I don¡¯t need to hear stupid gibberish of nobles but this one was about me so what other choice did I have? And so I listened. ¡°Hey do you see that guy? Why is a commoner here with us?¡± ¡±Look at his clothes. They¡¯re so rugged.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we call the guards? What if he wants to do something?¡± ¡°We should teach him some manners.¡± With that last comment I quickened my steps and weaved through the crowed until I met the guard. ¡°Hey you. What do you want here? Don¡¯t you know what this place is? This is Colean magical academy. People like you don¡¯t have any right to be here.¡± He spoke about how this academy is grandiose and what not. Before I would listened to who knows how long speech I just told him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for interrupting but I came for the opening ceremony. I will be a student here from now on.¡± He looked stupefied and then his face changed to angry expression and he started. ¡°As if a mongrel like you could be a student of this academy. Get the hell out of here before I beat you up scum.¡± Scum? Scum? Did he seriously call me scum? How dare he! I need to calm down. I breathed in and out until I calmed down. After that I wanted to see him tremble! With a smile cold as ice I spoke once more. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that this scum speaks once again but as you can see I even have the letter that identifies me as a student of this fine establishment and if you want to piss me off than you can gladly do so if you want to let your ass be kicked by the staff of this academy for disrespecting one of the students and not doing proper job!¡± The fear in his eyes was nice to see. With just such a simple threat he succumbs to fear. Well this shows the strength of being one of the elites. Well if he would not call me scum I would let it be but I could not waste this opportunity. I needed to vent the stress that piled up by being 2 weeks in a carriage and he deserved that. And so I continued inside. Well what should I say about inside. It¡¯s freaking huge! There¡¯s huge garden with trees and all kinds of flowers and 3 fountains and the best of all a sculpture of some guy just before the entrance to the academy and that¡¯s just entrance gate! I probably should explain a little bit. The academy is at the edge of a capital. It is separated by fence from the capital. Then there is a huge garden I spoke about earlier. After that you get to entrance gate which works as a separation between academy and the capital and as a leave gate for students that are already inside. You can¡¯t leave the academy unless you have pass that you need to show at the gate. When you go through the gate the true academy is shown. It is separated to several buildings in which every one is for something different. One is for magical studies, other for martial training, next for basic subjects and then there are faculty and specialized buildings too. It¡¯s good that with the letter came map or else I would have never known where to go. And so I went through the gate. What came next was really breathtaking. If the entrance was grandiose then the academy was heavenly. It looked like everything sparkled. The place was full of green and the buildings were from marble or something. Well it¡¯s academy for rich so no wonder there. I was walking for a while until I stopped. Man this place is confusing. I took out map once more and slowly looked around me to find out where approximately am I. I found out pretty easily thanks to my good orientation sense. I was slowly walking to my destination with a map in my hands until 3 guys stopped me. Ah, as always my shitty luck continues. They will probably mock me or something like that. ¡°Hey brother, it looks like this guy needs our help. We should help him, right?¡± ¡°I think so too brother.¡± They both were giggling. That looks bad. ¡°Now now,don¡¯t be so mean to him.¡± Interesting. ¡°Hi, my name is Irel Rosniac. I will help you if you want. You just need to kneel and lick my boots.¡± Ok, this guy¡¯s dead. With a sincere smile I answered. ¡°Thank you for your kindness, but it is okay I don¡¯t need help.¡± As much as I want to kill that guy I can¡¯t. Fucking rules. ¡°Now now, you wouldn¡¯t reject my offer, right?¡± He started slowly approaching me and then he punched me into my gut. ¡°It looks like you need to learn proper manners.¡± That fucker. Calm down me. Endure it. His other two brothers started to beat me up too until a soothing voice swept through all of us. ¡°What¡¯s happening here?¡± We all froze on the spot. A beauty appeared from behind the tree. Her long black hair, and dark blue eyes that would captivate you made even me freeze at the spot. Even though I am physically weak my mental strength is something else and this girl no woman was able to make me freeze. This academy really looks interesting. I grinned internally. Irel recuperated and answered her. ¡°Eh, it¡¯s nothing. We were just helping him, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Oh really? It did not look like that to me.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The cold smile she showed us was really terrifying. But for me it wasn¡¯t like that. I just thought what a woman. Beautiful yet strong willed. Almost my perfect type. Almost. ¡°I-It¡¯s true. Well anyway we need to go now. Bye.¡± She smiled once more. Her smile wasn¡¯t sinister anymore but her eyes could pierce you just from that gaze. Ha ha, that was fun. She looks interesting, maybe I can play it a little bit less safely. She started to talk to me. It wasn¡¯t a warm type of feeling. It was more like indifference with a bit of conscious. Well no matter. It just makes her much more interesting. ¡°Are you okay? Did they hurt you somewhere?¡± I stood up, dusted myself and just answered with a calm face. Let¡¯s see how she will react. ¡°It¡¯s okay. They did not harm me too much. It should heal in a few days.¡± I did not lie. I just had few bruises even though they kicked me really hard. It¡¯s one of my inborn talents. I can absorb impacts unconsciously mitigating part of the damage. Of course not all impacts can be absorbed but they weren¡¯t really strong. If they were I would not let myself be hit so easily. ¡°That¡¯s okay then. My name is Elizabeth Nightingale.¡± Elizabeth Nightingale, that is nice name. Let¡¯s try waters a little bit. ¡°I see. My name is Risiel, but you can call me Ris. I am a commoner so I don¡¯t have a surname.¡± I probably did not mention it but commoners do not have surnames. Only those that have administrative positions or are from noble birth have surnames. ¡°Risiel, Risiel. I think I heard that name before. Just where was it? Hmm.¡± How could she know my name? She probably mistook me for someone else. No student could possibly know my name and she definitely is a student. Probably my senpai. ¡°You probably mistook me for someone else. It¡¯s my first day here and I¡¯m here for my opening ceremony in fact I was looking for the meeting place before I was disturbed.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Hmm. I think I will go now. I don¡¯t have much time left before the opening ceremony starts anyway. Oh wait I still want to try that one last thing to test waters. *Grin.* ¡°Well anyway I don¡¯t have much time so I will go now. Thank you for your help Lis.¡± That¡¯s right, I wanted to try calling her Lis. In fact her name just begs you to call her that. ¡°Lis? Do you mean me?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I think it suits you really well.¡± I smiled with my best fake smile. Oh, her cheeks reddened. I hope it won¡¯t bite me in the ass. Beauty such as her must have fans that would kill me just for talking with her. Well it¡¯s not like I did not think of this option but with her indifferent tone it did not look like chances for this were high. Oh well, everyone is showing different face in contrast with the situation so it must be the same. ¡°Well anyway I really need to go now so I hope to meet you again.¡± And so I slowly walked away. At least I tried until she shouted. ¡°Wait! You said you were going to the opening ceremony, right? I need to go the same way too so I can show you the way.¡± Bummer. It¡¯s nice to walk with such a beauty but to be seen with her in front of all first years. That will definitely bite me in the ass. Well no matter even if I would say no she would go the same way anyway so I don¡¯t have any choice. With a smile I answered. ¡°Sure that would be helpful.¡± She SMILED a little. Normal person would probably did not see that but I¡¯m anything but normal. I¡¯m really starting to fear for my future here. Well until awakening ceremony I need to play it safe after that it shouldn¡¯t be so bad. And so we went to the meeting place. On the whole way none of us spoke a word. God the atmosphere was so tense. Oh anyway we finally reached the meeting place and she told me to just take a free seat and then she left somewhere. Take a free seat. That is easier said than done. There were around one thousand people and those are just first years. This academy is surely big. Well it¡¯s no wonder when you think about it. People from the whole continent study here and continent is a big place. I could see even elves and beastmen. Well after a little search I found one empty spot and with looks of disdain from others I finally took a seat. I would be pissed of too if I needed to stand up and with me half of the whole row just for one guy. Well it¡¯s not my fault that only free seat I could find was in the middle of the row. Well I finally took a seat and waited for the start of the opening ceremony. After around 15 minutes a woman around 30 years old with round glasses, brown hair and brown eyes with a brown robe appeared on the stage. She really must like brown. Then it started. ¡°Hello, my name is Irene Godspell and I am one of the professors here. I will tell you a few things about this academy and after that you will hear a certain speech so let¡¯s not make you wait any longer and start.¡± I will skip the talk and just summarize it. She was speaking about history of the academy, who created it, name of principal, rules and other small things. I won¡¯t bother with telling you these things and when the time comes you will naturally find out. Well anyway when she told us all those things finally last part started. ¡°And before you all be able to go we have a final speech prepared for you. Please welcome on stage student secretary Elizabeth Nightingale.¡± I¡¯ll be damned. It really is Lis. She is slowly striding on the podium. This should be interesting. ¡°Hello, as it was mentioned before my name is Elizabeth Nightingale and I want to welcome all of you to our academy. I hope you will all enjoy your stay here and learn many things and will work really hard. Don¡¯t be halfhearted or you do not have any place here.¡± Wow, her indifferent tone is really something but she¡¯s doing a pretty good job. I would not expect that from her. I thought that she would be the clumsy type that just acting in front of others. Well we will see. Now let¡¯s get back to listening. ¡°And now without a further ado let¡¯s hear a speech from the best student of first years.¡± I wonder who it will be. Hm, I can see someone readying to stand up. It¡¯s hard to say who it is but it¡¯s definitely a girl. ¡°Now please welcome Risiel¡± WHAT!!!!!!!!! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Hi it looks like the story will progress slowly. Next chapter should be about classes, academy dormitory and our MC¡¯s speech. One more thing, I really don¡¯t like reading my own works so there may be a few mistakes here and there but I just can¡¯t really make myself read it so sorry for that. HOPE YOU¡¯LL ENJOY IT! Chapter 2: Unluckily lucky Chapter 2: Unluckily lucky WHAT!!!! It wasn¡¯t just me who said that. As I mentioned before the other one was that girl I saw getting ready to stand up. But what the hell is going on? I never heard of me giving a speech. It wasn¡¯t even in the letter. Now, what should I do? ¡°Student Risiel, please come on stage.¡± As she was repeating it that girl I saw before started to look around to probably see who that mysterious Risiel is. Nice, another beauty with platinum hair and dark orange eyes searching for me. If only her face did not look like the reaper himself it would be much better. Oh well I can¡¯t let Lis waiting forever. And so I stood up. The guys that looked at me with disdain before now looked at me with a confusion in their face. I wonder what confused them? Maybe because my clothes looked, well like commoners, so plain looking or maybe because of my social status? Like such things could mean anything when it comes to wisdom. Yeah, as a noble you have teachers, books and such but even as a commoner you can learn from elders. That¡¯s how I was learning. What else could I do anyway? It¡¯s not like my parents could buy me books left and right. They are dammed expensive. Oh, it looks like that girl finally found me. She was gritting her teeth. She should not be so angry. She¡¯ll get wrinkles. Well anyway so I started to slowly walk on stage. I must say I¡¯m really impressed. I thought that girl will start shouting like ¡®What is this?¡¯ or ¡®How can this be?¡¯ and after that calling me who knows what. I need to reevaluate her. So I finally reached the stage and Lis is showing me where to stand. Hm, I wonder what speech should I make? Hm, I¡¯m still weak so I can¡¯t offend them too much and I have zero connections so I will be doomed if I will mess up but looking at those shitty nobles with those stares of hate I really want to do something. With my evil grin inside me I decided. I will make this speech a little bit interesting. So I stared my speech or at least I wanted to but before that something unexpected happened. Or maybe it wasn¡¯t really unexpected. See for yourselves. ¡°What madness is this? How can a commoner like him be the best student? Stop this bullshit already and let me give my speech!¡± Wow, I don¡¯t need to say who said that, right? Just as I thought. It really did happen. Oh well I already have it all planned anyway now just to start with phase 1. I looked at her with an indifferent face and soon after averted my gaze that said ¡®whatever¡¯. That really infuriated her. Just as I wanted. If she wants to play with fire then she should be prepared to be burnt. I looked through whole audience looking at their expressions much to my disgust and when I finally ended I put my acting skills to action. ¡°Hello, my name is Risiel. As you all can probably see from my appearance I am a commoner. Many of you probably don¡¯t believe that I am the best student and I don¡¯t have any proof to show and even if I had, it would be meaningless anyway and as such I did not even expect this occurrence of me being on stage. I don¡¯t have any talents to speak of nor am I physically fit.¡± Before I could finish I was interrupted by booing. 2 phase start. ¡°You said it yourself, you don¡¯t have any proof to back your claims. And even if you had someone like you does not have any right to be on that stage. Only people like m¡­¡± Before she could finish I interjected with my own speech. ¡°I understand. It¡¯s just like you said but I don¡¯t have any other choice do I? I was chosen and so I will do it.¡± Ha ha, showing her that she can¡¯t get here instead of me is proving good. I need to make her more angry. To shake her inside. ¡°You, you.¡± Now let¡¯s start with phase 3 before she calms herself. ¡°But I really can¡¯t take it from you. As you said I really don¡¯t have place on this stage and so I think you should take it from me and so ladies and gentlemen please welcome on stage our little lady here.¡± Just as I wanted. Making her angry so she would lose her edge. Then show her that her input is worthless and then when she is shaken and can¡¯t think properly make her step on stage to embarrass her. And so I slowly walked away from stage, well to back stage in fact. I don¡¯t go to the lion¡¯s pit afterall. Let¡¯s just stand here for a while and listen. Damn, I can¡¯t hear anything. Did they use magic to project soundwawes to the audience? Well no matter. Just seeing her mouth trembling, scared eyes and dripping sweat is enough for me. You probably think how could something so simple shake someone? When you are before 1000 people, angry and think about bastard who took my light you won¡¯t be able to think straight and much less give proper speech. But the best thing about this tactic is that I helped her and gave her what she wanted so I look favorably in the eyes of the audience. Oh again my evil grin. God how happy I am for my acting skills. If I would not smile just internally it would be bad. Oh well it was enough of fun for now. I did not go anywhere by the way. I still stood there and waited until the end. Who knows, maybe there will be something important? And so I waited and started to reminiscence a little. As you probably already noticed, I am a liar and deceiver. Since I can remember I was always like that. My mind was much more developed that those of the same age and my emotions were different. In what way? Let me explain. I can¡¯t feel emotions. Well that¡¯s not correct. I can feel but at much lower state than normal. But in a certain situations I can show immense hate and love. Those that hurt those that I have close to me will feel my rage and it¡¯s not something you would want to receive. But my feelings of love are only for those that are close to my heart. Close to me and close to my heart is different. I won¡¯t tell you how, just find out for yourselves. I still remember my first time smiling sincerely and my emotions changing to those of love. It was year and a half after my sister was born. I was in our house alone. Mother and father were in the garden and because I did not have any friends I took care of my sister. I was just looking out of the window and thinking about all kinds of things. Workings of the world, magic, swordsmanship and thinking about all kinds of stories. And then it happened. I could hear smooth sobbing like someone wanted to start to cry. I understood immediately and went to see my sister. When I came to her I could see tear drops of fear in her eyes, but when she saw me it changed to those of happiness. I¡¯m really sensitive to changes of expressions so that¡¯s why I noticed it. But the most important thing is what happened next. She started to run to me and when we hugged she said her first word. She was speaking it over and over again. It was like this. ¡°Rlis, Rlis, Ris, Ris¡­¡­¡± That¡¯s right. Her first word was my name. Well the first word was a little bit badly pronounced but she got better really quickly. And so I smiled with my first sincere smile and tears in my eyes. Something I never expected. I took her in my arms still hugging her and went to see our parents. When I came to them I told them what happened and when they saw my teary eyes and my smile they both wore stupefied expressions and both of them started to cry. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. They never probably expected to see me cry and smile with such a smile. At that time my acting skills weren¡¯t so good and they were my parents so they understood that I was forcing myself to smile most of the time. Mother took us both to her arms and kissed us. My sister started to smile and we all went home to take a snack. This memory still lingers in my mind. That¡¯s probably why when I speak about my sister I sound like a siscon but when she someone is your ray of light you would never want to harm you will act the same way. Well anyway I took a big step away from the situation. So after I stopped my reminiscence it looks like her speech ended and students were taking their leave. I think I saw her crying while running. Well she deserved that but I hope she will learn from this experience. It¡¯s not like I like to hurt girls. Oh my cute little sister it¡¯s your fault. So while I was looking and the dispersing crowd someone touched me on my right shoulder. I turned and saw that it was Lis. I used my fake smile and asked her something that was eating at me since I left. ¡°So, how was the last speech?¡± I could not hear it so what did you expect from me? ¡°It wasn¡¯t bad but you shouldn¡¯t degrade yourself and I knew I heard your name somewhere before. I can¡¯t believe I forgot name of the only guy in history of our school that got more than 100 points on the test.¡± She looked dejected but I knew she was acting. Did her personality changed? She was more of a cool beauty type and now she is more of a big sister type. Oh well it¡¯s not like it matters anyway I need to ask this last bit of info. ¡°Well anyway because I was standing here I could not hear anything so could you tell me if I need to know something about classes or such?¡± There was a change in her. ¡°I see, so you did not hear it then. Well let me explain then. You will get a room number to your room in dormitory. In there, there will be a list with your subjects. All necessary information is explained there. And now come with me to get your room number. It is given randomly by the way. ¡± I knew there was a change. She reverted to her indifferent tone of voice and cool beauty. Hm so it looks like her true self is that of a big sister. Now that I understand her more it will be easier to manipulate her if need will arise but I hope it won¡¯t happen. I took a liking to her. Well, more like an interest. So I went with her to get my room number. We went to the brown lady. What was her name again? In, In, Ilena so close it was something like that, but before I could remember Lis took care of it. ¡°Professor Irene, please could you give a room number to Risiel here.¡± What a bummer. Oh well I need to thank Lis for that. ¡°Hm, did he not get his number from assistants?¡± ¡°No, he was back stage so he did not hear anything.¡± ¡°I see. Ok here you go Risiel.¡± And so I got my room number. It was 0416. Not bad, not bad. ¡°Thank you Professor Irene and thank you Lis, for your help.¡± And let¡¯s end it with smile. The next part was unexpected. ¡°Oh ho ho. Lis you say?¡± She looked at Lis and Lis reddened. What the? Is it so strange to call her Lis. Well it¡¯s not like I need to care. I will call her like I want ti anyway. Lis quickly took hold of herself and spoke again. ¡°Well anyway. Now that you have your number you can go to your room. You still have your map right? I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t show you the way. I¡¯m busy.¡± She looked dejected. Not like before where she played that but really dejected. And miss Irene was grinning from ear to ear. Really professor does not suit her. I will rather call her miss. But I won¡¯t test that right now. It¡¯s better to do it when she won¡¯t have other choice than go with that. I think she would punch me if I would say it right now. Is she maybe what is called 30 and still single? Well I think this question will soon be answered but I really don¡¯t want to be punched so I will let it go. For now. So I bid my farewell and walked to the dormitory. It was much easier to find it then the place of opening ceremony but still it wasn¡¯t exactly walk in the park. So I went to the building and asked the clerk about the place and such. It looks like I will have my own room. That¡¯s right. Because most of the people here are nobles everyone has a private room. That will be nice for practicing my magic in private. I can¡¯t wait. So I took my leave and thanked the clerk. I found my room without a trouble. Room 0416, here I come. I slowly opened the door and what I found was breathtaking. It was huge. There could be 3 people living here and everything was so stylish and looked insanely expensive. But the last hit to the coffin was bed. It was the type of harem king just not so big but 3 could sleep there without any problem and they would still have space to move around. Seriously, does academy want to have group sleepovers? With women of course. I¡¯m pretty sure some of you thought about guys. Shame on you. Well anyway will my dampened emotions I was calm again and just took my stuff and placed them in closet and changed myself to the pyjama. I don¡¯t care what you say but pyjama is comfortable. The next best thing is sleep naked but I don¡¯t want to test it here. What if there are maids who wake you up and they would see my ding dong. Well that could be interesting. WAIT! What the hell do I want to do? Well let¡¯s not talk about that anymore. Now I need to find that paper with subjects. I was looking everywhere until I found it behind desk. It must have fell when I opened the door. Window was opened so it¡¯s quite possible. Well, let¡¯s take a look. [tr]
LIST OF SUBJECTS[tr]BASIC
MATH LANGUAGES (Mother language and 2 of choice)* ETIQUETTE * - Choice at the spot
MAIN
AWAKENING CEREMONY* BASICS OF FIRE BASICS OF WATER BASICS OF EARTH BASICS OF WIND BASICS OF VOID * - On the first day, then one of the 5
SECONDARY
MARTIAL ARTS ARTS ALCHEMY ENCHANTING CALIGRAPHY JEWEL CRAFTING FIRST AID SURVIVAL BEAST TAMING CONTROL * - At least 3, at most 5
And so, with all what happened today on my mind I went to sleep. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I did not want to end it here but it already has 3000 words and if I would continue to where I wanted to stop it would have 4500 words and I need to have it for next chapter. And I decided to do one chapter every 2 days or 2 chapters a week but it will depend. I can do chapters every day. To write one I need 2 hours but if I would write chapters with 3000 words every day then I would surely stop writing because it would get on my nerves so that¡¯s why every 2 days or 2 times a week. Chapter 3: Road to Awakening Chapter 3: Road to Awakening When I woke up I rubbed my eyes and like a zombie without even thinking went to the bathroom to clean myself. When I went inside I could not believe it. TOOTHBRUSH. There is a real toothbrush. I never saw one before. I don¡¯t mean like I never cleaned my teeth before oh no it¡¯s just that toothbrush is a luxury and commoners don¡¯t get to own something like that. We clean our teeth too that¡¯s without a doubt it¡¯s just we use a certain type of a chewing herb that cleanses and protects your teeth but it does not work at 100% but it¡¯s really useful herb to have on a trip somewhere. Well anyway, that¡¯s enough about toothbrushes. Another thing you should know is there is huge mirror. Like pointlessly huge. If I would be a girl then I would probably think it¡¯s just so so but for me it¡¯s really pointless. It¡¯s 2 meter width afterall and meter and half tall. Just pointless I say. Next great think is bathtub. Again it¡¯s like it was made for 3 people I really wonder what faculty thinks. It¡¯s like they are making it on purpose. God I love that. I just love to soak in hot water I can spend there hours without getting dizzy. That¡¯s another part of my constitution. I just don¡¯t get easily dizzy and sick. And my stomach is like iron. No matter what I eat I won¡¯t throw up. I get a little bit bad feeling but that¡¯s it. Trust me. I even once drank oil and milk and felt a little bit uncomfortable, nothing more. So after I cleaned myself I went to take a look once more on the list of subjects. Yesterday I did not take a proper look. What I first noticed is that there aren¡¯t any times or places where classes will be held. I took notice of it yesterday but I was tired so I let it pass. Now that I look at it properly there really isn¡¯t anything. Well as my mother always told me ¡®When you can¡¯t find something let it be and it will show itself on its own¡¯ so let¡¯s just do that. So I threw the paper on the desk and it flipped itself. On the other side were times and room numbers. I hit myself on my forehead. How could I be so stupid? Well no matter let¡¯s at least one thing is taken care of. Now then next thing is to find my uniform. I did not take a look to all closets so it must be in one of them. I was searching until I finally found it in the sixth closet. Yeah there are many closets and cupboards and whatnot I say, sometimes it¡¯s such a pain in the ass. I don¡¯t even have so many things. All I brought with me takes not even one closet and cupboard. Who knows? Maybe I will use it in the future for books and such. I started to undress myself to change into my uniform. I took off my upper part and when I was halfway with my pants someone knocked and said. ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m coming in.¡± Before I could do anything that person came inside and saw my ding dong. She started to redden and I hurriedly took my pants off and quickly changed to my boxers. When I completely took my pants off, that person started to apologizing and saying something about not dirtying her body. What am I for god sake? Some rapist or what? I took my pants of because she already seen it so I would rather change already then just pull them on again. The funny thing is that the thing I thought about yesterday really happened. I don¡¯t know if I am really lucky or unlucky. Probably both. Well now I need to do something about that person. She kneels before me and says sorry over and over again. I won¡¯t teas you anymore. It¡¯s really her. Funny thing is she has black hair and dark violet eyes. Her hair is cut short. Not too much and not too little. I must say it really suits her. Her uniform is plain old black and white with frills. If she would stand without moving I think everyone would think that she is a doll or something. It¡¯s like she was cut out of the stone and the uniform is part of her. Now to take care of her and find out why she came here. ¡°Please, you don¡¯t have to apologies anymore. Just stand up and let¡¯s talk it through.¡± And I smiled again. I don¡¯t need to say anymore that it is my fake smile, right? Frankly it gets on my nerves. So let¡¯s continue. With a frighten expression she stood up and I could see little tears. Oh god, that¡¯s not fair. She really looks like a doll. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you or anything so you don¡¯t need to be scared. And the reason why I took of my pants was just because it was bother to pull them back on when I already took them off anyway. There was no hidden meaning.¡± She looked at me again and her face brightened a little and her tears stopped. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah. Well, anyway let¡¯s stop with that subject. We both made a mistake so let¡¯s let it be.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± She calmed down and took a proper maid stance. ¡°Can you tell me why you came here in the first place?¡± Let the questioning begin. ¡°Uhm, I came here to introduce myself as your personal maid. My name is Alice. Nice to meet you master.¡± Being called master really has a nice ring to it but I don¡¯t want to become some self-centered and arrogant fool. ¡°Oh ok then but first can you elaborate about personal maids?¡± ¡°What do you mean master?¡± ¡°Just as I said? I did not even know that students get personal maids.¡± ¡°I see. Let me elaborate then. As you already guessed, every student gets a personal maid but because most people here are nobles they parents give them a maid on their way here already so they do not get maids from academy but because you did not have a maid academy assigned me to you.¡± That makes sense and it will be useful too. I don¡¯t think I will have time to always clean my room, make food and if I would be hurt or something someone to take care of me would be nice. Now, to make a certain rules. ¡°Ok, thanks for the explanation but if you want to be my maid, you need to know a few rules. First of all, you won¡¯t be calling me master but Risiel and yes, that is my name. You know what, just call me Ris. I¡¯m rather called like that.¡± ¡°But master I can¡¯t call you like that. If my superior would found out I would be scolded.¡± ¡°You will call me like that and that¡¯s final but I don¡¯t want you to have problems because of me so you can call me master if there will be people around but in other occasions just call me Ris, ok?¡± ¡°Ok.¡± ¡°Now second. I am a commoner so I know how to take care of cleaning but sometime I won¡¯t have time or energy to do it myself so I will count on you in such occasions but when you will clean I will always help you.¡± ¡°Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh.¡± ¡°Can I continue?¡± ¡°Y-Yeah.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°And now the last one for now at least. I don¡¯t need tools so don¡¯t act like one before me, ok? You are my equal in anyway as long as we are together so if something will bother you or you want to talk about something or just want to chat you can do that. I don¡¯t mind at all.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not like other students here.¡± ¡°You can thank for that to my sister. You remind me of her in one way. But don¡¯t misunderstand. I don¡¯t do it because you remind me of her but because I want to. And it won¡¯t change no matter what other says.¡± When I said that, she looked happy and embarrassed. You probably think that I have some ulterior motives but it¡¯s not like that. She will be closest person to me for 10 years so I want to get along with her but even so I don¡¯t trust her. If you will trust someone from the get go then you will be hurt. Trust needs to be earned. But even so I would still doubt her. You never can be too careful. So because I have some time, let¡¯s clean and tidy my room. It will be good experience for both of us. And so we both started to tidy up. I looked through the room to see if there was anything else. In one of the cupboards there were notebooks and some study books. I did not find anything else. So I started to place my things to respective place so I would have them on hand when I will need them. I finished pretty fast and after that I helped Alice. After half an hour we finished and I asked Alice about food. She said that there is cafeteria where I can get food but she also said that she can make food for me too if I want. I already knew my answer but first I need to know prices and so I asked. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. As I thought. Prices I silly. Lunch costs form 3-30 silvers. With that kind of many I could eat for a month anywhere else. I still do not know how much I will get from my scholarship but even so I don¡¯t think I will eat there in the near future and so I asked Alice to cook for me and for herself. I asked her if she wants money or if it is part of her duty as a maid. She froze and after that said that it is part of her duty. I sighed and told her in a cold voice. ¡°Do you remember rule number three or do I need to repeat myself?¡± She flinched. But that¡¯s what I wanted. The best way how to make someone remember something is to have a strong negative feeling. It¡¯s like with a dream. If you have a bad dream and you wake up you will remember it but with a good dream you will forget it almost immediately. The same goes of bad experiences. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I smiled and hugged her and patted her head. I don¡¯t get why a girl like her would work as a maid. She looks like a 16 year old girl. Something must have happened but it¡¯s not my concern. I can just give her a little bit of warm even if it is fake one. ¡°It¡¯s ok just don¡¯t do it ever again. So it looks like it¡¯s not part of your work to make food for me but even so you told me you would cook for me. I¡¯m really happy you know. Nothing is better than a food made just for you. Just don¡¯t forget to make for yourself too. I don¡¯t want to eat alone afterall. Oh and I will pay for it.¡± And with a sarcastic remark I added ¡°Just don¡¯t make them for 15 silvers.¡± We both started to laugh. Well then it¡¯s time for me to go to awakening class. ¡°I will need to go now. Feel free to be here at home.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that mast I mean Ris?¡± ¡°Just stay here if you want. I don¡¯t mind. You can even sleep in that bed. It¡¯s really comfortable. But if you have something else to take care of than it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°T-Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± And so I finally went to my awaking class but I could faintly hear ¡®Take care.¡¯ It¡¯s nice to have someone like that. Finding my way was easy. I remembered where main buildings are and with map it was easy to find. When I entered a building for magical studies I saw many people already inside probably searching for they rooms. Awakening ceremony must be held in several rooms. There are 1000 of us afterall. I went to look for my own room and on my way I met Irel. The noble who wanted to ¡®kindly¡¯ give me help, while beating me up. I hope he will let it be. There are too many people here anyway. So I went but he and his 2 brothers called to me. ¡°Hey, you are that commoner that rejected our offer for help and cheated his way to be a student representative.¡± Everyone stopped talking and looked at me. But they did not look at me with disgust. Just with interest. Yesterday paid off it seems. ¡°That would be me.¡± ¡°Today there¡¯s no one to save you or will you use a woman to protect you again.¡± I just smiled and calmly answered. ¡°Maybe I was saved by a woman but so what? Or do you think you are better than a woman? But at least I¡¯m not as low as you to go 3vs1. Or do you want to ¡®help¡¯ me again before all these people?¡± And I went past him. ¡°You you grrrrrr just wait.¡± And he went away, angrily. Everyone talks about what just happened and I can hear them saying that he is disgraceful. Nice. After a little bit of wandering I finally found the room. I went inside and everyone looked at me but no one came. Until a certain girl from yesterday came. That¡¯s right, that girl with platinum hair and dark orange eyes. Now that I look at her she has pointy ears. I see, so she is an elf. Now let¡¯s find out what she wants. ¡°It¡¯s you again. I won¡¯t forgive you for yesterday.¡± Well that was expected. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for yesterday and I saw you running away from stage with a tears so I am really sorry if I did something but you said that I shouldn¡¯t stand on that stage and I saw you getting ready before they named the student representative so I thought you wanted to take my place. Anyway, I¡¯m really sorry if I hurt you anyway.¡± And now puppy eyes and regret at my face. Done. I lifted my head up a little and she was blushing. ¡°I-I see. I did not know you thought about me I just thought you wanted to embarrass me. Sorry for my unsightly behavior.¡± ¡°Once again, I¡¯m sorry too.¡± And so another problem taken care of. Or at least I thought so. ¡°Anyway I still won¡¯t acknowledge you being better than me. It¡¯s impossible for someone like you to have better score than I who achieved 92 points.¡± 92 points? That¡¯s really high. From what I remember more than 90 achieved only 100 people or so. And academy is almost 2 centuries old so that¡¯s not a lot. She really is good. ¡°92 points? That¡¯s amazing. There aren¡¯t that many people who got such a score. ¡± ¡°So even someone like you knows how great I am. Anyway, so what was your score?¡± There¡¯s no reason to lie. ¡°I¡­. was a little, well, you won¡¯t believe me anyway.¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s not true. Just say it, please.¡± Please? So she is not just some bitch. It looks like I have someone to tease now. ¡°Ok then, but I¡¯m really telling the truth. You can even ask faculty if you want. My score was 116.¡± Everyone stopped talking and looked at me with baffled expressions and little elf looked like she was just trying to comprehend secret of creation. ¡°You are not lying right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°But how can that be? Max should be 100.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I never saw my test but from what I heard yesterday I got some extra points.¡± ¡°I see.¡± She looked dejected but still doubted me. I could see it in her eyes. ¡°Could I ask you for your name? I did not here it yesterday. My name is Risiel by the way, but oyu can call me Ris.¡± She shook herself and answered. ¡°Oh, my name is Lilian Fiodora Astaroth.¡± Fuck, 3 names. She is a princess. ¡°I see. Well it was nice to meet you but I need to find a spot to sit somewhere.¡± ¡°Oh ok.¡± And she absentmindedly went to her spot surrounded by her ¡®friends¡¯? I found a spot at the last row closest to the window. I took a seat and I saw Irel coming in. Looks like he calmed himself. He looked at me but did not do anything and just took a seat someone held for him. I looked to the sky. I don¡¯t know why, but it calms me. I don¡¯t know how long I was staring but I heard everyone opening of the door and everyone calmed themselves. I looked who came and I saw a guy in black robe. The next words first start of my road. ¡°Let the awakening begin.¡± ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Did not expect that awakening would not be in this chapter. It¡¯s Alice¡¯s fault. Just her part took 1500 words. Well anyway next part shit will start and I can promise that. Anyway I thought about the story and it should have around 30 chapters in total with 3 main parts. This first part should have around 12 chapters but it¡¯s just a rough sketch and next chapters will come probably slowly. I don¡¯t how exactly write the story after awakening because writing about studying is boring and going to kill something dangerous so I need to think about something interesting. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wonder if you know why it is called Road to Awakening. Write your ideas. Chapter 4: Awakening Chapter 4: Awakening ¡°Well then, before we start the awakening ceremony you probably want to hear my name. Too bad, I won¡¯t tell you ha ha ha. Anyway, before we begin with awakening, I will tell you a few things about magic and a little something that you mustn¡¯t never ever forget and break. It¡¯s oath of all magicians.¡± This looks interesting. I must pay careful attention. ¡°So, what is magic? In simple terms, it is power to create miracles, but that¡¯s not all of it. Magic does not create just miracles but destruction, creation, despair and hope. It all comes to, how you will use it. And because of these reasons it is forbidden to talk with those under age of 10 about magic. You probably think that I am talking about stupid thinks that you do not need to pay much care but it''s complete opposite. It not so far past there were many boys and girls like you that that before age of 10 learnt magic by themselves and started to practice it.¡± So that¡¯s the reason I never heard anything about magic. But that still does not explain why the law is in place. ¡°Most of such kids ended with cruel type of death. Some had they bodies slowly disintegrated and such death is extremely slow and agonizing but that¡¯s not the worst of it. Those that did not die by they own hand died by they own consequences. There were many cases of such kids destroying whole cities and killing thousands of people in the process and so it was acknowledge by all rulers and magic council that it will be forbidden to teach anyone below age of 10 and outside of academies.¡± ¡°All of you need to never forget what I just told you and if you break this rule you will be hunted and publicly killed. And don¡¯t you dare say that it is too hard of a punishment. You don¡¯t know how cruel those times were. Even your own family could die by such a mistake. Heed my words.¡± ¡°But let¡¯s stop with such a talk and let¡¯s start preparing for awakening.¡± ¡°Before we can start, let me elaborate a bit. So there are 5 elements. They are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Void. These are the 5 basic powers of the world. They all have a certain aspects. Fire is more offensive, water is used to heal, earth is great for defense and wind for support. Void does not have any special aspect to it. You would think that that¡¯s it but it¡¯s not. Even though they are better in a certain regard it does not mean they cannot be used in different way.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take fire for example. Fire as I said is offensive based. It can destroy everything that stands in its path. But it can be used to heal someone too. By focusing your flame to a wound you can destroy infection and close the wound but this is just basic type of healing. There is much better and higher leveled healing but you must find on your own. Let¡¯s continue. Fire can be used as support too. You can concentrate you fire mana to your legs to increase your speed and for defense you just need to condense your fire to a certain shape. The same goes with other elements. The exception is void.¡± ¡°So it does not matter which element you choose if you want to become a certain profession. To be a healer you don¡¯t need to be a water mage, or if you want to be a tank you don¡¯t need to have earth affinity. It all depends just on how you use your affinity.¡± ¡°So now you know basic about affinities. But it¡¯s hardly over. Now let¡¯s talk about derivations from elements.¡± ¡°I will tell you 2 basic derivation from each element. So fire with enough understanding can be used as a different kind of element that derives from itself. From fire you can create ash element that is great with blocking your opponent¡¯s vision and suffocating. Or you can create liquid flame. It¡¯s like magma but it does not use earth element. How to create magma element is too hard for you to understand so let¡¯s move on. ¡° ¡°Water. Water is one of the hardest to create derivation, but one of the easiest too. Most that choose water affinity learn ice element as derivation. It¡¯s relatively easy to learn but even so it takes around 2 years and that¡¯s really easy derivation. There are some derivations that take decades and sometime whole lifetimes to learn. The reason why it¡¯s one of the hardest is because there¡¯s not much to do with water else than create ice. You can change density of water to create a different substance. One of such is called gel water. It immobilizes opponent and can easily take a life.¡± ¡°Earth is in terms of difficulty second just behind flame. The reason is, because it is hard to mold earth if it is changed to different element. One of such derivation is iron element. It¡¯s easy to change earth to iron well for you it is like wanting to move heavens but still, easy. But to use earth in such way is not so easy because it slow your use of magic. Another derivation is hard to learn but easy to use. It is called golemancy. Using clay dolls made of earth and if you could user iron element you can create iron dolls.¡± ¡°Wind is the hardest when it comes to derivations. The reason is simple. Wind is in itself free. It does not want to be changed. It seeks freedom so to change its stage is hard but not impossible and not really even necessary. 2 basic derivations is using hot and cold air. With hot air you can create element called Fire Wind and with cold you can use Cold Wind and yes it really is called such. I know those are stupid names but they creators named them such so deal with it. In itself the two are not really weak but not strong either. But if you could use them and combine them, then you can use Storm element and it¡¯s really powerful.¡± ¡°Void is a mystery in this way. Noone was able to create any derivation and there wasn¡¯t even any reason because of what this affinity is used for, but more of that later.¡± ¡°So these are 5 basic affinities. Think carefully about each of them and try to find one that calls for you.¡± ¡°Now, finally we have affinities out of our way so let¡¯s continue. Next thing that is extremely important are attributes.¡± ¡°There are 2 attributes. They are called Light and Dark. In the past it was believed that those with light attribute were good person and those with dark were evil that needed to be killed. But that was a lie. Many of those that wielded light attribute did unforgivable things and many of those that wielded dark attribute did good things. Nobody knows how attributes are determined. We only know that person is born with his attribute. It is literally in his soul and cannot be changed or used and none can have both of them because they negate each other and if someone had both of them then he would most definitely been mentally unstable and he would be a monster to be killed.¡± ¡°So why am I talking about attributes? Simple. If you don¡¯t know how to use your attribute, then you are useless. Without using your attribute with spell, you can never be called magus, also known as masters of magic.¡± ¡°So how is attribute used? You will take your attribute and fuse it with your affinity to create stronger spells with effect of your attribute. I will give examples again.¡± ¡°Fire with light attribute can create Holy Flame. The color of the flame depends on person and so it¡¯s effect but most of the time holy flame will damage only those that caster thinks of as enemy and will heal allies. It can¡¯t be compared with normal fire. With dark attribute you can create Hell Flame. This flame will burn everything in its path. Even other flames.¡± ¡°But these are just example. If you will infuse your attribute to a different spell or in a different way than you will create something different than just Holy or Hell flame. Only when you are using pure element will it become Holy or Hell type. Same goes with other elements.¡± ¡°Water with light attribute will create Holy water that has damaging properties to undead creature and healing for allies. With dark attribute it will create poisonous or corrosive type of water. I don¡¯t need to speak about damage, right?¡± ¡°Earth with light attribute has self-repair abilities. It¡¯s insanely useful with golemancy. With dark attribute you can raise the dead, but it takes a while but masters can do it quite fast. These types of spells are called Necromancy and are a type of affinity-attribute derivation. It¡¯s too hard of subject for you for now so more in your higher leveled classes.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Wind with light can create something that can be called sword of light. They are small wind currents enhanced with light and have quite devastating effects. With dark element you can create Dark Wind. Everyone who is caught in Dark Wind will be slowly ripped apart. Both of these have devastating effects but can heal too.¡± ¡°Void is different. Even if you fuse attribute to it, it won¡¯t change properties or anything. It will just strengthen the effect and nothing more.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s all about attributes. I will give you 10 minutes to think about affinities so you could choose. Before we start, I will explain how it will go.¡± So, that was nice, confusing and hard explanation but at least now I know few things about magic. 10 minute is not long so I need to think about which to choose. This guy said, choose the one that calls to you. When I think about fire, it¡¯s like it wants to devour me. Like in my mind was a burning flame that tells me to come and be enveloped by him. The same goes with other elements. They all call to me, but the Void. It¡¯s like it was coming to me instead, like it was meant to be mine. I think I know which I will choose now. ¡°Oh I almost forgot to talk to you about Void. Because it¡¯s so useless I completely forgot, ha ha ha. Well anyway, as I said, Void is useless. It does not have any offensive, defensive or support capabilities to speak of. The only reason why someone chooses Void is for money, because it pays a lot to create magical bags. Magical bags use void element to mitigate weight and space of the bag, so you could have bigger storage space or to create teleportation gates also known as portals, but to create 1 it costs insane amount of money and you need 10 void magicians to power it. So that¡¯s why it is called useless affinity.¡± Well, what a bummer. But still, I will choose it. I know there¡¯s something more to it. ¡°I think you all already chose one so let me explain how awakening works. It¡¯s quite simple really. I have with me 5 transparent orbs. From left to right they are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Void orb. When you touch the orb with affinity you want, it will imprint the affinity to your mana crystal and your mana core will start to produce mana. The orb will after imprinting change color to white or black depending on your attribute. So let¡¯s start then. We will go in order from front seat to back seats.¡± Great, so I will be the last one. And so it went like he said. Until a while it was Irel¡¯s turn. He chose Fire affinity and his attribute was dark. I think it suits him quite well with that temper of his. After a while it was Lilian¡¯s turn. She chose wind and her attribute was light. Again, that suits her too. If she will be able to fly, she will look like a goddess. And after a long wait it was my turn. Everyone was looking at me with curious eyes because they heard my score. They probably think ¡®Let¡¯s look what that genius takes.¡¯ They will be surprised. I came close to the table with orbs and that guy said ¡°Come on, choose already. I want to take a break.¡± Really easy going guy. But his explanations are so freaking long. Oh well. And so I chose Void orb. He was looking at me with stupefied gaze. Well it doesn¡¯t matter. While I was holding that orb, hot feeling penetrated my chest and I could feel something change. It was really comforting, like something came back and so I closed my eyes to feel it more clearly. After a while I opened my eyes and looked at the orb. It did not change color. I looked at that guy and he just said. ¡°It¡¯s probably broken, but I could feel that it imprinted you. Now take a seat so I can finish this already. You will find out your attribute soon enough anyway.¡± And so I took my seat. For some reason I knew I can trust his words. I wonder why I feel similarity with him. While I took my seat, he started to explain again. Oh again, long explanation. ¡°Well then, now you all have been imprinted you need to learn one last thing. It¡¯s called Status. It¡¯s really easy to use and every magician use it to see they growth. You need to close your eyes and feel new feeling in your chest. It should be like a something was burning inside your chest. Then just will that how feeling to go to your head with a meaning of knowing yourself. And that¡¯s it.¡± I could clearly feel that hot feeling and so I just willed it to go to my head. It went there instantly and while it was doing so I did as he told and wanted to know about myself. After a while, something appeared in my mind. When I saw that I opened my eyes. It was still there. Right before me.
