《The fight for freedom》


 Arc0 - Prologue (Revamped)

    [The memory of a teacher: Year 542]


    He was a weird boy.


    I remember the first time he was in class. He was quite a cheerful boy. He tried to make friends, even though generally nobody liked him for a reason I couldn¡¯t find out. It didn¡¯t bother him much though, as he kept on trying to make friends.


    But one day¡­ he just¡­ disappeared... I thought he was absent, but then I realized that he WAS in class. Sitting his seat, saying nothing, ignoring the world, and just¡­ reading¡­


    He was there again, the next day.


    And the next.


    And the next.


    Even until the last day of the year, he was never seen to speak to people, and he just ignored everyone, even when I tried to inquire the problem.


    He simply stopped socializing. I was worried of him.


    But as one of the teachers of 400 children, I couldn¡¯t spare time to find out his problem. The year ended, and he disappeared, without coming to class the next year.


    And before I knew it, the memory of him had been removed from me, and I couldn¡¯t find this piece of memory no matter how hard I tried.


    [The memory of his father¡¯s friend: Year 544-546]


    He was a weird boy.


    His father died two years ago from an incurable disease, and while her mother cried beside him, he simply looked at the body silently. He didn¡¯t cry, he didn¡¯t display emotions, he simply looked.


    After the funeral, I visited my friend¡¯s wife, and the whole time I was in her house, I never saw the boy. When I inquired, she looked at me weird, as she thought for a bit, before telling me that he should be in the Library.


    Sadly, the library was closed. He probably locked himself inside. I suppose I should go and find him later.


    This time it was his mother.


    He didn¡¯t even turn up.


    Where is he?


    I ran over to the Library just close by, which was not locked this time, and entered the dark halls. I summoned a light orb, and walked around cautiously, recalling the previous times I came here, the Saint Haven¡¯s General Library.


    On usual days, it would be filled with people, but today, due to the owner¡¯s death, it was closed. Or at least, it was supposed to be closed.


    It didn¡¯t take me long to find him though. Using my mana, I scanned the Library, and found him, under a blanket in the staff room. I half expected to find him quivering in fear, but then I pulled off the blanket, he was¡­


    Reading¡­


    Just reading¡­


    [The boy: Year 546]


    ¡°¡­¡± I ignored the person who pulled off my blanket. It didn¡¯t matter to me. As long as he didn¡¯t take my book¡­


    ¡°HEY!¡± I shouted as the book disappeared, and with a loud bang, it was slammed on the table beside him.


    ¡°Your mother is gone.¡± He simply said, gritting his teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°¡­I see. I did know, I decided not to go.¡± I said sarcastically as I looked into his eyes.


    After half a minute of glaring at me, he sighed and shook his head, ¡°You didn¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I didn¡¯t bother answering.


    ¡°Fair enough.¡± He shrugged, and with a lightning fast motion, grabbed my collar and pulled me away from my sanctuary. I didn¡¯t protest though, letting myself get dragged into the funeral, as the others stopped what they were doing and watched me.


    I shook his hand off myself, as I walked towards my mom. There was little to be said. After a moment of silence, as I gave my silent prayers, I reached over and closed her eyes. ¡°Good night.¡± Following that, I turned, and looked at the man who pulled me out, ¡°So, am I done?¡±


    ¡°Not even close. Your father would me mad at me if he saw me ignoring your pitiful state.¡± Then he gave me a look of disdain, ¡°Are you even aware of how bad you smell?¡±


    I sniffed myself, ¡°It¡¯s definitely isn¡¯t bad.¡±


    He snorted, not even bothering to make further comments on how bad my hygiene is, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to take you in and train you to an acceptable level.¡± He declared.


    And that¡¯s how I became the Apprentice of the legendary gladiator, Drax.


    [Memories of a boy in an orphanage: Year 547]


    She was a weird girl.


    She first joined us at the age of 4, and when we tried to speak to her, all she did was do a weird noise. Later that day, we found out that she couldn¡¯t speak our language.


    We were quite fine with that, after all, we get weird people all the time, like that cat boy last year, and we tried to play with her, but she was not interested in any of the games we play. Like, who hates playing hide and seek?


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Eventually we got tired of her, and decided to ignore her, except Adam. He was always a bully, and he just realized that if the girl couldn¡¯t speak Altean, he could bully her without her ratting out on the caretakers. Of course, we took no part in it, but there was little we could do, as he would bully us as well.


    Now that I think of it, we really were crappy kids.


    It lasted a few weeks, as he bullied her over and over, taking her candy and tripping her whenever he can.


    And suddenly, one day, when he tried to forcefully take her sweets, she pulled out a mix of toys that was tied together. I recognized one if it, a hero toy that will swing his sword down when one pressed the button behind it, and she pressed it.


    And before we could understand what happened, the bully was lying on the ground, crying and nursing his arm, which had a disgusting purple color.


    [Memories of a certain Administrator of an orphanage: Year 546-547]


    She was a weird girl.


    She was found trapped in an abandoned workshop, her supposed parents, the many engineers, were dead when they found her, sitting on a table. She was quickly moved to the orphanage, as her ¡®parents¡¯ were taken care of by the corrupted guards. The workshop is now a brothel for the guards.


    The girl never got along with the other children. Mainly due to her major problem.


    She couldn¡¯t speak Altean.


    When we tried to speak to her, all she spoke was weird grinding noises and screeches. Even our best linguist couldn¡¯t understand what she was speaking, as she did the same screeches over and over. We didn¡¯t know her name, so we simply called her ¡®girl¡¯


    It took us a year to teach her Altean, but by then, she was a social outcast, and nobody wanted to speak to her. Even with Altean, she never gave us her name, again, her name came in a short series of screeches.


    She was sent to the office a few weeks later, supposedly, she had attacked a boy and bruised him badly. As she entered, I saw a weird contraption she was holding. As I pieced the clues together, she simply sat in front of me silently.


    I think¡­ I know someone that will be able to use her well.


    [The girl: Year 547]


    I was sent to the administrator


    The kind woman said that I did something that I shouldn¡¯t have done.


    I wonder why though.


    From what he did, I should have used a sharp rock.


    It felt wrong though.


    Why would THEY want me to kill him though?


    Who were THEY?


    Anyways, as I sat in front of the administrator, he was speaking to the air. I felt magic in the room, but I have no clue what magic it was.


    He told me to wait, and so I did.


    Soon, a woman violently pushed the door open, causing the administrator to sigh. He told me that I¡¯ll be going with her, and she will train me.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked curious, but I didn¡¯t use Altean, instead, I asked with Code01, the most basic of machine language.


    To both mine and the administrator, she replied, ¡°My name is Elanor, I¡¯ll be your master for the following years. Pack up and let¡¯s go now!¡±


    And after half an hour of running to pack my stuff, we finally left for her lab. That was how I became her apprentice.


    At the end of each part, Dusk was 7 years old, while Shiina was 5, just for all of you to know when they started being taught.


    With the revamp, I merged their two lines together, reducing the redundant parts! Also, I''ll fix a few minor, and major, problems in this arc that will contradict what will happen in arc 1!


    Yeah, I really did plan this badly.


    This story was written after reading Mushoku Tensei, Arifureta and Shieldbro! I apologize if I accidentally added stuff that are too similar to these stories! As well as many others! It is likely to be unintentional, and I apologize upfront!


    I will post a revamped chapter once per 2-4 days. For those who think that its too slow, no worries! My break is coming up next week! After a freakin exam!


    Life sucks.


    Again, if I made errors, or if there is anything you don''t like, tell me!


    Written by: 3-5-2015. 10.04, GMT+8.

 Arc0 - Chapter 1 (Revamped)

    ¡°Good morning everyone!¡± The Adventurer¡¯s guild master announced. ¡°As most of you might know, I¡¯m the Adventurer¡¯s guild master over here, and I¡¯ll be briefing you on this mission. As in, the mission of clearing the orc¡¯s nest. That is, unless if you think you are here to knit?¡±


    From beside the adventurer¡¯s guild hall, I sighed.


    A nervous laugh spread through the adventurers, as the guild master nodded, ¡°Ok, since all of you are here, there are few things to tell you, first, your status plate will automatically record of the strength of the orc you killed, and how much damage you dealt to it. Your rewards are based on the kills and the damage dealt, so if you think that taking last hits are profitable. Hah! We got you guys now!¡± He suddenly shouted and laughed, creeping most of the adventurers.


    ¡°Anyways, remember to survive, your families and friends are waiting for you, if you feel that it¡¯s going to be dangerous, flee. Try not to risk death. That¡¯s all! Good luck hunting!¡±


    I scowled at the words. Does anyone even care? If you want them to be safe, why put a momentary reward? Damn those nobles.


    The adventurers cheered and ran off immediately, leaving the Guild master sighing. ¡°Even though I say that, few of them would die, I know that, but I can¡¯t stop them¡­¡±


    I walked out of the shadows, sighing.


    ¡°Well you can¡¯t protect them all, but at the very least help them on the Orc Chief, Dusk.¡± The Guild Leader said, and sat down on a bench nearby.


    I said nothing, and simply walked off, towards the direction of the newbies.


    It had been 10 years since I left the orphanage and lived with the few people in the lab. It was hard training, even though I was a ¡®prodigy¡¯. And finally, I had graduated. Thanks to Elanor, I¡¯m now an adventurer, and as my first mission, I am supposed to join 99 other newbies to clear out an orc village that was too close to human borders.


    At least that¡¯s what the mission note said. Also, I soon found out that I was one of the few that actually read the actual mission notes, as almost all the other newbies were discussing what mission they might get.


    Don¡¯t they read instructions?


    After some time, the adventurer¡¯s guild master came out, and coughed once to get our attention. ¡°Good morning everyone!¡± The Adventurer¡¯s guild master announced. ¡°As most of you might know, I¡¯m the Adventurer¡¯s guild master over here, and I¡¯ll be briefing you on this mission. As in, the mission of clearing the orc¡¯s nest. That is, unless if you think you are here to knit?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Was that an attempt to make a joke?


    Nonetheless, a nervous laugh spread through us.


    The guild master nodded, and continued, ¡°Ok, since all of you are here, there are few things to tell you, first, your status plate will automatically record of the strength of the orc you killed, and how much damage you dealt to it.¡± He paused a while letting the newbies discuss about how they want to steal kills, before interrupting them suddenly. ¡°Your rewards are based on the kills and the damage dealt, so if you think that taking last hits are profitable. Hah! We got you guys now!¡±


    ¡­ I think I¡¯ll stop trying to understand him.


    He was laughing at the shocked newbies, but mostly at their disappointed faces. But what did they expect? We are the newbies, not they. Of course they knew how to counter our petty tricks¡­


    ¡°Anyways, remember to survive, your families and friends are waiting for you, if you feel that it¡¯s going to be dangerous, flee. A veteran will join in midway to assist. Try not to risk death. That¡¯s all! Good luck hunting!¡±


    A veteran? I thought, but before I could further that, the briefing was over, and with that a few people automatically took charge. ¡°Guys, the village is just nearby, follow us to reach it.¡± And following that, he left with most of the others. Seeing no other choice of action, the rest of us followed them.


    It was a boring walk, to sum it up. I stretched my arms, careful not to hit anyone with my huge cannon, which was my final gift from Elanor. Lucky I had my power suit, another gift from Elanor, else I wouldn¡¯t even be able to hold this.


    I miss my master already.


    That stretch though, caught the attention of the girl beside me, who smiled nervously. ¡°Erm¡­ Hi?¡±


    She stood slightly taller to me, but her rack is far larger than my non-existent ones. Damn! She had short red hair, reaching just to her breasts¡­ Damn it! I cursed myself for being distracted by something I didn¡¯t like.


    ¡°¡°It¡¯s your first time as well, right?¡± She asked nervously.


    ¡°This is a quest for first timers.¡± I pointed out, ¡°All of us are newbies.¡± My words caused her to fluster. Hm? Oh, I just made her look like an idiot? ¡°Stay calm, they wouldn¡¯t send us to our deaths as our first mission.¡±


    She seemed flustered¡­ Oh? Did I make her feel stupid? It seems that Elanor was right, I should have come out to speak to people more often¡­ I feel bad for making her feed stupid.


    ¡°Um¡­ Yeah¡­¡± She nodded nervously. ¡°Um¡­ May I ask why you would be an adventurer at such a young age?¡±


    Me? Young? She herself looked 18 like me! Shrugging it off, I replied, ¡°I finished my engineering training, and my master sent me off to get real experience.¡±


    ¡°Ah! Engineer? There isn¡¯t many of them though¡­ In fact¡­ You¡¯re the first one I know¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, my name¡¯s Shiina. 18 this year, what¡¯s yours?¡±


    ¡°Mel, also 18¡­ wait! You¡¯re 18?¡± She leaned forwards.


    I glared at her. Of course I¡¯m 18! But already, she had been distracted my something. She was sniffing¡­ me?


    ¡°You¡­ smell so nice¡­ Can I hug you?¡±


    ¡°Wait! No!¡± I quickly stepped back, holding my cannon between us while we continued walking.


    She tried to get over the cannon though, but we soon stopped to get some rest before the actual raid. I say down, pulling out a metal ball from my pouch, as well as a tablet, a small screen that is like a computer.


    Has anyone here even seen a computer though? Mel herself was confused, and was shocked when the screen suddenly glowed, with the ball expanding into a round duck. It was fully round, with no actual neck, and the body being the head. It had tiny, non-existent wings, but upon activating a function, a rotor appeared, and it flew off.


    I sent it high up, intending to scout, but through my duck, I realized something.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The orc camp was busy, obviously mobilizing for war. And doubtlessly, against us.


    I got up quickly, with Mel suddenly getting knocked to the side, but the leaders of the group had already gotten up and was calling for everyone to get ready. Beside them was a man with a worn out coat, with a blue shirt inside, and a pair of brown pants. He had short dark blue hair, with sharp black eyes, and he was scanning through us. He looked at me, slightly interested, but quickly continued his scan, before finally taking a spot at the wall of shields, pulling out a long, but slim, sword. In his other hand was multiple grey cards, but¡­ what are they?


    After being briefed of the main weapon types, I never seen the ¡®card¡¯.


    There isn¡¯t any time to ponder though. I readied my weapon at higher ground, crouching with the cannon over my shoulder. The tablet on the ground so that I have a bird¡¯s eye view. Mel stood beside me, taking deep breaths.


    We were ready for them.


    A scout ran back into the clearing, shouting, ¡°They¡¯re here!¡± and everyone beside me readied their shields.


    Being the only one without a shield, I seemed to be an obvious weak point, but that is only if the enemy was strong.


    For things like orcs, they stood no chance.


    That was what I was thinking as I cut the wrist of the orc in front of me. The cut opened a huge bloody wound, and the blood splattered on the [Barrier] I created. My sword stabbed through the barrier, into the orc¡¯s heart, and it fell to the ground, dead.


    With a huge series of roars, the orcs charged out of the clearing. Their weapons met our shield wall, and some of the weaker adventurer¡¯s was instantly pushed back. Luckily, with a few warriors behind them attacking the orcs, we managed to hold the wall. Few fell back injured, but nobody died.


    An few orcs charged me, who was at the front, but I quickly cut their ankles, causing them to fall over before killing them. Knowing that I had little strength, Drax, my master, thought me all about weak points. My fighting style includes disabling my enemies before killing them, and for orcs, it was extremely effective.


    They stood no chance agasint me, and any orc charging towards me was quickly butchered. At one point, I stopped using barrier to block the blood. Even if this old coat gets dirty, it doesn¡¯t matter much.


    [Clean] is really a life saver in these cases, although useless in almost every other situation.


    To the sides, sometimes, the orcs will push back some of the people, but often, a rocket will fly and explode into the orcs before they could abuse the breach, and by the time they recovered, the breach will be long since fixed, with the healers healing the shield man rapidly.


    But the rockets seem to be Elanor¡¯s design¡­? I met her a few times in the past, she was quite an annoying person, honestly, but her artifacts were epicly strong. Most of them, she said, were her apprentice¡¯s ideas though.


    There are also arrows and spells flying overhead, smashing into the orc army, and killing them off one by one. The battle continued for some time while we slowly cut down the enemy numbers, someone charged straight towards our shield wall.


    It seemed that the general of this orc army had appeared. He raised a huge axe, and roared at us. Most of the newbies faltered, but thanks to the ranged units, the overall damage we took is minimal.


    I see a two of them losing their lives as the orcs got in lucky hits, and I cursed. I had to do something before more lives are wasted.


    I stepped out of the shield wall, and the person behind me took my place, as I pulled out a grey card. ¡°Deal with the rest of the orcs, I¡¯ll kill this guy.¡±


    The orc general charged at me, swinging his axe, but I swung my sword in a circle, activating my card [Force]. The sword, getting additional force suddenly, sent all of it to the axe, and it flew off the orc¡¯s hands into the other orcs behind him. Before he could understand anything though, I stabbed both its ankles before stabbing its neck.


    It died, just like that.


    ¡°Clear them out.¡± I said, before jumping over the shield back, watching over the battle.


    I helped far more than I should already. It¡¯s up to them at this point.


    For now, let me watch that engineer from afar.


    I was firing shot after shot since the beginning. The orcs, sometimes trying to break through the wall, are my main targets. From this high ground, as well as Ducky¡¯s lock-on system, I won¡¯t miss my shots, and every time the enemy almost broke through, a rocket will fly towards them before they could.


    The general at one point, and the roar stunned most of the defenders. I had 28 shots in my cannon left, and I released the ammo lock, pulling a lever that appeared at the side, which unloaded the cannon of the rockets it had. The rockets flew towards the orcs, and exploded on them. (<Shooting star>)


    Most of the orcs staggered, but a few of them survived, crushing two defenders, with their heads turned into meaty pulp.


    Interesting. So that¡¯s how it looks like inside a human? I only seen machines myself.


    Beside me, Mel covered her mouth with her hand, and looked away.


    The general was dangerous, and I was rapidly reloading my cannon to deal with it, but suddenly, the person in the worn out coat stepped out from the shield line, and faced the general alone. Ignoring most of the orcs that tried to surround him. The general swung an axe at him, but he simply knocked it away with his flimsy sword.


    Strong!


    And in another move, the general crumpled onto the ground, dead.


    With that spectacle, morale returned, and most of us quickly forgotten about the deaths of 2 allies, and the orcs were quickly pushed back even without any more help from the seasoned adventurer.


    He must be the veteran that is supposed to help us anyways.


    With the battle over, a few of the leaders went over to him, speaking to him. He scowled, before shrugging, sitting down beside a nearby tree.


    Is something wrong? The leaders called for everyone, telling all of us to follow them¡­ but¡­ The veteran simply sat at the side, sighing.


    Everyone followed them, all of them including Mel, but I stayed back, facing the man in the worn black coat.

 Arc0 - Chapter 2 (Revamped)

    Not mentioned at all in the story, probably, Dusk is 175cm tall, wearing a very worn and old coat, which is closer to a jacket, with a blue undershirt, brown pants, and leather boots. He has short blue hair, with a regular haircut, and sharp black eyes.


    Being the only two left, we looked at each other silently.


    She looked about 14 years old, standing about 135 cm tall. Her caramel hair reached her shoulder, and she stared at me with her hazel eyes with a questioning look.


    She wore a plain white shirt, with a¡­ full body black jumpsuit inside, as well as blue jeans. Her huge cannon, with a height of 180cm, and a diameter of 0.5 metres stood beside her, but while it seemed heavy, I don¡¯t doubt that she can pick it up quite easily.


    It took quite a while before she asked the question she was holding in. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you going with them?¡±


    Well that¡¯s an interesting question. Should I bother answering her? No, I¡¯m too tired of that. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    She pouted at the words. Of course, I knew why she didn¡¯t follow the rest, and I have little doubt that she knew that I knew. ¡°I was wondering why you didn¡¯t follow them¡­¡±


    I looked over to the direction of the newbies, and sighed. ¡°They want to take the chance to attack while the enemy is evacuating. Since each orc gives monetary rewards, even female orcs, or child orcs, they plan to slaughter them for money.¡±


    She kept silent, and I sighed before continuing, ¡°They¡¯re idiots. Bunch of freakin idiots.¡± Of course, normally, I wouldn¡¯t voice out my opinions. It brings nothing but trouble, but, with only the two of us, I suppose I can share a little.


    ¡°What is your opinion on this?¡± She asked, while crossing her arms, thinking. ¡°If you don¡¯t kill the things they mate with, won¡¯t they just produce more orcs to strike back?¡±


    Girl, that¡¯s a horrible choice of words. ¡°Its personal opinion, but for people unwilling to fight¡­. I won¡¯t fight them¡­¡±


    We silently looked at each other for a bit, before I stretched my arms and stood back up, ¡°I suppose I can take a look at them or something. Actually¡­ what is it?¡±


    She was looking at a flat¡­ thing¡­ of 24x18 cm¡­. is that one of the fabled ¡®tablet¡¯s released by Elanor just recently?


    Anyways, she seemed ot be looking at it in shock? What is on it? I was thinking along those lines as I walked over and took a look. There was a¡­ scene¡­ like a story on it. It showed a scene of those newbies¡­.


    They¡­


    My gods¡­


    How stupid can they be?


    I instantly pulled out a grey card, and  in my fingers, releasing the spell in it, [Haste: Long], on both of us. Haste actually has long term detrimental effects on a person, but, this kind of situation totally warrants the use of this card.


    Orc are famed for their stupidity. They are idiots, overall, according to the opinions of humans. Of course, this is far from right. They are quite smart, in fact, and, due to humans taking over most of their land, they have started to adapt.


    Think of them, as well as elves and dwarves, as humans in various fictions, where they were pushed back due to their weaknesses and adapted.


    Humans really are trash, to force similar races to such a degree. There is little doubt that they will strike back when given time, if situations doesn¡¯t improve.


    Orcs understand little even with boosted intelligence, but if there is one thing they are sure of, its that humans are shitholes that will lie just to get what they want. They have little sense of honor, and would even cheat their own brethren, much less others.


    It is a horrible prejudice, but, it is far from fully wrong. In fact, it is quite close to the truth in many ways.


    Humans are pitiful beings. Just like those in the scene, taking a female orc as hostage. The orc chief wouldn¡¯t stop his attacks with that¡­


    I got close to the village, and I heard screaming. ¡°Tai! NOOOOOOO!¡± It was a girl, which indicated that someone died already. Dammit. I activated another card, [Stop: Wide], and every living being around me, with a range of 70 metres in radius, had their time stopped, including the raging orc chief, the crying newbies, and the rest that are prepared for battle.


    There is no doubt that if I didn¡¯t cut in now, many of these will die.


    I walked over to the orc chief, and stabbed its heart. It broke out the moment I stabbed him, and he glared angrily at me before falling over, dead. I used a card [Dispel], on the hostage, who was miraculously alive. Broken from the time stop, she gratefully ran off. I walked to the side, and waited for a bit.


    As they were released from the time stop, they attacked the dead orc chief, before stopping in confusion. I snorted at them while sitting at the side, and most of them dropped their weapons.


    Some of them started crying. Out of the 99 newbies, there are about 85 or so left. Some of them started crying, but one of them, probably the girl that was screaming just now, walked over. She was furious, and there was tears in her eyes. She pulled her arm back, and swung.


    I said that I won¡¯t fight people who doesn¡¯t want to fight, but, if that person really wanted to, I wouldn¡¯t care if it¡¯s a man, woman, or child.


    The result is her flying away with a [Gravity Blaster]. She coughed blood while lying on the ground, while a red haired girl desperately healed her.


    The newbies glared at me angrily, but I stood up. I let my fighting aura loose, and all of them cowered in fear.


    I took in a deep breath.


    ¡°IDIOTS!¡±


    I entered the village, and heard the veteran shout, ¡°IDIOTS!¡±


    As I reached them, I saw him, seething in rage. A huge pressure gushed out from him, but towards the rest of the people who were all cowering in fear. ¡°I told you guys to get some rest. Some mental preparation before the final battle, but you guys were overcome by greed. The greed that got some of you killed. You charged in, without thinking, all because of your petty greed.¡±


    ¡°I should kill all of you and be done with it. I saw CLEARLY what you all did. If ANY of you had DONE ANY RESEARCH, NONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE DIED!¡± Dusk pointed at the dead adventurers. ¡°But as expected, EVERY YEAR, NOBODY TAKES THIS SERIOUSLY! EVERY YEAR THERE ARE AVOIDABLE DEATHS, BECAUSE ALL OF YOU THINK THAT IT¡¯S A GAME!¡±


    Taking a few breaths, he sighed, ¡°Remember this. Life is not a game. When you do a little less information gathers, or even less training, people die. If you guys had thought up of a plan before running off, on both times, nobody would have died. The mission can be cleared with no deaths with a quarter of your number, but because of a lack of scouting, thinking, AND planning, people die.¡±


    Sheathing his sword, he walked through them, back towards the town, ¡°Clear this mess. I¡¯ll be reporting to the guild. Remember to claim your rewards. The rewards of your fallen will be shared between all of you.¡±


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    That¡¯s when he stopped in front of me. He looked at me, before chuckling a little, ¡°What¡¯s your name, little girl?¡±


    ¡°Shiina, and I¡¯m not a little girl.¡±


    ¡°Dusk.¡± He said briefly, and returned towards the town. I pulled out a first aid kit, and ran towards the demoralized newbie adventurers.


    ¡°[Sacred flames]!¡± Mel was healing a girl, who was lying on the ground unconscious. ¡°Shiina? Where were you?¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked, opening the first aid kit and bandaging a wounded cleric beside me. ¡°Never mind¡­ I can guess.¡±


    I have read reports about humans taking hostages of orcs, elves and dwarves. It never ended up good for the humans. From the 9 corpses, spilt into 2 parts each, I could imagine the whole scene. They probably showed the female orc with the blade on its neck to the orc chief, and, while confident in their victory, the orc female dived towards the ground, breaking free of his grasp, and the chief instantly swung horizontally, killing all of them at once.


    The orc female survived, somehow, since there was no corpse of the hostage.


    Dusk, the veteran, probably let her go after killing the chief. I still don¡¯t understand his reasoning¡­


    ¡°[Sacred flames].¡± She kept on healing the unconscious girl, ¡°He was right¡­ I was thinking of it like¡­ a war game, you know. The kind where children play¡­ But¡­ people die¡­¡± She was teary when she said that, and she wiped her tears away. ¡°I just can¡¯t believe that¡­ the people who was leading us¡­ just died like that¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­They were idiots.¡± I muttered to myself, while sending the cleric I treated away. ¡°His choice was stupid¡­ but¡­ somehow it¡¯s the right one.¡±


    ¡°Did you say something? [Sacred flames]!¡±


    ¡°No¡­ Nothing.¡±


    ¡°14 casualties. 2 at the first battle, 12 at the second because they took a hostage.¡± I said angrily while taking a swig of the ale. Ugh, it doesn¡¯t taste good. I¡¯m not much of a drinker, but the barkeep, Jared, and the guild representative forced it on me.


    Both Jared and the guild representative nodded after hearing the report. ¡°You cut in on the second battle, I suppose?¡± The guild representative asked, me, and I sighed again, ¡°I had to cut in in both battles. They went too close to the orc base before resting, and I had to warn, and help them. How did they even use their scouts? Also, that hostage attempt, ugh.¡± I spat to the side. I was angry at them, but also at myself for not forcefully stopping them.


    I could have done it, but I didn¡¯t.


    Heh.


    Actually, someone like me wouldn¡¯t, and couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°We need to remake those stories where monsters take princesses hostage. They¡¯re a lie. Nobody keeps their promises. Heck, most of the times, the princesses are violated and sold as sex slaves. End of story¡± The guild representative muttered, crossing out the names of the people that hadn¡¯t reported to him today. ¡°Tai. This guy is dead?¡±


    ¡°Confirmed, I think. Not sure if that¡¯s the name, but I think it was his girlfriend attacked me after the battle.¡±


    ¡°Sad. He¡¯s the son of a knight. Son of a knight. Gods, even someone like that is willing to do such a rotten thing?¡± He said, a little shocked, and I snorted at him. ¡°Most of the times, the children of thieves has better morals than these crap.¡±


    ¡°True. One¡¯s father being a good person doesn¡¯t mean that he is good himself.¡± Jared said, walking back after tending to another customer. ¡°By the way, Dusk, isn¡¯t it the time of the year already?¡±


    I checked the date, and sighed. ¡°It definitely is. Dammit. I¡¯ll have to get going tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t even stop them. Nobody could.¡± The guild representative said with a resigned tone. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m sure that there are assassins coming over now.¡±


    ¡°Not far from the truth.¡± Jared nodded. ¡°You better leave tonight.¡±


    ¡°Heh. This world is utterly corrupted. Last drink of my life! Come on, Dusk, get one as well!¡± He handed me a mug of ale, and after clinking them together, we took them in one swig.


    Ugh, bitter. I hate this.


    ¡°Ahahahahahahaha.¡± The barkeep, Jared, laughed at me. ¡°It was nice meeting you.¡±


    The guild representative smiled at both of us, before leaving silently. Jared sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll see his body within a week. He wouldn¡¯t be able to fight all of them.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°The culling event, huh. I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s here again. It was also a miracle that you survived yours.¡±


    I grinned wryly at his words, and muttered softly, loud enough for him to hear, ¡°It was no surprise.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°It was no surprise that I survived. After all, who was the person who had gone against them last time?¡± I smiled, recalling the memories, ¡°I¡¯m heading off to sleep.¡±


    ¡°¡­Take care, you know.¡±


    ¡°Yeah...¡±


    ¡°So what did you feel when they died?¡± Elanor said after laughing.


    ¡°Sad? I don¡¯t really know¡­ I think I should feel sad¡­ but I don¡¯t really¡­¡± I sighed. ¡°It feels worse when Ducky got damaged compared to them dying¡­¡±


    ¡°Ahahahahahaha!¡± Elanor laughed again, before continuing, ¡°No worries, that just means that you¡¯re a true engineer. Well, you will find someone worth worrying over at one point. You¡¯re 18 already, although you still look like a 14 year old girl.¡±


    ¡°Uuuuu¡­. I¡¯m not that small!¡± I cried out, and she laughed. ¡°I¡¯m¡­. just¡­¡±


    ¡°Small. I know. But you¡¯re still growing though¡­ even after 18 years old¡­ maybe one day you can be a fine woman.¡± She said, and laughed again.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t mock me like this¡­¡±


    ¡°Back to the point, you said that you received orders from the guild to go to Ostmont?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it was like a raid, in fact, there are many others also chosen for the quest.¡± I spoke, reading through the notice, ¡°There isn¡¯t much said here, except that it will be a raid of at least a thousand people.¡±


    ¡°¡­bad¡­Ok. You said that the veteran supervisor is called Dusk? I¡¯ll contact him. He¡¯ll bring you to Ostmont tomorrow morning. Okay?¡±


    ¡°Eh? Erm¡­ I think I can go alone? I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll like me bothering him¡­¡±


    ¡°Hell no, you¡¯re going with him. If he doesn¡¯t want to go with you, show him your tablet. Give him the library.¡± Elanor said sternly. ¡°It¡¯s an order. Go with him.¡±


    ¡°Ok¡­ but is it fine to show him the library?¡±


    ¡°Of course, he owns the library. Oops. I don¡¯t think I should have said that so proudly.¡± Elanor laughed again. ¡°Go with him, he can help you. And, if you are in danger, send me an emergency signal, I¡¯ll mobilize every single engineer in the world. Ok, good night, you need to wake up early tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°Wait! Are you serious!?¡± I shouted, but she already disconnected. ¡°I guess¡­ I¡¯ll go to sleep now¡­ So tired¡­¡± I slumped on my bed without removing my armor, and slept instantly.

 Arc0 - Chapter 3 (Revamped)

    Fixed a few contradictions, and added extra interactions between characters. Enjoy.


    ¡°Bring a girl called Shiina along with me to Ostmont. Are you serious? She got chosen¡­? Dammit. Even¡­ even if you had expected it, damn it. Was it your plan all along?¡±


    After terminating the telepathy signal from Elanor, I sighed. I don¡¯t know the girl well, only speaking to her for a short while, but, if it¡¯s a girl trained by Elanor, she would end up excellent.


    Elanor, after all, had made a vow long ago to never take up an apprentice.


    But this ruined the timing all the current plans¡­ Not to mention, I can¡¯t let Elanor attack yet¡­ It isn¡¯t worth losing our strongest strike force¡­


    No doubt she had planned all of this. She definitely could have stalled all of this for 4 years, but she forced all of us to rush ahead by rushing me. I¡¯m sure that she has a plan of some sort, or she is betraying all of us.


    It seems that all I can do now is to trust her.


    With a sigh, I went down to the stables, and waited.


    She arrived about 30 minutes later, on a horse. Behind her was a mechanical round ball thing with a duck bill, and wings, and duck¡¯s legs. And it has eyes.


    And the eyes are looking around. I don¡¯t get spooked often nowadays¡­ but that is actually creepy.


    ¡°Erm¡­ Hi?¡± She asked, stopping a bit away from me. I simply nodded and got on my horse. ¡°We¡¯re going to Ostmont. Let¡¯s not waste time. We can reach in 2 days if your horse is fast enough.¡± And the horse started a steady lope, while Shiina¡¯s horse and pack horse followed along.


    We left the village silently, heading towards Ostmont. Behind me, she seemed to want to ask me a question, but I ignored her dilemma for a whole 2 hours, before she finally gathered the courage to ask me. ¡°Erm¡­ Are you fine with Elanor pushing you to escort me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m assigned to the same mission overall, so I need to go there anyways. I¡¯m more surprised that you are chosen. Didn¡¯t you just apply to be an adventurer 2 days before?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ yes¡­ I¡¯m also wondering about it.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Should I tell her about it?


    No. She might run, and that¡¯s more of a death sentence. The assassins will hunt her down instantly, and with her experience, she won¡¯t last half a day.


    At least if I keep her close I can protect her. I¡¯m sure a few people started fleeing already, and the clearing squad is probably sent out to ¡®clear them out¡¯.


    That includes the guild representative. Not even he has the confidence to survive for long.


    Ugh.


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± She asked, but I shook my head without turning back, ¡°Nothing.¡±


    ¡°Nothing at all.¡±


    I ended up getting worried of his words, and activated Ducky, sending him flying up. Ducky had been with me for a long time. I made it on my 3rd year with Elanor, although he wasn¡¯t this advanced initially, it was the gradual improvements over the years that made it how it is now.


    Dusk turned back as Ducky flew up, and stared at it for a while. ¡°Is there a problem?¡±


    ¡°Is that¡­ a¡­ what does Elanor call it again?¡±


    ¡°Machine? Or Robot?¡±


    ¡°The first one. Is that one of it?¡± He was still looking up while his horse cantered along.


    ¡°It is, I made it a long time ago. Its name is Ducky!¡± I said proudly, expecting to get praised, before realizing that he probably didn¡¯t know how good achievement is. Surprisingly, he nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ really good¡­ And the tablet as well? You made it yourself?¡±


    ¡°Nn!¡± I nodded happily. It feels nice to have people being impressed at you. Then I realized that he was still looking at Ducky, ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ I just thought of something¡­¡± He said, pulling a nib (or dip pen) and a notebook, and prepared to write. ¡°I should really get one of Elanor¡¯s pens¡­ Wait, you should have one?¡± He suddenly asked just before he dipped the nib into an inkwell. I nodded, pulling out a ballpoint pen, one of my inventions a few years back, and handed it over.


    ¡°Perfect!¡± He started writing on the notebook a lot of words as well as a complicated diagram. ¡°Yes¡­ Yes¡­ this will work.¡±


    I silently watched him while he wrote, but after about half an hour, his head perked up and he pulled out a card. Looking through the tablet, I finally realized that there were goblins all around us. One of them jumped out before I can get out my cannon, but the card in Dusk¡¯s fingers burnt.


    Then he tapped me in the shoulder, ¡°Wake up. Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°EH??¡± My mind was blank. Just a moment ago, he was on his horse, but now, he was standing on the ground, tapping my shoulder. ¡°Wait! What happened?¡±


    ¡°Go, go, go! We have little time!¡± He got on his horse who cantered away, and both my horses followed him. After a bit, I could see from Ducky¡¯s camera, the goblin regained its motion, and it swung the air, falling to the ground with the lack of resistance.


    ¡°That is the time spell, Stop. I had to clear the effects with a Time Fix spell.¡± He said, returning to his writing, ¡°Sometimes I would use Haste, if the enemy is strong, but a Stop is more effective in most cases. Also, use your duck better, I¡¯m occupied here.¡±


    Sorry, but you yourself are quite irresponsible yourself, suddenly writing stuff while travelling¡­


    As if knowing what I¡¯m thinking, he smiled, ¡°I got us out of that situation. Would you prefer your head getting bashed? Now be a good girl and do what I said.¡±


    I can¡¯t refute that, but¡­ that sounds so horrible. I hope that everyone isn¡¯t like that¡­ Well, Mel seemed quite nice.


    He continued writing for about 3 hours, before calling us to stop for lunch. He took out a few utensils, before turning towards me, ¡°Can you cook?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ Elanor taught me a little¡­¡±


    ¡°Probably still better than me. I¡¯ll get some meat.¡± He said, walking into the woods while I prepared. Elanor taught me a little because ¡®girls need to know how to cook, else you can¡¯t get boys¡¯.


    I refused, since the males at the workshops were¡­ bad? I didn¡¯t like them. Even so, she ignored my wishes and forced me to learn this. Luckily, I was thought to cook without a stove, although it¡¯s much easier overall with Elanor¡¯s appliances.


    He returned soon, with a dark rabbit, which I cooked. It smelled and tasted¡­ quite nice? Dusk seemed to like it a lot though, as he threw out comments on how delicious it was, ¡°Damn, this is so good. I¡¯ll clean up, get ready to go.¡± He piled all the plates and the frying pan I used, and activated a blue card. It burnt out, and the dishes as well as frying pan was cleaned.


    What spell was that??? That¡¯s¡­ so convenient¡­ why doesn¡¯t Elanor have any of those cards?


    ¡°Come on, aren¡¯t you ready yet?¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± I sent Ducky to fly again, and got on the horse, which followed along behind Dusk. ¡°What is that spell?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a unique water spell called ¡®Clean¡¯.¡± And, while he seemed to want to say something, I ignored it and cut him off.


    ¡°Please teach me how to cast it!¡±


    ¡°I refuse. It¡¯s too troublesome to teach you, even if I can.¡± He said, scanning the area while still on the horse.


    ¡°Eh? Don¡¯t you just need to teach me the incantation?¡±


    That¡¯s then he threw a card that hit my face.


    <Shield health: 11502/11600>


    That took out 98 of my shield¡¯s health!


    The blue card has a strange drawing on it, consisting of various shapes and words. ¡°This is?¡±


    ¡°A spell card of ¡®Clean¡¯.¡± Ah, so that¡¯s what it is, no wonder I don¡¯t understand anything. What the hell is a spell card¡­ Oh! Elanor shown me a card about 4 years ago! It was a red card similar to this, and when used, it will fire a constant stream of fire for a few minutes before burning out!


    ¡°EEHHH??? You are the creator of these cards?¡±


    He looked at me with a wondering face, before cursing slightly, ¡°Elanor. Dammit. When did she? Meh, too lazy to care. Yes, I am.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡± Elanor told me that the person who made that card researched for about 8 years on these cards, about 4 years ago. By now, it would be 12 years? I have no doubt that it was some knowledge precious to him¡­


    Then¡­ Wait¡­ Elanor said that he will be interested with the Library, right? ¡°Erm¡­ Dusk, if I let you use the tablet for a bit, can you give me some of these cards?¡±


    He turned back, looking at me with his piercing eyes, ¡°Elanor probably has something to bargain with me, huh? What is it?¡±


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°Erm¡­ a copy of all the books in Ostmont library since 2 years ago.¡±


    That¡¯s when he emitted a huge amount of pressure, directed at me. Was I wrong? Should I have used it as a last resort instead of my greed? But¡­ those cards are¡­.


    I blacked out.


    ¡°Did I overdo it? Damn that Elanor.¡±


    Elanor is just as bad as that ass of a spymaster. I can¡¯t remember his name, not that I really care anyways. That woman has been secretly doing that many stuff behind me. Such an infuriating woman, she should just die.


    I don¡¯t deny that she makes really good machines though. The pen works wonders. Even so, sneaking into the library and getting copies of the books, I have no clue how she did it, but that is a really good job. I took the tablet from Shiina¡¯s unconscious body while positioning her so that she won¡¯t fall, and then held the black side of the tablet in front of me.


    How do I activate this again? ¡°Open.¡± Nope. ¡°Open (magic language)¡± Still not right. Damn.


    That¡¯s when the screen blinked open, the words ¡®Do you want a basic tutorial on how to use this tablet, Dusk?¡¯ appeared on the screen.


    Elanor is surprisingly considerate. Or is it Shiina who is considerate? Very well, I will gladly take this gift. ¡°Huhuhuehehahahahahahahaha!¡±


    Luckily, Shiina was totally out, else it would have been awkward.


    Not that I care. It had been about 12 years since I have read these books¡­12 years huh¡­ It really had been a long time¡­ Drax¡­


    I woke up.


    It was already night time though, and in front of me was a plate of roasted meat. I took a warm chunk with my hand and bit into it.


    Could use some salt.


    Dusk was at the side, reading through my tablet.


    Ah. My tablet. Is he sti- gufu-!


    I accidently choked on the chunk of meat as I was thinking, and Dusk got up and walked over without looking, slapping my back. ¡°Careful.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ Sorry.¡±


    He shook his head, and sat down beside me. He was reading through the books at an extreme speed, flipping though pages after pages and finishing a book within an hour. ¡°Your food is getting cold.¡±


    I took another piece of meat and chewed on it.


    It¡¯s hard, and it needs salt.


    He kept on reading for some time, even after I retired for the night, and after I woke up. He hadn¡¯t moved at all, but there were a few corpses of various monsters around us.


    Even when occupied, he can still sense monsters and fight them without moving. What a stupidly epic guy.


    Or is it normal around here? I can¡¯t live in this world, he makes no sense at all.


    I took the next shift, but he was sitting there reading all the time, and from what I see, he has no plans to get any rest. I activated Ducky, who had been charging up for the past 2 hours, and sent it up. While fully charged, it can fly for 8 hours straight before running out of the primary battery.


    Ducky has 3 batteries, a primary one, which is used while scouting, a war battery, with more power for battles, and it has more capacity compared to the primary battery, but with the huge consumption, it can barely last 3 hours. The final one is an emergency battery, which, funnily, has more overall power than both batteries, but couldn¡¯t be recharged, as it comes in the form of crystalized electricity.


    I recorded various scenes while flying it around, watching through them through a screen in my cannon. Elanor tried to add this function to my power suit, but she didn¡¯t have the capability for that, so instead it ended up in my cannon. Through the many types of cameras, I scanned the area for monsters.


    As long as we take care of goblins, orcs or other humans, we will be safe, although after Dusk brutally murdered that many monsters, they started to avoid the area. But, after a few hours in, I randomly decided to check the ¡®Mana Concentration Vision¡¯, and ended up seeing a huge mass of mana, with a concentration of 8, moving towards the north. With the path they are taking, they won¡¯t reach out camp, but¡­ what is that? That amount of mana is huge! It is almost a tiny dragon!


    But I couldn¡¯t see any more useful information through the other visions; there was nothing except for movement using night vision, and using heat vision, there is only a huge mass of heat.


    In the end, with no worthwhile information gotten, I gave up, and the night passed slowly with the occasional swipes of Dusk¡¯s finger over my tablet.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to go.¡± I said, getting up and onto my horse. Since I hadn¡¯t set up my tent at all, there was nothing to be stored, and I had cleaned up my dish, as well as the frying pan, yesterday night. So there is nothing left. Oh, except for this plate. Thanks¡­Erm¡­


    Anyways¡­ It was time to go to Ostmont. I continued leading us along the path, while still reading. I really should get some sleep soon, but 12 years is enough for books to stockpile¡­


    ¡°Dusk! Orcs!¡±


    ¡°[Haste]¡± I pulled out a spell card and activated it. Instantly, everything around us slowed down, and we ran along at the same speed, while the orcs swung at nothing behind us.


    How convenient. Of course, it wasn¡¯t what I said when I was inventing this spell, but those 5 years of research was worth it.


    We reached Ostmont by evening, and after showing the guards our entry pass, we were allowed into the huge city.


    As usual, Ostmont is over extravagant. The huge castle is all but necessary, and same goes for the church at the side. I entered both buildings before, and they were so empty, not because there wasn¡¯t people, but because it was so huge that it will take the whole city¡¯s residents to fill it up.


    Not that there are many residents left¡­ It¡¯s mostly adventurers and nobles now¡­


    I brought¡­ her¡­ to the adventurer¡¯s guild, and after leaving the horses at the stables, we entered the guild hall. Comapred to the castle or the church, this place was extremely packed. We walked through the crowd, with¡­ the girl¡­ holding the sleeve of my jacket, and we reached the receptionist.


    ¡°Dusk and ¡­¡± Taking the chance, I looked at the quest notice I was holding, ¡°Shiina. Reporting for duty.¡±


    The receptionist checked through the list and nodded, ¡°Understood. Shiina, your briefing will be in 5 days. Dusk, your briefing is in 6. Any questions?¡±


    ¡°Why are our dates different?¡± Shiina asked, standing in tiptoes just to look over the counter. ¡°I thought we were on the same quest?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, you are, but Shiina is on group one, while Dusk on group two. Both groups has different tasks, although you will be tackling the same quest. Was that clear?¡±


    ¡°Oh. Ok.¡± She said, her face revealing the confusion in her, but still, she nodded. Since there was nothing left to do here, we retrieved our horses.


    It was night already, and looking at the gibbous moon, I sighed. It was far too late for Shiina to get a room at this time, not to mention, it is more than likely that all inns are already full. Shiina probably didn¡¯t notice, but I saw the adventurers camping outside.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have anywhere to stay, right?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ I can get a room at the inn?¡± As expected, she didn¡¯t.


    ¡°There won¡¯t be any rooms left. Just take a room at my home.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Okay?¡± Shouldn¡¯t you be a little more worried? I¡¯m nervous of inviting a girl into my home! Even so, she followed me through the streets, to the library. Beside the library was a mansion, one that is quite large, yet empty. The torches around the house were lit, even when there was no ounce of life inside, and when we entered (after leaving our horses in the stables), I lighted the lamps. Although there seemed to be nobody living here, there was no dust at all, and the room had been aired out just recently.


    That can only be explained by one person.


    ¡°She¡¯s still here huh.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Well, you can take any room that isn¡¯t marked ¡®occupied¡¯.¡± I said, pointing towards upstairs. ¡°Just be careful of the devil, she would probably wake you up in the middle of the night and do something horrible for you.¡±


    I laughed internally while she was frozen, and taking that chance, I rushed up to my room. She was still frozen in thought, or perhaps fear, when I entered the room.

 Arc0 - Chapter 4 (Revamped)

    What the hell did he even mean¡­? I feel¡­ scared¡­ it¡¯s like someone is watching me now¡­ Hey¡­. He was joking, right? Ghosts don¡¯t exist, right?


    Oh, wait. They do. There¡¯s even a whole book on it.


    Even so¡­ I cautiously returned to the stables. From there, I activated the only machine the packhorse was holding. It expanded, and the shape changed, turning into a golem. A human shaped bronze looking golem. Of course, it wasn¡¯t exactly bronze, but a unique alloy that is much more durable and heat resistant. Well, it would be called a bronze golem either ways.


    The moment it, Alferdo, finished transforming, it started to move all my stuff into a crate. Since it would follow me when it¡¯s done, I returned to the house, remembering to command Alferdo to lock the door when he comes in. With that settled, I went upstairs, choosing the first room that isn¡¯t ¡®occupied¡¯.


    The first room was occupied by Dusk, the next was a person called ¡®Alice¡¯. I don¡¯t know who that is though.


    I sat on the bed in the room. I was honestly surprised. I never knew that Dusk was this rich, to have such a huge mansion as his home. Not to mention, isn¡¯t this a little too¡­ lavish? I think? He doesn¡¯t seem to be that kind of guy though.


    ¡°But the devil¡­ What, or who, did he mean?¡±


    ¡°Me, of course.¡± Said a woman with black hair tied in a ponytail. She wore a maid outfit, and was smiling at me. ¡°You have a surprisingly nice scent¡­ and your age¡­ yes, you¡¯ll do, you¡¯ll do well indeed.¡±


    ¡°Wait? What! No! What are you dooooiiinnnngggg???¡±


    From my room, I heard the scream. I am not surprised at all.


    ¡°Good morning, Shiina.¡±


    ¡°Uu¡­.¡± I wanted to cry. I couldn¡¯t understand what happened last night. It was incomprehensible, but the results were obvious. Now, I was lying on a bed, fitted in an unpractical frilly princess outfit, and the maid, the devil, Alice, was nodding happily.


    ¡°Why¡­?¡± I groaned, glaring at Alferdo. What a traitor. The moment he saw Alice violating me (not sexually), he hid in a corner and shut himself down. What a jackass. I didn¡¯t even give him that function!


    I suppose it¡¯s my fault that I gave him 15% overall control. He must have took over at that point. Since its usually dangerous to give an AI 100% control, normally, Elanor would limit the AIs at 0% to 10%, but I increased Alferdo¡¯s control to 15%... He was my creation¡­ I wanted to trust him¡­


    I was betrayed.


    Alice, while setting my breakfast on a tray on me as I lied on the bed, spoke, ¡°So, today! You are taking the same mission as Dusk, right?¡±


    ¡°Erm. Yes. But in a different group.¡±


    ¡°Good enough. I¡¯m bringing you to get some essentials. And some information.¡±


    Essentials¡­ Food? And information. Information rarely hurts¡­ and there is something suspicious going on¡­


    ¡°Since you have a good magic bag already, we could skip on that somewhat. Please finish your breakfast while I make some additional preparations.¡±


    Additional preparations? Oh I don¡¯t care anymore, this is really really good¡­ I didn¡¯t expect this¡­ But then, she is a maid¡­


    ¡°So, how is she?¡± I asked, finishing up my breakfast. ¡°Elanor¡¯s only disciple.¡±


    ¡°Perfect, and more! She emits this¡­ addicting scent¡­ I want to make love with her¡­¡±


    ¡±Alice¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh Sorry. I mean, she seems really good. Her golem could even fell fear when it faced me!¡±


    I nodded. I hadn¡¯t seen the golem, but Elanor told me about it. She had made the golem all by herself over 6 years, and it is one of the top machines ever made, even among Elanor¡¯s own creations. ¡°Well, I need to get going now. I need to meet¡­ the Spymaster.¡±


    ¡°John.¡±


    ¡°Yes, him. Thanks, Alice, for helping¡­ her.¡± I coughed midway, covering up my pause, but she saw through it perfectly.