NameRisielAge10
AffinityVoidAttributeChaos and Order
Health???Mana???
Title???
Stats: Inaccessible
¡°It will probably take you a while to get it so until the last parson gets it, we will wait.¡± I looked around me and saw that no one else did it. Is it really so hard? After a while I could see others looking stupefied too so I knew they did it. It took a while but finally last person did it too. ¡°So, let me elaborate about it.¡± Not again. But information is always appreciated. ¡°This magic was created by Arthur Blake some 200 years ago. It was the greatest discovery in magic field because it allowed us to understand magic in bigger depth and how it affects us.¡± ¡°From what we understood, your mana affects your lifespan. Same goes with vitality. We humans can live up to 300years. Elves are almost immortal due to their connection to mana and beastmen around 120 years because their mana is concentrated to their physical attributes.¡± ¡°As you probably saw, in some places there are ???. That is because your awakening did not stabilize and your mana did not penetrate your whole being to asses you. This takes roughly 24 hours but it depends on the individual. The reason of your stats being inaccessible is the name. Only after your mana will flow through your every part and soul you will see it.¡± ¡°Name and age are self-explaining. Title is only shown to those, who have some title granted to them. How this works is not known, because there are sometimes titles you did not even hear of. So, some of you won¡¯t have title shown. ¡± ¡°Affinities and attributes are what you chose so no meaning to explain. One of the 5 and light or dark. Geez.¡± ¡°Well that summaries it. Before I forget, you are forbidden from using magic in any way expect for meditation, if you can get inside meditation in the first place. Those of you who won¡¯t obey will be expelled.¡± ¡°And those of you who did not choose your secondary subjects should head to the faculty room, because today is the last day to choose. That¡¯s it. You are dismissed.¡± With all of the new information in my head I stood up and went to the door. I wonder what is that attribute? He said there should be Light or Dark but mine is Chaos and Order. What does that even mean? I don¡¯t think I should tell anyone. Well I will understand it in the future. And so I went to sign up my secondary subjects. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Again, not even close to what I wanted to write. But finally, it starts. Training, personalization with characters and no hunting, but it won¡¯t be boring (I hope :D). Next chapter I won¡¯t guess anymore. Hope you enjoyed it. Oh and the one who chose Earth element as his favorite will have fun in the future. And those of you who chose Void, well tough luck with that useless affinity that can be used to create just bags. Ha ha ha. See you soon. Chapter 5: Taking care of things Chapter 5: Taking care of things Just when I put my foot outside the door frame, I was stopped by Irel. ¡°You fool, taking Void as your affinity. You really are stupid. You want to be a punch bag so much that you want to even make bags?¡± What a horrible joke. He¡¯s too conceited. If he won¡¯t change it, than he will surely die in the future. ¡°I just did what teacher told us. Choose affinity that calls to you and so I did, just like you no doubt.¡± His mocking expression changed and he started to ponder about something. This guy, even though he acts like that I think it is just a mask. I just know it. Like I could see into his soul. What is this feeling? I never felt it before. Does it have something to do with awakening? Looks like he¡¯s done. Let¡¯s hear it. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. I chose what caught me too but that still does not change the fact you are useless.¡± And with a smile I replied. ¡°What is useless and what not? You never can be sure. Even the ugliest sword can be better than most beautiful one. You should not believe what others want you to believe.¡± This took him by surprise. What is so surprising by it? I know we are just 10 years old, but that should be enough to understand it. ¡°Ok then. If you want to prove me that Void is not useless, then show it to me.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t mind, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s right time now. Unless you want to be expelled.¡± ¡°Are you scared?¡± And again, mocking expression. ¡°No, but why should I risk it when there¡¯s no point to it? And I¡¯m pretty sure there will be plenty of opportunities for that.¡± ¡°You¡¯re still chicking out but no matter. As you said, there will be plenty of opportunities, like when there¡¯s no one nearby. Ha ha ha.¡± And he left. Looks like, he is much more approachable without his two brothers. He probably must keep face before them. ¡°Nice job.¡± That scared me as hell. Who the hell was it? As I looked around I saw that black robed guy. ¡°Calmly talking and not showing any weakness and what¡¯s more changing his view about Void. You will get far in the world, if you will work hard that is.¡± And with a grin, he left. What the? He looked like he hated me and now his so nice? I wonder why? Maybe because of that connection I felt? Like someone said once ¡®All questions will be answered with time.¡¯ I really like this quote. While I was pondering I remembered I need to sign up for my secondary classes and so I hurried up. On the way, nothing happened and I reached faculty room. I took one last look on secondary subjects and made my decision. I stepped before counter where some old lady was sitting and reading a book. She placed her book on the counter and spoke to me. ¡°Do you need something sweetheart?¡± Such a nice old lady. Let¡¯s be nice too and it¡¯s not because I don¡¯t know my grandparents and all old people always were kind to me and helpful. Definitely not! ¡°Hello, my name is Risiel and I came to register for my secondary subjects.¡± ¡°Certainly Risiel, just take this form and write which subjects you want to study. I probably don¡¯t need to say it but you need to choose at least 3 and at most 5 and no, I won¡¯t tell you what are those classes about.¡± ¡°Ok, thank you for your help, granny but could you tell me why you can¡¯t tell me about those classes?¡± ¡°Risiel, don¡¯t call me granny but auntie ok?¡± That smile she¡¯s showing me is terrifying. Even demons would shudder before that. ¡°O-ok. Then you can call me just Ris.¡± ¡°Ok, little Ris. And now, for your second question. Most of those classes are self-explanatory and those that aren¡¯t are like that to see, how good your intuition is.¡± Intuition? That sounds like bullshit. But no matter. I already chose anyway. And so I wrote my choices on the form I was given.
Secondary classes registration form
NameRisielAge10
Martial arts Enchanting Survival Beast taming Control
Why I chose these? Simple. Martial arts - To get stronger body and learn how to wield weapons. Enchanting - Just because it sounds interesting. Survival - To survive on my own in all kinds of environments. Beast taming - I want to have a companion on my travels. Being alone is not really a good idea. Control ¨C I don¡¯t have any idea what that could be so let¡¯s say it¡¯s intuition like auntie said. And so with my choices I gave the form to auntie. She looked at it and started with ¡°Ara ra. Ufu fu. You made some pretty interesting choice. Not many choose martial arts because they think it¡¯s stupid for mage to use their body. Enchanting is not really practical because you can conjure or enhance your weapons with your element. Survival is really harsh so most stay out of it. Beast taming is popular because some students don¡¯t want to be hurt and if danger arises they want to have someone to make a decoy. And control, well because no one knows what it is they go with safe choices instead so you really are something to choose these.¡± I just smiled. God, is it really so hard? You just need to work hard and seriously, using your own pet as a fodder? That¡¯s a little bit too much. But control sounds nice. When auntie was talking about it she was happy for me and I really believe this auntie. But not too much. You never know. And so I bid farewell and went to walk around and get used to campus and where my classes will be held. I really must say, this academy is huge. I¡¯m walking for one hour and I just went through 30% of whole thing. If I would not have my orientation sense it would take even longer. While I continued my exploration, I reached a massive door made of dark brown wood and I could see a certain glow from it. I could hear voice from behind the door. Naturally, I placed my ear on the door to hear what they say. ¡°-ase, just show it to me. I need to know!¡± ¡°No, and that¡¯s final. I won¡¯t disclose personal information of other students.¡± ¡°But, but there must be a way. Just say it.¡± ¡°Only the owner can get his own information so only with his approval you can see it.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do it that way. Just please, show it to me.¡± ¡°No means no and that¡¯s final. I won¡¯t disclose results of student¡¯s Risiel¡¯s test.¡± When I heard it was about me and when I heard the voices talking a knocked and went inside. I knew afterall who was talking with probably director and I wanted to tease that person. ¡°Hello, I wanted to ask about scholarship and I heard you talking about my results so I went inside. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± With a perfect smile I went inside step by step. Director calmed down but the person next to him started to go pale with my each step. ¡°I, I¡­¡­.I¡¯m sorr¡ªy.¡± The person who spoke that was Lilian. Our little elf princess. She looked embarrassed by her actions and guilty of what she did. And she should be. When I told her my score she looked like she let it be and now she is here and tries to get her hands on it without my knowing. I don¡¯t care at all, but I can¡¯t miss such chance. To tease her will be awesome. And so I started. ¡°Elf princess was trying to get information on me. I don¡¯t know if I should be honored or dejected. I thought we were friends. I even apologized for my actions I did to you yesterday and now, you use my trust to do such a despicable thing. How could you?!¡± I was acting like I was hurt and shed a tear or two. She started to speak again but I cut her before she could start. ¡°I, I¡± ¡°I still can¡¯t believe it. Was this how you wanted to pay me for what I did unconsciously yesterday? Even though I apologized? I thought you were better. I thought you weren¡¯t like normal princesses. Such betrayal hurts, you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. Please forgive me.¡± And she started to cry. And now, let¡¯s end it. ¡°Ok then. I will forgive you.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°R-really?¡± ¡°Ofcourse. But you must agree to a certain condition.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Even before I tell you what it is?¡± She just nodded and looked at me with a firm eyes. ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t do such a things. You are a princess you know. What if I would tell you to become my slave? Or my lover? Promises must be kept. Especially as a princess you should honor them even more.¡± She blushed and thought about what she did. She went dejected again. ¡°Well, at least you learned your lesson, but don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing like that. I just want to call you Lili no matter where we are.¡± She looked up and felt relieved with both my advice and the condition. She just nodded and said. ¡°Yes!¡± I just smiled at her and went to the director. ¡°Ok then, now that we have taken care of one thing lets do the rest. Please, take my results from the test and show them to us.¡± He looked at me with a stupid look and Lili too. ¡°What? You could have just asked Lili, you know? I would not mind showing you and I even told you that I did not lie. You really could have just asked, but at least now I can call you Lily.¡± She started pouting and looked at me with a corner from her eyes whenever she would lift her head. Director in the meantime brought it over and placed it on the table. Lily still did not notice and so I took her hand and forcibly took her to take a look. She was like a tomato and her hand was warm and soft. But because of my dampened feelings, I did not blush but I was happy, at least a little. I showed her the paper and we both took a look. There really was 116 points there. She looked directly into my eyes with a fir gaze. I knew what she wanted and so I just nodded. ¡°How come he got 116 points? It should be impossible, right?¡± ¡°Normally, that would be the case but some of his thesis were so profound that it could not go unnoticed and even without that, he would still get 100 points. All his questions were right.¡± She squeezed my hand and I knew she was frustrated and so I consoled her by embracing her. What am I even doing to the princess? I hope her dad won¡¯t come to punch me. With my luck everything is possible. ¡°Don¡¯t be dejected. You scored 92 points. Not many people can say the same. There¡¯s always someone better than you. The same goes with me. There is someone smarter somewhere or stronger or more talented. You just need to work hard so that you can keep with them and finally surpass them.¡± When I said that she smiled and her hand wasn¡¯t squeezing me anymore. She wanted to go but I told her I need to ask about scholarship and so we bid farewell but she looked like a heavy weight was dropped from her shoulders. It was nice. No, I can tease her even more. *Grin* ¡°Well then, can you tell me how it is with scholarship?¡± ¡°Kid, you really don¡¯t know what is good for you. Play in such way with a princess.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know what I did and don¡¯t play dumb, you knew I calculated all of that.¡± He smirked and looked out of the window. ¡°It looks like there will be much fun in this academy.¡± ¡°I think so too.¡± And we both started to laugh. After a while, he started to cough to clear his throat. ¡°Well, anyway, you wanted to know about scholarship, right? It¡¯s quite easy. I will give you this black card and every month you will get 20 gold on it. You can pay directly with it or take coins from it by infusing it with mana and thinking about amount of money you need. It¡¯s useless to steal it because without owner¡¯s mana it is just a piece of metal.¡± 20 gold! Every month! We needed one year to save 1 gold and now, I get 20. I will send some money home. ¡°It does not look like everyone gets this, right?¡± He just smiled and said. ¡°Take it as my gift for fun times that will come.¡± I replied with my own smile and just went my way. I took a last look around campus because there still was time and when it was close to 6 pm I went back to my room. When I went inside, door was opened so I knew Alice was inside but what awaited me was something harsh. When I went inside, Alice was sleeping on the bed still in her maid uniform. She looked like a doll when she just stood but now, when she was like at her side a little bit like a ball with her hair on white sheet and with her delicate hands close to her chest with soft breathing and her skirt going up, showing her bare legs, well you can imagine what was harsh on me. I wanted to jump next to her and use her as a pillow. Even with dampened emotions, I¡¯m still man you know. I looked on her face and waited until she wakes up. After a few minutes, she started to wake up and flexed her hands showing her arsenal in full glory, but still covered. I just asked. ¡°Did my little princess slept well?¡± When she woke up from her half sleep state she blushed and started to apologize. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I told you, you can use it if you want.¡± ¡°Even so, I¡¯m sorry for letting you wait.¡± ¡°Thanks, for your apology.¡± She cheered up and told me that dinner is ready. I did not think she will cook today and because throughout the whole day I had nothing I was hungry as wolf and could not wait to taste her cooking. She went somewhere, where I did not even know it was there. There were slide door in the room. They were like masked. I really did not see them there, but what they hid was kitchen. I could smell fragrance of her cooking. I was almost drooling. She took 2 meals and placed them on the table. We both sat at the same table and started to eat. But after 3 bites I could not take it and just devoured it. It was so delicious. I took seconds and when we were done I helped with washing dishes. ¡°It was so delicious. You will make a great bride, hell I would even make you my wife if only I wasn¡¯t so young.¡± Yeah, I love teasing and it was half-truth. Which was which, I will let to your imagination. I took a look and she fidgeted until she calmed down. ¡°Thank you, Ris, for your kind words.¡± ¡°I really meant it.¡± Her eyes almost budged out. God, it¡¯s such fun. ¡°I see. Maybe in a few years.¡± The last part was a muttered under her breath but I still heard it. Oh damn. Well, it will be much more fun now. I told her to make a comfort to herself and I went to clean myself and try that bath. I did not ask her to come join me even though I wanted it. The reason was simple. She would probably really do it. I just asked her, if she would like to take a bath after me too and she said she can¡¯t possibly use it. But with a few words she readily took it. When I went out, changed into my undergarments I looked at my tomorrow¡¯s schedule and meanwhile Alice took a shower. Even though she could bath, jeez. She really needs to relax a bit. I told her that I¡¯m tired and will go to sleep. She said she will leave then but I asked her, if she wants to sleep here, but she politely refused. ¡°I can¡¯t force you, well I can, but I won¡¯t it¡¯s just, I want to do something for you. You prepared me such a great meal afterall.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I need to go home. My family waits for me.¡± ¡°You should say so in the first place. If I knew, then I would not tell you. I hope I will meet them one day. Oh and I got my scholarship so I will pay you tomorrow for meals and good night and take care.¡± She looked really happy and went out of the door and said ¡°Good night.¡± And I could hear a little sobs until they faded in the distance. Tears of happiness. I hope I did the right thing. And with all the little things done today, I went to sleep without knowing of what awaited me. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// This chapter was fun to write but pain too. It was so freaking hot, so I could not concentrate too much. Well, I wanted to do some personalization and so next chapter will be training. Huray. After 6 chapters, finally I got here. I never thought to see the day. From now on, there should be action but no promises. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 6: Beginning of my training Chapter 6: Beginning of my training I have a dream. I¡¯m in black space, just floating. I can see everything like it was bright here, but everywhere I look there is just darkness. It¡¯s so strange. I wonder where I am. I don¡¯t know how long I spent there. It feels like eternity but like it all happened in the blink of an eye. It¡¯s so strange. Something is happening. I can see so clearly in this place anymore. It¡¯s like a haze was cast around me. I can see someone appearing out of nowhere. He has black robe with a hood, black trousers, black boot and black white shirt. The robe is strange. There are 4 belts on it used to hold the robe around him without hindering his movement. Its strange outfit but so cool too. I can¡¯t see his face because of that hood, but I can see his smile. It¡¯s filled with sorrow, loneliness and regret, but he still smiles with a bit of happiness. He looks at me, showing me that smile, and then just turns around and leaves. *knock knock knock* I¡¯m woken up by a knocking. I remember that dream so clearly. It was really so strange. Someone knocked once more. ¡°Just a minute.¡± I get up and flex my muscles and go open the door. It¡¯s Alice. I look at a clock and its just 7 am. She really must be an early bird. Something smells nice. It looks like she brought with her a breakfast. I tell her to come in and she complies. She opens the door to the kitchen and places 2 boxes with probably food and comes back and starts to tidy bed. ¡°Why did you come here so early?¡± ¡°Today is your first day and so I wanted to make sure you are ready.¡± She said this with a dazzling smile. She really is beautiful, but I don¡¯t feel anything to her just a doubt. Something is fishy about her but all she does is sincere. It¡¯s so strange. Hell, whole today is strange. ¡°Thank you for your concern, but you really didn¡¯t need to bother yourself. What¡¯s more, it¡¯s just 7am and you¡¯re already here with a breakfast that means you had to wake up around 5 am to do this and yesterday you went out of here at 9 pm. You should take care of yourself more. I don¡¯t want to see you with circles under your beautiful eyes or worse, sick.¡± I really meant it, but what I meant by it was that it would be a pain to take care of things without her. She blushed again. I¡¯m not player for god¡¯s sake. I just tell what I really think or play with others when I want to tease them. Sigh. ¡°It¡¯s ok, I don¡¯t mind. Thank to you I could sleep through afternoon so I¡¯m not sleepy.¡± ¡°I see, but really, take care of yourself. I¡¯m worried.¡± With a soft, almost inaudible voice she said. ¡°O-ok.¡± I just smiled and she lowered her head, red as a tomato. I took her by the hand and went to the kitchen to eat with her. While we were eating I asked her a few questions. ¡°I would like to ask a few things. Is that ok?¡± ¡°Ofcourse.¡± ¡°First of all, hope much do I owe you for the food?¡± ¡°That would be 16 coppers.¡± ¡°You know, I was doing finances for my family store so I know this price is only for ingredients used for my meals. I asked you to make for yourself too, so those costs will be included in it and what¡¯s more, where is you wage for making it.¡± She looked at me astonished. Was it because of those finances part or because of the rest of the topic? ¡°I could not possibly ask for such a generosity.¡± I looked at her with a firm gaze. ¡°This is not generosity. I asked you and I will keep my promises. I don¡¯t want to hear anything else, just YES.¡± She started to tremble slightly. ¡°Y-yes.¡± I looked at her with a warm gaze. She stopped trembling. ¡°So with everything settle then I will give you 50 copper.¡± She just said yes, probably fearful of me reproaching her. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, please. It hurts me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I patted her on the head and continued with conversation. ¡°So I will pay you in advance for one month worth of meals. It is 6 meals a day for one month so it will cost 22 silver and 50 coppers.¡± I went for my black card and came back to Alice. I concentrated my mana into it the same way as with status magic and thought about 23 silvers. It appeared in a blue orb and I gave them to Alice. ¡°B-black card? H-how?¡± ¡°What do you mean, Alice?¡± ¡°Huuuuuuuuuh. You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°If I would know then I wouldn¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°Ahem. Black card is given only to those that should be treated with a special care and so it gives immense privileges to those that have it. I don¡¯t know all privileges but you will be treated like VIP no matter where you will tread.¡± What that old bastard gave me? Something like that as a thanks? He just wanted to tease me. That old fucker. Well, no matter. It will be useful in the future. ¡°I see. It was a gift from headmaster for my test score.¡± ¡°That¡¯s awesome! Only really promising students could get that, but one more thing. If you will meet someone with diamond crystal card, than don¡¯t offend them. Those people are on level just below royalty.¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, let¡¯s stop with these things and continue. Can you come to campus grounds?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s quite normal for maids to accompany their masters.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great then. When it will be time for lunch, please bring it to me and we will eat together. During that time just sleep here and do whatever you want. I don¡¯t want to see you exhausted afterall.¡± She looked at me, grateful for this. ¡°Most of my classes start at 9 am so you can take longer until you come wake me up. Oh and go to office and tell them I want you to get a spare key. So just use it whenever you want. It would be quite bothersome with just me having a key.¡± ¡°Ok, I will do that then.¡± We finished our breakfast and tidied my room. I went to wash myself and get changed, but I still had time so I wanted to try little something. ¡°I mustn¡¯t be disturbed so just do whatever you want but when it will be 8:40, tell me.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± I sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. That¡¯s right, I wanted to meditate, even though I never tried it. I closed my eyes and calmed myself and started to breath in a certain pattern. I never tried meditation but I know, what should I do. I know 2 types of meditation. Inner and outer. I don¡¯t know where I learned about them, I just know them. It¡¯s so strange. As I head my eyes close, I pictured my body as a black silhouette, surrounded by white aura you could say. I could hear my own heartbeat. With every thump I could see my blood vessels being slowly shown on that black silhouette. When it was done, I tried to feel that warm feeling in my chest I felt yesterday. I could feel it. Not automatically like yesterday but I could. I felt that hot feeling flowing through me and it started to appear on the silhouette too. Veins for blood were much more numerous than for mana. When I was done with this, I could feel a sting of pain. In the middle of the silhouette, where the warm feeling originated from, mana and blood veins concentrated like they were pulled by a magnet. My mana core started to appear and mana and blood in both my veins started to move rapidly, flowing through the core and around it in case of blood veins. Then there was a shockwave from my mana core and a crystal appeared inside it. It was dark violet crystal surrounded by white and black light. That crystal, I could feel it was connected to my soul. Then that means that black and white light is my attribute? But I thought it was Chaos and Order? So why is it black and white? Noone should have dark and light attribute or else they will become monster to be killed. Than am I a monster? Like I care. I am who I am and will do what I want and who knows. It was stated as Chaos and Order so I will stick with it. After this, flow started to subside and I opened my eyes, drenched in sweat. I could feel better than before. Like being reborned. I wonder what happened. This should be inner meditation to understand my own self. It was so strange. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I went to take a shower and when I was done I asked Alice how much time do I have left and she said 40 minutes. That was perfect. I wanted to try one more thing. I concentrated to use status magic.
NameRisielAge10
AffinityVoidAttributeChaos and Order
Health???Mana???
Title???
Stats: Inaccessible
It is the same. Well, it still weren¡¯t 24 hours, so no wonder for that. I wanted to do something different anyway. I concentrated on my attribute with intention to know more.
AttributeChaos and Order
Understanding too low
Figures. Now, too find about that understanding. I did the same, but now with my affinity. [/tr]
AffinityVoid
Understanding0,02%
Void is place between worlds, in another words, a different dimension where time and space do not mean anything
Well, I found where that understanding is, so one question answered. Let¡¯s continue with title. [tr]
Title???
Title shows, what type of person you are and what you did throughout your life
ERROR! Title cannot be displayed
And that¡¯s it. Still one last thing I want to know. Abilities. It should work with it too.
ERROR! Cannot display abilities, showing innate talents
Physical damage absorbtion
Iron stomach
Heart of Void
Quick regeneration
I won¡¯t even try to see they description. It would probably did not work anyway and there¡¯s not much time left. I let status disappear and changed to my uniform. It¡¯s perfect time to go to class. My first class is Basics of Void so it should be interesting. ¡°Alice, I think I will go already. Take care of yourself.¡± ¡°Bye bye, Ris¡± And so I went my way. On the road, nothing interesting happened, until I saw professor Irene acting strange so I followed her to a certain hut close to the forest. I peeked through the windows and what happened next shocked me. In a bright light, her form started to change. From her 30 year old look and 170 cm she shrunk to 145cm and looked like 11 year old girl. This would not shock me, oh no. What shocked me was a pair of cat ears on her head and a cat tail swinging from side to side. But that still was all. She looked incredibly lovely. You just have urge to touch those ears and never let go. My foot slipped and she heard it ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± She used some kind of earth spell and caught my legs in a dirt and forced dirt to take me inside the hut. When she saw me, she was scared and lost to what to do. I looked directly t her and just said ¡°Professor Irene¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m not professor Irene. I¡¯m I¡¯m her daughter, that¡¯s right, her daughter.¡± As if that would fool me. ¡°Professor Irene, can I touch those ears. I don¡¯t think I can hold myself any longer.¡± ¡°Heh heh¡± Is it so strange? I made myself clear of that urge. ¡°What do you mean touch. You pervert.¡± Her magic loosed a little and I took my chance and got out of it and started to touch her ears. She started to moan a little until she got hold of herself. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± ¡°I had to do it or else I would go insane.¡± I told her with a conviction of man going to war. ¡°Heeeee.¡± ¡°I satisfied this urge already so don¡¯t worry. Anyway, why are you like this professor Irene? I thought you were 30 years old hag.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not 30 years old hag. I¡¯m just 27.¡± And I was punched. I got up and looked at her again. It was my turn to be astonished afterall. This cat beast loli is 27? No wonder she could not find a man. I told that last part out loud. ¡°Who can¡¯t find a man! I just did not find the one destined for me.¡± Such clear excuse and with those fidgeting eyes it¡¯s clearly a lie. But damn, she¡¯s so cute. That urge is coming back. I don¡¯t think I will be able to hold it. I crouched on one knee and took her hand and looked directly into her clear brow eyes, her brown hair swaying in the wind. ¡°If you won¡¯t find a man in the future, I will gladly marry you.¡± She was blushing and were saying thing left and right, not knowing where her thought were. You probably did not expect that, right? Right? ¡°How could I possibly do that. You¡¯re 17 years younger than me and I¡¯m just and old hag in your eyes.¡± I¡¯m shocked. How can I think of her as old hag? I clearly think of her as loli, but let¡¯s not tell her that or she will punch be again. ¡°How could you say something like that. Who cares what your age is. We can live for hundreds of years so there¡¯s no meaning to it at all. And I most definitely do not think of you as old hag. Right now, in my eyes, you are the cutest cat girl in the world.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really really.¡± ¡°I see, then I will take you on that offer, but only if I won¡¯t find a man in the future.¡± She¡¯s embarrassed, so cute. ¡°And now go, you can¡¯t be late for class.¡± And I was kicked out. I got up, cleaned myself and slowly walked away. Now that I think about it, I got engaged! What the fuck did I do?!!! I did not think clearly, those stupid, lovely, soft, squishy ears. What the hell am I thinking about! Calm down, it¡¯s still not set in stone. And I can still run away in the future, gulp, I hope. Maybe I really am player. But definitely NOT playboy. I got my wits and slowly walked to the class. On the way I did not meet anyone. Looks like there is no one else, who took Void affinity in first years. Well, at least it will be better for me. No one will know about my abilities that way. When I finally reached class, what awaited me was horror. When I opened the door, the one who waited for me was that black robed guy. Well, now I know why he had a black robe. Oh well, it will be fun but his look of letting him wait is really scary. He probably wants to reap my soul. Let¡¯s just quickly sit down and hope he will calm down. As I sat he started. ¡°Well then, looks like I have a student this year. I hope we will get along and don¡¯t worry, I will take good care of you, the same as you took to get here in time.¡± With his mad laughter I knew, that I was doomed. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Hi, took longer due to heat and I promised someone who chose Earth affinity that I will do something nice for him and so I chose Irene as Earth mage. Hope he enjoyed it and wanted to do some windows for you and finally start his training. The meditation started to change from what I wanted to write first, but it¡¯s not bad. Now to find out why even blood vessels were attracted to mana core, but well, I will figure it out. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 7: Training - start Chapter 7: Training - start As he smiled with his mad laugh, he conjured a strange red vial. I can¡¯t figure it out. From where did it come from? I look at the strange while in his right hand and I see a black ring. When I focus on it, I can feel something from it. Is it a dimensional ring? The most coveted treasure for anyone? I should explain. Normal pouches just diminish weight and increase holding capacity, but dimensional rings are different. The transport all items to a different dimension, so no weight is transmitted to the user. Space in dimensional ring is much greater than for a pouch but it depends on the quality of the ring, but even the worst ones are still better than pouches. The last big advantage is¡­¡­¡­.there¡¯s no flow of time in the dimension so everything stays fresh. For merchants, that¡¯s godly treasure and here he has it. From where I know it? I read it in a book. This type of knowledge isn¡¯t forbidden, because you can¡¯t try creating one anyway and storage items are common. At least when it comes to pouches. I think the book was called Dimensions from Arthur Blake. Good read. Who would have thought that there are countless planes of existence all around us? Really a good read. Wait a minute. Didn¡¯t he say that Arthur Blake created status magic too? Could it be the same Arthur Blake? Could it be that mine greatest childhood hero I always wanted to meet is the same person? Then he could still be alive! I must know. ¡°Before you will continue with pouring that strange liquid down my throat, could you answer me a certain question?¡± He looked at me puzzled, probably thinking why am I not scared. Why should I? It¡¯s not like he will kil me, so it¡¯s pointless. He sighed and said ¡°Speak.¡± ¡°You said that Arthur Blake created status magic. Is it the same Arthur Blake that wrote Dimension and Mysteries of the World?¡± He looked at me, shocked. Did I say something strange? ¡°How do you know those books?¡± ¡°I read them.¡± ¡°Huuuuuuuuuh. You read them? You¡¯re just 10. How could you possibly understand them?¡± ¡°It was easy.¡± ¡°No no no. Even some well known people couldn¡¯t understand them fully and you¡¯re telling me you understood it?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°If you really did, then you are a monster.¡± ¡°Maybe I am. One never knows.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha. Kid, I really like you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not half bad yourself.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha.¡± And we both laughed. ¡°Well, to answer your question, yes, it is the same Arthur Blake. Why did you ask anyway?¡± ¡°He is my hero and I always wanted to meet him so I just had to ask.¡± ¡°I see. From what I know, he should be still alive but his whereabouts are unknown so it will be hard for you. You should just focus on your studies for now.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think so too.¡± ¡°But don¡¯t think I forget about your late coming.¡± Oh boy. ¡°Weeeeeeell then, let¡¯s let you drink this fiiiiiiiiiine potion.¡± It definitely isn¡¯t some fine potion. Well, no matter. Let¡¯s just gulp it down. And so I took it from his hand and gulped it down at once. His mouth was on the floor. Did I do something? ¡°You stupid kid. It is meant to be sipped and not drank whole. Oh boy.¡± I did not feel anything strange, until it started. I just felt a little stinging throughout my body and the it stopped. If this is all then it¡¯s alright. How I was mistaken. After that, intense pain surged throughout my body. It was like I was ripped about piece by piece. It was insanely painful, but I endured without screaming even once. I had to hold it down, no matter what. I was lying on the ground and he came to me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t hurt you. In fact, because you drank all of it, it will even help you. This potion is called Awel. It helps to increase your mana flow for newly awakened so that you can access your status immediately, but it hurts when it happens because your body isn¡¯t adapted to increased mana flow so your mana veins are stretched beyond their limit. Normally, students only sip it and there¡¯s no pain just stinging, but their veins aren¡¯t stretched so much thanks to that. Because you drank it all, your mana veins will be stretched beyond even above average. This will help you in all kinds of activities. But as you can feel that immense pain, no one does it. You really are lucky or maybe unlucky. Ha ha ha.¡± As he was laughing I was gritting my teeth. I could feel it. My veins stretching, my bones screeching and my body breaking. It was far worse then he said, but I endured. Pain started to fade away and after a while, I felt nothing at all. I did not feel any stronger or such. I just felt like before I took it. ¡°Does every student take it?¡± I had to ask? ¡°Ha ha ha. Nice joke. Do you know how expensive it is? No one would use it for students. Only those highly talented get the chance. I wanted to pay you for coming late by letting you take 3 sips but you drank it all. So much money, gone to waste. Oh well, what happened, happened. Now, let¡¯s take a look at your status.¡± Take a look? We? What the? ¡°What do you mean we? Only I should be able to take a look at it, right?¡± ¡°No. You can show it to others, if you want. By saying you approve of that person, mana will transmit it to me and I will be able to see it. How does that work is beyond me though.¡± Ok, that¡¯s nice a piece of information. ¡°If you can do this, then can you change what others see?¡± ¡°Yes. In fact, many do that to hide their strength. Only parts you are forbidden to change is your name. In every city, it is verified, so don¡¯t change your name.¡± Great, one trouble taken care of. Now, let¡¯s look at it. [/tr]
Status
NameRisielAge10
Level1RaceHuman
AffinityVoidAttributeChaos and Order
Health50Mana200
TitleDifferent one
Strength4Agility3
Vitality2Dexterity12
Inteligence100Wisdom100
Endurance1Luck¡À10
Resistances
Fire0%Water0%
Earth0%Wind 0%
Void5%Poison40%
Ok, so it looks like I am really physically weak, but mine INT and WIS is high. That ¡À in luck I can understand. My luck and bad luck is really something afterall. Resistances are nice to know. That poison resistance I probably got from my hobby, alchemy. Now that I look once again, there is level and race. Why did it not shown before? Let¡¯s just ask. ¡°I have 2 new information. It¡¯s race and level. What does it mean?¡± ¡°Level already? I¡¯m impresses. Well, race is shown only after complete penetration of mana through your body. Level shows your experience throughout life. It does not show at first due to everyone being level 0 so it¡¯s pointless. Only after reaching level 1 will it show itself. All experiences through your life are shown there, but most give minuscule amount needed to get a level. That¡¯s why I am so impressed. It means you did many things. Now, show me your status.¡± That¡¯s nice to know. Now, to show him my status. Let¡¯s just change my attribute to dark and allow him to see it. He started to look before him, so it probably worked. After a few minutes he stopped reading and looked at me. ¡°You are seriously physically weak. You should do something about that. Your INT and WIS are insanely high so no wonder you got level, but it¡¯s still not much. Masters have around 2000-3000 in both of them. Now, to have understanding in Void just after awakening is impressive but if you really read Dimensions so I can understand it, even though it shouldn¡¯t give you so much. Your title is, well, it suits you perfectly. Your mana is quite high too. Most people after awakening have between 10-60 but with your intelligence and wisdom, no wonder either.¡± ¡°Now, let me explain what you will learn from me. Basic course takes 2 years. The same goes with all your classes. The will change after 2 years. In these 2 years, you will be learning about magic in general and only a few things about Void magic. It¡¯s so that you won¡¯t destroy whole school due to your mistakes. Void magic is much harder than other magic, because Void cannot be seen in physical form in nature itself like other elements. So study hard. I will give you a few books after we end here and a pouch to store them and that¡¯s pretty much it. Don¡¯t worry, I will explain few more things.¡± ¡°Amount of mana is hard to increase. You can try to absorb mana in the world, but it takes long time and is really hard and quite miniscule. Mana will increase with your every lvl up, because every lvl up means your soul got stronger and mana comes from soul. Soul can be strengthen through knowledge so it is tied to INT and WIS too. Because it is quite hard to get more mana, we purify our own mana, increasing its effectiveness and decreasing amount needed to cast spells through meditation. You will learn meditation techniques.¡± I know meditation techniques but let¡¯s not tell him that. So if I think about it, inner technique should purify my mana and outer should allow me to absorb mana. This should be immensely useful. ¡°Understanding is simple. It shows your connection to the element and how it says understanding. It can be said that it means you know how Void works, is used, contains etc. Understanding is profound meaning of the element and with it, you will understand it¡¯s secrets and power it holds. As I said, Void is hard to understand, so it will take a long time for you to reach high amount of understanding. Even I am only on 16% and it took me 25 years.¡± ¡°Now, I think it¡¯s all for this class. Here is your pouch with books. Study properly.¡± ¡°I have one more question.¡± ¡°Oh, what can I answer you?¡± ¡°What is your name?¡± We looked at each other, baffled. From the start, he never introduced himself. He probably didn¡¯t even think about it. ¡°Ha ha. I completely forgot. I never expected to get a student so I did not even introduced at awakening ceremony. Anyway, my name is Riley. Nice to meet you, Risiel.¡± I shook his hand and said. ¡°Nice to meet you, Riley.¡± And this is how my first class ended. Next on the program is math. What can I say about it? Normal math. There were 30 of us and we had some old goat as a teach. I did not even bother remembering his name. Etiquette was fun in it¡¯s own way. Learning proper manners, types of walking, dancing, speech and all kinds of knives and forks. That¡¯s what is waiting for me and more. We have some old lady for that class, but she looks nice. Next was language class. In this class, I got some young lady that is called language genius. She can speak in more than 30 languages and we, who got her, will need to learn 4 types of languages and will have her for 4 years at least. We got many choices to pick for the 4 languages, not including our mother language so it all comes to 5 languages. For the 4 I took, Elven, Cabalian, Runic and Ancient. Runic and Ancient is found in all types of runes and dungeons so it should be quite useful but from what she said it is extremely hard to learn. Even for her it took quite some time and she is a genius. Looks like I will be with her for some time. Next on the program was Enchanting. I couldn¡¯t wait for it. I wonder what it is all about. All legendary weapons I read about in books were enchanted weapon that could cut through heavens itself, just to get hands on it is almost impossible so if I will learn enchanting, I should be able to come closer to it. Let¡¯s start this class then. As I went inside, an old man with a long grey beard was sleeping on his desk. I was the first one there, so I took a look around. There were some see through small balls, pieces of metal, tools I can¡¯t even describe and some kinds of liquids. As I was looking around I heard a laugh. ¡°Ho ho ho. So young and so curious. Nice to meet you young man, I am teacher of enchanting class, you can call me Beliar.¡± Strange man, but why do I fell so afraid of him? It¡¯s like devil was looking at me. Is this killing intent or just pressure he himself gives off. If it is pressure than that guy is wolf no dragon in sheep¡¯s disguise. I just politely replied. ¡°Nice to meet you Beliar, my name is Risiel but just call me Ris.¡± ¡°Ho ho ho, so young and yet so skillful. Not even showing a hint of fear from my pressure. You truly are interesting young lad.¡± So he was testing me? I should have known, but it is lucky in a way. Now I know I must never piss him off. ¡°I see. So that¡¯s why I felt like being crushed under a weight. What is this skill?¡± ¡°Ho ho ho. This isn¡¯t a skill per say. You just send power of your soul outside of your body, but your soul must reach a certain stage for it to work and every pressure is different. It depends on your soul. Some can bewitch you, some can feel like crushing you and some will let you feel like you are in the cold hands of death. Be careful of such pressure because only those who killed many without remorse have such souls.¡± Good to know. So if I understood it he must have went through life and death situations to have his soul give off such type of pressure. ¡°Thank you for your explanation.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Young talents need to be nurtured.¡± Strange guy but nice too. I think I will like this class. ¡°When will the class start?¡± ¡°In 20 minutes or so. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait. I read in books about enchanted weapons and armors and they looked so awesome. I want to be able to do it too and more.¡± ¡°Ho ho ho. Young lad, path of enchanting isn¡¯t so easy and most cases in those books are just fiction. You will understand soon.