    ¡°It¡¯s Shiina. Isn¡¯t it just one night?¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry.¡±


    I left the house, leaving Shiina to Alice. I suppose that would make me irresponsible, but I didn¡¯t have time to spare on her.


    She returned just as I was done, and quickly cleaned up.


    ¡°Please get ready, we are going out soon.¡±


    ¡°Erm. I need to go to the engineer¡¯s guild¡­ so¡­ do you think I can change out of this?¡±


    Alice frowned a bit, before starting to chuckle. No, please. Don¡¯t tell me you are¡­.


    I beg you. Please don¡¯t.


    My pleas were ignored. This time, I was given a white, long sleeved shirt, and a pair of brown trousers. It also came with leather boots and gloves.


    Sorry. That is my normal outfit, not a special one. She just forced it onto me. I want to cry.


    At least, after that is done, we could finally do whatever she wanted to do. Of course, I had Alferdo gather the stuff I need later, and put him on hold, before going out with Alice.


    We went to the Ostmont market¡­ it was huge, to say the least. Ostmont was the capital, but it was also closest to the mountains and volcanos to the north, the home of many monsters. It is said that the weakest monsters there are beyond S ranked. The closer it is to Ostmont, the weaker the monsters are, and hence, this is a great spot for both beginning adventurers and veteran adventurers.


    It also houses the royal palace, and the church. Elanor often speaks of both of them very badly though, and told me not to trust anyone from there.


    Even now, there is a huge wave of adventurers walking around in the market. With Alice dragging me along, we went deeper and deeper, before stopping in front of a huge store. It was a general store, a huge one, almost as large as Elanor¡¯s secondary workshops. It has a total of 5 floors, and Alice dragged me through them, stopping in front of a room in the top floor.


    No, she didn¡¯t stop, she simply kicked open the door and entered.


    The door, surprisingly, didn¡¯t fly off. It seems that it is actually a pushing door, which has no knob. I have a feeling that it used to have one¡­ I could see it, the wall had been fixed once¡­


    ¡°Devil, what is it this time?¡± We entered an office, and there was a person behind the desk in front of us. He had been doing some writing, but when Alice came in, he facepalmed. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you finally lost it and abducted a girl this time.¡±


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°Not really, Orwen. The plan is going on this time. This girl needs supplies, food, water, emergency rations. You have a first aid kit of your own, right?¡±


    The last part was directed towards me, and I nodded.


    ¡°She even has a magic bag with 24 times the size.


    ¡°They¡¯re sending even kids now? Damn.¡± Orwen winced. Wait! They are talking about me? ¡°I¡¯m not a kid!¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Sorry.¡± Orwen muttered, walking to the cupboard to the side, ¡°Highest quality food. Check. Water pouch, check. Emergency rations, check. She needs general adventurer¡¯s supplies, right?¡± He returned with 4 small boxes, and he set them on the desk.


    ¡°The food will last you at least 5 days. All precooked, just heat them up. The water pouch will keep the water fresh, and even clean up dirty water. Leaving it exposed in the rain works as well, and in emergency situations, just pour mana into the pouch. The rations will last at least a month in total, just remember to control yourself.¡±


    As he gave me the instructions, he passed the boxes over to me, which I stored in my backpack.


    ¡°The kit has many things, including torches, antidotes, a rope, a few traps for hunting too. There is also a map, if you need it. Worse comes to worst, there is a full heal potion, which is expensive as hell.¡±


    ¡°Erm. Thanks!¡± I bowed, and he smiled, ¡°No worries, it has all been paid for, so thank her instead.¡± HE gestured to Alice, who looked at me expectantly.


    Sorry. I don¡¯t want to thank her.


    Alice sighed, but since I had no intentions to really thank her, she simply pouted. ¡°Remember to check over the stuff before you actually start the mission. Orwen might be careless. Anyways, we¡¯re done here, so you go to the engineer¡¯s guild.¡±


    ¡°Erm. Thanks¡­¡± I scratched my cheek, and Alice brightened up.


    ¡°Aw¡­ So cute¡­¡±


    ¡°Alice, restrain yourself.¡± Orwen said while I fled. Alice stayed back, probably to talk about something else, but I didn¡¯t stay around to listen. I quickly sent an order to Alferdo to bring my stuff, and Ducky to scout. Using my tablet and Ducky, I ran over the engineer¡¯s guild.


    ¡°I¡¯m coming in.¡± I muttered, entering the crime scene. I was in a shop, and everything inside was scattered on the ground. It seemed that someone was looking for something, or just wanted to destroy the items in the shop. Even all the furniture was destroyed, except for the counter, which was open and empty. There was also the corpse of the shopkeeper, lying face down at the side.


    I walked over to the corpse, touching the arm. It was still warm. Good, good¡­


    I kicked the corpse.


    It slowly turned around, looking at me with a tired face. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°I want to meet the master.¡±


    He continued looking at me blankly, while I used the little mana I had to create a stone pillar. Well, even if I have little mana, this much is easy for me. I calmly sat down on the chair I made, and waited.


    Finally, the corpse replied, ¡°That¡¯s too much work. Go find him yourself.¡±


    I stood up calmly.


    And kicked the corpse again. The ¡®gufu¡¯ sound he is giving sounds so nice.


    ¡°I¡¯m here, I¡¯m here. Oh, it¡¯s you.¡± An 11 year old boy said as he walked in. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect you to come here first.¡±


    When one thinks of a Royal spymaster, one would think of a noble in an office gathering info from various subordinates, or even an assassin running around gathering info themselves.


    Both assumptions, while plausible, is utterly wrong.


    The boy in front of him was barely 11, had brown spiky hair, wearing ragged, old and patched clothes. He lives in the slums and is addicted to candy. Using his ability to run, he would always manage to skip his chores, and add the fact that he¡¯s an asshole to everyone in the slums, he¡¯s quite famous.


    He¡¯s a kid.


    That¡¯s the Royal Spymaster.


    ¡°Elanor is rushing the plans.¡±


    He shrugged when I said that though, and sat on the corpse, facing me. ¡°Naturally. What did you expect of her? At least the girl is cute, right? Right?¡±


    I sighed, ¡°So what now? I have to save the girl, right?¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like we have a choice. I¡¯ll try to stall their assassins, but that¡¯s the best we can do.¡± He said, shrugging again. ¡°It¡¯ll be bad to lose you¡­ but if we fight them head on¡­¡±


    ¡°We will lose. It¡¯s basically our small group fighting all the humans.¡±


    The boy laughed. ¡°Not all, but a lot. Every noble and all families under them only. That¡¯s about 95% of the humans.¡±


    ¡°So, I save her, bring her to Alice, and run like hell towards the Red Zone?¡±


    ¡°I would help you, but we¡¯re so severely outnumbered¡­ Sorry. I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡±


    I laughed wryly, ¡°Too valuable of a chess piece huh? The Queen? Well, there are pawns that can replace me.¡±


    He looked to the side, ¡°No¡­ you are unreplaceable¡­ dammit. But Elanor is right, stalling for 4 more years is not possible. They are targeting even the Shadows.¡±


    The Shadows, the spymaster¡¯s personal strike force. There are about 70 of them in total, each of them strong in their own jobs, not just assassinating. Even the corpse is an official shadow, being the body guard of the spymaster.


    Not that he needs one.


    ¡°Then¡­ I suppose it¡¯s my job. Do you think that was what Drax was thinking then?¡±


    ¡°Heh, not really. In your case, he just didn¡¯t want you to die, you know. You were his kid, naturally he would want to protect you.¡±


    ¡°I suppose it seems so¡­ Well. I guess I will get going¡­¡± I got up, reabsorbing the mana from the stone pillar, which disappeared. Only got 10% of the mana used back, which sucks.


    ¡°Sorry, Dusk.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t go down without a fight. At the very least, I¡¯ll give them a bloody nose, if only for Drax.¡±

 Arc0 - Chapter 5 (Revamped)

    After leaving the shop, I headed towards another one through the back streets. This time, with a notebook with me, I plan to make some new cards.


    I see Ducky high up in the sky. It seems that¡­ the girl¡­ Shiina? Well, Alice is doing her job, at least.


    After many twist and turns, I finally stopped in front of a weird shop. Compared to all the buildings, it was out of place. It looked like a house from the marshes to the south, moved to the city. I walked over, and knocked the door.


    The door flew open, and a gigantic arm appeared, grabbing me and pulling me inside, before the door slammed with a loud bang.


    ¡°¡­So this time it¡¯s giant hands? I¡¯m a little disappointed.¡±


    ¡°Huhuhuhu¡­¡± The old lady, the owner of the magical store, also a master in alchemy, chucked, ¡°How was it?¡±


    ¡°The dragon claw was still more effective. I¡¯m sure that if you use it, nobody would ever come to your store, ever.¡±


    ¡°Dragon claw? The one that cut you up and left you crying your eyes out, saying ¡®I¡¯m dreaming, I¡¯m dreaming¡¯ over and over until Drax came? I can¡¯t remember already.¡±


    ¡°DIDN¡¯T YOU JUST PERFECTLY DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED THERE AND THEN?¡±


    ¡°Hm, no, I can¡¯t remember at all. Anyways, what are you here for?¡±


    ¡°Damn this old hag.¡± I muttered to myself, before giving her a reply. ¡°More cards, stones, and your experiment room.¡±


    ¡°New cards? Be careful, you know. You might break yourself one day.¡± She pulled out a small chest, and opened it, revealing various colored mana stones. ¡°How much do you need?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m already broken anyways.¡± I examined a stone. This is good, brittle enough, and the color density is quite high, which means higher element component. ¡°All of them. You can spare all of them, right?¡±


    ¡°That many? Why? It¡¯s 22 gold and 53 silvers, including tax.¡±


    I handed her 2 10-gold pieces and 3 gold coins, ¡°I won¡¯t be returning for a long time, at least. And the cards?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in the room. Take care, you know? I¡¯m sure you still remember how broken you ended up last time.¡±


    With a light nod, I carried the small chest into the backroom. In the middle of the room, there was a crystal floating in a pedestal in the middle of the room, and the magic power from the crystal lingered in the room.


    The power it is emitting is a uniquie one, called [Damage -> Pain]. It converts all harm into the sense of pain, which makes it safer during dangerous experiments. The pain is artificial though, and it is almost impossible to get used to, and it doesn¡¯t exactly increase the pain resistance of a person, and instead, from personal observations, all pain that I take afterwards are amplified.


    Even so, it¡¯s a perfect place for me to try out new magic circles without actually endangering myself.


    Spells, in part of the world, are usually casted with 2 ways. The first, made for newbies, is known as Incantations. By chanting the magical words, one can activate a spell with minimal knowledge on how it works. All the spell caster needs to do is to input mana, and their spell is cast.  It¡¯s the ideal way to learn spells, and to supplement the next technique.


    The other technique is known as imagination. After knowing how the spell works, one can imagine in his brain what he wants his spells to be like. It is much faster, as it is chantless, and more versatile.


    For extremely strong spells, pure imagination is impractical, as it drains too much mana as well as mental power. That''s why mages usually combine both technique to ease off the brain. This results in a shorter chant but uses a little more mana.  This is the common technique for one to cast strong and efficient spells.


    There is also an old technique, one that has been outlawed a long time ago, and now only appears in books, known as magical formulas.


    It comes in many forms, including magic circles, magic runes and magic codes. There are also much more, but I could only find information on these 3 techniques.


    In some forbidden stories, I have read of legendary heroes casting huge spells easily. And with further research, all of them used magical formulas in one form or another. With that revelation, I spent many years researching this, from an age of 11, 2 years before I started adventuring. I was 16 when my first circle, with the spell [Flame spark] worked. Using that as the base, I created and improved on the magic circle drawing techniques.


    Due to the minimal records of this technique, I would prefer to say that I¡¯m doing a good job. But the power I have now is nowhere near the epic power the stories depicted. I think that is because I¡¯m not drawing the circles with mana, and instead, is using mana from the mana stones.


    Still, it is more versatile and easier to use, even compared to imagination, much less mana drawn circles. It requires a lot of out of combat preparation time though, and with the way I use it, it is hard to maintain my stock of spells.


    Today, from looking at Shiina¡¯s ducky, I planned to make some new cards. While I usually focus in Time and Space circles, I can craft magic circles of all types as I know the basic algorithm.


    I started drawing a prototype on a piece of paper, the circle base starts first. It is a basic diagram for each spell, and each type of spell has a diagram. Of course, I don¡¯t think know enough to cover all types of spells, but I know the one I needed.


    Allow me to explain to all of you how the base circle of the formula is like. The base circle includes a circle and a word, or phrase in the center. Everything else will go around the word, and within the circle.


    [Summon]


    I want to make it one day that I could just write [¥µ¥â¥ó] or [ÕÙ] as a variable instead of a while circle with the word [ÕÙ] (The first is in Japanese, the second in in Chinese)


    Normally, I need to add a second base circle for an element, but since this is a no-element spell, there was no need to.


    Following that, I have to add the base variables.


    [Mana][Storage][Orb][Float][Track][Caster][Time][Null]


    Of course, with a [Mana: Storage] type card, I have to stick a mana crystal onto the card as a mana storage.


    Now, for the actual functions.


    [Feed][Trigger][Choice]


    [Beam][Fast][Track][Enemy]


    [Orb][Tiny][Track][Enemy]


    [Shard][Float][Multi][Tiny][Explosive][Track][Enemy]


    [Contact][Explode]


    [Return][Null]


    With that, the circle is done. Of course, most of you might not get it, so allow me to explain what this spell does.


    This spell, called [Summon: Turret], when activated, creates a floating orb of mana, which is powered by a mana storage, a small crystal. It will follow the caster for as long as the crystal has mana, for an indefinite amount of time. When I feed mana into the circle, it will activate one of the 3 functions, depending on what I choose.  The first is a beam attack, which is almost instant, and it tracks an enemy I specify. The next attack is a mana bolt, again, it tracks whichever enemy I want it to hit. The third attack allows it to shoot multiple mana shards out, and it will fly towards an enemy, striking them and exploding. If the orb touches an enemy, it will explode. After the orb runs out, it will disappear.


    That¡¯s how the card works. Of course, what I had stated above is in fact the translated form. What is looks like from here is a huge complex diagram that makes no sense even to me if I never did my research.


    I copied the circle to a card, and tested it for a bit. I had to put the card over my palm, and when I used it, the circle printed itself on my palm, it would when the spell ends, but for now, it worked as intended, except that I can¡¯t control the location of the orb around me. I fixed that by adding a variable [Movement] [Manual] in the choices of [Feed]. Confirming that there are no other problems, I started making multiple copies of the card.


    There are still more new cards, but that¡¯s for later.


    I reached the engineer¡¯s guild soon, and, while it was far compared to the castle, it was huge, and beautiful. When I got close to the guild, the street torches and lamps turned into electrical ones, using light bulbs, an invention from a few engineers 2 years back. Compared to torches, it was far brighter, and less dangerous, although it was more prone to breaking.


    There were guards in front of the guild. Without an engineer¡¯s, mechanic¡¯s or visitor¡¯s pass, one cannot enter the guild. Of course, with my S rank pass, it wasn¡¯t a problem. There were few who stopped in their tracks when they saw the blue card, but with my small stature, I was able to disappear from them before they could corner me.


    I was here today because I needed a few parts that wasn¡¯t available in Elanor¡¯s workshop. Since the guild in Ostmont is the main guild in name, Elanor told me that the supplies I need should be available in the shops here.


    Of course, with the government regulating everything, I would only be able to get few items. For example, a D ranked engineer or mechanic can only obtain 5 C ranked parts a week, which will be carried over if one does not get his or her 5 parts of the week, and unlimited D, E and F ranked parts or gears or materials. For me, an S rank, I could get a single L ranked part every month, which will accumulate if I don¡¯t get one for the month, as well as 2 S ranked parts every week, with unlimited A ranked and below parts.


    Since, officially, I was an S ranked mechanic for 4 months, I can get 4 S ranked parts.


    Of course, they aren¡¯t for free, but luckily Elanor had given me money for this.


    I entered the L ranked shop, after showing the guards my pass. Inside, there was a single shopkeeper, with many various parts around.


    The shopkeeper, a thin and sickly looking man who was wearing glasses, looked up and smiled. He looked like someone who never went outside, with his pale skin and shaggy appearance, but he didn¡¯t seem to care about it, ¡°Elanor¡¯s kid? I was expecting you, my name is Fron. Fron Thunderclaw, and as you know, I¡¯m the head of the guild at the moment.¡±


    ¡°Erm. Thanks. I need a few parts¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, I was told. You can get 4, right? Now¡­¡± He left the counter, walking around the store. ¡°Block of manasteel¡­. Dampener¡­. Black dragon scale tube¡­ and¡­ a high purity mana concentrator.¡± He picked out the 4 items I needed, and placed them in front of me, ¡°That¡¯s all, right?¡±


    ¡°It is.¡± I said, as Alferdo came in, placing the box on the counter. ¡°I also need to lend your personal labs, is that fine?¡±


    ¡°No problem, no problem. Elanor¡¯s kid is definitely subjected to the absolute best treatment.¡± He flicked a switch, and the store closed instantly. The guards outside, of course, didn¡¯t react at all. After that, he flicked another switch, and one of the cupboards moved, revealing a special workshop behind it. ¡°Go ahead. Remember to show me what you are going to make with that.¡±


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    I bowed lightly, and with Alferdo, we entered the workshop. With tools just slightly weaker than Elanor¡¯s personal tools, it would be perfect.


    The weapon I¡¯m making is a replica of the ¡®Gungnir¡¯. It is a huge artifact that fires a huge mana beam when fired, something like a crossbow, but without the actual bow. (It is a huge, gigantic sniper rifle) It was a mystery for a long time, but Elanor made a tiny version of the weapon, called a hand gun that shoots metal shots, called bullets, and from that, we slowly expanded it.


    The Gungnir was an insanely strong weapon, but with the size and weight, it was useless for humans except as a mounted weapon. At the moment, it was on the Ostmont Castle, on a rail to move it around, and is used as a defense.


    I started this project 2 years ago, after completing Alferdo. It is supposed to be a weapon similar to the Gungnir, but smaller, lighter, and is possible to carry around. Thanks to Elanor, I got the information that the Gungnir absorbs mana from the surrounding air, but Elanor¡¯s stock of manasteel, the only known metal that can absorb mana, is running out. Not to mention, I need a barrel that can stand the power of the shot, hence I had to come here to get some of the materials.


    I have 3 dats, and I plan to make more than the Gungnir replica. Alferdo needs a weapon, and I have an idea for it.


    ¡°So, how is it?¡±


    ¡°Nice. I suppose. This is the last card.¡± I said, pulling out a [Summon: Ultimate] card. ¡°It¡¯s extremely complicated, although its mana cost isn¡¯t that high. At least, the cost to summon it.¡±


    ¡°Will it work?¡±


    ¡°I highly doubt so.¡± I said, activating the card. It started burning.


    And then it exploded in a huge cloud of smoke.


    The loud bang caused the people outside to scream and run, and the old hag glared at me, ¡°You knew that would happen!¡±


    ¡°Of course. The circle was so large that it¡¯s impossible to get the order right. To even use such a circle, I would have to simplify the basic formula more. Luckily it was just a minor syntax error. It if was a fatal one, the whole room would have been gone.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, now those shitholes will come over and look over everything! I hope these spells are worth it!¡±


    ¡°Remember, don¡¯t spread it out,¡± I gave her a warning, before quickly leaving the store, stopping at the entrance as she spoke her final words.


    ¡°Heh¡­ I¡¯ll be dead before I could spread it anyways.¡± She said. Both of us knew that she won¡¯t have much to live. ¡°Good bye, Dusk.¡±


    Without giving a reply, I left.


    I returned to the spymaster¡¯s store 3 days later, in the evening. He was still in there, reading through many reports, and the corpse was still a corpse.


    ¡°The mission this time is located far north, near the A ranked location. There was a strong illusion magic over the whole area, and when it was dispelled, there was a giant pit, and a pillar in the middle with many holes. It is unknown how the structure was made, imagine a ring that is cut out of the ground. From inside, a rank 9 mana signature was detected, and the mana volume was huge. It could be a dragon, but somehow, they have identified the object as a mana artifact.¡±


    The spymaster sipped on a cup of coffee, ¡°It is probably like the Gungnir, and the nobles and government wants to get their hands on it. Because of the level of the monsters, and the final boss, they decided to use it, for this mission. Our first job is to scout out the monsters and bosses, and possibly cut down their numbers. You will be accompanied with Kim. Remember him?¡±


    ¡°No clue. So, go in, scout, and flee while destroying?¡±


    ¡°Yep. That would be all. Go, Kim is waiting already. He will have additional advise for you.¡±


    With a nod, I quickly left. I jumped up the roof, using a grey [Force] Spell card, and ran over the roofs of the buildings, heading towards the walls. As I got close, I activated another grey card. [Space distortion], which distorted the space around me making me invisible. I gathered mana on my legs, and with the mana, I leapt over the walls, landing in the forest. (<Leap>)


    I ran north, scanning for people and the pit, and dashing through monster ambushes with the spell [Haste: Single].


    I reached the pit soon enough thanks to [Haste], and I stopped at the edge, looking down.


    There was a huge amount of monsters, almost a whole army worth. I could guess that there are a mix of at least 4 thousand ghouls, orcs, goblins and skeletons. There were also many skeletons hiding in the caves of the middle pillar. They were out of sight, but they were definitely there.


    There was also a giant Minotaur patrolling below. It would be at least S ranked, and it seems like it¡¯s the commander of the army. I wonder if the thousand newbies chosen could even beat them.


    They would easily beat it if Shii¡­ calls for Elanor¡¯s <Starfall>, but I¡¯m not sure if Elanor gave her permission for it, or is it even repaired.


    The last time Elanor used it, the vessel, machine, mechanical artifact that is used to activate the attack, shattered into pieces after one use. (It¡¯s a satellite) It is very likely that it isn¡¯t repaired, not to mention, if it was used when the nobles are watching over, there will be no doubt that they will try to recreate or capture it. After all, it is a mechanical artifact that rivals the magical artifact we are supposed to capture. (Note that the skill to call the Starfall will be <Call: Starfall>)


    ¡°Dusk, is that you?¡± Someone, who wore a black body suit, and a black mask spoke behind me. His green eyes shone like light in the surrounding darkness, and I knew that he was a Shadow. I removed the [Space Distortion], and he sighed in relief. ¡°Thank god that it really is you. The patrols had gone through like 9 times, and they almost got me twice!


    For a shadow, you are pretty lame at hiding.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡± I handed him a grey card, and both of us activated our cards. Causing both of us to disappear for each other. ¡°Come on.¡±


    We slowly got down the cliff, the Shadow, whose name I can¡¯t remember, climbed down, while I used a [Float] spell to fly down. What a handy spell. We snuck through the monsters, none of them detecting the weird space distortion, entering the pillar through a cave entrance. There was a turn the moment we entered, but no patrols. It was a perfect spot, stuff outside couldn¡¯t see us, yet there are no patrols. Taking this chance, I got the Shadow to create an alcove at the side, where I placed a teleportation receiver.


    Honestly, it isn¡¯t a required object for teleportation, but instead of getting the exact coordinates, this was more efficient.


    ¡°Done? We better go fast. How long does your spell last?¡±


    ¡°At the very minimum, an hour. More if you power it with mana. Just focus mana on your right hand. The circle will absorb mana naturally if it¡¯s running out.¡± Since he used his right hand to activate the card, the circle will be on his right hand. As for me who used my left hand, I would have to focus my mana on my left hand.


    With that problem settled, we continued going deeper. We quickly navigated through the caves while mapping them down. Occasionally, we would see a few skeletons waiting nearby an exit, but we would just ignore them and move on.


    I hope the newbies don¡¯t plan to let the archers stay up the cliff to snipe monsters below. They¡¯ll be in for a nasty surprise.


    Actually, they probably will receive the surprise. I doubt any of them had fought enemies that actually used tactics. Naturally, this was considered when they chose the people who would join the raid¡­


    I might need to help them kill most of the skeletons.


    After some time, we reached the bottom of the caves, which entered a huge chamber. There is a lizardman inside, and a stairs downwards.


    The lizardman is looking directly at us, not turning away to check the other entrances to the chamber.


    ¡°He can see us.¡± The shadow stated the obvious, and I shrugged. That just means that the scouting ends here. With that done, we should move on to the next plan.


    ¡°So, deal with the monsters? Can we just destroy everything here?¡±


    ¡°Master advised us not to. If we destroyed the whole place, the assassins would just simply assassinate everyone anyways, and everyone is at the town now, they won¡¯t survive. It¡¯s better to let them start the whole thing, while the people silently evacuate. Not to mention, if we force this wave of adventurers to survive, they might just go and strike us down, by refusing to give the adventurers rewards while pinning all the blame at us. These people were chosen to die, because they won¡¯t help the top dog easily, and we don¡¯t need to give them bonus allies.¡±


    ¡°It will result in many deaths among the beginners though.¡± I pointed out, but the Shadow shook his head.


    ¡°There are many good people among them.¡± He agreed, but unlike me, he had resolved for their deaths.


    I suppose I¡¯m weak like that.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just kill the monsters in the act of ¡®random magic failure¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Keep it moderate so that the enemy will be strong enough to wipe most of the newbies.¡±


    ¡°I really want to wipe all of them¡­ Here.¡± I handed him a [Teleport] card, and placed a card on the floor. ¡°You ready?¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡± He nodded and activated the card, disappearing with a small space distortion. There were chatters heard all around instantly, and I heard monsters rushing over. With that confirmed, I activated the card on the ground, and warped away.


    I reappeared at the roof of my home, with the Shadow beside me. We were both facing towards the north. ¡°You missed the explosion. Is there a delay in teleport?¡±


    ¡°Time moves when you move through space anyways. How loud was it?¡±


    ¡°The whole Ostmont would have heard. I hope you didn¡¯t kill too many for them.¡±


    I shrugged, it was just a rank 5 [Mana burn] instead of the rank 9 [Mana Collapse].


    ¡°We¡¯ll know soon enough anyways. I¡¯ll be reporting now.¡±


    I waved my hand at his retreating figure, before returning to my room. With that job done, now I only need to continue replenishing my cards.


    I¡¯m getting too tired¡­

 His Sixth Chapter

    He stood in the shadows as a Noble briefed the huge number of newbies of the mission. He snorted at the lies the Noble was spewing, such as the raid was a ¡®Preparation raid to prepare you all for future raids¡¯. With a snort, he walked into the alley, and made a few confusing turned, before reaching the Spy Master blocking the path in front of him.


    ¡°They won¡¯t be happy.¡±


    ¡°My master did this to me. At the very least, I should save someone talented in return, right?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll scold you for wasting your life.¡±


    Dusk smiled at the words, ¡°I¡¯m prepared for that.¡±


    Both of them knew that Dusk could in fact, quickly escape after the mission.


    Both of them knew that Dusk would be murdered by assassins.


    ¡°Who¡¯s the person?¡± The spymaster said as he leaned against the wall, letting Dusk past.


    ¡°An engineer who goes with the name of Shiina.¡± Dusk smiled as he left.


    The spymaster sighed as he remembered what his father did to Dusk¡¯s mentor. ¡®Why him? He isn¡¯t the strongest.¡¯


    His father asked Dusk¡¯s mentor, and he simply smiled, ¡®You could find a person who could fight anywhere, but finding someone who knows where to point his sword is a different matter altogether.¡¯


    Standing in the empty streets, he sighed. ¡°Shadows, to me. We should at least secure an escape path for him.¡±


    Dusk looked down the pit, rapidly estimating the numbers of monsters. His explosion worked well, and there was noticeably less monsters outside the pillar. He guessed that quite a number of monsters retreated into the pillar.


    Now he would need to wait. His plan, in fact, was simple. During the start of the raid, he would warp in, with a slow card ready. The monsters in the cave would try to run out, and get cut down by him. He had also confirmed that the dark lizard would not walk out of the chamber, convincing him that he would need to defeat it to reach the magical artifact.


    Hanging on the left his belt were two decks of cards, and he had another set of eight cards in his right pocket. Each deck has a hundred cards, and each of the 8 cards allow him to summon a deck of cards from his house. 1000 cards seemed enough for the raid.


    Although he understood fully that it wasn¡¯t. Less than a quarter of the 1000 was offensive spells, and most of them were short duration slows or hastes to support melee combat. With only a total of 150 attack spells, he would have to rely on his swords a lot.


    He sat down, with [Space distortion] active, and waited.


    The raid group appeared 3 hours later, by noon. It was a good time, as the undead were drastically weakened with


    the sun blazing down on them for the next 3 hours, at least.


    [Two way portal: First activation]


    The space around him shimmered, and a magic circle was left on the ground. As the distortion cleared, he was in


    the cave, and there was a goblin in front of him, sleeping.


    He heard the battle starting outside, and the goblin started to get up, still not noticing Dusk in front of him.


    After dispatching the goblin, he walked through the caves, killing the small fries with his swords. Even so, it was quite tiring for him to kill that many monsters in such a short time, but Dusk knew he would have such a problem, and activated a card. [Stamina restore].


    What a broken cheat.


    He glanced out a few times, but the newbies are still fighting the main force. He frowned at the battle. Their choice of tactics were good, for beginners. The archers and engineers stayed at the top of the pit, firing attack to the main army while the rest of the melee units charged down to fight the enemy army.


    But it was also bad. They failed to notice that it was simply a bait. Enemies of this level isn¡¯t so stupid to give you a clear ground to shoot from. And they had no defenders on the archer¡¯s side, save the few assassins to guard the back.


    As expected, a few arrows flew from some caves at Dusk¡¯s side, and a few archers fell.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    On a side note, a bronze golem quickly stepped forward to protect a certain engineer.


    Dusk went back in, and ran towards where the archers are. He reached a few fast enough. There were 2 archers firing arrows with 4 of them in reserve, but all of them are standing close to the entrance of the cave, a little too close.


    [Space Blast]


    6 skeletons flew out beautifully, probably dying as they landed.


    There was a wave of explosions as I was running towards another group of archers, which caused quite a few kills.


    There was only 4 skeletons in front of me, two of them preparing to fire arrows.


    [Slow][Space blast]


    The skeletons flew. Dusk didn¡¯t stay behind to look though, there were still quite a number of skeletons he had to deal with. Luckily, he knew the layout of the caves, and destroyed most of the skeletons. As the number of skeletons dropped to safe amounts, he saw a certain engineer aiming up, and knew that they didn¡¯t need any more help from him.


    He rushed towards the dark lizard, ignoring the huge explosion behind outside.


    ¡°Good afternoon,¡±


    ¡°Hiss¡­.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m here to help you warm up before your dinner, just some light exercise, to boost your appetite you see. I¡¯ve been told, after all, that you have been skipping on dinner recently. Also, I¡¯m here to announce that the venue of your dinner had changed.¡± Dusk said, as he loosened his sword scabbard slightly. His hand was on the hilt, and he was in a position that he could draw and slash in a blink of an eye.


    ¡°Hiss!¡±


    ¡°The venue for your dinner¡­. Is HELL.¡± Dusk said, as he flooded the room with killing intent. The dark lizard was unfazed, as he as expected, and he charged while activating a card on himself.


    [Force]


    Force, an energy spell that increased his acceleration to a direction by a small amount for a short duration.


    It is also a dangerous card, one which can possibly lead to his own death when used repetitively as humans can¡¯t handle the extra force.


    The sword met the spear, and he back flipped by kicking on the shield of the Dark Lizardman. The lizard didn¡¯t miss the chance, and stabbed forwards towards Dusk while he was still flipping.


    A normal person would have become meat.


    [Blink][Weight+] With a spin, his sword slammed into the back of the lizardman, although there was no visible damage, the attack still staggered it slightly. Not enough for him to followup, but enough for the lizardman to not be able to counter as Dusk smoothly landed and jumped back.


    Although he calmly smiled at the lizardman, inside, he was worried inside. He used 3 cards already, out of his remaining 800 cards, but there was not even a tint of visible damage on the lizardman, save the rage generated from the strike, which isn¡¯t actually damage.


    He took and stance, and readied a few cards, waiting for the lizardman to charge him as he circled the lizardman.


    The lizardman simply hissed, and stepped forwards, lunging towards Dusk. He sidestepped quickly while parrying the attack with his sword, and activated one of the cards in his hands, [Time stop]


    It stopped the lizardman for a bit, giving Dusk a chance to activate his second card from above, [Gravity blast]


    The lizardman was instantly smashed downwards, with the time stop being broken. As it did, it swung the spear at him, but he had predicted that, and blocked the attack using [Shield Barrier], and swung down on the lizardman, and as he did so, he activated a card on his sword.


    [Gravity +++]


    And it created a gigantic crack on the ground. He stepped back as the lizardman wildly swung its spear above itsef.


    The Lizardman simply stood back up, slightly bruised but without notable damage, and smirked at me. And again, both of us raised our weapons.

 Her Sixth Chapter

    I officially have a headache. No, not me, its Shiina. My headache is already over.


    Not even making the sniper rifle (which I still hadn¡¯t named) gave me such pain. The notes were just so hard to believe.


    As the fat noble gave us a horrible briefing along the words of how generous they are by allowing us to have a chance to fight with veterans, which is a lie, I recalled what was written in the notes.


    This raid, is not a raid. It is a culling event.


    And the ones being culled were adventurers with little experience, those that only do easy missions or did few missions.


    We were not expected to survive even the first fight, and we were to weaken the main force of the enemies so that the


    veterans could easily sweep the rest of the mobs.


    It was all under the hands of a group of corrupted nobles, and they have control over almost everyone. With assassins lying at every corner, they kept the citizens silent of this by targeting their families and friends. Even the shopkeeper who disclosed this information to me was forced to escape from the town, if the devil did not lie. In fact, I¡¯m sure that she didn¡¯t.


    I couldn''t even understand how they got control over everyone.


    I mindlessly walked with the excited crowd. They were still unaware of what is going to happen to them while I myself couldn¡¯t think of anything.


    ¡°Shiina! You¡¯re here!¡±


    With a cry, all my thoughts were pushed out from me as a person hugged me from behind. ¡°Where were you after the first mission?¡± She asked as she spun me around, while standing on her staff which was gliding forwards.


    ¡°You should be an acrobat. How are you not falling?¡± I asked while pouting. The sorceress who was called Mel simply smiled happily.


    ¡°Magic~¡± She happily replied as she set me down. ¡°So, how are you now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ fine?¡±


    ¡°Why is that a question¡­?¡± She looked at me with a worried face. ¡°Are you reeeeaaaallly fine?¡±


    How did she change so much in a week? I still remember the shy girl I met last week!


    ¡°Hm. Not going to answer? Ok then~¡± She was still wasting mana gliding on her staff as she smiled at me.


    I sighed as she sat on her staff, finally distracted at something. I still need a plan for this.


    After a while of immersing myself in absent thoughts, the group stopped, and started to take a small rest. A few acrobats and assassins walked to the front to scout as we did so.


    ¡°¡­Erm¡­ Shiina¡­ could you tell me what you are thinking?¡± Mel suddenly said in a light voice.


    Ah, the shy Mel is back! Is it the staff? I shook my head to clear the idle thought, before replying, ¡°I¡¯m worried, it¡¯s going to be dangerous and we¡­ some of us will not survive.¡± I muttered.


    She smiled as she sat down beside me, ¡°¡­I¡¯m worried too. This seemed to be¡­ different compared to the¡­ first mission.¡±


    ¡°It is similar in many ways. We are just a bunch of newbies who has little experience in fighting and supporting each other. There is no clear commander, rather, there are a few people taking command, but there was little to no loyalty.¡± I sighed, ¡°And the major problem is that the veterans. They will come 2 days later, while Dusk came to help even before the battle started.¡±


    ¡°¡­Dusk?¡±


    ¡°The gladiator that took command in the first raid.¡± I explained, ¡°He was following us from the side, making sure we don¡¯t make any huge mistake.¡±


    ¡°Eh¡­? He was¡­ stalking us?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t stalking!¡± I shouted at Mel before I could stop myself.


    ¡°Ah¡­ Ah¡­?¡±


    I shook my head as I pulled myself up with my cannon. ¡°We should get ready soon. From the looks of them, we would start our attack by about noon.¡±


    With a nod, she closed her eyes, and started meditating. After wasting quite a bit of mana, it was a logical choice to try to regain it as much as possible.


    I feel slightly guilty on making her listen to my rants. But it calmed me down as well.


    ¡°Okay, the plan is simple. Vanguard, slide down into the pit. Try not to fall. Mid-range units, follow after, while the long range units attack from the top of the pit. Assassins, cover the rearguard. Acrobats support the vanguard but be alert for a signal to rush up the pit to support assassins.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the plan a little too simple?¡±


    ¡°It is, but my mentor always told me to go for simple plans. Less variables means less chances for a tragic fail. Any other complaints? Ok, let¡¯s go!¡± The army mobilized as they followed the main command force.


    With a gulp, I picked up my cannon and followed the rest, while Mel got on her staff and started to laugh gleefully.


    ¡°Charge!¡± As I heard the commander shout, everyone broke into a dash. I stopped just a few metres away from the cliff, and aimed my cannon into the air, firing a special shell.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    As we were told by the scouts, in front of us was a huge pit, with a tower made of stone in the middle there was quite a number of holes, most likely former caves, on the pillar, and they had a huge bunch of monsters in the pit, with almost double our force.


    <Skill activate: Mob Buster>


    I fired a large mortar shell to the air. It curved beautifully and smashed into the mobs in the pit.


    But, even with the huge explosion, only a few goblins in the middle of the blast died. Most of them were only slightly damaged, even after taking a frag shower and a cluster bomb from another two engineers. And they got up almost instantly to meet the vanguard, almost unfazed.


    I was about to fire another shot, but Alferdo quickly dashed in front of me, and swung one of his pistols. With a clang sound, an arrow dropped to the side.


    But the others weren¡¯t so lucky. A few archers fell instantly as arrows struck vitals perfectly.


    ¡°Beep.¡± Alferdo said, as he continued blocking.


    I activated Alferdo¡¯s camera function, and using it, I fired a few more <Mob Buster> shells at the mobs below. Most of the other rangers were occupied as they dealt with the skeleton archers.


    The problem is that the skeletons are very durable. Even our strongest archers need 3 shots to kill an enemy archer, while the skeletons only need one.


    ¡°Alferdo. Move while covering me!¡± I shouted as I aimed my cannon to the front, and primed an attack. After covering one more arrow for me, he moved to the side.


    <Skill activate: Swarm missiles>


    I fired 10 shots, each splitting into 6 tiny guided missiles.  The missiles flew, and targeted the archers. Normally, they would track heat, but I had Alferdo manually select targets, which the rockets flew towards.


    <Entering cooldown: 20s>


    With a huge series of explosions, the army cheered, but the commander suddenly shouted from behind. ¡°Everyone, get down!¡±


    I turned around in reflex from the sudden command. Luckily, I had Alferdo, but most other people doesn¡¯t have such a convenient robot helping them.


    To my sides, a rain of arrows flooded the ranged unit, shredding most of us into pieces.


    I turned to the front in dread. And I realized a harsh fact.


    My shots did kill the enemies.


    But the replacements instantly followed up.


    We already lost a quarter of the ranged units, but the enemy force didn¡¯t even have a dent.


    <Call: Mecha duck>


    I remotely activated mecha duck, who quickly flew up, dodging the arrows from the skeletons, and scouted the battle below with it.


    My face paled.


    The main force was fighting a giant Minotaur, while fighting the monsters, but there was no support fire. All of us were


    still occupied from the skeleton archers. And then a notice flashed in front of me, as my Mecha duck revealed a few things that we couldn¡¯t see. Inside the caves were more skeletons in reserve. The moment we kill some, they would


    replace the losses.


    A warning appeared in the screen as I observed the enemies.


    <Enemy tactics: Baiting>


    Everything suddenly clicked into place.


    The enemy wasn¡¯t so stupid to place all their forces below to let us fire from a safe spot. They deliberately set their forces there so that we would leave minimal defense here. While they were fighting the battle below, archers would come and snipe us. And with their insane numbers, defense and level, we could hardly do anything to them as they picked us off.


    We were stupid for falling to such a trick.


    But as I was thinking, I noticed that the number of arrows flying towards us had reduced, and I scanned the archers through Alferdo, setting Mecha duck on auto mode.


    There are suddenly a few caves without any archers. In fact, I saw a glow from one of the caves, and suddenly the skeletons were blown out. They fell into the pit, and was smashed into pieces.


    I had a lot of questions, but there was something important to do. With less archers, I could finally do the thing we were told to do.


    <Skill activate: Burning Shell>


    <Skill repeat: 5>


    I rapidly fired 6 shells to the air, which fell down on the monsters, burning them. Although I was forced to aim far to the enemy¡¯s side, hence, the enemy vanguard was mostly unharmed.


    <Entering cooldown: 22s>


    I started unloading the cannon, and I loaded a giant shell.


    The skeletons were almost wiped at this point, although we have less than a quarter of our rearguard.


    <Cannon cooldown over.>


    I aimed up.


    And with one attack, I turned the tables.


    <Skill activate: The Big One>


    I fired the shot.

 His Seventh Chapter

    The lizardman charged forwards, a dark aura coating its spear. As the lizardman lunged prematurely, Dusk jumped up, dodging a line of darkness that pierced the space he was before.


    [Wall]


    Creating a wall in midair, he kicked on it, flying towards the dark lizardman, who raised its shield to block Dusk. The said person though, simply smiled. With a twist of his body, he turned slightly to the side, and swung his sword on the left ankle of the lizardman.


    Of course, in trade, he crashed into the ground, but he quickly rolled up as his enemy staggered, before he managed to take his stance though, the enemy swung at Dusk, forcing him to roll to dodge it.


    The lizardman didn¡¯t waste the chance, and before Dusk managed to get up, he stabbed into the ground. A dark lance stabbed out from where Dusk is, but he managed to activate [Blink], and dodged the attack.


    As he finally got up, the lizardman spun its spear quickly, and threw it at Dusk like a javelin, but he sidestepped, and dashed forwards. The lizardman summoned its spear back, and stabbed at Dusk, but as he was fully aware of the trick, he managed to dodge it with a quick change in his steps. And he swung again, smashing into the left ankle of the lizardman.


    [Haste][Slow]


    He used two cards to dodge a kick from the lizardman, and he quickly rolled back. He smiled as the lizardman hissed, and he prepared a card.


    The lizardman hissed angrily at Dusk. Its leg is starting to hurt. Somehow, the puny man in front of it managed to do such a powerful blow on the same spot twice. It went into the offensive, and gathered mana in its arms. As the puny man charged again, it stabbed to the ground, covering the nearby area in a field of darkness. It would bind the agile enemy, and it would be his win.


    That¡¯s when he realized that the enemy is gone. He frantically turned towards the place he was supposed to guard, but he wasn¡¯t there.


    ¡°Up here.¡±


    Dusk kicked on an invisible shield in the air, landing on a shield hovering slightly above the dark ground, and he swung once again on the ankle, before kicking himself away.


    The lizardman stabbed multiple times angrily at the puny human in front of him, but a pair of floating shields darted around to parry his attacks.


    [Summon: Shield] was the card Dusk had activated. It was among the few new cards he had made, and this summons a pair of invisible shields which he could control as long as he is in contact with the card and as long as there is still mana in the card, which if there is none left, it would start sapping his own mana. Currently, the card is in his sleeve touching his arm directly.


    The lizardman charged at him swinging his spear horizontally. Dusk jumped up, taking a chance to attack. But he realized that it had prepared for such an attack, and it clawed Dusk with its other hand.


    Dusk quickly sent a shield to block the attack, while jumping away, landing a few metres away on his second shield.


    He then realized that the lizardman¡¯s claw is surrounded by the dark aura, and it swung the claw from afar. He instinctively jumped away from the shield, up into the air.


    And part of the ground below him exploded, with 5 purplish stripes glowing on the ground. Both his shields were goners, and the card burnt his hand slightly. With little control over himself, the lizardman dashed towards the landing spot, and as Dusk fell, it swung at Dusk.


    But Dusk had a card prepared for situations like this.


    [Space lock]


    The lizardman was stopped for barely a second, but it was enough, and with a smooth movement, Dusk pushed downwards at the spear that was fixed in space, and back flipped safely to the ground. As he landed, he dashed forwards. And with [Haste] activated, he swung again, at the left ankle.


    But before he could back off, the leg he just hit swung forwards in an impossible speed, and he was sent flying back into the wall.


    [Momentum - -]


    With less momentum, it was as if he was pushed into the wall lightly. Sadly, he only had a few of these cards as he mainly dodged. The kick still did its damage though, and Dusk activated a [Minor heal] card.


    As the stared at each other, Dusk pulled out another card and dropped it into his sleeve. The lizardman on the other hand, dropped his spear, switching to his claws.


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    Dusk grimaced. Weapons with short range would be harder to deal with due to his fighting style.


    Nevertheless, he raised his sword and charged forwards.


    The lizardman raised its shield, and braced itself to block the slash, but suddenly, a white beam was shot from his left, burning his left ankle, and he flinched.


    [Summon: Turret] was the card Dusk had dropped into his sleeve. The card creates a floating ball of mana that could shoot concentrated beams of mana at a target.


    And following that, he activated his first skill in the battle. <Limb breaker>


    And the feet of the lizardman flew off. Dusk quickly threw a card on the lizardman, and ran, casting a [Barrier] as he reached the closest exit.


    The spell activated, and a magic circle appeared in midair. It started drawing itself as it drew mana from both the surroundings and the card.


    And then the mana in the card ran out, causing the spell to fail.


    But that was in the plans.


    After all, the card is called [Mana detonation], which is a rank higher than [Mana ignite].


    As it failed, the mana it gathered turned volatile, and exploded in a wave of pure force. But when the smoke cleared, the lizardman stood back up, and howled angrily. Its leg had already regenerated, but there were cracks in its armor. Dusk grimly pulled out a few more cards.


    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haa¡­¡±


    ¡°Gaaa¡­. Gahhhhhh¡­¡±


    Initially Dusk was leading the whole battle, but as time passed, his concentration waned, causing him to make a few mistakes. Those few mistakes almost costed his life. His defence, after all, isn¡¯t high, and a few slashes and a tail whip instantly removed all the damage advantage he had.


    The tide changed again when the lizardman ran out of mana. Without mana, it couldn¡¯t use its stronger skills, and Dusk rapidly burnt through his cards before it could regenerate enough mana to wipe him.


    It would have been Dusk¡¯s loss if it managed to activate <Revenge claw> but before that happened, Dusk pierced his sword through the heart of the lizardman.


    ¡°Next time, I want a healer¡­ And a mage¡­ and a tank¡­¡± Dusk muttered as he slumped into the ground.


    [Minor heal][Minor heal][Minor heal][Minor heal][Minor heal][Minor heal]


    He staggered up and walked towards the lizardman, before pulling out the bloody sword. He then activated his [Summon: Shield], and sat on it. The shield floated, and brought Dusk to one of the entrances of the cave, where he watched the battle silently.


    The adventurers are almost wiped at this point. There was barely 50 left. The only person still fighting with full force is a sorceress on a staff, flying around the Minotaur throwing balls of fire on it. The bronze golem was still fighting in the front using two miniature cannon weapons, but the engineer with him was nowhere to be found. As the battle progressed, the bronze golem seemed to slowly overpower the tired Minotaur, it pointed both weapons on the minotaur, and fired a pair of mana shots, piercing into the minotaur.


    And the minotaur exploded, a huge chunk of its flesh flying out, as it fell down. The remaining adventurers stared in shock, and started crying as they dropped their weapons, tired.


    I wanted to shout at them, but I didn¡¯t have the energy or power to do so. All I could was watch the minotaur stand back up angrily. The bronze golem didn¡¯t drop his weapons, but it seemed like he didn¡¯t have any power left, and didn¡¯t dodge the sweep from the Minotaur.


    They did not notice the bronze golem getting swiped away, until it crashed into the ground. The minotaur roared angrily with the huge wound at its side, and the adventurers all froze up. It raised it¡¯s axe, and the adventurers started crying in despair.


    And then the minotaur staggered.


    And it suddenly flew back.


    And it¡¯s head exploded.


    3 beams of light flew from the side, and destroyed the weakened minotaur.


    Dusk smiled, and disactivated the shield card.


    They had done well, but it¡¯s again his turn.


    With less than 300 cards, he went down the stairs in the dark lizardman¡¯s room.

 Her Seventh Chapter

    Rush Rush Rush. Going to be done soon!


    The large shell flew up gracefully, and turned midair. It then started to dive down, flying towards the back end of the enemies.


    Then it landed.


    ¡°Bzz.¡±


    I agree, I totally agree.


    Elanor is so scary.


    Well, she only lent me one shot of this, but it wiped out most of the weaker monsters. Its range is so huge that I actually damaged most of the vanguard as well. I was worried for a second, but they were cheering so hard that I can just assume that they¡¯re okay with it.


    <Cannon cooldown: 180s>


    They¡¯re calling for more shots, but my cannon is steaming so much that everyone beside me stepped away.


    Well, there isn¡¯t anything for me to do for now, so I activated Ducky¡¯s view as I set my cannon down. As I flew him around, I activated one of his attacks.


    <Activate: Ducky Gatling>


    A hatch opened below Ducky, and a miniature Gatling gun rolled out. I targeted various enemies and sprayed bullets on them, but the shots are quite weak, and the gun heats up horribly fast. It entered overheat lockdown even before it killed anything.


    ¡°Alferdo.¡±


    ¡°Bszt?¡±


    ¡°Remind me to improve Ducky if we survive.¡±


    ¡°Zzt.¡±


    I fired two more waves of bullets, then returned the control back to Ducky. Then I ordered Alferdo to pick up my cannon and follow me. And with that done, I slid down into the pit. Alferdo, on the other hand, simply jumped down.