¡± We talked for those 20 minutes about what I read about enchanting. He gave me his opinions about it and told me a few names of books I should read about. I just need to find a library and I will spend most of my first year there. While we were talking, class started to be filled and everyone looked at us. There were many who came to this class. It was completely full. When everyone sat down, Beliar told me to sit before his desk and class started. ¡°Hello, my name is Beliar and I will be teaching you enchanting. Enchanting is not hard to learn, but it is much harder to use and even harder to master it. You should all be prepared for a lot of hardships. Now, what is enchanting? Enchanting is enhancing items with magical powers through use of runes and glyphs, but it¡¯s not necessary to always use them. Runes channel your own magical power in a certain way, but only in one way. You can use rune to sharpen your blade or made in more durable but one rune cannot do both. Most weapons have a limited amount of runes they can contain. It depends on quality of the item. Because runes are limiting, we use glyphs. Glyphs are next stage of runes. They contain several meanings. So glyphs can be used to make items stronger and sharper at the same time. Glyphs are much harder to use then runes and items are again limited in the amount. You all will learn basic set of runes from me, but glyphs will be your own. Every enchanter needs to create his own glyphs and runes.¡± ¡°When you create runes or glyphs, you channel mana into it. Depending on the configurations of the glyphs or runes, your weapon or armor will be enhanced. In this way, items are enchanted for a while, because magic power will slowly disappear. There are ways how to overcome this weakness but it is too hard for you to know now so I won¡¯t be explaining it. Because enchanted weapons can be enhanced by user only, that means you are limited in one affinity only and because magic power slowly disappears, that¡¯s why we use elemental crystals. These crystals have a certain affinity in them. They are filled by magical powers of the magicians and unfilled ones are quite cheap to buy. These crystal are then embedded into weapons and so you don¡¯t need to use your own mana to fill the swords and will have one more affinity to use. Items can be embedded in more than one crystal but again, there is a limit.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°These are the basics of enchanting and even though it sounds easy, it is not. When creating runes or glyphs you must constantly supply them with magical powers or they are just useless writings.¡± ¡°Now then, here are books with basic runes. Everyone take one.¡± And so we took one. There were pictures with some runes and meanings of it, but no glyphs. ¡°Now then, before you, you can see a piece of metal. Choose a rune and try to write it on it. Don¡¯t forget to fill your tools with mana.¡± Is he serious? We never even tried to move mana into something. Let¡¯s just try it. As I took a toll into my hand, I could feel it tried to leech on my mana. With just a small push my mana started to flow into it, but the flow wasn¡¯t constant. While others started to slowly do the same and some even started to write runes, I tried to make my flow constant without any variation. In 5 minutes I was able to do it pretty well. Even though it wasn¡¯t perfect and far from it, it was good enough. I started to write a rune to make the piece of metal stronger, constantly watching my mana flow. It was slow process but I did it. ¡°When you¡¯ll be finished, come with it to me.¡± Many went to him and it started. Some had smug looks on them because it was so easy for them and so it started. ¡°Ok then, use your mana to activate the rune.¡± The first guy with biggest smug on his face used his mana and it blew in his face. Beliar just said. ¡°Failed, next.¡± And so it continued. Noone was able to create working rune. Some had their plates broken in half, some just had it broken on few places but not even one rune passed. Then it came my turn. I was the last one in class who did not try. When I came before him Beliar just smiled and said ¡°Go go, don¡¯t keep me waiting.¡± And so I started. I used my mana to let it flow into that metal. Everyone was grinning, expecting it will brake for me too. When my mana reached the plate, rune started to shine in bright light and that piece of metal had it luster renewed and it looked much stronger. ¡°Ho ho ho. You passed and with magnificence too. To create such a strong rune on your first try, not even this old man was capable of that. You have some talent for enchanting.¡± I was happy. I could enchant and in the future, maybe even create gear for myself that would become a legend. Who knows? ¡°Ok then, those of you who failed will need to try again until you succeed. You Ris can go to your next class. See you soon.¡± ¡°See you next time Beliar.¡± And so I went to my next class, Survival. When I came to a plane behind school, close to the forest, teach was there and with him 5 students. When I came to them, teach said. ¡°Now that everyone is here, let¡¯s start.¡± Just 6 people? It really isn¡¯t popular. ¡°I won¡¯t bother with explanations. I want to see what¡¯s in you. Look at this flower. It is called Melisin and it grows in this forest. I want you to find it in 30 minutes. Now go.¡± That was nice explanation. This flower has red petals and yellow stem. ¡°Oh and everyone must go alone. Don¡¯t worry, there aren¡¯t any dangerous animals.¡± And so we all went inside. I was walking around and looking for it. After 20 minutes, I did not find anything. Fuck, only 10 minutes left. Think, think. It has red petals and yellow stem, what does it say? Now that I think about it, it was wet so he had to plug it out recently and so it means it must grow close to water. Its petals are dark red so it shouldn¡¯t be growing on direct sun and yellow stem means it should grow in place with yellow soil or in this case yellow muddy place. With this information, I closed my eyes and tried to hear and feel where some wet place is. I could hear a river so I went there. I found nothing at all. Dammit. Think about it once more. I got it! And so I went with flow of the river until I found a pond filled with yellow mud and inside it, those flowers were growing. I took one and quickly ran out of the forest. When I finally got out of the forest I could hear. ¡°End.¡± ¡°Did I come too late?¡± ¡°You exited forest before the end so do you have it?¡± I took the flower and showed it to him. He raised his eyebrow and did nothing else. When I looked around, I could see 2 guys with the flower too and 2 who did not get it. One was missing. We waited for him and after 10 minutes, he finally came out all cowered in mud. ¡°You¡¯re late.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Do you have flower?¡± ¡°N-no.¡± ¡°Those who did not get flower will need to study about this flower and next time will tell me about it and try to find it again. Rest of you, take these books and study them. You¡¯re dismissed.¡± Nice class. Without anything being thrown inside the forest. What more you would need? Let¡¯s continue. Next is Beast Taming. Should be nice. When I came there, there were so many people. I think around 200 hundred. It¡¯s just like aunty said. I just stood there and waited for the start of the class. While I waited I heard some say ¡°Ris?¡± I turned around and I saw ¡°Lili? You chose this class too?¡± ¡°Yeah. As a wind mage I need a pet for protection and what about you?¡± ¡°I want to travel most of the time alone so I thought that pet would be a nice companion to have with me. Do you know what you want as a companion?¡± ¡°Not really. When the time comes, I will know.¡± ¡°Good. The same goes with me.¡± Now that I look around, everyone starts at us and murmurs. While I look around someone calls ¡°Princess¡± And a girl comes to Lili. She is the same age as us but already developed in upper parts. She will have big assets in the future, not really my tastes but not something to not stare at. I¡¯m still a guy, you know. ¡°Princess, here you are. Don¡¯t run away from me again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay Sani. I was just talking with Ris.¡±¡§ Sani looked at me at with a disdain looked at me and stood before Lily. ¡°What do you want from the princess? I remember you, you peasant. Don¡¯t come near the princess.¡± I looked at her with a bothersome look and paying any attention to her. ¡°Sorry Ris, she does not mean it that way.¡± ¡°No problem, it just shows she really likes you.¡± And I smiled. Sani looked embarrassed and was saying something under her nose. ¡°W-what do you mean by that! I just want to protect princess, nothing more!¡± ¡°Ok ok. But that just shows you are close to her and so you like her. I did not mean anything else with it.¡± I just smiled with a soothing smile. ¡°I-I see.¡± ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s go princess.¡± She took Lili¡¯s hand and went somewhere. Before that though, I called to them. ¡°Lili, in the future I wouldn¡¯t mind going on a quest together. I can¡¯t let you get hurt or else Sani would kill me.¡± They both blushed and just went away. And I just smiled innerly with my evil smile. While this concluded, teacher came. It was young lady with a scar on her face from a claw or something. She looked bothered by the amount of us but just started. ¡°Beast taming can be divided to 2 parts. Contracting or enslavement. Contract can be achieved by mutual agreement of contractor and pet but pet may not do your every command. That why trust and loyalty is important. In case of enslavement, pet or person is branded by a mark and he must obey every command or will suffer intense pain. Because enslavement is much more secure, most choose this type but in contract, when both parties belief in each other, they can reach a higher stage of contract called blood contract. In this case each other¡¯s blood will flow through both of them and their abilities will be mutually enhanced. If your pet would evolve, even your own power would be strengthened. I will teach you how to create contracts and enslavement seals, tactics used, how to take care of your pet, different types of animals and monsters that can become your pet and all requirements for that.¡± She talked for a while longer and then just let us go. Good to know but nothing interesting. Next is Control. I wonder what it is. When I came there, only 12 of us were there. Not many choose something, they don¡¯t know of, it seems. Teacher there looked stern with a hateful expression. It will be fun with him. ¡°You scum. Finally all of you are assembled. Took you long enough. In my class I don¡¯t want to hear anything like my affinity is better than yours, fire magic is awesome and such other shits. Are we clear?¡± Everyone looked at him with incomprehensible expression. ¡°I fucking said, ARE WE CLEAR?!¡± ¡°YES!¡± Everyone responded. His shout could make even dead shudder. ¡°Good. Now then, control is class, where you learn how to use raw mana. Now, I have a question for you. What is the strongest force in the world?¡± Everyone started to ponder about it. I had my answer already but I did not say anything. One of the guys said ¡°Magic.¡± And everyone was nodding except me. ¡°You FOOLS! You there, you were the only one who did not nod. What do you think is the strongest power?¡± ¡°Mana itself.¡± He looked happy, but with his frightening face it wasn¡¯t any better. ¡°And why do you think so?¡± ¡°Magic is power to create miracles but without mana, it is nothing. Mana is first block of anything. Without it, we couldn¡¯t live so long, use magic and world itself wouldn¡¯t exist as we now it.¡± ¡°Good good. At least someone isn¡¯t maggot.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s exactly it. All of you should remember it and this is what I will teach you. How to use mana in the most efficient and powerful way. I will make a men from you and when I will be done with you, you will be good enough to make others shudder before you.¡± ¡°Now, to be able to use mana in such way, you must be able to control your own flow of mana. Everyone, try it.¡± Control my own flow? Isn¡¯t it the same as I did during my meditation? Then it should be simple. I closed my eyes and imagined my body with my mana veins. I could see a difference. They were much larger than before. Was it because of that vial like he said? I can feel much more mana flowing through me but it isn¡¯t so dense as before. It looks like I don¡¯t have enough mana for my body to use properly. I will fix that in the future, now, let¡¯s try to change my flow. It sounds simple, but it isn¡¯t. You mana flows on its own, just like your blood. To make it flow faster or slower isn¡¯t simple. I tried to make mana flow to my arm but it wasn¡¯t enough. Yes, it flew there but my whole flow did not change so it is wrong way to do it. If it can¡¯t be did like that, then I need to use ma mana core. It should be as my heart and I should be able to control it. Let¡¯s hope it will work. I started to concentrate on my mana core and I could feel much denser mana in it. I tried to will mana in it to flow outside into my body. With a few tries I succeeded and more mana started to flow and my whole flow became much more rapid. I started to feel pain in my mana core and quickly stopped to will more mana from it. Pain started to subside, but my flow was still the same. I tried to will mana in my body back to my mana core and I succeeded much more easily and my flow slowed down. It looks like I succeeded. I opened my eyes and everyone was looking at me. ¡°You you, what did you do?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You whole body started to show your mana veins and we could see it flowing through you!¡± Interesting. ¡°We could not even make it budge and you do something like this.¡± ¡°Bo ha ha. For you to be able to do this in such a short amount of time. Who knows, maybe you will become grandmaster in mana control.¡± ¡°Grandmaster?¡± ¡°Oh right, all skills have ranks and grandmaster is pinnacle in all of them. You could count grandmaster that appeared in thousand years on one hand.¡± ¡°Now then, all of you must try to will your mana so next time, you will be able to do it too. And you keep practicing. You are dismissed.¡± Nice. It was fun in it¡¯s own way. Last class, martial arts. When I came there, there were 50 of us and one of them was Irel. When he saw me he came to me. ¡°Oh, looks like even a commoner wants to learn martial arts. Get lost, only nobles like us are worthy for it.¡± ¡°Nice to see you too, Irel.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that. We are classmates here. Let¡¯s both of us work hard.¡± ¡°Hm, I will show you whose better, commoner.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait for that.¡± And he went away. Now that I took proper look around I could see 3 guys standing before us. One was in full plate armor, other in light armor and the last one in black trousers with no shirt and he looked like a beggar. ¡°All of you, listen. There are 3 instructors. You all can choose, which one of us will become your instructor. Think about it carefully. There¡¯s no turning back.¡± Many chose full plate guy because he looked like a paladin in expensive armor. The guy in while light armor got rest. Irel chose full plated guy and I still could not decide. I looked at both of them once more but not one caught my eye. I looked at that guy who looked like a beggar and not even one student chose him but for me, he caught my eye and so I knew I want him to teach me. So I went to him and he just said ¡°Kid, just pick one of those, I can¡¯t be bothered with teaching talentless guys.¡± ¡°And how can you know I am talentless?¡± ¡°Just look how scrawny you are. No muscles and stamina. You would die with my training.¡± ¡°Oh, so you do hellish training? That should be interesting.¡± I looked into his eyes and batting an eyelid even once. ¡°Fine, but don¡¯t complain to me. Come with me.¡± And so we left others behind and I followed him. We went through a forest and after good half an hour of walking we reached a training place full of dummies and track field and what not. ¡°This is your training place. Here will be your lessons held. Come here whenever you want.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± It¡¯s nice to have a training ground opened 24/7. ¡°Now then, I will train you in Phantom style. This style is strongest in the world and from 1000 of those who wish to learn it 999 will die and only 1 will become able to learn it. Let¡¯s see if you will survive or die, but first, we need to fix your body. I will teach you Phantom style training program and you will diligently do everything it states. You will probably die from it but it was your choice.¡± ¡°The reason why Phantom style is the strongest is because we, who train in it, are as strong as warriors, nimble as rogues, silent as assassins, precise as archers and combine our arts with magic. We learn how to wield all kinds of weapons to a certain level at least and you will learn close quarter combat too.¡± ¡°Now, about levels. It goes from weakest to strongest. Basic, novice, apprentice, intermediate, skillful, savant, advanced, expert, master, grandmaster. Don¡¯t even think about reaching grandmaster rank. Only one person was capable of that. Most of us who learn Phantom style are stuck at intermediate and rest of us are skillful or savant. And by rest I mean geniuses. It is very hard to learn this style.¡± ¡°Phantom style is evolving style. To use any type of skills from Phantom style, you need to learn basic skill sets. To use Phantom movement, you need to learn skills as, sprint, one with breath, silent step, presence manipulation and those are just basics. This style evolves by using other skills that will help with Phantom skills. In my case I use skill called charge in my Phantom movement. I won¡¯t tell you others I use. So you need to train your body in all ways, learn basics of different sub skills and only then learn Phantom style skills and train in it. All sub skills must be at least at apprentice stage for you to learn Phantom skills. Hope you are ready.¡± Phantom style sounds OP, but from 1000 only one will survive and even if you survive, you will be stuck at skillful stage because it is so hard to advance in it. It will be fun. ¡°I await your guidance.¡± And so, my training began, wait! What is my teacher¡¯s name? ¡°What is your name? My name is Ris by the way.¡± ¡°Just call me master.¡± ¡°Ok master.¡± Let¡¯s fun begin. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// This chapter is more than 2 times as long as normal. Take it as me saying sorry for late release. It¡¯s quite possible I made few mistakes in explanation because I had tons of ideas and wasn¡¯t able to write them due to my trip. So poll said 2 year time skip after this so it will happen. You can say that it will be a new arc. I¡¯m not sure how I will do it but I know what it will contain. It will be possibly smaller than this one but there will be action and fights. Once more, sorry for the late release. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 8: 2 Years later Chapter 8: 2 Years later Since my first class, 2 years have already passed. In these 2 years, I learned many things. Those were just basics like history of magic, training of my mind and body and more theoretical stuff. Thanks to my quick understanding, I was able to finish what normally took 2 years in 8 months and since then, I was developing myself. Riley was a big help in my understanding of Void. Void is much deeper than I previously thought. It will take immense amount of time to master it, but I believe I can do it. When Riley was teaching me meditation techniques, I found out they were much inferior to those I already knew. Even so, they were useful. Thanks to them, I was able to make my own meditation techniques better, even if only by a tiny bit. He even taught me how to use Void magic. Since then, I constantly train myself. I found out enchanting isn¡¯t so easy to use. Depending on a type of material you use, you must use different techniques and what¡¯s more, we must be able to use enchanting even without those special tools that help with usage of mana. Runes and glyphs apart from basic ones are immensely hard to use and with every higher level of enchanting, difficulty rises exponentially. I am the only one who can use glyphs right now. Beliar said, that glyphs are normally learnt at the end of 3rd year so I skipped a little. Survival was unexpected. Teacher took us to the forest practically every hour and taught us all kinds of plant, characteristics of animals and monsters, trap making, shelters, how to make fire without magic or tools and many more thinks. Theory through practice he called it and every hour, there was a test. I really had to study hard for it. Even though I knew characteristics of plants through my hobby of alchemy, it was hard. He even said ¡®good work¡¯ once. Beast taming wasn¡¯t nice. Teacher took us to a slave market to see how to imprint slave marks. There are hundreds of slave marks, everyone with different function. Some would do immense pain if slave did not comply, others would kill, paralyze etc. There were many types, all we had to learn. We even practiced contracts with animals. To create a contract isn¡¯t simple at all. It is hundreds time as hard as with slave contract. Only handful of us was able to create contract. Lili and Sani were one of those. In my case, it was strange. Animals congregated to me but I couldn¡¯t create contract with any. Like something was blocking it. Even teacher did not know what to do. The best thing is, Lili¡¯s and Sani¡¯s contracted partners liked me more than them. They always pouted because of that. Lili had bird as partner and Sani a cat. These are just pets to experience making of contracts. Contracts will be relieved and we all will have to find our own partners in the future. Control was the one, which gave me the biggest gain. I can feel mana in me and around me much more clearly than before. I can change my flow of mana and even use special techniques. Teacher used a military type of training on us and some even left because of that. I know one thing. I will forever be indebted to him. Without his guidance, I would have died already. The reason for that will be known in a while. Martial arts or should I say Hell? Master did not joke even a little bit. Phantom style body training was enough to destroy your body and mind but thanks to that, I change a great deal. My scrawny body changed in many ways. I have muscles now. Not like a gorilla or so. With clothes on, you probably would not even think I was muscular at all, but without a shirt, I really looked great and my strength was no joke either. I could even match those people, who looked like bears. My endurance greatly increased too and thanks to my lean muscles, my agility wasn¡¯t hampered even a bit. I solely trained my body for yearn and a half. In another half a year, I was learning basic skills to use Phantom style. Even so, Master taught me only 2 Phantom style skills. He said, what I did in these 2 years normally would take more than 10. I made him proud. The reason for that is, his rivalry with a full plate guy. They were always talking about their student being a genius and such. I was one of those geniuses as you already know. The second is Irel. He is genius when it comes to being a tank. To breach his defense is no joke and his strength is no laughing matter either. Once, my master and I were invited to look at their training. Irel was really strong but my master was inwardly laughing. Compared to me, Irel was nothing. Even with just my pure physical strength I could defeat him. My master always told me one thing. ¡®Never show your true strength and never let your guard down, no matter who your opponent is.¡¯ And so I stick to these words. This was what happened to me in classes in these 2 years, but it¡¯s not all. With Lili and Sani we became great friends. What¡¯s more, they are great teasing material. I always tease them whenever I get a chance. Sani hated me first, but now, she doesn¡¯t mind me and I could even say that she likes spending time with us three. Her assets got even bigger and Lili is down casted because of that. Lili¡¯s assets aren¡¯t too great but they will be not too much and not too little in the future. Her demeanor changed and she isn¡¯t a crybaby anymore. She looks dignified and calm but in the inside, she did not change much. She changed because of me. I always taught her through my teasing. She will become a scary lady in the future with who you definitely wouldn¡¯t want to mess up. As I said before, Irel became my rival, even though in his eyes I¡¯m just an eyesore, I know he respects me as I respect him. We never thought against each other. It is forbidden for us. I could even say, we became friends but grudge against me is still there. I don¡¯t think it will change until we will fight with all we got. What I regret the most is Liz. Because she is my senior and part of the council, we do not meet much. In these 2 years, we met just dozen times. She is still cold ice queen and I heard it is even her nickname, but whenever we two met, she always was like a kind older sister. I regret not being able to be with her more. Irene, since I found out her secret, started to avoid me. Whenever she saw me, she changed route or even jumped out of window. I never wanted to meet her, just our luck wasn¡¯t great. There were rumors about her trying to find a man and every time she found one, he ran away. Nobody knows why though, even though I know. It looks like I really will have to marry her. What a pain. At least she¡¯s even cuter as she gets older. She never told me her real age. She¡¯s definitely not 30 as she claimed. How do I know that? Thanks to Control classes. But feeling flow of others you can find out approximate age, but I never could touch her but even so, I can feel it. With Alice, I spend all my lunch breaks. There is even a rumor about us. Something about me forcing her every night. You probably know what it means. Sigh. I don¡¯t care about such people. I will do whatever I want. Now, with my power I don¡¯t need to take care of my surroundings too much. I still pretend and lie before all of them, but I don¡¯ fear being found out anymore. With Alice, I don¡¯t know what our relationship is. She has a wall around her heart, but I know even so, I am inside her heart. Why she keeps that wall against me, I don¡¯t know. Since the time I saw her for the first time, I knew she kept something hidden. Something that will make me involved. I hope it will never happen. I still will treat her the same way. Just like a younger sister. I will take care of her and protect her. That¡¯s all I can do for her. I think that¡¯s all you wanted to hear about changes in my life. Now, about me. I grew taller, much taller. I¡¯m 1,7 meters tall. My hair color changed a little. It¡¯s dark, but with a closer look, you could see dark violet color, almost inextinguishable but still there. My body got much more fit as I already said and my mind changed too. I don¡¯t act like 12 years old at all. Even master told me that. My mental changes are his fault. Phantom style body training will make your mind stronger and sharper. It helps with strengthening my soul too. From Riley, I got my black robe and I wear it on my school uniform. It changed a little. It is now dark with a blue pattern and golden lines. It looks nice. My eyes are as Sani said, like looking into the Void and piercing through ones soul but even so attracting all those who will look into them. Lili said I am really handsome. And when I hear girls whispering about me, saying all kinds of things, I don¡¯t doubt that anymore. It looks like I am the most handsome guy now. Big change since first year when everyone looked at me with disdain for being a commoner and looking, well, like a commoner. I never was able to get back home, to see my parents but I write letters at least once a month. It looks like Sylvie is studying as much as she can. She really wants to come torment me. Who would have thought something like that could drive someone to such lengths. The reason why Sylvie can study so much is because of me. Thanks to my black card, I send money to my parents and so they can buy books for her. I¡¯m glad for her. She is my cute little sister after all. Even if she hates me. Father asked me about my progress in alchemy. Even though I did not take that course, I progressed in it. Using alchemical labs when they are free, I created few potions. Explosive, to let me stake awake, to enhance my senses and even to increase my mana regeneration. Now, I want to show you all I achieved. Take good look. [/tr]
NameRisielAge12
Level2Stage Child
GenderMaleRaceHuman
AffinityVoid, ManaAttributeChaos and Order
Health400Mana1000
TitleDifferent one
Strength104Agility112
Vitality148Dexterity137
Inteligence247Wisdom289
Endurance87Luck¡À15
Willpower44Dignity27
Honor41Charm122
Resistances
Fire5%Water5%
Earth5%Wind5%
Void20%Poison45%
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. My physical progress baffled even master. I was baffled too, but I found out reason for that. Again, thanks to the control. I found out that blood vessels should not congregate around mana core like mine did, buit thanks to that, I got this benefit. Because my blood vessels are in such a close proximity, my mana affects them and causes my body to develop faster. Even my willpower is caused thanks to that. The reason for honor, dignity and charm is thanks to the etiquette. And I even reached level 2. Something to boast about. Stage appeared when I reached level 2. It depeneds on level and show how many things you experienced. Resistances are thanks to the Phantom style. Break your body and attune it to the world. One of the phases in which is possibility of death quite high. I even developed affinity for mana. Everyone who trains in control develops it, just not so fast as I did. Let¡¯s continue.
Mana1000Purity20%
Main pillar of magic -Purity decreases amount of mana needed to use magic
[/tr]
Titles
Different one For not acting like others in your age group, you received this tile Phantom style practitioner For practicing this style, you received this title Void mage For getting Void affinity, you received this title Prodigy of all For being able to do anything and everything in short amount of time, you received this title Most handsome For being acknowledged by all women in your age group, you received this title
I can¡¯t look up what all this tittle do and some of those are ridicules, like that most handsome. It¡¯s not even my own doing! [/tr]
AffinityVoid
Understanding6%
Void is place between worlds, in another words, a different dimension where time and space do not mean anything You can tap to powers of Void
AffinityMana
Understanding12%
Mana is primordial power that existed since the creation of the world. It is a building stone without which the world would not exist as we know it
[tr]
AttributeChaos and Order
Understanding too low
Innate abilities
Physical damage absorbtion Iron stomach Heart of Void Quick regeneration Eidetic memory Cold reading Manageable body
SkillPhysical damage absorptionRankN/A
You can absorb part of the hit inflicted on you, reducing damage dealt to you
SkillIron stomachRankN/A
You can drink and eat anything you wish without damaging your stomach
SkillHeart of VoidRankN/A
You are connected to Void on Soul level, increasing how fast you understand Void and all your Void magical attacks
SkillQuick regenerationRankN/A
You recover your health and mana at increased rate You recover your stamina at increased rate but with a cost of increased stamina use after you completely use it. Increased stamina use is nullified only after it is recovered completely.
SkillEidetic memoryRankN/A
Due to increased power of your soul, intelligence and wisdom, you can remember anything with a single glance
SkillCold readingRankN/A
You can observe even the tiniest details. By looking at muscle movement, heartbeat, breathing, eye movement and changes in surrounding mana, you can read others movement like opened book and know who is lying or saying the truth.
SkillManageable bodyRankN/A
Due to your strange congregation of your blood vessel, your body develops faster.
Skills
Enchanting
Beast taming
Mana manipulation
Mana control
Mana strengthening
Survival techniques
Phantom style movement -Sprint -One with breath -Silent step -Presence manipulation
Phantom style sword arts -Slash -Pierce -Block -Counter -Step
Inner meditation
Outer meditation
Magical abilities
Void bolt Void mastery Void blast
This is all I learned in these 2 years. There¡¯s too many to show and most of them are self-explanatory. Magical abilities in void are with my level of understanding unreachable. I could learn just these. Magical abilities in other affinities aren¡¯t so hard to learn. Even with 5% understanding you get dozens of spell. I, in just 2 years, was able to reach 6% and that is unheard of. Riley has just 17% and it took him 27 years so what do you think? Most of my skills are at apprentice rank. Some even intermediate. These 2 years were really good. I can¡¯t wait what I will learn next. Tomorrow is the first day of my 3rd year. Let¡¯s see what awaits me. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Tables take so much time! If I had to do all table for skills and magical abilities, I would drop dead. If you want them though, I can do them. Just write comments. This chapter was to just summaries 2 years, you could say prologue to 2nd arc. I changed my planes a little and I won¡¯t do arc I had planned. I have no idea how I will do this arc exactly. It should be around 4 chapters but it¡¯s hard to guess. I really have tons of idea and I change what I thought of as I write too. Oh and I need help to think of basic I repeat basic Void spells. All I can think of are monster class Void spells and those that are not are blocked due to his understanding. Hope you will help me. I hope you enjoyed. Chapter 9: Dawn after 2 years Chapter 9: Dawn after 2 years *knock knock knock* ¡°Ris, wake up.¡± ¡°Just 5 minutes.¡± I can hear footsteps. ¡°No. Get up already.¡± As she tries to pull my blanket, I take hear hand and pull her into my grasp and cuddle her as a pillow. ¡°W-wha?¡± So comfortable. I¡¯m so sleepy, I spent most of my time training yesterday. ¡°I said, GET UP!¡± And I was punched into my gut and rolled out of the bed. ¡°Good morning, Alice.¡± With a smile, she replied. ¡°Good morning, Ris. At last, it took you long enough.¡± ¡°Can you blame me when something so comfortable is in my grasp?¡± She blushed, but after 2 years of such plays, she got used to it. ¡°Don¡¯t tease me again.¡± ¡°What?! Teasing you? I only said the truth.¡± ¡°Sigh, you never change.¡± ¡°You neither. You still look the same as I met you 2 years ago, especially chest area.¡± Punch straight into my face. ¡°So what if they aren¡¯t so big. It¡¯s just useless lump of fat anyway. ¡± So cute seeing her puffing her cheeks like that. ¡°Yeah, I totally agree. Yours are the best anyway. Not too little and not too much. They are just perfect, from what I could say while hugging you anyway.¡± ¡°Did you mean that?¡± Puppy eyes, just not puppy eyes. ¡°Of course. I¡¯m not into big breasts anyway. You look beautiful as you are now. In fact, I hope they won¡¯t grow anymore.¡± What? Everyone has preferences. ¡°I-I see. So you d-do li-like them?¡± With most sincere expression and resolute eyes I answered ¡°Absolutely! I would never lie to you when it comes to my preferences.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± I could hear her whispering under her breath. ¡°Thank god, I¡¯m so glad he likes them. I was a bit worried.¡± ¡°Did you say anything?¡± ¡°N-no, nothing important.¡± And I just smiled. In these 2 years, we opened ourselves to each other. You may thing we have a thing between us but it¡¯s not so. I don¡¯t even feel love to her. Only thing I feel is care. I just don¡¯t want to see her hurt and in tears. If someone would do that to her, let¡¯s not continue with such thoughts. ¡°So, why did you wake me up so early?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, today is your first day of your 3rd year. Headmaster will have a speech for all 3rd years. Quickly get changed, there¡¯s not much time left.¡± ¡°Will I get something sweet for that?¡± ¡°Y-yeah.¡± YES! And so I quickly changed and washed myself. I can¡¯t wait for my reward. While I was changing to my uniform, I went to kitchen to get my reward. When I walked in, Alice saw my muscled body ¡°You really changed in these 2 years. You were such a scrawny kid in commoner¡¯s clothing and now, you are so good looking in every way. Heaven must have blessed you.¡± ¡°Nah, I just worked hard, that¡¯s all and if you would not took such a good care of me, it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. Thanks Alice.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± ¡°So, where is my reward?¡± ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. Come a little bit closer.¡± As I was approaching her, I could hear her hart started t beat a little bit faster with my every step and when I finally came to her, it almost looked like her heart will skip out of her chest. ¡°Now close your eyes.¡± And so I did. ¡°Hear you go.¡± What happened next, was blissful. The hot feeling in my hand and the texture I felt. It couldn¡¯t be expressed in words. I opened my eyes as I held ¡­¡­ a dessert. ¡°Thanks Alice, I love your desserts. Especially this ones.¡± ¡°Yep, I know.¡± We sit to table and ate our breakfast. I must say, her cakes, cookies and what not are on a heavenly level. You can eat and eat and eat and still not stop. In a while, we finished our breakfast and cleaned whole room. ¡°Ris, it¡¯s time for you to go. Headmaster¡¯s speech is held at the same place as opening ceremony. Don¡¯t be late.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. For my little princess I would do anything.¡± ¡°Oh, you meanie.¡± And so I went on my way. While I was walking, everyone was whispering around me. I became somewhat famous for my looks and so I am hated by males and beloved by females. And no, it¡¯s not a good thing. Females want to eat you alive, just to get a piece of you, it¡¯s so scary. At least they keep a distance from me. I made it that way. I feel much more at ease than when they flocked around me. So with my not so peaceful trip, I finally arrived at the place. I could see Lily and Sani already there and even Irel, but I did not go to them. I walked behind the stage. My goal? Find Liz. I did not see her for 3 months and I want to speak with her a little. I could see her talking with a handsome guy with brown hair and I could even see his hands trying to touch her and she definitely did not like that. So I went to her and when they saw me, that guy stopped what he was doing and I could see he was angered by my intrusion. ¡°Hi Liz, It¡¯s been a while and who is that beside you?¡± She quickly got her wits and understood what I was doing. Trying to make that guy stop his foolish act. ¡°Hi Ris, it¡¯s really been a while. Anyway, this person beside me is president of council. We will be helping with headmaster¡¯s speech so we needed to consult about a few things.¡± ¡°I see and by your needed I take it you are free for now?¡± We both grinned with evil smile. ¡°That¡¯s right. There¡¯s still a bit of time so do you want to take a stroll?¡± ¡°Just wait Elizabeth, I still have a few things to speak to you about.¡± It was that council president. So annoying. ¡°I don¡¯t remember allowing you talking with me on a first name basis.¡± ¡°But that kid called you like that.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just say he is a little bit special.¡± Nice one Liz. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go Ris.¡± I could see anger welling inside him. That¡¯s one of the reasons I like to spend time with Liz. We walked and when we lost sight of him, we started to talk. ¡°So Liz, do you want to talk about it?¡± ¡°Seriously, that guy is such a scum. Trying to touch me as nothing happens. I hate him.¡± ¡°But from how you acted and how he acted to you, he probably has some connection to you. If I think about it carefully, he is probably your fianc¨¦.¡± ¡°Sigh, you¡¯re right, you really are special to figure that out so easily. It¡¯s just, my family decided that, but I hate that bastard. He is so arrogant to all that are beneath him and he thinks he is the best and can do anything and even flirts with other women. He is scum.¡± ¡°Yeah, just from feeling his essence, I could figure it out.¡± ¡°Y-you can feel essence?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s not so hard, but really, you changed. You were such Ice Queen and only acted like big sister to me. Now, you are much warmer than you used to be.¡± ¡°Seriously, for you to be able to feel essence. Anyway, what do you mean Ice Queen?! Others were just such pain in the ass. You were different so that¡¯s that.¡± ¡°Ha ha. You really changed but so did I. Now, I will protect you like you protected me on the day, when we first met and if you hate him, than I will find a way for you to break your engagement. If you want that is.¡± ¡°Just leave it be, I don¡¯t want you to get in trouble.¡± ¡°How could I let my big sister suffer when I can do something about it?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t. His family is powerful and he has many connections. If you would try something, who knows what they would do to you.¡± ¡°I know, but I thought more in the way of changing mind of your family. To let them see him as a trash that doesn¡¯t fit for their daughter.¡± ¡°Nice thought, but how would you do it?¡± ¡°By showing them someone better for their daughter of course.¡± ¡°And who that someone better is?¡± ¡°I will let it to your imagination. Anyway, there¡¯s not much time left, let¡¯s get back.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± And so we walked back, Liz was thinking about what I said. My plan is pretty simple. Just make that bastard cry before whole bunch of nobles and blackmail him. Now, I just need to think, how to get such an opportunity. While we were both thinking, we already reached the stage and that bastard was waiting, furious. ¡°Where were you so long?!¡± ¡°Just on a stroll.¡± He gritted his teeth and went to me. ¡°I need to speak with Ris here, headmaster is waiting for us so go ahead.¡± Liz looked a little bit hesitant but I just showed her not to mind. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. So I went with that bastard to a secluded place. ¡°You, stay away from Liz or you will regret that.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°W-wha? Do you even know who I am?¡± ¡°No and I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°You! I¡¯m from one of the 4 strongest noble families, you should be careful how you act before me.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°You you, do you want to piece me off?¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for you, if I see you with Elizabeth one more time, be prepared for consequences.¡± ¡°And you should be prepared to pay for your actions.¡± ¡°You commoner filth.¡± ¡°Oh, so you do know me. I¡¯m honored.¡± ¡°You bastard.¡± ¡°Liz is my big sister, if you will hurt her, be prepared for consequences. That¡¯s what I will warn you about and I will meet with her again, no matter what you say you skirt chaser.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± He almost burst off. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we hurry or they will start without us. As a president, you shouldn¡¯t be late, right?¡± He swallowed his anger and just said ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± We walked no one saying anything. ¡°Liz is mine and if you don¡¯t want to acknowledge that, then you will suffer.¡± ¡°Liz is her own, we both cannot force her to anything, but I won¡¯t let anyone to make her suffer.¡± ¡°Then you will regret that.¡± We finally got back and split. I went to sit in the middle of Sani and Lili. Seriously, why did they hold a spot for me like that? Those stares are killing me. Lili, beautiful elven princess and Sani, with her assets which all guys droll over, except me ofcourse. ¡°Greeting student. The reason why we have this gathering is simple, to let you know you all completed your basic training. That means, all your magical classes will advance to intermediate and finally you will start learning magic properly. You all should know basic spells from your category of magic and learn basics of your secondary classes. That¡¯s the reason why we are here. Because you completed it, we can finally start properly.¡± ¡°All your classes will be decided by your proficiency and with that I mean tournament to decide who will go where. The tournament is not so simple. From all you classes, there will be a test you could say. You must pass it or if you won¡¯t then it¡¯s not much of a deal.¡± ¡°Let me explain then. To go into the tournament you must pass your magical classes¡¯s test. Those who don¡¯t won¡¯t be able to go to the tournament. But it¡¯s not all. You must past your secondary classes too with more than 50% success. Let¡¯s say you have 3 secondary classes. Then you must pass through 2 of them. And even if you pass from it, the amount of people is limited so you must not just focus on passing, but even on being the best or you might not get a chance to participate in the tournament at all.¡± ¡°Those who won¡¯t participate in the tournament will be at the bottom in their classes and so they won¡¯t get benefits as those, who will be at higher rank.¡± ¡°There are many benefits, but I won¡¯t say them. You must try as hard as you can without knowing them. Only that way we will see your potential. And one more thing. The tournament will be held before nobility so you can show strength of your family before others and those of you who are commoners can even be scouted by other noble families or even receive a noble status from the king himself!¡± ¡°Winner of the tournament will receive a special reward from the king and will get one of his wishes fulfilled. I hope all of you will try your hardest. All those who reached first place were figures respected throughout the whole continent.¡± I don¡¯t care about fame or reward and such, but the fight before nobility is something that is what I just needed and that one wish is great too. I should prepare my plan already but it will be hard to even reach tournament. Riley will definitely give me incredibly hard test. ¡°Now, few words from council.¡± ¡°Hello my dear juniors. I am president of council, Aldmer Normen and this beautiful young lady is Elizabeth Nightingale, my secretary. We want to encourage you to try your hardest because all those who reached top were scouted by us, council so you could say, top rankers are future council members. Those of you who will reach top will get one member from the council to teach them few things about respective work of council members. Now, let my treasurer answer your questions.¡± That bastard has a good acting skills. Still not as good as my own. ¡°Hello, my name is Elizabeth. Do you have any questions?¡± ¡°What do we get as council members?¡± ¡°You receive many benefits like being directly under headmaster, money, chance to meet high ranking persons and many more.¡± ¡°How many members are there?¡± ¡°9¡± ¡°What is typical work?¡± ¡°We help staff members and help with organizations of activities throughout the school and help with requests send to us from the kingdom.¡± ¡°How will the members be chosen?