    ¡°Alferdo. Support the vanguard. Focus on evasion, and defense.¡± I told him as my cannon was passed to me. I quickly reloaded my cannon and activated command for Ducky. <Command Ducky: Mark weak enemies>


    I raised my cannon and waited for Ducky as he flew above the enemies, marking them for my cannon, and as my cannon pulsed, I fired.


    <Skill activate: Swarm missiles>


    Missiles rained down on the enemies, and more of them were wiped. The army cheered at the spectacle.


    The minotaur looked slightly enraged, but it continued pressing on the vanguard. With the morale boosted, they resisted the attacks and slowly wiped off the monsters while Shiina, the archers and the sorceress fired attack after attack into the dwindling enemy army. With the constant buffs of the priests and mercenaries, victory is eminent.


    I armed one of the strongest single target missiles I had an aimed at the minotaur. With this shot, the battle would end.


    But the Minotaur had different ideas.


    It suddenly roared loudly, stunning almost everyone nearby, and he pushed away the people in front of him while charging through the vanguard.


    Directly towards me.


    The shot was not yet ready, and with no way to stop it, I moved my cannon to the side to block the incoming axe swing, but even so I was blasted away. Most others beside me was not so lucky, and the top of their bodies suddenly flew off.


    And then I smashed into the wall.


    <Shiina status: Unconscious>


    <Alferdo: Full AI control granted>


    <Alferdo: Engineer¡¯s Database granted>


    Full control.


    It was one of the things which I want, but also I don¡¯t.


    <Call: Ducky. Command: Confirm master¡¯s stability, then report.>


    I turned the pistols to magic mode, and fired two shots at the Minotaur. The shots, compared to the other attacks, simply pierced into the Minotaur, causing it to roar and turn to me angrily.


    I saw Mecha duck fly towards Shiina, and soon I got a notification that she was okay.


    Well, now that¡¯s done I just need to stall until she¡¯s ready to fight.


    ¡°Shiina!¡±


    I groaned painfully. Someone was probing all my sore spots, and it¡¯s hurting quite badly.


    Oh, my whole body is hurting.


    ¡°Life force! Blazing heart!¡±


    As the waves of magic flowed though me, the pain in my body slowly decreased.


    ¡°Shiina, are you okay?¡± A familiar voice shouted, and I forced my eyes open.


    ¡°Mel?¡±


    ¡°Thank god. I thought we lost you just now, you were bleeding so much!¡± She said as she hugged me.


    <Main battery: 3.2%, +0.1% per minute. Reserve energy: 74%>


    I groaned as I saw the numbers. If I had been even a little bit slower in blocking, or if I took any damage from the shots above, I would have been dead by now. ¡°Thanks Mel, I¡¯m fine now, is the battle still on?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to rejoin them now. Get some rest, your Golem is leading the main force. He¡¯s so awesome though!¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± I said and laughed weakly. ¡°Go help them, I¡¯ll slowly recover here.¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡±, She and got on her staff, I saw her face change for a bit before she flew off, shouting, ¡°Burn, Burn BURRRRNNN.¡±


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    She screamed as she charged straight towards the Minotaur.¡±


    <Take back control? Yes/No> the screen was in front of me for some time, but I denied it. If Alferdo was still fighting for


    32 minutes, possible 32, he would be using his maximum output by now. Turning it off would possibly kill all of us.


    Suddenly I heard a click, and I finally realized that Ducky was beside me. He had a hatch open, which had a hand print. It was a system I made to extract energy from my machines, and I used it instantly. Ducky couldn¡¯t do anything at this point, and I need to help Alferdo soon. As I charged my armor, I walked out of the new cave I made.


    The army basically had about 30 injured people and 8 fighting. Alferdo was leading the battle while Mel was flying around, burning all parts of the minotaur.


    <Main battery: 14.4%>


    Well, that¡¯s all the power he had, now for the final shot.


    <Activate reserve energy: Call for Sniper>


    My reserve energy dropped by 50%, and the call was made. After that, I gave Alferdo a notification. The battle continued for a whole 10 minutes before a familiar drone flew into the pit, it flew down and placed a crate beside me before flying off quickly.


    I clicked my sniper into Semi-Auto mode, and aimed as I sent Alferdo a ready signal. After he dodged a hit, he fired his final two shots, one of the element Fire, and the other of the element Water. They pierced into the body of the Minotaur, and connected inside.


    And then the shots exploded.


    <Minotaur Rage mode activate>


    At this point, everyone had already assumed that the battle is over, and they dropped their weapons, sitting down or running to the injured. Mel herself collapsed to the ground, exhausted. The only one left for me to have a clear shot is Alferdo.


    ¡°Take away Alferdo¡¯s full command. Alferdo, drop all attack and focus fully in defense. Use all your main power source.¡±


    The minotaur got up and swiped Alferdo away, and he stepped forwards. The step, followed by the sound of Alferdo crashing to the ground, broke everyone¡¯s illusion. The ones closest to the minotaur was already crying at this point.


    It raised its axe.


    And I fired 3 shots.


    The first into its neck.


    The next into its chest.


    And the final one at its head.


    The 3 shots flew out simultaneously, and struck one after the other.


    With his axe raised, the first shot into its neck caused it to stagger.


    The second shot pierced into it, and pushed the Minotaur back.


    And the last shot killed it.


    And it fell to the ground.


    I dropped my sniper to the ground.


    And let loose all the emotions I had suppressed.


    The battle is over.


    For now.


    I was crying while hugging Mel, who was also crying, when Alferdo came over with the report.


    The death rate was more than 95%, and there are only 3 people who could still fight. None which would want to.


    In a way, it was a miracle that anyone survived at all. The minotaur was about 40 levels higher than me, and 50 higher than the average level of the army we came with. In fact, if Elanor¡¯s notes did not mention the final rage of the minotaur, or if I didn¡¯t complete the sniper, we would have been wiped.


    Alferdo, Ducky and my armor all had run out of their main power, Ducky had its secondary power drained too. For now all


    I could do is wait for my power to recharge enough to call for a battery.


    There are less than 15 people left in the camp. Most of the people who were injured were being brought back to Saint Haven.


    In our current situation, if some goblins or a few orcs from the pit wandered here, we would be wiped totally.


    There was no fire, and most people are asleep, or rather, unconscious.


    Alferdo set Mel, who had cried herself to sleep, on the ground, and he deactivated himself.


    There was little we could do for now, except to wait for the veterans to come.


    But something was bugging me.


    I recalled a scene from Ducky¡¯s footage.


    It was a short moment, but in the heat of the battle, nobody had noticed a few skeletons flying out randomly.


    It was as if they were pushed to their death, or another death, or something.


    Non-mechanical stuff are hard to understand.


    I don¡¯t know, but something is telling me that I could go into the cave. There were too many unanswered questions. Their


    archers could have wiped us, but we survived, even if its less than a tenth of them left.


    Not to mention, there were too little mobs in the pit. They had outnumbered us by 2 to 1, but from the notes it would be at least 4 to 1, and there could be even up to 10k of them just outside, but where did all the monsters go to?

 His Eighth Chapter

    He walked down the stairs silently. He had his presence hidden, and he didnt have any spells casted. With a sword in his hands, he was ready to instantly cut down anyone he saw.


    He was avoiding the use of mana since enemies could detect mana usage from a distance, and he wanted to get the jump on the enemy.


    ¡®Although most likely they already know I¡¯m here¡¯ He thought to himself as he continued walking down.


    It is in fact very likely that the things below heard the war outside, or his battle with the Lizardman. Or even worse, while


    he was checking the newbies they saw the dead lizardman and booby-trapped the stairs he was in now.


    He quickly double checked the floor as he thought about it, and continued walking. Soon, the stairs ended, leading to an


    unnatural straight passage.


    Dusk suddenly realized that it was a ruin as he touched the nearby wall. It was already weakened, and a few grains of sand dropped to the ground, stopping Dusk in his tracks.


    He stepped onto the floor of the ruins.


    And another step.


    Convinced that there was nothing on the ground, he slowly walked forwards, checking for runes on the ground, walls and ceiling.


    There was an open room in the front, and Dusk peered into it. There was a man inside, looking at a giant object.


    As he got closer, he suddenly realized what it was.


    It was a giant mana cannon.


    From the spare parts on the ground and the glowing mana on the cannon, Dusk deduced that it was broken when it was just found, but it was being repaired.


    Most likely with the items that has a rank 8 mana source. Dusk wasn¡¯t ignorant of it. Although Shiina showed nobody, he had looked through Ducky¡¯s footage.


    He took a silent but deep breath, and took a mana card.


    ¡°Ahhh! Welcome, welcome, adventurers.¡± Suddenly, the man spoke, and Dusk stopped himself. But even if he was wearing black, and was in the shadows, the man looked at him directly and smiled. ¡°Oh? One only? I was expecting at least 30 to 40. Surprising. Well I suppose you want to kill me already, but before all of that, I would answer your questions as long as you answer one of my questions. Okay?¡±


    Dusk frowned. People like them are the most dangerous. Not scared, not panicking, they don¡¯t even need to speak to you to distract you. Most of the times, you can fight them head on, getting a first strike in, but still lose the battle.


    Of course, it could be all a lie, and the enemy would just be distracting him. But years of reading with real experience told him this was not a case like that.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Dusk said, as he activated his Aura sense and Mana sense.


    The man smiled as he opened his arms, ¡°My name, is insignificant. I am, however, a dark mage. A rouge dark mage. One that has reasons for revenge. And the tools for it. Why are you here?¡±


    Dusk sighed and looked up, ¡°To save someone from a cruel fate. Why do you seek revenge?¡±


    ¡°Simple, actually. It was a day in the magic academy. People like us, dark mages, you know, do not have freedom in our research. But even so, we lived quite a good life, but one of my researches went wrong. It gave a result I didn¡¯t intend to get, which caused me to break a huge law.¡± He said, his tone becoming slightly darker.


    ¡°They killed all of us. Every single one of us, but me. Ironic isn¡¯t it? I¡¯m the one who killed all of them, but yet they tried their hardest to save me, isn¡¯t it funny?¡± He laughed cheerfully, and then his tone became dark again, ¡°That¡¯s why I want to fulfill our last wish. If it wasn¡¯t the stupid crappy government, or the crappy sorceress that dominate the magic line, we would be able to research whatever we want, or do whatever we like. We had no plans of world domination, or humanity destruction. Those things were too petty for us. After all, we still needed them for our research. Anyways, why are you here alone?¡±


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    ¡°Because I came alone. I ignored orders.¡± Dusk muttered, ¡°What would the cannon do?¡±


    ¡°Simple. The cannon will remove Saint Haven and the Magic institute from the map of Lagendia. It¡¯s so funny that I could say that so casually. Do you know that they wouldn¡¯t let you go for ignoring orders? Actually, ignore that question, you aren¡¯t stupid. Do you plan to give them the cannon?¡±


    Those words broke Dusk¡¯s serious looks for a few seconds, as he laughed, ¡°I plan to remove it, and all traces of this room. I have no more questions to ask.¡±


    ¡°Then, I¡¯m ready.¡± He said, and floated a little.


    Dusk gripped his sword with a pair of cards. The mage created a ball of darkness.


    He dashed.


    The mage smiled and threw the dark ball towards Dusk, who side stepped to dodge it, then he activated a card. A [Barrier] appeared in front of him, and he jumped onto it, jumping again to reach the dark mage.


    The dark mage simply smiled, the dark ball he threw just a bit ago started to fly back towards him, and it would pierce though Dusk to do that.


    [Summon: Interceptor]


    The third type of Summon card Dusk made had been activated. When activated, it would summon 6 balls of mana, which will fly around to intercept both physical and magical attacks. A mana ball flew to block the ball of darkness, which was removed. And with that, there was nothing to stop Dusk¡¯s blade from slicing the wrist of the dark mage.


    Except for a mana shield.


    Dusk didn¡¯t falter from it though, he had expected something like that to appear, and he jumped back.


    That¡¯s when he realized something was wrong.


    Out of the remaining 5 interceptor balls, there was only 2 left. The dark mage calmly smiled at him, gesturing him to come. Dusk jumped up, and swung his blade onto the mana shield again, and this time he saw it.


    As an interceptor got close to the shield, a dark tentacle pulled it into the shield, and it disappeared.


    ¡°Absorb?¡± Dusk muttered as he kicked the shield to back off.


    ¡°Indeed. Mana absorption. I¡¯ll cut to the chase, you can¡¯t defeat me. The mana concentration is so high that none of your physical attacks would work, and your magical attacks would simply be.¡± He smacked his lips as he said the next word,


    ¡°Eaten.¡±


    ¡°Tsk.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be very nice for us to collaborate you know. You let me destroy the two places, and I could help you in¡­ quite a bit of stuff.¡± He said, holding out a hand towards Dusk.


    Upon those words, Dusk sighed and shook his head, ¡°Even so, it¡¯s too late.¡± He muttered and pointed his sword at his


    enemy, ¡°There are still innocents, and people unrelated to the bullcrap we know as the nobles. Not to mention.¡±


    Dusk charged and activated a [Speed+] and a [Momentum+] card. ¡°I¡¯m already on a job.¡±


    ¡°I expected as much. It¡¯s a loss, but good night.¡± After announcing that, he started muttering an incantation. Dusk¡¯s blade smashed into the barrier, but it merely flashed. Before he could escape, the dark mage finished his spell. A dark claw appeared behind him and slashed him as he fell, it would have struck him, but he activated [Time: Slow] on himself. With the slowed time, he fell slower and the preemptive attack failed.


    ¡°Oho! Time AND space magic. Such power too. Sadly it isn¡¯t the type of magic that could kill me~.¡± He said and laughed.


    ¡°Come, let me see how long you could dance.¡±


    And with his hands raised, a huge number of dark claws and balls appeared.


    The symphony of darkness has just begun.

 Her Eighth Chapter

    <Call for Emergency supply drop, Power>


    <Supply drop granted>


    ¡°10 or so minutes.¡± I said as I sat down beside Mel. By this time, almost everyone had returned to Saint Haven. The only ones left were me, Mel, a male human bowmaster called Eiden who had dark green hair, and a typical elf pretty boy face, and a dark elf Force user called Gwen with black hair and a certain part rivalling even Mel in terms of size. When I told them that I won¡¯t return with the others, they decided to follow me.


    More to convince me to return than to actually enter the pillar. They had already failed from the beginning though.


    ¡°You really want to go back?¡± Eiden asked as he stared at me. There was a little fear in his eyes which he failed to hide,


    but there was also determination.


    ¡°She told you already, right? There is something inside the pillar, and there doesn¡¯t even seem to be any more monsters inside.¡± Gwen reminded him.


    When I woke up, I moved some of the extra power my Armor and Alferdo generated into Ducky and let Mel scout with it.


    At the moment, it¡¯s just flying around outside, and as she had said, there were no more monsters around.


    ¡°But how did you even make something like this? It¡¯s so heavy and it doesn¡¯t have wings, yet it can fly?¡± Gwen asked as she crouched behind Mel, who was still silently piloting Ducky.


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡± I said as I pulled out Alferdo¡¯s pistols. They had already fully regenerated their mana, but there was almost no more physical ammos. From what Mel told me, while I was unconscious, he didn¡¯t care to save any ammo, and


    simply fired bullet after bullet.


    Apparently, its priority when I was out was to protect me by pulling the minotaur away. He really did save me that time.


    On a side note, he is in sleep mode as he lied on the ground beside my armor. Convenient. I want a sleep mode as well.


    ¡°Soon, I heard the drone¡¯s chopper, and it quickly flew in. Mel almost dropped the tablet, while both Eiden and Gwen pulled out their weapons in panic.


    The drone dropped the box gently, and then flew off before Eiden could even draw an arrow.


    He then realized that it was the supply box, and put away his bow, slightly ashamed.


    ¡°Potions. Bandages. Medicine. A fresh set of clothing for me. AH. The batteries.¡± I pulled out a few glowing blue boxes, and walked towards Alferdo and my Armor. I attached two batteries on my armor, and another two on Alferdo, before returning to the supply crate. Mel was holding my extra set of clothes while Gwen stared at it.


    ¡°As expected, I can¡¯t wear child¡¯s clothes.¡± Gwen said, seemingly disappointed.


    ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s right¡­¡± Mel said, truly disappointed.


    Both of them were touching a sensitive spot as they did that.


    As I raged at both of them, Eiden calmly treated himself with the medicine and bandages, and then waited for the argument to end.


    He was looking away for most of the time though. And there was traces of blood on his sleeve.


    ¡°Still nothing?¡± I asked as I peered towards the pit. We were inside the forest near the pit, and as precaution, Mel was still checking through Ducky.


    ¡°Clear. Let¡¯s go~.¡± I got on with her staff and we flew down with Gwen following us on hers. Eiden suggested him to ride Gwen¡¯s staff, but she adamantly rejected that idea, hence he had to run down the pit. Again.


    Alferdo on the other hand, took a long path down while slowly bringing my sniper.


    At this point, the bodies of the others and the monsters are starting to rot. I activated the convenient <Stench Filter> function while Eiden constantly created fresh air with his magic, as for Mel and Gwen, they were belching as they entered the cave.


    And I instantly saw something I recognized.


    In the side of the cave entrance, just hidden in the darkness, is a magic circle.


    The magic circle isn¡¯t important, the important thing is that the magic circle is on a card.


    ¡°Dusk!¡±


    ¡°This¡­ what the hell is this?¡± Gwen asked as she stared at the magic circle. ¡°Who the hell even uses this these days?¡±


    ¡°Maa¡­ I have no clue? But I don¡¯t really care~¡± Mel said with a bored voice, as she was still on her staff, but then her bored expression changed into an excited expression, ¡°But if someone is here, then we can go find him~¡± And she rode her staff deeper into the caves.


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    ¡°Her personality changes so much on that staff.¡± Eiden muttered. It seems that he couldn¡¯t get used to that. Don¡¯t worry, you have an ally here.


    Gwen on the other hand simply shrugged and followed her. On foot.


    ¡°Woaaaahhh. This is a biiiiigggg rooooooomm.¡± Mel exclaimed as she flew around the room.


    What she ignored though, was the carnage this room had received.


    There were explosion marks, broken walls, and floor, and ceiling.


    Look, Mel, it doesn¡¯t matter how large a room is if it¡¯s going to crumble like this.


    But in contrary to what I thought, the room isn¡¯t exactly going to crumble.


    As I walked through the debris, I saw a few things that confirmed what I thought.


    Burnt cards.


    ¡°Look at these.¡± I said as I held up a corner of a card. There were traces of a magic circle on it, but one could see that the card is exactly the same as the card in the entrance.


    ¡°There¡¯s one full card here.¡± Eiden said, holding up a card.


    ¡°Meeee.¡± Mel screamed as she snatched the card. She looked at it for a while, before throwing it to Gwen, as she gave up.


    ¡°This¡­ I reconise this. It¡¯s a time slow spell.¡± She said as she read the magic circle. ¡°How do I use this?¡± She waved the


    card, but nothing happened.


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s safe? He has some dangerous cards¡­¡± I muttered, but she ignored me and decided to channel mana into it.


    Suddenly, everything went ultra-fast for about 5 seconds.


    As I recovered, hugely disorientated, she stared at me with shock.


    ¡°S¡­.strong¡­¡±


    The card burnt up though. That¡¯s a card wasted.


    ¡°That was so cool. You were like.¡± Mel said, and then she suddenly flew slowly and moved her arms slowly, before returning to normal, ¡°You were like that for like 15 seconds!¡±


    ¡°But it was just 5 seconds?¡± I asked as I checked my clock.


    ¡°It was 15, you were slowed.¡± Eiden explained as he started thinking.


    ¡°So¡­ strong¡­ that¡¯s a 67% slow rate! For 15 seconds too!¡± Gwen said in awe.


    I stared at her, slightly shocked, ¡°How strong is it compared to your spells?"


    ¡°We could barely do 20, and they always said that 30 was the absolute highest on human sized targets!¡± She exclaimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a huge difference.¡±


    A 20% slow means that the enemy would be moving at 80% speed. A 67% slow would cause the enemy to move at 33% speed. In the enemy¡¯s viewpoint, you would be moving at 125% speed while in the 20% slow, but in the 67% slow you are basically moving at 300% speed.


    In most battles I could imagine, if I get to move at 300% speed, I would be able to defeat them before the timer even runs out.


    But Dusk¡¯s attacks are weak even when compared to mine. All his tactics is to cut at the enemy¡¯s weak spot repeatedly.


    I still remember the moment where he cut the leg of the orcs repeatedly, causing them to fall victim to others.


    Then I looked at the body of the lizardman, and touched some of its intact scales. It was smooth, yet hard. She saw the traces of new scales at the left ankle of the lizardman too.


    ¡°He probably cut it off, and it regenerated¡­¡± I muttered. It explained the number of burnt cards in the room and why the room is in such a state.


    With his weak attacks, he could barely damage the lizardman, and to do enough damage, he had to strike the same spot over and over to destroy the scales. That¡¯s when we heard a shout from a certain sorceress.


    ¡°Hey~ There are stairs here!¡± Mel shouted, and flew into the stairs downwards. Eiden followed her, as it seemed that he couldn¡¯t find any more unused cards. Gwen followed reluctantly, she wanted to find more cards to test, but they couldn¡¯t leave Mel alone.


    ¡°Creak¡± Alferdo complained as he entered the room.


    ¡°Sorry. Just follow us as fast as you can.¡± I told Alferdo before I followed them.


    Alferdo continued complaining, but he slowly walked down the stairs with the sniper rifle.

 His Ninth Chapter

    I could actually do these faster now, since I just finished these chapters. Less proofreading required~


    [Haste]


    He ran through an empty space


    [Slow]


    The balls of darkness missed.


    [Dispel]


    He dodged the claw follow up.


    ¡°Wow, you are quite good at this. You use a lot of spells, but you hadn¡¯t even taken a hit.¡± The dark mage said as he stopped all the attacks.


    ¡°Ha¡­ Ha¡­¡± Dusk panted as he glared at the dark mage, ¡°You could have murdered me quite some time ago. You¡¯re just toying with me.¡±


    ¡°Am I? Oh. I am!¡± He suddenly laughed, ¡°So, what do you think of these spells of mine?¡±


    Dusk activated a [Restore Stamina] before answering, ¡°It¡¯s annoying, and it¡¯s brutal. But you probably won¡¯t be able to use that many in normal places.¡±


    ¡°You are right indeed.¡± He said as he gestured the cannon, ¡°Else why would I stay here after hearing the battle with the


    Lizardman? This is my domain, you can¡¯t beat me here with such attacks, and you cant escape from here. So what¡¯s your next move?¡±


    Dusk growled at the dark mage. It was like the dark mage implied. He did not have a next move. No matter what he tried he would fail his mission, and die in the process. He even tried to use [Mana ignite], but the dark balls simply absorbed the spell into nothingness. The [Mana detonate] which will take even more time to cast would most likely fail too, in this scenario.


    Dusk had traded words while dodging the attacks, and he had learnt a few things.


    First, the dark mage had an ability that allows him to use latent mana.


    Simply speaking, all mana in the air can be directly manipulated by him, while a normal person would have to convert that mana into his own mana before he could use it.


    Second, he has the ability to convert other mana into his own. That includes mana from other people, and magical items, and that is the origin of his mana drains. With that alone he had nullified all his binds, slows, and magical spells if they would affect him.


    That¡¯s why Dusk kept casting slow on himself to dodge.


    The only advantage he had was that the mage was in no rush of time. With the huge mana concentration, the cannon was repairing itself. He was alive only because the dark mage wanted some company and entertainment.


    Unless if someone came, they would stand no chance.


    And the next people to come would come only by the next day.


    By then, he would already be dead.


    ¡°Oh. I see that change. Now you¡¯re just aiming for survival. Too bad, all exits are covered, you can survive here but you can¡¯t escape as long as I don¡¯t let you.¡±


    ¡°Tsk¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s continue talking, alright? I¡¯m still bored, and there is much you are still hiding from me. Like those cards. Come on, ask me a question.¡±


    The dark mage also as a strange way of thinking. To him, information is currency. He wouldn¡¯t ask for info unless if he is prepared to give some.


    Or perhaps it¡¯s that he knows that his enemy has nothing to gain, because he isn¡¯t going to be going out alive.


    ¡°Perhaps I should show you something before you get any ideas, you know?¡± He said and pulled a chain, and a goblin fell down from above.


    And before it landed, a few balls flew towards it.


    And the only thing left, was blood.


    ¡°Remember how I complimented you that you dodged well? That was what would have happened if you didn¡¯t. I¡¯ll be honest, I¡¯m impressed.¡± He said happily, but Dusk turned towards him with an evil glare. ¡°Woah, don¡¯t blame me, you are, after all, so adamant on keeping information to yourself that you are making our information trade fail. Or, rather my information extortion.¡± His eye glinted, and the dark balls and claws left the exits, slowly closing the gaps between them.


    ¡°Come on, you¡¯re about to die. It''s a waste not to be able to share your findings, right?"


    He knew, that at the very least, he had to stall for time. If people come, he would have a better chance on killing him. ¡°Is it really that fun for you?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is. It¡¯s the best entertainment since 10 years ago! Now my question, explain how you made those cards.¡±


    ¡°I have no clue how I made the cards, I bought them from a merchant. Perhaps you should ask me how I made the magic circles.¡± The dark balls flew dangerously close on the first sentence, but as he said the second part, the balls retreated.


    ¡°Damn. My bad. You got me there.¡± He sighed as he shrugged.


    ¡°What are your plans after destroying Saint Haven and the Magical Institute?¡± Dusk asked the next question that entered his mind.


    ¡°Hm. Truthfully I never thought about that. Focus on one task before doing the next, you know. I think I just want to build an underground lab in the danger zone to slowly research, you know? Now, how did you make those magic circles?¡±


    Dusk sighed. At least, this would take about an hour or two. He sat down, and started wasting time.


    The dark mage was holding a card gleefully as he drew his own magic circle on a scroll. The dark magic was still surrounding Dusk, and he could do nothing but wait. ¡°I¡¯m done! Now I just need to activate the card on myself, right?¡±


    Dusk shrugged, ¡°You could try it on yourself or on me, it doesn¡¯t matter anyways.¡±


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    A light blue glow surrounded the dark mage, and he ran around the room like a little kid.


    ¡°It¡¯s ending. Careful.¡± Dusk said, but he was too late. As the spell ended, the dark mage was disorientated and he fell onto the ground.


    ¡°That¡¯s a very good spell. I got it, so it was that easy? No worries, you will die here and now, but your name will forever be remembered! I¡¯ll make sure you get the credits~¡± He said and laughed as the dark balls closed in, and destroyed Dusk, before the dark magic returned to him.


    And then a blue mana bullet pierced through his side.


    ¡°What! HOW?¡± He didnt understand and shouted as he created a wall of absorption mana to his side.


    ¡°¡­die.¡±


    A beam of mana, with a diameter of 0.5 metres destroyed his heart and part of his head instantly, and he fell down, dead.


    ¡°Dusk¡­¡± The girl from the entrance cried as she dropped her sniper rifle.


    But the sorceress, force user and bow master simply stared in shock in the spectacle in front of them.


    A card was glowing midair, before a clock appeared. The second hand turned back by 10 seconds.


    And Dusk was there again.


    He seemed to be slightly confused, before he heard the crying girl. He slowly walked over, wondering how he should start the conversation.


    With no clue on how to start the conversation, he simply stood in front of her.


    Her crying stopped, and she looked up. Then she hugged the person in front of him, and continued crying. She probably didn¡¯t understand a thing, but it was good enough for her that he survived.


    The red haired sorceress with her, also known as Mel, could only ask, ¡°How?¡±


    Dusk smiled weakly, and explained.


    It card was called [Extreme absolute time reverse]


    One of the ultra-rare and ultra-powerful rank 10 spells. This spell is as broken as the only other known rank 10 spell, Armageddon, which could destroy Saint Haven like the mana cannon in the room. The technique to cast this has long been lost, as the casters wouldn¡¯t have a chance to survive their own spell, but it was speculated that one needs all the mana from an army to even cast it.


    This spell though is broken in a different way. It forcefully returns a person¡¯s state to how it was 10 seconds ago and will activate if the person who knows the spell dies. In this case, the card.


    ¡°If the dark balls were still there when I died though, I would be gone for good.¡± He said weakly. He was exhausted, but he had stuff to do.


    ¡°¡­¡± Mel could only look down sadly.


    The girl still hugging him, also known as Shiina, was unconscious due to shock, and Dusk passed her to Alferdo, who was standing beside calmly.


    ¡°Now, we need to destroy it.¡± Dusk said as he looked at the cannon.


    ¡°Destroy? Don¡¯t we need to leave it here for the Guild?¡± The silver haired dark elf spoke out.


    Dusk looked at her with an annoyed expression. ¡°This cannon can destroy Saint Haven in a shot. Giving such a weapon to anyone is stupid. Not to mention.¡± Dusk muttered, ¡°A certain group of people will certainly abuse it.¡±


    Dusk placed a card beside Alferdo, and gestured everyone to move over, ¡°Prepare to activate the card when I¡¯m done and after I get close enough to be affected. Just pour a little mana into the card to activate it.¡±


    He then walked to the cannon, and placed a card in a cover on the ground. And he placed another card on top of it.


    The cover is a mana repellant. It repels mana from itself, and is normally used to protect something from being contaminated by mana, if it would be contaminated by mana.


    The top card is called [Ember], a rank 0 fire spell.


    And the card inside the cover is called [Mana destruction]


    Its use is exactly the same as Mana Ignite or Mana Detonation, but the difference is it will absorb mana even if it has enough to complete the magic circle.


    And continue absorbing it until it explodes.


    And it would activate itself if the mana concentration is too high


    It is a unique spell, which Dusk rated rank9, but it could have the power of a rank 10 spell.


    He quickly ran back to the teleportation circle, ¡°Go, now!¡±


    And they disappeared.


    They reappeared instantly in Dusk¡¯s room.


    ¡°Teleportation¡­¡± Mel muttered, amazed.


    The dark elf frowned, ¡°The magic circle is similar to the one at the entrance though¡­¡±


    ¡°Where are we?¡± Eiden asked.


    ¡°No time for that. Come, look.¡± Dusk went to the window and gazed towards the site of the pit.


    They waited for a bit.


    They waited for even longer.


    Another few seconds passed.


    Eiden finally broke the silence. ¡°What are we supposed to loo-¡°


    *please allow us to mute the sounds for a second*


    ¡°Ah.¡± The bow master nodded.


    ¡°You really did it.¡±


    Dusk smiled as he looked at the devil who had come into the room during the explosion, ¡°I really did it.¡± He then sighed, ¡°Tell Him to protect these guys here. And well, you know what to tell Shiina. You three, follow her commands for now, I¡¯ll be going soon.¡± And then he smiled, ¡°And thanks for saving me.¡±


    ¡°Erm.. No¡­ she did everything.¡± Mel muttered, pointing at Shiina.


    But the card had already burnt.

 Her Ninth Chapter

    We soon caught up with Mel, as the space isn¡¯t large enough for her to fly. She was slowly, now, she was slowly,


    nervously walking down the stairs in behind me. Gwen was at the front, with Eiden behind her, followed by me and


    finally Mel.


    Alferdo was still some way behind, but we cautiously walked down.


    It was dark, yet not dark enough.


    This half-darkness situation is actually making it creepier.


    And the thing holding my arm isn¡¯t making it better.


    That¡¯s Mel, by the way.


    ¡°The bottom! Huh? I hear people!¡± She said and dashed forwards.


    ¡°Stop!¡± I hissed, but she got too far.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with her.¡± Eiden said and dashed forwards.


    I could only shake my head by this time. It was far too late to stop any of them.


    ¡°Gwen! Stop!¡± Eiden hissed as loudly as he could without attracting the attention of the people in the chamber.


    And then there was nothing but a little chatter.


    ¡°¡­making our information trade fail. Or, rather my information extortion.¡±


    ¡°That voice is scary¡­¡± Mel whimpered as she slowly followed me.


    ¡°Stay here.¡± I told her as I slowly stepped forwards. Gwen and Eiden were both there, and they looked at me with fear in their face.


    And then I froze.


    There was a huge mass of darkness. And in the middle it, was Dusk, who was glaring to the left.


    ¡°Come on, you¡¯re about to die.¡±


    I barely restrained myself. The Dusk that always seemed so All-powerful and calm. That Dusk that would ignore goblins and bandits while reading. That Dusk that defeated a lizardman that was as strong as the minotaur alone, is about to die?


    The thing that stopped me from rushing forwards with my cannon was Eiden, who was desperately holding me back.


    As Mel got closer, her eyes widened as well.


    As I cleared my rage, I heard the conversation again, ¡°What are you plans after destroying Saint Haven and the Magical Institute?¡± Dusk asked as he stood in the dark magic.


    And the scary voice spoke again, ¡°Hm. Truthfully I never thought about that. Focus on one task before doing the next, you know. I think I just want to build an underground lab in the danger zone to slowly research, you know? Now, how did you make those magic circles?¡±


    Then she saw Dusk sigh, and sat down. And then he started talking about magic circles.


    Although he was talking about magic, Mel, who was still standing beside me, couldn¡¯t understand a single thing.


    After a few minutes, I heard Alferdo walking over, and I gestured him to stop. Silently walking to him, I took the sniper rifle off him, and walked back to beside Mel.


    After another hour and a half, Dusk finally finished guiding him in his first card, and the person was scribbling on a piece of paper. Probably drawing the magic circle.


    My mind calmed down as I held my sniper ready. The person couldn¡¯t see us from here, but if he really used the haste magic circle, he might stop at where we could see him.


    ¡°You could try it on yourself or on me, it doesn¡¯t matter anyways.¡± Dusk said, his voice indicating that he had already given up.


    ¡°[Haste]!¡±


    And then the person ran around really fast for 15 seconds, before falling down, disorientated like how I was when I was slowed.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    But, now he is in range. I aimed my sniper rifle at him.


    But I realized I couldn¡¯t shoot.


    If I shot, the dark mana might do something to Dusk.


    ¡°That¡¯s a very good spell. I got it, so it was that easy? No worries, you will die here and now, but your name will forever be remembered! I¡¯ll make sure you get the credits~¡±


    And then the dark balls engulfed Dusk.


    My vision went red.


    <Murder target designated>


    <Commencing murder>


    I fired a shot, which pierced through what seemed to be like a mana barrier. The victim seemed to be shocked, as he made a translucent blue wall in front of him.


    It was a careless mistake on my part.


    I flipped the safety switch on the sniper.


    And then fired.


    A huge beam of mana was fired out, piercing through the wall as if its nothing and destroying the victim.


    But, it was too late.


    I dropped the weapon, and cried.


    But after some time, my feelings told me to look up, and I did.


    ¡°Huh¡­Where¡­¡±


    ¡°Good morning.¡±


    I stared blankly at the person in front of me who was holding a tray of food.


    ¡°Devil?¡±


    She smiled at the nickname, ¡°It is me indeed.¡±


    ¡°Dusk¡­¡± I said, and I started to cry happily. The last thing I remembered was him standing in front of me.


    After some time, as I calmed down, the devil spoke.


    ¡°Have this, and you better get ready.¡±


    She passed me the food and left the room. I just noticed that Alferdo was walking around packing things, and Ducky was


    waiting on the table.


    ¡°Zzst.¡±


    ¡°Where is he?¡±


    ¡°Buzz. Beep.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t report to the guild hall? And he¡¯s that far away so fast?


    ¡°He prepared a card.¡± The devil said, returning to the room, and placed the card on the side table. Then she placed a file


    beside me. ¡°Read this too.¡±


    I picked up the file, from the date, it was quite old, but maintained well. I opened it, and read through the contents.


    It was the about the Quadrennial Culling event 8 years ago.


    The first piece of paper was an official note from the adventurer''s guild.


    A person, known as Drax, disobeyed orders, and was killed in the event.


    Following that, it was Drax¡¯s own notes.


    It spoke about Dusk.


    He was 13 years old at that time.


    He was chosen to be one of the newbies.


    Drax went to the mission site the same day.


    He cleared the whole dungeon, leaving only the initial wave for the newbies.


    In the end, 1 person survived.


    Drax fled after the event, but assassins caught up, and killed him.


    I instantly got out of my bed, switching into my clothes, and then got into my armor.


    ¡°There is also something you might need.¡± The devil suddenly said, and gave me an old modeled tracker.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t know, but someone had put a tracker on him some time ago. A friend managed to get the frequency to track him down, but there are probably people chasing him already. Please. Save him.¡±


    There was no need to ask.


    It was time to repay his kindness.

 Their Final chapter

    [Drastic slow]


    Dusk activated the card as the enemies jumped at him. As the enemies floated slowly, he stabbed through the hearts of 3 of them, while dodging to a safe area, and he started running.


    The assassins, with the slow effect disappearing, ignoring their losses, simply chased after him, some of them throwing paralyzing darts at the retreating figure.


    [Summon: Interceptor]


    A few balls of light flew to block the darts, and then they disappeared.


    [Summon: Turret]


    The ball of mana appeared, and rapidly fired shots towards the assassins. Most of them were dodged, but an unlucky assassin had their abdomen blasted off.


    As they threw a few more darts, Dusk stopped and created a barrier behind him. The assassins in front, being unable to react in time, ran into it, and fell down, stunned. Dusk pierced the heart of another assassin, before turning to the left and ran off, again.


    He had been fighting for 3 hours, and he had killed more than a hundred assassins. It was now down to the last few, but he is tired. He hadn¡¯t slept for some time, and he couldn¡¯t make a single mistake. Each one of their weapons has paralyzing poison on them. A single touch on one of them would spell his death.


    [Space lock] He activated the card on the area behind him, and activated the next card to follow up [Gravity blast]


    A wave of force smashed into the frozen enemies and sent them flying back. He then dashed forwards, and cut the throat of two of the assassins.


    The last 2 assassins got up and faced Dusk.


    [Time stop]


    They never got their turn.


    Dusk panted, and walked groggily forwards. He had no destination. He just wanted to get away. And sleep. And sleep.


    And he¡¯s so sweaty too. He raised his right arm.


    Ah.


    It¡¯s on the floor.


    And then he screamed in pain.


    She heard his scream from afar.


    She had arrived an hour ago, and as she ran directly towards him, she saw the dead bodies of the assassins.


    She ignored them though. It was not of her concern. Alferdo had ran ahead of her to support Dusk if he saw him, but from


    the sound, they might have been too late.


    But she didn¡¯t give up. She couldn¡¯t give up. She owed him too much to let him die like that.


    Dusk was leaning on the tree, his left hand holding his side as he stared at the gladiator in front of him.


    He was tired. He was tired of dealing with the nobles. He was tired of the assassins. He was tired of this person in front of him. He was tired of fighting.


    He was tired of living.


    He simply stared at the gladiator.


    His eyes had died.


    It was too tiring to continue.


    He sat down, and looked at the sneer in front of him.


    And his emotions jumbled up.


    He was afraid. He was afraid of the nobles. He was afraid of leaving behind the commoners. He was afraid of failing his friends. He was afraid for Shiina.


    He was afraid of dying.


    The gladiator pulled out the sword, and raised it. The mad smile on his face as he lusted for fame, the fame of killing one of the strongest. He savored the victory for a little more.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    He swung his sword down.


    Into the crossed guns of the bronze golem in front of him.


    It blocked the attack and kicked the gladiator, but he recovered quickly, and charged towards the golem. At the last second, he rolled, intending to stab the person the golem was protecting.


    But years of protecting the weak girl had proven to be effective. The golem simply kicked once, and sent the gladiator rolling back, although he got up quickly.


    Dusk weakly pulled out a card, and poured his remaining mana into it.


    [Full heal]


    With a light glow, all his wounds closed. His arm did not regrow, but he stopped bleeding out. And with that, he fell unconscious.


    The gladiator growled angrily. The golem in front of him was annoying. Fame and Glory had been just a moment away, and now it is running away.


    He was denying the fact that he himself was the reason why he lost both Fame and Glory.


    He angrily swung towards Alferdo, who staggered a little to block the attack. Before he could follow up though, the golem pulled away his right pistol from his block, causing the sword to slam into his fingers, and fired a shot at the


    gladiator.


    He had realized it coming, and had jumped to the side to avoid it, but before he could strike either the golem or the target, the golem swung the gun that was just fired at him by spinning, and he was forced to jump back. As he did so, it fired a shot at the man, piercing his stomach.


    ¡°DAMN YOUUUUUU.¡± He screamed, furious.


    But it wasn¡¯t his turn.


    With a loud bang, a blue beam pierced through his head, and he fell down.


    Dead.


    Die, Generic Gladiator.


    ¡°¡­¡± He groaned a little as he blinked his eyes open.


    ¡°Beep.¡± (He¡¯s up, I think.)


    ¡°Ah! Dusk!¡±


    Dusk blinked at the face in front of him. It was a girl¡¯s face. It was slightly familiar, but he was still sleepy, and he couldn¡¯t place it.


    ¡°Angel?¡± But he decided that he couldn¡¯t care less at this point. He was too occupied by something.


    The girl in front of him blushed, but he didn¡¯t seem to notice, as he fell asleep again.


    ¡°Boop.¡± (False alarm)


    ¡°Jeez! Alferdo!¡± Shiina pouted as she sat back down.


    ¡°Bzzt.¡± (I¡¯ll guard. Get some sleep.)


    The girl simply sighed, and laid down on the ground. ¡°I¡¯m so tired¡­ But I can¡¯t seem to sleep¡­¡±


    ¡°Bleep.¡± (Stop thinking about him.)


    The girl got up and shouted at her golem, but even with the loud shouts, Dusk did not react, and soundly slept.


    ¡°Zzzt¡± (She¡¯s up)


    ¡°I told you, I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°Bzzt.¡± (Hohohohoho. Well, you should learn machine.)


    ¡°I give up.¡±


    She looked between Dusk and Alferdo, and started laughing.


    Dusk smiled, and laughed as well.


    ¡°Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep¡± (Hahahahahahahahaha)


    They were alive.


    And they were satisfied with it.

 Epilogue - Where everything starts

    There is a minor edit on the first part, as I made an epic fail. Sorry for the people that had been confused.


    ¡°Were they safe?¡±


    The boy juggled a few knives and nodded, ¡°The nobles are furious. They lost most of their best assassins and they couldn¡¯t kill a single target. They targeted the wrong person with the wrong people though. A few anti-time mages would have screwed him up so badly.¡±


    ¡°Well, most of them are stupid as hell anyways. The only one dangerous is the mastermind.¡±


    ¡°The mastermind, a person who gives suggestions to nobles making their plans insanely effective. He even gave them 50 assassins, but even I have only 6 assassins stronger than them individually.¡± The boy frowned. "Well, Dusk ended up murdering most of them anyways."


    ¡°A scary man indeed. He basically has enough favors that he might as well be the one controlling the nobles. Doesn¡¯t help that our king is a kid.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a kid. Well, he¡¯s still far younger than me. He has good ideals, but he has no force. Everything is under the duke and the general, but they¡¯re already busy as hell.¡±


    ¡°And with those screwed nobles just below them, you might as well say that they have direct control over the city. Well, except for your part.¡±


    The boy groaned, before speaking, ¡°It took me 3 years of planning and so many murders and my father¡¯s life to even get this spot. Well, he was never reported dead though, so thank god one of his shadows is taking his form to deal with the noble crap. And guess what? He had been assassinated at least 19 times in the last year!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s harsh. Speaking of shadows, how are the three that Dusk entrusted with you?¡±


    ¡°Two of them are okay, the pyromanic is hard to deal with. She changes when she¡¯s on the staff, so it¡¯s hard to train both personalities. I¡¯m thinking of training her as a solo strike force. She has potential.¡±


    ¡°Well their choice is good. So, now that we cleared this step, what¡¯s next?¡±


    He smiled, ¡°It¡¯ll be a long fight. That¡¯s next.¡±


    The devil nodded, and left the room.


    But then the boy turned towards me.


    And the last thing I saw was a knife flying towards me at an impossible speed.


    [Extracted from Memory of dead assassin]


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡°Wow. I¡¯m surprised that it¡¯s so clean after so long.¡±


    ¡°Well, Elanor knows how to stop unwanted stuff from settling. Just take one of the rooms.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be taking this room.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take this room then.¡±


    ¡°Could I set up the teleportation pads now?¡±


    ¡°Settle down first. I need to make you a new arm. Not to mention, we¡¯re wanted in the whole world. You can¡¯t even go anywhere until I complete my illusion device.¡±


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Dang it.¡±


    ¡°Well, there is a bunker here. And I¡¯m sure Elanor would be able to send in some cards for you to blow yourself up. Also, I need you to train Alferdo to fight.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s already quite good.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still better.¡±


    ¡°True.¡±


    ¡°In return I could teach you, maybe some engineering, and stuff. Even if you use mainly swords and cards, having a pistol on hand would save your life.¡±


    ¡°And being able to use that mega weapon would be useful at times.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a sniper rifle.¡±


    ¡°Insignificant info.¡±


    ¡°Hmph.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°It seems that we¡¯ll be together alone for quite some time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ regarding that... you know what.¡±


    ¡°?¡±


    ¡°I found a large bed.¡±


    ¡°Yes? Wait, what are you doing to Alferdo?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­ Ah. Turned off. Now we ARE truly alone.¡±


    ¡°Wait. What are you doing! It isn¡¯t night yet! At least wait till then! I still have things to do!¡±


    ¡°Come on...let''s not waste this perfect chance~¡±


    Dusk muttered and started stripping Shiina as he pushed her onto the bed.


    [Extracted from a video recording from Ducky after 2 years of traveling]


    Author notes


    And this is the end of the first part! The dark side has not been dealt with. The monsters are still going strong.


    The next story arc would be a few years later in the storyline. Featuring new, and old, characters!


    Truthfully I hadn¡¯t thought of an actual map. While I AM using Dragon Nest as a base, there is no full map of the game, hence the initial village was left unnamed.


    I¡¯m sure that there are waves of complaints coming in, so throw it all out! Feed me!


    Thanks to my girlfriend, who had gone by the name Shiina when I first met her in DN, this story is for you!


    Thanks to a person named JoyJoy415 from CherryCredits forum, and all of his (or her) friends that made a fun, although short, event. This person unknowingly opened my passion for writing!


    Thanks to this community (RoyalRoadL) for flooding me with wonderful stories, a new chapter for a story I¡¯m following every few hours means much to me!


    And thanks to all of you who are about to throw me quite a lot of crap, and maybe stuff that doesn¡¯t include crap, or maybe flowers. All gifts are appreciated!


    I feel like starting the new story already.


    But I¡¯ll have a short break before that.

 Interlude 1 - A random adventure

    A little idea of what the next arc will be like! And this is twice as long as the previous chapters!


    ¡°Shiina.¡± Dusk called out as he entered the workshop. He was fully armed, but is also wearing a hooded cloak. ¡°I¡¯ll be going out for some time.¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­ But bring a gift back for him.¡± She said, slightly unhappily, as she carried the little baby. Dusk walked over, and kissed the baby in the forehead.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon, young one.¡± He told the baby, who started to smile. ¡°There should be a ton of updates at this point. Well, I shouldn¡¯t waste much time.¡±


    Both of them walked towards the warp room. Inside, there was about 40 [Two way portals], each moving him to a safe zone of a city. Shiina stood at the entrance, and waved her hand as Dusk activated one of the cards, and disappeared.


    He silently stood in front of the quest board, reading through the quests. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Suddenly someone lightly tapped his shoulder. He turned back, looking at the person who had did that. It was a young adventurer, who was fidgeting at this point. ¡°Erm¡­ I want to get a quest, but you are blocking it¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡± Dusk muttered and stepped to the side. As the person took the quest, Dusk rapidly read through it, ¡°Dungeon clearing?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ Yeah¡­ I¡¯m going to go with my friends, but it¡¯s our first time¡­¡± He sighed and scratched his head, ¡°I¡¯m not sure what we would see inside too¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, that dungeon is B ranked.¡±


    ¡°I know¡­ Erm¡­ you are strong¡­ right? Do you think you could help us?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± It was a good chance for Dusk. Being with unaware adventurers means that he could probably get some info safely and easily too. ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t like I have stuff to do now. Lead the way.¡±


    ¡°Ok, thanks!¡± He bowed, ¡°I¡¯m Roy, a level 37 Warrior.¡±


    Dusk glanced at his level, which was at the hundreds, ¡°Hawk, level 65 gladiator.¡±


    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s high!¡± Roy said as he led Dusk outside to his friends. ¡°Are you so strong that you can go ¡®Whoosh¡¯ and kill monsters?¡± He swung his hand is if he is waving a large stick while doing the sound effects.


    Dusk laughed at those words, ¡°Not really. My strength is quite low, in fact. I specialize in disabling and insta killing by attacking the heart.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡± He was slightly disappointed, ¡°Have you ever cleared dungeons?¡±


    His thoughts returned to the SS rank dungeon near where he lived with Shiina, ¡°Yeah. Highest I cleared was A ranked with a party, and B ranked solo.¡±


    Roy nodded, and then saw his friends, a group of 3 people. He ran forwards while waving his hands, and shouted, ¡°Heeeeyyy! Guys! I got the quest and someone to help out!¡±


    Dusk saw a few annoyed faces when he said ¡®someone¡¯, but they quickly hid it as Dusk approached. ¡°This is Hawk! He¡¯s a level 65 Gladiator!¡± Dusk took off his hood, revealing a simple scarred face with spiky green hair.


    Illusion devices are convenient, Dusk thought as he looked towards a wanted poster to the side, showing both him and Shiina.


    ¡°Wow. Level 65?¡± the first person, a woman in the twenties, having a fair proportion and short blonde hair, asked in awe, ¡°My name is Jessica, level 38 Lancer!¡±


    The second person shrugged indifferently, he wore the full armor of the clerics, and had a wand hooked on his belt. He stood slightly shorter than Dusk, and had silvery white hair, pulled to the sides. ¡°A level 65 eh¡­Well, I¡¯m a level 42 Priest, Chris. I¡¯ll be in your care.¡±


    The third person was least impressed, she wore a sorceress robe, and although she was shorter than Dusk, she stepped forwards, and looked at Dusk with annoyance, ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re so awesome here.¡±


    Dusk simply smiled. ¡°Sorry. I understand. May I know your name, kind lady?¡±


    She smiled, as if she had won when Dusk apologized, in fact, Dusk was slightly surprised that she was satisfied with just that. She twirled, and introduced herself, ¡°Miiko, level 52 Smasher.¡±


    ¡°Are you guys all ready?¡± Roy asked as the introductions came to an end.


    ¡°We were waiting for you.¡± The three replied.


    ¡°I was prepared before I came.¡± Dusk said.


    ¡°Ok, then let¡¯s go! We need to go to the dungeon known as [Dead City]. We have to reach floor 15, and obtain a [Hell bone] from a [Hell skeleton]. [Dead city] is a rank B dungeon, and the quest is also B ranked.¡± He announced.


    The three cheered, while Dusk raised an eyebrow, and asked, ¡°B rank quest? Are you sure?¡±


    Roy nodded and showed him the quest report. Indeed, the quest was B ranked. ¡°Why?¡± He asked as Dusk scanned the quest.


    ¡°Well, sorry to surprise you with this, but the [Hell Skeleton] is not a normal monster. It¡¯s the boss of the dungeon. Also, you can¡¯t just snatch a bone off his body unless if you practice the dark arts, so you need to kill it.¡± Dusk explained. ¡°Well, not much of a problem for me anyways. Shall we go?¡±


    ¡°Eh¡­ If you say that it¡¯s okay then there shouldn¡¯t be a problem¡­¡± He said uncertainly, and nodded, ¡°Yeah, it won¡¯t be a problem. We have a priest too, well, let¡¯s go!¡±


    The three cheered at the words, and followed Roy, while Dusk simply shrugged and walked behind them.


    After 6 hours of travelling, they reached the dungeon entrance. A few goblins tried to raid them during the journey, but none of them survived the attack, with Dusk rapidly killing 3 or 4 in a moment of time.


    ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Roy shouted. A few other adventurers who was camping outside the dungeon chuckled at Roy, but he ignored them. ¡°Well, should we set camp here?¡±


    Jessica and Miiko agreed, Dusk could go on, but Miiko and Chris were both tired. Especially Chris, who was wearing the cleric¡¯s armor while training as a priest.


    There are more priests opting for cloth armor these days, but some people still wear the cleric¡¯s armor as tradition, or because they want the extra defense. Or the body building.


    He sighed and pulled out a portable tent, activating it. It expanded into a basic small round tent, enough for just 2 people to squeeze into. ¡°Tell me when you guys are ready.¡± Dusk muttered and entered the tent.


    Then he heard a few exclamations about how awesome the portable tent is, but he ignored them and laid down, closing his eyes.


    After an hour or so, someone tapped on the tent entrance, and he saw a shadow through the fire, placing down a plate outside. He opened the tent, and took the plate, thanking whoever that gave him that. He was prepared to consume his own rations, but having a hot meal was much better. He finished the light dinner, and set the plate outside the tent, before returning to his ¡®sleep¡¯.


    At some point before the sun had rose, Dusk opened his eyes, and walked out smoothly, avoiding the plate on the ground. There were no monsters in the night, luckily, as Dusk activated a [Anti-mob] card. The 4 of them were sleeping in sleeping bags on the ground, near the fireplace that had burnt out some time ago. It seemed that none of them took guard, and simply slept calmly through the night.


    They were quite lucky to find Dusk.


    He went to the river, and cleaned himself by it. By the time he was done, the sun was already rising, and he returned. The 4 adventurers were still sleeping as he returned, but he simply sat down beside them, and waited.


    It was two more hours before they woke up and was ready for dungeon clearing. They armed themselves, checking for missing items, and charged into the dungeon, with Dusk following them, amused.


    ¡°The dungeon is full of undead. Miiko focus on attacking, Chris, save some mana for heals, but you can attack them if you like. Jess, kill them from behind us, and I¡¯ll be the main tank.¡± He said, slamming his hammer head down on the ground, and stepped on the head, ¡°What about you, Hawk?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll disable them if I could, but mainly I¡¯ll take care of flanks. Always have a person or two who can look around in battle for other enemies.¡± Dusk said, and Roy nodded in understanding, ¡°As expected from a pro. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Dusk cheered weakly, and followed them.


    The first floor was mainly empty, since two parties had come before them, but there was still a few skeleton warriors and a skeleton mage.


    As they got close, the 4 nodded in silent agreement. Roy charged in, and shouted. A wave of force exploded from him, and struck the skeletons, annoying them.


    <Howl charging>


    Roy and Chris activated a buff each, and with the two buffs, Roy has an extra 30% and 24% damage resistance from both physical attacks and magical attacks. As he took a few attacks, he swung his hammer and countered, sending the skeletons staggering back.


    Mikko concentrated, and a ball of light appeared on her index finger, she pointed at the skeletons, and shouted, ¡°Linear ray!¡± And with that, a beam of light show out, piercing two skeletons, instantly killing one of them while the other had a burning rib.


    The skeleton mage was casting, but Dusk quickly leapt over the skeletons and kicked the mage, following with a stomp on its skull, instantly killing it.


    He smoothly retreated back, and continued looking around for other mobs.


    Each time Jessica or Miiko attacked, a few skeleton died, and they swiftly cleared them while suffering minimal damage. In the sense that only Roy took a little damage.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°You guys are actually quite good.¡± Dusk gave them an honest compliment, and Miiko nodded, ¡°Well, they are my subordinates.¡±


    They ignored Miiko.


    ¡°Haha. We had been in the same group in our academy for some time.¡±


    Dusk raised an eyebrow, ¡°An academy?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know? Just last year, a person named Eiden founded the Altea¡¯s Adventurer¡¯s Academy. We¡¯re actually students from the academy. Well, we¡¯re having our break now, in fact.¡±


    ¡°Eiden¡­¡± The name was unfamiliar to him. (Note that Dusk had never asked for any names from Mel, Eiden and Gwen) ¡°That¡¯s a very interesting place. Could you explain more about it?¡±


    ¡°They continued walking as Chris explained, ¡°Well, firstly, you need to be at least 9 years old to join the academy, and for a normal term of 9 years. It could be shorter if you skipped grades, or longer if you failed subjects. Each year has 3 terms, with 2 minor tests and a major test in the end of the year. If you¡¯re wondering, although we are first years since the academy was founded just last year, we are in grade 24 now.¡±


    ¡°Also, we go by ranks inside the academy. Nobles are nothing inside.¡± Jessica giggled, ¡°For example, we are S ranked students, which is as strong as a B ranked adventurer. And as S ranked students, we get a high allowance, and more freedom. Compare that to a F ranked student, who would have just enough extra to have a nice meal a week.¡±


    Another wave of skeletons appeared, and the conversation stopped for a bit as they killed them.


    ¡°And the best thing is the teleport gates!¡± Jessica exclaimed.


    ¡°Teleport gates?¡±


    ¡°Well, the academy is far in the south, so it¡¯s hard to reach, but there is a place where you can use to teleport to ALL the major towns in the world! In fact, it¡¯s open to non-students too, for a price. Students can use it for free.¡± Miiko explained with a superior look.


    ¡°Which is why we are here at this time.¡±


    Teleport gates¡­ Did that boy steal is magic circles?


    Well, it was his faults for leaving those notes with the old lady. (Reminder, Dusk doesn¡¯t ask for names)


    ¡°Interesting¡­ how are the teachers?¡± Dusk asked as he considered the facts.


    ¡°They¡¯re awesome! They are really strong! There was once that an ogre was summoned into the school, and Professor Mel just charged straight towards it and burnt it into nothing!¡±


    They casually wiped another wave of mobs. This time there was a zombie with them, but Dusk simply sliced it into pieces.


    ¡°And that!¡± Roy said as the battle ended, ¡°That slashing skill that turned the zombie into nothing! That¡¯s one of the skills our Master shown us! It was so awesome! The straw dummy just exploded like the zombie!¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Dusk said, while hiding his annoyed face. Someone stole that skill from him. He isn¡¯t impressed.


    But he basically had an idea who founded the academy, and why.


    They went down a few more floors while they told Dusk about their adventures in the academy, as they killed the monsters. Sometimes, monsters tried to ambush them, but Dusk pointed them out every single time he saw them, foiling the ambushes.


    ¡°Well, the final boss is just up ahead. Are you guys ready?¡± Dusk asked as he stopped the others. They double checked everything, and nodded, and then they went in.


    ¡°Kekekekekeke¡± The skeleton laughed as they entered, and instantly charged at them. It had a spiked ball and chain tied to its wrist, and it swing the ball at Dusk.


    The others screamed in horror, but Dusk didn¡¯t plan to die. A card burnt from Dusk¡¯s sleeve, and a barrier appeared, diverting the ball upwards.


    He then kicked the skeleton in the ribs, hard, forcing it to fly back. As it did, Dusk activated another card from his sleeve. [Gravity +++]. And the target was the ball.


    It slammed into the ground while the skeleton was flying back, and with the extra weight, the arm detached while the body kept flying back.


    The skeleton stood back up angrily, and pulled out a rib, holding it on his remaining hand. The other hand slowly crawled towards it, with the gravity effect wearing off.


    ¡°The first attack is done! Now go!¡± Dusk ordered, and the 4 instantly took their positions. Roy faced the skeleton head on, while Miiko was firing rays from the side. Jessica occasionally attacked from the other side, stabbing at the skeleton and sometimes piercing it with magical spears. Chris was beside Dusk who was observing the whole battlefield, and he had a heal spell ready.


    ¡°Roy, back!¡±


    Following his orders perfectly, he stepped back a few steps. As he did so, the falled arm flew back with the ball, and it flew through the space where Roy was a few seconds ago. ¡°Let me deal with the ball.¡±


    As Roy retreated, Dusk dashed forwards. The skeleton laughed madly, and swung the ball at him, but Dusk was faster. He stepped into the skeleton, blocking the knife with his mechanical arm, and hopped over the skeleton, front flipping as he dodged the ball.


    As he was above the skeleton, he grabbed the skull with his mechanical arm, threw it towards the other end of the room as he landed. The spiked ball flying above him as he ducked.


    [Gravity +++]


    The exact tactic worked again, and the skeleton was now at the other side of the room, with his hand on this side.


    ¡°Roy!¡±


    ¡°Roger that!¡± Roy dashed forwards and continued the battle as he pushed the skeleton back. Dusk went to the arm with the ball and chain, and stomped the arm a few times, but it simply continued crawling towards the Hell skeleton.


    Even the arm of the skeleton is horribly durable.


    And he turned back to the battle.


    Just in time to see the skeleton breathe poison gas onto Roy.


    ¡°Roy, back off! Chris, use your strongest detoxify and heals on him! I¡¯ll take the tank role!¡± Dusk shouted as he took over Roy, who was staggering and coughing. He fell down onto the ground even before reaching Chris.


    The skeleton was madly laughing at this point. Dusk was annoyed that he forgot the trump card of the Hell Skeleton. A poison so strong that anyone without resistance would die within a minute. Luckily it could be weakened by even normal detoxify spells, and repeatedly casting the weak detoxify would eventually remove it. A stronger detoxify simply does it faster.


    The skeleton tired to breath poison gas on Dusk, but he stopped it with a [Nullify] spell, which rapidly removed the poison from the air.


    Dusk dodged a stab from the skeleton, and swung his blade at the left ankle of the skeleton. [Slow]


    And within a moment, swung 4 more times at the exact same point.


    The leg of the skeleton flew off, and it fell onto the ground. It was barely fazed by the attack though, and continued stabbing at Dusk while trying to get up. The arm flew from the side and attached back to the skeleton, but with Dusk stopping it from getting up, it couldn¡¯t put any force behind the ball. In fact, it could hardly lift the ball while it was on the ground.


    ¡°Hawk, move!¡± Miiko shouted, and swung her staff vertically down, tapping the ground.


    <Laser cutter>


    A beam of light appeared, and traveled forwards, onto the skeleton, and through it. Screams were heard from the skeleton, and when the beam disappeared, it shouted in rage at the Smasher and threw its ball and chain, with the arm, at the exhausted smasher.


    She couldn¡¯t move.


    All she could do is stare at her death.


    [Summon: Interceptor]


    A few balls of light knocked into the ball, which caused its direction to change just so slightly.


    And she survived, pissing herself.


    [Space Blast]


    And with an explosion, the skeleton was destroyed.


    As Jessica went to console an ashamed Smasher, Roy went forwards while being held up by Chris, to pick up the remaining bones from the [Hell skeleton]. ¡°Daaammmm we almost got wiped.¡± He said and laughed, ¡°Thanks, Hawk, you saved us.¡±


    Dusk shook his head, ¡°My name isn¡¯t Hawk.¡± He disabled the illusion device, causing both Chris and Roy to freeze in terror, ¡°Dusk, level 107 Majesty and Gladiator.¡±


    They stepped back a little, before Dusk reapplied the illusion, ¡°Come on, we¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ Thanks¡­¡± Roy said, ashamed that he had feared his savior. Dusk simply smiled, and led the way back. This time, Dusk instantly destroyed the monsters as they appeared, and they reached the exit really soon.


    ¡°Stand here a bit.¡± Dusk said, and when they gathered, he activated the card on his hand. [Teleport]


    The 4 were shocked when they were back in the town, and Dusk explained, ¡°The teleport gate was my invention. Someone I knew probably used it without telling me. Well, I¡¯ll have to go now.¡± Dusk smiled, ¡°Thanks for the nice dungeon clearing session, and for updating me with info.¡±


    ¡°Er. You¡¯re welcome.¡± Roy said, still ashamed at himself.


    ¡°Here, a small gift for you guys.¡± Dusk pulled out 4 cards, and gave them a card each. ¡°The card can be used by applying mana into it. It¡¯s a [Escape] card.¡± He then waved his hand, and left the surprised adventurers.


    ¡°¡±¡±¡±Thanks for all your help!¡±¡±¡±¡±


    As he walked into the alley, he muttered, ¡°Academy, huh¡­¡±

 Interlude 2 - A day off

    ¡°Clint? Where are you?¡± Shiina shouted across the lab whole holding her daughter, Clara.


    ¡°Mommy?¡± The two year old boy asked as he entered the room.


    She smiled and patted the boy¡¯s head, ¡°I¡¯m done with work, and you wanted to go to the town, right?¡±


    ¡°The town! Yaaaayyy!¡± He shouted and held his mother¡¯s hand. At that moment, Dusk walked into the room, stretching his arms.


    ¡°The town? Sounds fun.¡± Dusk smiled and sat down on a stool, and sighed.


    Shiina smiled at Dusk, he had been working for Elanor on various projects regarding magical circuits, and while they got quite a number of successes, he had exhausted himself. ¡°You should get some rest.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Sorry.¡± He said, and wandered to his room.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go prepare all the things now, okay?¡±


    She changed into a light blue one-piece, and let her hair fall loose. She had let her hair grow, and it now reached her waist. Also, she had grown taller since 5 years ago, now standing at a solid 160 (a 10 cm increase in 5 years)


    ¡®You are still barely more than a kid¡¯ Dusk had commented, when she boasted about her increase in height. Causing one of the few arguments she had with Dusk, and eventually, Clara.


    She put on a bracelet Dusk had made, and a necklace. It was a protection device he had made using magical arrays, the improved version of Magical circles. She made Clint wear the necklace and a smaller bracelet as well, telling him not to lose them. He then activated the illusion device, which changed her face and hair into something else. It had been improved a few times, and it doesn¡¯t work on Clint or Clara, hence they would be able to see their mother normally.


    As she left for the warp room, Alferdo came over.


    ¡°Dusk told me to follow you.¡± He said, with a light bow. Shiina raised an eyebrow, but accepted him as well.


    Alferdo had since a few years ago, gone through multiple upgrades, including a English speaking program. Now he had a shiny steel body, and is much slimmer, like a human. When he is in public, he would be wearing a hat with a trench coat, although in the lab he would wear a casual T-shirt with shorts.


    Actually, before Clint got used to Alferdo, whenever he saw the shiny golem in clothes he would cry.


    It was scarier than him being fully naked.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s go now. Vertby Town!¡±  And the surroundings distorted for a little. As it reformed, they were in an empty alley.


    ¡°Clint, don¡¯t go too far, okay?¡± Shiina said as she told her son, who nodded energetically, as they got to the main streets. Clara, on the other hand, was sleeping peacefully in her mother¡¯s arms.


    ¡°Uwaaaa.¡± Clint looked in awe. It was his first time in a place with other people. Ever since he was born, he had always been in the lab, or with his father outside. Everything here, from the tall buildings to the people were new to him.


    He had read about these stuff, and his father occasionally told him about these, but it was the first time he seen it in person. Especially that knight in armor in front of him.


    The knight noticed the gaze, and waved back, slightly embarrassed.


    She led Clint through the main street, where he often stopped to look at various things.


    ¡°Mommy! What is this?¡±


    ¡°Mommy, what is that?¡±


    ¡°Mommy? Who are they?¡±


    He pointed at everything and asked relentlessly, while Shiina could only patiently answer all his questions. Clara woke up at one point, and looked around for a bit, but she went back to sleep quickly.


    Alferdo walked silently behind her. Inside the coat, he had all his weapons ready, in case someone decided to do something stupid.


    Actually it always seems to be a good idea, and then you realize that it isn¡¯t.


    Eventually, they reached the park, and Clint went to the playground to play with other kids. As she sat down on a bench, watching Clint, someone else sat beside her.


    ¡°So, how are you nowadays?¡± He asked as he leaned back against the bench.


    She smiled at the person, she never met him before, but Dusk had told her many times about a teenager that always appears and disappears casually.


    The Royal Spymaster.


    ¡°How did you even find me?¡±


    ¡°You underestimate me. I¡¯m so awesome that I don¡¯t need unique techniques to find you.¡± He said, and laughed.


    ¡°The truth?¡± Shiina asked as she continued watching Clint.


    He laughed at the question, ¡°I got lucky and saw you, I¡¯m sure Dusk never told you my name, but I go by John in terms of name.¡±


    ¡°Shiina. But you already know.¡± She smiled warmly at John, who nodded. A friend of Dusk would be a friend of hers. Then she exclaimed, ¡°What did Dusk teach to my boy?¡±


    He turned to look at Clint, who was doing monkey bars dangerously, and fast, causing John to whistle, which earned himself a glare from Shiina. Even so, she herself did not go to stop Clint. If it was Dusk who thought him, there wouldn¡¯t be any mistakes by this point.


    Although she will have a nice talk with her husband tonight.


    ¡°By the way, did Dusk tell you about the Academy?¡±


    ¡°Academy?¡± Shiina asked, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Figured. He probably forgot to tell you. Well, it¡¯s an academy, founded by me, although official records said that it was founded by Eiden.¡±


    ¡°Eiden¡­¡±


    ¡°That pretty boy sniper you met while searching for Dusk.¡±


    ¡°Ah. He specialized into a sniper?¡± She called one of her 3 short term friends.


    ¡°Yep. Gwen and Mel are now teachers there too. Well, in fact, now that we have free time, wanna go there to find them now?¡± He suggested, ¡°And perhaps you could consider enrolling both of them when they are 9.¡±


    She considered his words, and weighed the options, but since she had free time as well, and that she was slightly interested, she decided to follow John to the academy, ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look for now. Clint!¡±


    ¡°Mommy?¡± He ran over almost instantly. Shiina smiled at him, and asked, ¡°Wanna go to the Adventure¡¯s Academy?¡±


    ¡°Can I join?¡± He asked, slightly shocked. But Shiina shook her head, ¡°I mean to visit. To take a look inside. Erm¡­ Just to look. You have to grow up nicely before you could join.¡± She explained, and Clint nodded with a smile.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s go now! [Teleport]!¡± Join activated a card that was similar, although cruder, than the cards Dusk often use, and the space distorted.


    ¡°Master?¡±


    As the surroundings stabilized, they found themselves in a room filled with paper in almost every corner. In front of her was a corpse, behind a desk, and the corpse was doing slave work as they came in.


    ¡°Yo, Eiden, how are you.¡±


    The corpse, also known as Eiden, laid on the table and started crying, telling them about all the paperwork he had to do ever since he became the principal.


    By the time he finished, Clint was looking outside from the window, and Shiina had a troubled look on her face, but John simply laughed, ¡°Wow, this is the first time since quite a long time that I heard of such a problem. He then stepped out of the room, ¡°Hey! Miss Secretary, come over a moment.¡±


    After a bit, a beautiful woman entered the room. As she did, John pointed at the pile of paper. ¡°That¡¯s your job, clear all of it!¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± She left the room, and all the paperwork flew up together.


    Eiden looked at John with disbelief, and then broke down.


    After some time, when he recovered, again. John finally told him the reason he appeared. ¡°Eiden, remember Shiina?¡±


    ¡°Yes, why? No way¡­ is this¡­?¡±


    Shiina removed the illusion and smiled at the principal in front of her, ¡°Hello Eiden.¡±


    ¡°Shiina! Are you okay all along?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I was with Dusk all the time.¡± She admitted, slightly embarrassed.


    ¡°You were¡­ Dusk¡­ and kids¡­ Ah¡­¡± He nodded, ¡°So why are you here?¡±


    As Shiina was busy recovering herself from blushing, John answered, ¡°I found her at Vertby, and invited her to take a look here. That¡¯s your job, my free time had been over since some time ago.¡±


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Yes master!¡± He saluted, and John left the room. ¡°Shiina, and?¡±


    She gestured towards Alferdo, ¡°Alferdo. My son Clint, and my daughter Clara.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± He pulled out 4 visitor passes, two in the form of tags, and two in the form of tiny rings. The rings are put on Clint and Clara, while Shiina and Alferdo kept the tags in the pockets. ¡°Now follow me. Allow me to give the basic introduction of the Academy.¡±


    As they left the administrative building, he opened his hands as he walked backwards, ¡°This is Altea¡¯s Adventurer¡¯s Academy! Also known as AAA. We are the only academy for young adventurers like how we used to be.¡± And then he said in a quiet tone, ¡°To prevent that crap from happening again.¡± He reverted to his original loud tone, and continued, ¡°We accept everyone, no matter if they want to be adenturers or not! We have normal language classes, crafting classes, and even art classes! But! We also have weapon classes, magic classes, engineering classes, tactic classes and even a battle class!¡±


    He led them to the main school building, and continued, ¡°In fact! Let me show you the most exciting and popular class, the battle class! There should be 3rd and 4th year students there now.¡± Clint was slightly confused as he couldn¡¯t fully grasp the words, but he understood that something unique was going to come. And then they entered the arena.


    There were multiple battle grounds in the arena, and there were multiple battles commencing now. They were fighting using wooden weapons and harmless spells, and there were multiple healers around the field. In the middle of the dome was a familiar red haired girl, who was casting a spell as they entered the arena. She held the spell, until all the battles ended, which she then finally activated the spell.


    <Above and Beyond>


    A warm light shone through everyone. Shiina felt healthier instantly, and a few students that were down got up as their pain was removed.


    ¡°Above and Beyond. A spell that increases maximum health and heals the affected by a decent amount. That¡¯s why Mel is here.¡± He waved his hand as Mel started walking over.


    ¡°Clint? And this is¡­?¡± She looked at Shiina for a bit, and sniffed the air around her, before her face brightened, ¡°Shiina! You¡¯re safe!¡±


    She was about to hug Shiina, before noticing the baby she was holding.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ you did it with Dusk?¡± She asked, as her eyes gleamed. ¡°I¡¯m so envious though¡­¡± She then muttered, her expression rapidly changing. ¡°Even the person younger than me did it, while I¡­¡±


    And then she saw Clint.


    And she fell into despair.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡­ You¡¯ve been doing it for so long already¡­¡±


    Shiina could only scratch her cheek awkwardly. But Eiden interjected, ¡°They¡¯re going to be done in a minute, you should start your spell.¡±


    ¡°Ah, right. It was nice to meet you, Shiina! You should visit more often.¡± And she ran off.


    They then continued the tour. Alferdo had the drag Clint away from the battles, and he finally followed them when Alferdo allowed Clint to sit on top of him.


    ¡°The engineering classes. There isn¡¯t class at the moment though. And if they actually want to do some of their own work, they would go to the better workshop. I¡¯ll show it to you later.¡± Eiden muttered as they passed through the labs.


    They continued walking through the corridor, before stopping at a room with a large door. [Student Council]


    Inside was an office with multiple tables. Only one of the tables was occupied by a student, who went ¡®Principal-sama¡¯ before continuing her work. Shiina saw an open door to the side, and she glanced into it.


    There was a huge room, with a large round table with 12 chairs, although they were all empty. From the stairs and the doors at the side, it seems that the room is much larger than it seems.


    ¡°Each side with 3 doors, and with 2 floors. The 12 doors lead to 12 rooms of the student council. The student council seat can only be taken if you are nominated by a seat holder, or if nobody was nominated, a poll will commence. Of course, I have the final say on who gets a seat, and while they have partial control over the students, we monitor them really well.¡±


    ¡°Student council members basically decide on all the events among themselves, and we just approve them. Sometimes I personally add a few events, if it¡¯s getting boring.¡±


    ¡°I just remembered, the basics of this academy. Your ranks.¡± He said, and turned towards the only council member, ¡°Elise, could you lend me your student card for a bit?¡±


    The student complied and handed over a Silver card. The card shows the name, address, and student number, as well as a ¡®SS¡¯ on the card.


    ¡°Like you see, Elise here is a SS rank student. There are multiple ways to get a higher rank, and the most common, although not actually easiest, is by increasing your adventurer''s rank. Your adventurer''s rank, if higher than your student rank, will be your student rank.¡± He turned the card, and shows me the back of the card. Guild: C was written in the back of the card.


    ¡°The second way is by leadership and charisma. If you are liked by the students, and you can lead them well, your rank will increase.¡± There was a column, stating [Leadership: +3].¡±Hence, her C rank is increased 3 times, to reach an S rank. The third is crafting, Elise here is not a crafting student, so naturally she has a 0 here.¡± He pointed at the third column, which shows [Crafting: 0], ¡°Finally, likes from me. If I like you, I can increase your rank.¡± [Attitude: +1] was at the last column. ¡°Usually though, I reward them for competitions and stuff, but you could understand. I could also decrease your rank as punishment.¡±


    ¡°And ranks decide?¡±


    ¡°Everything, from your allowance, to your leniency. A SSS rank student could skip all classes except for homeroom once a week, and use all our facilities for free as long as they don¡¯t defame us. And they get better allowance, and a better room, and just about better everything.¡±


    ¡°And it¡¯s regulated by you as well.¡±


    ¡°Naturally.¡± He said with a smile. He returned the card back to Elise, who was speaking to Clint, who was sitting on her lap. And then she noticed both Shiina and Eiden looking at her.


    Her face was steaming red by the time they left the room.


    It was nighttime already, and Alferdo was carrying the sleeping Clint. After running around so much, he had exhausted himself. They were in an alley at the town outside the academy, with 2 Shadows, possibly more, and on the wall was a familiar card.


    ¡°Thanks for showing me around, Eiden.¡±


    ¡°My pleasure.¡± He said, waving his hand, ¡°Stay safe, you know. I plan to see young Clint here in 7 years.¡±


    She smiled, and the baby she was holding, who was somehow awake, waved her hand towards Eiden as they walked into the portal, and disappeared.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s go back. Cover the area for now, just in case.¡±


    The shadows nodded and disappeared to the night.


    Author notes


    Well, that revealed what is going to happen at the first arc!


    I''m sure some of you expected Dusk and Shii retaining their MC, sorry to disappoint you, it was never in my plans.


    But no worries, they will regain their MC status at one point!


    What had led to the academy idea?


    It was from JoyJoy415 from the Cherry Credits forum, in fact, even the name of the academy is the same, although there are huge changes to the system and the academy in general compared to JoyJoy415''s version.


    I wanted some place where Clint and - can grow, alone, and the original idea was for Dusk and Shii to be caught up in a long mission, but I remembered the academy, and decided to use it instead.


    Arc 1 is in fact mapped out, while the sequel has only the basic ideas of what is going to happen. This story is nowhere near ending, and I hope that you all will support me in this.


    Arc 1, in 6 days from now, unless if i get impatient.

 Arc1 - Prolouge - Catching up!

    Before we start, I wish to thank, and credit many people for this story.


    I do not own the world of the story, the credits of the world of the story goes to the writers of the story of Dragon Nest.


    Thanks for JoyJoy415 and her (or his? I think it¡¯s a her¡­but¡­?) friends, who, in 2012, started a mini fanfic game on Dragon Nest. The setting, of course, being the Academy of this story, AAA. I couldn¡¯t contact her through the Cherry Credits forum, hence, I could not get official permission. Sorry!


    Thanks to the writers of Mushoku Tensei (Rifujin na Maganote), Arifureta (Chunni Suki), and Tate no Yuusha no Narigari (Aneko Yusagi)¡¯s authors, for motivating me to write this arc and the previous arc. There might be some similarities of this to either or all of these novels (Especially Mushoku Tensei), and I thank the author for providing me these small ideas to create my own story.


    Thanks to my friends, Crol, Maki, and Shiina (all aliases), for motivating me to write this story!


    And thanks to all of you for trying this out.


    Enjoy.


    I stretched my arms as I happily received the spring breeze. Being in the stuffy lab for so long wasn¡¯t exactly the best thing in life, while this wind definitely is one of such ''best things''.


    At the moment, I, Clint, and my family are on top of a random hill my dad clea- found. Yes, that¡¯s what I mean, found.


    Sorry, I lied. He destroyed part of the forest last week to make this just for me. After destroying all of them, he went somewhere and got a tree called a Cherry blossom tree with pink leaves. He said it was often done at the place where he got these trees from.


    Not that anyone else lives anywhere close to here though, so nobody was complaining.


    We, as in me and my family, live in a woods in an area called the ¡®Red Zone¡¯. Our parents never told us how we exactly came here, but from their bounties, I could kind of guess who they pissed off.


    Life here is really harsh, yet fun. Living near monsters means that I get to see monsters killed up close, by either my dad, Dusk, or my butler, Alferdo. While at home, my mom would stay inside while building her own artifacts! Also, she had thought me how to make one of the artifacts Alferdo is using! It is called a handgun, or pistol, and when I pull a part called a trigger, a ball of mana will fire from its barrell!


    It¡¯s totally awesome!


    Anyways, back to the point of why we are on the hill. Today, my family and I are having a picnic! Since tomorrow, I am going to an academy called AAA, short for Altea¡¯s Adventurer¡¯s Academy!


    Truthfully, while I am excited from it, I am also a little worried. The only person I have spoken to these years are my dad, mother, Alferdo, and my cute little sister. Her name is Carla, and she is 7 years old, but she is much much smaller than me. My dad told me that mom was like that when she was young, so it wasn¡¯t a problem, but still, she is so short, and so cute!


    Sorry. Back to never speaking to people. Well, I read quite a number of books, so I kind of know how to speak to people¡­ But I would prefer not to speak with too many people¡­ and not to get myself into trouble.


    While it is true that main characters often get into trouble, I plan not to be a main character!


    ¡°Clint! What are you doing up there! It¡¯s dangerous!¡± My mom screamed at me.


    Did I mention that I was on top of the only tree on the hill?


    Reluctantly, I got down, and my mom sighed at me. She actually rarely scolds us at all. My dad told me it¡¯s because she spent at least 3 years scolding him that she got tired of it.


    My dad, Dusk, is in fact wanted in most of the human part of the world, along with my mother, as they opposed some nobles. That was why we lived in the Red Zone. By now though, the bounty has faded. He had somewhat long tapered dark blue hair (for a male) and black eyes, which we all didn¡¯t inherit. At the moment, he is a Gladiator and a Majesty according to his status plate, which my sister and I didn¡¯t have. He uses a sword with his left arm, although he could switch to his right, mechanical, arm. It had been cut off in a fight when they were fleeing from the nobles, but mom made a hand to replace it. He also uses cards with magic circles. Actually, he had tried teaching me about it, but I could never get the hang of it, unlike my sister. Using the magic circles, he made a room called the warp room, where we could go to most of the towns my dad went to in the past. Occasionally, I would go out with my dad when he did missions with a few of his friends. Carla preferred to stay at home with mom though.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    My mom, Shiina, is a woman with long, waist length caramel hair and hazel eyes. Her class is an engineer, according to the status plate. Also, for her race, she is a ¡®Human?¡¯ She doesn¡¯t know why it had a question mark, but she said that it might be related to her slow growth. Her parents died before she was aware of it, and so she didn¡¯t know what race she exactly was. It didn¡¯t matter though, she lives for engineering. Most of the time, she would be in the lab with me or sometimes with Carla (when dad isn¡¯t home). Thanks to mom, we have quite a lot of really awesome things at home (most of them deadly weapons), I had a bracelet that could turn into a knife or a chakram, which is a bladed ring with a handle as part of the ring, and it could fly back to me after I throw it. It could burn up too! Although because I used that function a little too much, it had melted and became unusable.


    Next is Alferdo. He is in fact a really scary steel golem that takes the shape of a human. In fact, in full golem form, he isn¡¯t scary at all, his steel body, and steel legs were not outstanding, but not exactly disgusting. It is when he wears clothes at home. He would wear a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. It was so scary before I got used to it. Imagine a normal person wearing a shirt and shorts, and then convert the person into steel¡­ and boom, a person that can make any baby cry when they see him, in fact Carla was not spared from that fate too. He uses a pair of longer pistols, in a ¡®gun kata¡¯ style, where he could fight melee by swinging the pistols, or ranged by firing them, or in a mixed fashion. Most of the time, he would be outside, clearing monsters that get close to our home. Other times, he would be in our living room, in his casual clothes, as a walking nightmare.


    My cute little sister is called Carla. She is a cute adorable little girl that looks like a 5 year old. She has her mother¡¯s caramel hair, at the moment neck long, although she plans to let it continue grow, and like her mother again, hazel eyes. She is a kind and talkative girl, often coming to speak to me when both parents are busy. She tends to stick with dad much more than mom though. Both because she spends more time with him learning magic circles, and because she said she liked father¡¯s head pats more than mom¡¯s hugs. Of course, I was the only one that was told that, else mom might cry. But since dad is out often, she would be with her mom in the lab, studying herself on magic circles. Although she sleeps with mom and dad, occasionally she would get into my bed when I¡¯m sleeping. Sneaky little brat. Nonetheless, her cute smile would usually lift the family¡¯s spirits.


    ¡°Cheers!¡± Mom said, as she held up a glass of wine. Of course, Carla and I got grape juice instead of wine, but it was fine, Dad gave me a sip in the past, and it was disgustingly bitter.


    Alferdo got oil, by the way. Alcoholic oil. Weird.


    And with that cleared, we started eating. Dad cried slightly when Carla refused to sit in his lap, and instead sat between my legs as she ate. Sis, it isn¡¯t easy to eat with your head blocking me. You aren¡¯t 3 years old already.


    At one point, dad and Alferdo went away because they heard stuff, and went to do something to the stuff.


    The stuff being monsters, and something being disposing.


    Dad came back soon, covered in monster blood. He didn¡¯t exactly care though, and he continued eating, ignoring the blood as long as it didn¡¯t touch his food.


    Dad, that¡¯s why Carla didn¡¯t want to sit on you.


    In the end of the day, while the sun was setting, dad activated one of his magic cards, and we were warped back home.


    That night, Clara climbed into my bed, as I couldn¡¯t sleep. As she did, she realized that I was awake, and looked towards me.


    ¡°Nii-san¡­ do you think I could go to the same school?¡± She was nodding off at this point.


    I smiled at her as she closed her eyes, ¡°Of course you can, in two years though.¡±


    She nodded, and hugged my arm, instantly falling asleep.


    I had tons of things to think of, but, I suppose I can leave them to tomorrow.


    Looking up at the dark ceiling, I muttered, ¡°So tomorrow, I will be alone¡­¡± I raised my hand, and clenched my fist, I was ready. I trained under my parents for this. Tomorrow, I will be independent!


    With my sister beside me, I slept peacefully and dreamlessly.

 User input and extra info thread (13-5-2015)

    Well, I decided to remove all notes about DN, since this story will no longer be a fanfic of DN, but an original story.


    The single change is as such.


    Saint haven -> Ostmont (yes, I randomly generated this name, sorry)


    If anyone has any suggestions for this arc, or the next, please tell me!


    Same goes for the people who has any opinions on the characters and the story! Especially if you feel that either is horrible!


    Anything important will be placed here, and any questions here I will reply to the best of my abilities.


    Arc 0 Dusk


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 21


    Appearance: Wears a worn out old coat at all times, when he''s doing quests. Wears a blue undershirt inside, with brown trousers and leather boots. He has short dark blue hair, in a regular haircut, and he has piercing black eyes.


    Backstory: After being taken in by Drax, he was trained for 4 years, before graduating into an adventurer. He was forced into a Culling Event, and Drax saved him by destroying Dusk''s supposed enemies before Dusk had to fight them. The culling event ended with 1 survivor, not counting the escaped Drax, who was later found dead along with almost a hundred assassins.


    Since then, he had sworn to get revenge for his old Master, and was scouted out by John(Alias) 4 years later. Now, he, along with John and a few others, are working behind the scenes to find out the person controlling everything, and to beat his sorry ass.


    Weapons: One handed longsword, with magical cards. These magic cards come in various colors, each representing an element. He most commonly uses grey cards, which is neutral/time/space cards, but also often uses the blue card [Clean]


    Armor: Barrier magic. He uses basic 1-way barrier magic for most cases. After meeting Shiina, he developed a card that allows him to summon a pair of floating shields to block attacks.


    Extra info: He never changes out of his clothes, instead, uses [Clean] to clean his body and clothes.


    Arc 0 Shiina


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age 18


    Appearance: A little girl that doesn''t even look like she is 15 years old. She has short shoulder length caramel hair, with hazel eyes. She usually wears a long sleeved shirt with a pair of jeans, covering her power armor that looks like a black jumpsuit. On normal occasions, she prefers skirts instead of jeans, and a simple t-shirt instead of a long sleeved one.


    Backstory: After being taken by Elanor, she studied under her guidance for 11 years, before finally graduating. She applied to be an adventurer to learn more of the world she had missed out on.


    That is just about it.


    Weapon: 1.8 meter long cannon with a diameter of 50cm. Extremely heavy. Can load up to 32 regular explosive rockets, but has a single spot for unique ammo.


    Armor: Power Armor''s shield. It can protect her from all types of harm, both physical and magical, but it doesn''t remove the force of the attacks, only dampens it. The shield drains the power armor''s battery quite a lot though, so most of the time it would be turned off.


    Extra info: She isn''t a human, and on her status plate, she is known as a ''Human?''. She has a decent mana pool, but cant cast any form of magic, nor can she use magic cards without a tool to emit mana.


    Arc 1: Clint


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 9


    Appearance: Caramel colored hair, like his father, he does not make a specific hairstyle, instead, he lets it grow normally. His eyes are Hazel coloured like his mother, but has the piercing gaze of his father. Often told that his ''angry'' and ''annoyed'' face looks more natural than his smiling face, even if its a natural smile. He wears his uniform, a white shirt with black trousers, everyday, even on weekends and breaks. He would get a disposable cloak when he goes on missions, to protect his uniform from monster blood. He also wears a jacket during winter. He is taller than an average boy of his age.


    Backstory: After being born in a laboratory in the Red Zone, a huge area that is marked ''deadly'' by humans, he grew up with his mom mostly, learning how to dual wield from his robot butler, Alferdo. He also tried magic cards, but he grew bored of it quickly. He would stay with his parents most of the time, often going out with Dusk on his hunting trips. He also learned basic mechanics, occasionally building various weapons with his mom.


    He reads a lot, like his father, but he doesnt like reading books with similar stories. Because of his father, he had never read some books that has a [13+] or [16+] rating. (Mostly, sexual related books)


    After learning about AAA, he trained hard in order to be admitted into AAA, not knowing that there is no such thing as an entrance test.


    Personality: Seems innocent, although has quite a trove of knowledge he doesn''t know how to use. Quite oblivious to love,in the sense that he is unaware that he has a crush on Ashley. Somewhat smart, and has really good reaction and thinking speed. Is immune to the sight of monster blood, due to his constant ventures in the red zone with his father. Prefers to avoid trouble instead of facing them, if possible, and could be said to be a coward.


    Weapon: A one handed pistol (65cm in length), with a one handed short sword (1 meter in length). The pistol is a new design by Shiina, and it gives him many ways to improve it however he likes. It absorbs mana from the surroundings, and can reduce the effect of magics if he uses it to block magical attacks.


    Armor: Has no armor. At all. Relies on Ashley a lot in defense.


    Extra info: He isn''t human, and, like his mother, on a status plate, he is a (Human?). Also, his mana pool is non-existent, and he can only cast 4 beginner grade spells, at 9 years old, before he runs out of it. Like his dad, he is left handed.


    Arc 1: Ashley Dewspark


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 9


    Appearance: She has really long silver hair, which is the easiest way to recognize her. Her hair is long enough to reach the ground, when it isn''t tied up. Normally, she would make a few braids for that. She wears her uniform, a black blazer, with a white shirt underneath, and a long skirt, which she changed into a short one during her second year. Wears a vest instead of a blazer during summer. In the maid cafe, she wears a pink maid outfit.


    Backstory:  She was still a baby when her family lost their nobility. They entrusted their child to an orphanage, and quickly left. Their corpse was found the next day, a day away from the town.


    Since then, she had grown up in the orphanage. Since she had silver hair, she was bullied slightly, but it was quickly stopped by the warden. She spent most of her time studying about magic, focusing on healing because the other boys often get themselves hurt. When she wanted to learn attack magic, she realized that, for beginners, she had to attack cute little rabbits, and quickly gave up on it. Reality wasn''t so nice on her, though, and she had realized it after Clint murdered a rabbit in front of her.


    Personality: Due to a previous incident, she cant stand others looking at her too much. She gets afraid quickly, and she couldn''t talk to most people. Because of all of these, she strives to improve herself, especially for Clint.


    Weapon: Staff of the Dewspark. The last item of her family. It is normally a small piece of wood, which she carries around in her pocket. When supplied with a constant stream of mana, it would expand into a staff. The mana required is minimal, so it can stay in staff form for days with little mana. Clint can only do it for an hour.


    Armor: A basic magical robe that dampens physical and magical attacks. Can be obtained in any normal adventurer''s clothing shop.


    Extra information: Has a hidden yandere personality, but because her target is Clint, it had never awakened, and hence, she has the desire to not harm anyone. Things might change if it awakens, though...


    Arc 1: ???. Known as Nobody by Clint.


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 9


    Appearance: Has maroon colored hair, which is unique. He never goes to the barber, instead, cutting his own hair with a knife, hence it is always shaggy. He has amber eyes, with a curious glint, yet it has something, a sharp look, inside. He wears his school uniform at all times, even during weekends and breaks. He wears an additional overcoat during winter. In engineering classes, and when he is at the workshops, he wears a white coat. (like a lab coat)


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Backstory: He fled from his home, which he never told anyone, and joined AAA to study for engineering. He had learned various martial arts ever since he was a kid, and hence can fight with almost all weapons skillfully. Because he had entered a ''forbidden'' room at night, he is surprisingly knowledgeable at everything sexual related. He had traveled halfway to AAA by foot, before realizing that there was a teleport gate is most major towns directly to AAA.


    Personality: A pervert through and through. Gets really excited at girls, although he hides it well. Even so, girls naturally hate him, and is scared of him. This does not apply to girls which are taken, because he doesn''t target them. Does not discriminate among girls. All girls are accepted!


    He is really smart, and catches on things easily. Most of the times, he would make assumptions alone, before consulting others. He isn''t too good at engineering, but instead, is very hard working on it. To everything else though, he would slack off quickly.


    Weapons, and armor: Various floating weapons he call ''Drones''. Has 8 knives, 3 orbs, and a pair of shields. The knives can extend when given a command, lengthening it. It is controlled by 2 points, the tip of the knife, as well as the pommel, and so, could spin in and slash enemies. The orbs, when used, will float around him, and fire when he supplies a burst of mana to his remote. Due to lack of sensitivity, all orbs will fire together when a surge of mana is supplied. The shileds are controlled like a knife, but it comes in a form of a tiny ball. When it absorbs enough mana, it will create a shield that can take quite a few hits. Unlike Clint''s pistol, it cannot absorb mana from spells.


    He wears no armor, instead, uses his shield. Relies on Ashley a lot on defense.


    Extra info: He worships a book.


    Arc 1: Ìì´¨¡¡ü\ (Amagawa Kuro)


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 14


    Appearance: Tall and womanlike. She has waist length black hair, and black eyes, and wears a black trousers, with a black army coat, and black boots.


    The only thing not black would be her skin, the single red stripe on her trousers, and the bandage over her breasts. Imagine a ·¬éL(banchou, delinquent leader).


    In the maid cafe, she wears a black and white maid outfit.


    Backstory: Ever since she was a kid, she had never left her village, Nippon. She trained there for many years, meeting Rigel when she was 6 years old, and trained with him. As the heir of her family, she learned the deadly yet powerful dances, with Rigel as her partner.


    When she was 10, her father heard about AAA, and sent her and Rigel over. They reached there at 11 years old, and joined AAA then.


    She met Kyle and Albert on their 3rd year, and formed a group together.


    She officially started going out with Rigel at 15. Nothing changed whatsoever though.


    Personality: Brutal, insane, and battle hungry when in her uniform (the ·¬éL outfit). Her main goal is to fight stronger and stronger enemies. She would avoid using dances, but will end up unconsciously using it anyways, forcing Rigel to calm her down.


    When not in her outfit, she would lose her insane personality, and instead, turn into a maiden in love.


    Weapon: Black Katana, from her family. Sacred Dances, from her family. She uses normal techniques for normal battles, but would activate her dances in a pinch. Her dances require a <Initiation>, before she could use any of the moves. The initiation usually has multiple requirements, Frost Snowbell requiring low surrounding temperature, Black Lotus requiring deep hatred.


    Most of her dances, especially Frost Snowbell and Blood Rose, as well as a few unused ones, include a huge personality shift, and the desire for murder, as well as a gradual consumption of her mind. It can be calmed with her key''s <Wilting Dagger>.


    Armor: She naturally coats herself in a coat of mana, that protects her. Her coat is also surprisingly durable, and has resistance to fire and ice.


    Extra info: She owned a Black Cat, also called Kuro, but it ran away some time ago. She is still sad over it.


    Arc 1: Rigel


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 14


    Appearence: Somewhat short for his age. He has long blond hair, and green bandana with a red tip. He wears a camouflage shirt, pants and boots. He is usually seen having a mischievous smile, but sometimes with a dark and calculating one instead.


    Backstory: His parents died on a hunting trip when he was left at Nippon at 6 years old. Since then, he had lived there, accompanying a girl called Kuro. While Kuro was trained in the dances, he undergone a even more harsh training, one that can nullify all dances, and forcefully stop them. He acts as Kuro''s Key, and because of that, follows her everywhere, even to AAA.


    He often works behind the scenes, ever since he became a key, to protect Kuro. Met Albert when he tried to prank Kuro, and stopped him, but they soon became friends, and he introduced Albert to Kuro, leading to the formation of the group between Kuro, himself, Albert and Kyle.


    Personality: Calculating, and over protective. As long as Kuro allows him to stalk her, he would stalk her. Although he would normally, from the outside, tease Kuro, it is only to keep her comfortable. Still, he trusts her to keep herself safe most of the time.


    Because of how he listens to all her words, including her telling him not to follow her during work hours, he ended up having no idea that Kuro works in a maid cafe.


    Weapons: Magic gloves, short bow, <Wilting Dagger>. He is trained in summoning magical arrows, as well as shooting real, and magical arrows. Other than that, he knows the way to counter every single one of Kuro''s dances, and stop it before it consumes her.


    Armor: Basic leather armor, and camouflage. He prefers to hide instead of facing his enemy directly. In case he has to, he has leather armor to protect himself, somewhat.


    Extra info: He is weak to Kuro''s body, despite how shameless he can be in words.


    Arc 1: Carla


    <b>Spoiler</b> : <input type=''button'' value=''Show'' class=''spoilerButton''>


    Age: 7 (in the beginning of arc 1), 9 (In Chapter 7)


    Appearance: Has the average height of a 7 year old. Her hair color is like her mom''s, and is slightly longer than shoulder length, and is split into 2 parts, tied with a headband each. Normally, she would have the hair in front of her, but while fighting, they would be behind her. (How to I even describe this?). She has a round face, and bright hazel eyes. She would wear her school uniform (Blazer + shirt + short skirt with knee socks), during summer, she would switch the blazer with a vest. She always has a magical pouch, and a card deck on her belt, the former on the right, and the latter on her left.


    Her hair looks like this, but smoother.(I DO NOT OWN THE ART, original link: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Hairstyles-Part-1-255229340</a>)


    Backstory: Unlike her brother, she would rarely go out with her father, and prefers staying at home to write magic cards. Recently though, after her brother entered AAA, she started training on how to fight with her dad. Unlike her brother, she reads few books. Again, she spends most of her time in training her magic circle formulas.


    Personality:  Cheerful, and helpful. Always wishes the best for everyone, even if she has to sacrifice herself. Would willingly talk to anyone, and tries to initiate conversations with anyone if possible. Hates being alone, but can stand it if required.


    Unlike her brother and father, she has little interest in books. And hence, is far more innocent and ignorant compared to her brother. She is very interested in things including magic, but doesn''t exactly like, or is interested in anything else.


    Weapons: Magic cards. She has magic cards of all elements, and often adds new spells to her spell deck. Generally, she, has no weaknesses to any enemy that does not resist all magics overall, and has a spell for every situation.


    Armor: Mana shield spell. She wears no armor, instead, relies on a ''Mana Shield'' spell, that gives her a layer of protection.


    Extra info: Like her mother, her race is ''Human?''. Her mana pool is insanely huge, as well as her mana regeneration, but she has no way to use it, as her body''s mana conductivity is horrible. Surprisingly, she can draw magic circles with ease, as if her mana conductivity problem does not exist.


    She absolutely hates veggies.


    Thanks for reading my story!