¡± ¡°It will depend on the aptitude to the position, but number one will become president himself. President has much power at his disposal.¡± ¡°For how long are those positions?¡± ¡°For 3 years, but 1 year is to let you see how council works so you could say training period.¡± ¡°Any other questions?¡± ¡°It looks like there are none, president, do you want to say something else?¡± ¡°I hope you all will try hard so that we will see outstanding performances. We will be cheering for all of you.¡± And they left. It will be fucking annoying. Why must it be so hard? I don¡¯t want to be famous and now, I need to get first place. Damn it. ¡°And so these were members of the council. Hope you will enjoy your 3rd year and try really hard. Preparation for the tournament will start from next week onwards so ask your instructors about anything you wish to know about what is expected of you. You are hereby dismissed.¡± It will be such a pain, but I can¡¯t wait to see, how strong I got. And so I went to my room, not. I was stopped by Sani, Lili and Irel. ¡°Ha ha ha. It looks like we will finally be able to settle our long held grudge.¡± Now that I think of it, it will really be a chance to finish it already. ¡°Yeah, hope you will try your hardest, I don¡¯t want to hear excuses when you will lose.¡± ¡°We will see who will lose.¡± And he went away. He really is hard working fellow. I can see that before he came here, he was training. Now, to find out what Lili and Sani wants. ¡°So, what do you think about this competition?¡± Just this? ¡°It looks hard, but it will be a great chance to improve ourselves. In the future, we will need experience like that.¡± ¡°I think so too, I just hope we will be able to get into the tournament.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you wanted to speak. I hear I was worried something happened.¡± They looked ashamed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, even though I don¡¯t know how good you are at magic, I¡¯m sure you will pass it.¡± By feeling their essence I am sure, there aren¡¯t many with such a strong essence, in our year I mean. I can¡¯t even feel headmaster¡¯s essence. I should explain what essence is, it is basically your power seeping out of you, but it¡¯s not mana or such. It¡¯s hard to explain, you could say its power of your body and soul, so it is very hard to feel it. It shows what type of existence you are. Through essence you can read emotions and even if you are bastard or saint. I was able to achieve this thanks to the cold reading. It was a huge help, but even so, really hard. That¡¯s why I was so tired today. ¡°And when it comes to secondary classes, you will definitely pass more than 50%, if you will work hard during this week that is. You should not take it for granted.¡± ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m much calmer now.¡± ¡°Any time. Well, I need to go now, time to train. Let¡¯s meet at the tournament.¡± ¡°We will definitely meet there.¡± And so, we all went to train. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I had problems writing this one. The problem was, I did not have any urge to write I just wrote for you all. I can do preparation chapter next time or just skip to magic and secondary tests. I won¡¯t probably be able to do all secondary so write in the comments which 2 you want to see if you want tests next chapter. Hope you enjoyed. P.S. I want review. 10 chapters and still none. Maybe it¡¯s for the better. If I got 2 stars I would just quit. I just had to release this pent up feeling. Chapter 10: Preparations Chapter 10: Preparations I woke up on my own and much sooner today, not even Alice could be awake. The reason for that is simple. It won¡¯t be easy to reach tournament. Even if I am best in the class, I am still one from 1000 of the same age as I and I never even saw strength of others. I need to train in this week, not just physically or mentally, but I need trump cards, something that I can use in time of need and that¡¯s what I want to get my hands on. I cleaned myself and changed to clothes I got from mother. Yep, just plain commoner clothing but that¡¯s fine, in fact, it will be necessary for what I need to do. I ate leftovers from yesterday¡¯s dinner and wrote a simple message for Alice, letting her know that I went to arrange few things and that I don¡¯t know when I will come back so she can take day off. There aren¡¯t any classes today so that¡¯s in my favor. So I went outside the dorm, everyone still in their beds, seeing no one. I went to the gate. That¡¯s right, I¡¯m going outside the academy to the city. Normally, we can¡¯t go outside the academy, but because it is my 3rd year, it is allowed. I¡¯ve never been in the city, hell, I don¡¯t even know its name. So I reached the gate and someone was sitting at the desk. It is probably gate keeper. He is there to ensure the safety of students and to check those who come and go. As I approached him, I could see that he was sleeping. He looked like a middle aged man but I couldn¡¯t read his essence so I knew he must be incredibly strong. As a gate keeper, there¡¯s no other way anyway. When I reached the window, his eyes snapped, others would probably were frightened but thanks to my master¡¯s training, I¡¯m not scared easily. The exception is master itself. He scares the hell out of me, his training would make even demon shudder with fear. I just politely asked him, I don¡¯t want to piss him off. ¡°Hello, I would like to leave academy¡¯s premises.¡± ¡°Name?¡± ¡°Risiel.¡± ¡°It looks like you are the 3rd year. What do you want to do outside this soon?¡± ¡°Just do a few preparations.¡± ¡°What kind of preparations?¡± ¡°That will give me a better chance to win.¡± ¡°Well, whatever. If you die, it will be your own fault.¡± ¡°Why should I die outside?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know how dangerous Palevin is?¡± So the name of the city is Palevin? Strange name. ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°There are gangs that practically rule the city. Be careful with offending them or you may not come back.¡± ¡°I see. Do I need to know anything else?¡± ¡°Sigh, such a bother. Look kid, if you are scared then just wait when people will start their businesses. It is much safer that way.¡± ¡°Nah, there isn¡¯t much time so every minute counts. Anyway, thanks for the info.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, now go. I want to sleep for a little while longer.¡± Cold guy that cares for others. That¡¯s what he looks like to me. I have a strange feeling about him. I wonder what it means. No need to think about it for now. So I went through the gate and I must say, entrance is still the same as I remember it. It¡¯s still so beautiful. Time to go. I was slowly walking to the city. Academy is on its outskirts so it¡¯s easy to find the way to it but academy is still isolated from it for safety reasons. I must say it looks beautiful. It is white city with red parts here and there. Structure looks like towers with pointy roofs throughout it. It releases serene feeling but it is a lie. Just like gate keeper said. There¡¯s malice in the air. I reached the entrance and there are 2 guards. There¡¯s no line so I just walk straight through the gate. ¡°Hold. What reason brought you here?¡± ¡°Do I need to answer that?¡± ¡°No, if you don¡¯t want to come into the city premises.¡± ¡°Is it normal to question visitors?¡± ¡°You think you are smart? Don¡¯t push us kid.¡± ¡°I just came for a visit and to buy few souvenirs for my family.¡± ¡°And what prove do you have?¡± ¡°What do you mean prove. Since when do I need prove for a visit to the city?¡± ¡°Since I started to guard this gate.¡± Such asshole. ¡°Look, what is your problem?¡± ¡°You are my problem.¡± ¡°I need to get into the city so can you let me in already?¡± ¡°No, you are suspicious. Only place you will go are barracks. Captain will question you.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°None of your concern.¡± Think think, how to get out of this? ¡°Is it because you think I work for one of the gangs that rule this city?¡± ¡°You, how do you know that?¡± ¡°My master told me.¡± ¡°And who is that master of yours?¡± ¡°None of your business.¡± ¡°Kyle, take that brat to the captain.¡± Yep, second guard who stood like a statue. He did not even spoke and took me by my hand and forcibly led me. I could break through and just hide but I want to meet that captain. So we reached barracks and Kyle brought me before captain¡¯s door and just barged in, led me there and left. I like his style. Captain not even batted an eyelid and continued to look at the documents. After a while, he raised his head and looked at me. ¡°Why are you here kid?¡± ¡°Who knows? I just wanted to enter the city and was told I am suspicious so here I am.¡± ¡°It must be Rodrigue, he takes guarding the city very seriously. Anyway, I never saw you before so you must be new. Who do you work for?¡± ¡°I do not work for any of the gangs if you mean that.¡± ¡°Oh and how do you know I meant gangs? Not many know about this matter, you know.¡± ¡°Well then, I am one of the few who knows.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha. You are funny. It¡¯s pretty clear you aren¡¯t one of them but kid, you should be careful, it is dangerous of you will piss them off. Not even we, city guards, could help you. That¡¯s why I have such a headache.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I may not look like it, but I can take care of myself.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t die or else I will have a bunch of paperwork to do.¡± ¡°I will try then, no promises though.¡± And we both grinned and shook our hands. I left the barracks and thought about what I understood. This city is controlled by 2 gangs. I don¡¯t have any idea what they do but I know they are dangerous and it looks like they control commoner and business districts and only thing that is left is noble district. I need to take care, I definitely don¡¯t want to get involved with gangs. From where I know it? When I was in captain¡¯s office I looked at his documents, that was one of the reasons why I wanted to meet him. Knowledge is power after all. So I started to stroll through the city. There were many shops. Grocery, blacksmith, alchemist, magical, adventure guild etc. I was looking for something specific though and those shops were useless to me for now. Streets were clean and from interaction of people you would not even know that gangs are controlling these parts. They won¡¯t be any normal gangs. One hour. I¡¯m looking for one hour and still can¡¯t find it. Damn it. The streets are starting to be filled with people. Let¡¯s look for a while longer. As I was passing a certain street, I could hear some voices. ¡°No¡­¡­¡­..I¡­¡­¡­¡­.ger¡± ¡°Pa¡­¡­¡­.o¡­¡­¡­¡­..quences¡± Curious, I looked into one of the side pathways. There were 2 guys and a girl around 14 years old. I started to listen on their conversation. ¡°So will you pay up or no?¡± ¡°Please, just a while longer. I beg you.¡± She went on her knees and started to tug his leg. I wonder what it is all about. ¡°Take those filthy hands from me.¡± He wanted to kick her. In that moment I looked carefully at the surroundings and at those 2 guys. Those guys have so many opening. Just with a little bit of work, it would be easy to snap their necks but where is the fun with that? It would be much better to break their fingers and torture them a little to get information out of them, wait, my train of thoughts went in a different way. Let¡¯s save her. With just a simple sprint, I closed the distance between us and punched him. He went flying until he hit a wall. The girl and the other guy were paralyzed. ¡°You know, its bad manners trying to hurt a defenseless girl that did nothing to you, isn¡¯t that so guy 2?¡± Guy 1 is out cold because of my punch so only guy 2 remains. ¡°Who the hell are you? Do you even know who are you messing with?¡± ¡°No. Who am I messing with?¡± ¡°Were are part of Legion. You are a dead meat for picking a fight with us.¡± ¡°Picking a fight? I did no such a thing. I just tripped and my fist fell straight at him.¡± ¡°Who would believe such a thing?¡± ¡°And do you have any proof it wasn¡¯t like that?¡± ¡°W-wha? Proof?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, proof.¡± ¡°Are you stupid? Why would I need a proof? If I want to kill you then I will.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s not make it come that far. It¡¯s just a waste of resources for you to take care of me when I did not even do anything.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Ha, just get the hell out of here and let¡¯s hope we will never meet again.¡± ¡°Nah, I can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Are you sane?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha. You are pretty interesting, you know that? Attacking member of the Legion, trying to make me belief it was an accident, throwing away a chance to leave and questioning your own sanity. So, what is the true reason you won¡¯t leave?¡± This guy is interesting, he figured out I wanted something just from this. ¡°Yeah, I just want to know what this little lady did to you?¡± ¡°Why do you even care?¡± ¡°It sounds interesting.¡± ¡°Ha ha, you really are funny. Her family owns us money they borrowed from us so they could start their business and time is up so we want our money back, but she says they don¡¯t have enough.¡± ¡°I see. And what type of business it is?¡± ¡°Something to do with plants or what not.¡± Did I hit a jackpot? ¡°I-its herb shop.¡± Wow, she has sweet voice. You could hear her repeating the same thing over and over and you would not get tired of it. ¡°Ok. So, what do you want to do?¡± ¡°If she won¡¯t give us money now, then we will take her. When her parents borrowed from us it was stated we will get their daughter if they can¡¯t pay.¡± Oh, it starts to get interesting. The girl clinked to my arm and started to beg me to save her. Ah, her voice is so nice. ¡°So, how many do they own you?¡± ¡°Hoh, you want to pay for them? Don¡¯t bother, you can¡¯t have enough anyway.¡± ¡°Just try me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 30 gold with interests of course.¡± 30 gold. I could buy a house with that amount. Not good house but still house. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s nice amount. How the hell could they have such kind of money anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s their own problem. So, what will you do?¡± ¡°I will pay for them of course, but nothing is for free of course. So let¡¯s negotiate girl.¡± Both of them looked at me, baffled. It¡¯s so nice. I¡¯m not some good guy and as I said, if I can play it right, I really can get jackpot. ¡°What do you mean negotiate?¡± It is that girl. Her voice is really nice. ¡°30 gold is no small amount so I want to get something out of it.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have anything to give you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want anything from you. I just have a few conditions, nothing more.¡± ¡°W-what are those?¡± ¡°Now we get somewhere. First condition is, I will get 30% out of your business, second is you will sell to me herbs with a discount and if I will need some exotic or rare one, you will do everything you can to obtain it for me, I will pay for it of course and the last one is simple. Whenever I come to buy something, I want to hear your beautiful voice and just speak with you. Singing wouldn¡¯t be bad either.¡± She started to blush when I said the last condition. When I get a jewel as a bonus to jackpot, why not use the chance? ¡°Are you done yet?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. Are we done yet?¡± ¡°I agree.¡± ¡°Great then.¡± I went into my pocket and from my black card, I took 30 gold. I was able to save some gold so I am rich. ¡°Here you go. I hope you won¡¯t bother them again?¡± ¡°You really are not what you seem kid. Well, it¡¯s not my concern anyway. Little girl, everything is settled. Contract has been finished.¡± As he said it the contract he took out of his jacket burned. ¡°You know what, I hope to meet you again. Maybe even get you to join our gang.¡± ¡°Nah, I love freedom.¡± ¡°If you will need something in the future, just go to the Golden tavern and ask for Vince.¡± ¡°Ok. Oh and don¡¯t forget about your friend here.¡± He just smiled and with a flick of his finger they both disappeared. Now I understand why gate keeper warned me, they aren¡¯t pushovers. ¡°So, can you lead way to your shop?¡± She finally snapped out of her blushing daze and took me to her shop. It was nice looking shop and we went inside. ¡°Mom, dad I¡¯m back.¡± I could hear two sets of footsteps quickly running to us. ¡°Kristy, what I told you about going out alone in these times?¡± It looks like it is her mother. Brown hair, brown eyes, glasses and plain looking. Her father just stood at the corner, watching me. Black hair, blue eyes and black beard and clothes. Scary. As her mother was scolding Kristy, her father came to me and started to talk with me, snapping his wife. ¡°And who might you be, young lad?¡± ¡°Kristy should explain it.¡± And so Kristy explained that, the reason why I said that was simple really, I wanted to hear her voice. I think my plan worked but I think her father saw right through me but he just looked at me and did thumbs up. I just grinned and did the same. I like him. As she finished telling everything and conditions, her mother started to speak. ¡°We are thankful for everything you did but we cannot give you 30% of our business.¡± I just sat, indifferent. I knew 30% is too much, but there was a reason. ¡°Ok, It¡¯s not like I need it anyway, but I won¡¯t drop that condition but we can change it a little bit.¡± ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s drop it on 10% and your daughter will bring all herbs I will need to my house whenever need will arise for me.¡± ¡°10% is acceptable but we can¡¯t let our daughter do something like that. We don¡¯t even know you or where she would need to go.¡± ¡°You know, you just needed to ask. So I should introduce myself. My name is Risiel and I am student of academy and because of that I can¡¯t leave it whenever I want to someone who could bring me herbs is necessary for me. So, what do you say?¡± ¡°Are you really from the academy?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Show us some proof.¡± I took out my black card. It works as identification too. When I took it out, both mother and father froze. ¡°Please, we apologize for such treatment, if we knew who you were, please forgive us.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah. Don¡¯t act like that. I am commoner too, I just got this due to special circumstances so, do we have a deal?¡± ¡°Of couser.¡± ¡°Great then. Now, I can finally complete what I came here for. I need several herbs from this list. Package them for me.¡± This is the whole reason why I came here. I needed special herbs that couldn¡¯t be found in the academy and alchemy shop does not sell herbs and such shops are rare I itself so getting such conditions is really a jackpot for me. It took a while but they brought me all I needed. ¡°Thanks for that, I will come here one in a while and Kristy, don¡¯t forget about third condition when I¡¯ll come here again.¡± I bid my farewell and went back to the academy. I met again that guard but he did not even look at me. At the gate, gate keeper was dozing off so I just passed him. I reached the dorm and went to my room. When I opened my door, I could see teary Alice waiting for me. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Alice?¡± ¡°I was so lonely.¡± And she hugged me. ¡°You should just take a day off as I said in the letter.¡± ¡°But who would give you dinner and helped.¡± She has a point. I flicked her forehead. ¡°I¡¯m thankful for that but it will happen in the future too. We can¡¯t stay together forever you know.¡± I hugged her too and started to pat her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t leave you alone.¡± She started to cry and fell asleep in my arms. I put her in the bed, changed myself and hid all the herbs I had. Ate dinner and let Alice sleep with me for today. Week passed by. In this week, we got few information on tests but nothing concrete, just thinks like it will be hard and don¡¯t think just knowledge is enough. The only good advice I got was from master. He said, never show your true strength, just enough to defeat your opponent. It was my plan already so nothing new. I was able to finish my trump card too thanks to the herbs I got. Now, only one day is left. Let¡¯s see what awaits us all. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I don¡¯t have any motivation to write in such beautiful weather and I don¡¯t really want to spend it writing so I will do releases when I will have time. I¡¯m still waiting for some comments about which secondary classes¡¯s test you want to see, because I can¡¯t do it in one chapter. Well, I can but it wouldn¡¯t be too good. That was one of the reasons why I did this chapter or else it would already be about tests. Idea about Kristy came to me in half of writing this chapter so hope you like this shy girl with beautiful voice. Many of you wanted me to in depth analysis of characters and I will do it in a certain way and that is¡­¡­.. stories with them. I will Do Irel and Elizabeth right now. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 11: Tests-start Chapter 11: Tests-start Today is the start of testing period. First of all is test that comes with our affinity. In my case, Void type test. I wonder what Riley will make me do. He still did not forgive me for coming late on the first day. His grudge really grows deep. Truthfully, I worry about it. I am the only one in his class and he knows what I am capable of so he can give me extremely harsh test and he is able to do it. Good old Riley. Alice was worried too when she came today. She even hugged me and kissed my forehead. She¡¯s really a nice girl but I won¡¯t lower my guard before her. She is hiding something, something that makes me involved. I am not the only one who is stressed. Yesterday night was really, how should I say it, let¡¯s just say everyone was lively, yes, lively is a good word. In what ways I leave it to you. The best thing is, I got a fun club. When I went out of the dorms, underclassmen, not just girls but even boys and I do not swing that way, welcomed me with a huge round of applause. Got how I hate crowds and fame. I think I will wear mask in the future. I could use Phantom steps to get out without them even noticing me but I need to keep appearances. So I just thanked them and few girls fainted and even one guy. Seriously, what the hell is happening? When I left, my expression was really nice. I did not even reach classroom and I was already tired. Now that I think about it, when I was leaving, Alice was smiling. I thought it was to encourage me but she must have known about them. Damn you Alice. No reason to dwell on it. Such petty things are useless anyway and soon, the will leave me alone anyway. As always, way to make Void class is empty not even one person in sight. See, I¡¯m completely alone. When I need to hide, I just need to come here I just mustn¡¯t ever tell Riley about it or else he will smother me to pieces. Almost literally. When I finally reached class and opened the door, Riley was smiling with such a BIG smile I shuddered a little. What the hell will he let me do? *grin* I can¡¯t wait. It will be such a fun. ¡°Hi, Riley. So what did you prepare for me?¡± ¡°Student Risiel, sit down first.¡± Oh is he doing role-play as a teacher? He never acted like one only when he was giving his extremely long and detailed explanations. God, you just have to love them. They will make your brain melt. So I sat down and looked straight at him. ¡°Good good. Now then, your test will be quite simple really. You do not need to do anything, just tell me one thing.¡± Oh boy, making explanation to explanater? I¡¯m doooooooooomed. God, this will be fun. ¡°And what will it be?¡± ¡°As I said, it¡¯s quite simple. This black ring here is spatial ring. You must explain me in detail how it was constructed, what it hold, how big is the space and such without binding it.¡± Ha ha ha, Riley really isn¡¯t going any easy. Normally, to find out such things you need to bind with the item, making a connection with it and just knowing it with concentration. Because spatial rings are created with Void magic, it should be possible to find such information without binding it. Those who do not have Void affinity would never be able to do it. Problem is, to create spatial ring, you must be genius with at least 15% in Void and normal people need 20%. And I am just at 6%. This will really be fun. ¡°You can begin now. If you will be cheating, you fail the same goes with you binding it. You have 3 hours to find out. You can start whenever you want.¡± I have a certain way in mind how to make it work but let¡¯s try to think about it a little. I took that ring and placed it on the ground before me and I took a meditative posture. Meditation is the best way to sort through thoughts so it will be indispensible. I did outer meditation, trying to concentrate on the place I placed the ring. I could feel it, black spot around which mana revolved like a vortex that sucked and dispersed at the same time. But what does this mean? I need to concentrate on it more. And so I concentrated for quite a while. I was able to understand its workings. It¡¯s quite simple. The ring is created with Void mana so it isn¡¯t technically in our realm you could say and everything that is in our realm is soaked and penetrated with mana, but this ring can¡¯t be but mana still tries it, that¡¯s why it sucks and disperse at the same time. So one question answered. The other question that arises to me was, if it can¡¯t absorb mana, how can you will it to store and release objects you placed within? It took quite a while to figure this out. Mana cannot do anything with it so it must be the ring itself that makes it happen so I concentrated on its surface and then I found it. On its surface were waves. They were static, always the same at the same intervals. I figured out this is the answer. By changing the waves, you can will it to store, release or be in sleep. How you changed that is beyond me for now. Maybe it is can only be done by binding it or maybe your own will in mana will make it work, it¡¯s hard to say without experimenting with it. The problem is, how to find out about insides? I don¡¯t have any idea. The only thing I can think of is still the same I came up with at the start. The answer is status. By willing mana inside us to our brains with a will to know about ourselves, we can see our status. Why couldn¡¯t it be done in opposite way? Why not by willing mana in our bodies to an item with a will to know about the item I couldn¡¯t see its status? The problem is, all objects are soaked with mana and 2 different manas cannot be inside the object at the same time. The main mana will always prevail. I had to use inner meditation to figure this out. I tried to sort all my knowledge I was able to get since I came here. I tried to thing about many ways and when I thought about control classes, I found an answer. The answer isn¡¯t much different from what I thought about before. It¡¯s just how I will use my own mana to flow into the object. I won¡¯t use my own mana to fill the object, oh no. I will let my own mana to mimic the mana of the object. That way, there shouldn¡¯t be too much incompatibility and my own mana should be able to process the information of the item, the same way as my own mana had to permeate my whole being to unlock full status. And so I tried it. If you think it was easy, think again. Theory is one thing but practice, completely another. To will mana into object was quite easy but to mimic the mana of the object? Insanity itself. It took quite some time and after many trials and errors, it was simple. You must not force to change position of your own mana. You must let it flow naturally or else it will disrupt itself. Still, easier than done. I don¡¯t know how long it took me but I prevailed and was able to do all the steps. The reward for my attempt was¡­¡­¡­¡­.nothing. Nothing happened even though all steps were done. I¡¯m missing something. Think think. It must be something trivial, just think, think. Something clicked inside my head. The answer was simple. Items do not have brain so they cannot show status to me. I must use my own brain to decode the information from the ring. So I experimented a little by making the mana I used for the ring to come out of it and back to me, in fact, to my brain. The problem is that the mana that came back to me was overwhelmed by my own and it dissipated. Incompatibility again. There must be a way. So I extracted mana from the ring and compressed it into the ball and when it came to me I used mana to create barrier around it, blocking interference of my own flow and made a way for it into my brain. When it reached it, it WORKED. Status of the ring was shown to me.
Training Spatial Ring
Space1m3RankF
Inventory
Token
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I was so overwhelmed by it and I could feel something was unlocked to me. I focused on that feeling.
SkillMagical identificationRankBasic
Unique and original skill never seen before. By using multiple steps, you can understand the state of any object like it would be part of you. The better your rank, the faster and more detail information access.
I wanted to cry. This skill will be immensely useful and what¡¯s more, I think I am done with everything. I know how it was created, how it stores items, what it holds and what type it is. Now that I look at Riley, he has inquisitive look. Was I doing something strange? I don¡¯t even know how much time I have left. ¡°Hey Riley, How much time already passed?¡± ¡°2 hours 13 minutes¡± ¡°No kidding?¡± ¡°No kidding.¡± Damn, trial and error took a lot of time. I think I¡¯m still missing something, something about creation process. I just don¡¯t know what it is. Let¡¯s just explain what I found out. ¡°Ok, I think I¡¯m done for now at least.¡± ¡°Really? Then start explaining.¡± ¡°Spatial rings are simple. By using Void mana, you penetrate the whole ring with it and it gets abilities of spatial and time manipulation. Because it is made with Void mana, mana around us cannot penetrate it and that¡¯s why mana is trying to be sucked inside the ring but is being dispersed. How the workings of the storing and releasing are is simple too. On the surface of the ring are static waves. By changing their configuration, you can store or release items. Which item you want to store or release is beyond me for now. It must have something to do with binding and willing of mana. Now, what this ring store is a token and the space in the ring is 1 m3. It is F rank ring and the name is training special ring.¡± When I ended with my explanation, Riley¡¯s jaw was on the floor. I wonder why? ¡°H-how the hell did you figure all of this? And what the hell do you mean by waves? And name of the ring and rank? That shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡± Huh? Shouldn¡¯t be possible? It wasn¡¯t so hard, when you got the hang of it that is. Without learning proper use of raw mana it really would be impossible. God, I really love control. ¡°Is it something strange?¡± ¡°Yeah it is. I never even heard of such thinks, but it would explain a lot. Anyway, you figure most of the thing and so I could let you pass, but I won¡¯t let you. You still missed one point, just at the start.¡± Start? Creation process! Just as I thought, I really missed something. I don¡¯t have any idea. The last hurdle in my path. Item is filled with void magic to permeate it. What is wrong with it? I get. Such stupidity. Mana around us cannot interfere with spatial ring because of void mana but opposite is true too. You cannot force mana from the item with the void mana in the same way. So to fill this ring with void mana, you must first force out mana of the item and at the same time change it with void mana. Now that I think about it, the amount of space created must depend on type of material ring is made out of, purity of your mana, void understanding and the changing process. Maybe even more. I explained all of this and Riley smiled. ¡°You little rascal, you really did it. But say, how did you figure out the name of the ring and its rank?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just say it¡¯s my secret.¡± ¡°Sleezy kid.¡± And I grinned. I won¡¯t say anyone about my Magical identification. It is gold mine in itself. ¡°Now then. Bind this ring and get your token out. It will work as a sign you passed my test.¡± Binding, spatial ring. Hell yeah! This rings, even F ranks are so pricey and I got one for free. It only has 1 m3 of space but that¡¯s enough for me and I should be able to upgrade it in the future. How to bind spatial ring? Just prick your finger and let your blood with mana in it drop on it. I say with mana in it but all blood that comes from you has mana in it, just trace amounts but it is still there, just if there wouldn¡¯t be any than nothing would happen. So, no mana in your body, no binding. And so I binded it and a light came from the ring. No some blinding light just some small light signalizing it being bind. When I concentrated on the ring. I could feel what is inside. Starnge feeling but not uncomfortable. I took the token out. It was a hexahedron with a violet ball in the middle. The ball was white in the middle and the farther you went to the edge, the violet became darker. It looks intriguing. ¡°What does this symbol mean?¡± ¡°Oh yes, you know, we Void mages wear black robes but it¡¯s just to distinguish us, the main sign is, however, this emblem. All elements have one. This is for us Void mages. All magical Void books have this sign, the same with other elements. The reason why you did not hear about it is because only now, when you finished your basic training you became a magician, even though just the lowest kind. Ha ha ha.¡± Interesting. ¡°Now, you are done here but there¡¯s still some time left. Do you want to talk about something?¡± Talk about something with Riley? The grandmaster of explanations. Sure. ¡°Why not? You can start.¡± ¡°What part of a women body do you like?¡± Perverted Riley. Let¡¯s use this chance, maybe in the future I can blackmail him with it. ¡°Which one do you like?¡± ¡°It¡¯s BUTTOCKS! Those squeezing pieces of meat, with that soft on touch texture and just those eye catching parts are what make them so delicious. When you think about ¡­¡­..¡± *Some time later* I don¡¯t know how he did it, but he did. To speak about buttocks for so long that I needed to go already without even having chance to say something, only Riley could do it. ¡°Well, it looks like I need to go already.¡± ¡°Wait! And what about you?¡± As I was slowly going out of the door, I looked back a little and said ¡°The upper part.¡± And left. We really are 2 opposites, but he is a nice guy. Nice funny guy. There will be much more fun with him in the future. Maybe I will start teasing him now too. Maybe even a nickname? What about Butt guy? No. Butt man is better? Don¡¯t know. I will think of something. Now, it¡¯s time to take a nap, next to Alice if possible. She really is good hugging pillow. And so I went back to the dorm, my fans still there and so I just use Phantom steps and past them without them even noticing me. It¡¯s great to have silent steps, presence manipulation and sprint as sub skills for it. I still make a lot of noise and wasted movements but it will be fixed in the future. Now, it¡¯s time to take a breather and get ready for tomorrow, for my Enchanting and Beast taming. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// This was fun. To write this, I had to go through destroyed HDD, lighting storm and the surgery I will get tomorrow. Yupi ya yey. Anyway, took longer to do this and I will do 2 tests per chapter or so. Void was main class so it took whole chapter and finally, I can use sci-fi parts and I mean like science parts. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 12: Tests continue Chapter 12: Tests continue Another day another test waiting for me. When I look out of the window, I see my ¡®fans¡¯ waiting for me. What fans, hyenas they are. Sigh, I just don¡¯t like being in the center of attention. And why should I even be in the center? I did not do anything spectacular. I¡¯m pretty sure they are there because of my looks. I hate such people the most. Of course I like nice things too, but I would not become slave to someone just for his looks. They really are trash but I¡¯m sure not all of them are like that. I must be grateful for their support. Anyway, today I woke up, took care of basic things and went on my way. To the Enchanting class. As I went to the door in a good mood, I shuddered. I don¡¯t know why, I just did. I thought nothing of it and opened my door. Behind them was Alice with such a beautiful smile. It would make one freeze at the spot. Literally. Such a fierce look. Now I know why I shuddered that time. It was warning for this. Did I do something wrong? I must play it right or else I¡¯m done for. My mind was racing thinking about possibilities and just in the fraction of the second, I found my answer. ¡°Alice, did something happen? Did I do something? Please, don¡¯t look like that. It hurts me, knowing I hurt you somehow.¡± Yeah, nice old apologizing with puppy eyes. In my case, there weren¡¯t puppy eyes just sincere tone. Of course it was fake smile, even though not fully. What can I say? She grew to me. After spending so much time together, it happens. She looked at me with that scary smile for a while and sighed. ¡°Do you know what you did wrong?¡± Let¡¯s be sincere. Nah, saying to her I do not care would be bad. Let¡¯s be truthful instead. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She sighed again. ¡°Just writing some stupid letter and going away before I came, not even letting me wish you good luck and not coming back for so late into the night that I had to go home first and not even letting me know why and what¡¯s more, doing the same thing today. Hic hic.¡± Yeah, she started to cry. Oh lord, why do I not want to see her cry? It should be funny playing around with her but I just don¡¯t want it. I¡¯m growing soft. ¡°I did not do the same thing like yesterday?¡± She looked at me with expecting eyes. ¡°Today I did not write any letter.¡± And I proud fully with my hand hitting my chest and proud smile said that. What can I say, I could not help myself. ¡°Stupid.¡± And I was slapped. I fell on the ground and she hopped on me and started to hit me with her fists like a little kid, with no force behind them. She started to cry more still saying. ¡°Stupid stupid stupid¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.¡± I smile again, now, with a warmth full smile and pressed her closer to my chest and started to pat her. She¡¯s so soft and her breasts are something too. What? Did you think I wanted to console her? Of course not. Well, maybe a little. Ok, more than a little but the true reason was to feel her body. What can I say? I¡¯m 12 and I like women. What do you expect from me? I say all this but even though all of it is true, I can say that I would never hurt her. She is¡­¡­¡­.precious to me. Like all those close to me. I would not let anyone who wants to gain something from me close to me. She is exception of course, because even though she is hiding something that concerns me, she always showed her true feelings to me. Cold reading and essence is quite handy. I used my finger to wipe her tear and continued. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I did not want to hurt you but I need to take care of a few things so I can¡¯t be with you as it had been before so you must get used to it, but I can promise you that I will never let go of you.¡± God, now that I think about it, did I propose to another girl? I¡¯m such a scumbag. I did not even mean it like that. I just meant it that I will be there for her, whenever she¡¯ll need it. Let¡¯s hope she understood it that way. Well, let¡¯s take a look. Well, she froze. Not a good sign. ¡°Alice?¡± I poked her cheek a little and she snapped of it and looked straight into my eyes and blushed. She lowered her head a little and whispered something. With my senses though, I could hear it clearly. ¡°Ok.¡± God dammit! Why does this always happen to me? I do not wish to play with girls¡¯s hearts. I¡¯m not even a polygamist. I don¡¯t even want harem. I just want one girl that I would love with all my heart and that would love me the same. The worst thing is, I cannot say she misunderstood or else I will hurt her again and I don¡¯t want that to happen. Let¡¯s hope time will take care of it for me. ¡°Alice, I need to go now.¡± I¡¯m running away. Hell if I would stay in this lion¡¯s den. I slowly let her at the side and stood up and went to the door. I took one more look at her and she was red like tomato and in a daze. I just slowly turned back and started walking. ¡°W-wait.¡± She sprinted behind me and I wanted to quickly run away but I didn¡¯t. I just turned around again. ¡°H-here. Hope you will like it.¡± And she gave me a box with a food I take. The best is, she had lowered head and I could still see her red cheeks. ¡°Take care.¡± And she ran away. To my room. She really takes it as her own room. God, I hope she won¡¯t try to live with me. The king¡¯s size bed just screams like that. If she will try, god protects me. No reason to dwell on it. So I slowly went down, thinking about what happened. When I reached first floor, I could hear my fan club screaming my name. I went to the window, opened it and breathed in fresh air and as I released it, I jumped down from it and with my phantom steps ran away to my enchanting class. I had enough socializing for one day already. It did not take long to reach classroom. With my agility, phantom step and with my sprint, it did not take long. I needed to fix my phantom step a little. I did not use silent step in it because it slows me a little. This art really is evolving. You can use it in whatever way you need whenever you need. So as I reached class, everyone was already there and Belial was sitting behind his desk. I still sit right before him so as I went to my desk, I asked Belial. ¡°Hey Beliar, when will the test start?¡± Oh my god, he was sleeping with opened eyes. First time seeing it. That¡¯s nice. ¡°Hi Ris. Slept well.¡± ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t bad.¡± ¡°I see. I could not sleep too well. I received instructions for this test yesterday and let¡¯s just say, they are disturbing.¡± ¡°Wait, you received the instructions? I thought you came up with it.¡± ¡°Oh no. We don¡¯t create tests. We receive them. Every class needs the have the same chance so we, who teach enchanting, come up with one test for all of you. The thing is, I did not join them with coming up with it and now, I need to hold this test just after receiving instructions yesterday. I could not even sleep properly.¡± So that¡¯s why he is so tired. ¡°So, what is the test about?¡± ¡°You will need to wait for that.¡± As he was saying it, the door to our classroom opened. Everyone should be here already. I took a look and 4 people came inside. ¡°Well then, looks like we can start.¡± Belial said that. I think I know who are they but let¡¯s wait to be certain. ¡°Well then, these 4 here are teachers who teach enchanting too. Test for enchanting will be done with all classes at the same time. In every class, there are 30 or so of you so that makes around 150 of you. You will come with us to testing area. In your desk is a package. Take it and follow us.¡± We all took the package and went with them. Beliar was talking with me as nothing and was complaining and all. The other 4 were like robots. I¡¯m so glad I got Beliar. So we finally reached the place. It was a huge hall with many empty desks and one big, I don¡¯t know, black obelisk like thing in the middle. Cool and all but nothing more to me. To others, it was probably fantastic sight with all their sparkling eyes and all that. All 5 of them went to the obelisk and we waited for them. Other groups poured inside and when 4 groups came, they started to explain things. ¡°Welcome to the enchanting test. This test is fairly simple. Enchant item of your choosing with anything you want, be it with glyph or rune. When you complete it, come to this black obelisk. When you come here, the obelisk will test how good you enchanted the item. It will test many parameters like, durability lost, strength of the rune or glyph, enchantment type, compatibility with item and much more. It will be shown as a numerical value on the obelisk. You can enchant weapons, armor accessories or anything you want. Items you need will be provided to you. You have 3 tries to enchant and there¡¯s no time limit. You got packages, in those, there are items and tools you will use and a number. The number you get will show the table that was assigned to you. Good luck.¡± I opened the package and there was a paper with number 64 on it. I looked around a bit and easily found it. When I came to the table, there was nothing on it. It really looks like we can only use the things in the package. I took them all out and there was nothing out of ordinary. The same tools I used in these 2 years. Meanwhile, everyone found their spot and on my both sides were 2 guys. One looked indifferent and the second looked scared and stressed so shy type. As we all finished, they continued. ¡°It looks like you all are finished. Now then, pick your item.¡± As they said that, a huge pile of all kinds of items appeared before them in several piles. Everyone looked at the items, not comprehending what happened until someone went to pick an item and when he did that, everyone ran to take a pick. I just waited for them to disperse as only one, wait, scratch that. The two beside me waited too. One did not care and the other was too shy. As they dispersed, we three went to take a pick. Shy one took 3 daggers and indifferent one took 3 rings. I took one sword, one necklace and one leather armor. I don¡¯t even know why, it was just a feeling. The 5 teachers looked at me. Beliar was laughing with is ¡®Ho ho ho¡¯ and others were puzzled. The indifferent guy looked at me too, with questioning expression. Shy guy was thinking about the reason too, with a pinky finger touching his lips. If I don¡¯t know reason, then you won¡¯t too. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. So we went back and put the items at the desk. I did not start enchanting. Something is fishy here. It can¡¯t be so simple. Well, simple with just enchant item, theme for this test. These tests aren¡¯t so simple. So I was looking around but everyone started already, even those 2 beside me. I can¡¯t figure it out. I just sighed and picked the tool. When I picked it, I could feel something different. Something that was not quite right with it. I started to inspect it but could not find the reason why. Then it clicked to me. I learned nice skill yesterday to use right now. So I used magic identification on it and here¡¯s what appeared.
Training enchanting knife
Durability10/10RankF
Knife used to enchant items. It was badly enchanted and so whoever enchants with it will have his enchanting disrupted a little, damaging the item being enchanted.
As I though, it¡¯s not so simple. These tools are part of the test too. They were sabotaged intentionally to make it harder for use, disrupting our enchanting methods. In a while, curses started to sound around me. It looks like others did not figure it out and just wasted one try. I could see others trying again, probably trying to compensate the disruption of tools. I looked beside me and the two stopped working. Now that I look at it, they did not enchant even one piece yet. Were they playing around before? They started to think and practically at the same time, the found the answer. How do I know? Cold reading and they tries to fix the tools. So with no reason to dwell on it, I started to fix the tools too. It was fairly simple, just fixing runes on it. The other 2 did the same, until they started to enchant. Their tools started to work so smoothly, with such ease and precision, mine would definitely not work that way. Where did I make a mistake? I started to calmly think about it and I thought about the yesterday¡¯s test. Mana flows through every object so that means even these tools are no different and enchanting isn¡®t just using my own mana to give magical properties to the item. No, enchanting is to use my own mana to control inner flow of item¡¯s mana and using affinity or elemental crystals to give them affinity. So I went back to fixing my tools. I did a simple thing. I got rid of all the mana in the item by using my own void mana, the same thing that is done with spatial ring. I used void coating to not let any mana flow into the tool and then I used the runes I fixed before and slowly with one of my hands poured mana in the tool and with the other I filled the runes. This way, there should be synergic effect. Am I a genius or am I a genius? So I got rid of my void coating and tried the tool. I could feel some kind of connection with it. I did the same with others. Now, I could start. Before that, someone went to the black obelisk. He had sword in hands. When he came there, teachers told him to hit the obelisk. And so he did. On the obelisk, white letters appeared with number 7 on it. ¡°Ok, this is your score. Now you need to wait for the others to finish.¡± And so he went somewhere. No reason to it any more attention. So, now is my turn to start enchanting. What will I do? I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s look at the two beside me. What I saw shocked me. They were using glyphs. And not just any glyphs. They were like none I have ever seen before and definitely better than I could make. There really is always someone better. It looks like I have better perception than them but my skills are below both of them. I definitely can¡¯t win with normal work against them. I need to overcome what I can make. Now to think. And so I thought and then it clicked to me. Can it be done? If it can than I can compete with them. Well, it¡¯s all or nothing. And so I started with my enchanting. What I will make, it will be secret for now. When I was enchanting, I could hear the shy guy telling something. ¡°Damn, another failure.¡± I looked at him and saw he used 2 daggers already. I looked at them and could not see any mistakes. What did he mean by failure? I need to focus on my own work, but before that, let¡¯s look at the other one. He thrown away one ring and was working on the other, his indifferent face not so indifferent anymore. So we there continued and meanwhile, other¡¯s tried their luck. Those who did armors or accessories just touch the black obelisk and did not hit it and it showed a number. The highest for now is 32. So we all continued until only we three were left. The dagger guy smirked and said. ¡°Finished.¡± And went to the obelisk. I could see that dagger with a certain luster that definitely wasn¡¯t there before. He went to the obelisk and hit it with the dagger. What came next was shocking. 92 appeared. Holy fuck, that¡¯s 60 points more. That guy really did not fail my expectation. Indifferent guy looked too but did not change his expression at all. He was enchanting his 3rd ring and I was completed my own work. Still secret though. It took us a little while. We both finished but I still did not complete my work. Now that enchanting part is finished, the finishing touch is in order and so I used my mana to finish it. In what way, just wait a while longer. The indifferent guy went to the obelisk and put the ring he completed on it. The obelisk brightened and showed 97. Monsters I say. But I¡¯m not any different. My abilities are cheat like too. Everyone looked at me after this show and some had expecting expressions some wanted to have this over and the 4 teachers were looking at the two with glittering eyes but 2 of them with prideful eyes. Their teachers no doubt. Beliar looked at me as the only one and had knowing expression that said ¡®You won¡¯t let me down. I know it.¡¯ I sighed and went to the black obelisk. When I reached it. Everyone was staring at me, again with disbelieving expressions. One of the 4 teachers started to talk. ¡°What are you doing? Only one item can be checked. Now, choose one and let¡¯s be done with it.¡± That¡¯s right, I brought all 3 items with me. That¡¯s what I was working on. ¡°This is my enchanted item.¡± ¡°Who do you think you are? Are you so dumb that you can¡¯t see there are 3 items?¡± ¡°I just need to show it to you.¡± I poured my mana into it and my glyph started to glow. All 3 items shook a little and started to levitate. They went to the obelisk and touched it. The score it showed was 84. I knew I could not compete with them in terms of enchanting. It looks like my idea did not work. The teacher that was talking with me started to laugh at me but after that a bright glow like non before appeared from the obelisk and then just ??? was shown. We all looked at it not understanding what happened. Beliar just started to laugh with his ¡®Ho ho ho¡¯. ¡°Come come, explain what you did with those items and why did you say those 3 are your item?¡± He saw through me. ¡°It¡¯s simple. UI knew I could not compete with those two in terms of enchanting and so I wanted to fix that by created synergy effect with these items.¡± ¡°Synergy?¡± ¡°Right, just like set items but just through glyphs.¡± Set items are like one item split to many pieces, what I did was making 3 items to one item. ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°But I tried and it worked. I connected these 3 items through a glyph. How I did that is of no concern to you.¡± ¡°That still does not explain what was that light.¡± Beliar started to talk. ¡°I can explain that.¡± Everyone looked at him. ¡°The score that was shown to us were his enchanting skill but what we saw after was the true examination of his enchanted item. The strength of this synergetic item could not be determined and that¡¯s why it showed ???. So his skill in enchanting item with a glyph is at 84 but when all 3 of these items are connected through the glyph it¡¯s immeasurable.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s still does not mean he is better than those two. It just means he got a better idea.¡± They started to bicker between them and I had enough of it already. ¡°Just stop it already. I don¡¯t care what place I am. Did I pass or not?¡± They stopped bickering and looked at all of us. ¡°The top 30 passed. The rest failed.¡± And I started to leave and when I went to my item, I was stopped by one of the teachers, the one who was reprimanding me. ¡°I will take this item to examine it.¡± ¡°No chance. I enchanted it and it can be wielded just by me so I will take it.¡± It¡¯s true. If someone else would take it, it would disrupt their mana flow. ¡°Get lost.¡± He pushed me aside and took the item. He started to feel pain and screamed and dropped the necklace. ¡°What the heck did you do?!¡± ¡°I told you. Only I can wield it.¡± I really had enough and so I went to all 3 of them and stored them in my spatial ring and left. Before that, I was stopped by the 2 guys. The same 2 that were beside me. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m Henry. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Shank.¡± Ok so the shy guy that pretended to be shy is Henry and the indifferent is Shank. ¡°I¡¯m Risiel. I need to go now. Let¡¯s all do our best.¡± And I finally left not caring about anything else. Next on the schedule, beast taming test. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Hi, so I had the surgery and can¡¯t move too well because of it so I won¡¯t write at least for a week or so. The only reason I wrote this was because it was mostly finished so I wanted to tie all loose ends so to say. It started to take too long and so I will make next tests shorter. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 13 – Little bit of fluffiness Chapter 13 ¨C Little bit of fluffiness God, I¡¯m so glad to leave that place. I started to be irritated. Those stares, mocking looks of those teachers, reverie when synergy activated and those two, who wanted to befriend me because of it. I really had enough. Beast taming is next. I wonder what the test will be. I¡¯m incapable of making contracts so if it will be around that, I¡¯m doomed. Let¡¯s hope it won¡¯t be so disadvantageous. There aren¡¯t that many who can make contracts anyway. So I slowly walked where Beast taming is held, pondering about few things. I don¡¯t know how long I was immersed in my thoughts but without even knowing it, someone jumped on my back and I feel head down first. I could feel soft sensation, HUGE sensation. Sigh, it must be Sani. Just when I¡¯m not in the mood. I looked around and it really was Sani. Behind her Lily. ¡°I knew I will meet you two here. Just as I said, right?¡± They both smiled, Sani still wrapped around my neck. ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°*nod nod*¡± ¡°Were your tests hard?¡± ¡°Not really. Easier than I thought.¡± ¡°Same for me.¡± It¡¯s little confusing who says what so it will be Lily and Sani. ¡°So, what did you have to do?¡± ¡°I had to move several objects just with a wind.¡± ¡°I had to create specific fireball. It must have had specific temperature.¡± Are you fucking kidding me? Such easy thing? Just testing how could is your control over element? I had to fucking decipher spatial magic. Life is never easy and I still have that ¨C in my luck so, no wonder there. Today really is not my day. It looks like I looked down hearted, because Lili asked me ¡°Are you alright? You don¡¯t look good.¡± When she said that, Sani, still holding my neck, pushed her head close to my right cheek and looked at me. When she saw me, she released her hands around my neck. ¡°Sorry. I did not know you don¡¯t feel good.¡± You shouldn¡¯t do such things even when I feel good! I wanted to say. What the hell happened to me? My act was always flawless and now? I¡¯ll just need to live with it for now. ¡°Thanks for your concern, but it¡¯s okay. I just feel a little bit tired.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself too hard.¡± Lili¡¯s ears twitched a little when she said that. She really is a good child, coming from someone who is the same age, oh well. I like her better like this, being honest and all. She only acts this way with me and Sani. Let¡¯s hope in the future I won¡¯t propose mistakenly again. To both of them. With my shitty luck, everything is possible. We talked for a while longer, until teacher came and told us to come to her. As we created a semi circle around her, she started to explain how this test will work out. ¡°Good good. Now then, as you all know, today is test for all of you. Many of you cannot create contracts with beasts so because of that, there will be a certain rules but those will be said in due time. Now to tell you about the test. In the forest behind me are many animals as you already know. You always went just at the outskirts, also known as zone 0. Your test is to enslave or contract lvl 1 animal in zone 1. Those of you who won¡¯t will fail the test. Now, because those who can contract animals have natural affinity with them and it¡¯s easier, they¡¯ll must do it alone. So, as you probably already thought about, you can form groups to help each other, but it can be detrimental for you, because your ¡®partner¡¯ can take your spot and you could fail. Be careful about the tactic you will use.¡± Everyone started to chatter and some formed groups. Lili and Sani can contract so, they will be on their own. Me, I definitely won¡¯t form a group. Of ocurse, many girls were looking at me, probably wanting to form a group with me. Only thing keeping them in line is presence of Lili and Sani. The problem is, they had to leave because of preparations for their solo experience. Girls started to slowly rush to me, but before that could happen, teacher called to me. ¡°Risiel, come here.¡± And so I went without a second thought. You would think it¡¯s nice like that but a herd of girls with hungry eyes can scare the hell out of you. ¡°Yes, teacher?¡± ¡°I know you can¡¯t contract beasts but you have natural affinity with them too so you must go there alone too. Be careful though, enslaving strong animals isn¡¯t so easy.¡± ¡°Thank you teacher, I¡¯ll be careful¡± Great. She saved me from those hungry eyes and I even HAVE to be alone. Maybe today isn¡¯t such a bad day for me. So it took a while for everyone to prepare but when we all were ready, teacher just said start and we ran into the forest. Except me of course. This test isn¡¯t so simple. She did not say, if we can enslave higher leveled animals and what¡¯s more important, time limit! There must be some. It looks like I¡¯m the only one who figured this out. ¡°Teacher, can we enslave higher leveled animals?¡± ¡°It looks like you figured it out. That¡¯s right. If everyone had to come back with lvl 1 animal, then everyone would pass, but it¡¯s not so. If you will pass or fail, depends on what type of animal you come back with. Not everyone can pass after all.¡± Thought so. ¡°I have one more question.¡± ¡°Just ask.¡± ¡°What is the time limit?¡± She was smiling with a pure smile, until she went pale and fell on her knees and started to pound the ground for her right hand. ¡°I forgot to tell it!¡± Is she shitting me? How could she forget something so important? ¡°Oh well, let¡¯s make it part of the test too. Anyway, it¡¯s 2 hours. You should go now. There¡¯s not much time left.¡± 2 hours? Just 2 hours? To get to zone 1 will take 15 minutes and to get back another 15. That¡¯s 30 minutes so only 1 hour and 30 minutes is scope of finding and taming. Taming takes a long time, not mentioning finding something appropriate. I put a serious expression and used phantom steps to quickly get to zone 1. I even passed few others. They did not see me though. What can I say, I love this technique. When I reached zone 1, it was interesting so to say. Zone 1 isn¡¯t named with some kind of sign or such, so how did you know you reached it? It was simple. It¡¯s like there was a line between zones that seemingly changed the scenery. It¡¯s really interesting, seeing different plants, animal and etc. I did not idle though. Time is running out. I went through the forest for 15 minutes, but still did not find even 1 animal. What the heck? Now that I think about it, there should be only lvl 1 and higher leveled animals and to reach lvl 1 isn¡¯t simple so you probably will get few experiences with humans if you were animal and because humans hunt animals, of course they will hide from us. I did not care though, I just used silent step and presence manipulation to shield myself from their senses. Practically immediately, I could see some animals like hedgehogs and little birds, but nothing else. I quickly remembered my survival classes and understood. Smell. I could not hide it with those skills so I quickly used my knowledge and hid my smell with a certain plant. It worked wonders. Rabbits, foxes and even wolves started to roam around me. I hid in the crown of the tree, watching them. I just passed them though. They were small fries anyway. Not too good for me. As I started to go deeper into the forest, much better creatures started to appear. Nistril ¨C hybrid between wolf and cat. Scaldi - Dog covered in scales and other creatures. Now that I called worthy animals. I prepared to enslave one Nistril but someone came to where we are, running for his life. What came behind him, was a huge red bear with orange stripes and horns. I could feel it. It is stronger than me but not by much and because I am lvl 2 than this thing must be lvl 3. In zone 1 that must be king of the forest. I was jumping from tree to tree, following them. Of course I did not try to save that guy and I did not even have to because the bear stopped chasing him and moved somewhere else. I was slowly, stealthily tracking him, until we reached some kind of cave. It must be its lair. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I thought about plan. Lvl 1 animals are easy to enslave. Just use enslaving seal and it¡¯s yours. Lvl 2 is trickier. You must place the seal on its head or where the brain is to increase the effect and even use more mana. Lvl 3 is impossible. You must tire it out. Of course, that¡¯s just at my level of beast taming. At higher level, it¡¯s not so limited. The problem with tiring it out is, I don¡¯t have any weapon to use and magic won¡¯t work too well. Lvls with animals are frightening, you know. At lvl 3 they are really smart. They can use tactics and even learn from their mistakes. King of the forest is even more frightening. Oh well, I went inside the cave and saw it was laying with his back to me. I used phantom style to close the distance and punched it with my mana strengthening. Why I punched it? Master still did not teach me close combat. Without sword to use, I can¡¯t use Phantom style swordsmanship and stick would not count it against this monstrosity. It turned around, slightly annoyed and when it saw me, it started to rush at me. Perfect. I quickly got out of the cave. With that huge size and small space, I would not be able to dodge its attacks. When we got outside, I stopped running and prepared for the fight. We both were just looking at each other, circling around. It did not last long. The bear rushed at me, trying to bite me. I knew I could not defeat it with force so I use deception. When it rushed at me, behind me was a tree and I just stood still, pretending to be frozen with fear and when it came to bite me, I jumped to my left and it bit the tree. The tree fell on it. I did not let my guard down though. The tree moved and the bear appeared under it, completely okay, just irritated. Oh boy. It started to close the distance but I used my phantom step to get to his left side without seeing me and when I got there, I concentrated my mana to my right hand and punched at his side to where should be its internal organs. I had to limit the strength though. I do not wish to kill it, just tire it. I could see it was shaken but quickly recuperated. It tried to bite me but its movements were slowed down and his left sight was hampered due to my damage. It started to quickly bite me but like a leave I flew through all his bite attempts. That continued for a while until I could hear its rugged breathing. I jumped and wanted to pummel him with a fist to the ground. It stood up on his hind legs and did the same posture at me. It wanted to punch me. That would definitely kill me. I quickly formed mana to balls. It¡¯s basic skill called mana ball. Not much power behind it but it would work for me. I released several of those straight at its face. Because it stood, it could not dodge it and all hit the target, confusing him a little and meanwhile, I hit the ground trying to create the distance between us, but before I could fully covered it, it charged at me and send me flying to the tree. Thankfully he did not bite but still, I coughed a mouthful of blood. We both were rugged. It¡¯s not so easy to dodge, plan and be hit against such a beast at my first live combat, you know? We both knew the next attack will be the last and just stared at each others eyes, understanding each other. It wasn¡¯t about me taming it and about it protecting its territory. No, right now it was about winning. I smiled and it did the same. Bear smiling is really interesting. Anyway, we both charged head on and when we got close, it used its right front leg to punch me. I was not prepared and it grazed me a little. Even that little hit shook my head and I got dizzy but I trusted my instincts and hit it right at the mouth. We both stared at each other from close up until the bear fell at the ground, tired and I right after him. I regenerated my stamina and wanted to enslave it, but before that, I could hear whimpering right behind me, coming from the cave. From it came a cute little baby bear. When I mean cute, I mean cute. It was like a doll. I wanted to pamper it and pat it, but then I looked back at the bear and understood. It is mother protecting its child. I sighed and went for the little baby bear and took it in my arms. When I did that, bear mother tried to move but I just smiled at her and quickly went to her, giving her her child. I patted both of them and went my way. What? Do you think I will separate mother and child? If you thought so, than go to hell. Anyway, there not even half an hour remaing and from where I am, it will take 20-25 minutes to get back so it looks like I failed. No matter. There are still 3 tests left and I just need to pass 2 more and hope, I will be one of the 100 or so that can compete in the tournament. So I ran through the zone 1 and 0, passing others and when I got out, many were already back. Lili and Sani included. I quickly went to them and I could see 2 animals with them. Lili had a hybrid between eagle and swallow and Sani had lynx. They looked both, majestic you could say. Both looked like king and queen of their species. They must be lvl 3 too. When I reached both Lili and Sani, they both smiled at me, but when they saw I did not have anyone with me, became depressed. ¡°What happened to you? Did you not found any animal?¡± What happened to me? Why would she ask that? Now that I looked at myself, I was tattered and cowered in blood. So that¡¯s why. ¡°Let¡¯s just say I played with forest animals a little too much.¡± They both looked eager to hear me out but before that could happen, and they interrogating me no doubt, teacher told to all of us. ¡°Ok, time¡¯s up. Those of you who got back with animal passed. Those of you who didn¡¯t have failed and the same goes with those that are not here.¡± Now that I look around me, there aren¡¯t that are some without an animal. I just sighed. I would definitely win this but the price, wasn¡¯t something I would pay. ¡°Those who passed come from the token.¡± Yeah, token. If you passed you get one. I don¡¯t think I mentioned it in Enchanting. Beliar gave me one by throwing it to me through the whole class. Nice guy. I just stood for a while, looking at the sky, reminiscing about my encounter with the bear. My mood lit up and with a sorrowful but happy smile started to leave. ¡°Wait Risiel.¡± I turned around and teacher was there. ¡°I saw what you did. You did right but even so, you still did not come back so I can¡¯t give you a token, but you still did so great and would definitely finish with number 1. Uh.¡± She started to ponder for a while. ¡°You know what, I will let you pass but with the worst place possible. Be grateful.¡± I smiled and hugged her. Why not, right? She stuttered and did not know what to do. I released her, took the token and ran away looking at her while I was running, smiling and waving at her. Had to play a child for once. Next stop, Survival. Still continue though. When I reached survival, I was first and teacher was standing, sleeping and with his back on the tree. If someone would paint this, with the orange sun, that was slowly falling down, behind the horizon from a 45¡ã with the forest behind him, it would be a master piece. I just waited, did not want to wake him up. Others came after me and when we all were there, he woke up like a clock and started. ¡°Take these bracelets and don¡¯t take them off.¡± He gave all of us a bracelet and we put it on. ¡°This test is simple, survive. I will release 3 lvl 1 monsters and you must survive throughout the night. When you will be caught with them, bracelets will save you.¡± With a sweet and then harsh tone he said ¡°Now then, run.¡± And so we ran for our lives when 3 cages appeared in our line of vision and with smile plastered on his face. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I like this chapter. It went much better than I thought. Just one question? Should I name animals that aren¡¯t normal? There will be many throughout the story and it is a pain. I would rather just describe them and just few times name them. This isn¡¯t a game world where above their heads is lvl and name. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 14 – This is fun Chapter 14 ¨C This is fun I will tell you one thing. Running away from the monsters, true monsters, not just some high leveled animals, is fun. Their blood thirst that¡¯s coiling around your body, feeling of their breath as they run behind you and what¡¯s more, screams of fools that are running beside you. What could be better? But seriously, he is insane. To survive for the whole night against them. At least it¡¯s really fun. For now, we are all just running away, without any plan. To survive, cooperation is necessary but none of them thought about it. I don¡¯t want to cooperate with them though, but even if I know they won¡¯t die, it¡¯s troubling. We spend 2 years together, so you could say we are acquaintances. Sigh, let¡¯s save them then. While I was saying that, one guy was being attacked. I quickly used phantom steps to close the distance and punched the monster. It was big black wolf. By big, I mean big. 4 meters. Of course it¡¯s not wolf. Wolfs are animals, this thing is monster. The difference is that animals are normal beings. Monsters are animals mutated through mana that lost their sanity. There are magical beings too. Magical beings are beings born with mana with intelligence. In this category are unicorns, fairies, dragons etc. Animals have access to mana too, but only after they reach certain level and to reach that level isn¡¯t easy for them without magic so there aren¡¯t that many and those who access their mana are still weaker than monsters and magical beings. Humanoid creatures like humans, elves and such are called intelligent beings. All humanoid or close to that are in this category. Humanoid beings are born intelligent, but to use mana, they must have awakening. There are special cases that do not fit into just one category. Even human can become such a case. Let¡¯s say you were a human and then vampire would bite you and you would turn to half-vampire. Vampire is magical intelligent being. Half vampire is the same. But you get the point. Many categories but hard to categorize creatures. Anyway, as I punched the wolf monster, my hand started to bleed and it just staggered a little, letting the guy escape. The fur this monster has is like steel. When you hit it it¡¯s like hitting nails with bare hand and its muscles are dense too. Animals of course can have hard fur too, but not something like this. I kicked that wolf thing into its head and quickly went to others. When I reached them, I started with my plan. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to outrun them. To survive, we must work together or else we¡¯re doomed.¡± Everyone looked at me and some of them weren¡¯t so sure with this. I do not care about them, as long as at least one of them gets it, it¡¯s okay. ¡°Look, there¡¯s no time to argue. We must create pairs. There are 5 of us so one will stay alone. That one will be me, before you ask. So quickly choose.¡± Everyone nodded to me and they chose person next to them. I was in the middle so it was nice. ¡°Great. Now listen. I will be the bait and I¡¯ll try to buy you some time. You two on my right are group one, you two group two. Now then, group one will find some herbs that could help us hide our smell and some food and water, but to hide our smell is priority. Group two will find some good spot where we will make a camp. I will try to go opposite direction then you and then I¡¯ll try to lose them. After all is done, place some signs for me to know where you are.¡± ¡°Will you be okay? Can you really fool them?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m already covered in herbs that hide my smell so they shouldn¡¯t find me when I will try to lose them. Problem will be with making them follow me. I¡¯ll need to stay at visible distance with them. Now go.¡± As I said that, we all went a certain direction and I could hear monsters coming. They were plowing trees as they ran. I quickly found some stones to taunt them with them. When I could see them and they could see me, they quickly attacked me and I barely dodged to pass them and get behind them. They stopped and looked at me. I threw one stone at each of them and they became angry. I quickly ran away, buying some time. That went for quite some time and I must say, running away from 3 monsters isn¡¯t easy at all. My uniform was tattered even before I came here and now, I don¡¯t even know how it¡¯s holding together. I was scratched by their claws several times too but still nothing serious. Level 1 monsters and so strong. It¡¯s impossible to defeat them, hell to hurt them is impossible too. I really need to get some weapon. Master always gave me just training swords and then took them back. So all 3 wolf monsters started to be enraged and I was clawed at my back, throwing me aside. This is the end, I can¡¯t buy any more time. I quickly got up and used mana balls to create sand screen to hide myself. When I did that I quickly ran away, but I could still hear them running for me. I knew it would happen. They can smell my blood. Thankfully I planned for that and was close to the river so I jump into it and let myself be flown with the stream. They could not find me and I lost them. When I caught my breath I went outside the river and went to find the clues. There were none. Bastards let me to die. I used my tracking skills to find any signs of their presence and found it. I tracked it and found the base. It was cave in the clearing. Good place, because we can see monsters approaching but not defendable. I went inside and could see all of them eating a chattering and smiling. ¡°Ris is such an idiot, he really thought he can fool them? His probably already with teacher. Now, we just to survive a little bit longer.¡± Scum. I did not even go to them and just hid at dark corner, listening to their conversation. When monsters come, you will all die, by accident. I just need to tamper with bracelets a little and they won¡¯t work and then when they will jump on you, you will die. As I had these dark thoutghs, the guy that was talking about me dying fell asleep but others started to speak in lowered voice. ¡°That bastard, Ris went to be the bait and he forced us to abandon him like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like you tried to stop him.¡± ¡°But at least I wanted to go find him after that.¡± ¡°I know, but we can¡¯t do anything anymore. If he would be alive, he would already be here.¡± They talked like that. Damn, now I won¡¯t kill them. Such a shame. We all went to sleep. It was just before the sun started to rise when we could hear monsters coming for us. We all went out of the cave, but there was just one. The bastard that let me to die started saying that it¡¯s just one and we can get rid of it and such. They started to attack it, not doing much damage but tiring it at least. That bastard took spear out of his spatial ring and tried to pierce its eye, while others were being a decoy. He almost did it, before other 2 monsters jumped out, biting his whole left hand. He lost his hand. The bracelet didn¡¯t work. I did not do it. He started to scream and cry. In the mouth of one of the beast was his spear stuck, like a tooth pick. I quickly ran to the monster and pulled it out. It whelped with pain and before it could do anything. I struck his eyeball pushing the spear through it inside its brain, killing it. When you want to survive, you must use all kinds of dirty tactics. I went to the three and the 2 monsters surrounded us. ¡°You you¡¯re alive!¡± All of them shouted. ¡°Later!¡± As they were circling us with their mad eyes on us I prepared for anything. Before they could lunge at us, sun appeared, blinding all of us and when we could see again, they both were dead. We looked around at teacher was again lying against tree with closed eyes. We were relived with this. Bastard could see the teacher too. ¡°You fucker, you said those bracelets will protect us. You liar, my family will kill you for it.¡± Teacher just used his pressure to shut him up and he pissed himself and fainted. ¡°You 4 passed, he failed.¡± That¡¯s all he said, went to him, picked him up and disappeared. At where he was, were 4 tokens. We all took one and went on our way, back to school grounds. ¡°Thanks for saving us, without your help, we would have been done for.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Really, thanks.¡± ¡°Is that so? So then explain to me why there weren¡¯t any signs and why I could find food eaten in the cave?¡± I smiled with killing smile, making their blood freeze. I said I won¡¯t kill them, never said anything about not scaring them. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Bad children need to be punished, right?¡± I was still smiling and they started to laugh. What came next, let¡¯s not say that. When we came outside, I was first with a relaxed smile and the others stammered out of the forest, with swelled cheeks. Teacher appeared once again and just said. ¡°You can go now.¡± Nice class man. Great stress reliever, I just want to sleep! I could not sleep at all in that cave. They were snoring like a saw. I was just pretending. So tired and my head is killing me. Next on the list, control. Let¡¯s hope it will be easy. But before that, let me explain why I did not use spells. First of all, I did not want to kill the bear so I did not want to try them on it. Second, using magic against monsters that were corrupted with magic, would probably not work well. They could feel me invoking it and in that case, I could have died. It¡¯s possibility but why risk it, right? So let¡¯s finally go to my favorite class. As I was reaching the place, I could hear someone shouting. ¡°You maggots, are you fucking pussies or what? If you want to ask something, then ask with a resolve.¡± Good old teach. ¡°Y-yes.¡± I really like that guy. I mean teach, not that brat with milk coming from his mouth. God, I¡¯m starting to think like teach. I need to do something about it, but its such fun. Mo ha ha ha. Now I¡¯m like Beliar. Heavens be praised, I¡¯m like two biggest bad assess in school. While I was thinking like that, I could feel intense bloodlust. I-I did not forget about you master! You¡¯re the biggest badass ever. I don¡¯t know how he knew what I was thinking about but at least that killing intent isn¡¯t there anymore. Whew. So as I was closing to class, teach looked at me and because I was the last one he started. ¡°Maggots, I hope you are prepared! Don¡¯t come crying to me if you did not prepare well. I¡¯m not your mamma that will pamper you. Are we clear?!¡± ¡°YES!¡± We all said in unison. I think we are more like chorus. Our unity is at the highest level. Maybe at some holidays we could sing? That would be nice. God, I really need to do something with this headache, such stupid ideas. ¡°Now then, my test is really simple. I will tell you what to do and you¡¯ll do it. Simple as that.¡± Nice explanation, teach. What Riley would need 15 minutes you completed in 15 seconds. Praise you. ¡°Quick, take a place so that no one will get in your was. We don¡¯t have the whole day.¡± We all took a place and then it started. THE¡­¡­.BEST¡­¡­¡­FUN¡­¡­¡­.EVER! ¡°Form mana ball.¡± I won¡¯t be explaining all of that, let¡¯s just say we did all of them until I say otherwise. ¡°Change shape Triangle, Square, Ball ¡­¡­¡± Just basic shapes and he was saying it faster and faster. We all make it through though. ¡°So you have some spine, maggots. Stage 1 cleared. Let¡¯s continue then.¡± His smile is intoxicated, to me, to others, well he looks like devil himself. You can see it with them taking a step back. I just smiled with him. ¡°Shape it to arrow, hammer, curved blade, sword¡­¡­.¡± Yeah, using basic shapes to create items, concentration needed is high and it takes great amounts of mana. Three failed, so only 9 left. ¡°Good good. Now, create two mana balls at one hand each.¡± Easy for me, but it¡¯s like splitting your mind, you need perfect balance or else it will explode or dissipate. My headache thankfully did not hamper me. 2 failed in time limit. We all can do these things but the speed he wants them with is challenge here. ¡°7 left. Let¡¯s continue with stage 4. I will tell you hand and you must change shape in that one and when I say both, you will change it at the same time.¡± Ok, that sounds challenging. ¡°Left ball, right sword. Right hammer, left sword¡­¡­¡­..Both, left spear, right shield.¡± Never said spear and shield before and we never even tried in class so, no wonder 5 did not make it past this. So only 2 of us left. ¡°Well well, pretty good I must say. You are lucky, the last stage is the easiest.¡± Yeah right. ¡°Create one mana ball and split in it two, then split those two and continue until it will blow up or dissipate.¡± This thing really is easy. Easier than splitting your mind to create two different things at the same time. Problem is, with every split it gets exponentially harder. Of course I was excited. And so I started. I created mana ball and split it. Easy. I did that until I had 8 and I could feel some destabilization in them. I thought it might happen. Why did that happen? Let me explain. Let¡¯s say you have one ball created with 100 units of mana. When you split the ball, you¡¯ll get two with 50 units in each. Normally, you would shrink the object or else the ball of the same size and lower amount of mana would be fragile. There is a limit to size and amount of mana. The same goes with a count. The more you have of such ball, the better your concentration must be to feel the necessary size to amount of mana. And mana in balls can¡¯t be held indefinitely. It slowly disappears so you need to refill it constantly and because every ball has different amount of mana, you must be constantly vigilante on all of them. Still, I continued. I had 16 and then, sharp pain attacked my brain. It was thanks to that headache. I could feel it getting worse. I continued though and created 32 balls. The last guy was still at 8 but I could see he tried to split them but couldn¡¯t so it was my win already. I still wanted to continue though and so I did. I created 64 and the pain was much greater. Teach had widen his eyes and I could feel something flowing on my face, dripping on the ground. It was my blood. I started to bleed from my nose. I wanted to stop but something did not let me. I concentrated and tried whatever I thought about but nothing worked. I could feel tears in my eyes, well I thought it were tears until I could see it was blood. That¡¯s right, I started to shed bloody tears. When teach saw that he instantly came to me and with mana concentrated in his hand put on my head and I just know how sweet darkness took me in. I had nightmares. Real nightmares that would make your heart freeze. Sadly, I can¡¯t remember what they are about. I¡¯m still dreaming though, it¡¯s like being in a black space and looking at thousands of images changing through that place. It makes you go insane. I don¡¯t know how long it took but it looked like ages. I started to comprehend those images. Those were my memories. The images tormenting me were my own memories but I never wanted them to stop. Those were my precious memories after all. All the sad moments and all the happy moments. I just smiled with my kind smile until I heard someone behind me. It was the guy I saw after my awakening ceremony, the same one. He smiled with kind smile too and even though I could not see him very well, I knew he did not wish to harm me. He came closer to me and flipped my forehead. Next think I know, I woke up with Alice sleeping next to me. I looked around and could see I was in my room. I was glad and my headache disappeared. In place of it though was some strange feeling that was pulsing in intervals. I concentrated on it and then.
Your brain went through changes. From now on, all changes that concern your whole being will be presented with a warning.
My brain changed? And the warning, did it mean that strange feeling? Does that mean whenever I will learn something new like skill or my stats change or whatnot it will let me know? This will be quite usefull but now, I want to rest for a little while longer. I took Alice in my arms and but her on the med rather than when she was sleeping on the chair. I lay down on the bed too and let sweet darkness take my consciousness away. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Ok, ending wasn¡¯t planned like this. He was supposed to complete last test and after that it was supposed to happen. Well, not even god like me can do anything against fait it seems. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I hope you¡¯re thankful for double release. Few more things. What do you think about proofreading, cover art and donations? Chapter 15 – Last test Chapter 15 ¨C Last test I woke up with Alice still sleeping next to me. She¡¯s like younger sister to me. Ah, I so miss Sylvie. I never thought I won¡¯t be able to meet them in these 2 years. She will hate me even more. At least they live better now. I must stay strong, for them. Anyway, why is that strange feeling still there? Did I miss something? I concentrated again and I was surprised.
Skill Soul MindRankN/A
Your mind was being destroyed for reasons unknown. To protect itself, it created link with your soul. Link shields you from all kinds of mental status effects and lessens your mana backlash.
Mind being destroyed? Mana backlash? What the HECK! I know it is useful but seriously? I can¡¯t be happy with knowing that my mind was on the verge of breaking. Sigh. Well, I can¡¯t do anything about it now so let¡¯s just let it be. I don¡¯t know if I explained mana backlash but let¡¯s say it. Mana backlash happens when you are close to using all of your mana. The closer to the bottom you are, more sluggish your mind becomes and all mana related activities are hampered, meaning it¡¯s possible your skills or spells won¡¯t activate. For pure mages when that happens outside its death sentence. The worst thing on it is, when you reach 0 you lose consciousness but before that you will experience terrible headache. This skill is godsend for my survival in the future, but it just lessens it but to experiment on it is, well let¡¯s just leave it be for now. My mind feels strange. It¡¯s like it is sharper, quicker and I¡¯m much calmer. Is it the effect of shielding me from status effects? Is angry, stressed and such status effect? It really will need experimentations, but before that, let¡¯s change. I was just in my underwear. Alice was probably embarrassed so it¡¯s not good if she wakes up. Before I could change though, someone knocked on the door. I went to the door and opened them. It was Lili, Sani and Teach. When they saw me just in my underwear, Sani was smiling with a brilliant smile, cool queen look of Lili quickly changed to blushing and Teach did not say anything. It did not take long though and all three of them forced their way in. When they came in, they looked around and saw Alice sleeping on the bed. What would you think when you will see guy in underwear and a girl with maid uniform that is opened on few places, well instead of that let¡¯s just say showing glimpses of Eden? I will tell you that! Sani was still smiling with a huge, beautiful smile but in fact was frozen at the spot. Lili had cool look, blushing look and then dejected look. Teach well like always, grumpy look not! Teach was the best. He put his hands before his face and was embarrassed! The guy that is instructor from hell is blushing! Can you believe it? I sure can. Such beautiful expressions, this will be fun. Well, let¡¯s not keep them waiting. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my appearance but I had tough, hot night yesterday ¡¯that headache was tough for me and I sweated a lot because of the nightmare¡¯ and constant movement ¡®of my eyes¡¯ took a lot out of me and finally after that the soft sensation ¡¯of Alice¡¯s hands¡¯ just did not let me to change properly.¡± I finished this with innocent smile. Let¡¯s continue with how they responded to it. Sani defrosted and loosened her smile, then had tears in her eyes and then it was dripping like crazy. Teach got his wits back but his cheeks were red and as I continued with my story they became redder. Lili was still looking dejected and then angry. Not at me or Alice, at herself but that did not last long and then as she shook it, I could see her eyes starting to become moist and before she started to cry she turned around, small tear droplets falling behind her and she ran straight to the door. I did not let her. I used phantom step and got before her and she stopped. She looked at me flustered and I slowly, step by step, went to her until I reached her. She wanted to get away but it was too late. I poked her forehead. She calmed down and looked at me. ¡°Baka, what did you think happened? I just had terrible nightmare and so I sweated a lot and it took a lot from me so I was fatigued and Alice took care of me. That¡¯s why I said it was hot, touch and soft. My bed is, after all, really soft. We must try it once together sometime.¡± She brightened up and as I said together she became flustered. Before any of us could say anything, Sani jumped between us. ¡°Mou, why did you do that to us?¡± Play dumb. In such situation, it is the best option. ¡°Huh, what are you talking about? I just say what happened. What you thought of is not my fault.¡± She puffed her cheeks but was much happier then when she came. She probably was worried about me and wanted to brighten me up. Lili took her cool look again when I looked again. Dammit Sani, it was such a great time to tease her more. Well, there¡¯s still a way. Let¡¯s use it! I hugged both of them and started to pet them. ¡±You must have been worried about me, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Ha ha. Lili was blushing again and Sani too. If they had tails, they would be waving them from side to side. ¡°Ehm.¡± That was Teach. Mood killer, oh well it¡¯s time to take care of business he has with me anyway. ¡°I hope you took care of your thinks so can we start with why am I here?¡± Ok, the teasing cannot be stopped. ¡°Of course we can¡¯t.¡± They did not expect that. Those eyes are nice. As we were talking, sleeping princess started to wake up. ¡°Ris?¡± Ha ha, that cold feeling emanating from both of them is something. By the way, I never told them about Alice before so it is their first meeting. ¡°Good morning Alice.¡± It strengthen. I came closer to her and meanwhile, she started to look around. When she saw me, she jumped at me and hugged me. We both fell. I can¡¯t say I did not expect that. Chance for that was 99% after all. ¡°Release Ris!¡±x2 Yep, Lili and Sani. When that happened, they both yelled at the same time but Alice did not release me. Lili and Sani forcefully separated us. Alice finally took in her surroundings and became flustered. She started to apologize. Cute, all three of them. ¡°It¡¯s ok Alice. Anyway, can you take our quests to the kitchen and prepare something for us? I¡¯m quite hungry. Meanwhile, I will change.¡± Yep, standing before her in underwear made her blush. She really is sleepy head not finding out while hugging me. So she took them into the kitchen and I changed to my uniform. Last test is today after all. I went to them and took a seat. ¡°So Teach, do you have some business with me?¡± On side note, he was still red from embarrassment. ¡°Ehm, because you passed out yesterday, I couldn¡¯t give you token so I came here to give you token and tell you, you reached first rank.¡± ¡°I see. Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it just don¡¯t do something stupid like that again. Making so many divisions at such age can kill you. Just be careful.¡± Teach is kind and really good at teaching. That¡¯s why I like his classes even though it is like military training. ¡°I will take my leave now. Oh and don¡¯t forget about your last test.¡± And so he went away but before that. ¡°Teach you must be hungry. Take these sandwiches at least.¡± I pushed several sandwiches into his hands and practically forced him out of the door so he would not decline. I went back to the table and slowly sipped my tea and ate. During that Sani and Lili started to eat too. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so delicious.¡± ¡°So good.¡± And they started to stuff their mouths. So cute. Alice joined us too and both of them were surprised but with a quick explanation it was over. ¡°Ris, it¡¯s time for you to go.¡± Ah that cold feeling again. ¡°Ok, so let¡¯s go then and take care Alice and thanks for taking care of me.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. I made it so I am blushing and she blushed too. When she could not see me I was smiling from ear to ear and went my way with Lili and Sani. We talked for a while about this and that but it was like interrogation about my relationship with Alice. I just said, master and maid. Those piercing eyes after that were quite something. I fear they will put me at leash after this. More teasing for me. We had to split up because we had different final tests and so I went to my martial arts test. When I got there, there were many people, much more than normally and I could see my classes¡¯s instructors and some I never saw so I immediately understood that it is joined test. Not like yesterday, today I was feeling good, even better than ever before and I was hyped up to finally get it done so I went to see the master and prepare myself. When I finally found him, he was arguing with instructor. I don¡¯t know if you remember him, but it is the one in full plate armor. Because we had several dealings with him in these 2 years, I remember his name. It¡¯s Michael Broadsmen and no, I still don¡¯t know master¡¯s name. The reason they are arguing is simple, they are rivals or they like to be called that. I leisurely went to master because next to Michal was Irel. I have bad feeling about this. ¡°Hi master.¡± ¡°Hi Ris, it¡¯s good time you came. I was just telling this ¡®got all the wisdom¡¯ type of guy how you will squash his disciple in a sec.¡± Michael did not let it go. ¡°And I was just telling this ¡®don¡¯t know how to wear clothes¡¯ type of guy was just telling how my disciple will easily take first place.¡± They both were grinning while releasing their killing intent making it look like they will rip each other¡¯s throat any second but in fact, they are good friends, no best friends. I don¡¯t know what really happened between them but it must have been woman. You just notice it through their interactions. If you didn¡¯t already notice, the disciples they were talking about are Irel and I. Disciples is just term for the one who is personally trained by instructor, nothing more to it so you could say it is the best one the instructor has. I was the only one who joined master so I got this title by default. ¡°Today we will see who the best is!¡±x2 Master and Michael said it at the same time and went their way. Meanwhile, Irel went to me. ¡°Today is the great opportunity to finish the promise from two years ago. I hope you did not forget?¡± ¡°No, I did not but are you sure? We won¡¯t be able to show our full power. After all, I don¡¯t think magic will be allowed.¡± ¡°Take it as a handicap from me. With my fire magic, you could not even lift a finger against it, after all your void magic is useless in combat.¡± ¡°I will take it then but don¡¯t come crying you want a rematch when you lose because of it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see who will lose.¡± ¡°Ris|Irel come here.¡± We were both called by our masters and went to them, waiting to finally settle everything. I went to a secluded are with master and then he stopped. ¡°Ris, today is the day when you stopped being initiate of phantom style and finally became my ¡®true¡¯ apprentice. As a gift, I want to give you something.¡± Master, out of nowhere, pulled beautiful black sword that even through its beauty, held deadly feel. It looked exotic and even though it was black it did not consume light but more like repelled it. The blade was curved slightly and handle was covered in some type of black leather. I never even heard of black metal. ¡°This is apprentice sword every practitioner gets. It¡¯s given by master to disciple. It is nothing grand but it will serve you well. Now go and win it, but before that, do not use Phantom style sword arts until it will be absolutely necessary and limit your usage of mana strengthening, in other words, don¡¯t go all out but just be around the same level. Without that, you would never master the sword and just would rely on your mana.¡± ¡°Thank you, master.¡± ¡°Now go.¡± Master really cares for me, I won¡¯t let him down. I went back to where others were and the test finally started. ¡°All of you, listen! Today is the last testing day, many of you don¡¯t have any chance to get to the tournament and thinks they can do half heartily in this test. Those like this will be expelled so do your best. You who already cleared condition should not do any worse because your participation in the tournament isn¡¯t clear yet, because from you who cleared conditions only few will be selected into the tournament. This is your last chance to prove yourself. Anyway, test is simple. There are 300 of you and everyone will be paired with someone and fight. Winner will continue, loser can go cry to mama. It will continue like this until the best wins.¡± After this we all were assigned a number and did pairs. My first fight was against thin kid in leather armor. He was agility type fighter. With my unstrengthen body I could not match his speed but I could see his movement and even react to them. Because movement would be pointless I just stood my ground and when he wanted to stab me, I dodged and counterattacked, hitting his hand and then changing the trajectory to slash his chest. I won. Next fight was against strength type then, stamina, defense and just all kinds. It was probably meant that way so you could get feel of all styles. I found out one thing, master does not have any other pupil and I mean it in all years. I¡¯m in my third year so I thought he had some in higher or lower years but there were none. I heard it from ridiculing instructors after my first fight. They thought I won by mistake and so blamed master. There were many fights so I won¡¯t tell them all but just know I reached top 20. When all that were left reach it, instructors said. ¡°You 20 that were left already past this test. Those of you who want to continue may do so, those do not can step aside but be warned, those of you who won¡¯t continue will all get the last place, diminishing your chances.¡± The reason for this is simple, after so many fights some are injured or exhausted and can¡¯t continue so no reason to look at such fights. Even so, no one left. Soul of a warrior, is it? I and Irel were mostly okay and just cut through the lines until only we two were left. Oh and I did not mention it but all fights were fought with wooden swords not to kill others but our fight will be with real swords. It was our choice and we both wanted it. Now then, let¡¯s look at my sword with magic identification.
Phantom style apprentice sword
Durability100/100RankC
This sword is given to those who survived initiation of phantom style. This sword boasts of its durability and cutting power but because it is used to train those who reached rank apprentice in phantom style, it is created to force the user to bring his potential, diminishing the ability to use this sword and so its strength in combat.
So this sword is created with faults to make you adapt to it in the best way possible. So master wants to make me a guy who can kill dragons with a tooth pick. That should be fun. I went to the platform and Irel right before me. Michael was giving him last minute advice and my master just nodded to me, fully believing me. I definitely won¡¯t fail you, master. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Yeah I lost spark for writing so because I did not want to write half assed I just stopped and the other reason why I did not write for so long is because I was reading LNs. List is: Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku Tensei Shitara Slime datta ken Desolate Era Overlord Shen Yin Wang Zuo Konjiki no Wordmaster Sendai Yuusha wa Inkyou Shitai They¡¯re really good so I recommend them. If you can recommend me something, I would be glad. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 16 – End of the promise Chapter 16 ¨C End of the promise We both stood at the platform, looking at each other. Irel was in full plate armor and I just in my uniform. For some reason, Phantom style does not use armor or more like, there¡¯s no use for it and because it would just hamper me, it¡¯s not used. Irel had normal, two handed sword almost as long as his body. I took my Phantom sword out of my ring and now that I think about it, calling it Phantom sword sounds strange so let¡¯s just name it Qwiz. Strange name but it suits it for some reason. As I took it out, I could hear sounds of amazement. This sword is really beautiful so no wonder they are amazed. Thank you, master. ¡°I hope you know how to handle that decorative sword. Such a piece of junk. Can it even cut?¡± Irel told so but I don¡¯t blame him, it really would look so but I guarantee its sharpness. ¡°It¡¯s sharper than it looks, you should be careful.¡± ¡°Ho, than show me.¡± We both were grinning from the start. We are the same as master and Michael, friends and rivals. Hostility between us disappeared long ago. I am stronger than Irel in sword fighting but if he would use his elemental magic it wouldn¡¯t be easy for me to win even if I could use strengthening. At least magic isn¡¯t allowed. I say I am stronger in sword fighting but don¡¯t think Irel isn¡¯t good. There is more to sword fighting that just skill. We both took stance, well Irel took, because I was forbidden from using Phantom style I was just standing in relaxed position, ready to counter at any time. This stance is called flowing stance. You can react to any move of your opponent. I devised it from a book I read once. It cannot compare to phantom style but still better than nothing. We both were looking directly at each other¡¯s eyes and waited for signal. ¡°Start!¡± Irel dashed at me and I thought ¡®What tank does that?¡¯ I never saw this move before and I must say with that weight on him that dash is quite fast. When he reached close to me, he swung his sword side way and wanted to send me flying from the arena so I would be disqualified. I just jumped and hit his helmet with my sword or that was supposed to happen but he tilted his body and what¡¯s more, weight of Qwiz changed and so I couldn¡¯t time it right to hit him while he was dodging. We both took a distance and I started to think about what happened with Qwiz and if Irel did that but I found answer. With the explanation I got from Magic detection I understood that this was what it meant by hampering its user. I quickly looked at Irel and I could feel that he was channeling his mana into his hands and legs. I did not let him though and quickly as an arrow closed the distance. He clicked his tongue and I meanwhile wanted to stab him but he used his gauntlet to change the direction and I just brushed his side and meanwhile he hit me with hilt of his sword but I used my innate ability shock absorption and moved in the same direction as his hit to mitigate the damage. My hand hurt a little but it wasn¡¯t anything serious. ¡°You got better it seems.¡± ¡°Yeah, but it looks like you are still the same.¡± Yeah, Irel is right. I did not train with sword because I was focusing on all tests and was making my trump card. He must have train until he was spewing blood. No lees to expect from my rival. Time to get a little bit serious. I focused my presence while I was holding Qwiz in my right hand giving him a dangerous atmosphere. This technique is more to make your opponents lose their fighting spirit but if your soul is strong, it will strengthen your weapon but that goes too far for now. To do that you need to establish your aura and me who can just manipulate presence is not even close. Irel started to focus more on his defense but that was what I wanted. I dashed with my sword hand straight with my body and my sword¡¯s blade behind me. When I closed the distance I jumped and put my hand up and used gravity to strengthen the hit and like a stone fell directly on him. He blocked it with his sword but it was still part of my plan. I use this momentum to backflip behind him. Because of the hit and his armor, he did not turn fast enough but my position wasn¡¯t good so I just kicked him pushing him a meter and making him stumble. We both were with our back to each other but it did not matter. I dashed with my back to him with strength in one of my legs stronger than the other so I changed direction in the air and tried to strike his back but weight and balance of the Qwiz changed again and before I could reach him I hit the ground and he charged his sword on me and because I couldn¡¯t get my balance I had to block with Qwiz sideway and was sent flying in the air. I knew I would fall from the arena so I stab Qwiz into the ground and thankfully weight of Qwiz increased and I stopped before the edge. We both were exhausted and so knew the end of our fight is coming. Red mist started to surround Irel and his mana started to fluctuate strengthening his whole body. Berserk rage, this ability is frightening because of its dual nature. Skill berserk increase your first for battle increasing your regeneration, Rage is skill that strengthen your bodily ability for price of losing your conscious. Berserk rage combines this two and increases both abilities but the biggest plus is you want lose your conscious. He is serious. It¡¯s time for me to get serious too. Phantom style swordsmanship. This ability is frightening. It has few stances one for each situation. Offense, defense, stamina, support. I calmed my mind, completely focusing on our last struggle. Irel stepped forward, crushing the ground and in extreme speed started to move, with each step, destroying the ground. I was calm like water, my mind sharper than ever and I was reading his every move. His use of muscles, his eye movement, his breathing. Cold reading, my innate ability. For me it looked like time stopped and then my calmness changed to a raging storm and one quick movement, so fast that you could not perceive it, appeared at the other side of the arena. Irel was standing still and then fell. Everyone did not understand what happened and only master was smiling. What I did was simple, I read when he will be most vulnerable and when the chance appeared I used phantom movement, erasing my presence and moving with the wind in several straight lines with my every step, increasing my movement speed and flying millimeter from his body in the gap he made slashing him meanwhile and then stopping at the spot I was. This skill is called Phantom line. One of the moves of Phantom swordsmanship. You disappear from your opponent¡¯s sight and with extreme speed go past him, slashing him as side product. This is movement type skill. Offensive skill could kill him if it would be used. ¡°Winner, Risiel!¡± It was announced that I won and I just fell, completely exhausted. To do this isn¡¯t mentally easy, and physically either. Master went to me and started to pat my back, hard. I almost stopped breathing. ¡°Nice job, Ris. You showed them who¡¯s the best. As is expected from my disciple.¡± Don¡¯t shout to my ear, master! ¡°It was just luck, nothing more.¡± Michael came to us. ¡°What did you say?! Do you want to fight?¡± ¡°I can beat you whenever I want.¡± ¡°So you do want to fight. Take that thing you call sword and let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Stop it you fools!¡± Someone came without us noticing him and hit both of them on their heads. ¡°That hurt.¡±x2 ¡°Did you say anything?¡± ¡°N-no!¡± Who is this man? For those 2 to be so scared of him. ¡°Student Risiel, you are the winner of this test. Here is your toke and for getting the first place and showing us remarkable swordsmanship, here is a gift from me.¡± I received token with sword and shield on it. All token have symbol and the thing I got was, scabbard for my sword. It was definitely made for it. How could this person have it? I thought only Phantom style practitioners could have it? No way, could he be Phantom style practitioner too? And what¡¯s more, even higher than master? ¡°You truly are worthy to succeed our phantom style. Keep with your hard work.¡± As I thought! He is a big shot in phantom style. As I was thinking that, he disappeared from where he was standing. I did not see anything at all! It was like he was a clone that disappeared like a mist. Scary. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.¡°Ha, master is always like that.¡± Master? Did master say master? Is master¡¯s master master? ¡°Master, who was that?¡± ¡°He is the head of Martial arts department, my master and master of phantom style.¡± M-master of phantom style? One of few who were able to reach it? Are you kidding me? ¡°Ris, I¡¯ll give you advice. Don¡¯t piss him off, ever or else you are a goner.¡± ¡°Y-yes, master!¡± I wasn¡¯t really scared more like excited. Such strong person in my reach. Hope to fight with him once. ¡°Ha, I need to go see my disciple. Enjoy your bonding, you two. Ha ha ha.¡± And Michael went away. What did he meant by bonding? ¡°That stupid Michael, sigh. Anyway Ris, you did well and treasure that scabbard you got. It may not look like much but it is one of the kind and all apprentices would want it.¡± I quickly used magic identification.