    Current plans


    Complete arc 1


    Revamp arc 0


    Fill up the time between arc 0 and 1 through short stories


    Learn Japanese

 Arc1 - Chapter 1 - AAA

    Clint''s PoV


    ¡°AAA, founded by the current Principal named Eiden. Using earth magic, they had built the whole school in under a month, and now serves as a place to prepare kids for training.¡± The guide said as she led us. Actually, we heard this multiple times already, but today, we had appeared in somewhere unfamiliar. Usually, we would appear directly in a room near the principal¡¯s office, but they moved the portal to an alley in the town.


    Actually, last year, there was no town. All the buildings in the town are relatively new too, and there are many students around.


    ¡°Ah! That¡¯s the principal!¡± The guide said, while Eiden, the principal, walked forwards to greed dad (in disguise). ¡°Hawk! It¡¯s nice to see you! Sorry I had to force you into such troubles.¡± He had dark green hair, tied in a short ponytail. He also had a bow with him, which didn¡¯t suit the formal suit he was wearing. On a side note, Hawk is dad¡¯s alias, which he uses when he is in the public, and since the guide was still here, Eiden had opted to it. It seemed that dad is still wanted.


    From what I can see, they had been waiting here for us for some time already.


    There were 2 other people, one which I had met a long time before. She had red hair¡­ and she was¡­ ah¡­ mom¡­


    ¡°Mel! Stop it!¡±


    The teacher/healer of AAA ran towards mom and buried her face in mom¡¯s breasts. Dad had causally hugged Carla while covering her ears, as she muttered, ¡°I can¡¯t see¡­¡±


    ¡°So, young Clint, is it?¡± The principal asked, as he looked at me. He nodded to himself for a bit, before continuing, ¡°Welcome to AAA! We wish you have a nice time in our academy!¡±


    I smiled at the principal and gave a light bow, ¡°Thanks!¡± Although he had the serious outfit, and spoke in serious words, his tone was far from serious. At the moment, he had a grin on his face as he looked at me.


    ¡°I will meet you, actually, I will meet all the first years, tomorrow morning, for now¡­¡± The other teacher, who was a dark elf with black hair, walked forwards at that point, ¡°Eiden. May I?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, it is time! Take him away!¡± Eiden said, pointing towards the academy. The other teacher nodded, unamused, and led me towards the school building, telling me that my other stuff will be brought separately to my room, leaving me with my clothes and weapons, a steel short sword my father gave me, and the basic mana pistol from my mom. I turned back, and waved back to a smiling dad and a crying Carla.


    Mel was still holding mom down. I feel sorry for mom.


    Shiina''s PoV


    After dismissing the tour guide, Eiden pulled Mel off me. She pouted as she was held down by Eiden, who smiled at me with an awkward expression, ¡°Hi, Shiina. It¡¯s been some time.¡±


    I smiled back awkwardly at him. Indeed, unlike Dusk, who comes over to do missions with them about once every month, I never participated in any of John¡¯s missions. I was too busy researching and taking care of Clint and Carla. Sometimes I visited the engineers at Elanor¡¯s workshop, but I never came here with Dusk and Clint to visit Eiden, Mel and Gwen.


    Sadly, even after 9 years, their missions barely achieved anything. Even now they had no clue where the Mastermind resides. Luckily, or if Dusk was to say it, unluckily, there was no movements from the Mastermind. The nobles simply did what they wanted in Saint Haven and the surrounding area.


    Dusk speculated that they would probably attack AAA at one point. Especially since AAA is raising a group of loyal students that will come back to help if there is trouble. The longer they leave AAA alive, the larger the advantage we would have.


    AAA was an idea that John worked on for some time with the Devil. It exists to train adventurers so that they wouldn¡¯t die to the culling events that even he was unable to stop. Luckily, he managed to get the students to register under adventurers-in-training, and they won¡¯t be able to accept such forced missions. Not even they could force the adventurer¡¯s guild to bend that rule.


    Or at least that¡¯s what John hopes. AAA wouldn¡¯t survive an all-out attack by the nobles of Saint Haven. That¡¯s why he has a personal force in Saint Haven to prepare to strike if they ever move out towards AAA.


    With such a stalemate, in the recent culling events, none of the students has been chosen. Although some graduates were. The survival rate for the graduates are at a ¡®low 75%¡¯, as John said. He wanted a 100%, but it was far from possible.


    ¡°I was busy, Eiden. Sorry.¡±


    ¡°Nah, no worries. You aren¡¯t bound to John like us.¡± Eiden said with a tired smile. Honestly, Dusk isn¡¯t as well, though. He just helps just because he can.


    I feel a little guilty about it, but Dusk simply put his hand over my shoulder and smiled, ¡°So, Eiden, how¡¯s your love life?¡± He instantly made Eiden depressed. Mel, who was also caught on the AOE attack, also had a cloud of gloom over her.


    ¡°Dusk. Don¡¯t be so rude¡­¡± I sighed at him. It was a successful topic diversion¡­ but he didn¡¯t need to do that.


    Normally, he would be silent and cold to almost everyone, and it was evident when I brought him to Elanor¡¯s workshop. He would just ignore almost everyone. But here, suddenly, he was so friendly to people other than me, Carla and Clint.


    Carla was still silently standing and watching the students and their parents entering the academy with sparkling eyes. ¡°Mama! Can I come here when I¡¯m nine?¡± She asked with her cute voice, causing some parents to smile while looking at us.


    I smiled at her, ¡°Of course you can, my little baby~¡± Truthfully, I felt slightly guilty for passing my slow growth genes to her. Even at 7 years old, she was as small as a 5 year old kid. I remember how I used to be during 20 years old, I looked barely 16 by then, Dusk told me. And now at an age of 30, I looked barely 18, while Mel already looked like an old maid.


    I was glad that I¡¯m still so young, honestly. But I¡¯m worried of Carla.


    Maybe I should make a power suit for her. Or at least gloves and boots.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not stand here already. Come on, we can go to the maid caf¨¦ to chat.¡± Eiden said with his smile returning, ¡°Little Carla, follow uncle, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡± She happily said and followed the strange and suspicious uncle.


    Dusk. Why do you have your swords out?


    Clint''s PoV


    The teacher, who introduced herself as Professor Gwen, brought me through the gates, and we immediately saw the huge building, the main academy block at the end of the path we were at. Although it was huge, it couldn¡¯t be seen from beyond the gate. In front of us was a fountain, which is the center of a round square. There were paths leading to the left and right as well. There are multiple students walking from the left, which Prof. Gwen told me was the locations of the dorms, to the right, which most of the important shops, as well as the Adventurer¡¯s guild branch, as well as the church, is located at.


    I was led straight to the administrative office, located at the ground floor of the main academy block, where there was quite a line of students with their parents. While I expected to join the line, I was brought straight into the office by the Prof. Gwen. Inside, she helped me register directly as she told me the single, most important rule.


    No intentionally hurting or killing people without their consent.


    So with their consent, we can kill them?


    That¡¯s scary.


    In fact, when I asked her about it, she confirmed my suspicions. If you challenge someone in a duel to the death, and the enemy accepts, you are allowed to kill each other.


    Nobody tried that though. At least, not yet.


    I guess this IS an adventurer¡¯s school after all.


    There were other rules, but we are expected to read through them ourselves from the student¡¯s guidebook.


    While asking a few more questions and jotting them down on the form, she told me about the ranks. It is the school ranks, and at the moment, all first years are F ranked in the beginning, and the maximum rank is SSS. It could increase with multiple ways and they had their privileges, but she told me that it will be briefed in homeroom.


    After finishing, with me taking the subjects Swordsmanship, Combat, which is all purpose fighting, Basic engineering and Battle tactics.


    She was seemingly disappointed that I didn¡¯t take any magic subjects, but when I told her that my sister is going to go all out magic, her face cheered up. I suppose I could understand, since she was the head of magic in the school. She probably wanted to see how good I was in magic. Sadly, I sucked a lot in magic.


    Well, after that she gave me a map of the campus, and told me to go and get my uniform at the school shop, which is located near the cafeterias. Since it was a suggestion from a teacher, I decided to take it, and I went directly to the shops. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea too, as while most of the students are still enrolling, I could skip quite a line if I go now.


    Of course, thinking that triggered an event flag.


    While looking at the map and thinking about my uniform, I bumped into someone else and fell down. The one I bumped into simply staggered for a little, but regained her balance in just a few moments.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°Ah, sorry.¡± The person in front of me was a woman. The black long haired woman had no shirt, instead, having bandages covering her breasts. Her long black trousers which had an emblem of AAA with a single red stripe, but the most prominent thing was the two swords hanging on her waist. One, a long sword, and the other, a long and thin but slightly curved sword. ¡°Hm. A first year?¡±


    ¡°Eh? Ah. Yes.¡± I replied quickly. I was confused for a bit that I couldn¡¯t comprehend the question instantly. ¡°Sorry for that.¡± I said as she pulled me up.


    ¡°You. You¡¯re a swordsman, right?¡± She said, pointing at my weapons.


    I felt trouble incoming, and considered lying, but she was already convinced that I was one. Why, you might ask, am I convinced that she is convinced, well, the fact that my hand was held tight as I was pulled to the direction of the domes might be one reason.


    ¡°Wait, Wait! What are you doing?¡± I shouted at the woman in front of me, but she simple turned back, and looked at me with a matter-of-factly face. ¡°You seem interesting. I want to fight you.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m just a weak first year!¡±


    She nodded, but didn¡¯t release me, ¡°But you seem to be used to having those weapons. I¡¯m curious.¡±


    She ignored all my protests as she brought me to the domes. I feel totally weak for being dragged so easily away. So that¡¯s what mom feels with Mel¡­


    She tossed me a wooden sword, while she held one herself. ¡°Get ready, you can use your other weapon too.¡±


    I sighed internally. Since there was no escape, I might as well fight. I flicked a switch in my handgun, changing it from ¡®Murder¡¯ mode to ¡®Safe¡¯ mode, then picked up the wooden sword. It was balanced, although it wasn¡¯t the weight I was used to. With a sigh, I readied my stance.


    After fighting monsters with my father for the last 2 years, I had developed a unique stance. I held my gun behind me, with my sword to the front, horizontally, ready to defend. The usual tactics include blocking the initial attacks while learning the enemy¡¯s movements, before counterattacking.


    The woman smiled while I took my stance. ¡°3.¡±


    I crouched a little, and prepared to guard. ¡°2¡±


    First, I would block, and then I¡¯ll counter. This is just an oversized goblin. ¡°1¡±


    And then I saw the flashback of my life.


    I jumped to the side instantly. My enemy, who was standing a few meters away, suddenly appeared in front of where I was standing, her sword already swung down. The speed was like my father¡¯s without any hastes, which is, even without hastes or slows, horrifying. While I was still rolling in the air, I shot towards the wall once, and towards the ground once. The two shots flew, and hit the points I aimed. As I rolled up from the ground, the shot fired on the ground bounced, and she blocked it easily with her sword.


    I quickly steadied myself as the second shot forced her to block again, and then I fired 2 more shots, one straight and one towards the ground to her left. She dodged the first shot by sidestepping to the right, and seemed to dodge the second shot.


    But it was within prediction, as the other shot bounced on the small groove on the ground I made when I jumped away, and flew towards where she was standing. She blocked the shot with her sword, which gave me time to shoot straight twice, and dash forwards. The two shots will give me a chance no matter if she dodges or tries to counter from belo-


    I flew.


    She jumped over the shots, and grabbed my shirt with her arm, and threw me upwards as she landed gracefully behind me. I crashed into the ground, groaning, but she had a smile on her face.


    ¡°As I expected. You are interesting! Well, I hereby state that I will teach you!¡±


    I groaned painfully at the words.


    ¡°My name is Kuro! Call me Kuro-senpai! I¡¯m a 4th year student here!¡±


    Wait, there¡¯s something weird there.


    ¡°How old are you?¡±


    ¡°Hm. 14 this year.¡± She said uncaring, and pulled me up.


    She looks far older and mature than that though. In fact, she seemed older than my mom.


    I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s my mom being small or her being large for her age. In fact, I feel that it¡¯s both.


    ¡°Fine, Kuro-senpai. But I need to get my uniform now.¡± I said while patting the dust from my clothes.


    Upon hearing that, she pulled out a group card from her pocket, and spoke into it. ¡°Rigel. Get the uniform of a person called¡­ What¡¯s your name?¡± She said, and then suddenly turned towards me and asked for my name.


    ¡°¡­Clint.¡±


    ¡°Okay, Clint, first year. Just deliver it to the dorm head whoever he is.¡± After that, she returned the card into her pocket and smiled at me, giving me a thumbs up.


    It was an evil smile.


    Mom, dad, what did I do in my previous life?


    A few hours later, I was in the cafeteria. There are many parts of the cafeteria, split into ranks. Kuro-senpai was an A ranked student, and thanks to her, I was allowed to enter. It seemed that as long as you have a friend in a higher rank, you could enter the cafeteria of that rank, how nice. The A ranked cafeteria was the best and largest one, while the F ranked was tiny. Students with ranks above S shared the same cafeteria with A ranked students, but they had something else to make it up for them.


    At the moment, she was feeding me. My body hurt so much that I could barely move my arms. She told me, after beating me up, that for my fighting style, my speed was too low, and in a fight between people, my stance was horrible. It was good against monsters in the forest, but not against other people in a duel.


    I barely absorbed that as she fed me. She was somewhat happy when she fed me though. I don¡¯t understand¡­ Was all the fighting for this? I think it is just a side achievement or something though, she genuinely seemed interested in fighting.


    Well, it didn¡¯t matter after that


    It was too tiring.


    I fell asleep.


    Good night.


    Kuro''s PoV


    I smiled at the collapsed boy. After finishing my meal, I carried him to the male¡¯s dorm. Along the way, I met Rigel, who had 3 sets of the academy¡¯s uniform on him. Rigel was an Artillery in my group, and he mainly acts as a scout, since he runs really fast and nimbly.


    Of course, his talent isn¡¯t wasted. He does really well as a gofer.


    He sighed as he saw the boy. The first words that came out of his mouth was naturally an insult. ¡°Leader(in Japanese, ¡°ËùéL¡±), so you finally got a little brother material?¡±


    I took the uniform from him.


    Then stomped him into the ground, ¡°Leader! I am wrong! Forgive me!¡±


    I ignored his cries and stomped him for a few more seconds, before letting him rise from death.


    ¡°Ah¡­ ahh¡­. Remind me not to say those when you are in your uniform¡­ You are so much cuter if you aren¡¯t in your uniform¡­¡± He muttered, then noticed that I was smiling, and instantly kowtowed. ¡°I¡¯M SORRY!¡±


    Why are my teammates all jackasses?


    I pushed the uniforms back to him, and led the way to the male¡¯s dorm.


    ¡°So, how was he?¡± Rigel asked behind me. I considered the question for a little, ¡°Not bad, I suppose. He would be really good against monsters, but horrible against other people.¡±


    But he really reminds me of the very strong swordsman I had seen just recently.


    In fact, it was last week, when I was still at my village. There was a monster attack, and someone with dark blue hair and a black, really worn out coat, appeared from nowhere, and destroyed the monsters singlehandedly. He refused payment, and instead, paid us, and took one of our trees and disappeared. Clint¡¯s sword fighting techniques were really similar to the man that time. In fact, he had pushed me into few hard points.


    Were they related?


    When we arrived, I handed the boy over to the dorm head, and Rigel followed him to Clint¡¯s room. With that done, I returned to the dome for more training.


    [Extra info]


    Clint is a Gladiator


    Kuro is a Sword master


    Rigel is an Artillery


    Little Japan exists in the world of Legendia! Just because I wanted a japanese like character! Kuro will be one of the possibly 2 (haven''t decided if i want to include the 2nd character) japanese characters in the story!


    Honestly, I don''t know if I did well in this chapter. I tried to fill in what had happened in the past few years through Shiina''s pov, but I doubt it was good enough. Or good at all.


    Also, the part where I tried to make a short description of the main square of AAA was hugely lacking. I think I should make a map of AAA just because of that.


    I''m still learning how to change the thoughts of the various characters under the first person view. Now I have respect for the people who could change their PoVs naturally. You guys are awesome.


    Credits of AAA goes to JoyJoy415 and her friends.


    I do not own the world being used in the story! The world belongs to Dragon Nest!

 Arc1 - Chapter 2 - The classmates

    Before I forget. I will post a chapter every 2 days, during night time (at my time zone). It is, however, unlikely for me to increase the speed of it. I might release extra chapters if I''m in a school break though.


    Also, although i had planned most of this arc out already, I do not mind suggestions. In fact, due to my limited knowledge in school life, suggestions would be extremely helpful. Yeah, I am the kind of person with 0 friends in school.


    ¡°Dude, wake up!¡±


    Upon hearing those words, I forced my eyes open, and looked into the person in front of me. He looked at me with his read eyes while grinning. The most distinctive part of his though, was his badly cut hair, which is maroon colored.


    ¡°Wa?¡± I got up quickly while searching my memories. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°My name¡¯s¡­¡± He faltered, and started thinking, ¡°Actually, you know what, my name is insignificant. I am but a lowly nobody.¡± He said while laughing. ¡°Mind you, my name really was registered as Nobody.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what to think. Is this a joke?


    ¡°No worries, it isn¡¯t a joke.¡± He laughed again, but suddenly stopped, ¡°By the way, you should get up. You¡¯ve been collapsed since yesterday. I was quite shocked when a corpse was thrown into the room.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡± I muttered as I got out of the bed, and then winced as pain roared through my whole body.


    ¡°Whoa, careful there.¡± He held me up, and guided me to the bathroom, while throwing a set of uniform at me, ¡°Get ready for class, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡±


    I recalled the events of the previous day as I took the bath. I was brutally beaten up by Kuro-senpai, and then fed by her, and then, according to this ¡®Nobody¡¯ person, I was thrown into the room.


    What did I ever do to deserve this?


    I wore the uniform which consists of a simple white shirt with a single green stripe on the sleeve, indicating the year, with the school emblem and a pair of black trousers. Unlike traditional schools, uniforms would often get destroyed through various means, which is why the uniform is simple, although combatable. On a side note, the females has an extra blazer, with a similar shirt, but they can choose between short skirts, long skirts and trousers.


    Also, when we reach C and A ranks, we can upgrade, and then custom make our uniform, like how Kuro-senpai did with hers. It is a pain for them to do that, though, so we would have to pay every single time we want a new set.


    Also, I wonder why she chose a uniform like that.


    After changing into the uniform, I returned to the room, where Nobody was lying on the bed reading from a horribly old notebook.


    By the way, the room is quite small, with 2 beds, one on each side, 2 cupboards, 2 desks, and a single window. There is also a small bath, although there is a bathhouse for each gender near their dorms.


    Upon seeing me, Nobody closed his book, storing it in a small magical pouch. I was provided one of it by the academy as well, although the storage space was not that large. It couldn¡¯t even fit my pistol, so I had to carry it myself.


    Nobody, on the other hand, doesn¡¯t have any weapons on his body. He got up, stretching his body, ¡°Now now, let¡¯s go before we are late for the entrance ceremony.¡± He said, walking out of the room, ¡°Come on and follow me.¡± The entrance ceremony is held in the main hall in the main academy building, and there was quite a number of first years, and older students, according to the stripes on their sleeves, guiding the first years


    We entered the hall, and Nobody randomly chose a seat. I took the seat beside him, while looking around. At the moment, there are few students, but more are entering by the second. After a while, a girl with long silver hair sat down nervously beside me, but when I looked at her, she blushed and looked down, so I averted my gaze.


    Nobody, on the other hand, had no delicacy. ¡°Woo~ How did you get a girl so quickly?¡± He asked with a taunting smile, which caused the girl to blush even more while shuffling away from us.


    ¡°Hahahaha, sorry, sorry, what¡¯s your name?¡± Nobody asked with a laugh, but the girl simply ignored him and stubbornly looked away, until I decided to ask her the question myself.


    ¡°¡­Ashley¡­¡± She said, now looking downwards.


    Honestly, I don¡¯t know how to deal with someone like her. Neither Carla, mom nor the other females I have met up to now, which includes Mel, Gwen and Kuro-senpai, had been this shy. Every single time I looked at her, she would turn away and blush.


    ¡°Good morning, everyone.¡±


    Ah, it was the principal. Today, instead of wearing a formal suit, he wore a green cloak. He held his bow on his hand and 3 arrows in another, and he spoke in an amplified voice. ¡°Welcome to AAA. Short for Altea¡¯s Adventurer¡¯s Academy. We, as the best adventuring academy in the world, welcome you to join our ranks, and graduate as proud men and women. I¡¯m sure that some of you expect me to give a speech about the founding of the school, but since everyone would just sleep, please satisfy yourself at our great library!¡±


    He nodded a few times at us, and continued, ¡°Our goal is simple. To give all of you the basics of adventuring, and the mindset of an adventurer before you go! And for those that are interested in something else, such as crafting, you are not left out! Please fully enjoy your time here, and use our facilities as much as possible! I hereby welcome all of you, the 123 students that joined us this year, to AAA.¡±


    Most of the students clapped excitedly, but principal, what everyone wants is the lessons, not the speeches. Well, there is another teacher coming now. It was Prof. Gwen, and she looked at everyone sternly, forcing them to quieten down before starting her tiny speech.


    As she got up, she told us that our home room was decided by our seats. With 9 rows, every 3 rows of students are allocated into the same homeroom. For me and Nobody, we were in homeroom 2. We were also told of the class location, and I quickly checked the map. By the time I confirmed the location, she was already done, and we were dismissed.


    ¡°Got the location?¡± Nobody asked casually as he leaned against the chair, ¡°Lead us, scout!¡± He said, while pointing towards the exit. I smiled at the joke, and got up.


    And then I felt a pull on my sleeve.


    Ashley was holding my sleeve, while still looking away. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but was stuttering. ¡°Ca¡­ can¡­ I¡­?¡±


    I sighed mentally. ¡°Do you want to follow us?¡±


    She nodded quickly, while still holding my sleeve. As I led the way, Nobody followed behind me, but the moment he tried to speak to Ashley, she walked 2 steps to the side, as far away as possible to Nobody, while still holding my sleeve.


    Is he really that scary? He¡¯s the one that is going to cry now.


    Using the map, we quickly reached the classroom. The classroom was still half empty at this point, and when we entered, we were greeted by an bored looking old man leaning on the chair. He looked at us with a sleepy face as he said, ¡°Clint. Ashley. And that insignificant dude.¡± He said, and handed us our timetables.


    We took the seats in the middle of the class. Nobody sat behind me while Ashley to the left.


    According to the time table, there were 2 swordsmanship classes and combat classes per week, each lasting 2 hours. Tactics has a 2 theory classes, which is 2 hours each. The final basic engineering has 3 classes, a 1 hour theory and two 2 hour workshop sessions.


    Nobody took 2 subjects only, which is basic engineering and combat. When he noticed me looking, he told me that he came here for the engineering only, and that he was not interested in anything else. Ashley had 4 subjects, Healing, Support magic, Basic Magic and Combat. I asked her a few questions of her choices, and she tried to answer for a bit before giving up with a sigh.


    According to those choices, Ashley would be a priest, while Nobody an Engineer? I¡¯m not sure about the class concepts¡­ (Notes: No worries, Clint, you are right)


    After some time, the class filled up (the teacher sent a few students running to search for those missing), and he stood up, silently looking at us.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    And he sat down again, as if deciding that it isn¡¯t worth his energy standing, ¡°Welcome to class 1-B. My name is Atler Goshan. Just call me Mr.Atler or Mr.Goshan, I don¡¯t really care, I¡¯m an engineering teacher, so congrats for those who took engineering,¡± He said dryly while manipulating a chalk to write his name on a blackboard, ¡°We can start the self-introductions now, you, boy in the corner, start.¡±


    Didn¡¯t they have whiteboards? My mom often complained how blackboards give out too much dust, and changed all the blackboards at home into whiteboards a few years back.


    ¡°Ah okay.¡± The boy said quickly, and stood up, beginning the self-introductions. I idly listened to them, although honestly I couldn¡¯t remember the names of most of them. My mom told me that dad had a certain trait. He couldn¡¯t remember the names of the people by listening to them only once, or twice, or thrice, and that he would rapidly forget names of people. It seems that I had the exact same trait. By the time it reached the 4th person, I couldn¡¯t remember the name of the first person, and it took me a few seconds to remember the name of the girl beside me.


    Ashley, right.


    At least Nobody¡¯s name was easy, although quite weird.


    ¡°Erm¡­ My name is Ashley Dewspark¡­ 9 years old¡­ Nice to meet you!¡± She bowed, and sat back down.


    Dewspark, huh¡­ but Ashley, nobody could hear that anyways if you speak so softly. The teacher waved for the next person to continue through. It seems that he doesn¡¯t exactly care.


    It reached my turn soon after that, and I stood up, ¡°My name is Clint, 9 years old. I hope that I will be able to get along with everyone.¡± I sat down, somewhat proud of myself for modifying it slightly from an introduction from a story.


    Nobody grinned at me and whispered, ¡°Wow, so formal.¡± And then he stood up, ¡°Hi~ I am someone insignificant, but I go by the name Nobody. I hope that I can get along with all the girls in the class~ Thank you, thank you.¡± He waved to everyone as he sat down.


    Actually, he ignored the part of the class that didn¡¯t have any girls.


    Why only the girls?


    The introductions ended soon after that. The teacher sighed visibly, ¡°I am supposed to give you guys a brief introduction of ranks.¡± He gave a really long sigh upon saying those words, ¡°Fine. Basically, you all start as crappy F ranks. You guys get a horrible allowance every week, and can eat at the F rank cafeteria for free. Also, you can take F and E rank missions from the adventurer¡¯s guild as well as the crafting guild.¡±


    While still manipulating the chalk, he started writing the letters F to A, as well as S, SS and SSS. ¡°You can increase your ranks through multiple ways. But since there are that many¡­ Fine, I¡¯ll tell you brats all of them. The first way is through the guilds, by doing guild quests. Completing adventurer¡¯s guild quests will give adventurer points, while the crafting guild gives crafter points. After getting a certain amount, your ranks will increase. The higher one of either rank determines your student rank.¡± A few of my classmates looked around confused, but he ignored them and continued. ¡°In addition to that, there are 2 other ways to increase ranks. The first is from leadership achievements. By leading people well in quests, or events, you can increase your rank if the principal or heads allow for it. The other is attitude. It can go negative too, and it can be modified by the principal and the heads directly. Simply speaking, if they like you, then you get bonus ranks, if they don¡¯t, you don¡¯t get bonus ranks.¡±


    He ignored the ¡®any questions¡¯ part, and instantly went into the next point. ¡°You can¡¯t take missions for three months, and you can¡¯t do any labyrinth related missions until your third year. Also, there will be a small test after every semester for every subject to reevaluate all of you, and a final test every year. On the first year of any subject, depending on your marks, you can skip a few years, or for some subjects, to the next grade directly.¡±


    Since most of the students has previous experience, the first year is mainly to gauge the student¡¯s real knowledge and skill of the subject, and at the end of the year, the students would be moved to a more suitable year. Such a thing couldn¡¯t be done in a day, in fact, since there are many factors to evaluate.


    Each subject lasts 9 years at maximum, and a student below S grade has to finish at least 4 subjects to graduate. An S grade student needs 2, while an SS grade student only needs one. SSS grade students doesn¡¯t even need to finish a single subject, and can graduate by the 7th year. Also, for subjects like engineering and magic, there are grades, which ranges from basic to advance to expert.


    By this time though, there was quite a number of students who couldn¡¯t get what he said, but none of them dared to ask the teacher to repeat it, so he dismissed everyone and left.


    Ashley¡¯s PoV


    I looked at the boy with awe. Even now, when the teacher spoke with such confusing words, he had a confident feeling as if he understood everything. Even his friend behind him was the same, I think? He seemed really lax though.


    He had introduced himself as Clint, with no surname, at the hall.


    Initially, I felt nervous. After my roommate, a 3rd year senior, left me at the hall, I felt really unconfutable with all the gazes other people gave me. My roommate told me that my silver hair is rare, and it stands out a lot. Flustered by the gazes, I took a random seat and sat down beside a boy, but he almost instantly turned towards me.


    He had a curious expression as he looked at me with his hazel eyes. The eyes were warm, yet piercing at the same time. It was as if he was gauging me, but he quickly realized that I was uncomfortable, and turned away. That¡¯s when his friend suddenly made an improper comment, and the shame instantly took over my nervous brain.


    How could someone say something so shameless!?


    He asked for my name, but I decided to ignore such a vulgar person. It was until the other boy, who seemed really troubled, asked for my name that I gave them mine. The boy with caramel hair was called Clint, while the vulgar boy wanted to be called Nobody. I really can¡¯t understand someone like him¡­


    After the speech, I realized that I didn¡¯t know where the classroom is. But since the people beside me would be going to the same homeroom, I quickly grabbed Clint¡¯s sleeve.


    Wait! What was I doing???


    I turned away in shame, but it was too late to remove my hand, as it had tugged on his sleeve when he got up. I tried to cover myself, but I was too shamed to even speak. He looked at my face, and smiled lightly, ¡°Do you want to follow us?¡±


    Ah, I suddenly recalled the novel about a charming prince.


    No! Wait! What was I thinking!? I nodded lightly after clearing my thoughts, and followed him. The other boy, who was also following him, smiled and moved closer to me. But I instinctively moved away¡­ He was a little scary to me¡­


    And now we are here. As the teacher swiftly left, he turned back towards us while smiling, ¡°Want to go to the domes together?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure where the domes are, so I nodded while Nobody gave a single thumbs up with his trademark scary smile¡­ I¡¯m¡­ afraid of him¡­


    He nodded, and led the way. As we were walking, I took out a small piece of wood, and chanted a short incantation. Upon receiving the mana of the spell, the wood extended into a staff, which I held with both my hands. Nobody whistled, while Clint simply glanced back and looked at my staff.


    That was the first time I managed to look at his face directly. Again, he had his kind yet dark eyes, although it isn¡¯t focused on me now, and he had quite a good face. But there was something curious about him. I shook away the thoughts. It was improper of me to think like that. But when I shook my head, I caught his attention, and he looked at me again.


    I couldn¡¯t help looking away, which gave him a troubled look, but he continued guiding us to the domes.


    Why can¡¯t I help looking away when he looks at me!?


    What is this feeling in my head!!??

 Arc1 - Chapter 3 - The classes

    Another chapter!


    Today, I just realized that Dusk''s magic card is similar to the cards of a certain magician from the story of a certain Imagine Breaker. Is that idea stealing?


    Still struggling to maintain the personalities of each person. Nobody and Kuro is especially hard for me, somehow.


    Being a pervert is hard. I respect Rudeus (and the writer, of course) for that.


    Next chapter up in two days!


    I really need to write faster, I only have about 6 chapters left in reserve...


    The PoV of the insignificant person


    Our first class is the Combat class. Well, I¡¯m not really interested on this subject, the only reason I took this is that I need a minimum of 2 subjects, and this seemed to be the most useful choice. Clint and, surprisingly, Ashley, on the other hand, seemed excited for this class.


    I was quite surprised to see someone Ashley taking Combat, in fact. All her classes other were based on support, but there was a battle subject out of the blue.


    But since combat supports all purpose combat, I suppose there are things that she could learn.


    As for me, since engineering classes doesn¡¯t start until this afternoon, I didn¡¯t have a weapon. I would want to use one of the so-called drones. It is a weapon developed by a genius engineer some 10 years ago, and it can be controlled remotely to attack enemies. Of course, most high grade drones uses manasteel circuits and transmission, but manasteel is still quite expensive and rare.


    I wonder how that genius enginer got so much manasteel to work with.


    Personally, I have never made a drone yet. I have read through my holy book tons of times, but I didn¡¯t have a workshop to use. In fact, that is the reason why I joined AAA.


    We reached the dome, and started waiting. Clint was leaning against the walls with boredom lacing his body, while Ashley was standing beside him, taking small glances at him.


    Clint, your harem has started. I¡¯m proud of you. I gave him a thumbs up, but it seemed that he didn¡¯t know what I was thinking.


    Ashley, on the other hand, moved away from me.


    WHY??!!! IT HURTS!!


    While I cried over my failure while in a ¡®orz¡¯ position, the students slowly gathered. It was when the teachers entered the dome when I got up from the ground. There was a redhead female teacher, a dark elf teacher with black hair, and a muscleman. They walked to the front of a battlefield, and the muscleman clapped his hands to get everyone¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Good morning, everyone.¡± The dark elf teacher said while pushing her glasses up. ¡°This is the first class for the subject Combat.¡± She said while doing a silent headcount, ¡°Since everyone¡¯s here. We will start now. I am Professor Gwen, this is Mr., or Sir Knox,¡± She gestured at the muscleman, ¡°And this is Mel.¡± She gestured to the smiling red head who was waving her hand towards Clint. He waved his hand back, confused.


    I was confused as well, honestly. What was their relationship?


    Prof. Gwen ignored them though, ¡°Now, everyone, we will randomly assign everyone against someone random. Both of you will get a wooden weapon, come up, and fight. Don¡¯t be nervous, it won¡¯t affect your grade. It is just to gauge you all so that we can fix your problems.¡± She said, while holding out a sheet of paper. ¡°I will call out your names when it is your turn.¡±


    She then started called out 2 names. The called students chose their weapons and went up the stage, and took their stance. ¡°3, 2, 1. Start!¡±


    One of them had a sword while the other had a spear. The moment the battle started, they charged and wildly swung at each other with no actual technique. The battle ended when the second boy jabbed his blunt stick into the chest of the first boy. Mr. Knox quickly stopped the battle as the first boy got up angrily.


    After he calmed down, Prof. Gwen called for 2 other students. I looked at the battles while noting those that were good. There was a boy who used a sword, but his arrogant pose and stance annoyed me. Another mage had also caught my attention, he was a noble, and with his strong lighting magic he quickly ended the battle.


    It then reached Ashley¡¯s turn. Ashley took a breath and she entered the field. Her opponent was another mage, who held her staff nervously. Ashley casted a barrier while waiting for the battle to start.


    When it started, the enemy repeatedly fired fire bolts towards Ashley, but her barrier blocked all of it.


    The girl fired more fire bolts, she blocked more of them.


    And she blocked more of them.


    ¡­Is she planning to attack?


    Prof. Gwen eventually ended the battle as the firebolt girl¡¯s mana reached critical levels. During the whole battle, Ashley hadn¡¯t attacked at all. I¡¯m somewhat surprised by that, honestly. Although her subjects were all on support, she should have at least 1 or 2 attacks, right?


    My turn came soon after. Well, I don¡¯t have any weapons yet, so I went up bare fisted. The opponent had a battle axe, which he held unsteadily with both his hands.


    ¡°No weapons?¡± My enemy asked, and I smiled, ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t do well with most weapons, you know.¡±


    ¡°Start!¡±


    I started by doing 3 twisting steps forwards, changing my position with every step. He had prepared for a swing, but was confused by my movements, and I jabbed lightly into his stomach.


    He growled at me as I stepped back, and swung wildly, but I simply back stepped, and lunged at his face with my palm. I stopped just as I touched him, and jabbed again at his stomach.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Knox shouted, and my enemy sighed while laying down his weapon. From just the 4 attacks, he knew who was superior in the battle. I turned towards the girls and waved my hand, but they ignored me.


    Ugh, but I won¡¯t give up!


    ¡°Nobody, right? Very well done, although you still can make your movements sharper and smoother.¡± True, he was right, but I have no plans on doing much actual fighting after the first practical engineering lesson, you know. After he was done with me, he went to advise the other boy.


    ¡°Woohoo!¡± I shouted as I ran back towards Clint, ¡°I was awesome, right?¡±


    Clint nodded, ¡°You¡¯re really good, seriously. That¡¯s some really good blows there.¡± Ashley ignored me.


    ¡°I know right~¡± I laughed as he was called up.


    Even so, I knew he was far better than me. The way he had both his weapons as if he was used to it said much. And his enemy...


    Almost everyone gasped in surprise as Mr.Knox went up to the stage as Clint¡¯s enemy himself. Clint didn¡¯t seem nervous though, and he readied his weapons, a wooden sword, and a pistol.


    When both of them are ready, Prof. Gwen swung her hand down, ¡°Start!¡±


    Clint instantly started by shooting thrice. Following that, he crouched and dashed forwards. Knox, with a sword and shield, blocked 2 of the shots with the shield while lunging at Clint under the cover of this shield. As Clint was about to be impaled, he suddenly slid down, and through his enemy while shooting twice, almost at point blank range, but Mr. Knox had already jumped out of the way, while dodging the attacks.


    ¡°<Target lock>¡± Clint said, while shooting multiple shots. Some of the shots flew straight ahead, but a few curved unnaturally and flew towards Knox. He charged forwards, blocking the frontal shots while the curved ones simply flew past where he stood. <Target lock> simply forces the shots to fly towards a fixed location defined by the enemy¡¯s location when the shots are fired, but it doesn¡¯t turn the shots into homing shots, so it was still possible to dodge them.


    Clint shot directly at the shield for a few times, but suddenly aimed his pistol down, and shot the leg. Knox, who was behind the shield, couldn¡¯t expect the shot, and took it.


    But his sword suddenly flew from behind the shield and its blunted edge smashed into Clint, sending him flying back.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Prof. Gwen shouted as both of them were on the ground, nursing their light wounds. Although they were light, they probably still hurt. ¡°Good job, Clint.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± He said, while Mel healed him using a holy fire spell. And then he casually walked back.


    ¡°Damn! That was good!¡± I told him honestly while giving him a thumbs up, and he smiled.


    ¡°I still lost though.¡±


    ¡°Dude, you were facing a teacher! We were fighting people who doesn¡¯t know one end of the sword to the other.¡± I said while Ashley nodded, ¡°But that is to be expected from an expert that caught even Kuro-sama¡¯s attention.¡±


    ¡°Kuro¡­-sama?¡±


    ¡°The girl who beat you up badly yesterday and thrown u into the dorm using her goon yesterday. Of course, you were sleeping at that time.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± He nodded, finally realizing who I was talking about. ¡°But how did you know if she never entered the males¡¯ dorm?¡±


    Crap. I can¡¯t tell him that I was tailing Kuro-sama the whole day after registering. ¡°That¡¯s not important! The important thing is that you¡¯re strong, right, Ashley?¡±


    She nodded. Oh my god, she finally responded to me, I¡¯m so happy.


    She moved away.


    WHY?


    Clint was laughing as he looked between us, ¡°Come on, Ashley, he isn¡¯t that bad!¡±


    ¡°¡­He is¡­¡±


    ¡°Gwahahahahahaha.¡± He burst out laughing, finally failing to stop himself. He managed to stop himself after coughing a bit, ¡°Sorry, Nobody. I didn¡¯t mean to.¡±


    I waved my hand, ¡°No worries. I¡¯m used to being brutally murdered by woman.¡± I said while crying blood. ¡°This happens a lot, so I¡¯m okay with it, really.¡±


    (From the sides, Gwen, Mel, and Knox were thinking the same thing, ¡®This boy isn¡¯t cute at all.¡¯)


    ¡°Ok, since everyone is done, you all are dismissed. Remember to come again this Thursday!¡± Prof. Gwen announced, and we all left for lunch.


    Clint¡¯s PoV


    I sighed, tired from the battle, as we walked out of the dome. Mr.Knox was far better than what he shown to everyone, in fact, he was holding back quite a lot. If he was serious, I doubt I could get that single shot in.


    ¡°It¡¯s lunch time now, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep~ Time to eat what we call gruel. Be prepared to taste the awesome food of the academy!¡± Nobody announced. From his words just now, it seemed that he knew that I was with Kuro-senpai yesterday.


    Suspicious.


    ¡°Oi! Clint!¡± A girl shouted in front of us in the main corridor while waving her hands. Beside her was a boy, perhaps around 14 years old like Kuro-senpai. He had blond hair, with a green beret and a full set of green leather armor, as well as a longbow behind him. The emblem of the academy was shown on his chest, and there was a familiar red stripe around one of the leather gauntlets. ¡°Going for lunch?¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I nodded, ¡°With my friends, Nobody and Ashley.¡± She smiled at Ashley, but glared at Nobody. Nobody sweated for a bit as they looked at each other. None of them spoke anything, but I felt that there was invisible words being thrown around. The boy that was with Senpai simply shook his head while smiling.


    ¡°Can¡¯t be help, Kuro-sama~ You are just that enticing.¡± He said jokingly.


    And then Kuro-senpai stomped him down as he begged for forgiveness.


    ¡°Anyways, come with us, we¡¯ll bring you to the A grade cafeteria.¡± Kuro-senpai said curtly as she walked off angrily. The corpse got up while laughing as her figure disappeared through the corridor.


    ¡°Ahahahaha¡­ She¡¯s too serious¡­ can¡¯t she take a joke¡­¡± He staggered towards the cafeteria, while we followed him.


    After getting the free high grade good, we sat down with Senpai and the boy, who introduced himself as Rigel. Senpai was mainly talking to Ashley, while Rigel squinted his eyes as he looked at us.


    He leaned forwards, towards Nobody, ¡°So, how was she?¡±


    Nobody smiled at the words, ¡°Really satisfying. The only thing she need is to let the bandages go just a little loose¡­¡±


    I don¡¯t understand? I looked at them with confused gazes, but they simply laughed. Lunch break soon ended, with both Senpai and Rigel going off to do a mission. Ashley didn¡¯t have class at the moment, so she went back to her dorm, while Nobody and I had to prepare for the engineering class.


    After getting my toolbox from our room in the male¡¯s dorm, we rushed towards the class. It was a theory lesson, but since all my notes are in my toolbox, I decided to bring the whole thing. There were 3 other students there already, as well as the teacher, when we entered the lab. The first person is a boy with a short purple ponytail. He snorted as us when we entered, and then looked away. The other 2 students seemed to be twins, and both of them had short blonde hair. They were discussing something when we entered, and neither of them noticed us coming in.


    I took the seat beside the purple haired boy, while Nobody took the seat beside me. The boy clicked his tongue when I sat down, but simply ignored me.


    Nobody laughed, ¡°Come on, Rex Thunderclaw!¡±


    ¡°Says the person who is so poor that he couldn¡¯t even afford a name.¡± He looked at Nobody with a scowl, ¡°Why are we even in the same class?¡±


    ¡°Well, it seems that because, even if I have no name, I have the exact same rights as you!¡± He laughed after speaking in a mocking tone.


    ¡°Both of you, shut up. Class is starting.¡± The teacher, Mr. Atler curtly said, putting an end to the short conflict.


    I was surprised to see this side of Nobody. He was always nice to everyone we spoke to, but to Rex, he simply mocked him from the beginning to the end.


    ¡°Well, it seems that half of you are familiar with each other already, so, the two girls at the side are Emi and Amy, the boy with a pitiful face is called Rex. The totally normal boy at my left is a Nobody, and this middleman is called Clint. Good, let¡¯s start the class.¡± He said quickly, ¡°First, does any one of you not know any engineering?¡±


    No one put up their hands, and Mr. Atler nodded, as if he expected the answer. ¡°Good, I suppose all of you know the basics. So here, I¡¯ll give all of you a blueprint. There are a few basic errors in this, discuss among yourselves, or yourself alone, on how to fix and improve the design.


    The product artifact from the blueprint was a ball, which can roll when being controlled by a remote control. The moment I scanned through it, I realized the major problem.


    The most important stuff are missing. There are no weapons on the ball.


    With a sigh, I took out my mechanical pencil, and started drawing.


    The PoV of a certain nobody


    Clint never fails to surprise me. The moment he got his blueprint, he instantly took out an artifact writing tool thingy and started writing. I held my pencil nervously, as I looked at the blueprint of a popular noble¡¯s child¡¯s toy.


    It was in fact, quite obvious that there were some parts inside that prevented it from rolling perfectly. Also, the ball isn¡¯t balanced, so when you stop its roll, it will roll a little more until it is balanced, since the center of balance isn¡¯t well placed.


    I removed the useless parts and rearranged the parts inside to make them balanced. I added a few parts to allow it to roll faster, as well as giving it the ability to jump using springs, and a few absorbers so that it can land without breaking.


    As I looked at my finished product proudly, I looked at Clint¡¯s.


    Remember when I said that he never failed to surprise me? He did it again.


    He had finished as well, but unlike mine, he added a few different types of modifications, in addition to a general improvement of all the traits, from movement to control. The first he added was a manasteel circuit along the outer and inner edge, as well as an improvement on the remote. The next thing was a rotor function, where a rotor would appear on the top, and could start spinning to make the ball fly. Also, he added 7 blades to the side of the ball, which can spring out and start spinning rapidly, while the ball moves using the rotor, or if he activates another function to make a wheel pop out at the bottom, so it could move on the ground while using the blades. The last thing is a small gun on the bottom, which can be activated if it¡¯s flying.


    He finally noticed me starting at his blueprint.


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± He asked and checked his blueprint again. I slowly shook my head, and told him my true thoughts, ¡°No, but the thing is, I didn¡¯t expect you to make a death machine out of a child¡¯s toy.¡±


    ¡°EH? It¡¯s a child¡¯s toy???¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know?¡±


    Our exclamations attracted everyone¡¯s attention, and Mr. Atler walked towards us with his trademark bored expression. He looked at my blueprint, and nodded. ¡°Good enough.¡± He said, and then turned towards Clint¡¯s blueprint.


    He stared at it blankly for a few seconds, while I prayed for my friend¡¯s safety.


    After a few more moments, he raised the blueprint. ¡°GENIUS! It is decided! We will make this during the practical lesson! Clint, sign here, yes, good.¡± After Clint signed his name on the blueprint, it was taken away and kept by Mr.Atler, whose excited expression was once again replaced by the bored expression.


    ¡°Ha?¡± Clint¡¯s eyes turned into small dots as he failed to comprehend what happened. I laughed, giving him a pat on the shoulder, ¡°Good lord, are you not aware of how crazy of an artifact you have planned?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    I had guessed as much, he doesn¡¯t know how brutally broken that machine is, ¡°Like I said, it was supposed to be a noble¡¯s toy. And you turned a simple toy into a death machine that can be controlled by mana.¡± Truthfully I don¡¯t know if he drew the manasteel lines correctly, but I doubt that he did it wrongly. ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­ I really need to do better¡­¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    He¡¯s awesome, as expected. I tapped on my bible as I thought that. It seems that I need to spend some time alone in the workshops to improve. His mindset is correct, we are going to be adventurers, creating death machines should be normal. I mentally punched myself for thinking like a kid.


    On a side note, Rex, Amy and Emi had been watching us with dropped jaws for a while. It seemed that Rex had simply fixed the ball and improved its controls.


    As the class ended, I started to ponder on a question that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    How did I understand the blueprint with only one glance?


    Swordsmanship. It was a boring first class, to sum it up. We were told to swing our swords over and over on a dummy, while the instructor corrected our techniques. After the class, I accidently complained to Kuro-senpai about how boring swordsmanship classes were, and she agreed.


    It was until the second class when something interesting happened.


    The instructor moved us to the dummies as usual, and told us to swing our swords, and someone kicked open the entrance to the dome.


    It was Kuro-senpai, and she had a proud, yet devilish smile on her face.


    She walked forwards, pulling out her sword, and swung at the instructor.


    With the sharp edge.


    Luckily, the instructor dodged, and pulled out his own sword, and they started fighting seriously. Their movements are faster than what a normal student could perceive, and most of the students watched them in awe.


    The battle ended in a flash when Kuro-senpai dropped all her defense and lunged forwards. The instructor skillfully disarmed her, but took a punch from Kuro-senpai. After that, they looked at each other, grinning at each other.


    And then she walked towards me, and pulled me away.


    ¡°Kuro-senpai!?¡± I asked as I staggered along. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Hm? Nothing. I got permission to train you during swordsmanship classes. That¡¯s all.¡±


    And with that, my swordsmanship lessons were taken by Senpai as she trained me at the side. Occasionally Rigel would come to watch, sometimes with a robed person and an armored person. The sword instructor ignored all of us from that point on though, and would let Kuro-senpai take me... I mean, train me.


    That was quite dangerous there.


    Battle tactics was a fully theory lesson, where we would come up of solutions to the scenarios which the teacher provides us. In fact, it is a complicated and hard to get subject.


    Most of the times, we would play tactic games against each other (imagine something like FFTA/FE), but it was timed really well, and we would have to make an action every 5 seconds, and both sides get a turn at the same time. Not completing an action in 5 seconds would cause you to miss your turn.


    The game was moderated by the teacher, who could calculate everything in a blink of an eye.


    There was only 6 other students in the class, by the way, and we would play against each other in a rotation. The teacher also revealed to us a 3d version, which the whole ¡®board¡¯ is a miniature castle.


    It was really fun, although hard to win. Sadly, the teacher would usually end the battle early before either side is wiped to allow everyone to have a chance every lesson.


    We continued attending classes, until finally, it was the end of the 3rd month.

 Arc1 - Chapter 4 - First mission

    With so little reference to DN, I think I''ll just remove it totally. Sorry for those who read this for the DN elements (Is there even any?)


    Originally, the story was supposed to be highly based on DN, but due to various factors, I removed them over time, and now, there is barely any left. Hence, I made such a decision.


    As such, I will fix the arc 0, and interlude chapters. Also, I plan to revamp the whole arc 0, at some point.


    Assignments and tests next week. No worries for those who are following though, I will still release a chapter once per two days.


    Have fun reading, the boring part is finally over (and will start after a few chapters, again)


    I woke up to see Senpai in our room.


    ¡°Kur-kfu!!??¡± Senpai quickly covered my mouth, but Nobody had already stirred from his slumber, slowly getting up.


    And then he looked at us.


    After a long period of silence, he finally spoke, ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything, you guys can continue.¡± He then laid down on his bed, facing the other side.


    Senpai¡¯s fist flew towards him instantly.


    ¡°So, you want to get a mission and go straight away, and that¡¯s why you had Rigel to get you in here, right?¡± Nobody summed up what happened, and laid out the facts to Senpai, who nodded.


    ¡°Are you an idiot!?¡± He shouted suddenly. ¡°Just get Rigel here instead of barging into our room!¡±


    ¡°Rigel told me that I should come myself since it¡¯s a special occasion.¡± Senpai said. On a side note, she isn¡¯t in her uniform at the moment, and instead had a plain white tank top with black, short shorts, and was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Compared to her usual, fierce look, she had a far more innocent face.


    That¡¯s when Rigel came out of our bath, with a white t-shirt and green trousers. ¡°A sister going into a room and personally waking up his younger brother is something perfectly normal.¡±


    I don¡¯t really understand that terminology, but Nobody seemed as he was suddenly revealed a secret. ¡°You are right! I have underestimated you! Please, take me as your student!¡± His face was full of shock, and then he bowed towards the laughing Rigel.


    ¡°Are we done? Can we go get a mission now?¡± Senpai asked, while cocking her head to the side. Rigel nodded, ¡°Your uniform is inside, just take a bath here. Clint and Junior(Nobody is renamed!), you can use the bath in my room.¡± Rigel gestured me to follow him as Senpai took our bathroom.


    After we cleaned up, we returned to our room, where Senpai was standing with a triumphant look. ¡°Finally, you guys are back! Now let¡¯s go!¡± She opened the window, and leapt out.


    Senpai. I understand that you are a superhuman.


    But this is the 4th floor.


    She was fine though, when we rushed down. And she was annoyed that we were slow, but she brought us to the Adventurer¡¯s guild¡¯s hall.


    Ashley was already there waiting when we reached the guild hall, even though she told us that she had just arrived. It seemed that Senpai had woke her up before coming to our dorm.


    At the moment, the board was full of requests, but most of the mare simply F and E grade quests. Senpai, on the other hand, was looking at the A rank quests.


    ¡°Clint, you are good at killing monsters, right?¡±


    ¡°Hm? Yes?¡± I am, but I hadn¡¯t been killing them for 3 months already. I was a little worried that my skills would be gone, but Senpai chose an A ranked quest anyways. It was to defeat a hellhound sighted in the academy forest. The exact location it was sighted was marked as well, so we could start investigating in that area.


    Rigel was left to do that though. We are to follow him while killing all the mosnters we run into. Senpai was really excited to see me fight monsters, and quickly took the quest, registering us under the quest.


    Since it was an A ranked quest, with Rigel and Senpai participating, we would get only a few guild points, since we seemed to be leeching, even so, it still yielded more points than gathering herbs.


    We entered the forest wielding our weapons. I led the way with my sword and pistol, while Senpai had a sturdy longsword that was slightly blued, and Ashley had her staff, both of them slightly behind me. Nobody, on the other hand, had a diverse set of weapons. Compared to his first day, he now had a whole set of weapons, which we made in our engineering class. Even the ball toy was beautifully made, and he had brought it with him. He stood behind all of us with the ball rolling around him.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the first monster to jump out. It was a savage rabbit, a mutated, aggressive rabbit that attack with its claws. I easily dodged the attack, but I didn¡¯t counter attack.


    I didn¡¯t kill it instantly though, I dodged a few of its attacks, and after recording the data, I fired a shot through it, killing it instantly.


    Ashley was slightly dissatisfied by that, ¡°The rabbit! You killed it!¡± She looked at me accusingly. I turned towards Senpai helplessly, but she shrugged, leaving Ashley¡¯s anger to me.


    ¡°Sorry Ashley, but would be prefer for me to hurt the rabbit, or the rabbit to hurt me?¡±


    She calmed down at the words, but still pouted. Luckily for me, she stopped complaining when I killed the rabbits after that. There were a few other monsters, and for the first of each of them, I would stall the battle for some time before killing them. Senpai was slightly annoyed by my slow pace, but I ignored her comments to hurry up, and continued gathering data.


    It was when I confirmed that I had the data for each of the monsters in this part of the forest that I started the onslaught.


    Time for the killing spree.


    By memorizing how the monsters initiate their attacks, I could kill them before their first strike lands. This applies for most of the monsters, including the Savage Rabbit and the Raging Wolf. Both of these, as well as some others, would be instantly shot before they even reached me. For goblins, I couldn¡¯t shoot them while dodging, so I would quickly dodge the initial strike, and shoot it before it could readjust themselves.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Given more time, I could even sense how they hide, and kill them before they even start their ambush, but we are in a hurry.


    ¡°I see that you aren¡¯t lying about killing monsters.¡± Senpai said with a nod, ¡°Good¡­ Good¡­ I don¡¯t need to protect you guys after all.¡±


    ¡°With I, the awesome insignificant person with Clint? Of course you don¡¯t need to protect us!¡± Nobody casually laughed behind us. Actually, he had done nothing at all while slacking around, not that there is much he could do.


    That¡¯s when Senpai unsheathed her sword, and answered, ¡°There isn¡¯t a single hellhound. There are 6 of them with a Cerberus leading them.¡±


    Nobody and I whistled together at the words, while beads of cold sweat started forming on Ashley.


    ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s do this!¡± Senpai shouted. It was a motivating shout, and Nobody cheered along with her. Ashley, on the other hand, meekly asked, ¡°Could we go back¡­?¡± but they ignored her and walked deeper into the woods. I patted her shoulder before following them, while she followed us, almost crying.


    ¡°There they are.¡± Senpai said as she hid in the bush. We had met up with Rigel, and at the moment he was in the trees above them with his bow ready. We were standing away from the wind, where our scent wouldn¡¯t reach them. As Rigel reported, there are 6 hellhounds, each at least a metre tall and two metres long. The ceberus was slightly larger, standing a whole half metres taller, and much wider, than the hellhounds. Not to mention the three heads with razor sharp teeth that will shred any enemy that goes too close.


    There was also a weird distortion, a portal, on the other end of the clearing, but no one knows where it led to, or is it even a two-way portal.


    The Cerberus alone would be an S ranked monster, and the whole group would be ranked SS rank. But I couldn¡¯t help from being excited for the incoming battle, despite the actual rank difference.


    On a side note, Senpai had a guild rank of SS, but her rank dropped to A due to a -2 in attitude, and she could, in her top condition, kill all of them. But she doesn¡¯t have her armor on, which would provide her room for mistakes, as well as her best katana. She''s still really good with the sword though.


    We waited for the arrows that will signal the start of the battle. Ashley had multiple barrier spells ready, but she never used it against A and S ranked monsters, and was getting nervous by the second.


    And then a hellhound fell, with multiple arrows appearing instantly and piercing through its head. The surviving hellhounds and Cerberus instantly turned to their direction and charged. The leading hound leaped high up, directly targeting the tree Rigel was on, but I stepped out at that exact moment, and fired a large shot at the hellhound. The ball of mana pierced into the hound, creating a wound that was bleeding profusely. Thanks to dad¡¯s training, I had instinctively aimed for the heart. It didn¡¯t exactly hit the heart, but it struck an artery. While it wasn¡¯t a one shot kill, with the rate of bleeding, it is down for the count.


    Not that there was someone free to count the time to his death.


    As they turned towards their new enemy, namely me, Nobody stepped out, with the mace form of his transforming weapon activated. One of the daggers stabbed into the hellhound in front of him, causing it to flinch in pain, and he swung downwards, smashing the hell hound in the head. The hellhound fell down, stunned, but, not much damage was actually dealt. With the thick skin of the hellhound, the knife couldn¡¯t do its maximum damage, and his swing dealt reduced damage.


    He smiled though, and he swung again, and again, and again, as Ashley created barriers to cover him from another hellhound.


    From the beginning of the battle, Senpai had rushed towards the Cerberus, fighting it alone. Even with a weaker sword, the Cerberus stood little chance, as her blindingly fast attacks destroyed the Cerberus slowly.


    Another hellhound tried to attack Nobody from the side, but Ashley threw barrier after barrier to block it, after stalling for quite a bit, a wave of magical arrows suddenly appeared on its neck and it fell down, dead. Nobody was still fighting the wounded, but far from dead, hellhound. Using his free hand, he manipulated the sphere, which was on the ground, to spin its blades rapidly. Whenever the hellhound gets close, the sphere would fly forwards with the rotating blades to force it to retreat slightly, and then he would swing. Other times, Ashley would create a barrier to block hits, although each barrier could only take a single hit.


    While looking, I dodged attacks from the final hellhound, while firing multiple shots. Now that they were fully aware of my weapon, it was much harder to land a fatal blow, and they would dodge most of the attacks easily.


    Since it was like that, I settled for many small wounds to cause it to bleed out. Of course, it didn¡¯t survive long enough for the attacks to even matter, with Rigel killing it with another wave arrow.


    That is official kill stealing. I should report him.


    Senpai was done as well. The Cerberus was beheaded three times, before finally dying. It seems that each brain could control the body, so even if one was killed, the others had no problems attacking full force.


    Nobody and Ashley started cheering after the battle, the latter sighing with her mana drained, but it was Rigel who reminded all of us that life sucks.


    ¡°Congratulations on defeating the initial wave.¡± Rigel said while clapping, ¡°But you guys should stop relaxing. The portal was still there, and THERE IS STILL ANOTHER MONSTER!¡±

 Arc1 - Chapter 5 - Blazing hound

    Enjoy the chapter!


    A blazing hound is an evolved version of the Cerberus. Like the Cerberus, it has 3 heads. Unlike the Cerberus, it has much sturdier skin and body, and that his whole body is burning. This monster is ranked at borderline SSS for students, and it is very dangerous to fight without strong ranged units or water mages.


    That¡¯s the final boss of the portal, it seemed, since the portal disappeared after it came out, challenging us with a roar. Ashley was frozen in fear, her face turning while, while we grimly prepared our weapons. It roared again, before firing a huge fireball at us.


    Senpai was already guarding, but Ashley frantically threw all 3 barriers she was holding. They blocked the fireball, which instantly broke 2 of them. The final barrier withstood from the explosion, although most of the force and heat still leaked through.


    With the sudden development, Senpai instantly took charge, ¡°Rigel! Call for the others! Just use the flare, and get my katana! Clint, Nobody, spilt up to the left and right! We need to survive for 10 minutes! Ashley, scan the area while we fight, and prepare barriers if we need them!¡± Just as she finished, the hound charged at her. Nobody and I took a side of the blazing hound each, while I fired the mana shots and Nobody activating the ball, sending it charging towards the hound with its spinning blade.


    But due to the fire on the beast, the ball melted, and exploded beside the blazing hound. It staggered the hound, but we lost the ball. My shots barely did anything more than skin damage too, with the shots being too weak to even penetrate its skin. With the hound staggered, Senpai rapidly gave additional commands.


    ¡°Clint, use your sword to guard if he attacks you! Attack with your pistol! Nobody, prepare the knives to stagger the hound!¡± Senpai shouted, rushing back into the fight. The knives she was referring to was a weapon we made, it was a floating knife that can propel at very high speeds, and it will explode if it is breaks down from various ways, which includes getting melted down. She then dashed forwards, focusing mana in her sword. She dodged a paw swipe from the hound, and swung down towards the ground. ¡°Mega Buster!¡±


    It was the skill she had used against me at my first fight, but this time, compared to the time she used against me, was a full force attack. The ground instantly exploded and the blazing hound flew away, crashing onto the ground. But even before we could even have a chance to cheer it got back up.


    And in trade, Senpai had suffered some burns, even when she had attacked from quite a distance.


    The hound charged again, but Senpai smoothly parried the attack and kicked the hound away, her shoes starting to burn from the flames. Ashley quickly healed her, but the burns was unaffected. With no water based heals, there was little she could do to cure the burns.


    I fired a few more shots, but like the previous attacks, it did nothing. It ignored me though, and charged at Senpai again. Its left head started to breathe fire at Senpai, but Ashley¡¯s barrier blocked the flames as Senpai quickly stepped back. It rammed through the barrier, instantly shattering it and sending some of the shards to cut into both itself and Senpai. She quickly dodged by quickly, but steadily jumping to the side, and focused mana on the top of her sword. The hound continued charging towards Ashley, but she quickly threw out a barrier while falling backwards. And while it was blocked just momentarily, Senpai lunged. The distance was far from reachable, but a white beam shot out, and struck the hound, sending it flying. (<Gale Sword>)


    Taking the chance, I quickly ran towards the crying Ashley, and carried her away while Senpai ran past me towards the hound.


    ¡°Ashley, we need to help each other to survive, okay?¡± I said as I let her down with a smile. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be scared of, we will protect you.¡± She was still crying, but she also nodded.


    The blazing hound tried to fire another giant fireball, but as it gathered fire in its mouths, Nobody shot a knife at it, which exploded on contact and broke its concentration, causing the charged fireballs to explode in its mouth. It didn¡¯t do much damage though, but the attack is stopped.


    The hound raged as it breathed a constant stream of fire while running towards Nobody and Senpai, both who had to turn and run to avoid the flames. I stopped my charge, and fired a few shots towards the hound, which caused him to stop breathing flames as the middle head coughed out some blood.


    The innards of the hound is still vulnerable, both me and the hound realized, but only he took advantage of that information as he stopped his roars. Even so, the flames had stopped for now, as it decided to do a head on rush towards us. The flames covering its body burned even more fiercely and erratically, with miniature fireballs flying out of it.


    ¡°Everyone, behind the trees!¡± I shouted frantically as I fired a few more shots towards the hound, before retreating to the forest myself. With the amount of flames around it, the forest fire that had already started spread further and faster, and there were barely any places we could hide. While Ashley, Senpai and I managed to run into the woods, Nobody had to launch himself away using his knives as a last ditch attempt, barely dodging the hound.


    I hope he¡¯s alright.


    ¡°Ashley, here!¡± I heard Senpai call out to the side, as I readied my weapons. The hound walked out, growling angrily at me. After Nobody flew off, It had ran through a tree, and another, before finally crashing into the third, which stopped his charge. The forest was burning behind it, and the flames were rapidly moving towards my direction. It leapt forwards, its paw flying in an arc towards me, and I barely blocked it, as I was forced to a crouch even with both my weapons crossed. My skin boiled the flames burnt close to me, but I had no way out as it forced its paw down on me. And then, it opened its mouth, and a fireball started to form.


    ¡°Eat this!¡± Suddenly, Senpai shouted, and a white beam shot out from the forest, striking the hound.


    All would be good if the fireball wasn¡¯t being charged. As it is, I was blasted off from the explosion and blacked out.


    ¡°Damn it~¡± I laughed as I got up. The plan to use my knives to suddenly accelerate while holding it went well. The problem was the landing. I was bleeding through various wounds that appeared as I crashed through the tree.


    At least I could locate the others quite easily. The burning forest is standing out quite well. In fact, there seemed to be an unnatural raincloud coming in from the direction of the academy.


    I threw both my knives, and let the fly around behind me as I gripped the iron rod, which quickly shifted into a bow. I had only 3 arrows on me, but in this case it was far more than enough. I quickly ran towards the direction of the fire.


    ¡°Clint!¡± I heard Ashley shout, and ran towards the direction. I reached them quickly, to see Ashley desperately healing Clint, and Kuro-sama was fighting the hound alone, the burns on her body turning worse by the second as she fought. All around us, the forest fire is spreading beautifully.


    I drew the bow, took aim, and fired.


    With a loud snap, the bowstring cut into my hand, causing me to howl in pain as I dropped the bow, but the arrow was fired. Ashley ran over instantly, and started healing the cut in my arm. It was somewhat horrifying, as it looked like someone slashed my arm.


    I thanked the person who developed the heal spell.


    Clint was already up when I got up, but he was too tired to even stand, or speak, as he leaned on his sword. Kuro-sama was still on the one on one duel against the hound, with her sword barely a lump of steel at this point. I bought some time for her, but it forced me out of the battle longer than the time I got for her. Ashley still healed her occasionally, but at this point, she was lying on the ground with a palm facing Kuro-sama. She had entered a state of mana exhaustion, and was already unconscious.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    It seemed all hopeless, except for the rain that is coming really close. Just a minute more.


    I sent both knives towards the hound, both which exploded on it, and dashed forwards with my sword.


    Actually I wasn¡¯t so heroic, I was dragging my body towards the hound myself. My condition wasn¡¯t much better than Clint¡¯s or Ashley¡¯s.


    At the very least, even if I can¡¯t contribute to the battle¡­ the bandages had fallen off! I want to see it!


    That¡¯s when the hound casted another fireball. It was far smaller, but the charge time was non-existant. Kuro-sama instantly stepped to the side to dodge it.


    But then both of us realized that it was flying towards Ashley and Clint.


    Clint.


    He was standing in front of the downed Ashley, with both his arms open.


    Both of us had a sorrowful look. There was nothing we could do but to see the fireball fly towards Clint, eventually killing him. Even the sky seems to be crying.


    Wait. The sky crying.


    Rain!


    ¡°Shield Barrier!¡± A paladin suddenly rushed out and casted a blocking spell. He reached the fireball just before it hit Clint, a shield shaped barrier appeared diagonally to divert the fireball, although it exploded on it. Most of the force and the heat was diverted, but Clint was still blasted away, landing in a soft gelatin substance that suddenly appeared.


    ¡°Leader~ Your breasts are showing~¡± Rigel laughed as he dropped down from above the trees. I snapped back towards Kuro-sama¡­ but I was too late, Rigel covered her with a black army coat already.


    DAMN IIIIITTTTTTT


    ¡°[Water spear]!¡± The mage shouted as he stepped out of the woods, completing his incantation. A spear made of water appeared above the blazing hound, and flew into it, exploding into waves of water.


    ¡°<Black lotus dance: Darkness ruin>¡± Kuro-sama said, as she held her prized black katana. Multiple dark streaks appeared around the hound, and with a quick flash, the hound was launched into the air, multiple deep wounds on its body. ¡°<Black lotus dance: Void blade>¡± The hound was suspended in mid-air, unable to even move, and with a downwards cut, the hound was split into two parts.


    And the battle ended like that.


    ¡°Leader~ that¡¯s why you should always bring your katana~¡± The mage said lazily as they walked back.


    ¡°Hahahahaha! Leader wanted to show her techniques to her cute little kouhai!¡± Rigel said, laughing as he carried Clint, who was unconscious, over his shoulder. The mage, Albert and the paladin, Kyle both laughed. Kyle was pulling the dead body of the Cerberus and blazing hound, as well as a few of the hellhound heads which they had retrieved. I had the rest on me as I followed them.


    With Albert¡¯s healing waters, he had cured all the burns we had. In fact, if Albert had been here this whole time, the battle would have ended in less than 2 minutes, even with the weak weapons.


    Kuro-sama growled at her two teammates, but they simply laughed it off as they led the way back. She couldn¡¯t do anything to them at the moment, as she had Ashley in her arms. She had her coat fully on, covering her front as well. Damn you, Clint. I was so busy getting worried about you that I forgot to casually take a peek.


    Albert didn¡¯t bother to remove the raincloud, so when we reached the edge of the forest, many first year students ran out of the forest to find cover. Albert had casually waved towards them, but they didn¡¯t know that the rain was from him anyways.


    We casually entered the guild hall, and Kyle went to the receptionist while we waited. There were many first years who were still running into the guild hall at this point. It seemed that the raincloud was still there.


    Well, Albert tried to incite chaos by telling everyone that he created the cloud. Nobody believed him, of course, until he snapped his fingers and dispelled the clouds.


    He screamed as a few 5th and 6th year students dragged him outside.


    ¡°Um¡­ the guild representative is ready to meet you all now¡­¡± The receptionist walked out and told us while we looked at Albert. Rigel was smiling and waving towards the exit as we followed the receptionist.


    ¡°Come in.¡± A familiar voice said, while Kuro-sama entered the room rudely. The person inside didn¡¯t seem to care, though.


    The person behind the table had green, extremely messy hair. There were bags under his eyes, and he was looking at us with that tired look. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Sir, the Blazing hound I just told you a few minutes ago?¡± The receptionist meekly said.


    ¡°Right, right. Come in. Oh, it¡¯s Clint. Good to meet you.¡± He said absentmindedly, it seems that he recognize Clint, somehow, but he isn¡¯t in the right state of mind to answer any of our questions anyways.


    Not that he had any intent to. ¡°Clint, up to C rank. Ashley and this insignificant guy, up to D rank. Congrats. Kuro, I¡¯ll drop your attitude demerit by one point by bringing them back safely and telling us about the portals. Good that you are now S ranked again. Rigel, nice to know that you¡¯re 4% of the way to SSS now. And Kyle, I¡¯ll give you SS rank in adventurers. Now get out.¡±


    And we were pushed out of the room instantly. The meeting didn¡¯t even last half a minute. Did he even notice that Ashley and Clint were unconscious?


    We were led to a changing room, where they provided us with clean, plain clothes to replace our burnt up clothes.  As we were changing, Albert came into the room pouting, and started complaining so loudly that Clint woke up.


    ¡°Nobody¡­? Where are we?¡± He asked as he shook his head.


    [Healing water] Albert quickly casted at him without even looking over.


    ¡°It¡¯s all over. We¡¯re in heaven. We are changing out of our clothes to prepare for the initiation to heaven.¡±


    ¡°¡­Ah. Sorry, mom, dad, and Carla.¡± He said with a regretful look.


    I can¡¯t believe this guy.


    ¡°I was joking, you know.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± He looked away in embarrassment as he realized how easily he fell into that prank. ¡°But...I really felt¡­ dead...I think?¡±


    Rigel nodded as he walked over, ¡°Of course.¡± He then held his arms open, ¡°Ashley, I will protect you! Remember me!¡±


    Clint is desperately looking for a hole at this point. Sorry, Clint, it¡¯s just too funny when he put it like that.


    Eventually he managed to change into the clean clothes, and we met up with Ashley and Clint. Ashley was apparently unaware of Clint¡¯s heroic deeds.


    Just as I thought that, her eyes met with Clint¡¯s and she turned away, blushing.


    It seemed that she was aware.


    ¡°Kuro~ I¡¯m hungry~¡± Rigel said, as he walked towards Kuro-sama.


    ¡°Then choose where you want to eat?¡± She asked, while cocking her head to the side.


    ¡°But¡­ I want to eat you~¡±


    Kuro-sama blushed, ¡°You idiot! Don¡¯t say something like that! Don¡¯t force me to punch you!¡±


    It is the first time I seen Kuro-sama blushing like that. It wasn¡¯t bad, in fact. It gave a whole new different taste to see someone so fierce to be so harmless.


    ¡°Tsk tsk. Without your uniform, your ferocity is non-exis¡­tant¡­¡± Rigel stopped as he saw the glare on Kuro-sama¡¯s face. He turned towards us, smiling as he waved us goodbye, ¡°I will watch over all of you in heav-GAH!¡±


    ¡°He was an honorable guy.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°A nice guy.¡± That was Kyle.


    ¡°A respectable guy.¡± And that was Albert.


    ¡°Damn you all! Let¡¯s go already!¡± Senpai shouted with a beet red face while pulling Clint and Ashley (Neither could face each other at this point) away.


    ¡°¡±¡±¡±Ahahahahaha!¡±¡±¡±¡± All 4 of us laughed like madmen as we followed Kuro-sama.

 Arc1 - Chapter 6 - End of first year.

    Extra info which I did not mention last chapter.


    Both Albert and Kyle are a year 5 students, currently 15 years old.


    Albert has a blonde ponytail, while Kyle has white smooth hair, covering one of his eyes¡­ Sorry. I fail as an author.


    I still need improvements in describing hairstyle.


    I think I¡¯ll make a page of all the characters, I might be able to describe them better there.


    This is one busy week for me, but next week is my break! For a week! Yay!


    No revamp chapter today¡­Sorry, but I promise I¡¯ll get one out this Thursday!


    Enjoy the story.


    The year passed normally after the Blazing Hound incident. In one of the morning assemblies, the principal, Eiden, announced that there will be someone hired to take care of issues like that. And his words were fully true. The portals that appear randomly in the forest had mostly disappeared, and in the 9th month, a poor student met a Snow Demon, which was destroyed by a shadow right in front of him.


    No one knew what the shadow was, but everyone felt nice that there was someone protecting them.


    Not that we have much time to ponder about it. It is already the last semester of the year, and the finals are coming up.


    We can¡¯t afford to slack off for the finals, especially for first years like us. This test is going to determine which year we are going to skip to, except for Combat, due to the fact that we will work better with people of the same age. If we didn¡¯t do our best, it is possible for us to be forced to waste a year or two relearning useless stuff.


    The first exam up is the Combat exam. Since it has the most students, it is going to be cleared out right at the beginning, with one year of students every day. Being first years, our test marks the beginning of the whole test season.


    We entered the dome together, while Professor Gwen was marking the attendance. Mel, who was behind her, waved a hand at me. I waved back, while waiting for the test to start.


    Nobody and I, along with all the non-pure mages, are to fight various instructors, while pure mages will fight Professor Gwen. Ashley alone has a different test, where Mel would fight her head on.


    I was surprised, Mel had always been healing, and never fought, and their turn came quickly. Both of them got on the battlefield, and Ashley prepared multiple barriers, as well as one from Professor Gwen herself, while Mel had her staff floating beside her.


    ¡°I hope we have a nice battle~¡± Mel said bowing while smiling, and Ashley bowed back. ¡°The battle starts when I get on the staff, are you ready?¡± Ashley nodded, tensed up.


    And then she got on her staff.


    ¡°DIE!¡± The woman on the staff screamed, her facial expression distorting into one of pure madness.


    Wait! That is still Mel, right???


    The crazed woman on a staff threw giant fireballs over and over from multiple directions directly at Ashley, while she created a few more barriers to divert the attacks, sending some flying towards other fireballs, causing them to explode agianst each other. Every single fireball made the ones from the blazing hound look like a joke.


    All the time she was throwing them, she was laughing madly, as if screaming. All the students stepped away in fear as the fireballs she threw became larger and larger over time.


    Professor Gwen created a water dome around the battlefield to prevent stray shots flying out, while Mel continued throwing them over and over for two whole minutes. After that, she charged forwards, her staff burning, and she jumped off her staff. While still in the air, she turned and swung her stalff, hard, into Ashley¡¯s barriers. It destroyed all 6 barriers directly, and crashed into Gwen¡¯s barrier, which flickered as Ashley flew off into the water dome.


    How strong even IS that attack?


    Ashley got quite high marks though. From later talks with Mel, I would realize that she is insanely strong when on her staff, strong enough to wipe my father in 1 hit if she manages to hit it, and if he doesn¡¯t use any spells, although dad is still stronger than her overall. In terms of brute force though, there was no match up to now.


    Nobody¡¯s turn came up soon after, and he had to fight an instructor. As usual, he had no weapons, but this time he brought some drones from engineering classes.


    Cheap and dirty tactics are allowed, after all. Few people fight fair when you have to risk so much in a battle.


    His strongest weapons are his knives. After the blazing hound incident, he found out a few more ways to use it. Now, with 8 knives (all blunt), he fought the instructor head on. He even had 3 flying orbs, which shoots bolts of mana towards the instructor at random intervals.


    With expert control in all his weapons, he managed to push the instructor quite hard, especially since he can control the knives in 4 pairs of 2, and all 3 orbs individually, which is really good, as I personally can only control one at a time.


    The battle ended when the instructor activated his skill <Tempest blade>. A huge tornado appeared when he slashed, and all the drones, as well as Nobody himself, was sent flying up. He was caught with a water ball from Gwen, but all his drone were ruined.


    And after everyone is done, it was finally my turn. I went up, with both my weapons ready, fighting against the principal himself, with a slim sword and a bow. Most of the students gasped, with a few cries of ¡°The principal!¡± While Nobody was pointing at him, shouting, ¡°That¡¯s the dead dude from the Adventurer¡¯s guild!¡± Which I didn¡¯t understand. Did they meet before?


    I didn¡¯t know his fighting style, but if he often works with my dad, he won¡¯t be a pushover. I readied my stance, and he drew his bow, not pointing at me.


    On a side note, while normally, in Archery, drawing your bow before battle is not allowed, for Combat, it was advised. Even my stance had me pointing my pistol at him.


    ¡°Start!¡±


    I instantly fired 2 shots, one to his left, and the other to his right, and charged forwards. Eiden smiled as he watched me, and he slashed the ground once before stepping back.


    He had placed a nearly invisible mana ball on the ground, and I quickly stepped back before I ran into it. The moment I did so, the ground exploded, with shockwave, flying out diagonally from the ground, shot out. It didn¡¯t extend outwards, so no damage was taken, but my shots were wasted.


    That¡¯s when Eiden jumped forwards, as if flying towards me. He swung his leg as he flew forwards, and I dodged, preparing to slash. But the attack that was supposed to hit was blocked by his sword easily, and he tumbled behind me, kicking twice, once with a back kick and another somersault kick.


    I staggered forwards into a roll at the first kick, and the second kick, intended to launch me into the air, failed to connect. While rolling forwards, I fired a shot with my pistol. Eiden easily dodged the slash, but failed to dodge my follow up skill <Leap>. After firing the shot, and before I actually steadied myself, I had quickly jumped forwards, stomping the ground with my feet, and staggered Eiden. I slashed him 4 times with the wooden sword, which he desperately blocked before countering with a lunge himself.


    I stepped back, and tried to slash again, but with Eiden countered it with a mana charged kick, which send my sword flying off.


    I mentally cursed myself for letting myself get disarmed so easily, and Eiden pressed hard on me.


    But, I have learnt how to fight when I lost my sword thanks to Senpai! So I fought him using my pistol to block and shoot. In that sense, I have a small advantage in the sense that, if I block right, I can still shoot him to force him to disengage. That happened soon enough, and with a distance, I dashed towards my sword.


    A few arrows flew towards me, But I dodged them, suffering from just a light scratch on my shin.


    I used another of my skills


    . It was a skill which I will take a stance where I repeatedly shoot, while walking, allowing me free movement while restricting my enemy. This skill allows me to get quite close to the enemy as they try to dodge my shots, since no matter where they try to dodge I can always shoot them, unless if they are much faster than me. Eiden, though, was forced to constantly dodge and I walked steadily towards him.


    I doubt he is moving at full speed.


    When I got close enough, I broke out of my stance, and charged forwards with a kick. Eiden dodged it, but I quickly followed up with multiple slashes and shots. Not surprisingly, he blocked and parried all of them with his sword only. Even so, I pushed him back, and back, and back.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Then the ground exploded.


    It was the same magic that Eiden used earlier, and he casted it without me noticing. As I was in the air, trying to create a barrier to stabilize myself, Eiden took out his short bow, and the arms extended, turning it into a long bow.


    And drew back a wooden blunted arrow.


    ¡°Stop! The battle is over!¡± Gwen desperately said, but Eiden still fired the arrow.


    The ceiling behind me was instantly destroyed.


    The arrow flew just past me, the winds from the arrow pushing me away, and I fell into a water ball from Gwen.


    I suddenly remembered. Eiden is a ranged sniper, not a melee fighter.


    ¡°Very well done, boy. Very well done. Be more careful of traps like that though, also, perhaps you might want to check around for mana more. It gives good indication when people use spells.¡± He advised, before leaving the students in awe.


    Sorry. My mana pool is too horrible for even that¡­


    Even so, I¡¯m grateful for my mark. It is quite high, and I¡¯m satisfied with it. Even if I could have done better in the battle¡­ No, I had done my best.


    Also, someone should fix that hole in the ceiling¡­


    The swordsmanship test was next, after 8 days. It, however, was a simple 1 minute spar that the instructor used to judge the student, before forcefully ending it.


    For my battle, he ended it with a <Colossal Smash>.


    And I flew again. This time horizontally. Towards the wall.


    Ouch.


    The marks I got wasn¡¯t too high, but since I mainly fight with both weapons, marks like this was expected.


    Should I continue taking swordsmanship? Oh well, no reason not to for the moment.


    Engineering though¡­If one thought that the swordsmanship instructor was lazy, the engineering test was a whole new level of ¡®lazy¡¯. Atler entered the workshop, while all students from all years where waiting at the same time, and told us that we have 3 days to make whatever ¡®shit¡¯ we can, and he promptly left the workshop.


    I improved my pistol, reinforcing it, while modifying it to let it shoot physical bullets. It had the same weight too, but it was slightly unbalanced. I also added a few things to the pistol, allowing it to shoot multiple shots at a time, or charge up before shooting for more power.


    Nobody, on the other hand, improved an item called a hoverboard, which he made earlier in the year. He modified the whole thing into a shoe, and with it, he could basically fly with the cost of mana. There is only one problem, that is, it is hugely inefficient. He could barely fly for 5 minutes before running out of mana.


    5 minutes is quite an achievement already. I could barely do it for 5 seconds.


    Damn my low mana pool.


    Both of us got quite decent marks, in fact. And we were allowed to advance to the next grade of engineering. (Advanced and Expert grade engineering has only 3 years each, if no year skips are done)


    The tactics exam was very, very hard. We, as a general, has to extort information from prisoners and the people in charge, both which are represented by the tactics teacher, and form a strategy. We had ¡®1 day¡¯ to obtain information, but each action will take ¡®time¡¯, for example, I asked for the layout of the castle, and used ¡®1 hour¡¯. With that, we have to protect the base for 5 days.


    So basically, if we didn¡¯t search the right things, we would waste so much time that we won¡¯t be able to clear the test. Not that we have to clear it to pass.


    My tactics included explosives using a few common stuff that my mom told me about. We used an artifact, which was made by ¡®Elanor¡¯, and it played out the whole battle. In the end, nobody succeeded in defending for the whole 5 days. Even my explosives were not enough, as they ran out in the 3rd day due to overwhelming number advantage.


    And with the last test over, it was time for our break!


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Name:</td><td colspan=''2''>Clint</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Age:</td><td width="25%">9</td><td width="25%">Year:</td><td width="25%">1</td></tr><tr>


    <td width="25%">Subject</td><td width="25%">Marks</td><td colspan=''2''>Extra comments</td>


    </tr><tr><td width="25%">Combat</td><td width="25%">742</td><td colspan=''2''>Good job!</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Swordsmanship</td><td width="25%">423</td><td colspan=''2''>Allowed to skip to year 4.</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Tactics</td><td width="25%">221</td><td colspan=''2''>Well done. You still have much to learn though.</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Basic engineering</td><td width="25%">320</td><td colspan=''2''>Allowed to advance to advanced engineering.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Excellent</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°So that¡¯s what happened for my tests!¡± Big brother said proudly, while I looked at him with awe.


    ¡°Eh¡­.I want to go too!¡± I pouted, but big brother simply laughed and patted my head. ¡°I wanna go! I wanna go!¡± I cried out in protest.


    ¡°Carla.¡±


    ¡°?¡±


    ¡°If you behave this year, I can bring you around AAA, and even introduce you to my friends. Okay?¡±


    I looked at him with sparkling eyes, and he wiped off a little drool from my mouth, ¡°Really???¡±


    ¡°I promise, okay?¡±


    ¡°Un!¡± I nodded happily. Totally unaware that he was going to introduce me to them even if I don¡¯t behave.


    ¡°Carla! I¡¯m back!¡± Papa called out as he entered the lab. I instantly jumped off Big brother and leapt into him! ¡°Papa!¡±


    He caught me easily and laughed. And then he looked up and saw big bro, ¡°Yo, welcome back! No, I won¡¯t hug you.¡±


    Big bro grinned at those words, ¡°Who the hell would want to hug an old man like you?¡±


    Papa pointed at me, and both of them laughed. That¡¯s when mama returned, she had a¡­ tired¡­ I think? look on her face.


    ¡°Shiina? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Papa said, letting me down.


    Mama looked at papa with pitiful eyes, hugged him and started to cry. Why is mommy crying? Big brother? Why are you looking away?


    ¡°Shiina! Where are you? Oh Shiina!¡± Someone I didn¡¯t know shouted, and papa sighed.


    ¡°Clint, why?¡± Mama looked at big brother, as a familiar red haired woman entered the lab, and the woman dragged mama away. ¡°NOOOOOOO!¡±


    ¡°Clint? Don¡¯t worry too much.¡± Papa said, with a sigh.


    I don¡¯t understand anything¡­.


    Side story ¨C The Shadow


    ¡°Shiina.¡± Dusk spoke through the communicator which was attached over his head, with a microphone in front of his mouth, ¡°The target?¡±


    ¡°400 metres to the front. After that, -45 degrees, and 300 metres.¡± Shiina reported, while scanning the map.


    Dusk and Shiina was under the request of Eiden to clear the random portals that appear in the forest. Once a week, they would travel to AAA to clear the summoned monsters and destroy the portal.


    The reason they took the job was simple too.


    After all, their son almost died to creatures from portals.


    Dusk leapt above the forest, jumping above the trees to reach the portals quickly. As he landed, he found an inferno demon and a group of imps.


    But their enemy was Dusk.


    They were severely outnumbered.


    ¡°Ok, the portal closed. The next one is -45 degrees, 300 metres.¡± Shiina repeated as she confirmed that the portal had closed. ¡°Wait, there seems to be a student near the portal.¡±


    ¡°Alive or dead? Nah, I see him. What had Eiden said about students?¡± Dusk said as he stood on a branch.


    ¡°¡¯Kill the monsters. Ignore the students. That¡¯s my job¡¯ was what he said. Also, we should be faster. Carla would be waking up soon.¡± Shiina said, as she checked the time. Ever since Carla learnt about magic circles and magic diagrams, she would wake up early to pester them to teach her something. In fact, that wasn¡¯t the problem, as she would do her own research when both she and Dusk were busy. The problem is that she would still cry when she was alone in the house.


    ¡°She would be looking for us in about 15 minutes.¡±


    ¡°[Light speed]¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a rank 9 spell!?¡±


    The student, who was walking in the woods to clear his mind, froze as he saw the multiple demons in front of him. They hadn¡¯t noticed him yet, but when they did, he would be dead.


    And then a shadow rushed out.


    And all the demons died.


    He ran back to the school, shouting something along shadows killing demons from portals, which led to he certain rumor. Luckily for Dusk, Clint never associated the shadow with his father.

 Arc1 - Side story - The maid cafe incident

    I have entered the character info for Clint, Ashley and ''Nobody'' in the user input thread! Check them out! The rest will be coming up over time!


    This chapter is extremely hard for me... (not as hard as the next side story coming up, mind you, I''m still working on it, with minimal progress)but I hope all of you will like it!


    My break has officially started for a week, but i apologize that the new chapters will be coming out on the same speed. The extra time of my break is mostly going to be used on learning japanese... I want to read those web novels at their pure form...


    I will try to release more arc0 revamps though. In fact, those are very important, as they lack some important information for Arc 1.


    Yeah, I''m really bad at this. Especially when I compare my work with others on this site.


    Even so, I wont give up. Sorry for those who are still here reading. I really apologize for this.


    Thanks for your support!


    ¡°Hey! Clint! And the insignificant guy!¡± Rigel shouted as he waved us over. They were outside the male¡¯s dorm as if heading somewhere. Well, it was lunch time, so I expect them to go out to eat.


    I mentioned that S ranked and above students share the same cafeteria with A ranks, right? Well, in trade of having the same privileges as their lower ranked peers, their bonus for that is that they get extra allowance for luxuries, which includes food. For Rigel, an SS ranked student, he could have a meal outside every day, and still have part of the extra allowance as well as the normal allowance.


    ¡°Teacher.¡± Nobody bowed at Rigel. Recently, Nobody had started calling Rigel ¡®teacher¡¯, but I have no clue what he is learning from Rigel. I feel that¡­ If I read more books, I might understand what they are talking about... I hear that there is a forbidden section in the library¡­ should I?


    ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t be so tense! We¡¯re going out to eat, want to come with us?¡±


    I was quite okay with it. Since I had saved quite a bit from last year, a single day of spending won¡¯t do much to it.


    I hope. I don¡¯t know what kind of places SS ranked students go to.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    Albert smiled, ¡°It¡¯s my suggestion today. There¡¯s a famous maid caf¨¦ outside, and since the girls aren¡¯t here, we decided to go there to have a try!¡±


    Nothing good will come out of this. I instantly thought. Nobody and Kyle both expressed wariness, but Rigel nodded, which is basically a decision for the group, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m interested as well. When I wanted to go with Kuro, she just madly tried to stop me, in her casual form.¡± And then his eyes glinted, ¡°But now she isn¡¯t here.¡±


    Nobody crossed his hands behind his head, and said, ¡°It¡¯s good that we¡¯re going to a maid caf¨¦, but¡­¡± The sentence was left unfinished, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.


    Albert¡¯s smiled evilly, ¡°I¡¯ll be honest to you guys. I don¡¯t need to do anything to induce chaos today.¡±


    So you are admitting that you are going to cause chaos? This just makes it much more dangerous, but¡­ in the end, our curiosity won over, and we ended up agreeing to go.


    We left the academy compound and into the town. I actually rarely come out of the academy compound, except for the forest, since I could do everything I needed in the shops inside the campus. We followed Albert towards the maid caf¨¦, which is located in the main street. There was in fact quite a line when we reached there, and we waited at the end of the line.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s going to happen?¡± Nobody asked as I tried to peek through the side of the person in front of me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother, he won¡¯t tell us.¡± Rigel said while leaning against the wall. ¡°At the very least, if everything goes right, we probably would get to see something nice.¡±


    ¡°That, is his standard.¡±


    ¡°It sounds so cool, yet it isn¡¯t at all¡­¡± Nobody said, and sighed.


    ¡°Our turn is coming up.¡± I reminded them. The waiter in charge was a lady, around 20 years old. She had a beautiful smile as she greeted and thanked everyone. That¡¯s when she turned towards me, and waved her hands. She wore a traditional maid outfit with a long skirt, it was the kind seen in castles, black and white with a frilled maid hat. Her black hair was tied into a ponytail, which, surprisingly, suits her really well.


    Still¡­ she isn¡¯t¡­as¡­ I shook my head to break free of my wild thoughts.


    I waved back, while Nobody and Rigel whistled. ¡°Damn, she¡¯s really high grade.¡± Nobody muttered while looking at the maid.


    ¡°How many people are you with?¡± The maid asked, after the group in front of us entered.


    ¡°Five.¡± I said, while she looked over others. There was a slight change in expression when she looked at Albert, but her smile instantly came back. ¡°Ara, ara? I see. Come in, boys.¡±


    She guided us to a 6 person table, and we took our seats. At this point, Albert was already grinning while looking around.


    ¡°I¡¯ll send in a maid right away. Please wait for a bit.¡± The maid said while bowing.


    The maid caf¨¦ is really big. It took up quite a huge part of this building, and I saw 7 maids already when we were being led here. There is little doubts that there will be other maids than these 7, in fact, I see one¡­ wait¡­?


    ¡°May I take¡­¡± The maid¡¯s eyes locked onto mine.


    A pen dropped to the ground with a loud tap.


    ¡°Yo.¡± Albert smiled at the maid, waving his hands.


    There was a silver haired maid, in a pink maid¡¯s outfit with a really short frilly skirt. She turned, showing her white stockings that ended at her thigh, with her long hair flowing beautifully behind her. There was a light ¡®pa¡¯ sound as she dropped a notepad.


    And she ran away. Leaving me with the most beautiful image ever.


    ¡°Ashley? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Kuro-senpai quickly stopped me while I was running away.


    I can¡¯t believe it! Clint saw me in this embarrassing outfit!


    As Kuro-senpai brought me to the backroom, I told her what happened. She blushed as well when she realized that Rigel was here too, but she shook her head quickly, clearing her own thoughts.


    Didn¡¯t you promise that Clint won¡¯t come to somewhere like this!? I feel my head lighten as my thoughts wandered around. What would he think of me after this!? Nooooo¡­.


    ¡°Ara ara~¡± Alice, the head maid as well as the owner of the place asked as she entered the backroom. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I already took the order of the table you messed up. Ashley, do you know them?¡± She cocked her head as she looked at me with her glittering smile.


    ¡°Erm¡­ they are our group members¡­ and¡­ Ashley¡¯s crush¡­ the one which she gets embarrassed to was among them.¡± Kuro-senpai explained as I was immersed in my thoughts.


    ¡°Oh? Maid outfit plus crush gaze? That¡¯s really bad.¡± She said, her smile disappearing. She looked at me, slightly worried, ¡°Why don¡¯t you just not think about it too much, and keep on working?¡± She asked, but I had already fallen into the darkness.


    I can¡¯t believe it. I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t want to. I refuse to.


    ¡°Alice! She¡¯s looking really dangerous now!¡±


    ¡°Ara Ara. You guys can¡¯t slack around until they leave though, we are short of hand while you two are staying back here.¡±


    I refuse to. I have to deny it. Deny. Deny. Deny.


    ¡°But! What would Rigel say if he sees me in this?¡±


    ¡°¡­Ashley.¡± Alice said, with a dark tone.


    I looked up.


    She smiled at me.


    It was one of the devil.


    ¡°I understand. I will bear it.¡± I said, while almost crying.


    ¡°If you worry about what Rigel would say if he sees you, then that is the alternative.¡± Alice told Kuro-senpai with her trademark permanent smile, before leaving us.


    Both of us sighed, and Kuro-senpai patted my shoulders.


    ¡°Ashley looks¡­ so¡­¡± Clint said, mesmerized.


    ¡°Snap out of it, Clint! She¡¯s already gone because of you!¡± Rigel said, shaking Clint in the shoulder. Even so, he seemed slightly confused and lost. Ahahahahaha.


    Nobody was holding his nose as well, ¡°Loli maid¡­. Damn it Albert. So that¡¯s what you were planning¡­?¡±


    This is only the appetizer. I can¡¯t believe the damage these three took from just that.


    ¡°I apologize for the inconvenience.¡± The ponytail maid from just now, who was the head maid, walked over with a smile, ¡°There seemed to be a problem, but no worries, I will take your order now.¡±


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    She totally ignored the fact that 3 out of 5 of us were disabled.


    ¡°Give us your recommendations, any of them will work.¡± Kyle ordered, ¡°Also, for drinks, get orange juice for both of them, we¡¯ll have a simple white coffee each.¡±


    I cut in before the head maid wrote the orders down, ¡°Wait, I want latte~¡±


    ¡°Ok, so 5 random specialties, 2 orange juices, 2 white coffee as well as one latte for the trouble maker?¡±


    ¡°Perfect!¡± Kyle nodded with his hands crossed. The maid bowed again, and left us. The moment she left though, his false demeanor disappeared, and he sighed.


    ¡°That¡­ was Ashley¡­¡± Clint was still stunned.


    ¡°Loli¡­ maid¡­¡± Nobody¡¯s blood started leaking. I handed him a napkin.


    That¡¯s when Rigel turned towards me, ¡°Wait, does this mean that Kuro is here as well?¡± I didn¡¯t answer that, but simply gave him a thumbs up.


    He had a troubled look, knowing him up to know, I¡¯m sure that he is glad that he can see Kuro-san, but he would also be troubled because of her outfit. He is, after all, nothing but all talk. He could say extremely embarrassing things, and arrange for really unique acts for others, but when it comes to himself, even a panty shot of Kuro-san would be fatal.


    I did that, actually. Worth it.


    Even so, I¡¯m glad that everything went according to plan~ I found out using most of my connections that a silver haired loli maid started working in the maid caf¨¦, it took little research to find out that the loli maid was in fact Ashley, who was trying to conquer her fear of other males, or to be exact, a certain male. Since we knew that Ashley was working at the same place as Kuro-san, it took little planning to persuade both Rigel and Clint to come.


    The next maid that came over was Kuro-san. I guessed that she was sent over by the ponytail maid. She had our drinks ready, and was walking over somewhat confidently. Of course, it was as expected. She was probably scared that Rigel would say something, anything, to her.


    Now, I just need to drop this here¡­


    ¡°Hey, Rigel. Look down.¡± He unsuspectingly did what I said. As he looked down, I used my feet to move the mirror just a little¡­


    He instantly turned away and started coughing. That shocked Kuro-san, and she almost dropped her drinks, but with me manipulating the water, she managed to steady it.


    I can¡¯t let her drop the drinks now. Not yet.


    Of course, now Rigel was glaring at me with a red face, while I laughed. What I had shown him, was a high quality, HD view of Kuro¡¯s white panty.


    It was such a beautiful sight.


    I still remember Rigel¡¯s confession last year, after the blazing hound incident. They started going out since then, but they hadn¡¯t done any perverted things together? Well, I suppose that they are still 15, so that would need to wait 1 more year for it to be fully legal.


    How disappointing.


    Kuro-san was blushing the whole time, but overall, it ended with no significant incident. Clint, naturally, was unfazed by Kuro-san. After all, he wasn¡¯t someone that would lust for maids. Only a certain maid would shake him.


    Now, I just need to wait for both Kuro-san and Ashley came back with our food, then, it will be time for the main dish.


    I nervously walked towards the table with their food on a tray. I was scared. What if I showed an embarrassing moment to Clint? I don¡¯t even know if I could face him after that¡­


    Calm down, Ashley. You can do it. The alternative is to face Alice¡¯s¡­ smile¡­


    I placed a dish calmly in front of Nobody, who was looking down, holding his nose with a red napkin¡­.that is blood¡­ but I was too scared to ask what happened, but he waved for me to continue. With the first one done, I moved over to Clint.


    I slipped.


    A puddle of water had appeared below my feet, but at that moment, I had no idea how I slipped, and had assumed that I stepped into a puddle without noticing. I fell forwards, and Clint quickly got up, he tried to hold me, but I crashed into him before he managed to steady himself, and we fell.


    As expected, Ashley fell forwards towards Clint, who tried to get up, and ended up getting pushed down by her. The hardest part was her falling forwards, actually. If she fell backwards, and pulled Clint, it would have been a disaster overall.


    Of course, I made the puddle of water appear. Such a thing is but trivial to me. Even the stew she was holding was diverted to the side, as I cooled down the stew so that it wouldn¡¯t scald them, just in case. I had to forcefully divert all the shards of the soup plate as well, but it was all worth it.


    Both of them were staring at each other¡¯s face, shocked. Even Kuro-san was paralyzed by the spectacle.


    Kyle sighed.


    The scene was frozen for almost half a minute, and I feel a dark shadow coming. No worries, my job is already over.


    I looked into her face, as she stared back at me. I could smell her sweet scent, and our lips were almost touching each other, if it wasn¡¯t her pushing on my chest, we would have ended up kissing.


    We stayed in that position for quite some time, before her face heated up, as she got up and ran away like the wind.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how it happened, but I¡¯m fully sure that this was within Albert¡¯s plans.