Phantom style apprentice scabbard
Durability???RankUnique
This scabbard us one of the kind and is used in pair with its sword counterpart. This scabbard has mind of its own and will learn from its master¡¯s experience and whenever the master will sheat the sword into it, it will change it to suit the master¡¯s needs.
Are you fucking with me? It has its own mind? And what¡¯s more, it will change the sword to suit me? No wonder master said such things. Let¡¯s use it right away. I sheeted my sword and when I done that, I could feel it sucking immense amount of my mana. It had to suck 90% or so. Thank to my new skill Soul mind I did not have backlash so at least this was nice. ¡°You sure are stupid, sheating it after your fight. I¡¯m impressed you did not faint.¡± ¡°I¡¯m impressed too.¡± No kidding, I¡¯m fatigued as hell. Is it thanks to the Soul mind? Is fatigue one of the mental statuses it prevents? If that¡¯s so that it can endanger me. If it forcibly makes me stay awake then it can endanger my health or even kill me. I need to pay attention. ¡°Master, I have a wish.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Could you teach me Phantom style Close combat?¡± ¡°I must sadly say I¡¯m not too good with it. I can teach you basics but that¡¯s all. If you want to master it than I¡¯m no good. Only master could teach you and I fear what he would made you do. Why do you wish to learn it anyway?¡± ¡°There are several reasons, first is during one of my trials I had to fight bare handed and almost died because of it so it is needed for me. Second reason is that I believe to master my sword, I must master my body first instead.¡± ¡°I see, I see. Those are good reasons. Ok then, I¡¯m in.¡± We both looked behind us and the one who stood behind us was, master¡¯s master. You did not think it was master who said that, right? ¡°M-master, no. I can¡¯t let you do that. What would happen with Ris?¡± Master was sweating buckets. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry it¡¯s not like I will break him¡­¡­..much.¡± ¡°So you will break him!¡± Master¡¯s master looked sideway. ¡°Who knows?¡± Master went on his knees, dejected. ¡°And it¡¯s not like it is your choice. This kid here must choose for himself.¡± Master looked at me, and even though he was afraid of me, he decided. ¡°Ris, I can¡¯t force you to anything. I think you are not ready yet but this choice is fully yours. Think about it carefully.¡± I did not need to think about it. ¡°Master, I will go with him but you are still my master and I won¡¯t let you down. I will try as hard as I can and won¡¯t skip your classes, no matter what.¡± ¡°Ris. Thank you.¡± Huh, was this what Michael meant by bonding? ¡°Ha ha ha. You chose path that will go through hell. I hope you are ready?¡± ¡°I went from hell once, I can do it again.¡± ¡°You just scratched surface of hell. I won¡¯t be so kind. Be prepared.¡± And he disappeared again. ¡°Ris, be careful.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be master.¡± We sat alone, not speaking anything and just enjoying warm breeze until someone started to call me. ¡°Ris, where are you?¡± It was Irel so I called him to us. ¡°So here you were. But man, that last attack hurt like hell, but don¡¯t think you¡¯re better than me, next time I will win.¡± Irel is Irel, his not a bad guy. The reason why he was acting like that when we met for the first time was because of his family. They always forced him to act like that but in fact, he is good person. ¡°We shall see. But don¡¯t think I will stay the same.¡± ¡°We shall see. We shall see.¡± ¡°But next time, let¡¯s fight with everything we have, magic included.¡± ¡°Who knows, maybe we will meet at the tournament.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the same.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I still won so don¡¯t forget our agreement.¡± ¡°Guh, yeah.¡± I don¡¯t remember what the agreement was anymore and I don¡¯t even care I just wanted to tease him a little. His great friend and I will always help him, you can count on that. ¡°Youth is really great. To have friend that would go with you to hell and back aren¡¯t many.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, master.¡± We talked for a little while longer and without even knowing it, fell asleep. We woke up close to dusk and cold wind started to blow. ¡°Don¡¯t forget Ris, next time I will win.¡± ¡°Then you should train more and don¡¯t think magic will save you.¡± ¡°I will show you how my magic tastes.¡± ¡°How can you show me taste?¡± ¡°You little.¡± We just smiled at each other and bumped our fists. ¡°Next time, we won¡¯t fight because of our grudge but because we are friends and rivals.¡± ¡°You bet.¡± Irel went on his way and only master waited patiently for me. ¡°You really have great friend.¡± ¡°Yeah, maybe more than I deserve.¡± ¡°Cherish such friends, there aren¡¯t that many people you can call true friends.¡± ¡°I know master.¡± ¡°It¡¯s late now, go to your dorms. You need to rest.¡± ¡°Yes master.¡± ¡°Oh and tournament starts in the week but on first day of the week, headmaster will have a speech, don¡¯t forget that.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± With 6 badges in my ring, master¡¯s sword and scabbarded, I went to my dorm, walking slowly while enjoying the wind and sun in the distance. Today was really great day, end of one promise and start of the new one. Next time, I will fight for real and won¡¯t hide my true strength. That much I own to him and I will work hard, so I can protect what I care about and to fulfill my promise to Liz. I smiled a little and went on my way until I heard some sound behind the bushes. I shouted. ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± And I could hear ¡®ah¡¯ and someone fell from the bush, covered in leaves and teary eyed. ¡°H-hi, Ris.¡± God really loves to play the games, such a good day immediately changed to nightmare. The one who called to me is someone who I did not expect to meet. My worst foe and my greatest nightmare and the worst blunder of my life. The monster that was smiling, covered on leaves and teary eyed was none other than¡­¡­.. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Few, so hot, 39¡ãC isn¡¯t little. God how I want to go to pool, if only I could sob sob. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the summer and not just sitting at home doing nothing like me (I don¡¯t have any other choice!) Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for next chapter where we will meet the greatest monster I truly completely forgot about until now. Oh and I expected Alice to be winning in the poll because she is closest to Ris but what I did not expect was Sylvi to get votes. She appeared only in prologue so that was something nice. Elizabeth and Lili were expected. Sani I thought she¡¯ll get a vote at least. Hope you changed your opinion about Irel thanks to this chapter. Once more, hope you enjoyed.
Why do you think I called th sword Qwiz? I forgot to mention it in chapter but I want to hear your opinion. Chapter 17 – Take it easy Chapter 17 ¨C Take it easy ¡°H-hi, Ris.¡± No, oh god no. Anyone, just not this monster this¡­¡­¡­¡­haaaa so cute, damn why must she be so cute. This little cute monster with those teary eyes, leaves in her hair and that smile, noooooooooo my sanity! I must make it, sister if your brother won¡¯t make it please, forgive me. With these thoughts I prepared myself for fight of the century. I smiled, my face completely calm but inside, surging storm of fear. ¡°Do you need me, Irene.¡± Yeah, the cute little monster is Irene, cute cat beast loli teacher. You cannot even imagine how cute she looks in that angle with sun and those ears fidgeting. ¡°Uhm, do you remember our promise?¡± Oh god, so it really came to that, noooooooooooooooooo, I¡¯m still too young to get married. Someone help. Not even I could keep my calm surface and my face a little cramped, still trying to smile. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± ¡°Then, you know I need to ask you something.¡± Oh god, does she want to make me choose rings, or wedding dress or does she want piece of me? Sob sob, what should I do? ¡°T-that great then, uhm you see when I went out of my village to become teacher I promised I will come back when I will turn 30¡­¡­¡± Oh god, I think I know where this is going. ¡°¡­¡­.with my boyfriend to introduce him to my family.¡± Ha¡­.ha¡­¡­I-I knew it! I don¡¯t know if I should be glad or shit my pants. The worst did not happen but still, introduction to her parents. ¡°I-it¡¯s not like you need to answer me now, there is still some time left so¡­¡­¡­.think it through.¡± And she started to run away, sigh I can¡¯t see her cry, she probably saw through me and knew I was bothered by it and even though she tried to hide it, she was shaken. I know I will regret that but I don¡¯t want to see her like that. I used phantom step and got before her and caught her hand. ¡°There¡¯s no need to give me time to think, I will do it, just for you.¡± I was smiling with my true smile. I really hate to see girls close to me cry. I would destroy anyone who would make them cry but it¡¯s not because of love, don¡¯t mistake me. Love is not something I can feel so easily and I could feel it, after getting Soul mind it became even worse. I cannot feel hate and love so easily, now more than ever. ¡°Ughmsfs.¡± She was looking at me, mumbling something in daze and when I called to her, she blushed and I could swear I could see smoke coming from her and she instantly used her magic to run away, like a mole. Why? I just thought we will pretend, it¡¯s not like our promise will come to an end. I thought she will introduce me to her parents so she could get breathing room and then try to find someone again. Did I mess up, again? Why am I so weak to tears? I need to fix this but I don¡¯t really wanna. Sigh, let¡¯s just leave it be, as long as they won¡¯t wed me with Irene when I meet her parents it should be ok. It¡¯s not like it could happen, right? Right? I fear for my future. I looked at the sky, stars slowly showing themselves, glimmering like they were trying to tell something. This always calms me down. It¡¯s time to go, Alice must be worried and to hear her lecture, aren¡¯t I jumping from pan to fire? Ha ha ha. And with grim expression I went to my room. When I reached it, I slowly and quietly opened the door and Alice was there, sleeping on the bed. She must have been really worried. I took my robe off and put it in my closet. I could see a piece of paper on the desk and so I read it. Ris, I prepared food for you, eat it first so you could regain your full strength. Don¡¯t think I will let you do anything you want tomorrow, you need to rest properly. If you will try anything, be prepared. I shuddered at the last sentence and when I looked at the little devil that was calmly sleeping on my bed I just had wry smile. She really cares for me but I still fear her. The bad feeling still did not disappear. No reason to dwell on it so much. Let¡¯s do just what I want now and worry about future later. I ate her delicious food and changed and did something I never thought I do, changed Alice¡¯s clothes. She never really wanted to sleep with here and whenever she was it was always after I slept already and now, it¡¯s time for payback for her always changing me during my sleep. Gu ha ha. What am I even thinking about, those maid clothes are so tight, it must hurt her, I want her to take a proper rest. In these two years she was always working so hard. And so I took her maid outfit and she was only in her underwear. Black, is she tempting me? For her age that is really, mature you could say now, where is my t-shirt. I was looking for it but before I could do anything she grabbed my hand and started to sleep talk. ¡°Ris¡­¡­.no¡­¡­¡­um¡­¡­..ah¡­¡­¡­..ehehe.¡± What the hell is she dreaming about! Is she really tempting me?! I will show you my iron will. I took my arm back, picked the t-shirt and put it on her. White t-shirt, little longer than her body and black panties showing, is this my fetish or did she plan this? She¡¯s not sleeping, is she? To striking such position during sleep is impossible. ¡°Alice, what are you doing?¡± ¡°Ughna.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend.¡± ¡°Guh.¡± ¡°Should I tickle you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m awake!¡± Her weakness is tickling, don¡¯t ask me how I figured it out, my heart could not take that embarrassing moment again, oh fine then, it had something to do with massage and you won¡¯t get anything more from me! ¡°Why did you pretend to sleep?¡± ¡°I wanted to surprise you but then you started to take my clothes of and so I ¡­¡­¡± ¡°Wanted to tease me as repayment for always teasing you.¡± ¡°Uhm, did I do something bad?¡± ¡°Silly girl.¡± I patted her and it almost looked like she would start purr any moment. ¡°Let¡¯s go to sleep now.¡± ¡°Huh, in this t-shirt?¡± ¡°When you want to tease someone you should be prepared for consequences.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not fair.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± And with embarrassed Alice we went to sleep. In king size bed there is lot of space and I did not have any intention to do anything. Alice became quite bold. I need to protect myself it seems. With fear gripping me from Irene and Alice I went to sleep, not truly. I woke up, Alice already doing choirs and I wanted to get up but it did not work well. ¡°You can¡¯t! You need to rest. You must be mentally and physically stressed so now, I will take care of you for the whole day.¡± ¡°Alice, could I at least go to the bathroom?¡± ¡°Wait a while, I will come back with a bottle.¡± With a frightening smile I replied. ¡°Are you prepared for consequences?¡± Alice shuddered and did 180¡ãturn. ¡°Just go, I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Good.¡± I went to bathroom and cleaned myself. I wanted to train a little but Alice always reprimanded me with her devilish smile so not good in that way but I was able to make her let me read a book, to relax myself. It was book about elf princes and human prince, nothing else would Alice allow me. The story was nice, elf princess betrothed to man that thought of her as a thing and dirty young man, found by her in the forest while she was thinking about her fate, falling in love while taking care of him and then finding out he is prince from far away kingdom and to protect her, fighting against all odds. The ending was the best. He left her and their child she was expecting to go back to his kingdom, to save his family and that was how the book ended. It probably was supposed to be book with continuation. And guess what, it was written by Arthur Blake. That guy is everywhere I tell you. This is how I spent my whole weekend. Lying in the bed, while Alice was hopping around me and taking care of me. She even wanted to bath me! I¡¯m really scared of her. Is it because of my collapse? I need to speak with her. So we spent whole weekend together and finally, on the last day, she went home and so I started to train, finding anything different. I couldn¡¯t do it after my collapse so I had to do it now. I used meditation to find out my mana and health leapt by 100 each and I could feel my soul being stronger. While I was doing that, I could feel the ding in my head. I quickly looked at my status.
Level up
Title
Phantom style apprentice For reaching rank of apprentice in phantom style
[/tr]
NameRisielAge12
Level3Stage Child
GenderMaleRaceHuman
AffinityVoid, ManaAttributeChaos and Order
Health500Mana1100
TitleDifferent one
Strength124Agility132
Vitality167Dexterity141
Inteligence255Wisdom293
Endurance89Luck¡À15
Willpower74Dignity27
Honor41Charm122
Resistances
Fire5%Water5%
Earth5%Wind5%
Void22%Poison45%
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hm, it looks good. Level up, title and stat increase. In these 2 days of doing nothing and after my collapse I started to think a little about status and such. I figured out few thinks so let me summaries how stats work. Stats does not show your strength at all. It just misleads you. Stats just show your upper limit. The limit your body can endure so when you have higher stat it does not mean you¡¯ll run faster, just that your limit increased. When someone has 10 on agility it means let¡¯s say he can ran 10 meters in 1 sec but no one would run so fast. They would run just 7 or 8 meters in sec. This happens when you don¡¯t know your limit. Let¡¯s just say there would be a child with 1000 in strength. He should be able to pick up tree with one finger but because he does not know and looked at other kids, he won¡¯t be able to do it. This is just his own suggestion but if his life would depend on it, he would pluck whole tree field with his hands. You shouldn¡¯t think of someone with higher value in stat that he is stronger than you. If he can¡¯t use his whole potential than it is the same as giving sword to a kind. I trained for while longer but nothing else changed, at least what I could find out. I went to sleep and to get ready for headmaster¡¯s speech. I should visit him or something. He should be lonely. I woke up another day and prepared to leave but as I was touching the door knob, someone knocked. I opened and Lily and Sani were there. ¡°Oh, why are you here?¡± They looked at each other and nodded. ¡°We just wanted to ask if you want to go with us to headmaster¡¯s speech.¡± Something is fishy. Are they the same as Alice? Let¡¯s try it. ¡°Oh, so you came just for that? Not because of what happened last time we met, right?¡± ¡°O-of course not.¡± Yeah, right. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Lili?¡± Yeah, Lili looks¡­¡­..sad. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, let¡¯s go.¡± Sigh. I will regret it. I took both of their hands and tightened my grip and lead them on the way. Sani was saying wawawa and Lili was just smiling happily. She really was lost on what to do. ¡°Lili.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget our promise.¡± She tilted her head and started to think what I meant. When she understood, she blushed and was trying to hide it. I mean the thing about the bed but it¡¯s just to let her get confidence. I don¡¯t want her to not do her best in the tournament and when it comes to the bed thing, I will just let her take a nap with Sani and Alice. I don¡¯t think I should do anything else. See, I learnt from my mistakes. When we reached the place of headmaster¡¯s speech I let both of their hands go and looked around to find seats. While I was looking around, someone tackled me from my back. ¡°Hi, Ris.¡± ¡°Hi, Liz.¡± ¡°Oh, who are these two beautiful ladie¡­¡­¡± When she looked at Sani, cough her chest cough, she became depressed and fell on her knees. ¡°Don¡¯t think you won. I¡¯m still growing. You must feel the same, right?¡± Ehm, I don¡¯t think they will grow anymore, they did not get much bigger since we met and that was during your growth spurt and stop hugging Lili. ¡°This is Sani and Lili, they are my friends.¡± ¡°Oh, is one of them your girlfriend?¡± They both blushed at this. ¡°How could I betray you, Liz?¡± ¡°Heh, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.¡± She blushed but eye for an eye, right? I could feel murderous intent from Sani and Lili. ¡°What does that mean, Ris?¡± ¡°Yeah, what does that mean?¡± ¡°It was just a joke, yeah joke.¡± ¡°Huuuuuuuh.¡± Don¡¯t spread oil into the fire Liz! ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you go already Liz? You must have many things to do.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s meet later.¡± ¡°Yeah, and I did not forget our promise.¡± She smiled. ¡°What promise?¡± ¡°She is forced to marry a douchbag so I promised to do something with it.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go find some places.¡± As we were looking around once again, my eyes met Irene in her fake form and she turned her gaze away and had red tint on her cheeks. We finally found some places, Irel was holding for us and so we waited for headmaster¡¯s speech. ¡°Dear students, your testing period is over and not all of you reached qualification for it but many of you did, in fact too many and because only top 100 can participate, many of you will be disqualified even before the start of the tournament. Rankings and participation will be decided with how good you were doing in your tests and you will be able to see it on the board. Tournament will happen in one week time so prepare yourselves. In the tournament all your abilities will be tested, everything you learned will be allowed to use. Support can be used in type of potions, enchanted gear and pets. As headmaster I hope you will try your best and show what you are made of. Don¡¯t forget whole kingdom will be watching and the winner will have one wish granted and even can increase his family¡¯s status. Show us what you are made of!¡± ¡°Hooooooooo!¡± Whole arena shouted. I need to reach first place to help Liz. ¡°And now, top 3 contestants. 3rd place Lilian Fiodora Astaroth, 2nd place Fulminen Moonlick and 1st place Azir Dragnaught. These 3 will be your biggest hurdle to overcome.¡± ¡°All other contestants can be seen on this board behind me. This is everything from me.¡± He went away and after that everyone pushed to get there to see if they made it. We just sat and waited. ¡°Nice work Lili, being the 3rd.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± We just waited and I could see Lili was nervous so I did not speak with her and just patted her head and she calmed down. After everyone went away, we went to see which place we got. I was 9th, Irel 7th and Sani 12th. I¡¯m not surprised, beast taming did not go well and I had 100th rank in that so still good enough. ¡°I need to go train more.¡± Irel just said this and went away. ¡°Muscle head.¡± Sani said this. ¡°It¡¯s nice we all qualified.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s all do our best, right Lili?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I thought about it and let¡¯s after the tournament go together to the City. It will be fun.¡± ¡°Are you inviting us on the date?¡± Where did she come with that? ¡°Huuuuuuuh?¡± ¡°I-Im not against it.¡± ¡°If you think so Lili than ok, it can be counted as a date. I will be killed though, such 2 beautiful girls together with me.¡± They both blushed. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± ¡°Yeap.¡± ¡°Un.¡± And so that¡¯s how my easy days went, let¡¯s just hope I won¡¯t have to take Alice on a date too or else I will have it even rougher. Lili was much happier and so were I. Lili changed so much in these 2 years and she is so quite now, not like when we first met. I hope to hear her speak openly again and Sani is still Sani. Girl that hated me and now acts like we knew each other from child hood. I like them. They are great friends but now my priority is tournament. Let¡¯s do all I can to win. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Whew, finally tournament next time. I won¡¯t do it too detailed or else it would take countless chapters and don¡¯t know how much detailed should do it with fight of others so need to think about it. After tournament will be over I will do time skip of one year and after that time skip again and then something fun will start. After that time skip again and end of school. So you see it will take quite some time but there are some plots I did not really plan in my rough draft like date and Irene¡¯s parents visit so need to think where I will put it. So hard to write story with so many characters which many of you want to know more detailed. I do it just for you guys. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 18 – Tournament Chapter 18 ¨C Tournament The week to relax ended quickly, even though I say relax I was training with master Phantom style close combat but did not learn anything just proper ways how to punch and control my strength and movement so you could say master started to prepare me worth bottoms of hell I will go through. Since the last time I did not see Lili or Sani. They were probably training too, even though it should be relaxing week, no one would be stupid enough to relax. Alice acted in different way again. She wasn¡¯t so concerned as before and did not try to tease me anymore but went to how she was before even though she was more open. Today the tournament starts but I was already long awake and so just spend my time lying under the tree with warm sun and cool breeze, thinking about tactics, my skills and thinking about my previous fights. Master told me that thinking about your previous fights is the best way how to get better because you can see your own weaknesses that way. I knew about it but never did it. For some reason, it is even skill. It is called Shadow training and it allows me to reach half meditative state and relive fights. At higher levels there are more uses or so master told me. My fan club is beaming with more people than before but I told them that they can cheer me on but I don¡¯t wish for them to follow me every step and just cheer me when the tournament starts. I would never allow it but when junior girls start to have teary eyes I get lenient but not enough to hamper myself. I¡¯m too soft in this area. I snapped my eyes because someone was coming to me. It was Liz. ¡°Hi, Ris.¡± ¡°Hi. Shouldn¡¯t you be helping with the tournament?¡± ¡°Yeah but I took a break.¡± ¡°I see. Don¡¯t over work yourself or else I would be troubled.¡± ¡°You¡¯re so cute.¡± ¡°Thanks, you are beautiful too.¡± ¡°Oh, you shouldn¡¯t tell things like that just to anyone.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling it to just anyone. I¡¯m telling it to you.¡± ¡°T-thanks.¡± I smiled as she was flustered. ¡°Let¡¯s continue with why you truly came, Liz.¡± We both got serious as I said that. You did not think she came just to take a break, right? ¡°Ris, about the promise, I will do something about it so don¡¯t push yourself too much. You don¡¯t want to trouble me, right?¡± ¡°Of course not but there are some things I won¡¯t let be, no matter what you tell me.¡± ¡°Ris.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I already have plan but Liz, tell me truthfully, do you really want to cancel your engagement? And I wish to hear your true thoughts.¡± ¡°Sigh, I don¡¯t know. He is extreme jack ass but I don¡¯t want to trouble my family and I always thought that there would be prince charming that would fall in love with me and I with him and not someone who is forced to me.¡± As she was saying this, she held her knees close to her chest and looking at the sky through tree branches. ¡°I see. This little brother will make it happen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a stupid dream, don¡¯t concern yourself with it.¡± ¡°Dreams are what make us push forward, without dreams we are just husks without life.¡± ¡°You sound like an old man.¡± ¡°As long as it helps you I will be even a devil himself.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s stop talking about such things and just take the moment.¡± She came to me and laid next to me and soon I could hear her light breathing as she fell asleep. We were laying like ^ with our heads close to each other and soon I fell asleep too. I was woken up with Liz¡¯s face directly looking at me. ¡°Let¡¯s go Ris, time to go to the tournament.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± We went to the tournament and for some reason. Everyone was staring at us as we went to the arena. I could not find the reason for that, it¡¯s not like first time but this never happened. As we finally reached our destination, I saw Lili, Sani and Irel already there, Liz went to them with me and they too stared at us. ¡°I need to go already Ris, I will cheer for you.¡± ¡°Thanks Liz, take care and don¡¯t push yourself.¡± As she went away, she was waving at me. ¡°Ris.¡± Lili looked at me and I took a step back as I looked at her. ¡°W-what is it Lili?¡± ¡°What were you doing with Elizabeth?¡± ¡°W-what do you mean?¡± ¡°I never saw her beaming like that and she never smiled like that before. So, what did you do?¡± ¡°We we were just talking, nothing more?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°R-really.¡± She was looking at me, no staring straight through me. She¡¯s scary. Sani was piercing through me with her gaze to and Irel was just smiling. Damn you. ¡°Ok then, I believe you.¡± ¡°T-Thank you.¡± Never saw her like that. Normally Sani is the one who do that and I¡¯m sure she would do it if Lili would not start first. ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± I asked all three and Irel answered. ¡°There¡¯s still time left so we can look around.¡± ¡°That sounds good.¡± Two girls just nodded and so we went to look around. There were stands that were selling food, drinks, potions, medic tents and blacksmith. We all bought something to eat. It was something like melon on stick covered in some kind of topping. It was sweet and the texture was like peach. It was delicious. After we ate, we were still looking around until we saw a group of high standing people. Nobles no doubt with escorts of magicians and knights. All knights know magic but because it is bothersome to call them magical knights they are called just knights. As we were going through the crowd I could see a handsome elf in beautiful attire with long flowing blond hair and green eyes with noble, strong atmosphere. He looked at us and his majestic presence changed to, I don¡¯t know. It can¡¯t be described but events that happened after will explain it for me. He run to us and then jumped. He seriously jumped straight into Lili¡¯s arms and was acting like fool and constantly yelling Lili. I pretty much understood what is happening and I was sure when I saw his silver crown. ¡°F-father, don¡¯t do that. It¡¯s embarrassing.¡± Yep, knew it but why did you look at me when you said embarrassing? Her father saw that and his majestic aura changed to a murderous aura and he was smiling like Lili before. So she has it after her dad. ¡°And who might you be?¡± Calm down and don¡¯t act like fool. I need to put my acting skills to practice again. ¡°My name is Risiel but everyone calls me Ris. I¡¯m friend of Lili and the two there are Irel and Sani as you already must know.¡± He looked at the two, enjoyed it too Irel, I saw you smiling at me. My plan backfired because he almost immediately turned his head again to me and again smiled with his frightening smile. ¡°How did you call my daughter?¡± Dammit, I messed up. I¡¯m so used to it already. Sigh, let¡¯s play it some more. ¡°Lili. It suits her right?¡± He was looking at me with much more piercing gaze and then went to me closer until he changed his expression again to the one he had when he jumped into her arms. ¡°Right, right? I was always calling her like that but my wife was always pestering me about proper manners and such and when she was 7 she wanted me to stop her calling her like that too because it was embarrassing and when she was 4 she was so cute and was always clinging to me and then when she was 6 she said she fell in l¡­..¡± He was knocked out. I did not notice before but Lili was extremely embarrassed. ¡°Stop it, father.¡± He quickly stood up and spoke with her. ¡°Oh, call me papa again.¡± ¡°I¡¯m too old for that!¡± ¡°You are still my little girl so come on come on.¡± He was knocked out again and stood up again and started to laugh but turned serious again. ¡°Lili, what does he mean to you?¡± He was looking at me as he was saying that but I won¡¯t intervene. She must go through it alone. ¡°He he is, my friend.¡± He was piercing her with his gaze too but just sighed because of her horrible acting. ¡°Ok, I understand.¡± He went back to his majestic appearance again and dusted off. ¡°I did not introduce myself, apologize me. I am king of Elf kingdom Maravel, Voltan Fiodora Astaroth. It¡¯s nice to meet you, all of you.¡± ¡°Pleasure is all my.¡± ¡°Yes, your highness.¡± You are just forced to compel to him so both, Irel and I answered to him. Someone came to us and started to talk with Voltan. ¡°Your highness, you must go back and stop doing such embarrassing acts.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.It was some kind of butler. He looked at Sani and back to Voltan. ¡°You always ruin fun. Ok then, let¡¯s go but let me finish one more thing.¡± He looked at me once more. ¡°I won¡¯t give you my daughter so easily.¡± ¡°Father!¡± Huh, what did he say? Isn¡¯t he misunderstanding something? ¡°You are so cute when you are angry.¡± ¡°Your highness.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± And they went back to, it looks like king of this country. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my father¡¯s behavior. I¡¯m ashamed.¡± ¡°Huh, why? He was funny. I took liking to him.¡± ¡°I-I see and about the last thing¡­..¡± Need to stop it. ¡°What about it? We are already friends so it¡¯s not like he can¡¯t stop us from being friends.¡± All three looked at me like I was stupid idiot. ¡°You don¡¯t know what he meant by that?¡±x3 ¡°He meant that he doesn¡¯t want me to be friends with Lili, right?¡± They all looked at each other and then Irel said. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s time to go.¡± Nice job Irel. ¡°Sani, was that butler your father?¡± ¡°Huh, how did you know?¡± ¡°He looked at you with affectionate eyes and if I remember correctly you told me once you are Lili¡¯s aide so I thought he is Voltan¡¯s aide too so, you know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. You really pay attention to me. I¡¯m happy you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad then.¡± I could hear someone grumble. ¡°How can he figure something like that but don¡¯t understand what means give away easily.¡± We were walking around for a while longer and Sani was in a happy mood, Lili was gloomy and Irel was just smiling at my misfortune. There was a loud sound echoing through the stadium. ¡°All students must assemble to arena in 15 minutes. I repeat. All students must assemble to arena in 15 minutes.¡± We hurried up and reached arena, as all the others. Thanks to looking around we already knew where it was so get there was easy. All 100 of us stood in the arena and the voice resounded again. ¡°Order yourself.¡± We did and then he continued. ¡°Ladies and gentleman, we welcome you to annual tournament where the best second years will fight against each other. We have several guests today with us and one special quest too. Welcome our special quest from elven country, King Volta. Applause for him, please. And now, from our own country, King Zeek. Big cheers for both of them.¡± They waved at the whole stadium. Voltan was looking dignified but Zeek looked at all us as chess pieces, as things and he even looked with lustful eyes on some girls. Piece of trash. ¡°And now, king will give us few words.¡± The whole stadium cheered as he stood up. ¡°You are the future of this nation and we all hope to see you perform to the utmost of your ability. Show us your strength and prove yourself. Here, your future will start. From this moment onwards, this tournament officially started.¡± Nice speech but don¡¯t look so bored. ¡°We thank our king for his speech and now, let me explain the rules. In the tournament you can use all abilities you learned or are taught. Close combat, magic, potions, enchanting, beasts and slaves. Everything is permitted if it complies but there are limits. You can have only 5 potions, 1 beast, slave and enchanted item. Choose wisely. The tournament is simple. You all will be randomly chosen to fight. The winner goes to the next round, loser does not even need to be mentioned. Because there is only one arena, there will be only one fight. There is no time limit for a fight but if you won¡¯t fight each other for more than 2 minutes both will be disqualified. From fight, you can get achievement and prestige for your house and yourself. Even if you will lose in first rounds, don¡¯t worry because even through show of your abilities you can catch eye of someone. There are many people from army, magic guilds and production facilities who can take interest in you and have your future job already at your disposal. The best 8 will have a chance to join the council and number 1 will even have the chance to have one wish granted and you can even receive nobility standing or even increase your own standing. Try your hardest.¡± ¡°Now then, everyone will get a number. After that we will call two numbers. Those two will fight and the rest shall sit at special spectator seats for competitors.¡± Pieces of paper fell from the sky and reached us. Everyone got 1 number. I had number 7. We were waiting and some started to speak to each other. ¡°Now that all of you have a number let the first battle of first fight start. We will use special magical item that will choose two participants.¡± A black cube appeared above our heads, floating. Bright light appeared from it and then numbers started to appear on it. Their appearance started to slow down until two numbers appeared. ¡°Number 12 and 36 will fight. All other contestants follow directions of staff members.¡± Our group went with staff and we were seated at our special seats. The two who stayed there were a man and woman pair. ¡°Now that everything is settled, contestants for first battle, stand in the circles.¡± 2 blue circles appeared and other sides of the arena. They both stood there and when they were inside, bright blue column appeared around them. ¡°When you stand in the circle, protective barrier is placed to not allow sabotage from third party or opponent before the fight. Whole arena is surrounded by the same barrier so you can go all out and not care where you fire your magic. The timer will appear at the magical device you could see before and voice will project it too so you can concentrate at your opponent. When time runs out, barrier will disappear and you can start your fight. Let¡¯s start the count down.¡± Number 10 appeared and the countdown started with voice saying it too. When it ended, barrier around them disappeared and the fight started. Man was wind mage and woman was water mage. They both stood at the spot and started to attack each other with water balls and wind balls. It was anticlimactic until they ended with probing. They used this to find out strength of the opponent and his mastery in the element. Wind mage was better but it looks like his amount of mana was lower as I could see from his increased breathing as compared to the woman. They both started to move and fired at each other basic spells like water lance, wind blade and such. After second years we know around 10 basic spells I am exception because Void does not have many basic spells for fights so I must use my pure mana. Fight continued and they started to be out of breath. Water mage used puddles of water she created and controlled them to corner the wind mage but he used gust to create sand wave and water balls that were created from the puddles absorbed sand, making them almost useless. Woman still controlled them but fired water lance at the guy as he used wind to propel himself from his encirclement. It went for a while until he moved too close to one water-sand ball which changed shape into a dagger like lance and stabbed him. He still did not fall down but blood was flowing. Woman did not stop and before the guy could notice, he was surrounded by multiple water balls and conceded. The first fight showed that only elites are here. There are one thousand of us in whole second years and from those only 100 are here. It won¡¯t be easy at all. ¡°And the first fight is over. Many of you may be scared because of the injury sustained during the fight but don¡¯t worry. All life threatening attack aren¡¯t permitted and such attacks would be immediately stopped by our staff members but no protective barrier against damage is in place so you can learn terror of what awaits you in the future. All damage sustained during the fight will be healed after it but fatigue is your own problem to take care of. Now, congratulate number 12 for her performance and applause for number 36¡¯s attempt. It was close call but only one can win.¡± So we can be hurt pretty badly during the fight but at least we will be healed after but stamina is problem here. Not during first round but in higher round it will be problematic. Need to do something about it. And so, fights continued until it was Irel¡¯s turn. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Finally, tournament. Now I have to ask, how detailed do you want fights? Do you want me to describe fights of all sight characters or just make some and focus on Ris¡¯s? I will do some outside our group of friends too for story¡¯s sake but I really need to know. I can finish it in 2 chapters or 4 in what you will choose. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 19 – Some elites are frightening Chapter 19 ¨C Some elites are frightening Fights continued and I must say, some of them were really good. I never even expected certain uses of elements like using fire to create glass wall, surrounding opponent with sand water and creating statue and many more. I know that using your surroundings to your advantage is main point in fights but some guys really took it to heart but now, I learnt from this and will do the same. There are hundred of us and 50 fights in round one. Some fight took a minute some 15 minutes so we are already sitting for more than an hour but thrill is still there. To learn from your opponent¡¯s fight is something I always knew I will follow and with my shadow training I can use this chance to its fullest. Finally, after dozen fights, Irel was chosen and went to stage. His opponent was earth mage. It was woman and when fight started, she created several earth spikes but Irel dodged all of them and when he came closer to her, he slashed but she parried with earth shield but he used his fire element and destroyed the wall and just put his sword to her neck. It was fast. Then it was Sani¡¯s turn and she just wrapped her hands into fire and pummeled her opponent. Lili¡¯s fight was much more interesting and even before the fight. When she was chosen, commentator said she was ranked 3rd in test and there was uproar about one of the best¡¯s fight. It looks like the best three are worshipped during the fights and whenever one of them goes to fight they are mentioned and they rank is told too. But that still wasn¡¯t the best. When she went on stage, I looked at Voltan and I could see he was holding not jumping and waving banner with ¡®My cute Lili, WIN!¡¯. Of course there wasn¡¯t such banner, I hope or else she would die from embarrassment but he is capable of that. He really is doting parent. You could see it in his eyes. I wonder how his wife is. I would want to meet Lili¡¯s mother. If she is the same as Lili than it would be nice opportunity for some teasing. Lili is the best for that. I went too far from the subject. Anyway, when fight started, she was immediately hit with several water bullets. They strength is not much and they can¡¯t penetrate your body at her opponents level but they are quite fast. Everyone thought she was defeated right then but she surprised all of them. I wasn¡¯t because I trusted Lili. She wrapped herself in wind tornado and all bullets¡¯s trajectory was changed. Without even giving change for her opponent, she fired air blast and he was thrown directly at the wall and lost consciousness. After her fight, there was a break to eat, drink and just stretch our legs. Sitting for so long would hamper fights. All four of us went together and just enjoyed ourselves but we were called to back to our seats and fights started again. After several fights rank 2 stepped to the arena and it was none other than the guy who was number one in Enchanting. I thought his name was Shank? Maybe it¡¯s his alias? No wonder when headmaster told the name of rank number 2 I did not know it was him. So Fulminas Moonlock, show us what you can do. I regret I said that. He was a water mage and had on himself enchanted ring and his attacks were devastating. Power in those could not be compared to the others. His opponent surrendered even before any attack hit him. It was the shortest fight and I can¡¯t blame him. From what I saw his opponent never had the chance. 47th fight was mine and my opponent was strong one. It was wind mage and when we were called to the arena, I immediately knew that he was one of the best that I saw today. We both waited for countdown to end and then our fight started. I want to get better in close combat so I did not use any weapon and just stood there. He started to attack me with wind blades but I just dodged them without any problem. I could attack him but I did not and just tried to perfect my movements for next fights. Now there is lot of us so lot of time to recuperate and get back stamina so perfect chance to get experience in fight. I slowly got closer and closer to him but then he grinned at me and started seriously fight. Four mini tornadoes surrounded me and started to close on me. I wanted to jump over them but above me were several wind balls, creating mine field. With no place to go, I surrounded my body in mana and jumped straight to the mine field, trying to dodge as most of them as I could. I could shoot them with mana balls but it would lose the point of training my movement skills. Thank god they were static and could not move or else I would definitely loose. My mana protection just strengthens my skin but it still hurt but nothing I could not handle and I got just few bruises and some cuts that were bleeding but nothing serious. I finally got out but because I was in the air I could not do anything against wind blade that went straight at me, not even my strengthen skin could stop that but I knew something like this could happen and did something simple. I shot mana ball directly between four tornadoes and when it hit the ground, huge explosion occurred and the wind blade and I were hit by shock wave and it did not hit me and wind blade disappeared. My opponent was thrown several meters back and sand screen was around him but I could see his rough position as I was still falling. I quickly reached to him, sand hurting my eyes, and as I was directly before him, he could not even understand anything and I hit him directly at the stomach, making him vomit and before he could invoke magic, I hit him with my leg and he went flying, losing consciousness in the process. The fight did not go as planned because I had to use my mana and was hurt but it was good experience of how to fight while surrounded. The guy was by no way weak because using so many magic at the same time is not something anyone can do but I was his opponent and to make me use mana is commendable. After fight I was healed with help of the staff members and went to my seat. All three were worried about me but I did not pay any mind to it and just calmed them down. Next two fights were boring but the last one was something else. Rank number one was chosen and the guy had red hair, lean, muscled body and was definitely handsome but his eyes looked bored. When fight started though, he was like ferocious beast and without using magic and with just his body, he decimated his opponent. This guy is dangerous was my first thought. His opponent was even stronger than mine and he defeated him much more easily than I. Fights ended and only 50 of us were left. Commentator started to talk once again. ¡°Ladies and gentleman. First round ended with spectacular fights. We all hope you enjoyed today¡¯s fights and tomorrow will be even more hyped up as we will see 50 best students in action. Now for the students. Because of the number of fights in the first round, second round will be held tomorrow but because there won¡¯t be so many fights, round three will be held too and on the third day the winner will be decided. Use this chance to prepare yourself because it won¡¯t be so easy anymore. Now everyone, applause for our fighters.¡± Huge cheers were heard and slowly the stadium quieted and we were sent home. You probably think than in the arena nobles wouldn¡¯t cheer and you are right. In the arena were our upper classmen because those in first and second years are not allowed to be here and even know about this tournament, same as we did not know it until the start of the third year. When I got back to the dorm, Alice looked at every inch of my body to see if I was hurt but calmed down when she saw I was okay. We ate together and when she went home, I meditated and used shadow training to review all today¡¯s matches, especially against rank 1. I spent the whole night like this and the day of the second round started. While I was meditating, I understood another part of status. It¡¯s about levels. Level is tied to your stats not in a way that it will increase them but in a way that it will increase their limit. What I mean by it is for example that at lvl 1 all your stats can reach only 200 and at lvl 2 300 and so on but every person is different and maximum isn¡¯t fixed for all stats so in STR you can have 400 at max while lvl 1 but in AGI only 50. This changes many things. You cannot just train your body at the same place but travel and get experience to level up too. I figured it out when I was reminiscing about days of my hellish training with master. There are many things hidden in simple words if you think about them deeply. (Author: I¡¯m really proud of this idea. Never saw something like this in any novel I read.) I woke up from my meditation because I could hear someone opening door to my room. The one who appeared was Alice. She came to me and as I stood up, without any chance to react, she hugged me. ¡°Please, be careful. I know you don¡¯t want to make me worry and so you are hiding your state but please, don¡¯t go too far. Please. *sob sob*¡± As she started to cry, I started to pet her head and hugged her too. We stayed like that for some time and when we stopped hugging, I held Alice¡¯s shoulders, with smile stared directly into her eyes and said. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I would never do anything that would hurt you.¡± This is lie. It¡¯s true I don¡¯t want to see her cry but I will do anything I can in fights, no matter what will happen to me and I still have my trump card and even if I will be hurt, I will be healed after fight and death cannot occur so easily either so she won¡¯t find out but woman intuition is scary. Trust me. I know thanks to my little sister. She was always able to find me and whenever I asked how, that¡¯s what she told me. Alice stopped crying and with firm expression, gripped her hands and trusted me. God how I want to tease her so why not? ¡°Alice, will I get something if I win? Something sweet, warm and soft that is mostly done at cheeks between friends and at lips between lovers?¡± As I said that, she pondered for a while until she got red as strawberry and just with almost invisible movement, she nodded. I was just joking. I knew she would probably nod but I need to fix that. ¡°Alice, are you misunderstanding?¡± As I said that, she looked at me, still embarrassed. ¡°I will be the one who will do the part.¡± She blushed once more and it really worked. I never expected it will go as I wanted. My plan is to make her close her eyes and slowly come closer to her while holding her hand and when our breaths can be felt at each other¡¯s skin, kiss her hand. I just said I wanted kiss but never said where. I just said how it is mostly done and not how I will do it. I really love to tease but I won¡¯t do something like kissing her at cheek or lips. Something like that will be done only with woman I will truly love. I swore that long ago. I hope I will really meet a woman who will be able to make me feel love. With my condition it won¡¯t be easy but I still hope. I¡¯m sorry, I was just reminiscing a little about the past. ¡°Let¡¯s eat something, Alice.¡± We both smiled at each other, embarrassment long gone and I even told her about first day of the tournament. She looked eager and excited but when it came to my fight, she almost cried due to her worry about me but never said anything else but I could see she was holding it in. She is really a woman I wish to protect, just like little sister. When we were done, I bid my farewell and went to the stadium. My fan club was once again waiting for me, even though I said not to do it but what is done, is done so I just went to them. When I reached them a girl, who was in her second year spoke to me. ¡°Hello, Risiel senpai. I am president of your fan club. We never met before but I¡¯m glad to meet you.¡± She was a cute girl, with light blue hair, like sky and light green eyes. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you too. I¡¯m worried I never heard your name before?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my name is Stela Fiera.¡± ¡°Stela Fiera, cute name for a cute girl.¡± I really meant it but when I said it, all girls froze and looked at her, with jealousy in their eyes but at the same time, they looked at me and I knew problem is coming. They all ran to me and started to introduce themselves to me like a herd of hyenas. There was no way for me out of this mess and so I did the only thing I could. I smiled at them and then ran away! On my way I took Stella with me and before they could understand what was happening, I was already long gone. I¡¯m really grateful for my phantom step. The reason why I took Stella was simple but let¡¯s first talk with Stella. ¡°Are you ok, Stella?¡± She looked at me and started to murmur. ¡°Ah, I don¡¯t think my heart is ready yet but if it is with Ris senpai then. Ah, uh¡­¡­¡­.¡± Wha? She really thought I wanted to do something with the girl I just met. She is bitch or really pure person. I think latter is more probable. ¡°Stella, Stella?!¡± As I was shouting at her, she finally paid attention to me. ¡°Stella, I don¡¯t know what you think will happen but I just wanted to talk with you about my fan club. You are president after all.¡± She finally calmed down, embarrassed and dejected? This girl is scary in her own way. ¡°Stella, it really troubles me when I have to go through such crowd of people or when they stealthily shadowing me whenever I go.