    Why would he do such a thing? I was annoyed, angry and embarrassed when I got up, but he was already gone. Nobody told me that a maid casually walked over and pulled him into hell. Kuro-senpai also left, after briefly telling us to stay. After a while, the ponytail maid who took our order came back, smiling as us. ¡°Masters Clint, Nobody, Rigel and Kyle, would you please follow me to the back room?¡±


    We couldn¡¯t say no. We were too scared to even think of something like that. Why is that smile¡­ so¡­


    Inside the back room, Ashley was sitting on a bench in a corner, crying. The maid who brought us in tapped my shoulder, and pointed towards Ashley. With a nod, I walked over and sat beside her.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± I said, trying my hardest to not look at her.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t *hic* your fault¡­ I was just careless¡­I¡¯ve shown you *hic* such an embarrassing moment¡­¡±


    Ashley¡­ ¡°It isn¡¯t your fault as well¡­ Erm¡­ Please don¡¯t cry¡­¡±


    ¡°*hic* Sorry¡­¡± It took her a while to calm down, but she suddenly looked into me, forcing me to look into her eyes when she asked me one of the hardest questions of all time. ¡°Clint¡­ what do you honestly think of me in a maid uniform¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± This is so hard!!! I had to force myself to speak my true thoughts. ¡°¡­c¡­cu¡­cute¡­¡±


    She was silent for a little, before she started giggling. My face burned up, as I scowled. Was this revenge? In the end, she smiled at me, and told me to go back to my lunch. I quickly left, with no intentions to embarrass myself further, and went towards Nobody and Rigel.


    Senpai had a foot on Albert who is lying on the ground, unconscious. She had her uniform on, instead of the maid outfit, and was glaring at Nobody and Rigel. Kyle, on the other hand, was calmly eating on a side table, not even looking at the corpse.


    ¡°Senpai?¡±


    ¡°Clint. Hmph. Fine, both of you can go. I¡¯ll keep this trash here for some time.¡± She glared at the two pitiful souls once more, before turning to me, ¡°Sorry that you got caught up in this jackass¡¯s prank.¡± She said, her feet crushing, not literally, Albert¡¯s head.


    I shook my head, ¡°It was okay. Although¡­ she was¡­ so¡­ erm¡­ sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°I see?¡± She looked up, and started blushing a little, before shaking her head, ¡°Anyways, if you have nothing else to say, go get your lunch.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Senpai.¡± I bowed and joined the rest on their meal.


    Albert was taken in as a maid. The head maid forcefully forced him in a maid outfit. He was surprisingly popular, especially among the girls. The hell ended after 7 days.


    A few days later


    ¡°Wanna go get lunch outside?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Rigel glared at him.


    ¡°Hell no.¡± Nobody gave an outright denial.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t do this again.¡± I simply sighed.


    ¡°Albert. You brought this to yourself.¡± Kyle said, sighing.

 Arc1 - Side story 2 - The AvA tournament! (1v1)

    Thank you, everyone who is reading now. Thank you, the 19 people who are following, and the 4 that favorited the story. I myself believe that I don''t deserve any one of these, yet, you guys have been kind to me, for that, I humbly thank all of you.


    Now, to the real stuff.


    I''ll be frank.


    This chapter was hard. I probably didn''t do a good job on this. Because of that, I sincerely apologize. I would have probably disappointed many people because of the crappy quality, in addition to my crappy writing. I suppose it''s unbearable for some.


    This is honestly a chapter added on a whim. Again, I apologize for this.


    Nonetheless, I hope you would enjoy this chapter that ended up as 2 parts because of no reason at all!


    I''m serious. I should merge them together.


    Actually. Let me do that.


    Done. It''s now in 1 chapter. Muahahahahaha!


    Thank you for reading, and I hope that everyone would enjoy this. After this, the third year would officially start!


    AAA¡¯s battle tournament. Every three years, a tournament is held in AAA for the students. During the tournament, students compete against each other in duels or in groups to obtain the title of strongest adventurer/group. Usually, the students will also receive a free rank up, or two, or some progress to SSS, even if you don¡¯t win, depending on your performance.


    To join, we need to be at least a 4th year. There are 2 sections, a group battle section, where students form groups from 2 to 6, and a one on one section, where it is a pure 1 on 1 battle. After the initial selections, only 16 groups, and 64 individuals will compete in the final set, although there will be a few days of preliminaries to whittle down the numbers.


    ¡°But since we¡¯re second years. We can¡¯t join.¡± Nobody cut in lazily while Atler was announcing. Of course, he didn¡¯t bother to stand, even to announce such an important thing.


    Standing up is not worth the effort, he often says.


    ¡°Indeed. But if I can get away with not telling you brats, do you think I would have even bothered?¡± Atler snorted. ¡°Well, you would naturally be interested in this tournament.¡±


    ¡°Why? Oh! Wait! I see!¡± He said, and his eyes suddenly gleamed. Ashley looked curiously at him, but I simply sighed. Being with him for so long, and after visiting a certain place, I could understand what he is thinking.


    His thoughts are probably along the lines of ¡®Clothes getting burnt/cut up¡¯. Sadly, I¡¯m sure that they will be using wooden weapons, given that it¡¯s a tournament between students¡­ but how about magic users? Isn¡¯t it a little too biased towards mages like that?


    ¡°Since it seems that everyone else wouldn¡¯t know, they will be fighting with real weapons, and non-insta kill spells. A specialist will be hired to draw a healing rune for this.¡± The moment he said healing rune though, most mages started whispering to each other.


    But real weapons huh. It would be dangerous¡­ I wonder if the specialist is good enough¡­Still, I suppose that Nobody¡¯s dream could happen if it¡¯s like that.


    ¡°Kuro-senpai would be joining, right?¡± Ashley suddenly asked, and I nodded. She told me multiple times that she plans to join, and win. She referred to the duels, of course. The group battles were hopeless, so hopeless that she probably won¡¯t bother to join it.


    She will win the duels easily, at least I think so, but the group battles are another matter. Kyle is quite okay, Rigel was good, but Albert was shit.


    He would make a teammate trip from a puddle of water mid battle if he felt that it would be funny.


    That person really is trash.


    Even if the maid incident ended well, I still held a grudge from it.


    ¡°We can¡¯t join though, so we will be watching them only.¡± I pointed out. ¡°Teacher, when will the tournament start?¡±


    ¡°In about a week, or so. That will be all, you are all dismissed.¡± He said, and walked out of the room. With no classes, I decided to go to the domes, along with Nobody, to look for Senpai.


    ¡°Get some rest~¡± Rigel laughed while I was on the ground, panting. He walked over, pressing an ice pack over my burning leg. It didn¡¯t matter if its winter now, it burns!


    The tournament will start in 2 days, and I had been training non-stop these few days. Rigel would hang around whenever he doesn¡¯t have class, and we would usually have lunch and dinner together. Occasionally, Clint would come to spar with me, but most of the time, it¡¯s just Rigel and me.


    ¡°Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I¡¯ve been getting weak. To think that I would mess up even once¡­¡± I muttered, and tried to push myself up, but I screamed in pain, and fell back down. The feedback from my skill failure was worse than I thought. Luckily, it will always wear off within half a day, less thanks to Rigel¡¯s quick action.


    ¡°2 more days. Just calm down~ you¡¯ll be fine~¡±


    Although, while he said that, he sat down in a seiza, and lifted my head, resting it on his lap.


    ¡­


    ¡°EHHH???¡± I shouted as I tried to get off, but he simply stroked my hair. ¡°Wait! What are you doing??¡±


    He looked away, embarrassed, ¡°Kuro.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, closing my eyes.


    ¡°If you win, I¡¯ll give you¡­ a nice bonus reward.¡±


    ¡°Reward?¡±


    He laughed, while nodding, ¡°You¡¯ll find out if you win.¡± And we stayed like that for a while, with him stroking my hair. I got back up after my leg is fully healed, and raised my katana again. ¡°Rigel?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for the gift~¡±


    ¡°Of course you will.¡± He nodded, with a smile.


    ¡°That¡¯s why¡­¡± I turned, and faced him with my katana.


    ¡°Kuro. Please don¡¯t.¡± At this point, he realized what I was going to do, and he started crying crocodile tears.


    ¡°Spar with me!¡±


    Throughout the night, the screams of a certain male was heard from the dome.


    ¡°When you name is called out, please enter the dome!¡± The announcer, a student from the communications club, shouted, and waved his hands. He was quite nice looking, having a look suitable for someone who would make a lot of girls sad. And whenever he spoke, girls will cheer for him ¡°Remember, no killing! If you kill someone, either intentionally or unintentionally, you will have to take responsibility yourself! During the preparation phases, you can¡¯t cast any spells or draw your weapons! That includes bows! Crossbows and Guns can start loaded and primed, but you can¡¯t target your enemy until the battle starts!¡±


    We were in the dome. The largest dome, and the ceiling had been removed to make it open aired, even though it was lightly snowing. Being the biggest dome, it has a total of 16 battlefields, each managed by a teacher acting as a referee. At the moment, using a levitation spell, the announcer was flying around the dome, winking at girls, causing some of them to faint.


    ¡°Damn. That guy is the enemy of all men!¡± Nobody shouted, and many others around him, all of them males, roared in agreement.


    Of course, the announcer mistook it as eagerness for the tournament to start, and he gave everyone, again, a bright smile. ¡°Thank you, but keeping on track, there are still more rules! You lose if you either get knocked out of the arena and land on the ground, float out of the arena bounds for a cumulative total of 10 seconds, is judged unable to fight by the referees! Is that all?¡±


    ¡°It is.¡± The principal said, as he watched from the special seats made for him. There was also Professor Gwen along with him, and a group of 3, a tall man with a robotic arm, with 2 girls, one of them looking barely 6 years old. All of them wore pure white masks, and everybody assumed that they were the principal¡¯s friends.


    They aren¡¯t wrong, but they don¡¯t know a crucial information. The tall man was my dad. The young woman was my mom, and the little girl was my sister.


    They, especially dad, was wanted with a huge bounty, and yet, they are sitting within dangerous adventurers and bounty hunters like it¡¯s nothing!


    Actually, from what I¡¯m told, Dad, a.k.a the specialist, appears in every single Adventurer vs Adventurer tournament hosted in AAA. He¡¯s the person who would draw a magic healing circle that would heal anyone from near death to full health, up to multiple times in a short moment, but drains the target of almost all energy to sustain the mana in the circle.


    It was perfect for a tournament. Actually, I bet that my dad made this FOR the tournaments. As long as the attack doesn¡¯t cause an instant kill, everyone would be safe. In case an instant kill happens, the student dealing it will be expelled, while the person killed will be revived by the specialist. Sometimes.


    ¡°And so, the 6th Adventurer vs Adventurer tournament officially begins!¡± The playboy shouted, and everyone clapped their hands. Most students had a mechanical construct, called a spyglass, made and distributed by Nobody himself, and they pulled them out. It was cylindrical shaped, and has one spot to look with a single eye. It zooms in on wherever you are looking, and for students that are far away, it is one of the best things ever. The playboy called for names for the duels, and from the waiting rooms, students came out one after another, and the duels began.


    Nobody, who sat beside me, got up and started selling extra spyglasses for people who didn¡¯t have one yet. On a side note, Nobody himself had a better version of it, called a binoculars, hanging over his neck. Of course, since most people didn¡¯t know what it is, no one asked him about it. Nobody gave me one, and I agree that it is friendlier to the user compared to the spyglass.


    Ashley was on standby with the other healers, just in case the ¡®rune¡¯ or rather, magic circle, didn¡¯t work. They¡¯re wasting time, but I stopped myself from saying it.


    Finally, Senpai¡¯s name was called out. Soon, a girl with long black hair walked out of the waiting room. She wore her uniform, along with an army coat that was buttoned up due to the cold. She held a normal steel katana instead of her black katana, and she stepped onto a field, facing a female mage with a blue robe. Taking up my binoculars, I looked at the battle.


    The referee, after confirming that both of them are ready, started the battle. Senpai instantly stomped when the battle started, and the enemy hastily threw up an ice barrier in front of her, but Senpai circled around it, and slashed the back of the mage, drawing blood. A single word of the rune of below them glowed, and the wound instantly closed, leaving a collapsed mage on the ground.


    It ended the moment it started. The mage didn¡¯t even last long enough to chant a second spell.


    ¡°She¡¯s strong, as expected.¡± Rigel said suddenly. I didn¡¯t even notice him coming! Like me, he had a pair of binoculars over his eyes. ¡°But there are other stronger people.¡±


    ¡°Who exactly are you referring to?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± He thought a little. ¡°You probably hadn¡¯t heard of most of them, being the idiot you are. Well, the ones Kuro will face will be Flash Knife Wynn, and Ice Fortress Dean. Of course, with that you would get an idea of their ultimate techniques, or rather, main technique for Dean. Kruo¡¯s up again.¡±


    This time, Senpai¡¯s enemy is an archer. He held his bow ready, strung and nocked, but undrawn. Kuro, on the other hand, took a low stance, holding her katana with both hands.


    ¡°Oh. Damn. The archer is going to taste one of her tricks soon.¡± Rigel whistled, and the battle started.


    The archer drew and fired, following the attack with 2 more arrows. Senpai stood still until the first arrow had almost hit her, and she slashed rapidly, cutting the arrow, and the 2 other arrows, and then the archer dropped his bow, gripping his arm. Following that was a familiar flash, and the archer fell to the ground, exhausted.


    ¡°I shall explain.¡± Rigel said with a grin, ¡°First, she cut the first arrow, splitting the arrow head from the rest of the arrow. Following that, her next swing sent the arrowhead flying towards the archer¡¯s arm, cutting through the third arrow.¡± He nodded a few times, ¡°It took her quite a while before she learnt that one. The next part is one of your tricks.¡±


    ¡°She cut off the second arrowhead, and used it to knock the third arrowhead into the archer?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡± Rigel nodded, and a few students that were listening from the side had their jaws hanging open. Of course, from their point of view, that is something near impossible?


    ¡°Teacher! Why is everyone so shocked?¡±


    ¡°We were just talking about Senpai for a bit.¡± I explained, and Rigel continued nodding. ¡°Senpai¡¯s turn is coming up soon.¡±


    Nobody, who had nowhere to sit because Rigel took his place shrugged, and left again. It seemed that he¡¯s going to continue selling those spyglasses. Why does he need so much money anyways?


    Senpai¡¯s next turn came up around 10 minutes later though, even though I expected it to come soon. By this time, there are about 250 or so participants left. It will take at least 2 battles for everyone to cut it down to 64.


    ¡°Oh, why didn¡¯t you join?¡± I suddenly asked Rigel. He seemed shocked by the question, and laughed, ¡°I¡¯m nowhere near as good as Senpai and the top students! There isn¡¯t any point for me to join anyways!¡±


    I remember him being plenty strong¡­. Hm¡­ Oh well.


    Anyways, Senpai was fighting again. This time¡­ she was up against a girl with 2 knives.


    ¡°Flash Knives Wynn. Of course, the people setting the slots must not have realized that someone like Kuro was actually dangerous. They, of course, expected Wynn to win, and win the next round as well.¡±


    That sounded¡­ weird¡­ wait¡­


    ¡°Tournament slots are preset to allow some people to reach the finals?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Nobody would want 2 Finals-grade adventurers to fight before the actual ¡®Finals¡¯, right? So of course, they have to set it so that they won¡¯t meet until the finals. Of course, they have quite a list of actual strong people, and they had arranged it already.¡±


    ¡°So, when you said that Senpai will face the two¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yep! After looking at the participants, and everyone¡¯s opponents in the first round, I could arrange the rest. Kuro was lucky to be arranged in the third bracket, else she would have to face Dean before the finals, as well as Howler Jack. Seriously, these nicknames are horrible. Who made them?¡±


    ¡°Howler Jack¡­ the person that was shouting since the beginning?¡± I asked, looking at a certain battle where a 9th year roared at his poor enemy, sending her flying off the battlefield.


    ¡°Yep. Quite good, but he¡¯ll lose to Dean.¡± Rigel said, but gestured to the battle, which had started some time ago.


    When the battle started, Flash Knife Wynn instantly charged towards Senpai with both knives, but Senpai quickly blocked the attacks and countered. With her initial attack stopped, Wynn instantly went for the defensive, blocking attacks and only lunging when she can clearly hit the enemy.


    That¡¯s when Wynn suddenly slashed into Senpai, causing blood to flow freely as she fell back.


    But the circle didn¡¯t activate. Senpai fell, and her body broke into red shards.


    The shards spun, rapidly cutting Wynn as she rapidly retreated. Wynn herself drew blood, as Senpai stood up from the middle of the storm. From what I can see, her wound didn¡¯t even exist.


    ¡°<Blood Rose Dance: Initiator>¡± Rigel calmly said with a smile, ¡°Following that, <Blood Rose Dance: Blood Shards>¡±


    The shards flew inwards, focusing around the katana. Some of the shards flew to her other hand, creating a red short blade. Wynn tried to attack her during this time, but the blood shards would fly around to attack her.


    ¡°<Blood Rose Dance: Blood Blade>. I need to get down.¡± Rigel calmly said, and I heard him standing and leaving.


    Still, the battle. Wynn was gritting her teeth at this point, and Senpai charged at her. She had her front wide open, and Wynn tried to use it, but Senpai quickly turned, blocking the attack with her red katana while slashing with her short blade. Wynn dodged it by jumping back, but blood was still drawn. It dripped to the ground, and flew towards Senpai¡¯s swords.


    Wynn charged forwards, and the two girls, each with 2 weapons, fought each other head on, restlessly attacking each other. Even so, the one slowly getting battered away was Wynn. Senpai didn¡¯t seem to slow down even after clashing for a whole 10 minutes, before Wynn was pushed back. She has a lot of wounds, but all of them were closing up, with the blood flowing towards Senpai.


    After the brief stop though, she charged wildly again. But this time, Wynn spun both her knives, and a flash appeared from both her knives, as well as from the magic circle on the ground.


    She reappeared behind Senpai, and both of them were still for a short moment.


    And Wynn, the Flash Knife, fell onto the ground, unconscious.


    I laughed, laughed madly as I won the battle. She had used her ultimate technique, the Flash Knife, and almost faster than I could perceive, she attacked, yet, it was far from enough. Blood was drawn from her last resort, not from me, but from her.


    But I¡¯m dissatisfied.


    This isn¡¯t enough. I need more. More. More!


    Ah. I feel someone behind me. Some other person. Perfect. His blood is warm. So very warm.


    I turned and slashed with both my weapons, but using a pair of white daggers, he blocked the attack. What the hell are thos- Argh!


    I felt multiple mana weapons stabbing into me, but I ignored them and attacked again, laughing madly. I feinted with my left blade, while attacking with the blood red katana. Even so, he blocked the katana, and locked my blade, forcing it out of my hand, and it disappeared when it fell. Again, I felt more mana weapon stabbing into my back.


    Ahahahaha! The pain, the pain is real! How interesting! This person!


    With another scream, I leapt towards him, but he dodged the blade, and grabbed me.


    No, he hugged me, and stabbed the white dagger into my heart from behind.


    ¡°Oh¡­ Rigel¡­?¡±


    ¡°Good evening, Senpai. Feeling better?¡± He laughed, removing the light dagger as well as the mana arrows, leaving no wounds.


    ¡°Red, everywhere, including your face~¡± Rigel laughed, letting me off. Almost everyone from the whole dome was silently watching us, and I looked away in embarrassment.


    <Blood Rose Dance>, while it gives great power, as well as immunity to most forms of damage, it will slowly burn away the dancer¡¯s mind, turning him or her into a blood seeking murderer. To activate it, I must receive a heavy wound, and I had used it without thinking.


    ¡°Winner, Kuro!¡± The referee finally announced, and a few people cheered for me. Of course, everyone had already finished, except for the last battle.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    No, the last battle is over already. My supposed enemy surrendered. With that, I¡¯m officially in the top 64.


    ¡°Come on, you¡¯ve been fighting for almost a whole hour without rest.¡±


    ¡°Ugh¡­ I feel so bad¡­ was I laughing?¡±


    Rigel laughed, while Clint and Ashley rushed over from different directions. ¡°It was a beautiful laugh!¡±


    ¡°You¡­ You¡­! Argh! Why are you so annoying!¡± I shouted, flailing my arms, but he simply hugged me and laughed.


    It was almost 8 when I got up. Yesterday, I had almost lost myself to one of the few dangerous techniques¡­ and because of that, I had a nightmare. It was¡­


    What was it about again? I can¡¯t remember. I better get myself ready for the battles today, since the first battle starts in 9. With those thoughts, I got off my bed, and cleaned myself, putting on the school uniform Rigel designed, along with the Army coat Rigel gave me due to the cold. I feel like I look like a certain character in a certain novel from my town¡­


    With that done, I brought both katanas, and the steel longsword, and headed towards the dome, feeling excited for the battles that will be coming soon.


    ¡°Ahahahaha! Kuro was scary, wasn¡¯t she?¡± Rigel was the only one laughing, while all our faces paled. I still remember the fight between Rigel and Kuro yesterday. It¡¯s a wonder that both Senpai and Rigel survived. Senpai had almost 300 arrows on her back, but she ignored all of them. When Rigel stabbed her heart, all the arrows, as well as the white dagger he was using disappeared, and she turned normal.


    I know her ¡®dances¡¯, but I¡¯ve never seen one so horrible. It started beautiful¡­ but midway through the fight, she started laughing and laughing.


    I don¡¯t want to face her when she¡¯s laughing.


    Rigel was still laughing. He really laughs too much. At least it isn¡¯t horrifying like Senpai¡¯s.


    ¡°Welcome, to the second day of the AvA tournament! As you all know, my name is Neil, and I was the announcer for yesterday as well! I¡¯m glad to serve all of you again today, for the 1 on 1 tournament! Without further ado, may the best adventurer claim victory!¡±


    He was flying around the dome with his thick coat, and girls all over where whooping loudly while most of the males threw out abuse.


    ¡°Now, all the participants, please enter the battlefield according to this list!¡± While saying that, a group of mages quickly created a magical screen that stated the list of combatants. Senpai will be facing a wind mage¡­ hm¡­ Unlike some people though, the wind mage didn¡¯t have an extra nickname.


    Senpai didn¡¯t have one as well, but today, she is known as Kuro the Black Demon.


    The only problem is that ¡®Kuro¡¯ means black. So it¡¯s actually Black the Black Demon, but I suppose they didn¡¯t know that.


    ¡°Field 5¡­ second round¡­¡± With a total of 64 participants, the first 32 battles will be held in 2 groups of 16 battles. This is to ensure that there will be enough time for the semi-finals and finals.


    Senpai, being in the ¡®3rd bracket¡¯ according to Rigel, will end up fighting Ice Fortress Dean. Of course, her semi-final enemy is hard as well, but according to Rigel, Senpai would be able to defeat him easily. Still, from the names, I have no idea who the person that will face Senpai is.


    As the battles in the first group ended, the participants in the second group started getting called. As expected, Senpai was the 6th set to be called out, and both me and Rigel leaned forwards.


    ¡°Start!¡± The referee shouted. Of course, from this distance, we couldn¡¯t hear a thing, but we could see the referee swing his hand down. The mage instantly threw up a wind barrier, throwing Senpai away from her charge. She staggered a little while getting up, but the mage had already finished changing, and a huge tornado appeared around her, trapping her in it.


    It seemed bad, but Rigel was calmly humming beside me.


    The mage summoned a wave of fire, throwing it into the tornado, which started to flare up. I have no idea how it works, does it burn mana? It is horribly dangerous to Senpai, but¡­


    Still humming~


    The spinning flames rapidly grew, and blocked Senpai from our view. Most of the students were watching her¡­ no, they were watching the ice fortress beside her, because the flaming tornado is gone.


    ¡°<Blaze Lily Dance: Initiation>. <Blaze Lily Dance: Flame cutter>¡±


    The flaming tornado, after it was generated, was absorbed into Senpai¡¯s black katana, which turned red, and while the mage was stunned, she jumped, and swung down. A flaming line appeared, and with a shine of the circle, the battle was over.


    ¡°Winner, Kuro!¡± The referee announced, and Senpai returned to the waiting room. Rigel quickly left too, to join up with Senpai.


    After the first round, there will be an half an hour break before the last 32. Nobody was still selling spyglasses, and Ashley was with the healers.


    Maybe I¡¯ll go talk to Carla. She¡¯s really excited with Senpai¡¯s battles yesterday. With her not understanding the significance of blood, it seems that the red was very beautiful to her.


    I need to keep an eye on her.


    ¡°An archer.¡± Rigel whistled. After listening to Carla going on and on about Senpai, the top 32 was going to start, and I returned to the seats. Moments before the battle started, Rigel returned as well, and we waited for the battles to start.


    This time, it was split into sets of 4. Each set having 8 participants. Unlike the previous rounds, a set won¡¯t start until the previous set had ended. This is to let the students to focus on the battles easier.


    This time, Senpai was on the third set. On the first set, the most noticeable person is the one that creates a huge ice castle before starting to attack, he is known as Ice Fortress D¡­ something. The next person is Howler¡­ K¡­? Something as well. I¡¯m not sure.


    Finally, with the second set ending, the third set began, and as Rigel said, her enemy as an archer. He had a shortbow, but with 2 short swords as well.


    The moment the battle started though, the archer did something unexpected. He jumped towards Senpai, pulling out a sword. Since she didn¡¯t expect such an attack, she was quite late in blocking, giving the archer additional attack chances. He slashed a few times, while occasionally firing arrows at near point blank range. Occasionally, Senpai would slash once or twice with her katana, but with the enemy on her, she couldn¡¯t do much except for blocking.


    From the outside, Senpai seemed to be losing, but even up to now, she didn¡¯t even get a scratch, while every one of her attacks were highly damaging. The archer kept on pressuring her, but in the end, he accumulated too much damage, and fell onto the ground, unconscious.


    That was a short battle, I thought, and Rigel nodded in agreement. ¡°It would have been better if he had wind magic, or used his bow more often.¡± He had added. Surprisingly, he was quite knowledgeable in this. But then, someone that can suppress Senpai wouldn¡¯t be a joke, right? Well, with that, there is nothing left of interest in the top 32.


    Since it was about 2 hours past noon, we decided to get both Nobody and Ashley, and have lunch with Senpai.


    During the top 16, Senpai¡¯s enemy was a water mage.


    Due to her nature, though, Senpai crushed her without any problems. The battle started with a huge wave of water towards Senpai, but she simply jumped over it and ended the battle.


    That was sad. For the mage. She was crying after the battle when she woke up.


    ¡°With that, we are finally at the Quarter finals! With only 8 adventurers left, who will claim absolute victory? Who will be the one at the top?¡± Neil shouted, and most people, even those who should be jealous, started cheering. ¡°First up, on the left side we have¡­¡±


    Suddenly, he stopped, and he looked at the principal.


    ¡°Do I really have to say this?¡± He asked with a pleading voice.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± Was the only reply the principal gave.


    ¡°Erm. Ok. So. Well¡­ Let me see. Ok.¡± Neil nodded, his head calmed down. ¡°On the left side, we have-¡°


    ¡°It is me! The beautiful core, protected by the indestructible walls of ice. Me, who would stand in the middle of a blizzard, gracefully dancing while the enemy cowers in fear and cold. It is me, Ice Fortress Dean!¡±


    ¡­


    The whole dome was silent. Only a little girl in the front was clapping.


    Carla, I¡¯m disappointed.


    Even Neil was mortified, getting cut off suddenly like that after he gathered his nerves. Poor guy. He nodded with his dead eyes, and continued the introduction, of the other person, ¡°Yes. Yes. Thank you, Dean. Now, on the right, we have Elina, a spell sword. Referee?¡±


    ¡°Ok. Ready? Start!¡±


    In the previous battles, Dean would hold back in the beginning, fishing with his ice spears before actually engaging, but this time, he simply laughed madly, as the ice formed beneath him, creating a fortress larger than ever. Since they had 4 battlefields to use, the huge fortress was created.


    There were cannons, ballistas, and ice archers on the walls of the fort, and all of them were aiming Elina.


    ¡°I surrender.¡±


    That¡¯s how the first quarter finals battle ended.


    As Rigel expected, Senpai won the quarter finals, and the semifinals. She fought a swordsman on her semifinals, but simply overwhelmed him, securing an easy victory. Now I see why Rigel said that she will surely get to the finals.


    Even so, for the finals, she is facing against the Ice fortress Dean. The one that forced every one of his enemies up to now surrender. Did she have a chance?


    I don¡¯t know, but she is Kuro. Senpai. She won¡¯t go down easily. Even Rigel had went down directly to the sidelines.


    All we could do is watch.


    ¡°Hoooo! I didn¡¯t expect this, actually. I expected Yamato to win, and fight me here, but it seems that someone actually beat Yamato?¡±


    ¡°Someone like him won¡¯t be able to beat me. Same goes for you.¡± Senpai said. She crouched, her hand over the hilt of her katana, which was in its sheath. With her stance, she would be able to instantly draw it and sheathe it almost instantly.


    But as the battle started, the ice fortress appeared, and Deal was once again laughing. But unlike his previous enemies, Senpai charged, dropping light blue petals around her. It was a dance, and Dean, who noticed it as well, stopped laughing. All his weapons started attacking, and he himself created a wave of ice spikes to attack.


    Senpai dodged the attacks, her blue petals covering her when she couldn¡¯t dodge. Finally, she stopped in front of the ice fortress, and slashed. It was instantaneous, she slashed, and kept her sword with a click.


    A diagonal line appeared in the middle of the fortress, and it started to slide apart, but the ice refroze itself quickly. From the wall, multiple ice spikes shot out, but Senpai back flipped, landing on a blue shield, no, a large blue petal, and leapt up towards Dean.


    Dean didn¡¯t waste this chance. He removed the ice fortress, flying back down to the ground while absorbing most of the mana used in the fortress, and created multiple cannons and archers, shooting Senpai who was suspended in air. Again, the blue petals blocked the attacks as if they were nothing.


    No, it wasn¡¯t blocking. It was absorbing.


    What were the blue petals? Is it¡­?


    ¡°[Ice Gladius]¡± Dean said, and a sword formed in his right hand, along with a shield on his other hand. With his melee weapons, he jumped towards Senpai and attacked.


    But even if she is in midair, she could still block the initial attack. It was thanks to the blue petals, which is solid, and it gives her platforms to move around midair. Both of them landed, and Senpai held a few petals in her hands, charging towards Dean. They clashed with their melee weapons, blocking and trading hits. Senpai had an advantage though. Every time Dean tried to retreat, she would throw a blue petal towards Dean, tainting it red and removing the shard. If the shard misses, it would fly back and return to Senpai.


    Can the ice be nullified by blood? Dean came to the same conclusion, and he quickly slashed himself with his ice sword lightly. It drew blood, but with a little magic, the wound had closed.


    With the bloody ice sword, Senpai¡¯s blue petals can no longer be used as shields. With that, Dean pressed on the offensive.


    ¡°<Frost Snowbell Dance: Freeze Lock>¡± While Senpai twisted back, the ice shards turned bright, and surrounded Senpai, creating a ball of ice. The bloody sword didn¡¯t even have any effect on the ball, but Dean quickly created an ice fortress, with the weapons aiming the ball of ice.


    ¡°You are too late.¡± Senpai said in a monotone, the ice barrier contracting and compressing into her sword. ¡°<Frost Snowbell Dance: Absolute Zero>!¡± With her sword raised, the ice flew upwards as she shouted the name of her skill


    Hail formed instantly on top of Dean, and the ice fell on him, sticking to each other, and onto him, and within seconds, he was incased in a huge block of ice. The ground glowed, and all the ice was removed, leaving a panting Dean


    ¡°Winner: Kuro!¡±


    ¡°No. Not yet. Everyone shall die in this bitter cold.¡± Senpai said in a monotone, and the created a staff made out of ice. She swung horizontally, creating a barrier around her, and held her staff in front of her. ¡°O Coffin of ice, sealing away anguish¡­¡±


    ¡°Stop it, Kuro!¡± The referee shouted, but she didn¡¯t stop, and was still chanting, ¡°invite death with thy bitter eulogy. [Frost Snowbell Blossom: Blizzard Shower].¡±


    Rigel was running towards her, but he was too late. Ice started forming around her, and in the sky. The clouds rapidly multiplied, and hail started to fall.


    A grey card flew from the side, piercing through the barrier, and stuck into her body.


    And she froze.


    The blizzard stopped forming, and the small hail continued for a bit. At that point, Rigel had already reached Senpai, breaking open the ice shell to reveal Senpai, before stabbing her in the heart, breaking the time lock and causing her to fall onto Rigel.


    ¡°Ah¡­ I did it again?¡± Senpai asked. It wasn¡¯t loud, but with the silence, everyone could hear it easily.


    Rigel smiled, his voice also soft, ¡°You did it again. Very well this time too.¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha¡­ Sorry.¡±


    ¡°The champion of the 1 on 1 has been decided!¡± Eiden shouted, standing up. ¡°Congratulations, Kuro!¡±


    Everyone cheered happily. Even if in the end, she tried to kill all of them, nobody was actually hurt, so it was quickly forgiven. Everyone whooped when Rigel carried Senpai, who was waving, away.


    Since I promised to let them do¡­ I¡¯m sure Senpai wouldn¡¯t expect that, but I guess she would be happy overall.


    One day. Maybe¡­ No. Not yet. I won¡¯t be able to face mom. We still need to wait many years before we do it.


    With the 1 on 1¡¯s over, perhaps I could assist Nobody in making spyglasses.


    As for Senpai and Rigel¡­ well. Maybe you guys can imagine yourselves.


    Extra


    ¡°Oh. So he¡¯s her key.¡± I nodded. Of course, due to my occasional travels to Nihon, I learnt about their fighters. Their strongest warrior, supported by his or her lover. It really is a reckless style, yet is so very beautiful.


    ¡°She¡¯s so cool!¡± Carla said with glittering eyes. Gods, she¡¯s so cute. I want to hug her, but I¡¯m hugging Shiina now. Hm¡­ I suppose my left hand is free¡­


    ¡°Stop thinking about these things.¡± Shiina pouted while pinching my cheek. As usual, she had a nice scent, although it isn¡¯t as enticing as Mel claimed it to be. Mel isn¡¯t attracted to Carla as well, since she didn¡¯t have the ¡®scent¡¯.


    ¡°Papa! Papa!¡± Carla, who noticed what we were doing, jumped into me. Shiina backed off, and I softly grabbed her, carrying her up to my shoulders. ¡°Yay!¡±


    ¡°You guys are having fun here.¡± Eiden sighed, while he leaned on his chair, tired. ¡°On the other hand, I have to deal with the stupid government, stopping their flood of legal complaints! I know that I¡¯m principal because I¡¯m efficient, John, but this is too much!¡± He shouted to the air, and Gwen coughed, shutting him off.


    ¡°Huh. At least you don¡¯t risk your life days travelling in unexplored areas, clearing dungeons, doing a hell lot of random tasks that makes no sense, fighting SSS to double L Ranked enemies every 5 minutes while taking a stroll.¡± Gwen coughed again, and I stopped my stream of complaints.


    ¡°And the person himself is missing. I shouldn¡¯t have let you saved me then. I should have left John the moment he told me to consider!¡±


    Shiina laughed, ¡°Do you really think so?¡±


    Eiden shook his head tiredly, ¡°Not really. But this is too much. Training the newbies so that they will be indebted to us, while protecting them from the mastermind! Luckily most of them are orphans, else we would have to protect their families as well¡­¡±


    ¡°Simple, then? We just keep on doing what we are doing. He¡¯s John. He¡¯ll bring us the location of the Mastermind.¡± Gwen said, and both me and Rigel laughed.


    ¡°He¡¯ll probably be a father for at least 3 children. He was 18 and pure when he left, no?¡±


    ¡°No doubt he will have done many girls! Wasn¡¯t he like 18 and still a virgin when he disappeared?¡±


    It seems that both of us knew him really well. Shiina was blushing at the vulgar talk, and Carla was utterly confused. Gwen sighed again, but had no way to retort us.


    ¡°Still¡­ I hope he returns soon.¡± Eiden muttered, and all of us nodded solemnly.


    End of Year Results


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Name:</td><td colspan=''2''>Clint</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Age:</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Year:</td><td width="25%">2</td></tr><tr>


    <td width="25%">Subject</td><td width="25%">Marks</td><td colspan=''2''>Extra comments</td>


    </tr><tr><td width="25%">Combat</td><td width="25%">1127</td><td colspan=''2''>As expected. Keep up the good work!</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Swordsmanship</td><td width="25%">523</td><td colspan=''2''>You really could do better if you tried.</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Advanced engineering</td><td width="25%">452</td><td colspan=''2''>Allowed to advance to Expert engineering.</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Tactics</td><td width="25%">232</td><td colspan=''2''>Please focus more in class.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Excellent</td></tr></tbody></table>

 Arc1 - Chapter 7 - Carla

    Added Kuro, Rigel and Carla''s information in the user input thread! Also revamped Arc 0 - Chapter 3!


    Thanks, everyone, for keeping up with this. This chapter is... somewhat a repeat of Clint''s first chapter, with differences, mainly in terms of point of view, and the personality of the character?


    I''m not sure if I got it right though. Please help me, if possible, by correcting me.


    Or simply telling me which part you don''t like. Even that is very good.


    Also, in the last side story, I DO NOT OWN THE CHANT THAT KURO USED. I''m sorry, but I''m really bad at making chants, (I''m better at programming, lol) the chant is from the game Yggdra Union, and the credits henceforth. (That game is actually quite good, and the chants in the game are epic.)


    That is all the rants I have, please, enjoy this chapter.


    Hello everyone! My name is Carla! 2 years ago, we came here to celebrate big bro¡¯s admittance to AAA, and now, I am finally 9 years old! It was finally my turn!


    ¡°You look like a 7 year old though, I don¡¯t know if they will accept you.¡±


    ¡°Papa!¡± I shouted angrily, but he simply laughed while rubbing my hair.


    ¡°Dusk! Don¡¯t say such cruel things!¡± Mama scolded him, and then turned to big bro. ¡°Clint, please get down from the tree¡­¡­I give up¡­¡± Mama sat down, tired, and I sat between her thighs.


    Just recently, mama made 2 new ducks, one larger than Ducky no.1, and the other smaller. Unlike real ducks, but like Ducky, they do not have a neck, instead, their head is their entire body, so they simply look like duck heads with tiny wings and legs. Both of them can¡¯t fly (Ducky 1 uses a propeller to fly, not its wings), but mama said that they can do something else, and I am to register them as pets. Clint had told us that each student can have up to 3 pets, so mama insisted that I bring these 2.


    At the moment, all 3 ducks were wandering around randomly, while Alferdo was out the dishes for us, as well as the raw food and the roasting pit.


    I actually asked Alferdo if he gets tired of listening to mama and papa while they ignore him, but he said that he didn¡¯t mind, and that he was created to be ignored.


    I think he meant created to serve¡­ Poor Alferdo¡­


    These 2 years, I had been learning how to use magic cards in real battles, as well as drawing magic circles. Papa, like big bro, had little mana (big bro had even less), and, while he can write magic cards during his free time, he couldn¡¯t draw the circles in the air. I had a lot of mana though, and I can emit mana from my fingers and use it to draw circles.


    Big bro told me the normal way to cast spells are incantations or imaginations¡­ but I couldn¡¯t get them to be as strong as my magic circles¡­ but even a firebolt magic circle takes about 25 seconds to make¡­ Although Papa admitted that he didn¡¯t really know incantations and imaginations much.


    Papa said that the old magic circles require 2 minutes though. He had improved the circles many times already over the years. He had developed the [Universal circles] for Time and Space, up to 9 circle spells, but he doesn¡¯t even have a single circle for normal elemental spells, so papa told me to learn from Ms. Gwen in AAA.


    Also, last year, I started learning magical circuits from mama. It was something very complicated, but she thought me that because I knew magic circles, which will help me learn faster. It is a mix of magical formulas and mechanical engineering, and is really powerful, but really hard to learn and use.


    Ducky 2 and 3 were made using magical circuits instead of electrical circuits, and mama took the whole year to complete them. I hadn¡¯t even completed a single set of working magical circuits myself¡­


    Suddenly, papa said that he heard monsters, and he got Clint to go with him to clear them out. Alferdo, who finished preparing, started roasting a whole chunk of meat.


    Both of us watched silently as mama hugged me happily. I enjoyed her touch, and her smell. She always smells nice, even when she¡¯s sweaty, although I don¡¯t know why.


    Mama is a ¡®Human?¡¯ according to her status plate, and even my, as well as big bro¡¯s status plate said that we¡¯re ¡®Human?¡¯, and she said that it might be the reason why she smells nice.


    There is also a red haired woman that sometimes appears to attack mom. Papa said that it¡¯s fine to not help mama¡­ although she always seemed so uncomfortable¡­


    Papa and big bro soon came back, papa¡¯s jacket was bloody, while big bro took off his bloody cloak, revealing his clean clothes. Unlike me and mama, they had to fight up close, so they tend to end up like that when they go hunting. Papa opened his arms wide, wanting me to jump into him.


    There¡¯s so much blood¡­ should I go?


    Mama is holding me down though.


    ¡°The roast is ready.¡± Alferdo announced, before papa fell to the ground, barely holding himself up with his arms. Is papa tired from hunting? Big bro was snickering at him though. Alferdo simply ignored both of them, giving us our food. Duckies 2 and 3 had meat too, it seemed that they ¡®extract energy directly¡¯ from food.


    I didn¡¯t exactly understand, but mama just explained to me that I need to feed them.


    Ducky 1 and Alferdo simply had oil. They can¡¯t eat anything, mama told me, because they were created long ago, before mama even met papa.


    We continued eating until it was night (only big bro and papa, actually, me and mama were full after the first plate), and we returned home. Papa went out for a mission, while I entered the bedroom with mama. We lied on the bed together, as I enjoyed the scent from mama.


    ¡°Carla¡­¡± Mama hugged me from behind, as she muttered my name. ¡°Do you think you¡¯ll be fine yourself?¡±


    I smiled happily, ¡°Of course! I¡¯m going to get lots and lots and lots of friends!¡± Mama laughed, and hugged me tighter.


    I didn¡¯t know how wrong I would be.


    ¡°Bye bye, mama!¡± Carla waved towards me as she followed Gwen with her 2 ducks. She was so cute, and reminded me of how I was about 20 years ago¡­ It was so long since then¡­


    Rigel was smiling as well, as he stood beside me. Both Dusk and Mel were not here, as they were out doing a mission.


    ¡°So, how should I protect your little princess?¡±


    My face turned dark, ¡°Don¡¯t. Or at least Dusk insisted¡­ I don¡¯t like it though¡­¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± Rigel nodded, seemingly satisfied by the answer, ¡°Well, now that you¡¯re free, want to join us on a few missions after the opening ceremony?¡±


    Alferdo handed me my cannon, the cannon that Elanor made for me 14 years ago, and I raised it over my shoulders, ¡°I¡¯ll be glad to.¡±


    ¡°Basic magic. Elemental magic. Time and space magic. Healing magic. Spellcrafting. You really are going all out magic here. In fact, you¡¯re probably going to be the only student this year for Spellcrafting. Nobody took it for the last 3 years already.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, thanks!¡± I said happily.


    She turned her voice into a whisper, ¡°So, you use magic circles like your father?¡±


    ¡°Yup!¡± I showed her my [Slow] spell, ¡°But papa only knew little magic¡­ so I need to learn the elemental spells before I can make them.¡±


    ¡°I see. Did your father tell you not to tell anyone that you use magic circles?¡±


    ¡°Un. But¡­ why?¡±


    Gwen smiled a bit, ¡°It¡¯s too rare, you¡¯ll catch too much attention. Not to mention, your papa researched a total of 20 years of magic circles, he didn¡¯t want to just give it out freely.¡±


    20 years¡­ ¡°So¡­ he started learning it by 13 years old?¡±


    Gwen laughed, ¡°Around then. The way he learnt it was interesting indeed. It all started because of some stupid old children stories, and then he almost killed himself so many times before he even made the first spell.¡± She looked away, as if recalling the memory, ¡°You should ask your father yourself. Come, I¡¯ll bring you to your dorm. We don¡¯t want some seniors kidnapping you and forcing you to fight them.¡±


    ¡°Okay, Professor Gwen!¡±


    ¡°Just Ms. Gwen or Gwen. That¡¯s actually good enough. The students still call me Professor. Gwen though.¡± She said, chuckling. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see your magic in action.¡±


    She brought me to the female¡¯s dorm, nodding to another woman, the master of the dorm, and let me up to a room. ¡°Here, your room. Knock when you¡¯re ready. Your roommate will guide you through things for now. I have work to do, so I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±


    ¡°Ok! Thanks, Ms. Gwen!¡± After she left, I turned towards Ducky 3, who was in my hands the whole time, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Quack.¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡± I knocked the door, ¡°Coming!¡± I heard, before the door opened, revealing a girl with really really long silver hair.


    She looked really like someone big bro described¡­ and suddenly I remembered. ¡°AH! Cute maid!¡± I instantly said, and she blushed, looking at me. After a moment of silence, she finally asked, ¡°What did Clint even tell you?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ He told me about a very cute girl that works as a maid that has very long silver hair and is very very cute.¡± I instantly told her what I could remember, and she sighed. ¡°Why¡­ Clint¡­ Why are you so cruel¡­?¡±


    ¡°Well, come on in.¡± She said tiredly, and I followed her into the room. There were 2 beds inside, and one of them seemed used and messy, and on the other was a briefcase containing all my magical notes and empty cards. Ducky 2 quickly ran past me and hopped on the bed, rolling on it.


    ¡°What is that thing? No, you have 2 of them?¡± She seemed surprised. ¡°Are those your pets?¡±


    ¡°Yep! This is ducky 2, and this is ducky 3! Ducky 1 is with mama!¡± I said happily as I held ducky 3 high up. She touched ducky 3 once, and then proceeded to rubbing it on the head. She continued for a while, enjoying the feathery feel of Ducky, before suddenly flinching in shock, ¡°Ah! We need to get your uniforms, quick quick!¡± She quickly put on a blazer and ran out. I left both ducks in the room and quickly chased after her.


    We ran all the way from the dorm to the school store, located near the cafeterias. By the time we reached there, though, there was already a line of students, and some seniors. Ashley told me that while most of the first years has other first years as their roommates, some of them which they think require help would have seniors as roommates.


    Does that mean that I require help? But I¡¯m already 9 years old! I¡¯m a big girl already! Ashley laughed, though, when she saw me pouting.


    It took quite a while, before I received my uniform. It was similar to Ashley¡¯s uniform, but there was a light blue, instead of green stripe on the sleeve. Before we return though, Ashley brought me to the cafeteria, where I saw someone familiar talking to another person with a bored face.


    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t mind you using it against enemies, but isn¡¯t this a little bad?¡±


    ¡°What do you even understand about what all boys would worship?¡± The other person said, as he held a remote. A drone was running across the ground, and it ran towards us.


    And then it stopped and ran back.


    ¡°Woah woah! I almost crossed the line there! Your sister and Ashley is here now.¡±


    ¡°Clint!¡± Ashley greeted while waving her hand, but I was faster. ¡°Big bro!¡± I ran over and jumped into him.


    ¡°Carla. It isn¡¯t like you hadn¡¯t seen me yesterday¡­¡± He said, slightly embarrassed while Ashley giggled, while letting me down. ¡°Anyways, this is Nobody. The guy you need to stay away from.¡±


    ¡°Hey! How cruel are you!¡± Nobody shouted, stepping back in shock. He recovered really quickly though, waving towards me, ¡°My name is Nobody! I hope we get along!¡±


    ¡°Big bro¡­ He¡¯s scary¡­¡± I told big bro my true thoughts instantly, but (A: On a side note, in Clint¡¯s PoV, it¡¯s a ¡®and¡¯ instead of ¡®but¡¯) Nobody suddenly fell to the ground, gasping, ¡°Clint, your sister is cruel. As expected for the sister of yours. Ugh¡­.¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ Sorry¡­¡± I apologized, but Ashley snorted, ¡°Carla, just ignore this idiot. We¡¯re going!¡±


    Ashley seems to hate him somewhat. What did he do? Big bro simply laughed as he led us into the A grade cafeteria. Last year, he had reached S rank by repeating quests, while both Ashley and Nobody was still C ranked due to their activities. Thanks to him, we were allowed to enter the A ranked cafeteria.


    The rules are really lax though¡­ having a friend in higher ranks and you can have eat better food instantly without actually getting the ranks yourself? (A: The food at the F ranked cafeteria is just that bad)


    ¡°Hoooo¡­ so that little girl is Carla¡­ so cute¡­¡± A dark shadow said, smiling. ¡°I really want to break her.¡±


    ¡°Not yet though. Not yet.¡±


    ¡°My name is Carla, 9 years old, a spell caster! I hope I can be friends to all of you!¡± I said happily, as I gave my self-introduction. It was homeroom at the moment, and we were still doing our self-introductions.


    When we were dismissed from homeroom, the person behind me tapped my shoulder.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Hello, Maki!¡± I said happily to the black haired boy behind me. Unlike papa and big bro, I can remember names easily like mama. He smiled, but asked, ¡°Are you really 9 years old? Sorry, Sorry! You seem small though¡­¡±


    I pouted midway through his question. ¡°I¡¯m 9! I just have¡­ a¡­ small body¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry¡­ But¡­ um¡­ What classes did you take?¡± He said nervously, and I replied, ¡°Magic, elemental, time and space, healing and spellcrafting!¡±


    ¡°Wow. Spellcrafting? Isn¡¯t that really really hard, and everyone dropped out within the first year?¡± He said, interested.


    I nodded, ¡°Ms. Gwen told me that I might be the only student this year¡­ But it really is interesting!¡±


    He pondered a bit on my words, ¡°Ms¡­ Gwen¡­ Oh! The head of magic! You spoke to her already? Awesome¡­¡±


    I smiled at him, ¡°Hehehe, thanks!¡±


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t take combat?¡± He asked, recalling my choices, ¡°Combat is an all-purpose combat class, I was told, so you should take it?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ It was my sixth choice¡­ but I can only take 5 classes¡­ so¡­¡±


    He nodded, slightly disappointed, ¡°I see. Well, I¡¯ll see you in the Basic magic class later¡­ Well, most of us have combat, so you might be left alone with the crafters¡­¡±


    ¡°Not really for today.¡± A girl cut in from the side. ¡°We have a short session after this, were they will brief us about the general crafting rules. So if you aren¡¯t a crafter or you didn¡¯t take combat, sorry.¡± She looked at me with an expression of pity. I smiled, despite my disappointment ¡°Never mind, I don¡¯t mind it.¡±


    She smiled, ¡°My name is Rinne! I¡¯m an alchemist. Well, just a beginner for now.¡± She said scratching her short brown hair, ¡°Nice to meet you two, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Maki, I use both magic and archery, so the classes I take are Combat, Archery, Magic and Elemental.¡± He said, with a smile, ¡°Well, we need to get going by now.¡± The classroom was already empty except for them. ¡°Bye!¡± He then quickly ran off.