¡± She looked worried as I continued. ¡°I don¡¯t mind that you all think so highly of me even though I¡¯m not as great as you think but everything should be kept at a certain limit.¡± She almost started to cry. ¡°That means I can¡¯t admire you, Ris senpai?¡± ¡°No no, what I¡¯m saying is admire me if you want but don¡¯t think of me as some person to worship. I would rather just be friends than admirer and admired. What¡¯s more, I don¡¯t want to ruin your future because I did not do anything about it.¡± ¡°What do you mean by running my future?¡± ¡°You are leading a fan club and every morning even assemble before my dormitory, stalk me and all those things take time. You should rather study and train rather than do such pointless things. I want you to be someone who others look up to and I know you can do it. Take is as advice from your senpai.¡± It looks like she decided. Her firm gaze says it all. ¡°I understand, Ris senpai. I will become a woman who can stand by your side rather than behind you.¡± Wait what! She really is scary I need to end it, soon. ¡°I s-see, but rather than stay by my side, you should stand on your own and find those who wants to be with you.¡± She started to have tears in her eyes. ¡°Am I a bother?¡± What should I do? The answer is simple and so with a smile I told her. ¡°Yes you are.¡± She looked at me as she misheard. ¡°I had to mishear.¡± ¡°Listen Stella, it¡¯s not good to stalk someone and even want to do things you thought I wanted to do with someone you never even met and it¡¯s bother for me to see you waiting before my dormitory.¡± She wanted to run away but I did not let her. ¡°Stella, we need to talk seriously.¡± She stopped struggling and we talked for some more. ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to bother me but you need to learn some things shouldn¡¯t be skipped. I hate girls that throw themselves at men without even understanding them and the same goes with men that use women as their toys and that¡¯s how I see you right now.¡± She once more thought about my words. ¡°I understand Ris senpai, I won¡¯t bother you again.¡± ¡°Huh, why?¡± ¡°What do you mean Ris senpai? You said you don¡¯t want to be bothered by me.¡± ¡°I just said you are bothering me with your actions, I never said I mind you. Just learn some self-restrain and don¡¯t act like you are a thing to be used and I¡¯m sure we will become good friends.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m not just a thing to be used? DO you really mean it?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± She started to cry and jumped at me and started to hug me. ¡°Thank you, thank you.¡± She thanked me and I stayed with her until she calmed down. Something must have happened in her ife. ¡°Did you clam down?¡± She wiped her teary face and answered. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good then.¡± ¡°I swear to you, Ris senpai. I will become a woman you won¡¯t be bothered with and you will be glad to stay by your side.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait for that.¡± We both looked at each other and smile. I had to go so I said my goodbyes and went to the stadium. As I reached the stadium. I looked at the beautiful sky and went to the stadium. Second round, here I come. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// IMPORTANT! READ AT LEAST THIRD PART!!!! Hi, first of all, popularity contest just ended and here are the results. 6th place ¨C Kristy with 0 votes 5th place ¨C Sani with 4 votes 4th place ¨C Sylvi and Irel with 6 votes 3th place ¨C Lilian with 14 votes 2th place ¨C Elizabeth with 21 votes 1th place ¨C Alice with 27 votes Huge thanks for all those that participated! Next on the schedule would be me, looking for proofreader (editor). He would be the first who would read the chapter and I would discuss the story with him if he would want it. Now for badly good news. In one month, I will start going to university again and schedule I got last year was from Monday to Friday from 7 A.M. to 6 P.M. so I have no idea how I will get time to write anything but that¡¯s why there is a good news in it and that is I already know how story will go and I can do summary of it with all points I wanted to do. It will be your choice but I will probably do it if I won¡¯t have time to write or releases will be at snail¡¯s pace. That¡¯s everything from me. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 20 – Little bit serious Chapter 20 ¨C Little bit serious When I came inside the stadium, I completely forgot to tell others or even ask them where or when we will meet. Because of that, I¡¯m all alone. We will meet when the second round starts anyway, so no reason to stay at the same place. I was walking from place to place, buying sweets and some meat balls in some kind of sauce. All the things here are delicious though. There were even deserts, but they are a long ways away from those that Alice makes for me. As I was wondering around, there was a crowd of people. Of course I immediately went to see what was happening there. Such things are always funny. As I went through the crowd, I saw another competitor with a girl. I could not hear what they were saying but I knew that the girl was trying to sell something to him. Because she had her back to me, I could not see her face and as I was pondering about that, he pushed her and she fell on the ground. The girl crawled on the ground and tried to talk with him once more. He got pissed off and wanted to kick her. But I immediately closed the distance and kicked his leg to deflect it. I looked at him and was smiling, as my bloodlust that was focus on him, made him shudder. He did not even try to talk back and just left. The crowd dispersed shortly afterwards and I looked back towards the girl that was still on the ground. Her hair was on her face so I still could not see her face. I crouched down and took her hand and told her. ¡°Can you stand up?¡± She immediately replied. ¡°Y-yes.¡± As I helped her to stand up, her hair swayed away and I could see her face. ¡°Kristy? What are you doing here?¡± Yep, good old herb girl, Kristy. ¡°Heeeeeeeeee! Ris?¡± ¡°Yep, that¡¯s me alright.¡± I want to play around with her. Because of all the tests and training I couldn¡¯t visit her to hear her sweet voice. ¡°How were you doing anyway Kristy? I thought not many people can get here?¡± ¡°Ah, it was okay. Thanks to your help we did not need to fear the gang anymore and when you bought from us all those herbs we got a better reputation and sales went up and thanks to it, we even could open a stand here.¡± ¡°Let me guess. Even though you opened the stand here to sell herbs for potions, you could not get even a single customer and so you tried to look around for a participant to sell to them directly. Am I right?¡± ¡°Wow, how did you know?¡± ¡°Because I am Risiel, the herb detective. Also known as protector of herb girls. Nothing can go unnoticed from my sight.¡± ¡°Wow, I never knew.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha, you really believed that?¡± ¡°Heh? It wasn¡¯t so?¡± ¡°No, I just thought about all the details I knew and just pieced them together as a puzzle. It¡¯s easy when you know how to, and as a merchant you should learn this too.¡± ¡°Un.¡± ¡°Anyway, I hope you did not forget our promise?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It was two weeks since we met and so you owe it to me to listen to your beautiful voice. And I still want to hear you sing.¡± She blushed as I said that. Am I imagining it or are girls blushing just when I start talking? It must be my imaginations. It could just happen to be when I tease them, so I really must be imagining it. ¡°Ok, I will sing just for you.¡± As she said it, I put my face close to her face and with fully opened eyes I said. ¡°It¡¯s a DEAL!¡± She froze, her face in a daze, looking into my eyes like they want to suck her up. I took my distance and coughed to make her think again. ¡°So don¡¯t forget about this but because of the tournament we will need to let it go for the weekend.¡± Dammit, stupid tournament. ¡°Un.¡± ¡°Well then Kristy, show me your stand.¡± She looked at me with opened eyes, thinking she misheard. I took her hand and said ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± She was looking down with red ears, so cute. We reached the stand, her father there. As we reached it, she ran and talked with her father. Meanwhile I reached the place. ¡°Hello once again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you Ris, what can I do for you?¡± ¡°Let me think about it.¡± I don¡¯t really need anything. I prepared all I needed already but I need to make people believe this place is a good place to buy herbs. ¡°I will take this, this, that and this.¡± The herbs I bought will be used for a certain type of potion that increases reaction speed and also reflexes. ¡°That will be 1 gold and 20 silver.¡± Expensive! ¡°Oh, for old time sake, let¡¯s say 80 silver?¡± ¡°90¡± ¡°85¡± ¡°Deal. Such a good price.¡± Truth is, this price is the lowest it could be, her father really knew what I wanted to do. It was quite simple, first of all make people just ignore us and then start talking in loud voice and then just shout the price, making people looked at us and see what I bought for how much. It won¡¯t be like a herd will come, but at least someone will come and then it will grow from that and price will go up. Simple and not really great plan but quick. I have fights in a while after all. I bid my farewell to the two of them and went to the stadium,going towards the participant¡¯s seats because the calling for the 2nd round was about to begin. I put the herbs into my ring and I even upgraded it and space now is 3m3. I say upgraded but I just wiped out the void mana that was there and used my own. Because it was my own, effectively the ring got better. I reached the seats and looked around to find the three already sitting. I could see they were holding a spot for me, just between Irel and Lili. Rejoining them, I came to them and said. ¡°Hey, why did you not wait for me?¡± Irel immediately replied. ¡°And who is the one who did not say where and when the meeting place was?¡± ¡°You did not ask Sani?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She did not catch it. As expected of Sani. We all started to laugh at her and she pouted. I sat down but before that I patted her head to apologize. We waited for the commentator to start and then his loud voice started. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, today is the second day of the tournament and even 2nd and 3rd round will take a place. Because it would be quite boring to see fights at the same place, second round will be a little different.¡± As he said it, ground of the arena started to shake and what appeared were sand dunes. ¡°There are 4 stages on which battles will be fought. They give advantage to one of the elements so in second round, your luck will be needed more than your fighting ability. Because there¡¯s not much time left, let¡¯s quickly start with second round and before I forget, after the second round there will be only 25 of you left. In the third round, that would mean one of you won¡¯t be able to fight. The one who will be left out is called the Joker and will be able to go immediately to the next round. As I said, luck is needed but your own capabilities are what will allow you to win.¡± Fighting ability and capability. It might seem the same but it isn¡¯t. Fighting capability is how good you are in fight but capability is more. It¡¯s how you can think several steps ahead, how you can use your environment, when to use potions, what gear to use and much more. Fights are not so easy. Opponent with lowers stats and level can defeat someone with higher. Master was always saying this. ¡°Now then, let the first fight of the second round begin.¡± Now that I think about it, why isn¡¯t there a stage for Void users like me? Isn¡¯t this discrimination? The cube started to show numbers and when two were picked, the competitors went to stage. The first one was someone I know quite well, Sani. Her opponent was a fire mage and because she is a fire mage as well and the arena is placed in fire stage, it should be quite a match. Now that I think about it, even though such matches are exciting, they are, in a sense, boring. I then decided to train while watching. There¡¯s not much I can do and if I would start releasing magic then I would probably be in deep trouble and they could think I tried to sabotage the match. I pondered about this problem a little and decided on what I will do. I chose to train my mana control. This skill increases the effectiveness and speed of all mana related abilities, magic included so pretty much everything I do. No matter what skill, it all depends on mana. Some skills are said to not need any mana but that¡¯s not true. The better your mana is, even though some skills won¡¯t consume it, they will get stronger. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. One of such skills is my Shock Absorption. Any physical damage is diminished and no mana is necessary to activate it but when I am hit, mana inside my body will position itself to increase the effectiveness, diminishing the damage even more. The problem with this is how fast it can congregate around the hit. I don¡¯t have any control about it and that¡¯s where mana control comes in. I can change the flow and the amount of mana wherever I want so if I would do that, the mana that will be used with shock absorption would be greater. The problem comes with the speed and stability when I control the mana inside my body, henceforth why I want to train with it. Side effects to mana control is that my affinity to mana allows me to even purify mana and increase my affinity during it. Affinity increases pretty well but purity is miniscule but still something. I started with my training, increasing flow, decreasing, creating two different flows in one mana vein, changing position¡¯s, density and much more. I even created strings of mana in my veins because I thought it would help with mana manipulation. I probably did not explain the difference between the two skills. Mana control is just controlling your mana, nothing more to it. Mana manipulation allows you to shape mana. These two skills are mutually beneficent but one is more for internal use and the other for external. What would be the point of shaping your mana to ball in your mana veins? It was a long time since I thought about these two skills. Those are basics you learn in first class of control but when you think about it, they are the strongest skills that you can get. Will it be possible to remotely control my magic with high enough rank in mana control? Something to think about. Anyway, while I was thinking such things, the fight already started. Sani wrapped her fists in flames and quickly dashed towards her opponent or at least she wanted to. Sand did not really allow her to move so well and rather hindered her movements. Her hand slipped and as she was falling down, she was hit by fireball. As a fire mage she has resistance to fire so not much damage happened but she still flew away and rolled from dunes. Her opponent did not wait and used fire pillars against her. This spell has a great weakness with showing where it will land. So it¡¯s easy to dodge it and Sani did just that by wrapping her legs in fire and hitting the ground. The explosion that happened, resulted in pushing her out of the way of fire pillars and the blast hindering the view of her opponent. She appeared from the sand, but due to the distance. Her opponent did not let her approach or at least, it should have happened thanks to his fire wall but Sani release the flames around her hands as missiles, blasting the opponent away and knocking him down. This spell is more like fire shock wave, so her opponent tried to stand but staggered. Sani was closing the distance by wrapping her legs in flames, producing intense heat and propelling herself with small blasts whenever she stepped. They were just 2 meters apart when her opponent released flame all around him, making her stop. She jumped up with an explosion helping her and went past the flames. Her opponent was low on mana after this and when she landed right next to him, he conceded. The next few fights were much more boring and Lili won easily again. Irel had troubles because he fought against earth mage on water stage but won with some troubles. Ranks 1 and 2 easily defeated their opponents and finally, it was the last fight, my fights. As I went to the arena, what awaited me was the wind stage. Stages were really simple designed. Fire was desert. Water was swamp. Earth was mountain terrain. In my case it was wind. Wind was open arena with nowhere to hide but with storm raging above our heads with lightning and such. The wind was blowing throughout the whole arena. My opponent was a water mage and a beauty to the boot. When the countdown ended, I created several mana balls and send them at her. She created a water shield around her and nothing much happened but I closed some distance between us. Water lances were fired at me and even some water bullets. I dodged them all with phantom steps and was almost flying in the air. Ground was soaked at some places and water javelins attacked me. It was easy to dodge them and I concentrated mana through my whole right hand. When I was done, I concentrated it and just thought the length of my arm where my pinky was. With a movement of my arm and careful timing of releasing the mana from it. A mana blade appeared and like a sickle went to her water shield. Mana blade could not penetrate it but created a gap in it and because I fired mana ball directly behind it, it pierced through and hit her. Water shield disappeared and I was already too close for her to cast it again. Before I could knock her down, I was hit from behind by water ball and send flying at her. Water lances were created and I would be like a hedgehog if I would land. I surround my hand with my Void mana and release a Void blast. It destroyed all lances and because void mana saps mana or willpower you could say, she started to be exhausted and I released mana from my feet to increases my speed and pushed her down. I created mana ball in my hand and when she saw that, she conceded. I still can¡¯t understand how the water ball could hit me from behind. Even if it was sent before I hit her with my combo of mana blade and mana ball it, should have disappeared and she shouldn¡¯t be able to control it. The second round ended and from 50 only 25 competitor¡¯s remained. There was one hour of free time to take a break and get back stamina. First thing I did was that I asked Lili, Sani and Irel how I was hit. They just said they couldn¡¯t see it properly and I learnt nothing at all. I will need to ask the girl in question. We should have gone to eat something but I went to the medical ward. When I got there, just as I put my hand on the handle and wanted to open them, the door opened and the girl in question was before me. She was startled but quickly calmed down. ¡°Hi, I wanted to ask you something, do you have time?¡± As I said that she looked at me and just went past me. I went after her. ¡°Of course you don¡¯t really need to tell me for free. What do you say I would invite you to eat something? I¡¯ll pay.¡± She stopped, looked at me and went straight to the booth and bought the sweet water melon I already had. We went from stall to stall and after a while, my black card started to hurt. She ate so much I did not know where it went. Thankfully after 2 more stalls, she went to sit at the bench and just looked at me. Food still in her hands. She was eating and I just waited for her to finish. ¡°What do you want to know?¡± Finally. ¡°How did you attack me with the water ball from behind?¡± ¡°It¡¯s secret.¡± ¡°Then you should not have eaten all those things with my money.¡± She looked at me and put sweet rolls in her mouth one after another. I just waited. It¡¯s no problem to me anyway. I¡¯m patient guy. ¡°I condensed the water in the atmosphere and let it rode on the wind currents.¡± ¡°Yeah, that does not sound like something we should be able to do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why it is secret.¡± ¡°And because I won so easily you must be pissed off at me and so you wanted to take revenge with my wallet.¡± ¡°You invited.¡± ¡°Yeah. Thanks for the help and as apology I will treat you to something once more.¡± She did not answer but if she will come to take this chance then I will treat her to something. If not, than no problem to me. A lot of time went by and so I went back to my seat, waiting for the third round. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Finally done. It takes ages to do the tournament but I don¡¯t really want to write whole chapter about fights, so I did these stories. Next chapter will take longer to write because of inspiration. Those of you who did not read author¡¯s corner in last chapter should do so. And I found a proofreader so everyone should give thanks to Vietxtreme Hope you enjoyed. PR: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Chapter 21: Weaknesses Chapter 21: Weaknesses As I was sitting, the speaker started his thing again. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, the second round has ended today and now, only 25 competitiors are remaining. Third round will be a little special, just like round two. And what will be so special about it, obstacles. The field will be filled with obstacles, where your opponent can hide or even do stealth attacks so you must constantly be on guard. When the match starts, the position of our opponent will be selected randomly and they will need to find themselves. One good thing for our contestants is that in the field, there aren¡¯t any traps so they do not need to be worried about their surroundings. What will be needed in this fight is a calm mind and good control of their powers. Now then, as I said before, one person will become the joker and will have a free ticket to the next round. If that is a good thing or not, depends on our joker. That¡¯s everything from me. I hope our contestants will show us great matches. Applause for top 25 of this year.¡± Cheering was heard all around us. When this tournament started, all seats were filled with people, now only a quarter remains. Its a surreal sight, it¡¯s clearly showing us how things can change in one day. I¡¯m not strong enough now that I could see others in action. I surreally overwhelmed my opponents so far, but they were stronger in certain aspects than me. I could not control the mana balls like that. I could not create something like four tornadoes at the same time. Because void is so hard to learn. There are only few basic spells, not like other elements. You cannot even derive it to create other elements. Void is surely harder than other elements but it is fun for me and fulfilling too. To overcome obstacles with your own power is something grand in its own right. I still remember my first day. I was much weaker than everybody else. My only redeeming thing was my brain. Thanks to that, I was able to close the gap and even surpass others, but not all of them. I need to change if I wish to survive in this cruel world. That much, I am certain of. There¡¯s no time for me to train my abilities, the only thing I can do is start learning my opponent¡¯s tactics, moves and their habits. It¡¯s time for me to become completely serious. First two opponents were chosen and I, with complete concentration, was watching them. How they channel mana, how long it takes, what sort of movements is their weakness and their fighting spirit. If someone does not wish to win, then he will never win, no matter how strong the individual is. The two that were fighting right now, did not have grand fighting spirit. They wanted to win but it wasn¡¯t like their life depended on it. That is the biggest weakness when it comes to their fight. Their fight ended with a so-so victory. They were almost equals and their power was definitely greater than in second round. All of us were hiding our true abilities and that didn¡¯t change even now. Top 25 is not enough to show our trump cards. I think only in next round trump cards will be shown. My trump card, is not so easy to use but the effect is overwhelming, just how it should be. I have several trump cards and I will definitely have to use all of them if I wish to win this fight. That¡¯s how deep the essence of some people are. The Second fight was of rank 1 and his opponent was one of those I could feel strong essence from. It looks like rank 1 felt it too because something he never showed before happened. He released his blood lust. You could see he wanted to fight without waiting any more. His thirst to fight was much greater than my fighting spirit. I knew it, I¡¯m still too weak. Their fight started and if the first fight was battle of tactics, than second fight was a battle of pure power. Rank 1 just charged straight through the obstacles, destroying them in the process. How could he do it, I don¡¯t have any idea. He did not use any element and I could just feel a change in his mana flow but nothing else. It does not look like he used mana strengthening or something like that. This skill looks troubling. If he can enhance his power so much without even mana strengthening than with it, he would be a complete monster. To go against him and win against such a state would be pure madness. Or so I thought until his opponent appeared at his back and shot at him big fire ball. You could see the extreme hit even in our seats. This fire ball had to be filled with immense amount of mana but that skill should be taught this year and it shouldn¡¯t be known to us. I heard of this skill, but to use it you need to reach certain conditions, sadly I don¡¯t know them. Spells have a fixed amount of mana they use. Noone knows why it is so at the start but with training, you can control that amount. I think it has something to do with your soul or else it would be strange to why it would be so. Your soul probably limits the amount of mana your spells use so that your vessel or body would not be harmed. That¡¯s why mages train even their body, to strengthen the vessel but if you could change the amount of mana you use in spells just with that, it would be too easy. I really wonder what the secret is. Well, I will learn it with time. Some people thought it is the end of the fight after the fire ball hit him straight at his back and he even was sent flying. We could not see what happened to him because he crashed in the wall that fell on him. Referee also though it is the end and just as he was trying to declare winner, the ruins moved and he appeared from them, with tattered clothes but completely unharmed. Many had their mouth falling on the floor but I knew it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. He smiled for the first time in the tournament with a savage grin. His eyes filled with a desire to fight more but before his wish was fulfilled, his opponent conceded. It¡¯s no wonder though, for that spell, he used all his mana, it was easy to see that he has problems standing. Rank 1 started to almost rampage but he calmed himself down and just stepped out of the arena even before referee declared him the winner. That guy, his eyes look devoid of something. What is it? I could not find the answer but I could see his loneliness and longing. He must have lost something he is trying to find in this tournament. If it would be like in the books, than it would be a worthy opponent that would make his blood boil but I don¡¯t think that is all, the only way to find out is when we will confront each other. Something is telling me it will happen. Next few fights weren¡¯t so drastic like the first two and the fighters would just overwhelm each other or would reach stalemate and waited until someone collapsed. There were a few fights that were interesting enough. One of such was of Lili. For the first time in the tournament, she did not win easily. Yes, she won in the end but it was a close call. She had to use one of her trump cards to win. Her opponent just had the advantage against her. He was a earth mage and so wind could not damage him easily. That was until she used her trump card. It was scary I must say. She created several different air waves that were intertwined to each other and it was like she wanted to shred him piece by piece. He had to lock himself into earth prison and when her skill was slowly tearing it apart, it disappeared before it would kill him and he conceded. It was a terrifying sight and what¡¯s more, that spell is extremely lethal and if she would just time it a little bit later, her opponent would be just paste and she would be disqualified. You can seriously harm your opponent but you mustn¡¯t kill. No kingdom would want to lose future assets. Sani had it much easier this time and just punch her opponent until he was just a bloody mess. Irel had to use magic for the first time during the fight because his opponent was on the same level as mine in the second round. Do you remember when I said some fights were boring because one overwhelmed the other. These two were the main culprits of this statement. The other was rank 2. He just went forward a few meters and slashed horizontally with his enchanted sword and cut through the scenery. His opponent conceded while his eyes were full of fear. I thought he was just good with enchanted gear but I knew I was mistaken after this fight. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. To cut through those things would be impossible just with the enchanted gear he has. The funny thing he is always changing the enchanted item. Only one is allowed during the fight. Is he testing them? Another question without an answer. You probably thought I became the joker while I was talking about the fights but no, my fight came as second from the end. My opponent was a guy with fire affinity, our fight was something else, let me tell you. We both reached the arena and I just waited in the column of light until it flashed and I appeared at the different spot like everybody else. I appeared inside the forest. I get my wits back fast, at such time it is essential. I did not know where my opponent is and so I tried to find his essence without any luck. I was moving in the crown of trees with silent steps. Only that way I could be at least a little bit safe but I was not conceited. It¡¯s not like silent steps are all powerful. You can see the movement of the tree or feel the presence of the user. Every skill has a weakness and mine even more so. Only when I combine all of them my weaknesses diminish. This is the true strength of phantom arts. I did not use full potential of phantom step because I would pointlessly waste my mana. It is consuming slight amount of mana but even that slight amount becomes big with uses. I could use it constantly for 30 minutes if I wanted but that is my limit and I could not fight anymore. As I was moving through the trees, I reached the plain, I say plain but it was more of destroyed ruins with some wall and pillars here and there. In the middle of the ruins, my opponent was standing. He had closed eyes and I could feel his mana fluctuating. I leaped from the cover to cover and when I reached 10 meters from him and was hiding behind the pillar, red glow appeared under my feet and I jumped back, my right leg was burned a little. It was almost instantaneous. Fire pillar should take time to appear after invoking and a glow should be there 2 seconds before that. It can be shortened but it shouldn¡¯t be so short but the biggest question was, how did he find me? While I took another cower, the area where I was barraged with fire balls. The amount was great but the power not so much. He wanted to lure me and so I took the bait. I sprinted from the cover but not at him but to a place closer to him. In the middle of my run, another fire pillar appeared but this time I jumped forward, using my momentum. I rolled on the ground and as I stood up from my rolling, I saw fire lance flying at me. I used mana shield to protect myself but I could not envelop my whole body and some damage happened to me. I sprinted on towards my opponent because it was impossible for him to see me envelop myself in a mana shield and even if he saw it, he would know I couldn¡¯t protect myself fully so he would let his guard. And yes he did, but it was just another trap of his. As I was just 2 meters from him. Another red glow appeared under my feet and I just jumped directly at him again but what happened was the red glow where I stood diminished and exactly at the spot on the ground while I was in the air, appeared another. There wasn¡¯t any time to use mana shield again and I already concentrated some mana so I did something I hoped would work, I fired mana ball directly at the glow and when it hit, a big explosion occurred and I was sent flying higher in the air but my opponent was sent flying too, straight at the wall. I could not let this chance slip by and so as I was rotating in the air, I tried to fix my position even though I couldn¡¯t fully and just timed my attack with void blast to send it at his position. I was lucky and it hit the place he was even though it wasn¡¯t direct hit. If I would of used mana ball than it would never hit. I started falling down and if I would hit the ground it would result in a big impact and so I used mana and released it out of my back, creating a cushion. Mana shield would not work due to its nature of creating a ball shape. It would probably shatter or I would be shook pretty badly. Mana shield appears around you and you are always directly at the center of it. With such a fall, my body would go through the impact and shock of the fall too. So creating a cushion with mana was better at the time. My bones creaked and my head was pounding and hurting, I had to hurt myself. My Soul and mind did wonder though and I could move even through my disorientation. My opponent was getting up too and truthfully, I was afraid another red glow would appear under my feet. He probably created a mine field of the fire pillars and that¡¯s why they could be used so fast and at such amount. So I stayed at my place, and just bombed him with mana balls, like he did to me with his fire balls. There was dust around him and I stopped when I was sure at least 4 hit him. When the dust settled, he was unconscious and I was the victor. I went to sit at my seat after the fight and understood another weakness I had. I could not even use my sword in this fight. It¡¯s like using just half of my power. If I would try to cut through those fire balls it would be much easier but they would explode when I would try to cut them. Another weakness I need to work on during tonight. The Commentator did a good job with ending today¡¯s part of the tournament and I was beaten as hell. Oh and the joker became some girl I don¡¯t even remember seeing before. Lili and Sani were worried about me getting back to the dorm even though I was healed thanks to the staff but I was under a shock to the system that could not be healed so easily so I was really busted with this and so I let them take me back to the dorm under the condition of Irel helping me and supporting me. He wanted to carry me in princess carry and I said ok. Oh boy he looked like a tomato. He never expected it. When we reached the dorms, Irel went into his room and I told Lili and Sani they could go too but they would have none of it and went to my room. Thankfully Alice wasn¡¯t there or else I would be scolded. Sani wanted to make me something to eat but Alice left food for me and so she was dejected. I told them I am okay and I can feed myself but they wanted to feed me so I let them. My head hurt, so I really did not want to argue with them. After they fed me, I wanted to change to my pajama and they wanted to help me with that too. When I told them what they wanted to do to me, they blushed and let it be. Thank god even though I would let them if they said they wouldn¡¯t mind. I don¡¯t see reason why not to accept. The reason I am thankful is that it did not happen, and he thought that they would bicker again like when they fed me and I would have spoon in my eye again, or in this case they would rip my upper part apart or something. They are scary. I gave my farewell to them and said it''s ok, I will go to sleep so no worry but I went to shower myself and brush my teeth even though my head hurt so much. When I was done, I went to my bed and closed my eyes to let sleep embrace me but was still thinking how to use my sword against magic and replaying today¡¯s matches until sleep took me. Another day and new injury to repertoire. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Hi, new chapter and I must say it went great. Do problems during writing, no interruptions like 4 chapters before and no stopping in half. I think it¡¯s much better than before and hope you will say the same to me. Hope you enjoyed. Pr: If theres any problems do tell author san,and enjoy this chapter! Chapter 22: My power Chapter 22: My power I woke up and Alice was looking at me with a gaze that could pierce you, trying to find something on my face, no body, something that could show her if I was hurt again. Foolish Alice, I learned from my mistake and now you won¡¯t find anything, bo ha ha. I got up from the bed when Alice couldn¡¯t find anything and as I stood up, my head started to spin and I fell on the floor. Alice came to me. I could see her legs as I was holding the sheet of the bed trying to get up. As I tried to get up without any success, I looked at her face and she was smiling like a demon and just said. ¡°Speak.¡± It was sweet voice but it made my blood freeze in my veins and with cold sweat flowing on my back, I told her everything. I was scolded once again and she tried to make me quit, but I did not let her make me quit. When she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore, she slapped me and right after hugged me, and started to cry. I knew it was my turn to make it right and my turn to not get hurt again. Fire started to burn in my soul. ¡°Alice.¡± I called to her and she looked at me with a teary and snotty face. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I will get hurt, that can¡¯t change and you know it.¡± ¡°But but¡­..¡± ¡°I know you want the best for me and I appreciate it, but let me finish.¡± Time to corner her. ¡°Alice, if I win the tournament then, I will fulfill any one wish you will have for me.¡± Normally it should be opposite but in this case I must fulfill the wish or else there would be problems with her nagging me all the time. As I finished, she started to think with great intensity. You could feel the intensity flowing from her. She was like that for 5 minutes and cold sweat enveloped me again and thoughts like ¡®Was it a good plan?¡¯ started to appear in my head. When she finally looked at me, her teary face changed to that of, I don¡¯t know. It was of concern, wish, lust, and happiness and embarrassment changing steadily. It creeped me out, especially that lust. I am just 12 for god sake, thanks to the training I look like 15 years old but even so. As I doubted my sanity and especially Alice¡¯s, she talked to me. ¡°Ehm, ok. I will let you fight in the tournament and stop scolding you, if you will not be hurt but if something were to happen to you then it¡¯s the end. Are we clear?¡± ¡°Y-yes ma¡¯am.¡± I was frightened by her. No joke about it. At least now I will have a piece of calm mind. Whenever I fought, in a corner of my mind was her demonic smile. It still makes me shiver. Alice went to make some food and was mumbling under her breath things like ¡®What will I make him do?¡¯, ¡¯Shall we go there?¡¯, ¡®Should I show him to my family?¡¯. The last part made me pale. As we ate, Alice asked me why am I so pale and I couldn¡¯t possibly tell her about my fear of meeting her parents due to the misunderstanding of me wanting to marry her. If I would say it, blood would be spilled, MY blood would be spilled and in great quantity too. I did the only thing I possibly could. I smiled and lied as I could. My lie was pretty deep too. I just told her that I am nervous about today¡¯s fights. I am a genius, right? You would think it is a bad lie but it is not. Don¡¯t forget she wants me to win and so when I tell something like that, fire in her eyes starts to ignite and she will do everything she can to make me win. In this case, she made desserts for me. I can¡¯t even remember the last time I had her desserts. They just melt on the tongue. But I miscalculated. She was saying, one more, one more and I were stuffed until the brink of my stomach bursting. How can I fight in such a state? I just thanked her and went on my way. Before I went to the stadium I firstly had to get rid of my overeating. I quickened my mana and blood flow and started to work out. In this way, my energy was spent quicker and the same goes with my overeating. When I was done, I went to the stadium and sat down, waiting for the 4th round. I was sitting again with those three. We finally meet up before we came here to sit. I was pestered by the three about how I was feeling and I just said the truth that I was fine but they still did not believe me, so I just patted Lili¡¯s and Sani¡¯s head. And that¡¯s how everything happened.It¡¯s not even the first fight and I am already mentally exhausted but the fire in my soul is burning even more than before. The Commentator started once again and we all listened with great interest in what special rules will the next round have. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 3rd day of the tournament and fourth round of the tournament followed by fifth and sixth letting the tournament conclude on the fourth day but don¡¯t let it dishearten you because the tournament is concluded on the fifth day with something special. Fourth round will be almost the same as the last one but with a one more rule being, you must use at least two supporting items. If you have a contracted pet or slave, they must be used in the fight. This can give you great advantage if you have one and your opponent doesn¡¯t. Many of you are asking, why such a rule is used. Answer is really simple and that is to see how you will cope with a situation where you have the advantage or disadvantage and aren¡¯t on equal grounds. What¡¯s more, supportive item can change the flow of the battle and so timing of using it is something necessary. In many fights you can think like ¡¯There¡¯s no use to use healing potion when my enemy is almost dead¡¯ but because of such thinking, many people lost their lives and so we want to see you showing us you know when, and when not use supportive item. All your items are known to us so if you have just one, you must use it. If you have more, than you must use those too. If you won¡¯t comply, you are disqualified so be careful. Now, let the fourth round begin and like the last time, joker is in place again and will follow us until 6th round where best 4 will fight, even though one of them will be the luckiest person though. Let¡¯s see if that luck will be for something.¡± So, today I will fight against pets if I will be lucky enough. I can¡¯t contract any animal for some reason so I must use Qwiz and a potion because I have those registered. What a pain. The fights started again and first fight was Irel vs some guy. The guy summoned a yellow cat so he has contracted beast. From what I can see, it can use lightning and that is no ordinary pet. To use lightning, you must fuse your attribute with your wind element even though some magical being are born that way. This must be the case of this cat. It is too weak to be able to fuse element. Such creatures are much weaker than normal ones that are trained. Irel put on some new armor I have never seen before. It pulsed with runes and that was it, so this is his enchanted gear. Next he took a bottle and drank it. His muscles started to spasm so it looks like it was Strength potion. It just increases strength. His opponent had enchanted ring on his right hand. It must be used for strengthening magic or shortening the time of use. The match started and the two clashed. They were ported to visible range of each other so it was quite a fast development. Before the guy could even do anything, Irel quickly closed the gap between them and when I say quickly, I mean quickly. Strength potion could not do something like this so it looks like runes are making the armor weight less. Now to look at the opponent¡¯s ring. The guy protected himself with wind blade and during this time, his pet send spark at Irel but it just hit his armor and zapped him a little. The runes must have some kind of magic protection or else it shouldn¡¯t just zap him a little. When the guy created wind blade, his ring shined at the spell quickening it,so it works for shortening the cast time of spells. They went for each other until finally it ended with Irel¡¯s victory. He was hurt slightly and was gasping for breath but nothing major. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. When he came back, one fight concluded with a fast pace. Next turn was Sani¡¯s and she put some gloves on her hands. From what I could see, they increased her fire damage and potential. She even summoned some cat with fire like fur. When she was ready, she attacked her opponent who had some enchanted sword and drank a speed potion. They fought each other in close combat. The fight finished with Sani¡¯s victory and several cuts on her skin. Most of her attacks were blocked by her gloves but her fire cat was pretty good too. Whenever Sani had any openings, it helped with covering it. Lili had some enchanted necklace and summoned a fire bird. I would think it was phoenix but it was more of a little child that did not look anything like that. It was round and with orange eyes with a beautiful tail so that¡¯s why I said phoenix. Her opponent used a goblin slave and a potion. It was useless for him though. She used gale and the firebird used ember, they combined the two attacks and let the goblin and the opponent grill in their own juices. Swift and precise victory. Next was rank 2 and he used an enchanted sword and a little brown fur ball. I don¡¯t have any idea what that pet is. The pet stayed at his shoulder until the fight started, well even after the fight started. The pet started glowing with brown light and then, rank 2 started to run to a certain direction until he found his opponent and then released a water blade on him. He used fire shield and blocked it even though the power behind that water blade was enormous. His enchanted gear is seriously strong. They fought each other, not even letting through each other¡¯s defenses until his opponent couldn¡¯t keep his fire shield in place long enough to stop the attack and was defeated. I did not see his opponent use any enchanted gear and he did not summon anything either. Did he have only potions? Well, now it doesn¡¯t matter. Last fight was of rank 1 and he did not use anything during the fight and just pummeled his opponent who summoned a pet, used enchanted armor and filled himself with several potions. The outcome was total devastation. I think those potions just prolonged his misery. It was gruesome in a way. I was chosen for last fight. I can¡¯t comprehend one thing though. Since the start, only few people made me be careful about them and not even once did they fought against each other. You probably know who I am talking about. Anyway, my fight. I went there with a certain ambition, to not see tears of the 3 girls once again. When I thought about them, I was happy and frightened. Happy because they cared about my well being and frightened with Alice¡¯s scary smile, and Sani¡¯s, and Lili¡¯s too much taking care of me like last time. When I waited for the start, I took out Qwiz and gulped a potion. The potion I took increased my reaction speed and for what I wanted to do it was necessary. Maybe you noticed but those of you who did not, I never even once used Phantom swordsmanship and steps at the same time. The skills are helping each other and when you use them at the same time, their power grows at exponential rate. It wouldn¡¯t be any training that way like all the times before. When fight started, I couldn¡¯t see my opponent so I just concentrated mana inside me, I created a mana ball inside me. It wasn¡¯t dense at all like normal. I concentrated on it and compressed it past its point, letting it flow outside of me like a wave in all directions. It passed through objects until it hit an object with high mana density. This skill is called mana detection and it allows you to find pockets with high mana. In this case, I was finding my opponent. I could feel some weak mana next to him so he probably has pet. I quickly went to the place he was and stood before him. He looked at me in disbelief. Probably thinking why would his opponent show himself before him. There was really no reason. I just wanted to do something flashy and something that isn¡¯t bothersome. My opponent and his enslaved kobold started to attack me. First, the kobold came to be and started to use his claws and bite me but I just dodged them all. With my increased reaction speed, it was like looking at his attacks in slow motion. While the kobold was attacking me, a fireball was shot at me. I pushed the kobold out of the way or else it would be hit too and dodged it. I think that was enough of a warm up. I gripped onto my sword and coated my mana around the blade. It is hard to do because of rejection of materials but for a while, it can be done. Kobold started to get on its feet and I side stepped behind him and knocked him out. Fire lances started to fall upon me but I cut them down with my sword. By coating my blade in mana, I can cut through them. I slowly, step by step went to my opponent while he was attacking me. When I was 10 meters from him, he started to run away but I used phantom step and got before him. He smiled and a huge fireball was shot at close distance. I slapped it out of my way with my hand. None could see it and I was glad for it. He did not understand what happened but I just created void bolt in my left hand and pressed it on him. He fell unconscious and I won. He wasn¡¯t as good as my last foe but still strong enough. In a fight he was stronger than my last one but without traps like in last fight, it was easy. Let me explain how my void bold works. Void does not do physical damage. It saps the essence of the opponent. Depending on the skill mastery, it changes what and how much damage it does. At my level, I can damage his mana and damage his mentality. Because he used so much mana and my void bolt took some more and even damaged his consciousness, he fainted or else I would need to hit him with it many times, that¡¯s why it is more of a trump card rather than skill that should be fired all the time. At higher levels, it can damage even the body and can home itself on the opponent making evading it difficult. There are many more hidden abilities with this skill, even though it is basic of the basics. I would normally do not use it but at the position I was in, no one should be able to see it so I did it. I wanted to test how effective it is. I was declared shortly after. It took quite a while because they did not understand what happened until I heard someone saying I punched him in the gut or something. I was really glad for this misunderstanding. I went back to my seat and the joker was chosen. We got some time to recuperate and so we went outside to clear our heads and waited for the fifth round. I wonder what next rules will be. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I got pissed at some of you saying Ris is weak, he does not use Void, give him more Void spells. I told many times. Void is thought useless exactly because it does not have many basic spells like other affinities. And some of you said he is getting hurt a lot. That is because he was training and used only 30% of his strength. In this chapter, I made it so you would see some of his power. I did not want to use void spells but take it as thanks from me. Anyway, one guy commented about void skill so if you want to see some void skills then comment too but don¡¯t make them OP like black hole or what not. Just basic ones if you want but I won¡¯t guarantee I will use them due to world¡¯s rules. Last thing is, I decided to give him 3 void spells. One should be in next chapter and the others in final round or later at the end of act 2. Hope you enjoyed. PR: Cant have a OP MC just yet and there¡¯s much more to come,so just hold on till then. PS-Thought Id leave some Dragons here Chapter 23: Day in the paradise Chapter 23: Day in the paradise Fifth round started shortly after we came back to our seats, with commentator¡¯s loud speech. ¡°Today is still not the end of the fights, with 2 more rounds remaining. So you all should prepare as best as you can or else there might be troubles because of time, but let¡¯s stop with such talk and let¡¯s talk about rules of round 5. The rule is pretty easy with nothing more to it. The Arena is designed to create obstacles like before but it won¡¯t be the same stage as before. In this stage, you will meet with marshes, sands, rivers, forests and even ice planes. Stages will be included of at least of 4 things but there can be more, but I won¡¯t tell you how many of those there can be. You will be once again transported somewhere in the field and if you will end up in the marsh than you will probably loose by default because marshes can be quite deep. Everything else is still the same as before and there aren¡¯t any specific conditions. Let the fifth round begin.