    He¡¯s so fast.


    ¡°Clara, huh. Well, sorry that we have to leave you alone. Perhaps go to the library before your classes? Sorry!¡± She said, before running off.


    ¡°Muu¡­.¡± I pouted as I was left alone. Maybe I should go to the library¡­ I took my notes and magic pouch and headed off to the direction.


    Basic magic class. From what big bro and Ashley told me, it was a class that practiced incantations and imaginations. I was interested in it too, since all I ever used were magic circles. Ms. Gwen told me that it will be pointless to me in the long run, except for covering the fact that I used magic circles.


    She insisted that magic formulas, or magical circles are better than incantations and imaginations, but I want to see for myself at least. The other students started coming in, and a black haired boy smiled before sitting beside me. ¡°Hey!¡±


    ¡°Hello!¡± I said happily. It had been really boring. The librarian didn¡¯t let me in the library, since I was too small, and he assumed that I wasn¡¯t a student, even with my uniform. Since I couldn¡¯t get anyone to vouch for me, I was forced to wait alone in this empty classroom since then.


    I was also hungry¡­ but I don¡¯t have the mood to go and eat¡­


    Ms. Gwen, and another male teacher, finally entered the room with a stern look. She glanced through the students and nodded, ¡°Welcome to the basic magic class. As most of you should know, here, we will help you practice your incantations and imaginations. These are the basic two ways to cast spells. For students not interested in this, you may leave now.¡±


    Nobody left, naturally.


    ¡°Good. Now. Can anyone tell me, what is magic.¡± She pointed at a random student.


    ¡°Um¡­ Magic is¡­ um¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I doubt that anyone here knows. It isn¡¯t your fault for that too. Magic is to turn mana into supernatural forces in the form of spells, to say it very very simply. We use magic in the form of spells, by incantations or imagination. There are hundreds, or thousands of forms of spells, and all of them require mana from one source or another. So, what is mana?¡±


    She pointed at another student.


    ¡°Erm¡­. Mana is the energy needed for spells?¡±


    ¡°Close. Mana is energy. That is another simple explanation. Mana is a form of energy that powers the supernatural. It exists everywhere, and we, humans, has adapted to use it. Of course, since most of you won¡¯t learn physics, nor even actually know what it is, I can tell you that mana is a form of potential energy, but nobody would know what potential energy is.¡±


    I frowned. Mama had told me before. Mana is simply potential energy in another form. Due to the principle of conversation of energy, it is possible to convert mana into another form of energy using tools. It¡¯s like how Ducky 2 and 3 can live off mana alone, even without food, although they won¡¯t be able to enter battle mode.


    It is also how Alferdo¡¯s handgun works. It absorbs mana and turns it into electrical energy so that it can fire beams of lightning in the form of a ¡®railgun¡¯. Big bro¡¯s handgun works differently though, it shoots mana directly.


    ¡°Here is a basic spell, Light.¡± She said, summoning a ball of light on her hand. ¡°It creates a ball of light in your hand, which after that you can control it manually. All of you should be able to cast it now. The full, non-reduced incantation is ¡®O spirit of light, grant me thy help, and brighten mine surroundings!¡¯ Of course, if you are good enough you can make it appear somewhere else that isn¡¯t your palm, but for now, please try it out.¡±


    Erm¡­ ¡°Gather in my hands, the power of light!¡± A dim ball of light appeared in my hands, and the room started flashing as everyone summoned balls of light.


    I quickly realized that my light was the dimmest out of everyone. Even Maki, who only said ¡®Light¡¯, had a really bright light. He frowned at my light too. ¡°Is your light affinity really bad? Or did you chant it wrongly?¡±


    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know¡­¡± I said, removing the ball of light. I knew my incantations and imaginations are bad¡­ but this was embarrassing¡­


    He smiled awkwardly, ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to¡­ Um¡­¡±


    ¡°Good, all of you, good. Now, try using imaginations. Now that you know how [Light] is casted using incantations, use imaginations.¡±


    Imagine the ball of light. Ball of light. Ball of light¡­


    The dim light reappeared.


    ¡°Uuu¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Maki wanted to say something, but after looking at my face, he turned away awkwardly.


    The lesson ended after us casting a spell of each element, but no matter what element it is, my spells were far weaker than everyone¡¯s. I don¡¯t understand at all. Why are my spells so much weaker¡­? Ms. Gwen told me to stay back after class, and Maki looked at me with pity.


    After everyone, including the other teacher, left, Ms. Gwen approached me, ¡°So, how were incantations and imaginations?¡±


    ¡°Uuu¡­¡± I wanted to cry.


    ¡°Don¡¯t feel so sad. You are too used to magic circles, so your mana flows in a different way, I think. Or it might be related to how your mom can¡¯t use magic at all, even with her huge mana pool¡± Gwen said with a smile as she sat down in front of me. ¡°I heard from Dusk that you can draw magic circles in air?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ yes¡­ but it¡¯s slow¡­¡±


    ¡°Try it out. Use it with light.¡±


    I nodded, and started drawing. It was the first time I did this spell¡­ but it is basic, so I could finish it in¡­ 5 minutes?


    First I drew a large circle, then I add the variables as shapes¡­. ¡®Light¡¯ ¡®Energy¡¯ ¡®No Damage¡¯


    I drew a second circle, and added the variables, which are more shapes. ¡®Float¡¯ ¡®Spherical¡¯ ¡®Small¡¯


    With the secondary array done, I started the third one, adding a final finishing variable ¡®Return¡¯


    And ended the circle by writing the word ¹â.


    That activated the spell.


    Before the spell appeared, Gwen suddenly shouted, ¡°Close your eyes!¡±


    I closed my eyes, and the light seeped through my eyelids. Various colors shone through for about a minute, before it disappeared, the excess mana returning to me.


    I forgot to set a color variable. Oops.


    ¡°That was really strong.¡± Gwen finally said, blinking her eyes as she shook her head. ¡°I guess it was overkill to use a circle for a weak spell like that.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked, curious. Slow and Haste never worked like that, so I didn¡¯t know why it happened.


    ¡°When you draw a magic circle, when it is activated, all the mana used in the circle is absorbed into the spell, before being activated. Since you drew 3 whole circles, a lot of mana is used for a simple [Light] spell, and it shone out of control. Actually, which variables did you use?¡± She asked, and I told her the variables used, before she started nodding.


    ¡°That explains a lot. If you didn¡¯t use ¡®Small¡¯, the ball would end up either huge with a bright light, or medium sized in a very bright light, but with small, the mana was focused in one point. If any of us didn¡¯t close our eyes, we would be permanently blinded, or unless if an alchemist regrew our eyes.¡±


    ¡°Alchemists can grow eyes?¡± I asked, a little shocked, and she nodded. ¡°For now, they know how to regrow limbs, although the limbs would be weaker than usual. They could probably do it with any part of our body at one point.¡±


    I feel like puking¡­


    She smiled, ¡°Sorry. Anyways, I assume that you have forgotten, but it is the spellcrafting class now, I suggest that you use this time to convert all the spells I shown you all just now into magic circle form. There isn¡¯t much I can actually teach here, since I don¡¯t use magic circles¡­ I still can advise you, I suppose.¡±


    I totally forgot that I had another class now. It seemed that I was the only student, and Ms. Gwen being the teacher. While nodding, I pulled out empty cards, and started rewriting the [Light] spell.


    After hungrily wolfing down dinner with big bro and Ashley (Nobody was busy in the workshops, big bro said), I returned with Ashley to our room. While I had class tomorrow, I still had things I needed to do. Even with the 2 hours with Ms. Gwen advising me, I only perfected [Light] and [Fire Spark], without actually getting any [Universal circles] drawn. I went over to my table and turned on my tablet. Since it Is expected for me to have tons of notes, mama gave me a tablet to use.


    It had full access to the Saint Haven¡¯s library as long as I¡¯m in the academy or at home, but not anywhere else. (A: Hurray for internet!) It also has my own notes, as well as a status indicator for my duckies. It also acts as a status plate for myself at all times.


    Not that it¡¯s useful. The stats on the plate are just¡­ stats. Yes, it¡¯s just numbers. They don¡¯t mean actual abilities.


    That¡¯s when Ashley came over, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a tablet¡­ mama said that you guys should have it¡­?¡±


    Ashley frowned at the words, ¡°We do, but only for nobilities. Each of these can cost up to 4 thousand gold about 14 years ago, when it first appeared. Now it still costs about 9 hundred gold¡­ You guys are so rich¡­¡± She said, regretfully.


    If I remember correctly, big bro told me once that she was an orphan? ¡°How much is 1 gold worth?¡±


    ¡°The meal we had today was worth 5 silvers.¡± She replied, as she looked at the tablet jealously. ¡°I want one of this¡­¡± 5 silvers. 20 meals is 1 gold, for 10 days. Multiply that by 900¡­


    ¡°Um¡­ I can lend it to you if you aren¡¯t using it¡­¡±


    Her face suddenly turned red as she realized what she muttered, ¡°Erm¡­ No! I didn¡¯t mean that! Also, I could just lend one from Clint, right?¡±


    ¡°Big bro doesn¡¯t have one.¡± It was along the words of ¡®you don¡¯t need it¡¯ from my mom, if I¡¯m right. ¡°I¡¯m okay with it, so you can just take it when I¡¯m not using it, okay?¡±


    She sighed and gave up, ¡°Okay then.¡± Then she smiled and returned to her side, ¡°Thanks, Carla.¡±


    Now, back to magic circles. I pulled out a drawing pad and a keyboard, attaching them to my tablet while Ashley watched from afar.


    Ms. Gwen told me that she had tried magic circles, but it was beyond her. She didn¡¯t have the time to learn the whole thing, and she had to often stop in the middle of her research. Papa only did time and space, so I had to do all elemental spells myself.


    The minimum number of circles, for a universal circle to work are 3, a large one, with a smaller one in the middle, and an even smaller one in the center. Stronger spells need as much to 8 or 9. My father¡¯s strongest spell uses 17 circles, and is on a magic paper instead of a card. It was a spell called [Time reverse: 3600]. He never used it though. I think.


    Specialized circles, which are circles drawn from scratch, only require 1 circle, but a lot of different shapes to represent variables. Universal circles makes it simple as you only need to write down the words after drawing the circles.


    I spun the pen in my hand, and started drawing.

 Arc1 - Chapter 8 - The first dungeon... failure?

    I think i did badly again. Sorry. I''m also sorry if it seemed like a weirdly written chapter. Sorry again. Also, if the whole chapter seems weird, I can tell you that I feel the same way. Sorry, once again.


    Well, my break is ending soon, and sadly, i used most of the time reading other stories and crying over how bad I am at this.


    Still, I thank everyone that supported the series. I have no intentions to stop just yet, and I hope everyone can keep on reading this without cringing.


    I dont think that is possible though.


    Sorry.


    It was 11 years ago.


    A group of adventurers had been sent to retrieve a magical artifact, but the mission had failed horribly. I had been shocked to see the explosions from Ostmont. It was crazily huge, yet, the only damage we suffered was from the shockwave. The explosion was directed fully upwards, and the town was not harmed.


    After that day, there was a house that was suddenly abandoned, the home of the terrorist that destroyed the magical artifact. Nobody dared to enter the house, as it was the home of someone that is known as the Devil. Being an idiot, when I was 5, I decided to break into it and explore.


    The house, had gathered dust from the 5 years, and it was mostly empty, but in one of the rooms, there was this holy bible on the writing desk.


    I was trained to fight with various weapons, but, I always wanted this, allies that will never betray, and will do anything I want them to do. It is so much different from the crappy people I know.


    I read it, over and over and over, and a few years just went by like that with me making extra notes.  When I was 9, I wanted to register at the engineer¡¯s guild, and I told my guardians about it.


    My guardians refused.


    It was some kind of crap that sounded like, ¡°Don¡¯t screw your future thinking of something useless like that!¡±


    They are the kinds of people that doesn¡¯t trust artifacts, or machines, as said from my bible, and they stopped me. They forbade me from joining the guild, and from using any of these ¡®artifacts¡¯.


    After 4 years of theory, I was forced to stop the moment I wanted to begin.


    Then, I heard about AAA.


    I ran. I ran from the wretched place. I ran from the people who tried to stop my dreams.


    I barely took more than 5 briberies, but finally, I was able to do whatever I wanted using the free workshops in the academy.


    They tried to find me, but thanks to AAA, they failed even before they started, and since then, I had started my conquest on building the greatest, most loyal machine.


    I am finding someone as well. But I never realized that the person was this close.


    ¡°There are no Combat lessons for this week and the next.¡± Atler announced during homeroom, and everyone perked up. ¡°Instead, ¡®Since you all are 3rd years now, you all are allowed to go into, and clear, dungeons. That¡¯s why, instead of lessons, you will all form groups of 3 to 6, and clear as many floors of the dungeons as we specify.¡¯ Or so it is said in this note. Oh, there is more.¡±


    ¡°¡¯First, group up, after that, we will assign you dungeons based on your team¡¯s capabilities. This is only for Combat students, other students can join them, but it is not compulsory. Discuss it among the other two classes, and find the combat teachers of your years to submit your teams.¡¯¡± Atler continued before leaving the room, too lazy to even dismiss us, and the students started chattering.


    ¡°So. Us 3?¡± I lazily asked. Even if I wanted a few girls to join in, none of them were up to our level. A true pity. Clint nodded, and started heading towards the staff room, but someone stopped him.


    ¡°Excuse me¡­ May I join your team?¡± The noble, Rex Thunderclaw, bowed while saying.


    Wait, that¡¯s Rex? I heard that he changed a lot, but¡­ this is insane! Not that I had actually spoken to him the past 2 years¡­


    Clint looked at me for confirmation, but I shrugged. I didn¡¯t really care if he tagged along or not.


    ¡°Why?¡± He finally asked, and Rex nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t want to drag others to dungeons too strong for them because of me, not to mention, the dungeon will probably be too easy for me as well. That¡¯s why I think it¡¯s better for me to find a group that is around our level of power¡­ I¡¯m sorry if I seem to be intruding.¡± He bowed again, and Clint sighed.


    ¡°Its fine, I suppose¡­ your name is¡­? Erm¡­ Sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°Rex.¡± Rex reminded him with a light smile. ¡°Well, I suppose my name is hard to remember?¡±


    ¡°Nope, it¡¯s just that he sucks in these matters.¡± I cut in, causing Clint to glare at me.


    ¡°Ok¡­ Rex¡­¡± Clint muttered to himself and nodded. ¡°I think I¡¯ll go register for us now.¡± Before you forget, good idea.


    Ashley, who had opened up to me (finally), stepped out from behind me, and bowed to Rex, ¡°My name is Ashley, nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Rex. Thank you for allowing me to join up.¡±


    ¡°Ah! No problems.¡±


    But there was something nagging at me all this time, ¡°But how did you change so fast? I still remember that you were an asshole previously?¡± Ashley glared at me for being so blunt, but it was too much of a change to not act like that, you know?


    Rex nodded, and said in a regretful tone, ¡°Indeed I was¡­ but¡­ I soon realized that here, nobility is worth nothing. Even surnames isn¡¯t something that anyone cares, with more than half the students not having any, it isn¡¯t as if I will be treated better when I throw my name out, you know.¡± He laughed, before looking away with a smile, scratching his cheek ¡°I suppose I got lonely, in a way. I¡¯m really lucky that people here are mostly forgiving.¡±


    Oho? I wonder who¡¯s the lucky girl?


    I suppose, to nobles, this place is like another world. There is a very good reason why nobles doesn¡¯t come to AAA, but¡­ to send Rex to such a place, I¡¯m somewhat impressed at the head of the Thunderclaws. That¡¯s a huge bet you are making.


    That¡¯s when Clint returned, holding a sheet of paper. Ashley was the first to notice his troubled face. ¡°Clint, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    He read through the paper again, indicated by his eyes moving through the sheet of paper, and he sighed. ¡°This is really really bad.¡±


    ¡°What is? Dude, tell us already.¡± I snorted, and he sighed again. He does sigh a lot, doesn¡¯t he? Ashley says that he looks much better when he is troubled and angry, than when happy though. ¡°We are tasked to clear 5 floors of a S dungeon called ¡®Bluesteel depths¡¯.¡±


    Bluesteel¡­ Bluesteel¡­ Oh! ¡°The manasteel mine?¡± I asked, and looked at him with a questioning look, ¡°It isn¡¯t even that dangerous?¡± It¡¯s actually good, the manasteel chunk I had was running out. If I could get a single ore¡­


    ¡°No. I didn¡¯t mean the mine is the problem, it¡¯s just that¡­the dungeon is located near Ostmont.¡±


    I have no clue why Clint doesn¡¯t want to go to Ostmont¡­ but not even looking at him, I myself doesn¡¯t want to go there. My face and hair are quite recognizable, if they see me¡­


    He thought for a bit, before finally deciding, ¡°I¡¯m going to consult Eiden, maybe he could change the dungeon we are going to clear, hmm¡­. Are you guys fine if we clear it now? No one here has important classes these few days, right?¡±


    Rex pointed out, ¡°All classes wouldn¡¯t be important since we¡¯ll be expected to be missing for a week, Clint. We need to get a pass to go out anyways.¡±


    ¡°Oh, ok. Then, please prepare your items, I¡¯m going to find Eiden now. Nobody, please get my stuff as well.¡±


    I noticed how he always calls the principal by his name, while he calls all other teachers with Ms., or Mr. and so¡­ Is he related to the principal?


    ¡°Ok Clint, leave it to us!¡± Ashley said with a smile, and as I have no arguments with that, I simply nodded along with both of them. Clint quickly left, and Ashley went towards the female¡¯s dorm.


    ¡°Rex, could you come with me? I have a lot of stuff of my own, as well as Clint¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°What kind of stuff?¡± Rex asked as we went to our dorm. We entered our room, and I started rummaging through the items, ¡°The basics, my knives and swords and stuff, extra batteries, basic adventuring tools from Clint¡­ here. And his emergency package, here.¡± I quickly gathered our stuff, handing half of them to Rex, and we stored them in our magical pouch. Rex went to his room as well, getting a mechanical staff¡­ that¡¯s a unique idea¡­. It doesn¡¯t contain manasteel, but it can conduct lighting, Rex¡¯s main element, decently well, or perhaps exceptionally. I could see a lighting crystal, so I guess it can turn mana into lightning? Or does it generate extra lighting for him to use?


    After that, we met up with Ashley near the gate. Clint isn¡¯t here yet, so we waited while looking at other students going to their destination. How nice, they need to clear 2 floors of a D ranked dungeon??? What kind of a joke is that?


    Clint came back in a few minutes, he looked distressed as he ran over, and with the person following him, I could understand why.


    The person is wearing a cloak. He had 2 quivers with him, one on his back, and one hanging from his belt like a sheath, and there was a long bow hanging on his back along with the quiver. In addition to that, he also had a sword in a sheath hanging on his left. He was smiling, while he ran over, and his short but smooth green hair swayed in the wind.


    It was the principal himself.


    Clint had tired face when he reached us, ¡°We are still going to Ostmont. Worse, now we have the principal with us.¡± I¡¯m not sure how that is worse, though.


    ¡°I was so glad that he gave me a reason to flee from hell. He¡¯s my savior.¡± The principal said with his eyes shining, ¡°Anyways, I¡¯ll come with you guys since I¡¯m free. Is that fine?¡±


    All of us were troubled¡­ but¡­ I guess if I am going to get caught¡­ he can help me? Not bad, Clint, definitely not bad.


    Since all of us are fine with it, the principal joined our group, and we warped to Ostmont as soon as the portal to it opened.


    As usual, it was a beautiful place, with the huge castle being the most prominent structure, and the huge church beside the castle, just slightly less grand.


    And as usual, the people here all had strained faces. Even those that are smiling are hiding another, darker face behind them.


    I hate this place.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go quickly.¡± Clint urged all of us, and we followed him out of the town. We went through the south gate, which was the closest, before the principal reminded us that the mine is at the north. Instead of reentering the city, though, Clint led us around it.


    I¡¯m glad for it, but I¡¯m surprised that neither Rex nor Ashley asked anything of it and obediently followed us. Both of them were giving weird looks at Clint though. After a long walk¡­ we reached the pit. The site where the star ranked adventurer, known as Dusk, and his wife, Shiina, a S ranked adventurer, blown up a magical artifact, killing nearly a thousand adventurers.


    Did I ever mention that the whole thing sounded fishy even many years ago? There definitely is a reason behind that explosion, but with both of them in hiding, and the trash covering up everything else, the truth will keep on being hidden. Well, it was a long time ago, so nothing is going to be questioned by the masses anyways.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Wow. Been some time since I¡¯ve been here.¡± The principal said, looking into the pit. ¡°Students. Never fail a rank 8 spell when you are close to a magical artifact the size of a dragon, with a mana concentration of 9.¡±


    That is surprisingly specific, I wanted to ask why he said that, but Rex was faster, ¡°What do you mean? Were you here when the incident happened? Can you tell me exactly what happened?¡±


    But the principal simply shook his head, ¡°Not for me to say, Young Rex. Clint, lead your group already.¡±


    ¡°Right. Ok, let¡¯s go down this crater. The guards will let us in when we show them our dungeon pass.¡± Clint said, showing us the official dungeon pass for the dungeon. ¡°Any questions?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    ¡°None at all.¡±


    ¡°Uun.¡± (Shakes head)


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go.¡±


    We entered the mine easily. The guards gave us a curious look, but simply let us in when we showed them the pass. That¡¯s was when I realized that I have no information of the mine, and I turned towards Eiden for help. He simply smiled at me though, so I hastily turned away.


    ¡°I would usually reprimand you guys for not gathering information, especially you, Clint. But I understand that some of you have problems with the town. Luckily, I¡¯m here, so I can tell you the stuff you guys are going to face.


    First, there are spiders. Huge, almost 1 metre by 1 metre large, with a height of 0.3 metres. It usually hides on the ceiling and the darkness, and charge out when you are in range. It is not poisonous, but it tends to give you another kind of illness, the mental kind. It appears at floors 1 to 3.


    The second type of monster are ghouls. They would crawl up from the ground randomly, or again, charge forwards from the darkness. They might carry some diseases, and they are undead. You guys are thought on how to fight undeads?¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t flinch. They are extremely fast. It only dies if its brain or back is destroyed. It can be destroyed by light based heals as well.¡± I listed them out, and Eiden nodded.


    ¡°Indeed. Remember that. Finally, the first boss that appears is at the 5th floor. It is a zombie orc foreman, not exactly dangerous, I suppose. Not much to tell about him too. He can call for other zombie miners, but that is all. After that, it is all blank. Nobody ever cleared the 5th floor.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ashley asked, confused. Rex had the same look as well, but surprisingly, Nobody was sighing while shaking his head.


    ¡°These kinds of dungeons, by adventurers¡¯ terms, is called low priority dungeons. There is inclination to clear them, because of how hard it is to get a pass. Of course, as students, you guys are exempted from that, so lucky you, right?¡±


    Ashley and Rex nodded, but I knew the real reason. They didn¡¯t want us, mom and dad and their group, to get more manasteel. That¡¯s why the banned the dungeon unofficially.


    ¡°Clint. Start acting like a leader already.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Nobody, start mapping. Ashley, can you make a ball of light?¡±


    ¡°Done.¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    ¡°Now the formation is as such. Nobody, guard our backs using your knives. I will be at front, Ashley and Rex, behind me, left and right. Eiden, just stay in the middle.¡± With that done, we started heading down the dungeon.


    The first wave of unlucky monsters were spiders. I sensed their presence up on the ceiling, thanks to Eiden telling me that already. Rex also detected them, and both of us fired an attack each. ¡°[Chain lighting]!¡± ¡°<Ricochet shot>!¡±


    Both our attacks killed most of them, and with Nobody¡¯s 2 knives, the last survivor was shredded.


    The next wave of spiders appeared soon after, also from the ceiling. Rex threw out a lightning bolt, and the enemies were fried even before they jumped out.


    ¡°There¡¯s more!¡± Nobody shouted, and we stayed in our stance. I sensed them, and fired towards the darkness. The shot I fired expanded and contracted erratically, and exploded as it struck the spiders in the darkness.


    Ashley threw up a barrier, but nothing even got to it.


    With the enemies cleared, we continued on, silently cleared the dungeon. The ghouls started appearing, like Eiden said, in the 3rd floor. Ashley had screamed when a rotten hand suddenly burst out of the ground and grabbed her leg. That hand was shot multiple times, then cut by knives, then cremated with lightning. The remaining ghoul-without-a-hand that crawled up was put to the same treatment while Ashley buried herself in me.


    She was smiling though.


    I felt a chill as I saw the smile. What a devious person.


    Many other ghouls appeared in the same pattern, but after a few waves, I could recognize the cracks on the ground that indicated that there were ghouls. Normally, I would sense a monster with their presence, but zombies give too little of it, and I couldn¡¯t exactly detect them accurately.


    After detecting them, I would fire a few explosive rounds on the ground, usually killing them. This drains a lot of mana from my weapon though, and the mana concentration in the mines isn¡¯t that high, so occasionally Ashley would charge it up with her own mana.


    We were at the 4th floor, and the boss battle is coming up next. That¡¯s why we were in a side room, with me taking guard near the entrance to the room. Nobody, who had been fighting the least up to now, was using a drone to scout, while we rested. We were ready for the mini-boss fight. After the fight, we can go back. We can do it, we got 4 strong people, and the headmaster as well!


    I was na?ve. That definitely trigged a flag, didn¡¯t it?


    ¡°The drone is destroyed the moment it went down to the 5th floor.¡± Nobody suddenly announced, and all of us were speechless.


    ¡°What was the last thing you had seen?¡± Rex asked, and Nobody closed his eyes, ¡°Blue. Green. White. That was all.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to go down there anymore, but Eiden whistled. ¡°That¡¯s perfect. Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Wait! Are you sure?¡± I exclaimed, with the rest of us agreeing with my thoughts, but Eiden simply laughed. ¡°Young Clint. I may be a sheltered principal, but I am still an SSS ranked adventurer!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Rex asked, surprised.


    Eiden pulled out his bow for the first time. It was a long, at a length of 1.4 metres, and was unstrung. Holding the bow at the middle, he swung it in the air, and with a ¡®kacha¡¯ sound, it extended into a length of 2 metres. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s not waste time.¡± We followed him to the top of the slope. Eiden had already nocked an arrow, which has an arrowhead that is glowing brighter by the second, and half pulled it back, ¡°Insignificant,¡± He whispered, ¡°Throw a disposable knife there.¡±


    Nobody fired one of his knives into the slope, it flew rapidly, and disappeared into the darkness, but suddenly, there were more flashes of lights.


    Followed with cries of annoyance.


    Eiden fired the arrow. ¡°Come on!¡± He dashed down the slope, and after a moment of hesitation, I followed him, pulling out my sword.


    The arrow bounced as it hit the ground, flying forwards, and before we even reached the bottom, there was a huge explosion and screams of pain.


    When we reached the bottom of the slope, entering the 5th floor, we saw the dead zombie orc miner, chopped into pieces, and it had started to rot. It was utterly destroyed, and the spell that made it a zombie had been removed, causing it to officially die.


    The people who did that to the zombie had a similar fate. With Eiden¡¯s <Mana bomb Arrow>, most of them are in states worse than the zombie miner, and there were only a few left standing, and they were glaring at us. ¡°Kill them!¡± One of them, a warrior with an axe and a shield, shouted while pointing at us.


    ¡°Stand back.¡± Eiden commanded, and fired a few arrows rapidly. The 3 remaining mages quickly created barriers, an earth barrier, and an ice barrier, but it took a single arrow to pierce through both of them, and killed a mage behind, his body, blood, guts, all splattering on his 2 friends beside him.


    Ashley was holding my arms while looking away, while the female mage screamed. It was cut short though, as another arrow destroyed her, and the mage beside her, causing their body parts to splatter on the ground.


    There were 2 archers, but Eiden shot an arrow towards them. They quickly dodged, but the arrow exploded while it was beside them. They died, their bodies scattering across the room.


    The leader, a warrior, howled in rage while charging at Eiden, but even before he reached melee range, the ground exploded in a familiar diagonal explosion. The white explosion was dyed in red, and his blood rained on his final comrades.


    The last 2 warriors tried to run, but an arrow pierced them each. Their lower half continued walking for a little, before falling onto the ground.


    Within 10 seconds, Eiden had killed the whole army, leaving blood, guts, and the echoes of their screams.


    Suddenly, the lunch we had just now flew up my stomach, and I forcefully held it in. Ashley grabbed my shoulder as a handhold, and she herself puked, while crying.


    Rex himself was looking away, covering his mouth with his hand. Nobody, the only one that isn¡¯t affected, simply looked at us with pity.


    We ended up staying there for a few hours to calm down and rest. Every time Ashley opened her eyes, she could fearfully close them. I stayed with Ashley, while Nobody and Rex spoke to Eiden about something, but they soon returned to us, without telling us what they talked about. Eiden himself sat, outside our circle, looking towards the 4th floor.


    It was when we were ready to go, when Ashley had calmed down, when something else came in again.


    It was a huge group of people, almost a hundred of them, they charged down the slope, and stopped upon seeing the carnage. They scanned the room, and their eyes locked on Eiden, before their leader, an archer, pointed at Eiden while shouting, ¡°You! Damn you! Eiden, Principal of AAA, and Clint, son of Dusk and Shiina, you two are under arrest! Surrender calmly and we will let the others go free!¡±


    I felt Rex, Ashley and Nobody turning their gazes towards me, and I gritted my teeth. Ugh! Can¡¯t they at least hide that fact? But before I could give any meaningful reply to them, Eiden stood up and laughed, and spoke, his tone slightly dark.


    ¡°Oh come on! Aren¡¯t you underestimating me too much?¡± He had his bow ready, and the enemies readied their weapons.


    ¡°We have a group of 150 men, all S ranked adventurers! And we have another 2000 people outside! Even if you defeat us, you can¡¯t escape here!¡±


    Even though he said that with a forceful tone, it was replied with an extremely lax ¡®tsk tsk¡¯ sound from Eiden. ¡°You really are underestimating us. I suppose all the SSS rank people had defected?¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. Just give up!¡± The leader shouted while pulling an arrow.


    Eiden scratched his hair, ¡°Troublesome¡­. Oh well. I can entertain you all a bit.¡±


    The leader fired an arrow, that impaled itself into Eiden¡¯s body.


    And he froze up, and fell to the ground.

 Arc1 - Chapter 9 - A successful counter

    Thanks to my mom suddenly interrupting me right before I typed the first word, I totally forgot what I wanted to write.


    My first draft of this chapter, compared to what it ended up as, was hugely different. It isn''t different in the sense of minor details or stuff, but I actually rewritten this chapter, 3 whole times.


    While I want to believe that I did a good job, I think I could have done much better on this one. Using that many characters was hard for me, sadly, and I couldn''t use the full potential of everyone.


    Thank you, for reading the story. Thank you regardless if you followed this story or not, and thank you if you favorited this story. I don''t deserve this, but some of you think otherwise.


    Also, Arc 0 - Chapter 4 is out. I think I need to revamp the whole arc 0 before I start on my next chapter though...


    That idiot. Did he really think that being SSS ranked allows him to be so careless? The arrow I just fired was dipped in one of the strongest paralysis poison I could get my hands on, and he took it without even dodging! With him, the only dangerous one down, the rest are a piece of cake!


    Blood splattered on my left cheek.


    I instinctively turned towards that direction, but another wave of blood coated my back.


    I fearfully turned towards the principal of AAA, who was up, and smiling, with the arrow in him. There is a small patch of blood around it, but it didn¡¯t seem to affect him at all. He had an arrow nocked, and it was pointing at me.


    I wonder what my last thoughts then were.


    Clint, Ashley and Rex had all turned away, and I was the only one that directly witnessed the carnage the principal dealt.


    After falling onto the ground, he threw 2 arrows by hand, killing the 2 beside the enemy¡¯s leader instantly, while getting up with a backflip. Their leader was still laughing when the ones closest to him died, one after the other, and it was followed by his death, with the arrow destroying his head.


    He silently drew more arrows, without the laughter he had just a short while ago, and fired them one after another, killing at least 10 people before they were freed from their shock. They took cover behind random boulders, large stones, pillars. They did everything they could to put something between the reaper and them, and tried to slowly approach him.


    But his next arrows simply pulverized the boulders, killing the people behind them, ¡°Come on! I can pierce a dragon¡¯s skin with these arrows! Stop wasting lives already! I¡¯m still waiting!¡±


    That was the cue. The enemy, who had been confused, were enraged from those mocking words, and mindlessly charged towards him. Ashley frantically created a large barrier to block the enemies, but the principal turned back, shaking a finger, ¡°Watch, kids. There are many ways to fight even when severely outnumbered, THIS is one of them!¡±


    He shot an arrow upwards, but with little force. It flew up, curving down before it touched the ceiling, and it landed on the ground, where colorless magic erupted from it. A huge tornado appeared, dragging all the enemies into it (<Tempest Arrow>). I pulled out 2 knives, stabbing it into the ground while gripping it. Clint did the same with his sword, while holding onto Ashley, but Rex was almost pulled into it, if it wasn¡¯t the principal holding him down.


    The tornado stayed for almost a minute, before letting the survivors go. There are about a hundred of them in battle condition, and they were all preparing to strike back.


    That¡¯s when a blood-chilling laughter echoed from the floor above.


    A red haired teacher charged into the chamber, riding a staff. She was laughing madly, and she charged into the enemies, while sparks fell around her, exploding and burning as they touched anything. Following that is a huge pillar of fire, erupting from the middle of the whole group of enemies, and disappearing quickly. Few survived the flames, and they charged at the laughing maniac.


    That turned into a male suddenly.


    As all the enemies jumped on the person, he raised a hand, which held a rectangular spell card, one of those that are extremely expensive and is thought to be extinct. The card burned, and the space around him distorted. All the enemies around him suddenly flew away, smashing into the ground, ceiling and walls.


    ¡°Eiden. Come on, we don¡¯t have much time.¡± The man with dark blue hair said. He wore an old leather coat, trimmed into a jacket, and a grey undershirt underneath. Now that he¡¯s close, I could see that while he had a leather glove on his left hand, his right arm was robotic.


    ¡°Back off. You can look at it when we¡¯re moving.¡± He said with a bored look, and left for the next floor.


    ¡°Come on, kids. We need to go, NOW!¡± Pushing us forwards. Clint reluctantly followed, while still holding Ashley¡¯s hand. The girl, on the other hand, was nervously looking at the one leading all of us. Rex and I traded a look, and I understood that he was confused as well.


    ¡°So, what is going on up there? Is the 2 thousand men real?¡± The principal asked from the back of the group, while we entered the next floor. We were being pushed to run, while both the principal and this unknown man were keeping up to our pace.


    ¡°There are at least more than 2 thousand. Might be 3 thousand or so. They¡¯re still holding them back though.¡±


    ¡°Good enough. Oh. A split.¡± As the principal said, there was a fork, and with no discussions whatsoever, the person leading ran into the right path. When I turned back, the principal was missing. It seemed that he ran into the left path.


    We kept on silently, and just after a short while, the principal returned, continuing on where they left off, ¡°How long do we have?¡±


    ¡°Not really sure about that. They¡¯ll retreat slowly as they hold them back. I suppose we would have 15 minutes per floor of theirs? They were at the 3rd floor when I came down.


    ¡°Ah! What happened to Miss Mel?¡± Ashley suddenly asked, and the principal replied, ¡°She swapped places with the gentleman in the front. It was a spell called [Space swap].¡±


    ¡°Who is the person in front anyways?¡± Rex, noticing a chance to ask, finally threw up the question that bugged him as well as me.


    ¡°Hm. I¡¯m the father of Clint here.¡± He said, and I could feel him smiling, ¡°You might know me better as Dusk.¡±


    Dusk, the mad destroyer.


    14 years ago, he along with a girl called Shiina, sabotaged a mission, destroying a magical artifact a 1020 adventurers were tasked to retrieve. The magical artifact had a concentration of 9, and the mass of a dragon, and was destroyed while the adventurers were fighting. The whole place exploded, and the remaining 1018 adventurers died there and then.


    After that, he ran from the site, and killed 100 of the hired SS ranked adventurers. He appeared all around the world after that, killing people left and right. Whenever he appeared, people would die, and because of that, his bounty added up gradually to 63 million gold.


    This person, worth 63 million gold bounty, is Clint¡¯s father. And he¡¯s currently leading us deeper into the dungeon.


    From his and the principal¡¯s conversation, there seems to be a few people fighting the 2 thousand people that wanted to capture Clint.


    I don¡¯t know what the people want with Clint¡¯s father, or the principal, and they are indeed scary. But if they want to capture Clint, then I will join his side¡­


    Whenever there is a fork, the principal will split off to search the other paths. Clint¡¯s father makes surprisingly good guesses, and up to now, we had not backtracked even once. There were also monsters, but Clint¡¯s father would slice them up with his sword quickly. Compared to Kuro-senpai and Clint, he was in a whole new level. All I could see were flashes, and the monsters would be cut up instantly.


    Suddenly, when we were at the 7th floor, we heard some rumbling from above us. ¡°Go, go!¡± the principal shouted from behind, and we quickened our pace. We ran thorugh that floor, and the next, often hearing rumblings from above. At that time, we were forced to backtrack twice, and each time causes the rumblings to gradually approach us.


    ¡°How many floors are there here?¡± Dusk suddenly asked, I turned back, and realized that the principal that had been gone for some time finally returned. With the sounds of war above, and the tapping sound from our shoes and boots on the ground, I have no idea how he knew that the principal returned at all, especially with him hiding his mana traces so well.


    ¡°Should be around 12 or so. They harvest multiple bars of manasteel from floor 12, or so the report stated.¡± The principal said, causing all of us, except for Clint, to wonder what he is talking about.


    Since Dusk is Clint¡¯s father, it was natural for him to know what they are talking about, right?


    Following that, we charged into the 10th floor, and continued on. ¡°They¡¯re 2 floors up.¡± Dusk suddenly said.


    I was already tired at this point, and upon hearing the words, I tripped.


    I suddenly felt extremely light, and Clint quickly held me up before I fell. Dusk, Nobody and Rex kept on running, while Clint and the principal stayed behind with me, ¡°Come on.¡± Clint said, crouching down. His face was pink, and I instantly understood what he wanted.


    With him giving me a piggyback, we ran on quickly.


    His hair has quite a nice scent¡­.


    ¡°Ashley¡­¡± He whispered, but I kept on enjoying the ride.


    I was slightly guilty that he had to carry me¡­ but this is so nice¡­


    ¡°A 4 way split in front. Take the left side.¡± The principal said, and we turned left, while he ran forwards. We ran by a few monster corpses, and soon met up with the others. Nobody turned when he noticed us, and smirked at Clint, who scowled back.


    ¡°Quit playing around.¡± Dusk said, and both of them went silent. We reached the next floor soon, before the principal rejoined us, but Dusk didn¡¯t stop, instead, started running faster. At this point, Rex conjured a thundercloud and lied on it. It was extremely inefficient, but at least it worked. Nobody was doing the same thing, standing on 4 knives, 2 on each foot, while gliding forwards.


    2 orbs appeared around Dusk, but they did nothing until the next wave of monsters appeared. When they did, both orbs rapidly fired mana bolts at the enemies, killing them rapidly. It was similar to Nobody¡¯s orb, which he rarely uses, but it was much faster and stronger. Using that, our overall speed increased slightly.


    ¡°Do you think we should help them?¡± The principal, who just reappeared, asked, but Dusk shook his head, ¡°We need 2 people to efficiently search through the floors. We would be forced to fight it out if we couldn¡¯t get the directions to the next floor anyways. The girls are good at fighting more enemies anyways.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll just run ahead.¡± The principal said, and suddenly accelerated, dashing through all of us quickly.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do that in the beginning¡­.¡± Dusk sighed.


    We reached the final floor, the 15th floor, when the ¡®girls¡¯ are one floor above us. There is a huge mechanical construct inside, a machine? Robotic thingy? I¡¯m not sure what it is called. That¡¯s more of Nobody and Clint¡¯s expertise.


    ¡°[Space cutter: Storm]¡±


    ¡°<Core Targetting>¡±


    It took an attack from Dusk and the principal to destroy the huge mechanical construct. The mechanical construct was suddenly cut up, even though Dusk didn¡¯t chant at all. The various parts of the mechanical construct fell to the ground, and while it was still falling, an arrow pierced through the body of the construct, shattering a shining blue orb, which caused a huge lightning explosion. That was all it took to destroy the construct.


    ¡°Rigel, gather everything!¡± Dusk said, quickly running back up.


    ¡°Clint, put Ashley down, and both of you help me place these chunks into the chest.¡± The principal ordered us as he pointed at multiple glowing blue stones. ¡°Insignificant and Rex, gather the bars.¡±


    He then walked to the edge of the room, and did something there. Lines and words appeared on the ground, turning into a weird shape¡­ That¡¯s magic¡­ but what is that?


    When the drawing was done, what is left is a circle with a huge mess drawn inside. I have no clue what it is, but the principal told us to move the few chests of manasteel ore and ingots, then we waited.


    It took barely 2 minutes, before the rumbling reached the climax. A girl holding a huge cylinder object ran in first. She had caramel hair that is extremely similar to Clint¡¯s, she seemed frantic as she ran quickly towards us. The next person was the head of magic, Professor. Gwen. As usual, she had her black hair tied in a bun, and she held a magical tome with her right hand. Unlike usual, she isn¡¯t wearing her spectacles, but instead is holding it with her other hand. She rapidly created short portals and gradually blinked forwards. The third person came after a while, Miss Mel, the school nurse rode into the floor, not laughing, not screaming, and just charging towards us.


    ¡°Is everyone ready?¡±


    ¡°Not yet!¡± The girl with the cylinder object said, panting, and as she said that, a humanlike mechanical golem charged into the room, followed by a flying round object. ¡°We¡¯re done!¡±


    ¡°Activate!¡± Professor Gwen shouted, and the circle below us glowed.


    ¡°Wait! Clint¡¯s dad-¡° I finally realized the missing person, but the scenery changed. ¡°Isn¡¯t here yet!¡±


    We were in a somewhat grand room. It was well decorated, and even had a red carpet over the floor. If only the stacks of paper wasn¡¯t thrown about most of the room.


    ¡°Late.¡±


    The person sitting on a couch, wearing an old leather jacket, smiled as he said the single word.


    ¡°I suppose we owe you explanations, so, ask away.¡± Eiden said, while he leaned back on a couch across us. Just nearby, Alferdo made coffee and tea for us, while we faced Eiden, who was sitting in between Mel and Mom.


    I stomped at Nobody¡¯s feet, as he was starting quite intently at my mom. I¡¯m sorry to tell you that it is disgusting even for me. He was suddenly aware of who he was looking at, and turned away.


    There wasn¡¯t a trace of embarrassment on his face¡­.


    Rex instantly took the main question, and asked rudely, in the tone I would use when I speak to Eiden, ¡°First question, what was the whole thing about, and why the top criminals of the world are with all of us here?¡±


    The principal nodded, then explained about what actually happened many years ago, during the siege. I was told that too, 2 years ago, and it was quite unbelievable, yet, it didn¡¯t feel like they were lying¡­


    Rex frowned at the answer, while Nobody nodded, only Ashley was the one who didn¡¯t believe it, ¡°What do you mean? How could you say that all nobles are corrupt?¡±


    The eyes of Eiden sharpened, ¡°I say that because I personally know it, Ashley Dewspark. 11 years ago, the head of Dewspark, Adam Dewspark, tried to stop the other nobles when his daughter, your sister, Katrina Dewspark, was to be sacrificed for a greater cause. He was stripped of all his noble titles, and was assassinated. You were lucky to be admitted to one of the orphanages, Ashley, the last of the Dewsparks.¡±


    ¡°Eiden!¡± Mom shouted at Eiden, who simply shrugged. Ashley¡¯s face paled, and she started crying as she realized the truth. She was hurting my arm by gripping it tightly, but she was too distressed to notice.


    At least¡­ I had mom and dad¡­ and Carla¡­


    ¡°Back to the main point. We are the leaders of the rebellion as our master disappeared. For now, our goal is to stall for time to help you all grow. I¡¯m not even going to hide this from you, who had seen the influence of the enemy. We lack forces. We might be strong enough to stall a force of 2 thousand, and maybe win with some losses, but we lack forces. That is why AAA is here.¡±


    ¡°So, AAA is here to train us to be your slaves?¡±


    ¡°AAA is here to train you guys, so that you guys get to actually survive long enough as someone that isn¡¯t a slave to the trash government.¡± Eiden then laughed, ¡°So, in fact, we are training you not to be slaves.¡±


    Surprisingly, Rex nodded in agreement, despite his huge claim previously.


    ¡°What will happen after this?¡± I asked, wincing a little from pain. Ashley was still crying while I¡­ rubbed her hair¡­? I don¡¯t understand why I did that at all¡­


    ¡°First, their attack failed, and almost 500 S ranked adventurers lost their lives trying to capture Dusk, Shiina, me and Clint, their 4 targets that could lead to the fall of AAA. They might also be trying to get Carla, that¡¯s why she has been in supervision up to now.¡±


    ¡°Clint¡¯s sister.¡± Nobody explained, and Rex nodded in understanding.


    The most dangerous people to them is dad, mom and Eiden. By capturing me or Carla, they can lure mom or dad in¡­


    I need to be more careful from now on¡­


    ¡°Anyways, because of this failure, both Dusk and Shiina¡¯s bounty is going to increase, again, by I don¡¯t know how much. For now, it is unlikely that they will attack us, as we are quite fortified here, so, you guys are going to train here while we deal with everything outside.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have much of a choice, do we?¡± I said, sighing.


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Mom said, ¡°We didn¡¯t¡­ want you to get involved in our problem¡­¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to as well¡­ But¡­ I might as well¡­¡±


    ¡°Just take it easy for now, at the very least, you all have 4 years of safe time, maybe less? Well, we don¡¯t have time left, so you guys have to go.¡±


    It was already near midnight, and with that, we were dismissed.


    ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± Dusk suddenly said, returning to the room dragging a teacher, the teacher that gave us this mission, into the room. He was bound and gagged, and was trying to break free from his restraints. ¡°Gwen?¡±


    ¡°Understood. [Mind read].¡±


    The teacher that was struggling suddenly stopped, and slumped over while Gwen had a palm over the teacher. After a while, she stood up, shaking her head. ¡°Nothing new. John is still missing.¡±


    ¡°Damn it¡­¡±


    ¡°Shiina, you still got nothing, right?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°None at all¡­ I had multiple scanners flying around the continent, but there are no traces of John near the surface.¡±


    ¡°The same, then?¡±


    All of us sighed.


    Our leader, Dusk and Shiina¡¯s friend, John, had gone missile while looking for information of the enemy¡¯s main base. He was the only one capable of doing it, yet, he had suddenly disappeared. It is unsure if he died, or was captured, or was still looking around. We also had shadows around the continent, looking for traces of the enemy base or John, but they all showed no results.


    We were gathering forces, but the war has already ended, if John is gone. That¡¯s why, all of us wanted to believe that he¡¯s alive.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s just rest for today.¡± Eiden said, lying on the couch, exhausted. Humans really suck, if he was a golem I could pop an electric crystal and he would be fully charged again¡­


    But we¡¯re tired as well. Me, Mel and Gwen had to fight off 2000 of them, stalling them while retreating downwards. If we were careless even once, at least a few of us might not be here anymore.


    I followed Dusk out of the office, leaning tiredly against him, and giggled. ¡°Do you think you could give me a princess carry?¡±


    ¡°I would, but,¡± He pointed at the front. There was a boy, the pure mechanic of the group. He stood there, with 8 knives hovering behind him.


    And he bowed, it was a 90 degree bow, ¡°Please! Take me as your student!¡±


    I looked at Dusk, but he simply looked back, ¡°He¡¯s talking to you.¡±


    ¡°EHHHH???¡±


    ¡°Please!¡± He dozega¡¯d at me.


    ¡°Wait a second!¡±


    ¡°Please.¡± He lied on the ground, face down.


    ¡°It seems that he¡¯s trying to get as low as possible.¡± Alferdo pointed out, and I shouted at him, ¡°I know that! But why? Why would you want me as a teacher?¡±


    ¡°Because you are my goddess.¡± He said.


    I glanced at Dusk, slightly worried that he would kill the young boy, but he simply shrugged. Luckily, he didn¡¯t exactly take it seriously.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind sharing her with you. After all, I know that she¡¯s an awesome woman.¡±


    ¡°Master, you have officially made a reverse harem.¡±


    Did I say luckily? I meant unluckily.


    ¡°We¡¯ll have less time together though¡­¡± I said reluctantly, but Dusk smiled at those words, ¡°Then, we just have to use the remaining time better, right?¡± He looked into my eyes, ignoring the boy who was still lying on the ground.


    ¡°Ok then. Student, no, Boy, I will take you as my student. Every Thursday and Friday, come to the engineering lab 3 past midnight.¡±


    ¡°THANK YOU, KAMI-SAMA!¡± He shouted, still lying on the ground¡­. Creepy.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡± Dusk said with a laugh, before activating a card to return home.


    We were in the gardens near the main building. After leaving the principals office, Ashley led me here, and the person herself is now looking at a few flowers silently.


    ¡°Hey, Clint¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Do you know, what it is like to be alone¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­ I¡¯m not really sure¡­. No¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ I never knew what happened to my family, you know. When I was self-aware, I was already in the orphanage¡­ with my staff¡­ I never knew my family. Everyone shunned me because of my silver hair. It was¡­ It was¡­¡± She turned towards me, and cried in my clothes, ¡°I want to be angry¡­ I really really want to¡­ but¡­ but¡­ why¡­? Why can¡¯t I get angry?¡±


    The only words I could say then, were, ¡°I don¡¯t know, Ashley¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­¡±