¡± After he said all these things, the roulette started again and first fight went to Irel and rank 2. It should be quite a fight. When they came to the arena, light appeared in there and a stage was set. From our position we could see how it looked. It was filled with sand, ice, grassy plain and volcano grounds. Irel is fire mage so he has some advantages but if he were to fight in icy plains then it would be bad for him. The best place would be volcanic ground due to his opponent¡¯s affinity. Both of them were transported and Irel ended up in icy plains. What bad luck, but his opponent ended in volcanic ground so both of them ended in the worst spot but it did not matter anyway because both of them started to move soon after. Irel with his full plate armor could not move on ice too well so it took him some time to get out of it meanwhile, his opponent reached grassy plains and released a water ball into the air. The water fell in a large diameter and after a while, he started to move into the direction of Irel. They met soon after between borders of grass, ice and sand. They immediately started to fight. Irel quickly tried to close the distance but was sent flying by water whip. He ended up on ice again and was sliding for quite some time. His opponent got to icy plains too and summoned water from his surrounding and sent it like a flood on Irel. His feet were encased in ice but Irel used his fire magic to get out of it. They started to send magic at each other left and rights, letting them collide. Mist appeared and the visibility was really bad and even we could not see what was happening. We could just hear sounds of clashing. Then someone was sent flying out of the mist. It was rank 2. Soon after, Irel appeared with flames around his arms. With a burst of speed enhanced with his flames, he got to his staggering opponent and punched him in his gut. It wasn¡¯t normal punch though. It was fire blast. It was like a whirlpool that started to get bigger with distance. At this time, everyone thought it was the end but we were surprised soon after. Rank 2 got up with no damage whatsoever. I looked carefully at his stomach and could see water dripping. He probably created water shield around his stomach before he was hit. They both were exhausted and the next few attacks would decide it. They both prepared their strongest attacks. Irel started to gather fire between his both hands. The fire started to change color from orange to dark orange. He was increasing the temperature of the fireball. His opponent took a sword he once used already and started to concentrate his mana in it. Soon after, Irel fired his super fireball and then, a water slash was released. Both attacks collided but they did not struggle at all. Fire ball was cut in half and even though water slash was clearly much weaker, it still hit Irel and because he had low amounts of mana and due to shock, he fainted and so he lost the fight. One good thing is, his opponent was almost out of breath too. The only reason why Irel lost was because he was more of a warrior rather than mage and he did not have experience in fighting against mages, just like I before. The next fight was mine and it was against some unknown guy I never paid attention too before. Our fight was pretty anticlimactic but interesting. I, with Qwiz in my hand and he, with a staff. He fired wind blades at me and I cut through them. I was hit once when he mixed wind balls with wind blades but it wasn¡¯t anything major. I quickly closed distance and when I thought my next attack will be the last, he blocked my attack with his staff. He fought with his staff, parrying my attacks or attacking me. It was something I never saw before but not something I could not cope with. I soon overpowered him and when I was close to hitting him, I was attacked from the side with fire ball. I looked at my side and could see huge mole. It must be his familiar, was what I was thinking but I did something that should never happen during the fight, I stopped paying attention to my enemy and so I was hit by the staff on my head. I was dizzy but thanks to my Soul mind I quickly recuperated and it was my turn to hit him when he did not expect it and so I won my match. Last fight was of Sani and Rank 1. This fight changed something in me, something I never thought I would experience. This fight was¡­¡­¡­.something I never want to see again. When the fight started, it was like always before, getting transported but Sani was unlucky because she was transported to the same place as him. He just was looking at her and doing nothing, just waiting for her with his hollow eyes. Sani once again used her signature move, wrapped her fists in flames and attacked him. He did not even inched one bit. Sani was flabbergasted but continued. She summoned her pet and attacked together. It worked because he smiled a little and started to move. One punch, he just used one punch and Sani was sent flying. When she finally stopped with destroying trees by her flight, she was an all fours and started to cough blood. At this time, my chest hurt. I did not mind that she was attacked or hurt. What hurt me was the fear of her death. When I saw that, I really thought she would die if it would continue. For her to cough blood her lungs must have been punctured by her ribs and the pain must be great. I was really afraid. She grew into my heart. She drank health potion and color returned to her face. She drank 4 more potion and took out gauntlets. It looks like she used everything she could, but it was worthless. She attacked, used her surrounding and was punched time and time again. The pain in my chest was growing more and more rapidly. I clenched my fists and I could feel someone trembling at my side. I looked and saw Lili, pale and trembling. She was afraid too and so I relaxed my hands and put my hand on hers. She looked at me and calmed down a little. We both believed that she will be okay. How horribly wrong we were. When the last struggle of Sani started, she attacked him with her strongest spell. All her limbs were surrounded by flames and her partner used some kind of support ability and strengthen her flames. She moved and I lost a sight of her, a feat not easy to do. She attacked him by punching several times at one spot and for the first time in the competition, he was sent flying but he just got up and started to smile. He smiled with vicious smile that wanted to fight more. His fighting spirit started to gather almost making it visible and for the second time today, I lost sight of someone. What happened after will stay in my mind forever. My heart started to beat loudly and slowly, my surroundings almost stood still and I understood my concentration reached its peak so I could see what would happen. He moved to her and started to punch her. Her arms, legs, just everywhere. I could see it all, her anguished face, the pain she felt, punch after punch, I could see it and until it stopped and the time started to run again. We all just saw Sani collapse and her arms, legs completely broken. There was great silence and soon after commentator started to shout to get healers. They took her and the fight was won by rank 1. He won fair and square. The only thing you can¡¯t do is kill your opponent but you can half kill them. I looked at him and his hollow eyes at me. I did not fear rage or hate for him at all. He just turned around and went his way. Lili started to cry and I hugged her so she would calm down and quickly left with her and Irel to see Sani. When we got to the medical ring, they would not let us see Sani but I saw her through the door. She was lying on the table, her face pale, beaten, bleeding, cut. When I saw that and the expressions of the doctor, I started to feel anger, rage and hate. Not to the one who did that but for myself. Rage of seeing someone close to me get hurt and not doing anything to stop it. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it This experience forever changed me and I hope I will never experience something like this. If only I would know what would happen soon after. We got back to our seats and heard that there is 2 hours left. My rage was seeping out of me and so I ran outside the stadium, Irel and Lili calling me but I did not hear anything and just run outside. Kristy called to me too but I just ran. I ran for some time until I reached a secluded place and just destroyed it with my hands. For my own weakness someone was hurt. Hate for myself started to grow, my breath was rugged and tears started to seep from my eyes but a warm, soft feeling enveloped my back. I looked back at to see Lili hugging me. She was crying too and was hurt too but even so she went to help me. The warm feeling in my chest started to grow for her and I calmed down. Rage and hate for myself started to disappear and changed to resolve to protect those dear to me. With a smile back on my face, I hugged Lili and we both got back soon before the final round,round 6 started. As we sat down, Irel looked at us with troubled expression. He was getting worried about us. Even though he was not in the competition anymore, he still was with us. He really is a good friend. Round 6 started and new rules were prepared. The rules and stage could be described with one word. Fear. The stage was made as murky, scary place with tombstones, marshes, skeletons and mist. There weren¡¯t any undead or such things mind you. It was just to see if we can concentrate in such environment. We are just 12 years old, so dark places are scary for us, but not for me. The thing that scares me the most is seeing someone close to me get hurt. This is what I understood. First fight started and it was me versus rank 2. When fight started, we appeared surrounded with trees filled with spider threads, mist, marshes and tombstones. Movement would be difficult but not impossible. Spooky sounds were heard around us but we just looked at each other. I brought Qwiz out and prepared for what comes next. Water balls, lances, blades ranged on me but I was just with least amount of movements dodged them. Than his special ability of his sword was fired at me and a strong water slash went straight on me. I did not budge an inch and just coated my Qwiz with mana and cut through it. I slowly, step by step went to him. Water pillars, water bombs, water prison and much more were used to entrap me but none of it worked. I used my full strength. I won¡¯t hide it anymore. I won¡¯t allow such things anymore. I still did not shake up the experience and did this mistake. Master always told me to not show my full strength before it is absolutely necessary and I blew it up. I really have many things to learn. I stopped with pointlessly using my strength and started to use it in the best way I could and it proved correct because when I reached 5 meters from him, from all directions water missiles were fired at me. It was impossible to dodge it and mana shield would not be able to withstand such attack. I could not even jump out from it and so I just prepared for what was to come. I waited until it was just meter from me and at that time, I released mana blade and destroyed 3 water missiles. They are too nimble and fast for me to be able to hit them from large distance but with just a meter and straight line it was easy. If you can¡¯t block the full attack, then just destroy portions of it. That¡¯s what I did. I destroyed several missiles to create a gap to get out of but even so they would still hit me because they are homed at target, but I timed it so they would hit ground and disappear. With my specific timing, I got close to rank 2 and ended it with Void blade. By coating my void mana with blade, I can cut anyone''s soul and weaken the enemy. I created this technique when I learned how to coat my blade with mana. To coat some material with mana is not easy at all. Mana is in everything and so mana is like magnets. Two same poles will repel each other and the same goes with mana but there are ways how to get out of it and that is mana coating. Enchanting works in a different way if you think it¡¯s the same. I cut through him but it did not hurt physically and he was still standing. He fired another water lance at me and I was grazed at my side, blood gushing out of it. I concentrated mana at the spot and filled my cells with mana and let them repair the damage. The reason why potions are not used too much is because of this technique. By using mana you can quickly heal your wounds but it costs mana so potions are always at hand but not wide spread. I read in books about this technique but the technique used throughout the whole world is different than mine. Normally you just ¡®order¡¯ your cells to fix the wound but your cells will deplete their service life, meaning, your life span plummets. I fill my cells with mana and they will use mana as energy source, so my lifespan is still the same but I can¡¯t use it to increase my lifespan because mana can¡¯t stay in cells forever. My wound disappeared and I cut through his neck with my void blade and then he fainted and so I won. Next fight started and it was Lili versus rank 1. Fear was once again gripping my heart but when I saw Lili¡¯s expression filled with resolve, I calmed down. Lili form the start used everything she had. She summoned her partner, drank potions, used enchanted equipment and attacked with everything. He was once again delighted when he was pushed around and hurt,thus he started to attack her. She was hurt but not as serious as Sani. The Fight continued and Lili was able to hold the ground until his fighting spirit and bloodlust started to rise again. Lili was prepared for this and started to channel her mana through her enchanted staff. She pointed her staff at him and small wind blades started to be fired from the staff at incredible rate and her partner strengthening them even more. He just pushed through them, cuts appearing on his whole body but still going at it. Lili started to look exhausted but continued until he reached her staff and grasped it. He gripped the staff and destroyed it with his bare hands. The staff exploded and Lili was blown away. She got up, still in her eyes, a burning will to win. He smiled again and once again started to move incredibly fast. He pushed all his strength into his punch and I could see in my mind Lili¡¯s rib caged being crushed to dust. My mind started to work once more and I started to be scared once again but my resolve still there. I shouted in my mind NO MORE and whole world was filled with some kind of violet light, my head hurting and the feeling like with Soul mind appeared again. I did not pay any attention to it and wanted to help Lili. The world started to be filled with more violet light and I appeared before Lili and I captured his fist with my bare hand. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Yay, so we have one new skill and something happened to MC and he protected Lili. I wonder what that is? Just wait for the next chapter to see, I will even do tables for it because it is something important. I won¡¯t do tables for normal spells or such because it is pain. One more thing, I don¡¯t have much time like before so releases will be done when I will have time. Since last chapter, I spend 3 days working without break, one day baby sitting and I even went to ride a bike on mountain with friend and my work will pile up even more, just so you know. Hope you enjoyed. P.S Anyone knows some RPG like Dragon¡¯s Dogma but for PC? Thanks PR: Wake up in the morning to start proofreading this chapter,Great start (^^;) Chapter 24: Finale Chapter 24: Finale I was standing there, holding number 1¡¯s fist in my hand. I have no idea what happened and how I got here, I just know that I did not want to be seeing Lili get hurt and then whole world went violet and I just appeared here and I just reacted to the punch. Now that I think about it, won¡¯t I get disqualified because I interrupted the fight? But there was no such rule stated, just that you must not sabotage so it should be ok. But that is not what I fear at all. What I fear more is Lili herself. No matter what I wanted to do, I still interfered with her fight. It¡¯s like saying I did not believe in her. Like I would think of her as flower to be taken care of, protected and not letting it grow on its own. I¡¯m scared of Lili hating me for it, but I am much more scared of seeing someone close to me hurt in such cruel way. No matter what, I won¡¯t stand such things. I can stand seeing them hurt like broken arm, hit in the stomach and coughing blood but I can¡¯t see them twisted, lying with pale face and with that painful expression. I can¡¯t stand it, seeing them broken, not just in body but spirit too. While I was still holding his hand and thinking about all these things, someone talked to me. ¡°R-Ris? W-what are you doing here! This is my fight! I will avenge my friend! Stay out of this! I can still fight!¡± Hearing such things, I know she is right, I know I should let her fight, I know I should not interfere anymore but I can¡¯t. I would rather be hated than let this continue. ¡°LILI!¡± I shouted with all my strength. I never shouted at her, no, I never shouted since I came to this school. I always had smile on my face and always spoke with calm and soothing voice, maybe that¡¯s why girls like to talk to me? I don¡¯t know, but I had to shout, to show her maybe my last time of taking care of her. I continued and told her everything I hold inside me. ¡°I know you are right. I know I should not interfere. But how do you expect me just to watch this? That last punch would have been the end. Even if I would not interfere you would have lost.¡± ¡°I could have still done something!¡± I came back to my calm voice. ¡°I won¡¯t deny that, but if it would connect, then you would end up like Sani and I won¡¯t allow that! I don¡¯t want to see people I care for in such a way again. I won¡¯t!¡± While I said ¡®care¡¯, Lili lost her composure a little but got it back soon after but she calmed down a little. ¡°But how could I not be angry at you interfering? My best friend, closest person to me got hurt so much and I could not do anything and now you come here and won¡¯t let me fight. So what if I would get hurt! I could still take revenge, no matter what!¡± That¡¯s the first time Lili was like this. Today is full of first times but I now understand. She feels the same way as I. In her case, it is different but still the same. I loathe myself and she loathes the one who did it. I slapped Lili at her cheek. ¡°Don¡¯t ever say no matter what again. Life is too precious to just throw it away.¡± She looked at me and started to cry a little bit. ¡°Leave it to me, I will fight in your stead and take revenge for Sani. I will win, for both of you.¡± I hugged her and then, she collapsed and fainted. I could see medical staff coming in and so I took her in princess carry and with a leap of my Phantom step, appeared before them and gave them Lili. Giving princess princess carry, it¡¯s funny in its own way. I appeared once more where I was and finally referee got out of his daze. I¡¯m really serious. He stood there like a stone for the whole time. ¡°You! How did you get here? The arena is surrounded by barrier so you could not have get here from outside. How dare you interfere in the match?¡± Now that he¡¯s saying it, there really is barrier so how did I get here? I think I will find it soon enough. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just appeared here and before me was someone¡¯s punch so I stopped it.¡± The best plan ever. Lying filled with truth. ¡°Are you kidding me? Did you think I did not hear what you were saying before?¡± ¡°I was just talking with my friend I saw here. Nothing more.¡± ¡°You, do you think this tournament is a child¡¯s game. For interference you will be disqualified, you hear me? What do you have to say about this, huh?¡± Wow, he really got angry. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean? Why should I get disqualified? I did not do anything bad and no one ever said we can¡¯t appear in the arena during the fight. If I recall correctly, we just can¡¯t sabotage other¡¯s fight and I did not such thing, or am I wrong?¡± It¡¯s the truth so I wonder how he will compete with it. ¡°Do you take us for fools?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the truth.¡± ¡°You are disqualified, get out of my sight!¡± Poor thing, he dug his own grave. ¡°Are you sure? Maybe your superiors, like king does not think the same thing, you know?¡± When I mentioned king, he started to sweat like fountain. ¡°And what¡¯s more, the main reason is right behind you.¡± He turned around and he saw rank 1 behind him, smiling with complete happiness, his eyes glittering. Those were not his hollow eyes anymore. He started to come to me. ¡°I want to fight you.¡± If he thought I did not think so after I felt his fighting spirit, than he is mad. ¡°See, he wants to fight with me and I don¡¯t mind at all so will you condemn innocent person or let the audience and kings see another great fight?¡± He started to think, still sweating and just then, he broke with my logic. It was quite some time since I played with someone, oh how I missed it. ¡°You both can go now. There will be 2 hour break until your fight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice of you.¡± And I went to the exit, rank 1 going after me. When I reached the exit, rank 1 stopped me. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you appeared in my fight but you do not look like those other losers and that technique you used to move looked interesting. I want to fight you.¡± Friendly guy when you think about it. ¡°That¡¯s okay but I have just one question.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°What is your name again?¡± At this, time almost stopped until he started to laugh. He stopped and told me. ¡°It¡¯s Azir, you should remember that.¡± As he said it, he patted my shoulder and went somewhere. I went outside to calm my nerves and sat under the tree. The feeling in my head still there so I concentrated at it.
Level up
You¡¯ve reached 10% understanding in Void, unique ability unlocked
SkillVoid sightRankBasic
Skill that allows you to perceive the Void and shape it much easier. Many secrets lies in this skill and only with time will you find out.
SkillBlinkRankBasic
Skill that comes directly from the Void itself. By using Void eyes that are in the world, you can transport yourself anywhere in the area of 15 meters around yourself. It can be used constantly and mana usage does not change depending on the distance taken.
Information about these skill flow through me and I understood the basics of their usage but nothing serious. So these skills are what made me appear in the arena. This skill even can get through barriers so that¡¯s nice, but what the hell are Void eyes? Let¡¯s find out. I used my new skill, Void sight. Well, there was really no need to even use it because, as I found out, it is constantly in use just you need to concentrate on it or else it will fade away and I am glad because what it does makes it really annoying. The whole world goes violet and I could not even see the tree next to me too well until I found out how to adjust it and I even looked at the skill once more and I got to the next rank too. That allowed me to finally find out what are Void eyes. World does not turn violet to me anymore but now I can see, portals like eyes everywhere around me, seeping with violet light and some substance or what. These must be the void eyes. Next I tried Blink and it worked not like how I imagined. I was transported but it ported me just in diameter of 15 meters around me, randomly. I tried it few more times and I found out a few things. When I use it, I am sucked into a Void eye and just spewed once more so it looks like the eyes is a gap between our world and void and it sucks me into the void and then pushes me out. That is problem. Being randomly ported is useless. I could get ported on some attack if I would use it during fights. Thankfully I cannot get transported into solid matter because I cannot see any void eyes inside things. I hope that¡¯s right. I experimented once more. It does not sound right of being randomly transported. It must be possible to choose my destination. The answer to that is quite simple as I found out. You must concentrate on the Void eye in your sight and it must be in the area of 15 meters at most. When I used it for the first time, I just concentrated on the skill and nothing more so without target I was ported randomly, the same goes with looking at some spot and wanting to go there. Blink opens Void eye and if you want to be transported somewhere, you must synchronize the Void eye you open with the skill, with the one you want to teleport. It¡¯s not that easy though, there are constantly moving, appearing and disappearing and there are so many of them that it is confusing and you need to have great space perception to find out the limit. With every usage I did though, it was simpler and just felt more natural than before. I tried the skills few more times to get truly used to it and I even reached another rank in Blink but sadly, not in Void sight. I have long way before me. I went back to the arena and sat on my seat, waiting for the final round to start. The announcement came soon after and with it, the rules. The last round is extremely simple. It is a stage filled with ruins of colosseum with several changes in weather so you never know what comes next and that¡¯s it. Everything is allowed and can be used. We were called soon after and so I went to stand in the magic circle, looking at my opponent. I never described how he looks so let me do it now. He has toned muscled body with exotic looks, red hair and red pupils. He isn¡¯t huge or anything, just normal stature. You can say he trained well but what surprised me was that he was wearing armor. In all fights before he wasn¡¯t wearing any. It looked nice I must nice. It was light armor, mostly white but with several red parts. I must say, it suited him pretty well. He did not have any weapon in hands but he probably has spatial ring so it¡¯s not like he won¡¯t have any. The countdown reached zero and we both stood at the same spot. We both were smiling and with slow steps, went to each other until we reached the center of the colosseum. We both smiled with smiles that screamed let¡¯s fight and so, we both clenched our fists and hit each other¡¯s face. We both went flying until we hit the ground and slid few more meters. It was hell of a punch but for him it was the same. We shook it up and fight started, a close quarter fight. We punched, dodged and used faints and I was overwhelmed. My training in close quarters is close to zero after all but my dodging abilities are better thanks to my training during the tournament. It did not continue for long because he released his blood lust and fighting spirit and again concentrated it in his fist. I don¡¯t even need to say that I was sent flying until I created hole in the wall. I was damaged a little but I used mana shield and the trick of using mana as cushion I used in the fight with traps guy. I healed myself with my regeneration skill and stood back up. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time to start seriously?¡± I said it to him because I don¡¯t want to fight against him just with fists. I want to destroy him with everything he and I have, so I can fulfill Lili¡¯s wish. ¡°Hm, I don¡¯t know. You do not look like someone I need to use my all against.¡± ¡°Then that¡¯s bad, for you. Wasn¡¯t it you who came to me after your last fight and what¡¯s more, I want to enjoy it with all we got and I think you are the same.¡± He started to think about it and then nodded his head. It looks like he decided. ¡°Ok then but try not to die in a sec.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Materializing in his hand was red bastard sword which looked like it was made of dragon¡¯s scale. Soon after, an oppressive feeling drowned me and I felt fear like none other during this tournament. The bloodlust he was releasing before was laughable compared to it. I concentrated with all I had. I used my Void sight, cold reading, and essence detection and waited for his next move. I want to counter it. I could see a movement of his muscles in a split second and then, like a picture before my eyes, I could see my body split in half. Soon after, he sped up with insane speed and swinging his sword. I equipped Qwiz and with a twist around him, just barely dodged the attack and during that, attacked his side and back. I kept the pressure and went to him. I wanted to stab him in the back, but my sword was deflected and we exchanged several hits. I leaped back and prepared a stance of drawing sword. I concentrated mana into Qwiz and then, with fast motion released the mana I put inside into highly compressed mana blade. I knew Azir will want to try to compare my attack with his strength so he won¡¯t dodge it and just as I thought so, he engaged it with his sword. He was starting to get pushed back until with a loud voice, his sword was enveloped with red aura and he stopped the attack. The mana was scattered but in its wake were Void bolts. The first hit him on the left hand and made it a little bit numb. The rest were cut through. I kept pressure and started to slash with Qwiz in several arches, sending mana blade after mana blade. It was mana blade barrage. He had to deflect it. I wanted to get rid of some stamina. It wasn¡¯t really mana friendly for me but still ok. When I thought I could stop it, Azir charged straight through it and I was attacked. I was dodging the slashes left and right and I think from the distance it must have looked like a dance. My foot slipped and I was hit at my side with his blade. My ribs cracked. I fixed it but my mana was dangerously low even with my Quick regeneration. I concentrated my mana into my legs and looked at Azir. With high speed, I attacked him with a sword like a hammer. He stopped it but was pushed into ground. I used his sword as a jump spot and so jumped into the air and released Void blast. After dust settled, Azir looked hurt a little bit and was breathing heavily. I wasn¡¯t any better though. When I reached the ground, I attacked once more and I deflected Azir¡¯s sword into the side and that left his guard open. I attacked at his chest but my sword was stopped by his punch and it flew away from my hand. I kicked his armor and jumped back to get my sword but was followed. Thankfully, I reached my sword but was hit and sent flying. ¡°You really are good. To be able to go at me in a fist fight and even survive me using Drag¡¯s bane, that is impressive.¡± Or so he said. ¡°Yeah, you are not bad either. It looks like the ending is close and I should warn you, you should take it seriously next or else you will lose.¡± ¡°Oh, than I will do just that.¡± White smoke started to appear from him and I could felt his strength growing at incredible rate. ¡°Just so you know, if I will hit you just even once, it¡¯s quite possible half of your body will be pulverized.¡± ¡°Really? That sounds interesting. What is this skill called?¡± ¡°Draco break.¡± ¡°You really love dragons, you know that.¡± ¡°As a descendant of Dragon knights that is expected.¡± ¡°Dragon knights? Never heard about it. You must tell me sometime but let¡¯s end it already.¡± With speed incomparable to before I was attacked with no way to dodge. It is impossible even with my Phantom step but I expected that. If you can¡¯t dodge with body, than dodge with mind and so I invoked Blink and got out of there. What happened then was quite shocking. There was a big split ground where I once stood. No kidding with half of my body being pulverized but I think my whole body would be pulverized. ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding.¡± I said from behind him and before he could understand I was behind him and he could turn around, I slashed with Void blade again and again until he pushed me from him. He was standing, breathing heavily. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you dodged that but don¡¯t think I will fall just like that.¡± ¡°I never imagined it.¡± Yeah, that¡¯s a lie. All other opponents fell after one hit of Void blade and he took many and still is ok. ¡°Let¡¯s end it, shall we.¡± We both smiled once again and got ready. I prepared technique from Phantom swordsmanship, Phantom shattering. We both ran at each other. Red laser shots were fired from his sword. I waited until they were right before me, and when they were to hit, used blink and appeared before him. With one slash from left to right, I shattered his chest plate. It may look so easily but it is not. Phantom shattering is really just one motion but it uses vibrations and mana on the edge of the blade. Mana works as several tiny blade slashing in random pattern so you cut through anything and vibrations are used to spread the cracks created from it, shattering the object. This technique takes great concentration, mana and is SLOW. You must have constant speed during the slash or else mana on the edge of blade will disappear or vibrations won¡¯t be used for long enough and many more disadvantages. It is strong but easy to dodge, deflect and countered. I could use it because my opponent was exhausted and as we said, that would be our last move so he let it be subconsciously. I was ragged. I was exhausted, hurt, my ribs were damaged and I had many cuts but I won. ¡°You won.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I looked at Azir and his shattered chest plate. As I was looking at the plate, now staring, Azir looked too to see why I was staring so much. Two bulges were there and I mean in plain sight. Nothing wrapped around them. They were small so they could not be seen from the sides due to the armor and I was standing at the front so no one else saw that. That was the first time I saw breasts. Azir was fidgeting but soon, like a mirage bulges disappeared and normal man¡¯s chest appeared. I think I am going mad. I rubbed my eyes and looked once more. Yep, normal man¡¯s chest. I must have been tired and hallucinating from the damage or something. Incidentally, weather never changed during the fight. Soon, the staff came for Azir and they took him away but he turned his head and looked at me with concerned eyes. Was it due to my staring? Probably, let¡¯s leave it at that. He soon disappeared and I was left standing. ¡°Ladies and gentleman, this year¡¯s tournament winner is Risiel, please give him a big applause.¡± Cheers erupted all around me. ¡°As a winner, he can get nobility title from the king, fame, money and prestige but that¡¯s not all, he will get one wish granted. So what will yours wish be?¡± Huh, already? The King won¡¯t give speech or something like that? Not like I care but I wanted to think it through a little more. I still need to get Liz¡¯s engagement canceled but if I would wish for this there would be problems and it¡¯s not like I can say I want to have her as my fianc¨¦ or else I would be killed by someone and I can¡¯t say I want her to choose who she wants to marry. There would be sooooo many problems. The only way is that even though I don¡¯t really want it. Sigh. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°I wish to fight with the president from the Council.¡± Yep, this is the only way. I must make a bet with him. Something like if I win, you will cancel your engagement with Liz and if you win, I will be your slave until the end of my life. So troublesome. Whole stadium was turned silent from loud cheers and commentator stuttered. ¡°D-don¡¯t you want to wish for something else? You can have anything you know. There are man¡­.¡± ¡°SILENCE!¡± Loud shout echoed in the arena. We all looked at the one who shouted. It was the king. ¡°You! Do you truly wish to fight with him?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°So be it. The fight will take place in two hours so you can recuperate. Now everyone, take a break and let¡¯s wait.¡± People started to leave as king said and nobody muttered anything anymore. I was taken by the staff to medical room and I saw Sani lying on the bed, sleeping but with a much healthier face. Lili was sitting next to her holding her hand. I came to them. ¡°I won.¡± I plainly said so. Lili looked at me and with tears and put her head into my chest. I patted her head and smiled. We must have been very loud because Sani woke up and said. ¡°No fair! Let me in too.¡± She pouted and we both were loud, Lili started to cry with happy tears and hugged Sani. Sani started to cry too and they both were hugging each other. I quietly left them alone. It¡¯s not my place to be at right now. I went outside the medical ward but was stopped by a shout. ¡°Wait!¡± I turned around and it was Azir. ¡°Can you go with me?¡± I just nodded. We went outside the stadium to some deserted place. Please, let it be just illusion. With how it goes now it probably weren¡¯t just please, anyone let it be and illusion. ¡°Please, don¡¯t tell it to anyone.¡± My wishes were quickly shattered. Maybe he means something else, yeah let¡¯s stay positive. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You know, about what you saw under my armor.¡± GOD WHY ME! I fell on my knees and started to hit the ground, in my mind that is. I silently murmured ¡°So it wasn¡¯t an illusion.¡± ¡°Ok, I swear I won¡¯t tell anyone, but can you tell me two things?¡± ¡°Ok.¡± ¡°First of all, why are you pretending to be a man and second, what is your name?¡± When I said the second thing, she looked at me with inquisitive gaze. ¡°Well, as a dragon knight, people expect of you to be strong person and what¡¯s more a man. My family is at peak of dragon knights and as an only child, I was expected to become a part of them but because I was born as a woman, I couldn¡¯t become a Dragon knight officially. Because of internal strife my parents would be hard pressed, and so I was supposed to pretend to be a man. While internal strife got bigger, I was sent to this academy to hide me being a woman and show my strength.¡± ¡°I see. And so, what is your name?¡± ¡°Aziria.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a nice name, like a jewel.¡± She smiled and said. ¡°Thank you.¡± I will tell you one thing. Even though she is a woman, she looks like a man because of some illusion or something but being smiled at like that by a man, makes me shudder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell anyone. Anyway, we should go, I still have a fight to win and I¡¯m hungry.¡± We went back and ate something together. Some girls were screaming Kyaa and I was annoyed. Aziria looks like a handsome man so I can understand that by why they must scream Kyaa. We went after this ordeal our separate ways. As I went my way, someone used his hands to blind me and asked. ¡°Guess who?¡± ¡°Liz.¡± ¡°Oh, how boring.¡± ¡°What do you expect from me? I can easily tell such things. I would be ashamed if I couldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I-I see.¡± Another misunderstanding. Dammit! ¡°So, why are you here?¡± I¡¯m stressed a little and I know what she wants so that¡¯s why I sound so offensive. ¡°The wish you stated, that was for me, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°I see.¡± She looked sad for some reason. ¡°Don¡¯t look like that, I had nothing to wish for anyway so I don¡¯t mind using it like that but don¡¯t think it will be so easy. I can get you out of this engagement but you must protect yourself in the future with it. I¡¯m pretty sure your parents will try to find you someone else so you must be prepared. I can¡¯t help you all the time after all.¡± She got more lively and happy. ¡°You¡¯re right. Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just don¡¯t let me worry for you again.¡± She smiled and we had cozy atmosphere around us until we were interrupted. ¡°You, get away from Elizabeth.¡± Yep, stupid Council president. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Just get away from her.¡± I did not move. He stood before us and looked at me with a piercing gaze. He whispered in my ear. ¡°I will crush you and show Elizabeth who is the best.¡± Then he took Liz¡¯s hand and tried to leave with her. ¡°Wait. I need to discuss something with you. I think you will be intrigued.¡± He stopped and turned around. I was still smiling. ¡°And what would that be?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think our fight misses something?¡± ¡°And what would that be?¡± ¡°That is of course prize.¡± He nodded to me. ¡°And what do you think that price would be?¡± ¡°What do you say we would bet something and used Contract scroll to make it official? You have one, right?¡± ¡°I do have one and what would that bet be?¡± ¡°What would you say that if you would win, I would do anything you want and if I would win, you would cancel the engagement with Liz and supported her love life with anyone she would choose in the future. I don¡¯t want you to interfere after all. So what do you say?¡± ¡°Do you think I am stupid?¡± ¡°Why would you be? It¡¯s normal bet and I think you have much more to win than I. After all, you always said I shouldn¡¯t be talking with Liz so if you would win you could make me never to meet with her. ¡± When I said that, glint appeared in his eyes. ¡°Or maybe I could make you my slave for the rest of your life.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± He was taken back. I think you would too if someone would respond like that. ¡°So? Are you in?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a deal.¡± We wrote the contract on the Contract scroll. The Contract scroll makes it so the terms cannot be broken or else bad things would happen. How it works is beyond me. Liz looked at me with concern in her eyes but I was just smiling and let her go while smiling and waving at her. I finally finished everything I wanted and went back to the arena and waited once more. There wasn¡¯t anything fancy with rules, comments and such. They just told us to go into the arena and so we went. No barrier or special stage either. The timer quickly ended and we stepped into the arena. He started to talk with me just when we got in the middle. ¡°I hope you did not forget about our little bet.¡± ¡°I sure didn¡¯t and I hope you neither.¡± I was smiling and it must have looked like I am looking down on him or something because he got angry. I did not even want it but, oh well. ¡°I will show you what true strength is! Don¡¯t think you will get out of here just with light wounds!¡± Huge pressure was released from him and it made me take a step back. Then, he shouted. ¡°Elemental armament: Ice¡± His body released white frozen mist and it started to surround his body, changing to ice armor. It wasn¡¯t see through mind you. It was like crystal filled with light blue fog. It looked like light armor, so it would not hamper his movement but I could tell at the glance that it was much sturdier than it looked. I think it was stronger than steel even though it wasn¡¯t thick at all. Ice armor clad his whole body and it created even the helmet that became part of the chest plate. The whole armor was single object but it did not hamper movement at all and even though the helm was part of the chest plate, it moved like it could go through solid material, like it was made of water. It looks dangerous. ¡°What do you think, huh? This is something you can¡¯t even comprehend right? Should I tell you?¡± God, his act is horrible. ¡°Please do.¡± He had smug look at his face. ¡°Guys who can¡¯t even fuse his own attribute doesn¡¯t need to know!¡± After that, he went at me. An Ice sword appeared in his hand and it almost slashed my neck. I dodged by twisting by head and back. At this opportunity, I tried to kick the sword out of his hand but it was part of his ice gauntlet so it did nothing. It was pointless anyway because he could probably create another one but I wanted to find some weakness. Now I know that physical attacks are useless and I can¡¯t even chip his armor¡¯s durability because he will just fix it. The only way is make him deplete his mana, but he should have 4 times more mana than I have and he is too strong for me to survive with just my body so I will need to use mana to strengthen it. The only way is to attack the thinnest spot consecutively. ¡°Where do you think your going?¡± I was still twisted so I wanted to use him as a jump spot to get some distance but he caught my leg and wanted to stab me. I deflected it with my hand because I couldn¡¯t position Qwiz quickly enough. He smiled after that and I quickly looked at my hand. It was frozen at the spot where I touched the sword. It wasn¡¯t completely but enough to make my whole hand numb. He threw me away and while I was in the air, he just slashed in the air with his sword. No mana was involved or else I would feel it but even so, several icicles were shot from it and I had not enough time to create mana shield to protect me against it and I think it would pierce through it anyway. I used Blink to get out from the predicament but because I wasn¡¯t in the dust like before, he saw it and the same goes with the whole stadium. I used this opportunity to get at his back and with my whole strength and Void blade attacked at the neck. I successfully hit and he staggered due to the impact but he just shook it off. ¡°You little bastard. You will pay for that.¡± God dammit. So Void blade cannot penetrate magic and because he is clad in magic it¡¯s the same as attacking solid material, but I saw I did some damage in that area so if I will attack there some more, it should work, as long as he won¡¯t fix it that is. Icy mist was released from him and it enveloped the whole arena. I waited for what was to happen and when ground started to shake, I jumped into the air. Soon after, icicles appeared under my feet continuously. I dodged with the trick of using mana to blast myself and dodged them until one was about to pierce my head. I used blink again and got behind him but the icy mist was released from him and icicle shards were fired at me. I was hit directly but they weren¡¯t strong enough to give me critical blow so I was pretty okay. ¡°You know what? That technique of yours looks strong but it has many weaknesses. First of all, it doesn¡¯t matter where you transport yourself. I just need to attack the whole place with AoE attack to hit you. Second is, you cannot transport just part of the object or else you would do it from the start. Third of all, you can transfer only yourself and what you hold.¡± I did not think about the last part. But he should be right. It¡¯s not like some portal appears before me anyway. It¡¯s just like I am sucked inside something rather than something appears before me. ¡°I see. Good to know.¡± Whole ground was covered with ice so movement was difficult, for me that is, for him it was like it was normal ground. I had no moves left and could do nothing. Time to use my trump cards. From the ring, I took 5 pills. I made these pills as a trump card for the tournament and that¡¯s why I was looking in the town for herb shop. It feels like ages since then. I gulped them down and my strength increased. The pills I took are much better than potions because their effect is longer and stronger. The pills I took were health, mana, strength, speed and reaction pills. For what I want to do, it will be needed. My wounds healed in the blink of an eye and my mana fully recovered. Icicle shards were flying at me and I dodged them easily with my increased reactions. I used blink but I did not go behind him or even close to him but he still used the AoE attack like before. I was transporting myself left and right and he always did the same because he had no other choice. He probably thought I will run out of mana soon but thanks to the pill, I was full. The effect is nothing to laugh at. Soon, I saw that he released his guard, so i then attack his neck several times until a big crack appeared. I stabbed at the spot and released a wave of mana and it shattered the armor. We were both blown away and I wanted to finish it with one last attack, but the fragments of the armor created a tornado around him and I couldn¡¯t get close even with blink or else I would be shredded to pieces. ¡°You destroyed my armor but don¡¯t think that¡¯s the end.¡± Hundreds of shards were sent against me and several were still around him but I did not care. I concentrated my Void mana into Qwiz and used blink to get behind the wave of shards that was attacking me and before him. Not many shards were around him and so I slashed with my sword and a blade of Void mana was released. It can¡¯t go through magic like through body, but it still went through the shards like butter,but before it could hit him, he used ice wall and completely stopped the attack. ¡°You lost.¡± Or so he said because shards behind me were sent back and I was supposed to be shredded in between them. Well, tough luck because I wasn¡¯t there for quite some time so I could see it clearly. I knew just that wouldn¡¯t defeat him so I waited until he will use the shield or something to stop that and I blinked behind him and readied my next slash with everything I got. ¡°Yeah, you lost.¡± Were the last words he heard before the Void blade cut through him and made him collapse. I collapsed soon after because I was completely drained because the effects of pills ran out some time ago. I was still conscious but really completely drained. I lied at my back and waited for the end. ¡°The special fight ended and to surprise of all of us, the winner is Risel, this year¡¯s champion.¡± There was no applause because everyone was frozen. Noone thought I would win. Because of that there wasn¡¯t many things done for this fight. Murmurs were heard and some said it was planned and such. Such murmurs soon ended with one shout. ¡°SILENCE!¡± Everyone was quite. ¡°Risiel, for your performance not just in the tournament but for this special event, I hereby declare you baron of Munspiel territory. As a noble now, you can choose your surname. Please, tell us.¡± Huh, baron. Me? Ok then. But surname, I can¡¯t think of anything. Let¡¯s just go with what comes first into mind. ¡°I choose Tenebris.¡± ********************************************************************************* After that, not many things happened. I was declared winner of the tournament and 8 of us were chosen as successors for the Council. It was me, Azir, Lili, Sani, Irel, rank 2 and some for some reason the blue haired girl I fought against and some guy I never paid attention too. Mister president was really angry, because at the party that was done for those who participated in the tournament, he canceled his engagement with Liz. She came crying to me and hugged me. We were the same height now. Not like when we first met and I think soon, I will be taller than her. Lili saw us and was really angry, Sani was right next to her so I thought she will just play around with me like always but for some reason, when she looked at me, she blushed and not like always with that playful blush but the same as Lili. It looks like she heard about my match against Azir from Lili and she told how I was angry and depressed after I saw her and what not. I knew she was just kind to me like close friends but now, I think she started to feel something to me. No reason to dwell on it, it will somehow work out. At the party, when they saw us all like that, there were rumors and whispers floating around the whole night but nothing I could not handle until the stupid pampering doting elf king came and wanted everyone to calm down. He stood in the middle of the room and with his royal atmosphere declared. ¡°I hereby announce the engagement of Lilian Fiodora Astaroth and Risiel Tenebrim.¡± The shouting and cramped faces of Sani and Liz were nice to see but the only thing I thought about was, ¡®I hope Alice and Irene won¡¯t hear about it.¡¯ But the rest of the night was nice. The parents pushed their daughters at me and even Liz¡¯s parents wanted her to make her moves at me after her canceled engagement. That did not take long but when she said to her parents with burning fire in her eyes that she won¡¯t let me go, Chills ran my back. The butler that was with the king, was talking with Sani as father and daughter and I could hear. ¡°Don¡¯t lose.¡± And Sani just nodded to him with great vigor. A week of calmness and lazing around came next and Alice was smiling the whole time but her eyes weren¡¯t. She heard about my engagement with Lili but with some talk she calmed down, but just a little. You would never believe how great food can be tasteless when a beautiful girl looks at you with such eyes and smile that could kill. Irene was much better with it because she cried in her home and I had to pet her ears and tail. Yeah, much better. The week went past and we 8 went to the Council building when they told us what is needed of us and how it will work out. In summary, for one year we will be helping out and learning from those of the position we will get after they will pass. I will become president so I ended up with that guy and Lili with Liz. Others had it much better than us because Lili and Liz had a fighting competition of who is better suited. As I looked around at my friends and acquaintances, talking and¡­..arguing, it was like nice picture was before my eyes and I just smiled with my best and true smile. I was soon back from the nice picture because of the voice. ¡°Hey, are you listening?¡± It was the president. ¡°You need to know this or else you will embarrass me as my successor.¡± ¡°Yes, senpai.¡± That¡¯s how this chapter of my life ended and soon, the memories I will forever treasure started. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Yay, finally the end of act 2. Hip hip hurray. Act 3 will be about some funny and great moments and I will probably do some PoV so you could know better about them and they probably won¡¯t be as long as this. I just want some relaxing act before shit happens in act 4. School started for me and with it, not much time for anything else so releases will be when they will be so it can even be 2 in a week or one in 2 months. The ending could have gone better but it would be too long and take too long to write and I really wanted to end this act already. I even wrote 2 and a half times normal amount just for that. Anyway, hope it wasn¡¯t too bad and I hope you all pictured the image of the friend talking in a room, smiling and arguing and just the serene atmosphere. Hope you enjoyed and I hope you enjoyed it as I did. P.S. Thank my PR Tamago-chan for late release. He forgot to send it to me after he was done. PR: Mr.Author is pretty satanist Kappa